Chella accompanies the group, being very quiet as she is still getting to know everyone, playing the Big, Dumb Fighter until it benefits them for her to reveal her true self.
She easily sees through the creature's ruse, but also recognizes that the others have the bullying well in hand. Nevertheless she growls at it to show solidarity if nothing else, curling her lip and flexing her muscles in a frightening display.
Earlier: When Azzim ask Ari about the Isharians, she responds "Yes, even more interesting. One of a dozen ancient empires who's knowledge occasionally threatens to surface. I will give you what files we have on them. They are often studied but much more is known of their pottery than their magic. Their pottery is remarkable stuff..."
And when Chella expresses reluctance, Livonia refers to generous benefits, the chance to be part of something like a family ("of misfits but still") and their important task in the multiverse ("saving a few little planes of existence from ruin")
Now: Like any over-matched bully, the unnamed figure freezes with fear for a second and then squeaks out "Boreas lost favor because he pushed his luck to far and soon you too for the reason..." because vanishing into a side passage. Aran signals you to continue and the group walks on an awkward silence for a time before Dzitizim takes up describing the various sights along your path as if nothing had happened. Finally, you come to a door of carved dark blue wood and passing through, the Orguanions of the group visibly relax and move jauntily.
Dzitizim greets a library assistant and says, "The South Wing, I will show you around" and Aran and Dzitizim together show you the spartan quarters that the library staff live and work in away from the luxurious public areas of the library. They show the party to their quarters, which are a bit cramped but in fact better than most of the living areas you see. Next to the living quarters is room with a table, the texts to be preserved and translated and a series of magical paper transport devices from which you can request more text and deliver what you finish. You will expected to work "from fifth chime to the 10th chime", about ten hours a day, with Aran and Dzitizim periodically looking in on you (The texts themselves seem to be about pottery at first glance... ). Outside of that time, you can explore the library or the city of Orguanion - you are each a bracelet allowing entrance to the South Wing Workers' Gate.
Outside, you get your first glimpse of the outside of the Library. It's at least twenty stories high and occupies many city-block equivalents with it's irregular shape. It would be noticeable even in Sigil and dwarfs anything else in the city. The city is strange and ancient itself. It is divided in roughly the guild district, the noble district and the common district. The noble district houses Orguanion strange ruling class as well as a few very expensive hotels where a few visitors from other lodge as well as a few folk from distant parts of the world of Orguanion. The guild area contains the variety of hereditary workers doing the skilled and artisanal labor of the city following complex protocols. Finally, the common areas has unskilled workers, refugees who arrives from Orguanion's failing colonies and riff-raff of over sorts.
Gift watches the unnamed figure run away. She shrinks back to 6' and changes back to a more normal form.
::"Wow Chella! your is scary"::
She says over the hivemind with a chuckle
::"Welcome to the gang, this is when the fun starts"::
And she follows the others.
These days Azzim was't easily frightened, but even he blanched at Chella's display. "Remind me not to get on your bad side!" he muttered.
He then asked Aran and Dzitizim, "I'd like to avoid politics here. Is there anything we should know?"
It seems like we're going to have to get acquainted with the local politics, Terexaltherin 'broadcasts' to the group, his distaste for the thought clear. His telepathic communication somehow includes the sense that it's not politics in general he's displeased with but the impression he's already gotten of Orguanion politics.
So, we're going to have to use our time carefully given how many hours we're contracted to put in each day. I'd obviously like some time to look through the library... and we need to figure out our way around the different factions here. One of them is almost certainly involved in keeping any undead armies secret. But we should also spend some time looking for signs of said armies.
Chella smiles at both Gift and Azzim, her cow-eyes softening and her entire demeanor changing instantly. "Oh, do not worry," she says comfortingly, "for it is simply an act-- a form of performance. I've learned through the years how to pitch the tone of my voice and the weight of my steps as much as if I were playing an instrument. Unless we must actually engage in battle, I do not intend anyone harm-- certainly not anyone on our team!"
"I'm happy to help," she responds to Terexaltherin. "Even if it's simply providing a distraction. I have some skill with decoding magical texts, but I am sure I am not so fast or competent as others here. Still, it may be useful to have me obviously working away at the job while others among us do things that we would prefer go unnoticed." A thought strikes her. "Was that creature that I threatened undead? I am not sure what it was. But perhaps it would know more about secret undead armies, and now that we know it can be intimidated, perhaps we could convince it to share its knowledge?"
"You did fine, Chella", Arlo grunts. "You likely save that being from a titanic ass-beating."
As she walks she falls in with Chella
::"Its nice to have another woman in the party. The old grumpy men"::
She nods at her dad.
::"Don't really get shopping"::
She jocks.
IMAGE OF WHAT GIFT LOOKS LIKE HERE
::"Well I am glad your here and can read magic script, its all just gibberish to me. Rollo would always explain to me when he was with us. As you can tell, I don't get on with magic much. Always seems so overly complicated. All that waving hands around, drawing on the walls. Or you like dad, your forever bending down at a temple begging some higher power to lend you some. Much neater just using your own mind to do things."::
She winks at Chella.
::"So what do you like doing when not saving reality?"::
She asks again with a playfull grin.
Arlo leans against the wall and ponders his next action.
::If Azzim, Terex, or Chella wish to visit the Noble Zones, I could come as a bodyguard. I won't mind looking into the guild areas, see if they have any weapon stalls. Or I could explore the Common District. Anybody leaning a certain way?:: Arlo asks into the hivemind.
::"Its nice to have another woman in the party. The old grumpy men don't really get shopping"::
Chella laughs, a rich sound. "Well, it will be nice to have access to the funds again to be able to do some serious shopping. My sister Peri has picked out things for me to wear since as far back as... well, as far as I remember."
Peri speaks from inside Chella's club. "YOU'VE NEVER COMPLAINED!" she chides gently, her voice echoing slightly like it is not entirely there. "IN FACT, YOU SAID I HAVE A GOOD EYE FOR FASHION!"
Chella laughs again. "That's because it's MY eye!" she jokes. To Gift, she continues: "Well, it's nice to be working with all of you. I didn't really get the chance to tell you when we were introduced, because of-- well, you know, what happened-- but I've not worked with others much in the past. Just Peri and Herbert and me. You seem to work together well! Maybe that's because you're family?"
::"Well I am glad your here and can read magic script, its all just gibberish to me. Rollo would always explain to me when he was with us. As you can tell, I don't get on with magic much. Always seems so overly complicated. All that waving hands around, drawing on the walls. Or you like dad, your forever bending down at a temple begging some higher power to lend you some. Much neater just using your own mind to do things."::
"—" says Peri. Then her echoing silence becomes more intense, if that's possible, as she examines Gift from beyond the veil. "FASCINATING," she mutters. Chella shrugs.
::"So what do you like doing when not saving reality?"::
Chella stares into the middle distance for a second. "I quite like playing my drum," she suggests, as if she's not sure how to answer. "I find it soothing. And it's nice that other people sometimes want to dance or give me money. I like to be appreciated in, you know, that kind of impersonal way. And when we get back to Sigil there's some fancy eateries I'd like to try, if I can afford it on my new reality-saving hero's budget. What about you, Gift?"
::Anybody leaning a certain way?::
"I don't know how well I can pretend to be a noble," Chella says, "but I'm willing to give it a try. I guess I could disguise myself... I'd be more comfortable in the common district, though."
We do need to figure out the different factions and who might be up to something among the nobles, but we may be able to do that without trying to infiltrate them directly. A lot of times nobles have servants that they talk around without even realizing it. They can be a lot easier to befriend and get talking, Terexaltherin suggests.
As for me... you know I want to look around the library. There's a note of humor in his telepathic voice at this. As much as I want to just read, though, I should focus on observing the library and the people in it while doing so.
Gift and Terex take a short, preliminary stroll outside the South Wing and she has the impression that the different zones of the library aren't centrally organized but rather different cliques control small or medium areas according to a variety of ancient customs. You'd guess just wearing the robes of a worker and walking confidently could get you through some areas ... though other areas are obviously more dangerous.
In researching the servants of nobles, Terex discovers that over the years, the job of noble servant gradually became incorporated into the powerful hereditary guards, to the point that some have the nearly the influence of nobles (the Guild of Tea Servers is apparently greatly feared). This has the effect that both nobles and guild member sometimes can be found in disguise in the common district seeking a respite from the courts.
You certainly hear of the city's noble factions just shopping but mostly as names. Commonly described as large are The Old Guard, The Conservator's Men and The Green Pants But many smaller groups get mentions (The Gold Buttons just once for example).
"I quite like playing my drum,"
"You know we used to have a band, I was Vocales , Tex was precustion and so on, we ahd a while of a time, as for what I like to do on my off days. I run and Orphanage and school for anyone who has talents like mine"
She passes on what she learn from outside.
Over the hive mind, Azzim said ::I agree Terex, we need to learn about the factions. After work we should mingle with commoner and noble alike. Posing as some of the help at a noble gala, seems a sure way of picking things up. Still I think we need to be circumspect, I can magically disguise anyone as, well, practically anything...::
When Gift mentioned a band, Azzim replied, ::Oh yeah maybe we could try that for networking with the workers. We'll need a new band name, I don't suppose Jungle Bloom will go down well here. Here's my terrible attempt at naming: Latheriax and the book worms... Can you think of something better?::
Arlo grumbles. ::I was hoping to forget Jungle Bloom.::
She thinks a moment
::"Humm, how about, 'Subject Matter' or 'Alphabetically disordered'"::
She chuckles.
::"or how about, 'pulp fiction' or 'Skipper to the last page'"::
More laughter, she lost track of her size and was once more 16' tall.
So, Azzim gets wind of an event taking place in Carmala Green, a central park area in the noble district. It's short notice and the commoners are only hired to move things while the guild-servants perform all the ritual serving of food and greetings.
Still, you overhear a comment by an older commander, "The dead are a problem, I tell you, whatever the directorate says. It's true they only broken some minor seals so far and they're so old they sometimes fall to pieces. But they have broken seals and what if they break major seals?"
Orguanion is so old and so many battle have been fought outside of its gates that there are many layers of dead buried on these plains, some properly, some less so. Thus there are many seals against the raising of these dead that have been created over the years, seals that seem no guaranteed to hold, it seems.
::I wonder what that's all about...:: said Azzim over the hive mind when he overheard the grizzled commander, ::Anyway I think we should try this event in Carmala Green. We won't have to do much beyond a bit of manual labour, but who knows what we might overhear. Plus we might get to network a bit and find some more opportunities.::
Terexaltherin isn't sure what seals are being referred to, either. He definitely guesses it's bad to break them, though.
We should probably split our efforts. At least some of us should be doing the job we were hired to do--maybe we can trade off. I could take a shift while you work now, and then afterward I'd be free to wander the library and see if I can get a better feel for some of the factions in it.
Gift gets her size back under control.
Whenever Gift grows in size, Arlo's face takes on a disappointed look.
Chella smiles and laughs at the discussion of band names. "I see you've done this before," she says admiringly. "My suggestion is 'The Footnotes.'" She chuckles wholeheartedly.
"Well, if you want to try and play a set together in town, I'm game. Otherwise, I am happy to keep at the work while the rest of you gather intelligence. And who knows, perhaps that creature that accosted us on our way to the site will appear again and I can try and glean some information from it."
::"Sorry Dad, I'm new to this sort of thing, trying to not have my body reflect my emotions and I no longer have the inner hive mind with me to help."::
She stays at 6'
"Just stop looking..", Arlo bristled, "..Gigantic! Please! It's messing with my innate dwarven sensibilities, is all."
The paladin breathed. "I still love you, honey."
A warm feeling passed over the collective as gift responded to her dads words of parental love.
Terexaltherin does his best to stay within earshot of the old commander in case they say something more about the situation.
Over the collective link.
::"I can lend you the ability to read minds Terexa, find a subject who was talking about "seals" and I will do the rest"::
::I'm curious to learn what that was about...:: Azzim added over the hive mind.
I can technically read minds myself, but... it's kind of risky, people can notice, Terexaltherin replies. Is yours more subtle, Gift?
The scene: A city "park". It's large area, ten square blocks, but with most of the area devoted to statues, plaques, obelisks and such. Since of these requires a ritual greeting when a noble passes, the party is concentrated in a smaller area of open turf towards one side.
The party members have been hired to simply to move the picnic boxes this group of nobles is using. Guild-trained servants actually serve the light refreshments in the proper, ritual fashion and hold shades against the light.
The older (unnamed) commander mentions off-handedly
"The dead are a problem, I tell you, whatever the directorate says. It's true they only broken some minor seals so far and they're so old they sometimes fall to pieces. But they have broken seals and what if they break major seals?"
and then moves to other topics (how his health has been this, suspicions about his daughter in law, etc).
Knowing this is important, Terex gets Gift and she scans his quite powerful mind as he speaks. He only mentions the seals again but Gift gets quite lucky and surreptitiously pulls out an image of some rune covered metal disks, 5'-10' in diameter, spread around the sterile land outside Orguanion, some on the surface and some buried up to 100' deep (usually with decaying access ways leading down). He knows these guard against the animating of the battle-dead, he's seen some broken - burned in half - but he doesn't know many details about them and their placement beyond several rough and incomplete maps some commanders have (and these commanders don't share, everything in Orguanion is hobbled by rigid rules and cliquishness and only saved by powerful traditions, history and individuals).
Meanwhile at the library; The party's translation and preservation tasks initially seemed quite difficult but after a week, you get the hang of most of it. The preservation rituals can't be hurried but you can leave while they're happening... You've estimated you could push it and get the commitment down to two hours/day.
The library itself is complex, stuffy and old. Books are stored in haphazard "collections" many of which were donated or obtained eons ago. These are organized by a number of "master catalogues" themselves from different eras.
The books you are "preserving and translating" is a series of (magical) "talking books" that you are making technological recordings and transcripts of. The project was attempted by library workers several times and you have their notes on their efforts. The project apparently has a powerful patron who's motivating the South Wing to hire experts (you) for this purpose (though Aran and others don't know what it is).
I can technically read minds myself, but... it's kind of risky, people can notice, Terexaltherin replies. Is yours more subtle, Gift?
::"I can make them forget I was there, its subtle in its own way"::
And she shares what she extracts.
I got an image of some rune covered metal disks, 5'-10' in diameter, spread around the sterile land outside Orguanion, some on the surface and some buried up to 100' deep, usually with decaying access ways leading down. He knew these guard against the animating of the battle-dead, he's seen some broken - burned in half - but he doesn't know many details about them and their placement beyond several rough and incomplete maps some commanders have and these commanders don't share, everything in Orguanion is hobbled by rigid rules and cliquishness and only saved by powerful traditions, history and individuals.
Well that's definitely worrying, Terexaltherin replies. Maybe I can look into these seals more around the library? If these undead are targetting them... well, number one someone's probably directing them, which feels like the Dark Traders. But I still think we should look into the factions as well, with the way this isn't making bigger waves it feels like someone in authority is deliberately trying to keep this quiet, which could be a sign that they're in league with the forces behind the undead.
The little dragon makes some time to search for information on the history of the plane, focusing particularly on anything about these seals, undead, or past catastrophes.
Arlo sticks with Terexaltherin, hoping to assist with his knowledge of undead.
Terex discovers the nature of the fens surrounding the city, where layer-upon-layer of dead are buried in formal plots and potters fields. As a result of magic and technological warfare, the area is unfit for cultivating crops though various thorny vines grow around the pools and on the hillocks of the area. And there are variety of structures from the various wars buried here and there.
There are multitude of small seals that have been created over the years but Terex finds a reference to ten large seals, arranged through the fens. Different churches are supposedly responsible for maintaining the different seals .
Just looking around, Terex discovers that the South Wing is effectively aligned with Green Pants faction though apparently it has lost some influence.
All right, here's what I've found, Terexaltherin 'says' once the group reconvenes. He shares what he's learned. So there's a lot of these deals scattered around to keep too many undead from popping up. Destroying them definitely sounds like a Dark Trader kind of thing. But I still think they'd need someone on the inside... maybe I cna look into factions in the library more deeply? But we should definitely get some contacts in the churches and the military if we can... Arlo, maybe you could go with the churces, and Chella with the military? What do you think?
Terexaltherin does as he'd suggested for himself. In his time in the library browsing, he does his best to chat with the librarians and others (quietly, obviously, it's a library). He focuses on the Green Pants, seeing why they've lost influence, and if perhaps they know of another faction that's suddenly gained influence in an unexplained manner...
...of course he also keeps browsing for interesting volumes.
When you carefully broach the subject, Dzitizim admits the ancient Green Pants faction has indeed been losing influence lately and another faction, The Circle of Hands, unknown to him previously, has risen in the council aligned with The Conservator's Men... He only knows of their representative, Sarnic who has apparently put forward a scheme to regain some small part of the Orguanion Empire but he doesn't knows where Sarnic can be found in Orguanion.
Just in browsing the South Wing's books, Terex discovers much of the lengthy history of Orguanion. The city-state and sometimes empire has had every sort of government imaginable, has been abandoned and renewed a dozen times and maintained various strange traditions the entire time... which finally leads to at least clues about the present factions, various hand-gestures and other signs of recognition that survive till the present so-forth.
In between the various tasks Chella has been diligently taking care of, she explores the area surrounding her workspace, hoping that she will stumble across another one of the phantom-like creatures she can question, or make other discoveries that would help the group figure out the state of things here. If she is caught wandering, she will claim she heard a noise, and describe the encounter they had with the phantom previously. Since finding others in the complex would be good for her goals, she doesn't attempt to be stealthy.
As the others spend time in books. Gift goes to find her new bestie, Chella. She takes of a black cat with blue glowing eyes and slinks off to find Chella. Finding her outside she stands changing back into her elf from, and as she stretch's her black clothing forming around her. Checking hows she looks she gives Chella a consortial grin.
"Dads no around, Sooooo, Chella, what ya a doing?"
She uses her voice not her mindlink.
"Let's explore! I want to see what else is in this place," Chella suggests.
She takes Chella arm and walks with her.
"I am glad you joined the team. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Dad, Azzim and the wee Dragon. But you know old guys and things they like all the time."
She seems happy to be with someone who is not old or a guy.
"While we look around how about we tell each other about ourselves."
You spot as you walk with Gift she has her eyes close. Yet seems to have no problem seeing. She adds, looking at the hammer.
"Tell me everything, and most of all about Peri, I know your there Peri, I can see your mind"
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1st The Cloths liners' who control the lines state what days laundry will be done on. On such a day they come out 1st and put up laundry lines. They are no allowed to touch, fold or carry laundry to touch Pegs, washing tools of any kind on pain of death.
Next
The 'Bucket carries' come and set out the tools and waiter for laundry to happen. They are no allowed to touch or fold laundry, Wash or touch lines of pegs of any kind on pain of Death.
Next
The 'laundry washers' who come out and wait to wash the laundry, They They are no allowed to touch pegs are lines, carry or fold laundry of any kind on pain of Death.
Next the laundry
Carriers and folders.
Who carry laundry to the washers placing it next to them.
They are no allowed to touch pegs are lines, wash or peg laundry of any kind on pain of Death.
The washers wash the laundry
next the Peggers come out and take the laundry to the lines.
They are no allowed to fold or wash laundry of any kind on pain of Death.
Once all laundry they all waits as the laundry Linners walk up and down the lines looking at the laundry until they are happy the laundry is dry. They give a single and then Peggers unpeg the laundry and take it to the washers who check it, and hand it to the Folders and carriers who fold the laundry and take it back inside followed buy the washers and the peggers. As the 'Bucket carries' come and take the laundry Cleaning away. they wait as the Linners take down the lines, check the area and then follow the 'Bucket carries' back inside.
The last great laundry war over who should follow the folders and Carriers and folders back inside. The Soup carriers, the Peggers or the washers. It laster 15 years and cost some 100s of lives as each time the laundry was done a fight would brake out. It was only when blood was spilt over the laundry that the linners and Bucket carries joined forces to crush the all three sides. The Bucket carries where paid off buy the linners saying they could take over Soup carrying. destroying the soup carrier group. This bribe placed the Linners on ascendance. In the laundry rule. But recently the washers have been feeling more aggrieved that the lineers and not themselves say when a laundry day should happen. They have been cleaning slower and slower forcing the linners to have less time for drying. Rumer is that laundry is sometimes being sent back damp. The other groups are no happy withe the linners, Trouble is brewing but behind the scenes plots and deals are being done.
Terexaltherin shares what he's learned with the rest of the group the next time they meet up, and keeps pursuing this lead on the 'Circle of Hands'. He's very cautious about how he goes about it, keeping his questions casual and buried among others, trying to obscure the fact that he's particularly interested in them.
For his part Azzim assisted Texex in the library research focusing on the mysterious Circle of Hands. Unfortunately the haphazard filing system stymied his research. He mused to Terex, "I can't help wondering if the stacks are deliberately disorganised to hide the good stuff."
Wanting to know more about the various factions, Azzim made some discrete inquiries about the Green Pants faction, focusing on why they'd lost influence.
So Chella and Gift make a few forays into some of the area outside the South Wing. One thing you notice is many areas are unused - the area you came through the wing was a major artery of travel but other areas are filled with texts that seemingly haven't been touched for decades.
Occasionally you encounter other workers but often the sensation is of calm and incredible quiet. However, there is very strange incident. You are walking in one of seemingly deserted corridors and see two figures fifty feet ahead in a long hallway. The figures are apparently carrying a very heavy object. As you approach, they drop the thing with a huge boom - at which point they run quickly away (as they go, you can they appear to be the "phantoms" you encountered earlier). Approaching it, it appears to be a very dark wooden chest - or perhaps a piece of wood carve in the shape of a chest since there are no hinges or breaks in the wood. It was heavy enough it dented the thick metal floor . At the sound of the boom, you hear feet approaching from several directions and leave before they arrives.
With just the week of work in the South Wing, Azzim indeed can see that library's information is purposefully spread in small chunks who location only a few workers know and pass on to trusted allies (with some information lost as workers die and fail to pass it on and some information found by slow, blind investigation).
Terex hears that the Circle Of Hands has risen by apparently having learned some of these lost secrets. The Green Pants as the oldest faction may simply be suffering a natural decline or perhaps they have the most secrets to discover.
Exact membership of any faction is a closely guarded secret. But there is a rumor that Circle Of Hands began with the Colnalia family, an extremely minor family, so it previously had never had been associated with a faction previously. They have a house in the noble district, made of iron but little more than a cabin, a few rooms sandwiched between the large mansions.
Gift seeks to get a group on the minds of the ones carrying the object but as she ports after them. But then she hears the sounds of others coming she heads back to Chella.
"We best go"
Gift set her psicyral up and to spy on who ever came. As they where sent the others images of what had happoned. Once they where some way away. She slowed and started laughing.
"This place is just the odd'est"
Then she kept walking with Chella. She did not need to walk, she could fly or psi-port but they had to blend in so, she walked and talked.
