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etrayamemes2025-01-02 03:19 pm
etrayamods) wrote in etrayamemes2025-01-02 03:19 pm
TDM 006
 ⏵ arrival ⏴ Arrival is absolutely not normal this month. Instead of a hospital bed, you wake in a tunnel with a large group of other people. These are the residents. A woman’s voice in an earpiece hurriedly clues you in with an apology. I apologize; I had not planned to introduce you this way, but we are low on time. Please proceed down the hallway. For everyone else, coming in is much the same. The instruction goes out to head to designated areas immediately, where companion bots will escort the residents of Etraya down into the depths, the area beneath where much the same is explained.  ⏵ disrobing ⏴ The tunnel eventually opens directly into the foreroom of an expansive library, painted in marvelous hues and patterns with skylights far above. There are wizards milling about, bearded and holding tomes, quietly chatting amongst themselves. The reception area of the library has tall ceilings with equally tall doors Before you get too caught up in the scenery, a voice directs you forward. A gentleman, hunched and bespeckled craws out. "Make a line! Make a line, everyone! You cannot enter the library dressed as you are... Come forward and give me your name." The receptionist asks your given name and then hands over a box from underneath his counter. You can give him any name you want, he doesn’t seem to mind. It is tied with a tagged ribbon- labeling it accordingly. “The _____ robe of _______.”
As you read what the contents of the box may be, they form inside- Looking and behaving as your character expects them to. After all, magic is all in the wielder’s mind. Don your robes and enter the library.  ⏵ unfamiliar familiars ⏴ For those without a familiar (like one hatched from an egg not too long ago) you may borrow one from the library counter. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but they will all assist in the very important mission. As you roam the library, they will make little indications that you are closer or further from finding a piece of the pearl.
 ⏵ the task at hand ⏴ With robes donned and creature in hand, you must now complete your mission. Find the pieces of the shattered pearl. As you enter the library, you may notice that it’s all very dim. There’s oil lamps around the place that may be moved with you to assist in your journey if your robes do not already emit light. Break off and search the library. There is a directory at the front to point guests to all the different sections.
Each section looks enough like the last, though the books within have immense power. Pick up the wrong book, and you might conjure a dragon or a historical figure! You must persist and avoid making too much noise or breaking too many things. Or else the Librarian, a tall mass of knotted fabric will confiscate your robe and usher you back outside. Your name will be struck from the list, and you must pick a new one to re-enter the library to continue the search. You can try to fight back against him- he may be set alight with the lamp. But should you be starting fires in here? Any thread with 15 comments between you and another may be submitted to find a piece of the pearl. There are 20 pieces altogether, and we will determine if the mission was successful by March 28th. A post will go live on the OOC comm for this! This mission occurs out of time, similar to how the spaceship had. Meaning, those currently in game can experience these events any time between now, and March 14th. Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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[ He blinks, looking at the man. ] Do you want to see my van? Are you a car guy?
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Not really, but I know someone who is. If you ever want car opinions you can send them her way.
[ It feels weird bringing up Shaw in a conversation like this. He's still trying to bridge the gap of the two years she has on him. Is this something he can do? Would she mind?
He likes GorgugGorgug is a (probably) harmless kid and she might get a kick out of whatever van set up he has. ]no subject
[ And isn't it cool to learn? That much interests Gorgug, even though he doesn't have a vested interest in models beyond their pros and cons, and the types of modifications that people make to their own personalised vehicles--
but that's just the tinkerer inside him.
But their walking and talking has finally found them in the centre circle of the rows of aisles, which, given the time it took for them to get into it, speaks to their lengths. The lighting is dim, but there are placards that catch off John's lantern.
Gorgug is looking around at the options, curious. ]
...should we pick an aisle at random? [ He looks down at his toad, continuing to sit in his hands. ] ...are the animals supposed to work now?
[ Hello? Toad? ]
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If this was the Shaw he knew then he might not have bothered offering her name up, but there's something... friendlier about her. At least more willing to talk with people. Some time in two years she grew past her days of throwing out burner phones.
But they have a job to do. A "mission", no matter how ridiculous it is. John (gently) grabs his rat and holds it up to look at. It just looks back at him. ]
Maybe if we pick a direction they'll do something. Go ahead, whatever you feel like.
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He points (after carefully balancing his toad on a singular hand. ] Let's check there.
[ Sciences. Of course he wants to see what the library with mandatory magical robes offers in their science department! He walks over to it, near to the entrance, and starts...moving his hand with the toad on it in a circular motion. ]
Anything...?
[ It seems stupid. Or like Gorgug is performing a spell. And what happens for his antics?
...the toad shuffles, seems to be doing nothing--and then leaps, landing onto the side of the bookcase. But it also has nowhere to go, so when it croaks, it starts falling off backwards.
Gorgug grabs it in time, small 'ah ah ahhh!'s in the panic of it nearly dropping to the floor. ]
Don't do that! Just ribbit next time!
[ Gorgug is reprimanding this toad in the most hushed, fretful voice he can manage... ]
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Good catch. [ John's rat has started squeaking so he gives it a long look. ] I don't suppose you have a spell for speaking rat?
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[ He has never looked into this at all. His toad is wiggling in his hands though, so looking between the two animals they have on them-- ]
Should we let them go? On the floor? I don't know how this works.
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[ John lowers his rat to the ground where it decidedly looks at Gorgug's toad and starts chattering away, almost like it's trying to talk. ]
Might as well give it a shot.
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Gorgug is watching the pair, a squint to his gaze as is usual for him when he's concentrating (thinking, puzzle; his common state), and tries to help the situation but suggesting in a whisper, waving his hand, ] Find the pearl....
[ It's useless, of course. The two are plotting down there! ]
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Guess we should follow.
[ The rat leads them to a shelf where it stops and pointedly squeaks. Is this is what his life has come to? Following the directions of a rat? John picks it up and moves it around in front of the shelf like an echo locator. Clearly it has a destination in mind. Eventually it settled on a particularly fat tome which John retrieves and passes to Gorgug. He shines his glowing robe in the gap between the books on the shelf but finds... nothing. Unbeknownst to him the rat settled on finding bookworms first. ]
Nothing. Maybe these things are just a prank.
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Gorgug has the book in his hands by the time it reaches under their feet. It starts to croak loudly, though that also isn't as attention-grabbing as Mister Guy himself is. ]
Do the people here know why we're here? I don't actually know what this pearl does.
[ So Gorgug is trying to say, and he gets most of that out, except he feels something wet trying to climb up his leg, and-- it's on his leg!! He does a terrified yelp, something like a 'uwwAH', and does a hop as, frantically, he attempts to shake his leg. The book hits the ground hard, and John might just be able to grab Gorgug before he hits the ground (but please, mind that weight, John--he really is heavier than he looks!). What does also hit the floor is Gorgug's toad, slipping out his pant leg, and--
ah! There's a wiggly, wiggling worm that's been knocked out from the space between the spine and its hardback, and the toad slaps its tongue out to take it fully from its hiding space, gobbling it up. Success! ]
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Out of the corner of his eye John notices the toad's tongue dart out, but doesn't get a good look at what happened. ]
Did it just eat something?
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D-did it eat the bug? The books have bugs!
[ He sounds so panicked... but despite his panic, he's keeping his voice down, making it sound even more so like the whine it is. But Gorgug takes back his hand so he can put both on the ground and get up--all the while looking at his toad and the book warily. ]
This suuucks...
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[ It's not exactly mocking but it is... poking fun. John got over any aversion he had to bugs long ago, back when he was deployed. He bends down to pick the book up and flips through it a bit, seeing if there's more bugs; the toad watches in anticipation. ]
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[ It's said like a hissed whisper of disgust, that even the possibility of being picked on doesn't matter: Gorgug knows the truth. He is definitely going to stand here and not get in the way of John's checking, with the only checking he's doing is looking around him.
And it must be a magic kind of worm, when John flips over to a page, and right there in the middle--wiggle wiggle wiggle! The toad makes a deep sound, and if John brings it close enough, it'll show the length of its tongue to devour the poor wiggling thing!
(Gorgug here? He's just. Grimacing. Grimacing!) ]
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Pretty sure the gross bugs are gone now.
[ Yes, he is deriving amusement from this big kid being grossed out by bugs. ]
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[ The answer of a still-pouting (teen) young adult. Gorgug's toad, on the other hand, seems as pleased as it has this entire time, hopping close to John's feet for a time, as if it's about to stick by him as its new favourite person...!!
But then it turns, small rumbling noises in its toad-y throat, and begins--hopping. Down the aisle, farther in, and Gorgug watches it go (at a toad pace), then back to John. ]
... You can have it.
[ The toad. He can have the toad. Gorgug doesn't mind following the toad, but if this is going to lead them to more worms? Gorgug wants nothing to do with it!
But where is the toad trying to lead them? To the Geology section of science books, actually, with some even glowing slightly, their hardcovers not all of wood, but of peculiar stone-like material. Because you really need to be extra in a wizard library.
And what do you also need in a geology section? Rocks. Stones. There's plenty on the shelves and on the floor as they approach, of different shapes and materials. Behold. ]
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But he does reshelve the book and follow along. The rat comes back to them, and then scurries ahead, then returns, then leaves, clearly not patient with the pace of the toad. The pace is slow for John too with his long legs (and probably Gorgug for that matter), but he knows how to be patient and wait for it to hop along.
The geology section is fascinating. It's almost like a museum library hybrid. He knows better than to touch things, but he does take a moment to lean in and look at a deep blue stone that shimmers in the light from his robe, almost like the sun on water. That is, however, not the purpose of being here, so he only takes just a moment. ]
This would be a good place to hide something like a shard.
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[ This is Gorgug's conclusion to what they're looking at--when it comes to the rocky mess on the floor. The books might be cool, but Gorgug isn't naturally interested in literature unless he knows what they are. And he's too busy looking at the utter mess of the aisle end they've reached. His toad is jumping around, croaking deep from its throat.
It's a snap remark, incredulous, and he looks a little embarrassed for it after. Trying to make it sound less snarky by: ] This is on purpose, right? This has to be on purpose?
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Either wizards have a weird sense of organization or someone threw a tantrum. Does make it harder to find things.
[ But the rat and toad are navigating the mess on the floor, continuing further into the section; the toad even slower than before, the rat nimbly scurrying around and around. John doesn't exactly want to handle the toad but Gorgug clearly isn't going to take further responsibility of his pet and John wants to get a move on. So with great reluctance he bends down and picks the toad up. The rat, understanding what has occurred, scampers off. ]
Hopefully we can pick up the pace.
[ Even if he does have to carefully step through the field of rocks. ]
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...uselessly, considering searching for magical signatures for a stone you've never seen before and while being inside a magical library is about as helpful as their mess of rocks, but Gorgug keeps them down as he ventures forward into the first scattered layer of stones.
John will have to take the toad closer to the pile on for the toad to react much, in which it'll try struggling against his hold so it can jump onto the pile; nearly slipping, but managing to find its webbed footing, and trying to jump around a particular area where it's getting Signs. Gorgug, regardless of if John does this, is still considering how to approach the mess and finding their needle in its haystack. John's robe is a good source of light, but-- ]
Do we need more light?
[ Gorgug can see where their light source doesn't reach well, but the colour goes from his vision in the darker parts. He's not going to be able to tell one stone from another. ]
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Gorgug's goggles are a curiosity, John has to wonder if they're somehow night vision, or have another magical property. Maybe not night vision if he's asking for light. ]
The animals seem interested in this pile. Do your goggles help you find anything?
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[ Hold on, he's still trying to examine the pile. ]
...
...there's too much magic. All the books-- I don't have a signature on the pearl, what it-- there's a lot of minerals and energy.
[ It's a clusterfuck, and he can't signal anything out without knowing what he's signalling out beyond 'a pearl'. He sighs, bringing up his goggles from over his eyes. ]
We might have to dig. And be careful. You can't trust magic anything.
[ Not even magic libraries. Who knows what these books are going to do to them! ]
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He crouches down at the pile and picks up a orangey rock before instantly dropping it. ]
Too bad we don't have sticks, that one was hot.
[ Suddenly he's a lot more warry of touching the rocks. ]
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They've got hot rocks? I want a hot rock. [ Said, in the most disappointed tone... life is so hard. ] Have I got anything... ... in my bag?
[ He starts to mumble, and he's lowering down, pulling off his backpack with its cool Japanese biker logo for GREASE LIGHTNING on the side. He undoes the upper zip, but something at one of his sides pokes against the floor, and with a small murmur and pulling at his robe, ah-- ]
Here-- it's part stick. [ What's part stick? The double-sided throwing axe Gorgug just unhooked from his utility belt to hold up for John.
He wants to keep looking in his bag to see if he's got something good (maybe for the hot rock) for dealing with these potentially dangerous rocks. But he'll help soon, he swears...!! ]
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