In the Library with the Crimson Pen
Log Info
- Title: In the Library with the Crimson Pen
- Emitter: Cryosanthia
- Characters: Cryosanthia, Sabina, Braelnoir
- Place: A14: Quill's Repose, City Library
- Time: Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 7:00 PM, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 9:30PM, then asychronously
- Summary: Cryosanthia, Sabina and Braelnoir meet up in the Quill's Repose to look for clues. Specifically, to examing the Crimson Pen, which Akoniril Belvadae, Emissary from Charn, crypticaly described as being very enjoyable for her and her fiance in a letter before they vanished. As the Crimson Pen is chock full of purple prose and unlikely romantic situations, the girls do their best to stay on task without descending in frivolity. They still descend. A lot is researched, though whether it is relevant remains to be seen.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A14: Quill's Repose, City Library *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
A large hallway, circular in design, is what lies beyond the large doors that let visitors in to the public library. Two guards stand in these doors at all times, employees of the city Watch, hired by the library for protection and to prevent theft of books. The head librarian is more of the same--a retired Watch member, herself: Lady Octagna is a great oruch whose lined face bears with it, as well, the scars of old battle. These days, she battles over books and the impudence of Society, Engineering, and Temple students alike, who spend long hours toiling within the Library's walls and basement.
A sign above proclaims the loan of books to be illegal, and that books may not travel further than the doors. Loud noises are hushed by the Lady Octagna, whose grand stature is said to be second to none. Her movements are rarely heard, though they are often seen, marking her quite agile in her elderly age. Rumors, too, place her as a curmudgeon'd ally of Madame Gelfure, the two of them going back years, with a tradition of lunches or the occasional breakfast.
The hall has marble floors, and two staircases lead upwards, one to the left and another to the right. Bright blue carpets cover the steps to lend to the quiet atmosphere of the great library. Straight ahead of the entryway, a tall archway leads into the main library, with study tables between rows and rows of books. The upper levels contain the city records to the left, and the right is a closed off area for library staff.
The symbols of Navos, the Scribe, may be seen in the markings of columns, in the relief of marble. Marble is the prevalent building material, giving the rooms a regal, official and solemn feeling. A few benches line the walls of the circular hall, and a desk sits to the right of the entrance, a secretary always attending it to help guests, even late into the night. The occasional Seer or Temperance may also be seen, offering advisement and wisdom within the great halls.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Cryosanthia 6'9" 291 Lb Sith-Makar Female A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman. Sabina 5'4" 130 Lb Human Female Tsuran woman of dark hair and green eyes. Braelnoir 5'11" 146 Lb Human Female A tall, pale Acanian woman, branded in silver. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Okay.
Just when it seems life has finally calm enough that one can take a minute, breathe, and start to relax, something goes wrong. Such is life.
This particular something is the disappearance of one Akoniril Belvaded, Arch-Priestess of Taraa, and emissary from Charn. Also been known to finance an adventurer or two. Officially, she was called back to Charn. Unofficially... well, she has many reasons to hide, any could have caused it, but she left clues, and tracks.
First, there's her known residence. She's staying in an inn room in the noble quarter. It's been sealed off, pradically speaking, because she's a high level cleric of Taara and may have left traps for the unwary or to ensure her belongings would only fall into the right hands.
Second, thre's the Charnish embassy's office she had. They do have one here, even if it's relatively secret and non-descript. It is staffed and guarded by a handful of Charn's finest in Alexandria. It is considered unlikely she would've left anything there, but ... she *might* have.
There's the to-do about the Crimson Pen she offered as a clue. She did frequent the Alexandrian library and enjoyed, it is said, reading many of the Crimson Pen novels contained within. This would mean having to read a bunch of Crimson Pen novels there to see if she left a clue to where she hid 'whatever' that you're supposed to find.
It's also likely she had other residences in the city. Finding them wouldn't be EASY, but it is doable.
Of all of Akoniril's 'friends' assembled, Cryosanthia was the only one that expressed an interest and would admit to reading and enjoying the Crimson Pen. Thus, she's in the City Library, looking through editions. The white lizard has taken a collection from the shelves, and has them spread out on a table. She has moved a lounging chaise nearby. This will be some reading.
Bina has not been in the city for a long while. Recently back after a long waking trip overland having been urged to take cover in the city from wights.
She's sought out Cryosanthia, tracking her down by asking here and there and learning she's taken herself to the library. A sure sign there is something afoot.
She winds her way through the library and spies the white one on her lounge and smiles, walking softly over and peering over her shoulder. "Oooo.. Crimson pen, I see." She says softly as she's in a library.
"Sabina!" Cryosanthia says, her voice rising with recognition, turning with a grin to hug the smaller sorceress. "This one is glad to see you. It's been ages!"
Her head tilts in the direction of the books. "It's not what you think. The fate of the world might depend on something in them."
Bina laughs..and then covers her mouth as she gets a look for being too loud. Brows are raised at Cryo's warning about the end of the world. "I..see. Folk are in dire need of writing materials to urge them to procreate? Or.. is there something else going on I have no idea about? I've been finding I'm very out of touch these days."
"Take a seat, I'll explain," Cryo says, waving at a chair as she moves her own closer. She adjusts her clothes after she sits up. She leans her head to one side, "I'm out of the loop also, with the nestlings. I've spent most of my time in Mictlan, nesting. I've heard of things, there were problems with werewolves, also with wights, and a change magically, a few weeks ago, you might have felt it."
"This... is more a favour. Someone important vanished and she left a clue, her fiance, about how she loved reading the Crimson Pen with him." She spreads her arms, "So... I'm looking for something. I don't know what. I have a few ideas..."
"This one has been determining where to start."
Bina sits in the offered seat and listens intently to her friend speak about this new situation. "I did sense some sort of change. And the wights are why I find myself back int he city." She then nods about the clue being left behind. "Who is it that's vanished? And why did they leave clues in books.. or more specifically, in the Crimson Pens?"
Cryo looks left and right, closing her eyes and concentrating. Her head bobs a few times, "Here, I need to cast this first." Arcane gestures follow, her fingers tracing symbols in the air, a sparkling of lights moving along her scales, lighting up the snow'sith. A shimmering trace of energry surrounds them, then fades.
"Mage's Private Sanctum. The person is Akoniril Belvade, and she is a diplomat from Charn, and she's an evil priestess. She's also the political opponent of a much worse Charnese who is taking over. Grauthis the Grievor."
The whitescale shakes her head, "For reasons I'm not entirely sure why, she asked Selddan to help her, he asked us to help him, and now she's gone missing. I don't know why she would leave something in the Crimson Pen, but her note suggested it."
"What to look for, it did not. Just a where."
Bina blinks and then nods. "I know Akoniril. I've had several encounters with her. In interesting woman. And ..I think I can see why she would choose such a thing to hide a clue." She smirks. "Her sense of humor is a tad off, if I remember correctly. Have you looked for magical notes? Hidden pages and the like?"
"Yes," Cryo bobs her head again, "Well she is. I don't trust her and I think we're all being manipulated, but... it's one of those things. I'm certain she's evil, she must be, she's a priestess of Taara, her goddess is evil. Except I never saw her doing anything evil directly and everything else she hinted at has checked out."
Her hand moves across the books, "And no I haven't, used a detect magic to look for things. Maybe I am over complicating things. I thought Akoniril meant there was something personal in the stories we'd recognize. It might just be she wrote some magic messages."
"So let's try that." She starts casting a spell.
Bina nods at Cryo's description of the priestess. "Yes. I never saw her do any evil either. I believe she was more interested in the aspects of power and control. And she could have ment personal stories as well. But those would be very vauge I'd think?" She too cast the simple orson to detect magic. She looks over the books and then starts looking through them page by page.
Meanwhile, as sorcery scours for secrets spliced into smut, another soul enters the den of learning, one, perhaps ill-fitting the image of scholastic pursuits.
A battered, if generally upbeat woman of silver hair and martial accoutrements makes her way through the door seeking someone.
Indexing her scythe to it's blade-down posture (ignore the fine ruddy scabs collected in the corners and etchings of the bade, well, and her armour, too, and the bruises, the scrapes... )
Brae rolls her neck to crack some of the tension out, and begins to make her way along the aisles to seek her sister.
A few gestures, another swirl of tiny lights, and Cryo's eyes are glowing. "Secret Page, or Sepia Snake Sigil, or explosive runes I guess, should all show up."
Her head turns, she spots her sister's shadow and profile and rises to embrace her. "Brae, hi. This one is glad you're here."
She grins, "Feel like catching up on your Crimson Pen?"
Bina looks up and offers Brae a smile and a nod. "Nice to see you again." She tells the weapon wielding warrior. "Welcome to the hunt for clues hidden in the words of books." She chuckles. "Though I'm tempted to look under seats and tables as well."
Braelnoir catches the movement and familiar hiss of her sister's scales caressing furniture and turns into the embrace.
Ok, little hitch in her breath there, but she huffs out a cheery laugh and enfolds her scale sister in her arms, "I find me a strappin' soul, may do ta have some new tricks ta try!" she retorts with a wink.
She looks over Cryo's shoulder from the hug and smiles in some surprise at, "Bina, hey, luv, 'ow ya been?"
She shrugs and muses, "I think I need some more context....?"
"Well, we're looking for clues..." Cryo sits, shaking her head. "Akoniril made it a point to mention reading the Crimson Pen, bef"ore she vanished and it's something. It might be a series of stories by a Charnese Author, it might be about certain characters we recognize, like a paladin, might be from the point of view of an evil priestess. Anything odd."
"Or, something magic and glowing." The whitescale is opening a few books and flipping the pages. "After Sabina's idea I was going to look for stories that have a sith'makar in them and see if there differences in that story between publications."
Reading randomly, essentially.
Bina chuckles and nods as she too looks for magical signatures in the pages they look through. "Looking for something that stands out will be harder then we think, though. Most of these stories tend to stand out one way or another. Example.. here's one. 'The room was large and dark. The far end cast in gloom that could not hide the strange implements that reminded her of a torturer's room. The playground a Charnese delight of sin.'" She giggles. and looks around trying to quiet herself.
Braelnoir arches an eyebrow before another shrug precedes her propping her scythe, blade down, nearby and settling into a seat to take up one of the naughty tomes (maughtomes?) to join the search.
"What's the most sugar an' sunshine book in the pile? Mebbe we look fer a " she makes airquotes, "pure protag'nist, here."
"Ah. Hmm. Well it's not 'A Maidservant's Story'. That's absolutely not what you think it is." Cryo scans the titles in the small stacks she's collected, her head turned sideways to more easily read. "Some of the titles are ironic, like 'It's always Sunny in the Jade Isles'. It isn't, they're all these occult jungle sacrifice stories. Others like... 'Beautiful End'... they're all, yes, beautiful umm... endings."
The whitescale is shaking her head, "they are so hard to take seriously. Yours sounds like a possibility, 'Bina."
"Needle in a haystack. There could be a clue in one but it would have to specifically name a place or describe it in detail. Something in detail." Sabina keeps scanning through the pages looking for magic. "So..chances are it would be something newer? As in something written and published durring her stay here. I'd think? "
"Hmm." is Brae's initial vocalization, but it's followed up with, "Leavin' aside some maidservants I've run into..."
She leaves the implications in the air, then starts to look through her first subject '... AND KEEPS ON TICKIN'
Red embossed.
Elipses and all.
She gets a couple pages in and snorts, "Hope'author knows more about nookie n'e does siegin'..."
A couple pages more, "... pert bosom heaved in a shakin' breath as the lone warrior leapt from th'encroachin' tower like an oiled, bronze tiger..." she recites, then sorta sighs and dives deeper into the text.
"Ya never use a tower t'cross a moat..." she murmurs, "Don't care how heavin' yer boozies are, it don't work that way....!"
This earns a strange look from the whitescale, "there does seem to be an exceptional amount of that in various stories. Of course, this one has no idea if any heavin' description is accurate."
Cryo looks at Sabina, "I'd say so, within the last two years, that's when Akoniril arrived in Alexandria. She would have to be very forward thinking to have started before." The whitescale says, writing something down, "These are my stories, so you don't have to look at them. Unless you think she changed them across editions and I was supposed to notice that because writers keep re-reading themselves whenever they're published."
Cryo shrugs, "Could be a story of a mul'niessan shepherd boy that takes over an army, or something that sounds like it's about Serene or Mikilos. I'm still not sure which the 'sweetest' is, but as the exact opposite of a dark priestess, it's a good idea."
She snorts a small laugh, "or we look through all the bodice rippers for the worst description. No! Wait, no, we shouldn't do that." Her head shakes again, "None of the 'Hollow Ea' either. It's an ersatz Am'Shere and none of the makari are treated right. We wear clothes. We can say words that don't start with 'Sss'."
Bina brings in her shoulders to press her breasts together and upwards in a 'heaving' motion briefly and then chuckles. "I'd say many writers do not know waht they are writing about when it comes to specifics." She keeps flipping through pages, "Do you think she wrote it herself or had it written for her? She'd have to have influence to have it written with the information she wanted."
An odd little smile touches the corner of Brae's lips as she brushes her hair back from her ear, "Sometimes..."
That ear.
She cocks her head a little bit with a glance Sabina's way, "Mebbe she found a line she liked an' use alchemist ink o'some sort?"
"Oh she wrote it. Having someone else write it would be too much trust and delegation, she would not want to relinquish that, accidentally give someone a hook to influence her with later. She's a strong power and appearance, political player." Cryosanthia asserts. "Alchemist's ink... that's an interesting idea. So, hold the page in a way to look for a sheen?"
Sabina says, "Perhaps more of find a likely story and look for such inks or magics.", Bina says quietly. "If we searching for her because she's hiding from the man that can see anything then perhaps she did give up control. But likely not much." She continues to look through pages for magic though.
"Too bad ain't none'v us got th'sniffer ta pick up her perfume'r someshit." Brae shrugs, "But..."
Hmm.
"That could be'n idea, luv."
That said, she holds the book toward the manalamp and squints....
"Ha," Cryosanthia laughs, "this one's sniffer isn't that good. An easier option would be to see if she reserved and books for when she visited, then we'd know she handled those."
Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 9:30PM
The whitescale stands, then looks over at Sabina. "'Bina, could you ask Lady Ophelia about books Akoniril might have reserved? I've got a big favour I'm planning on asking her, and she an oruch. And a strict one. She's unlikely to grant it if I've been pestering her all day."
The other sorceress nods, "back in a 'mo'."
Hrm. Grumble.
"Was'e carryin'at collar up's ass...?"
Ras'm, fras'm.
Headcant, a silver brow arches.
Then the seam of Braelnoir's lips is drawn taut in a particularly naughty angle.
"Well, a scabbard fer every sword, I suppose..." she remarks drily, shrugs, then, "So, we do know fer sure she come trawlin' through these, here?"
The whitescale nods, "Yes. Her fiance' confirmed it. I was suspicious, that it was some mis-direct, like that Orange when she first showed up."
A weary sigh escapes, "that's likely paranoia, from the Mistake. Akoniril is clever, but there's no point in being so clever we can't figure out what she wants when she's asking for help." She taps at her head, "I also got smarter, and got magical boost too."
Her long, scaled fingers turn pages as she flips to the back of her current book, "She might have written in a crossword or a number cypher too. It could be anything. I know it's not a lot to go on, there's something here. That she was firm."
"Keep looking for something unusual." Her head tilts, "Do your books have comments written in them? In the margins?"
"Page twenny got some scrawl about bein hot, with a little heart. Real faded though, probly some apprentice."
A shrug, "Mebbe some cakeater's kid's got the wrong ideas about brandin'."
Brae scans through another few pages, then, "Thirty-one's got some noise about th'main fella in here bein' 'Dreamy', but I'unno. The scribble's a little unrefined fer someone with so many airs, yanno?"
"Those don't sound like her. I'm not even sure what kind of comment she would make." Cryo muses, turning pages, stopping on one. "There's a rant here, about disliking the author, by someone that says she's the 'ex'. Some story about Pirates, in the Jade Isles."
"Honestly I wouldn't know she was the ex if she didn't identify herself in the story." There's a slight grin on the whitescale's snout, "She gets to be the villain though, so that's something."
This is followed by another long exhale, where the lizard woman leans back at an angle only possible for her chair because her tail is involved. Her head shakes slightly, "I don't have the focus for this. I'm worrying about the Lily and the nestlings. I feel like I'm winning 'bad mother' awards for being this far away. I know Hetz and Xochi are watching them. It's just..."
Another shrug, "She has a daughter, you know. Hard to imagine an evil high priestess with a daughter, right? What would she do for her teenage rebellion, join the temple of Daeus?"
"Most o'the shadiest rotters t'ever hire the Stride all had kids, Cryo." Brae replies thoughtfully, "Lotta times, the little shits come up'be even worse people that their parents. Hells, even Ghisha coulda got herself a mate back in Bludgun."
Her expression sours a moment, considering the Ogress, her spiked gauntlet creaking into a softly tinking knot, "Probly don'e world a gawdamned favor, there...."
Her eyes seem to regain the now, and new focus as she turns her mind toward the pages, in lieu of what that 'favor' had cost the Korite.
Cryo's question gets a tiny snort, then, "Elope wit'some Silverguard."
Pause.
Slowly, the mercenary's wolflike eyes lift toward her sister quizzically, "There's.... one like that in here, somewhere, isn't there...?"
"There... might be?" Slit sapphire gems meet the wolves, "Serene and Seldan are in stories. Not together of course. There are a lot of ripped shirts and breached armours. Some authors have a particular fixation on humiliating holy warriors."
The whitescale paws through a stack of pamphlets, single stories on four pages or eight, a large sheet folded twice, stitched, sliced and sold on the street. Often with a lurid cover illustration. Cryo stares at the topmost, her head shaking. "This one doesn't understand the fascination, but those seem popular."
She shifts the stack of colourful covered booklets over to her scale-sister.
Sabina comes back after her long time speaking with Lady Ophelia. She's contemplative as she returns but then smiles for the two others. "Interestingly enough the record of Akoniril's books seems to be missing. This, of course, sent the Lady into a tizzy and she set about finding it's location at once and was even considering calling for a full audit of all books to ensure nothing was missing. I think I calmed her down to the point she'll just overturn every nook and cranny looking for it."
She looks between the two. "An interesting turn of events, yes? If it's not some fluke that it's missing, finding it should narrow down our search."
The Korite's eyes narrow slightly in consideration rather than aggression, as the sisters have already rubbed that bottle in recent memory. There's a quick pass over the pamphlets that prompts a snort, "Hummer'n Giselle? These names'r somethin' else."
'Somethin' else' gets drawn close to hand for more thorough consideration.
"Ain't hard t'figger, luv, them sorts got in real good with th'gods, an usually that comes wit'a certitude that rubs folk a certain way." Brae answers with a shrug, "That'n they's usually pretty stiff, so there's a bit of a 'dark' pleasure'n takin' the piss out of'em."
Her finger tap-taps the spine of the book in her hand, "Like this'n, here.... in these stories, how often is th'slave girl some cakeeater that got pinched in a raid or sold by some upjumped servans they's takin' fer granted?"
Sabina's return draws the merc's attention, then and she eases back in her chair to regard the Coyote's grin, "Damned interetin' I'd say, luv. Shame's no way o'tellin' how long they been gone. Mebbe we an get a gander where they been kept, can figger out who took'm?"
"The... Lady Ophelia likely doesn't want us examining her filing system." Cryo says, remembering her experiences working as a clerk at the Explorer's Guilde. "It's likely some bluey huewy system no one can understand and she's already riled up that some of it is missing."
She glances between the warrior and sorceress, "Perhaps worth looking into once she's had an opportunity to burn off some of her rage. I heard older oruchs can slow-burn their bloodrage and rage all day long."
The whitescale reaches to a pile, takes off the top book, and sighs. "I don't know that I can take another of Galinda Wellington's. Her protagonist that doesn't know how beautiful she is and wonders why all these hunks of men are after her, vegetarian vampires, tamed werewolves, savage sith'makar and the scales rotting paladin guard that's her off-again, on-again love interest. The convoluted mysteries she has to resolve to save the world. This one can't believe I thought adventuring would be like this."
Only a few aspects turned out to be true. The world always needs saving. "At least she describes different builds for them, even if the intimacy scenes are implausibly similar."
Cryo looks at Braelnoir, tilting her head, "I'd keep a count of 'chains' vs 'ropes' for your 'Sold into Slavery' stories."
"So, Sabina, True Sight and Tongues, or is it comprehend languages, one of them with the other should work for the secret page spell. Check the edges, like someone slit the cover to slide a thing in, too, while you're looking through them. Both of you."
The whitescale waves her G. Wellington booklet, "thin ones like these probably don't have a thing between the pages, but you never know.
Sabina can't help but chuckle at Cryo's analysis of the stories held within some the books she's looked through. She nods to the whitescale about the spells in question. "One must detect magic to find it's muted glow of magic. If one finds it they can reveal the page with a password. Otherwise one must either use trueseeing or risk a dispelling on the magic to show what is hidden." She nods and once again starts looking through the books even though it causes her to sigh. "Hopefully Lady Ophelia is quick in her search so we don't have to keep looking for too long, just as miss Brae has suggested."
A snort, then and Brae rolls her neck a touch, "I'd say's a load'a shit." is her experienced opinion, "Holdin' that more'n a few minutes at most'd lay ya out."
A shrug, "'less they know somethin' I ain't heard of, anyway."
She skims a few more pages of her tome, stops, then, "What'n th'hell's a vegetarian vampire gonna eat? Carrots?"
The silver tressed head shakes and she sighs, "Think m'first job 'adventuring'" taste those airquotes, TASTE THEM, "was crawlin' round'n the damned sewer lookin' fer yer spooks bad mood slime, cuz some fool drank th'shit. Drinkin' out a slimy pool'n a damned SEWER."
She closes the book, then, arching an eyebrow in Cryo's direction before she starts to run her fingers along the spine.
Hmm....
Sabina's words make sense and she runs a hand back through her hair, "Mebbe if she had a favored spot sh'liked ta read in, she coulda slipped somethin' in the cushions'r somethin." She rolls her head some to regard she Tarienite with a wry smile, "An' ain't no need fer that 'miss' stuff, Brae's fine, luv."
Cryosanthia nods slowly, then stretches her left hand out, looping it through arcane gestures. On her chest, beneath her clothes, a twinkling of lights spread out to spiral down her arm an coalesce at her fingers. She touches her eyes, and the scales on them begin to glow. "Well, this one will examine for any sparks also."
Picking up a nearby tome, she sniff at it, "Wouldn't hurt to check for her scent." Her mouth twists wryly, "I don't remember hers exactly but her presence makes me wary so I'm looking for a reaction like that."
The whitescale snorts, "A little like the sewers, yes, and how Alexandria considers them the proper place for us. The stories of the 'vegetarian' vampires are similar. They just eat beatroots and wine, or animals, or prisoners. So, vegetarian in the sense of peasant food. Low class. Peasants, whose simple stomachs can't handle hearty red meat that is nobility's, or in their case actual people, kind of thing. It's the author's excuse for evil but not really evil."
"You know, I wonder if there are reviews of the Crimson Pen stories, I've seen some written in, but maybe also private letters. I wonder if my Tomb Mask can show those too." She digs around in her haversack, producing the bookwyrm's magic item and afixes it to her face. Her head ticks from side to side, as if she's reading.
"I'll be at this a bit. I suppose I could sniff books too. Oh! I should put on my research ring." Cryo removes a glove, a ring, and swaps another in place, then continues her blind task.
Bina nods to Brae. "Brae it is then. " She says with a nod and grand smile. "I'd think that vegan vampires would expire from lack of blood. It's sort of a thing they do. Drink blood. Or bathe in it." There is a small frown on her face as she says the last bit. Yet her smile returns quickly enough.
She watches Cryo put on the mask and ring and chuckles softly. "Cryo, I have often marveled at your breadth of preparedness. This seems like luck or a good deal of planning over time to cover searching for information."
She hmms then softly and squats down on the balls of her feet and peers under the table and then the chairs nearest to her. "Eeww.. I'm not going to guess what that is. I think it was a bodily fluid of some sort at one time."
"One'd hope, yeah." Brae concurs with Bina's appraisal of vampiric survival, though she arches an eyebrow at, "Bathin', though? That's a new one."
She shrugs back toward Cryo, musing, "Folk get some silly damned ideas, sometimes."
The mask has always been a bit of a curious picture to her eyes, but it seems to work for her sister. Just as well.
She'd start getting squirrely if she didn't have at least her peripheral vision available.... for reasons.
Sabina's new discovery gets a snort and, "'magine these here books have'n effect on the landscape, huh?"
"This one was hardly preparing for this," Cryosanthia says, turning to face Sabina, her unusual mask is made from the pages of various tomes which are flicking rapidly, changing from printed to handwritten, ancient script to current. It's a blur, and even if she could see through it, the rapid text is highly distracting. A diagram appears just often enough to break concentration. She exhales, slumping.
"The Miss..Take, the Mistake constantly criticized my ignorance. Even past her, associating with Mikilos, Merek, Cesran, I am constantly reminded of my intellectual inadequacy. Malik figured out the summoning circle, and no one felt it was necessary to tell me, assuming I would never understand it. I did work it out, two weeks later, but even that accomplishment pales compared to his instant comprehension."
"Lily, has questions, this one's travels have raised more. I felt it was necessary to supplement my knowledge with magic. I even got a headband to be smarter." Cryo's claws quietly dig at the table, "this one is flattered you find my preparedness exception, it has seemed more like desperate scrambling on my part."
"I don't need to sniff the potential bodily fluid."
She turns towards Brae and giggles, "Effect on the landscape? Are you talking about... mountains rising? Techtonic plates moving? The earth shuddering?"
Bina rises back up in time to be eye level for Cryo's claws on the tabletop. A brow is raised and her hand goes out to lightly cover the white scaled hand. "Scrambling? I think not. Do not berate yourself, Cryo. You've had enough of that from the Mistake. You don't need any more in your life, I believe. " She looks to Brae then and re-raises her brow.
"Could say that, luv." Brae smirks back to Sabina, "N'eruption o'sorts, mebbe coaxed along."
She cocks her head a little at Cryo's self deprecation and, "'ey, now, You figgered out the trick with the sea o'mana, luv, when everyone's beatin' their dicks in the dark. Ain't met Malik, an all I ever got attributed to'm was him sayin' we should just ferget Merek bein'n Hell." She sounds like she still feels a way about that, yet.
A finger taps the band of steel at her own brow and she shrugs, "Hell, I ended up gettin' somethin' help my noggin' some after noticing how much quicker you was on noticin' things."
Cryo grins, an expression that seems odd with her textual mask, as only her lower jaw shows underneath it. "Fear the Lava flow!"
Another firm exhale that cools the air over the table. "You are right 'Bina, of course. It's old habits and bad habits, they are hard to change. I don't need anymore. I have responsibilities, I am good at what I do, and comparison to others isn't helpful. I should lengthen my own line."
She sits there, still, staring off into the plane of books, her head ticking slightly side to side as she reads the information therein. "Hopefully this one, all of us, can find something helpful. It will be a few hours, at least, more if we read in detail."
Another pause, "HA! Someone did make a ripped bodice tracker! And correlated it to quality of story. Interesting..."
"I'll break ya'o that one, yet, luv." the Korite remarks, then returns her attention to her pile of books, hefting one of dark binding, a curious serpentine design of bluish grey stamped along the back cover peeking out from between her fingers.
"I ain't never had me a bodice ta rip.... reckon that's part o'the experience?" she wonders, arching a wry eyebrow.
"Oh probably!" Cryo says cheerfully, "You've got the Anygarment sleeves, you could always make yourself one, with weak seams, then we could all try ripping them off each other!"
Her head turns to glance blindly in Sabina's direction, "Or not. Or... well. We should concentrate on the stories and not write our own."
Sabina chuckles as the other two ladies speak of bodice ripping. "It's not so much ripping it open as bursting the laces that.." She smiles and shrugs, "It's an experience." She then gets fully to her feet and goes back to her pile of books with a wistful sigh. "Back to the stacks then,"she says, calling up the devine orson to detect magic and once again going over the collected books they have on the table. Slowly and carefully searching for just one damn clue the sneaky, and missing, Charnite may have left behind. "Blasted woman... she's likely sipping wine, holed up somewhere waiting. And I can just hear her first words when we manage to find her. 'What took you so long?'"
"What are you three up to?"
A stentorous voice cuts through the conversation, halting it. The stern tones are strong enough to make Cryosanthia feel like a misbehaving school-girl, and it's been a long time since she was a girl, and never went to a boarding school. Some memory of Jinks' might have slipped in.
The effect on the other two women is similar, and while all reactions are quelled their Memory Sharing in the future will confirm equal levels of surprise, dread, and guilt. Lady Octagna tends to have that effect on people.
"We... ah... were looking for clues, regarding the Lady Akoniril." The whitescale says, removing her mask, "What Sabina asked you about. Did you find her list."
"I did." Lady Octagna does not share easily, information or otherwise. "Tell me what you want it for."
"Well..." Cryo beings, the Mage's Private Sanctum spell is still in effect, "it's involved, so I'll start at the beginning, but I wanted to ask if I could borrow some of the editions to research at home."
"You can ask after you explain." The elderly oruch library orders again, "Which you'll start now."
So she does.
Techniques Tried
1) Gather all the Crimson Pen books and compare them, especially similar images.
2) Get the list of any Crimson Pen books Akoniril asked for, reserved, requested.
3) Detect Magic on all the books, looking for magic-in-general.
4) True Sight and Tongues, to look for 'Secret Page' spell somewhere.
5) Examine the edges of the book, to see if something was shoved into the covers or through a thick page.
6) Check the margins for notes, comments, drawings, defacing that might have been added to Crimson Pen editions.
7) Look for stories with ersatz version of ourselves, suggestions for courses of actions; Ignore any "And then they kiss'.
8) Anything that might relate to Grauthis the Greivor's upbringing.
9) Shaking the books to see if anything falls out.
10) Using the Mask of 1000 Tomes, my Grasping Scholar ring, to research Crimson Pen things, stories, earlier versions of stories
11) Crimson Pen stories that are between two 'charn-ish' noble houses