Outside: Grass touch place

[Halae]

[Abandoned Laboratory]

Verity, with her eyes closed, turns towards Hiep for a moment, clearly considering the proposal. Perhaps she's examining something about Hiep, or maybe she's just thinking it over at the moment. Eventually, however, she holds out her staff to the side and it evaporates into black flame once more.

"I wouldn't mind getting a drink. It's been a while since I had someone I wouldn't mind getting one with."

[Morty]

[Abandoned Laboratory]

Hiep whistles and her deer comes running. Actually, where was it this whole time? Probably just out of sight.

"Hop on, then. There's this place I've heard about but haven't been to yet. It sounds like it'd suit you..."

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

Well, that's curious. Nathair peers at the glowing sprite. It seems more like a magical effect than a creature, and it might be as simple as a way to provide illumination to anyone approaching the bookshelves. Nothing to be concerned about, so he'll ignore it for now.

Stepping over to the balcony, the bandage covering his eye melts away, and he begins to scan the area. Among its many sensory capabilities is the ability to sense magical auras, and by focusing he can extend the range to a good half mile. Although there might be some rare and valuable mundane books, magical tomes are much more likely to be worth stealing, and figuring out the general location is the best first step to finding them, failing a helpful guide.

Finding the Lair

There's plenty of magical effects that Nathair will be able to spot but the wisps are not one of them. They're magical of course but they're not enchantments. Nor are the page-birds flying around the gigantic library. What they are is beyond his sight to identify but probably magical creatures of some sort. Likely some kind of spirits.

Likewise, it seems like every book on the shelf hold a faint magical aura that's separated from the sprites using them as shelters from time to time.
The walls have magical auras too but he knew that already.
But what he's really looking for are ones that stand out and there are plenty of those around here yet they all seem like faint stars on a night sky compared to the sun that's located in what seems to be the bottom center of the building.

'Magical' isn't really cutting it, this had to be something truly powerful. A true artifact. A relic of divine power.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

Despite his gestalt physiology, Nathair's mind is remarkably one track these days. Ordinarily, he'd be curious as to the nature of the library spirits, the book enchantments, and the various powerful tomes. But he's here for one purpose only, and the moment he notices the artifact's glow everything else stops mattering.

A slow smile crosses his face. This is exactly what he's been looking for, and nothing is going to stop him from getting it.

Vaulting over the balcony, Nathair jumps into empty air, falling down towards the floor far below. His current childlike disguise melts into his true form as he goes, all metal plated skin and glistening muscle, his single eye gleaming with excitement. If he were caught at this point, there'd be no point in bluffing as to his intentions, so why bother?

As he nears the floor, he disperses his body just enough to slow his fall, drifting elegantly down for the last fifty feet. Now's the time for his vision to switch to an xray, peering through wood and stone alike as he searches for the artifact. If it's encased in lead, mercury, or other heavy metals then he won't be able to see through it- but those materials would be a giveaway in their own right.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

It will take Nathair a bit to reach the bottom floor, going past an truly astonishing amount of books. Though it does seem like not ever shelf is filled up in here so there's still plenty of room to grow.
But once he does he will see lights in the distance. Yellow bright ones that contrast to the blue ones he's been seeing so far. It appears like they belong to a pair of lanterns whose owners are moving in his direction. They don't seem to be in any hurry though so they likely haven't spotted him yet.

[Thursday Violist]

Japaraita
Sekhmet nods understandingly. She swims over to the edge of the lake and pulls herself up onto land. With an application of magic, her tail splits back into a pair of legs (and she gains a simple skirt to cover up, although she's still wearing the shell top). She stretches out her feet and wiggles her toes. "Just come up on shore whenever you're ready," she tells June.

[Japaraita]

June nods vigorously enough so that it can easily be seen from shore.

"Okay!" she shouts over at Sekhmet. "I'll be right there! Just got to get my stuff!" Specifically the bag she left in the ruined ballroom, not the suitcase she left on shore.

She dives underwater and swims pretty quickly.

It doesn't take long. She is a mermaid, after all.
Soon, June is back out with the bag, and swims to the shore (above water the whole time, it does have some things in it that she didn't waterproof).

She gets onto the lake shore next to Sekhmet, and uses her arms to scoot closer. "Okay! Here. I'm here. Do I need to do any specific kind of pose for the magic to work, or...?"

Just in case she does need a cool pose for the transformation magic to work, she tries out small handful of poses.

[Riftline]

Zefir gives her some side eyes, He does realize she holds something back. He understands that their current situation is not really the best to talk things out. After all those aristocats and others should not hear that. Still he can't just leave it there.

"Sounds like your family got something those guys need. Cultists are the strangest people. For their belive they do everything. I have enougth experience with their kind to know how far they go. That storm might stop this one cultist, but there sure is another one right around the corner. Have you considered going to seek help? Like going to Vigil?"

[Riftline]

"Yeah, cultists are the worst," Violeta says, nodding in agreement. "Unfortunately, I have no way to permanently stop them, so the best I can do is one at a time."

Violeta takes a deep breath and exhales again.

"Vigil's that one group most concerned with stopping big threats, right?" the foxlady says, and waits for confirmation. "Yeah, so...I don't really trust them. What if their solution is something like 'The problem is serious enough that the only way to guarantee cultists never get you is if you're dead!' or 'don't worry we'll make sure you only get sacrificed by the Good Guys' or to lock up my entire family 'for our protection' or something like that?"

She sighs.
"Besides, I don't really have time for that right now," she adds. Violeta finally opens up and reveals why she got on the train in the first place. "You see, my family's got this...multigenerational curse that gets stronger over time," she reveals, "and my daughter has it real bad. My parents are too old to go out and find a solution, so instead I'm having them watch my daughter for me while I find someone who knows what's up." Her daughter, by the way, is still a toddler so she's really concerned about her.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

It would have been too easy if there was no one here, of course. In fact, Nathair has been expecting significantly more resistance than he's received so far, so it's almost a relief to have someone on guard. Better the devil you know, and all that.

Stepping back to the closest bookshelf, Nathair's body disperses into a cloud, melting into the spaces between the shelves. His hand and eye perches on top of the books, the latter peering out at the lanterns. It'll take a close look to see the disembodied pieces hiding in the shadows, shadows made deeper by the floating nanobot swarm.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

The two lanterns steadily gets closer as Nathair breaks down into nanobots.
And indeed, it does appear to be a pair of guards carrying them. Not human guards, judging by the fact one of them have wings growing out of their back and both of them have snouts sticking out of their hoods, but guards nonetheless based on the glaives they're armed with.

Neither of them appear to notice Nathair but it does seem like they're looking for something the way they're acting. Mumbling words to one another which there's no way to make out.
Perhaps his entry into the library didn't go unnoticed after all?

[bc56]

Japaraita
"Okay!" Sekhmet sits and waits, idly transforming her legs into a mermaid tail and back.
When June returns and strikes a pose, Sekhmet sighs. "Just hold still," She touches June's tail and casts a spell, the same one she used earlier, with the same side effects, which means that as June's tail softens and splits, her a-shells inflate up into e-shells. Then Sekhmet adds a second layer to the enchantment and releases her. "There. Once you immerse yourself completely in water, the enchantment will unravel," she explains.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

The guard's draconic appearance doesn't surprise Nathair. If this is indeed the lair of a dragon, then employing lesser relatives seems fairly standard. He briefly toys with the idea of just bursting out and killing them. However, without knowing their capabilities it's risky. They might even be able to raise an alarm before dying, and that wouldn't do.

So, time to start finding his limits. He can shape and morph his body in whatever way he wants- so why not split it up?

Behind the bookcase, out of the guard's line of sight, a clump of nanobots breaks off, drifting to the floor. They rapidly shift in appearance, taking on the form of a small black-furred cat, eye glowing yellow in the darkness. While the rest of Nathair stays hidden in the bookshelf, the cat calmly walks out into the open, stopping to lick its paw before looking up at the guards.

With a mrp sound, the cat turns and swiftly pads away from them, heading down the aisle away from where the artifact is hidden.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

The two abruptly turn at the sound of the cat. They weren't sure what it was but no animals could enter here. So whatever this was, it was no ordinary cat. But rather than attempting to kill it they seem determined to catch it. Sprinting in an attempt to catch up with the cat.

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

Michael takes the coins, confused by why he needs new trousers... or a new door, for that matter. He's guessing the latter has to do with Jubilee's earlier threat of arson, the trousers... remain a mystery to him. (Earl has forgotten too.)

"So why are you here? Can't be looking for me, you didn't know I existed." It's a bit much for a social call, after all.
"Dad, mostly. Miss wants to know what happened to him, but if he's dead not much for it. Good to meet you, though."
"I don't know he's dead. He tried sacrificing Meredith, so I kicked him out. I told everyone he'd died, and he probably is dead. He'd be... a hundred and two, I think. With all the issues that involves, if he is alive. Raksha deals don't keep you healthy- it stops you dying of natural causes, illness or starvation and such. Not violence, or non-fatal disease. I think he went to a bloke called Benjamin Beaulieu, or something like that. An occultist, not a summoner, and a dangerous man. He's got a manse, here. I've got a map, it's on the coast along here somewhere, I think."

[Little Sattleborough]

"...So let me get this straight." Jubilee frowns, tapping the floor of the bar with her scythe. "You've been telling everyone he's dead, despite not actually having seen his corpse or anything, but still knowing he's a man ruthless enough to sacrifice his daughter's finger for extended life and that he might still be able to get in touch with the raksha... and you're assuming he's dead because you lost track of him?"

Jubilee mutters an aside to Samantha. "Not very bright people you come from, huh? Jackson North is almost certainly still alive. So the question then becomes... how far out of our way do we want to go to immolate your misogynist of a dad?"

...

"...That isn't a rhetorical question, kiddo."

[Silent Sepulcher]

There comes no voice from the heavens. There comes no moment of revelation. There comes no feeling of absolution.

No one answers, save for the stillness.

Sometimes the lack of an answer is an answer.

Snow continues to fall silently across the bleak landscape, settling on Tahara's shoulders.

[Silent Sepulcher]

It's difficult to say for sure, how long exactly Tahara remains prostrate in front of the temple. Despite the cold eating away at her limbs, the silence and stillness and the atmosphere they provide for her to simply get lost in her own head just... feel right. Or as right as anything can be up here. Certainly more right than her; there can be little doubt about that.

After all, what is she now? A broken echo of a heroine that was. As obsolete as she is filthy. Had she not come here, her intent would have been to simply crawl into a hole somewhere and just... fade away. The world doesn't need Tara Constanze anymore. It doesn't even need the memory of her. She doesn't belong in it anymore, much less here, of all...

Tahara's thoughts take a sharp turn as a shudder runs through her body, the roaches within shuffling about in a desperate bid to keep warm. They can't stay out here forever. While they're all tough little bugs, even they have limited defenses against the cold. And Tahara shouldn't forget; even this body is borrowed. The roaches are still her responsibility, and it would be unseemly for her last act to be to lead them all to their icy deaths.

"Sorry." Tahara mouths, not daring disturb the silence of the seplucher.

She can at least bring them inside. Maybe she isn't welcome, but the roaches... well, they're not any more likely to be welcome, but it would hardly matter to them. Nothing is sacred to a roach.

Tahara slowly shuffles to her feet and starts again toward the building, pulling her garbage bag of a shawl around her to keep the heat in just a bit longer.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

The cat is quick and nimble, darting between and around bookshelves, using its superior agility to keep away from the pursuers. They'll no doubt catch it eventually, but all that's really needed is some time.

The moment they're out of sight, Nathair flows out of the bookshelf, taking on his usual compleated form as he strides over to where the artifact's glow was coming from. He looks around, trying to see if there's any trapdoor, sigil, or similar giveaway that might tell him how to go about getting out. Maybe it's simply buried in the floor.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

Oh he will see the location of the reading he's been searching for alright. Since there's a door that's just as massive as the shelves that's guarded by a small group that those two guards must have been a part of since they're all dressed the same way.
Their snouts are also covered in the same dark purple scales and if they do have wings they are made up of black feathers like a ravens. Indeed, one of these creatures have a beak instead of a snout, suggesting a more avian appearance beneath that hood.

They all seem to be at edge right now, pacing back and forth the enormous door which the artifact seems to be hidden behind. Though as he already suspected it seems more accurate to say that the artifact appears to be buried underneath the floor beyond the door.

[Earl of Purple]

Little Sattleborough

"He lost the life he got from her fingers when she disappeared- if they ever held. Five years life per digit sacrificed, and it doesn't stop ageing. Just stops dying. He's a hundred and two, he left with no resources. I stopped worrying about him after ten years. If he's alive, he's minus at least four fingers or toes and likely more. That's quite a severe disability, even if he's only down two toes from each foot. He won't be fast or able to balance much. If he went fingers, that'll effect his grip. He had no money, no vehicle, no books, literally just the clothes on his back and the knowledge in his head. And that might be deteriorating too." Jackson might be able to go around with one finger and toe less per foot, but that's still potentially a bit awkward. And the wrong toe taken would result in a limp anyway.

"I... don't know. I... thought he was proper dead two minutes ago, and I was fine with that. Do we know where Benjamin Beaulieu might be?" Samantha clearly wasn't paying attention when her brother said he had a map.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

Well, this poses a problem. Of course, compared to a dragon this is a small roadblock but still, he doesn't know the capabilities of these guards. Best try to thin the herd as much as he can.

Nathair's form shifts again, rearranging itself into a copy of one of the two guards who ran after the cat. It's not a perfect copy, since he didn't observe them for too long, but it's pretty convincing in the dim light. But the damn hand and eye are giveaways.

Time to make some artistic touches. Like a sculptor painting his latest statue, Nathair's nanobots create bloody smears over the golden hand and eye, wounds opening up in the skin around them. Moments later, it looks like he's been savagely attacked, his eyes hidden under a mass of blood and his hand half torn off.

And... action! Hobbling into view of the group, he waves desperately with his good hand.

"Need... reinforcements," he hisses, grimacing in mock pain, "The library is... under attack. That way!" He gestures towards where the other guards ran off before collapsing to his knees, wheezing.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

All the guards immediately turns to him. He can't see their expression under those hoods but they act shocked and surprised.
One quickly runs over to his aid as to make sure he doesn't fall over. "What attacked you?" The guard inquires as two others runs in the direction he was gesturing, trying to see if they can spot anything.

They soon stop however, seemingly fearful of meeting the same fate. Or perhaps at least wanting to know the answer to that question first.

[Ironsmith]

Little Sattleborough

"He lost the life he got from her fingers when she disappeared- if they ever held. Five years life per digit sacrificed, and it doesn't stop ageing. Just stops dying. He's a hundred and two, he left with no resources. I stopped worrying about him after ten years. If he's alive, he's minus at least four fingers or toes and likely more. That's quite a severe disability, even if he's only down two toes from each foot. He won't be fast or able to balance much. If he went fingers, that'll effect his grip. He had no money, no vehicle, no books, literally just the clothes on his back and the knowledge in his head. And that might be deteriorating too." Jackson might be able to go around with one finger and toe less per foot, but that's still potentially a bit awkward. And the wrong toe taken would result in a limp anyway.

"I... don't know. I... thought he was proper dead two minutes ago, and I was fine with that. Do we know where Benjamin Beaulieu might be?" Samantha clearly wasn't paying attention when her brother said he had a map.

[Little Sattleborough]

"Yeah, nobody said anything about his fingers and toes." Jubilee huffs, rolling her eyes. "My point was both that it was a practical possibility for him to offer up someone else's digits in his stead and that he's already proven himself ruthless enough to do exactly that. If he finds a victim, that's fifty more years of life for him; five per finger for himself, and five per toe to make sure said victim doesn't die stupidly on him in the interim, if need be. The man could easily be functionally immortal by now, and you assumed he was dead." The witch sneers, her face crinkling in disgust. "And with an active slave market just up there in the clouds, it wouldn't be hard for him to find, purchase, or even custom-breed a victim. So I don't want to hear it."

She leans against the bar, lowering her voice and fixing a nearly murderous glare on the North in front of her. "What I do want to hear is 'here's the map, miss Jubilee, so sorry for wasting your time with my idiocy.'" She extends her hand, watching him expectantly.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

Nathair takes a few gasping breaths, both to add to the dramatic effect and give him a moment to think. Well, the best lies are half truths.

"It looked like just a little cat... but when we got near it, it grew metal spider legs and attacked. I've never seen something... so vicious," he gasps out.

And elsewhere, as the two guards chasing the cat round another bookshelf, it does just that. The black cat suddenly reverses, sprouting bladed metallic legs and spinning back towards them, trying to sheer their own legs off at the ankles. Nathair is finding that he's perfectly capable of being in two places at once. Hopefully they're close enough for the screams to draw more guards to join that fight.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

The guards now finding themselves face to face with a monster have enough time to scream before their feet are cut off.
However, that seems to be enough for something to trigger as the glowing wisps nearby suddenly dim with the sound of a sudden HUSH.

But that's not enough to keep the guards from continue to scream as they struggle to crawl away from the creature on their stumps.

Those sounds are at least helpful to two guards already running to their aid. However, the few that remained behind, four in total, looking increasingly concerned. They look among one another and the tallest of them shakes their head. "It's no use." She says grimly in a voice that's almost a whisper. "The library will silence them now." The others stares at her in what's either shock or disbelief but don't object to the statement.

Since as soon as the the screams started the atmosphere inside the building shifts, shifting from otherworldly to oppressive. To Guard Nathair the change will be subtle, almost undetectable, but to Cat-Nathir it can best be described as if an invisible sheet had fallen over them. As if the very air of this place was weighing down on them despite being flying so high up.

[Rebonack]

[Silent Sepulcher]

Tahara manages to shuffle off the smothering silence and trudges into the shrine where she'll find it mercifully warm. It's... Otherworldly wouldn't do justice. It feels like Tahara is walking through the void of space, lights twinkling in the distance. Above the room a great ball of flame hangs, like a tiny sun, radiating warmth and light that somehow can't touch the utter blackness of every celestial surface within the temple.

Normally a star would be screaming.

They all do.

Screaming so loud, an endless roaring cacophony that would make one's ears bleed if not for the sound being smothered by the stillness of space. But as in space this star is silent. There's no sound here. Only that gnawing stillness.

Inexplicably there's furniture here. Wooden benches facing toward an altar behind which stands a pair of massive double doors that reach to the ceiling. The wood is... real. Terrestrial and familiar. The furniture all stands in stark contrast to the celestial stone the shrine is constructed from. There's an inscription on the door.

A riddle?

A challenge?

A command?

Silence above. Silence below. Stillness within. Stillness without.


[The Ruined Observatory]

That's definitely an old wizard's tower.

But then again, that's what wizards were, right?

Court astronomers and alchemists.

A tall tower built from granite blocks quarried from the nearby mountains, the tower rises above the surrounding rolling hills. There's a village not too far away where Riftline stopped and Khannie was careful to inform the others not to mention that they're going to the old tower to the villagers. The people there shun the tower and don't take kindly to anyone disturbing it.

After all, a wizard lived in it. They don't want wizard things crawling out into their fields.

The tower is, or was, sixty feet tall. Though the top third has toppled to the ground as though an enormous child had kicked over a stack of blocks. It's... strange though. The tower is also still standing. Or at least there's a strong impression that it is, growing stronger as one approaches the tower. In flashes and visions, out of the corner of the eye, the tower still stands.

Reality has been shattered here.

[Earl of Purple]

Little Sattleborough

"They need to be his fingers or toes for him to get the benefit. A slave wouldn't work. Even if he'd found the cash to buy one, which it seems he didn't leave with, there needs to be a connection between the finger and the person making the deal. 'I bought this person and they are mine' isn't enough, not directly. If the slave escapes, or is freed, or is sold, they're no longer his slave and therefore no longer his fingers to sacrifice, the deal's then broken and he loses the five years of life he got, unless he used them already in which case things get... a little more complex." Samantha heard the arguments made when Jackson had a Raskha bite one of her fingers off, so she's reasonably well informed of the edge cases. Her finger counted because no matter what, she would always be Jackson's daughter.

[General Shrimp]

Overly Adventurous

Ah, the great outdoors. So great and...outdoorsy. The sort of place where people go to do outdoors stuff.

And where an adventurer is midway through their adventure.

A modest clearing provides a welcome reprieve from patches of woodland - not overly thick woodland, but still dense enough foliage that it could conceal a dangerous predator or two, just waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting adventurer.

[Halae]

[The Ruined Observatory]

Skye observes the ruined tower. She picked up her spear in the way here, a length of wood with a bronze head that looks like it's been used to kill before. The chesty Hearteater is regarding the place curiously, looking it over for signs of various creatures and the effects this has had on the world around it.

"It seems like they managed to create Bordermarches, or perhaps broke the underlying structure of Fate," Skye comments. She's heard about such things before, "This would be my first time seeing it if that's true, however. I could well be wrong."

She hopes she's wrong.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

This is playing out perfectly, as far as Nathair is concerned. Not only does he now know that the guards are just flesh and blood, and therefor easily dispatched, but now there's a perfect test of the library's defenses. By observing what happens to the wounded guards, he can judge how dangerous it is to make noises, and plan his next attack accordingly.

His guard-form will stagger back towards the door before sitting down heavily, biting down on his sleeve as if to deal with the pain of his wounds. He casts a sympathetic glance back the way he came, as if feeling the guilt of being the only one to escape.

Meanwhile, the cat-form sprouts eyeballs across its back, staring out at all directions in order to best perceive whatever's about to happen. It skitters around in front of the guards, waving its bladed legs warningly. After all, it wouldn't do for them to stop screaming before he figures out exactly what this library is capable of.

[Shadowcaller]

Finding the Lair

Cat-Nathair can see at least one of those smaller magical sources that he noticed earlier wasn't a book or other treasure since it's now moving straight towards the cat but suddenly stops some distance away. Even if he has dark vision he won't be able to see this moving source of magic however as it appears to be invisible.
But it's far from the only moving magical source in here, just the closest one.

Or is it?

A force which the eyes Cat-Nathair formed pointing downwards can only make out as massive and black emerge from the floor directly underneath him. It will feel as if its grabbing him in its jaws but his additional eyes will see that there are no jaws. Just a dark mass so massive that it's able to easily encase him and both the two guards at the same time.

If Cat-Nathair attempts to dash or jump away he will suddenly feel a sudden lack of resistance from the floor underneath him. Since it seems to have turned into water underneath him the moment the shape emerged, making it difficult to flee the ordinary way. He's quite capable of flying of course but will he realize that is the only way to escape in time as reality itself seems to have suddenly warped around him.

---

Meanwhile, Guard-Nathair will see the guards talk among themselves in whispers as he's settling down. Some of them giving him looks. Though wherever they are of suspicion or sympathy is hard to determine.
Regardless, one of them sit down next to him and gives him what seems to be a nod of acknowledgement. "How are you holding up?"

[Ironsmith]

[Little Sattleborough]

Jubilee whirls on Samantha, her expression invocative of an overtaxed boiler on the verge of exploding... before she lets out a deep, calming breath and kneels to look straight into her apprentice's eyes.

"...I want you to listen to me very carefully." She says quietly, clasping her three-fingered hand. "We already know exactly how he could pull this off. You're sitting here as living proof." She shakes her head. "Nothing about the situation with your mum was unique. Right now, there could be a girl there, your sister, going through the same thing you did or worse; he may well be getting desperate in his old age."

Her gaze bores into Samantha as she lets that sink in. "If you say you don't want to find out, we'll call the search off here. But knowing what you do... is that really what you want?"

[Silent Sepulcher]

Despite her initial reluctance to come in here, Tahara finds herself glad that she did; this room is beautiful, in an unearthly, not-entirely-welcoming kind of way. Something about having a sun directly overhead seems to do that for her.

Taking some time to warm up, Tahara stops at one of the benches, seating herself and pulling her plastic shawl around her, letting the roaches bask in the warmth without being exposed to the harsh light. As she sits, she looks at the inscription over the doorway, wondering what exactly she's looking at. Is that a mantra of some kind? It certainly reads like one.

Silence above. Silence Below. Stillness within. Stillness without.

She's reminded of a few other statements of symmetry she's run into over the years... "as above, so below" is practically baked into it already. This certainly seems like the sort of vaguely cryptic motto she'd find at a magic school or something and need an older student to explain to her in order to trigger a whole cascade of philosophical musings.

...Which doesn't make sense. Nobody else lives out here. Nobody's meant to be in here. Why is there any writing at all?

The trash witch stares up at the inscription and frowns. The bit about silencd doesn't really make any sense. But... "stillness within, stillness without" almost sounds like a meditation aid. And unlike outside, she can sit in here without risk of freezing to death.

Maybe she's meant to be in here after all, and this room is meant to help her slip into the right state of mind.

Stillness without. Tahara can manage that easily, taking a relaxed position and willing the roaches to stand still for a little while.

Stillness within. Less simple. But if she can clear her mind for a moment, surely that's at least a step in the right direction, right?

[Earl of Purple]

Little Sattleborough

Samantha's eyes widen and she nods slowly. "I... didn't consider that. Let's do it." Her brother also hadn't considered it, and heads off to fetch the map. Samantha's excuse is she's seven; his excuse is... he doesn't have one.

He'll return shortly and put the map down. It's a pretty good map, professionally made, but... not entirely helpful. It's a page ripped from a road atlas, and Little Sattleborough isn't on the map. Greater Sattleborough, however, is, in the corner. Need to figure out Greater Sattleborough first.

[Ironsmith]

[Little Sattleborough]

"...A moment of silence for that poor book." Jubilee mumbles, unrolling the map and looking it over, committing what she can to memory. While Little Sattleborough isn't on the map anywhere, she's running on the assumption that has more to do with the town's podunk nature than anything. Greater Sattleborough is, presumably, a bit bigger and not all that far away.

"...This is the part where you tell me you have no idea where any of this is, isn't it?" Jubilee frowns.

[quillpleasant]

Finding the Lair

The cat Nathair, while capable of flight, chooses not to. It's only a small portion of him, and even if its captured or destroyed, he can just replenish himself elsewhere. Right now, its decoy mission has turned into a scouting mission, and figuring out what exactly happens to whatever's sucked below the library floor is more important than survival. So, the cat does not resist sinking, but will keep its eyes open in an attempt to figure out what happens next.

---

Meanwhile, the rest of Nathair gives a weary wave at the guard who's joined him on the floor. He's well aware that the longer he engages in conversation, the sooner his ruse will be found out. And there's a few important things he's already learned.

One, the library's defenses don't discriminate between intruder and employee. Therefor, the guards have a vested interest in keeping quiet. Two, although he's not yet aware of the full extent of the floor trap, the fact that flying is a reasonable escape from it gives him confidence that even if it triggered here, he'd be able to escape it. And then it'd be easy to fly away, settle silently on some book case, and come back after the floor was calm again.

All this, combined with his impulsive nature, gives him the encouragement he needs to strike.

"You know, I've never been better," he says, grinning toothily. Then, in a split second, one of his arms shoots out, morphing into a razor sharp, twenty foot long blade. The next instant he spins, the blade coming around in a massive scything sweep, trying to bisect as many guards as he can catch before they know what's happening.