The Library

[Alta]

Home Alone

“We've got to get used to each other. Missions aren't quite as simple as it seems, Ex.” Lux smiled at the kid. “You know, Andre in the back there?” Lux tilted his head in Andre's direction, “He keeps himself distant, but that man helped to save my life. There's a lot more to all of us than first impressions.”

When he came to think of it, Lux still had to thank Salia. He hadn't seen her since the party and it wasn't like he had the time to speak to her there. Lux, probably like everyone present, wanted to get to the bottom of the attack. It wasn't as much revenge as it was a need to know why. He didn't look the part, but hearing names of people Lux once knew to have died during the attack had been very sad news for Lux. At least, he had been able to save Alexi and Emily... As well as the guests.

[ArvinLarn129]

Allen Marks

Allen noticed the terse silence as the group headed inside the Museum. His fellow Holders didn't show it but he could feel the paranoia, especially from Salia and Nuka. It was as if his teammates were expecting a trap to be sprung at them, not that he was any different himself. The receptionist had said that Dr. Valenci was in the Magitechnology section, somewhere near the heart of the Museum. He kept silent as they made their way through the other sections of the Library, his eyes wandering occasionally around the large hallways. The scale of the Museum was definitely impressing the young Rook, something that was further pointed out when Nuka had asked about it. However, it added to the sense of eerieness and there weren't a lot of people apart from the occasional scholar. It had only been a few minutes when they finally approached a door with a brass number "8" on it.

“Alright, here we are. Let’s see what this Dr. Valenci is like, and see what he wants. Nothing bad should happen, but I want everyone to be careful, just in case. Understood?” Salia asked, prompting Allen to nod in response.

"Wait, we're all going in? Wouldn't it be a bit intimidating for all four of us to 'ask him some questions'?" Adeline queried, her voice no higher than a stage whisper. Her fears were unfounded, however, when the man in question stepped forward and introduced himself. Allen could see why Dr. Valenci was the one they were looking for, the man looked and acted like someone who was doing exactly what they wanted to do in life. The Rook listened attentively as he explained Sub-Section Eight's purpose which surprised him because he never did like History back in School. Or maybe it was because of the teachers who could drone on for so long that Allen would lose interest in the lesson? Who knew.

Allen raised an eyebrow at the mention of recent artifacts coming from the tombs. He knew what it meant to have respect for the dead and to see a man who would to so enthusiastically about raiding the resting place of a person who had already left this Earth for artifacts well... it felt a little unsettling to the Rook. He shelved those thoughts as Salia asked Dr. Valenci about any information vital to their mission, which the good doctor was forthcoming with. He moved next to Salia as the doctor mentioned something about Golems, it had piqued his interest seeing as he had never heard of one before.

"What can you tell us about the Golems?" Salia said, as if to voice out Allen's thoughts.

"Specifically, on what they are and how can we defeat them, if they are hostile that is." He added.

This would turn out to be an enlightening experience, hopefully.

[Kestrel]

“The golems, you say? Not much, I am afraid.” Dr. Valenci tilted his glasses and looked at Allen. “And no, young man. When I was there, they remained still. Sleeping, as it were. It was after my departure they awoke. There never was a need for our party to engage them.”

Turning back to the party, the doctor corrected his glasses and tie, “I summarise from the records, that they were not intended as guardians. To our knowledge, the combat in those times were fought by the holders of then, not by artificial creatures. Golems were household tools, they were strong certainly, but could not be moved quickly. Their efficiency as guards would be very low, since they could not catch an intruder. I have of course heard about the events following my departure in Bihar, but golems attacking the village? It is a strange phenomenon I cannot explain. There is very little we know about Bihar, still.”

[Valeric]

Adeline Tourret

Adeline listened to the man speak quietly, her mind trying to work out any ounce of information that may be useful for their ultimate goal. Dr. Valenci gave her a good impression- a respectable man with a great passion for his work. Whatever consequences his excavation in Bihar had caused, it did not seem like he had any intentions of causing them. However, Adeline wished that he would show a bit more responsibility over the matter.

It was unfortunate that the professor had no immediate information that could help solve the golem mystery. His explanation had covered most of what she had already gathered, although she had to disagree with him on one comment: that the golems were poor guardians. With their unrecorded ability to change forms and split into smaller variants, combined with the cramped quarters of the labyrinth, they were a dangerous force that could not be underestimated.

Adeline crossed her arms and looked around the place. There were various artifacts held behind glass display cabinets. Some caught her eye immediately, as they bore the same markings as the carvings in the labyrinth.

"Dr. Valenci, would you please show us the objects you retrieved from Bihar?"

[Lyzan]

Glancing over his shoulder to the Rook who'd just reached his side, Ramza caught sight of Emily. He studied her seemingly worried expression for a moment before his attention returned to the path ahead as he listened to her comments. So, the man thought, he wasn't alone in wondering just what deformity these rats may be mutated into due to being in contact with the chemical he believed to be highly explosives, at least under a temperature outside of it's holding.

"All I know about these Radiana is that they're highly explosives," he stated his thoughts. "Aside from that, I'm just as clueless as the rest of us.. Unless of course if you could recall anything from the Resourcing Department.. An article from the archives, perhaps?" he asked in hope to possess at least some idea of what they might face. "I don't seem to recall anything from the Intelligence branch so far although I am still trying to remember.. For now, we could only keep our senses open.."

Their scurrying tiny paws were the first thing he'd heard before the glows from dozens pairs of rodents' eyes were seen. Shroom's nose twitched as he protested, his pace quickened towards them instead of away. He refused to abandon his first task without a fight. With the breeze coming from his rear, the minion knew there must've been another opening. Shroom started breaking into a run as if to charge towards the herd of rats. He shook his head then, spreading his Spores to let it get carried by the wind through the narrow space, washing over the approaching territorial threat.

His eyes spotted another route to take but the frontline of the bucked toothed pests were already covering half of it as he approached. Shroom kicked the snout of the closest aside as it struggled to breath. The rat was sent spinning over the ground back into the others, barring at least half of the advancing group. But the numbers of their approach made them cover the gap like waters filling up a hole. Shroom then punched another, forcing the rat to plant it's teeth into the ground, halting it's advance abruptedly, bringing it's hind up to block the others behind from climbing over. He took the opportunity to then slipped into the hole towards another passage. But it wasn't without a struggle as one of the rats managed to scratch his arm. Shroom grunted at the pain before he break into a run. Failure wasn't in his nature. He will make it through, the survivalist told himself. When his head turned back to the front, he noticed he'd went past another passage-way but had decided to keep on the current track. However, he'd made an error when he ignored his instincts. Shroom skidded to a halt as another wave of rats turned around the corner in front of him. The minion turned back and headed for the path he'd earlier spotted. By this time, the earlier gang of rodents have caught up to him despite being a couple of pace slower due to having some difficulty in sucking air into their lungs. Nonetheless it was a tight squeeze.

Soon, while panting and more nose twitching, Shroom managed himself out of the situation. He'd a hand clutched around his injured arm, grunting at the damage suffered. Realizing he was but an easy target, sort of a mouse in a maze, Shroom thought he should find another way towards his goal. Just then, he saw a hole above the vent he's in. The minion leapt up and climbed, wincing at the pain he had to endure.

Meanwhile, back with the main group, Pixie strolled among the Holders, somewhere between Ramza and Rugratz. She'd been quiet and have been observing the man in charge of her. Pouting since they'd entered the sewers. Obviously, she wasn't fond of being in such a place. Aside from the worry of having her white attire dirtied, there was also a sense of uselessness. At least the little guy and the giant have been given important task whereas she was placed in between the group as if she'd needed protection. Also, there was a hint of jealousy as her eyes shifted from her man to the back of Emily. Yet she remained silent although the same couldn't be said within her thoughts as mischief began manifesting.

At the back of the party, Rugratz was happily fulfilling his duty, delighted. As they turned around a corner, the lumbering creature glanced sideways as he ensured his nails had dug into the walls as deep as he could. His pair of dark seed-like eyes then caught something moving not too far back. Rugratz first grunted, loud enough for the Holder nearest to hear before he paused in his tracks for a brief moment.

"Something moves... behind us..." his voice rumbled as he turned his head and then resumed walking. "Something moved.." the giant of a minion repeated, his voice was more to himself rather than to reach the front man.

[Fallenreaper]

Emily felt the air move as Ramza’s eyes found her, Cerberus’s growling in her ear made it clear the Dragon holder was looking at her and only made her roll her eyes at her jealousy spirit’s streak. The hissing of snakes was soon silenced out by her mind, shutting him off like a valve to a spray of water. Her arms held close as if cutting off the chill of unease that crawled up her spine making it seem rat feet were pit-pattering up her back. Her head jerked to the side, half expecting to see one of the foul vermin traveling up her face to bite it off and scolded herself for such an idea. For scaring herself without reason and came to realize she could feel then Cerberus’s stare upon her figure.

His intense eyes bore down, seeking to tear down her barriers and force the fear to the surface for all to see. No…she wouldn’t let him do this to her, make her feel guilty and terrible for hiding her emotions inside. Not now, when everyone was jittery from the mission making it harder to bear then it already was. Lux was talking to the recent kid in this group, the one that seemed hot and cold in Emily’s opinion towards the back of the group while Andre hadn’t been seen since they descended. She guessed he was at the back of the pack not that she looked that direction with Rugratz back there. That was fine with her honestly as much as she wanted to pretend she could forget the incident with the party, it was hard to trust someone that gave her more reason not to and she couldn’t afford ignoring the signs this time. Last time was costly.

Emily felt tired in a rush of lost energy, be it from the mental stress or the fact she was over paranoid for nothing. Not everything would attack on sight and she herself was proof of this. Her body leaned up against the filthy wall, not cared if it left traces of who knew what on her back while the cold clammy chill swept into her muscles, dulling the feeling. Ramza’s words overpowered Cerberus’s bitter growls and hisses in her head, hushing her spirit as she turned back to the Rook.

"All I know about these Radiana is that they're highly explosives. Aside from that, I'm just as clueless as the rest of us.. Unless of course if you could recall anything from the Resourcing Department.. An article from the archives, perhaps? I don't seem to recall anything from the Intelligence branch so far although I am still trying to remember.. For now, we could only keep our senses open.." Spoke Ramza, both hope and wonder in his voice that searched for something, anything she could give.


Looking in his eyes, her ears took in his words with serious consideration absorbing them. She had a chance to search in her department before but with the jittery nerves of her current situation, anything remotely she stored away had slipped her mind at the moment,” Give me a moment to settle my mind. I need to think for a moment to see if I remember anything.”


Nice to know she's standing beside a bomb, she thought, something to just help her want to turn tail and run the other way. Why did she feel like she was in some sick game? A piece to be moved and manipulated at the pleasure of greater beings? She almost scoffed at the notion. The gods never worried about the feelings of those below them, why would they start? Her fingers tighten as Emily realized she was a nervous mess, the party and now this would only add more to her troubles but it seemed the idea of there being expolsive matter all around didn't bother her as much as it should. It would have exploded by now wouldn't it? Or did take something much more violent to make it go boom?

Her finger pressed to her nose bridge while her eyes closed, face scrunched up in thoughts. Her breathing fought to remain at a steady pace, even with the sensation of eyes boring into her from Pixie combined with the snarling of Cerberus’s features at Ramza only seemed to give her a headache. Focus…she told herself, Emily let the sounds melt away leaving a deadened silence inside her head. Blackness focus on the darkness she coaxed herself letting her body relax, the muscles smoothed over as images of her moments from the sign up started to weakly emerge. It grew in strength the more she focused on it with each detail vivid as if she was doing it right then and there instead of trapped beneath a city in the sewers, letting it going through the words she scanned for anything that would leap out at her from the recollection.

Cerberus’s low threatening growls ceased before turning to Emily, his ears perk reaching in her deaf ones eager to pry them open with no success. She wasn’t letting him. She shut herself complete off to dive completely into her memories, resorting them and scanning over them over in desperation to seek any recollection of useful information. Anything at all. He knew her in this moment, how she was and even as a child strives to be useful but would she. Unlike Emily, Cerberus paid no attention to the words finding them pointless and just too much of a bother to memorize. This mission was just a brief passing that would soon be forgotten and though he couldn’t remove the images of Emily’s and Ramza’s night together, the idea of their skin touching made his fur bristle on end. He tolerated it for her. Unable to help, Cerberus just stood there waiting with staring eyes as Emily leaned against the wall blocking everything out of her mind including him.

[tirgesfu]

Nuka turned to face Dr. Valenci as Adeline asked to see his treasures, those items he took from the ruins of Bihar. He watched the Knight. There was something in her young eyes. Maybe it was just the reflection of her mind at work. She had been to Bihar. After their questions to the Doctor he had some for her. But then anything she knew she would most likely easily share. Is that true in the Doctor’s case?

Nuka did not hear anything that made him think the scholar held any information back. He just didn’t have enough. Nuka turned again to the glass case he stood by. It could be none of this was from that dig or those graves. Still the treasures were lined up and labeled. Bits of someone’s past trying to set the science of some culture. Nuka looked close trying to see anything like a Golem anything that felt connected. They were mostly pieces of clay with drawings, no wait they were runes. Nuka bent closer.

Runes. Nuka was not as knowledgeable of the old symbols as he should be, but he knew them when he saw them. He glanced up to Adeline and then to Salia. He said nothing. Let the Doctor answer first. Let the young ones ask the questions.

[Kestrel]

“The items we found?” Dr. Valenci asked.

“We are currently setting up the exhibition, I could show you, but at the moment you cannot closely investigate.” The doctor said, visibly impressed, wondering if all librarians started out as young as Adeline. “There is a reveal tomorrow, you are of course welcome but it will be crowded. Alternatively, I can let you in before or after the normal hours. Although,” The doctor shifted his glasses down his nose, to look Adeline straight in the eyes “You must understand that this will be for your mission's purposes only and your report aside, you mustn't mention this... What is the word... Favour, to anyone. Many journalists have been trying to get a... Scoop, yes, of the artefacts on display before the exhibition. It would be bad publicity if they found out.”

[ArvinLarn129]

Allen Marks

The gears in Allen's head started turning, the more questions they asked then the more they would understand. His Instructors had drilled it into his head to be as voracious with regards to knowledge of the Mission as possible. The amount and quality of Intel given to the Holders could make or break their Mission. Unfortunately, it seemed that not even Dr. Valenci could give a ready explanation so they would have their work cut out for them. He sighed mentally, a feeling in his gut telling him that this would be a long Mission.

'Nothing worthwhile in Life is easy, child.' Aerin said bemusedly, noting her Holder's impatience.

Golems were used as manual labour, not as tools of war. So why would they deviate from their intended function and attack a village?

'Well, we'd need to ask first if golems were controlled or not. If it's the former then the most likely explanation would be that someone learned how to control these things and used them on the Village for their own agenda.' He mused.

'Or perhaps these constructs were left behind by their owners a long time ago and a runaway Spirit took possession of it?' His Spirit added her two cents.

He turned to look at Adeline as the Knight had inquired Dr. Valenci about the artifacts which he had "liberated" from Bihar's tombs. 'Maybe those "golems" were the guardians of the tombs, just like that one book with the cowboy and the archaeologist-lady.' He thought idly, nostalgia getting the better of him before he caught himself as Dr. Valenci started speaking once more. His suspicion started growing as the genial professor explained his precarious situation. The media, despite it's nature, couldn't be that voracious. (Could they?) It's as if the professor was trying to hint about the possibility of a theft which only served to feed the Rook's growing paranoia.

He turned to look at Nuka who was glancing closely at one of the glass cases. His curiosity got the better of him so he decided to approach the senior Holder, lightly tapping him in the shoulder as he whispered:

"What've you got there Nuka?"

[Hedya]

Remia Kyrie

Remia was listenin to the ongoing conversation. Was the weather truly that bad? She had never minded cold too much. Of course, it was true it was much colder than the place where they came from anyway, but... she wasn't feeling as down as some of the others were. "I say they're not crazy nor foolish. Just desperate. If I knew I was going to lose, and there was only one way to escape, I would take it anyway, right? If your -A route- is to die, and your -B route- is to escape throguh this place, which one would you choose?"

She didn't want to make herself look smart, or anything like that. But she thought she was right. She would not want to underestimate their enemies. They were desperate, so they could make wrong decisions, but that didn't mean they couldn't make right decisions at some point as well... The waitress came back with their drinks, and Remia took a sip from her hot coffee, and politely asked for a little bit of milk and sugar, before she spoke, once the waitress wasn't there anymore. "What other options do we have? None, right?"

If that was the case, then it was not a case of deciding whether they had to do that or not. Rather, it was a matter of not wasting time and going for it. She looked at the rest of her partners, who remained rather quiet. She was worried about them, in a way. She wasn't the strongest person of the group, and even if she refused to accept maybe she was the weakest, she knew she would need the other's help.

____________________


Salia Kyrie

Salia decided not to judge the man too harshly. She understood, after all, the obsession with the past. If the man was the way she thought he was, he basically wanted to understand the past. And a greater understanding of the past gives you a better understanding of the future as well. Soon, Allen joined the conversation, asking the man about the Golems. He questioned on what they were, and how they were to be defeated. Salia didn't hold a particularly high hope of having those questions answered.

And certainly, Dr. Valenci did not have much information on them. Golems that remained still, as if sleeping. Or rather... "Not -sleeping-, but rather... -unawakened-. There is a difference in that". Salia added to the conversation. Her words may not have been understood by all of them, but she was confident she was right. If they had been sleeping, that would mean they could awake at any moment. But they were unawakened, waiting for something specific that would retrieve them, from their deepest slumber.

"Thank you for the history comments, Dr. I can tell everyone in the group appreciates them" the rook stated. "But I believe these golems could be dangerous if they attacked unsuspecting victims, right? Their sheer size and endurance would be enough to startle the untrained inhabitants of a village. But people who know how to fight should be able to take them down. That is, in theory, right?

Salia remained quiet for a while, letting the others handle the questions. It was a reasonable thing to do. While they questioned the man, she could focus on thinking, and making her guesses about what was going on, or in what way they should continue their mission. It was during that time that she noticed there were runes in the room. Salia looked at Nuka, and saw something in his eyes. He had probably noticed as well.

"We will take on that offer, Dr. Rest assured what we see will not leave our mouths, and shall only be used for our report, and mission purposes. I hope you understand this is a very important issue, and any information we can gather will be welcome. Therefore, we prefer to see this today, as tomorrow, with all the crowd, would make our process really slow. Can we trust you will show us everything you have? I would hate for you to hide any item, saving it for tomorrow, knowing as you know the importance these items may hold on the golem situation."

"There can be various reasons why these golems are running wild. First" Salia rose one finger. "These golems may be controled by someone. If the golems had a control system back in the day, this could be likely. If they didn't, there is still a chance someone learnt a way to control them anyway. Second" the holder rose a second finger "they may have some pre-programmed orders, and the presence of the village may interfere with those orders, somehow. I know this is vague, but it's certainly an option.. and third" the rook rose a third finger "they could simply be running wild. I don't think it's the right option, but we shouldn't discard it..." she added to what Allen had said.

"In any case, if we are to see the items now, I suggest..." she wouldn't finish her sentence, as she saw Allen approaching Nuka. Yes, perhaps it was a good moment to check on the runes.