[Re: Introductions: Probably not necessary, though I won't stop you from doing so if you want.]
The party settles down to rest, everyone eating and drinking and relaxing.
Before heading in for the night, with some mediation between Gauronne and Leremy, Musashidan is healed of his lycanthropy: his limbs slowly revert back to their usual human shape, the gray fur sucking back into his body, revealing his normal pinkish flesh. Even his tail shrinks back into him; although the rip in his pants where it burst out is still there.
[Note: if any of the players object to this, let me know and it'll be altered faster than Season Nine of Dallas*.]
[For "tonight" I'll assume guard duty goes in alphabetical order: Ferron, Gauronne, James, Kit, Leremy, Musashidan, Reginald, Sarah and William.]
[Also, we have a new player and character joining us today: The Archivist will be played by Blueballs.]
During William's turn, he notices a commotion to the west; from out of the darkness, a wererat approaches. William goes to draw his sword, but before the wererat pounces it seems to slow and stand there in a daze. His eyes glaze over as his hairy shoulders slump, his long pink tail waving back and forth on the ground.
A tall, skinny guy with a scruffy, unkempt, disheveled look and most prominently dressed in an over-sized blue cloak that glitters in the party's light approaches with a very large book, which dwarfs his chest, clutched tightly to him as he dashes forwards to catch up to the wererat. The wererat appears to be obeying his commands for the moment, very slightly mimicking the young man's actions.
[The Male Wererat is currently being Commanded by The Archivist.]
[*If this is too obscure a pop culture reference for you, go to the Wikipedia page for Dallas (TV show), and search for "dream".]
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The Archivist blinks in a daze, and notices the party on guard.
ReplyDeleteHe waves cheerfully, and scrambles as he almost drops his book.
"Why hello there! I assume you're here about the whole 'evil' thing? I'm a little lost, mind if I join you?"
The rather absent-minded man strolls up to the group, sitting down and offering his hand to shake before anyone responds.
Noticing their curious gazes at his companion, he slaps his forehead.
"Oh, how rude of me, this is Grrarghgrllfrg. I call him Garg."
He motions to the rat-creature.
"They're quite nice when you just try talking to them, you know. If a little...unhygenic. I'm the Archivist. You could call me Archie if you like."
He pushes his slightly bent glasses back up his nose with the ball of his hand, smiling bemusedly.
Sarah stands up and go near Archie
ReplyDelete"Well, we are having a lot of new aditions to our equip, i think you can join us" say with a friendly smile
"What thing you like in here Archie? If you like, we can show you the exit if it is that what are you searching, oh sorry, my name is Sarah, nice to meet you, and you too Garg"
She go near the were-rat and pass a finger over his head, without any worry
"Like i said before, we didn't have any reason to think all "monsters" in here are agresive"
She goes back to Archie "Well, i hope we don't have problems and...ohhh" takes her phooto from her pocket"you saw him around here anytime???" *shows to Archie a photo of his brother, who is really similar to her"
The wererat stares at Sarah as she motions at it. He hops nervously from one foot to the other, looking at the archivist as if wanting permission to attack her, as it normally would.
ReplyDeleteThe archivist smiles slightly, but shakes his head.
"No, I don't need to find the exit, thank you. I'm here to impose some very firm sanctions on Count Vladimir. He has acted quite...impolitely."
He holds his glasses as he stares at the photograph.
"I'm sorry, I haven't seen this person. I'm sure he's around somewhere."
Archie tries to make a vague comforting noise, but it just sounds a bit like he has a cough.
Reginald startles awake from his dozing position, grabbing his staff from his lap and looking around. His eyes fall on the man approaching and the figure in front of him. Seeing the man control the creature, he thinks to stand and walk towards where Sarah is now petting the.... wererat? Yes, he could make it out clearly now, the sleep fading from his eyes. He grip remained firm on his staff, but his posture relaxed. There is something odd about this fellow, he thinks to himself, not bad, just... odd...
ReplyDelete"Remember Sarah, it is true that not all monsters are 'monsters,' but it is also true that not all creature, or people, are docile. Aggression knows no bias and, I believe, sometimes it is necessary. You may already understand this, but I feel it important to reinforce that aggression may at times be out of survival or fear, and that without the presence of this 'The Archivist,' Garg would certainly feel threatened enough to attack."
Reginald paused to bend down and pet Garg as well, displaying that he means him no harm, but turns back to Sarah, "So never let your guard down until you're sure you're safe, okay? Just because you lucked out with Ferron and I by our not posing a threat, doesn't mean you should let yourself be lax in your apprehension." He stands up and redirects his attentions to Archie.
"Now then, I am sorry for the initial semblance of distrust, I can assure you that I fully intend on welcoming you as these brave people have welcomed me, but given our locale I'm sure you can understand."
Reginald bows courteously, not losing grip on the staff politely positioned behind his back, and extends his right hand as he raises, "I am Reginald Falstaff. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. May I ask if you've name other than Archie or the Archivist, assuming of course that Archie is only a nickname? And what is it that Vladimir has done to deserve such an imposition? Forgive me, for I came here with Ferron out of sheer lack of a better place to go, and no nothing of this Vald's exploits..."
Reginald adds as an afterthought, "Also, sorry for my abruptness, but what's with the book?"
The archivist smiles widely.
ReplyDelete"Ah, all your questions are inter-related. For you see this-"
He drops the book and makes a panicked noise, picking it up and dusting it off before opening it.
"Is the Archive!"
The cover of the book reads 'The Archive of all most ufeful information between the heavenf and the earth'.
The inside of the book is...peculiar. Written in tiny, cramped letters, of all sorts of colour and style, is what appears to be vaguely-arcane gibberish. Every other sentence is referenced, and some of the references direct the reader to page numbers such as 'eleventysix' or 'ventytwelve'. Some of the writing is upside-down, or curls around the page in a loop, or even more bizarrely, seems to have been written vertically going down through the pages.
Flipping through the heavy pages, it is noted that some of the leafs contain only one word, or are transparent. Following a long and rambling string of references eventually leads back to where one started, leaving the reader feeling as though they understand less than when they began.
"It is the repository of all the combined knowledge of centuries of scholars and wizards. It is said that anything you could ever need to know lies between these covers. Unfortunately, it lacks an index. Or contents. Or any form of organisation at all."
The archivist sighs, and clasps the book tightly to his chest.
"I'm the latest person to be in charge of it, but I'm having some troubles getting it to do anything but set things on fire. I used to have a name, but it gets stricken from the record when you become the Archivist. And when wizards delete something they don't half-ass it. So now I'm just Archivist."
Archie hikes up his robe, which is gradually soaking up the moisture from the dungeon floor.
"Count Vladimir has failed to pay his wizard fees for the third time. I'm supposed to give him a very firmly-worded letter. Also, I'm pretty sure he's been killing people."
A look of slight unease crosses the archivist's face.
"I think I might need a sterner letter."
Will gets up rather confused, but listens cautiously to the wererat. Once finished he says "I would say that not only is he is killing people, hes trying to toy with them in the most cruel ways he can...by the way, since you seem to know something about this place, there is an area that has almost pitch black darkness on this floor. Do you know what is down there, or some way to "lighten the way?"?"
ReplyDeleteThe archivist waves gently at Will as he addresses the wererat.
ReplyDelete"Um, sorry, I'm over here? Garg doesn't talk much."
He flips through the book, stopping at a page containing an inscrutable diagram of a bee mating with a brick.
"Yes, Count Vlad has something of a history of...um, pranks. He got a misdemeanor for brutally slaughtering his drama tutor to get the lead in Hamlet.
Also once he turned the faculty to stone, carved them into a skull-shaped throne and tried to rally the students into an unstoppable magical army of destruction, obliterating everything in their path."
The archivist wafts at a small fire that had sprung up on the page while he was talking.
"There was a very stiff fine for that."
Archie's eyebrow raises as he notices Garg grizzling unhappily at the shining silver shield held by the party.
"Oh, that reminds me. I looked up magical darkness in the book, and according to 'Lembrant's Notes On Darkness and The Cruelty In My Soul, No You Shut Up Dad' they usually have a trigger somewhere nearby. I saw an odd panel to the northwest with some slots in. My book didn't fit, but that shield looks like it might go in the slot decorated like the sun. Maybe the sun is a symbol for light?"
He shrugs, and roots through his backpack, eventually coming up with ten rations worth of pot noodles and teabags, before sitting down to make a traditional student meal.