Search Posts
Tessara gives Vors a disapproving look, and answers "Perhaps after we find our companions." She makes her way back towards the Collegium with Stenne, keeping a sharp eye out for danger. Even with her spells depleted, her long experience with fencing gives her a sense of self-assurance, should they run into trouble.
But the scene of the carnage is as disheartening to her as it is to the dwarf. "I'll continue to look for George and Cassandra, Deepmug. Be safe." Though they came from very different worlds, Tessara was finding that the shared trauma of battle had brought her a little closer to Stenne, and to her lost companions as well. She spends the evening searching for any sign of them, or of their research notes.
Tessara gives Stenne a demused smile. "That was the easiest? I can't imagine how colorful your life must be, my dear Deepmug." Though truth be told, she's a bit envious, having grown up listening to tales of her Uncle Caladrel's grand adventures. The elf is also curious how much the pay will end up being, though she would never be so gauche as to mention money. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough, once the council's had time to evaluate our results. "I agree, though. It is our responsibility to ensure that their research notes don't fall into the wrong hands, as well."
At level 2 (wizard), Tessara gains +1 BaB, +1 Will save, another cantrip and 1st level spell per day, and learns the spells charm person and shocking grasp. She gets 6 skill points, and puts 1 rank each into Linguistics (learning Undercommon, or the language of the shadow fey if they have their own), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), and Knowledge (planes). She learned a lot of other things while searching through books!
1) Same as Vors, I don't have a problem with intermittent posting. 2) I also like our group. I feel like we have a good mix of personalities and skills in the current PCs. 3) I think adding one or two more members would be fun, since I tend to enjoy larger parties and I feel like PbP games make that dynamic easier than it is in live-action games.
Tessara draws the pages of notes out of her bag, as well as the pen, ink, and modified Deck of Illusions Lady Eshin provided her with the day previous. "I hope you will be pleased with our discoveries, my Lady, and that they might prove worth any trouble that the investigation brings to your doorstep."
As Tessara passes through the portal, her eyes widen slightly in realization and sudden understanding. So that's why they couldn't hear us... At the same time, she pauses a few moments to focus her gaze on the fire behind their two employers, trying to see through what she suspects is an illusion.
"My Lady, I am afraid that the plan's enaction was not quite as smooth as we had hoped. We were discovered by some sort of construct guardian, as well a..." she pauses uncertainly, not wanting to betray Iliyana's trust or her duty to Lady Eshin, and decides to err on the side of caution to both. "...a caretaker. And there was an incident. A fire. I am not sure if the business with the guards outside was due to our presence being discovered or not, but I do not think that either of the individuals we met inside the secret archives would have revealed our identities or connection to you. In any case, once the riot squad came rolling in, we no longer had the option of searching for Prince Magniventris or Miss Cressen, and had no choice but to trust in their skills to return on their own."
Her mind working silently as Vors speaks, still focused on the door, she says at last "I think... I think that fire you mentioned may be the illusion. Observe it carefully when you have a chance. As for the door... it may be wiser to simply enter, but knocking would certainly be more decorous. Perhaps our dear captain is simply deep into a good book."
Tessara's eyes focus past the closed door to the backroom, as if seeing something beyond it. "Vors," she whispers, drawing close to him and concentrating on the aura her divination is picking up, "There's something powerfully magical in that room. Be careful." Calling up the diagrams of aural fractometries from Borgen's Treatise on the Auras of All Arcane Forces, and Their Immediate Interpolations in her mind's eye, she tries to decipher what school of magic this power might belong to.
Tessara looks back at the Collegium uncertainly, the noise of the brutal riot suppression loud in her elven ears. What would Uncle Caladrel do? Surely not abandon his friends... but this is a city, not some dungeon! And they're not foolish commoners like that old man, they'll be safe enough... yes... yes. We must continue the mission. Nodding to herself with her heart (mostly) resolved, she turns to follow Vors and Cavasin, keeping Athame ready at her defense. But once the sights and sounds of city life return to normal, she sheathes the blade and resumes a more confident walking posture, despite her unsettled feelings. "Whatever was happening back there, I'm beginning to suspect it had to do with us...
"Follow me, everyone! If we keep to the back roads, we should be able to evade the guards. Perhaps if we can lay low at Captain Muesello's shop, we'll have a chance to find out what's going on out here." Drawing her gleaming, silvery rapier Athame, she hurries along the alleyways with it held outward in an en garde posture, her companions beside her, watching out for guardsmen or worse. "Desna, give us luck..." the elf murmurs.
Tessara also begins to feel something is more seriously wrong here. The hairs on the back of her neck prickling, she looks around for the other members of her group, making sure they stay together--particularly Stenne, her short stature making it easy to lose sight of her in the crowd. Not bothering to lower her voice among the growing madness of the mob, she suggests "I think it best we find our own way out, friends. I don't know what's happening here, but I don't like the look of it one bit." Looking around for exits as well, she tries to recall Zobeck's street layout to think if there's another way in or out of the Collegium.
Putting on the condescending smile of nobility dealing with commoners, Tessara rises from the desk she'd just sat down in before the door was opened. As she follows the others out, her satin gown swishing elegantly, she gently pats one of the guards on the shoulder and says half-teasingly, "Keep up the good work, boys. We all feel safer for your vigilance."
Tessara takes a look around at the party--spattered with blood, stained with smoke and soot, not to mention sweat--and quickly grips the hilt of her rapier, Athame, connecting mentally into its arcane bond with her. "אתאם, תדבר איתי..." Eyes closed in concentration, she casts prestidigitation through the sword, and begins hurriedly cleaning everyone's clothes, skin, and hair back to the pristine condition of a group that had simply been reading books for the last 2 hours. "אני טובלת לתוך הבאר של המסתורין! Cavasin, can you close the secret door behind us?"
Tessara covers her mouth with a delicate hand, coughing from the smoke and acrid smells pouring out of the burning room. "They're already running, Cavasin! Let's go too!" Hurrying after their companions, she dashes to the Guardian's room, pausing to conceal herself and look for danger, before continuing onward, back towards the secret entrance.
"Desna's teats," Tessara curses, a rare slip of etiquette for the stately high elf, but only to be expected until such stress. "We'd better do as she says, there must be a silent fire alarm alerting more people. It looks like we've gathered all the information we'll be getting, my friends. Let's make haste!" Glancing back after Iliyana one last time, the abjurer casts a quick spell on herself, then turns and hurries back the way they came, past the guardian and towards the entrance to the secret chambers. "כמו אבן בין אבנים, אני בלתי נראה"
When she pauses at each doorway to glance around in search of foes, she seems to take on the colors and patterns of whatever is near her, making it hard to focus on her distinct form.
Tessara nods her agreement. "Wise thinking. I would prefer it if Deepmug at least took rear-guard for now though... the papers may not be able to open the door, but they might force it or slip beneath it one by one." She throws a nervous glance at the bottom of the door before turning to the caretaker. "Madame Iliyana, do I recall correctly you saying that that door leads to an office?"
”I say we keep a vigilant eye on the door, but search the rest of the floor. If we absolutely have to return to deal with this… thing, so be it.” "Well said," Tessara agrees, breathing a little more easily. "Perhaps Deepmug should be the one to stand watch at the door, for now? If the book monster comes out, she's still the best-suited to stop it." Polite as always, she does not vocalize the added thought that Stenne seemed the least suited to their investigations as well.
Tessara can hear her heart pounding in her pointed ears as the seconds seem to stretch out in the adrenaline rush of waiting... and waiting... and tensing in coiled-spring readiness-- and nothing. "Wait!" she cries in a voice of hushed urgency, as Vors puts his hand to the doorknob. "It may not be programmed to chase us after we leave the room. If that's the case, shouldn't we leave it be and continue on? Remember, our mission is to research the shadow fey, not hunt monsters in the library's basement."
"Then let's spread out as much as we can. Not towards those stairs, be clear to run back towards the Guardian's room if it goes badly. Dearest Deepmug, I'm afraid the most dangerous duty must fall to you, of necessity... can you take point, with a flask ready to catch the thing if the door opens?" Moving quickly to separate herself from the others, Tessara urges them "Hurry! My spell will wear off any second now!"
Looking up from binding Iliyana's wounds, Tessara replies, "The shelf it was lurking in was the last one, so our research there is finished, I think... but will it try to force the door and come after us if we abandon the room? We should get into a defensive formation right now, and be ready to protect Deepmug while she hurls her grenades the moment it comes out--if it does."
I'll be on vacation starting tomorrow, and won't be able to post until January 2nd. The Voiceless, feel free to run Tessara as an NPC until then, she'll be trying to figure out the swarm's nature and vulnerabilities with Iliyana and the other PCs, and formulate a plan of counterattack against it before her spell runs out.
The moment Stenne bursts into the hallway with blood and shreds of paper fluttering wildly through the air, Tessara shoves the door closed behind her and shouts the incantation to her spell, "להיות חתום נגד אויבי!" Four flares of green light appear at once, one at each corner of the door. In synchrony, each one shoots along a different edge of the doorframe to its opposite corner, forming a perfect closed rectangle of light around it, which burns bright for a moment and then fades, just as the swarm crashes loudly against the other side of the door. After a beat, Tessara breathes a shaky sigh of relief, then turns to the others. "Okay, that'll buy us a minute at most to come up with a battle plan. Iliyana, do you have any idea what that book swarm is? It's not magically animated... have you ever heard of such a creature infesting or guarding the archives?"
Breathing a sigh of relief as Cavasin's magic seals up many of her smaller cuts, and helps knit together the larger ones, Tessara lifts an arm reflexively to shield herself from the blast of flame. Still, she watches closely to see if Stenne's morningstar or bomb do any real damage to the mass, before deciding how to act.
Momentarily stunned by the avalanche of paper, it takes a moment for Tessara to realize that the pages are animated! Staggering back out of their reach, she tries to stop her bleeding by putting pressure on her worst of her cuts. "What on Golarion..." she gasps, blood soaking into the darkening satin of her gown.
"Cavasin, help..." the elf murmurs, starting to wobble from the blood loss.
Tessara gives Stenne a puzzled look, concerned that she might have had a bit too much to drink... but on glancing back down, spots another promising text! "Indeed it is, but we must do our best to gather what we can on them nonetheless... and this looks quite a bit more useful." Hurriedly copying the information on shadow fey society, Tessara calls out across the room to the others, "George, Cavasin, any luck?" I've found a couple of valuable tidbits over here."
Vors addresses the group. "Look at this. There appears to be draft behind the glass. The loose pages are fluttering" "How very strange... perhaps some divination magic will illuminate things." Focusing her mind, Tessara speaks the words of the incantation, casting detect magic on the bookcase in question and concentrating on it to see what she can discover. "תראה לי את הסודות שלך"
"Hmm! This is quite an intriguing discovery, Deepmug. I think it's some kind of cantrip, but I've never seen this particular spell before... it may be shadow fey magic." Tessara takes a minute to quickly copy down the arcane notation verbatim, intending to take her time analyzing and writing it into her own spellbook as soon as she has the chance.
Hn.Seems to need Read Magic to make any sense of it...she noted. Overhearing Stenne's plight, Tessara comes over with a smile and the book she'd just found. "Allow me, my dear Deepmug." Her eyes glow for a moment, as she takes a small prism from the pouch at her waist and murmurs a few words of arcane power to complete her spell. "אני מתרגמת את הקודקס הזה"
Tessara hurries over to see what Cavasin's found next, drawing out the paper, ink, and inkpen that the Lady Eshin had given her the day previous and beginning to copy the map. "Excellent work, Cavasin!"
Tessara nods in agreement, and taps the side of her nose in a gesture of discretion. "Thank you so much, Mistress Iliyana. Your contribution to the safety of Zobeck's future will not be forgotten, even if it must be kept secret." Following the others inside, she takes note of the strange quietness, curiously trying to discern its nature for a few moments...
...before she pulls the book she'd found before from her satchel and uses the extensive notes in its margins to help search for the tomes the Guardian spoke of.
|
