Scatter the Pieces [IC]

[Ajadea]

It's just the title page.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi looked down, crestfallen, at the page in her hands.
"It's all I have," she said offering it, this time for Sorra to take"I'm sorry."
She sidled away to see what would become of the runic boxes.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra adds the remains of the book to her sack, carefully folding it inside the cover of the first book they found. Then she joins the others a safe distance back from the boxes.

[SPoD]

"Perhaps you can use that power of yours, the one that lets you talk to the inanimate objects, and command the lid to remove itself. Take one, set it on the bed, then stand back at least 10 feet before you do it though, if the rune is harmful, it's best to be very safe." Samuel smiles, glad he could contribute at least something, even if it doesn't pan out.

Eztra feels uncomfortable at Samuel's request, but she doesn't know why. No one has ever asked her to talk to something before. They usually tell her to stop. She shakes her head anyway. "I can't talk to magical objects," she explains. "They don't listen. I think it's because they think they're special, or something. Like they're too good for me, you know?"

[Starwulf]

Samuel listens to Eztra's explanation, frowns for a moment while thinking, then replies with"Hmm, well, from what I can glean, it's only the runes that are inscribed on the lids of the boxes that are magical. Since you've already moved them with nothing bad happening, we could take one, lay it on it's side, then you could talk to the lower half of the box, and ask it move away from the top. By my reasoning, that shouldn't even set off the rune, if it's harmful or protective. Could you try that instead?" Samuel grins, happy with his creative idea, and glad that they have someone with such unique powers in the group.

[SPoD]

Samuel listens to Eztra's explanation, frowns for a moment while thinking, then replies with"Hmm, well, from what I can glean, it's only the runes that are inscribed on the lids of the boxes that are magical. Since you've already moved them with nothing bad happening, we could take one, lay it on it's side, then you could talk to the lower half of the box, and ask it move away from the top. By my reasoning, that shouldn't even set off the rune, if it's harmful or protective. Could you try that instead?" Samuel grins, happy with his creative idea, and glad that they have someone with such unique powers in the group.

"NO!" Eztra suddenly yelled. "I said it wouldn't work, stop it!" She threw the little box at him and collapsed on the bed, sobbing into her hands.

After a moment, she sat up and wiped her red face. "You don't live with it, OK? You don't know," she says through tears. "You can't reason with it like that. You can't just say, 'Well, this and this, so therefore that.' It's not like your magic. It's not logical, or rational, or...or anything. We shouldn't even be talking about it!"

She could feel it pacing around in her head, sensing an opportunity to be let out twice in one day. Go back to sleep! she thought at it, clenching her head in her hands, but it was having none of it. "NNNNNH!!" she grunted through her teeth. "Stop it! STOP IT!" she yelled, but not at Samuel.

[PollyOliver]

Again, Sorra's feet--and all the rest of her--react long before her mind does. It's getting to be a disquieting habit, but she doesn't question it. By the time she even thinks to, she's put away her sickle and is standing by Eztra. She puts a hand on the other girl's shoulder in what she hopes is a comforting manner, waiting for her to calm down before she tries to reason with her. Sorra's seen children work themselves up into too many tantrums to bother trying to talk until she's done.

[SPoD]

Eztra immediately buried her face in Sorra, sobbing quietly. "If I let it out too often...it won't go back in..." she cries to no one in particular.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi wasn't so quick off the bat. She was relieved to see Sorra was obviously a comfort to their distressed friend but didn't know what else to do.
"Don't worry, it's not you," she whispered to Samuel patting his hand lightly before sneaking closer behind the girls and hovering there, wishing she had a rat to put in Eztra's hair.

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Actually Magdi, I'm pretty sure that would make the situation worse

After a little while she shuffled to the desk to see the papers and things for herself and to distract herself from being useless.

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Don't think there'll be anything left for her to find but I can roll a search check in the OOC if that's relevant.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra lets the weeping girl cling to her, not knowing what else to do--or what to say. Her first instinct is to say that it's going to be all right, but she can't help but think, in an oddly dispassionate way, that it probably won't be.

Maybe you should just let it out, is the next thing that springs to mind, but that rings untrue. Beneath the sea of the peculiar calm that's seized her today, she can still feel the hard, slick surface of cold rage. And beneath that something else still, that she doesn't want to think about but somehow knows does not look that different from the sobbing southerner clinging to her shirt. It won't trap heat as well if it gets wet, the practical side of her thinks, but she pushes those thoughts away--all of them, and hard--and instead says something true enough.

"Or maybe it's not as strong as you think. Maybe you'll learn to make it go back," Sorra says. It's probably not comforting, but it's the closest thing she can think of that feels true.

[Starwulf]

Samuel is stunned as Eztra goes ballistic, yelling and screaming. So stunned that he fails to notice the incoming box, and it smacks him in the chest, then bounces off, falling to the floor. I..I...I'm sorry Eztra. I didn't mean... he trails off, uncertain as how to proceed. He is clearly out of his comfort zone here, not being around too many hysterical women in his life-time. Well, someone's got to get one of these open to figure out what's inside" he says in a very soft voice to no-one in particular. With that, he reaches down to the box on the floor, picks it up, murmurs a quick prayer to Azlehm, then attempts to remove the lid.

[Ajadea]

The lid comes off with a bit of tugging. The box screams at you, sentence after sentence of gibberish, voice of man and woman, dwarf and goblin and human, no two moments exactly the same, madness and nonsense and did I mention the screaming? Loud and quiet and loud again, the babbling yells persist for nearly a minute.

And then it stops, as suddenly as it started. The only sounds are the quiet whirrings of the two gears within the box grinding to a halt, the wind outside, and your own shocked breathing.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

The sudden wave of sound sent Magdi, who hadn't noticed Sam picking up the box in the first place, scurrying under the desk. Once there, she quickly assumed the foetal position and shivered, in spite a lack of change in temperature. The noise was too familiar.

A little while after the room had fallen back into silence, she crawled out of her hiding place on hands and knees. "That was awful" she said, staring at the little box, her hair clarted with dust and cobwebs. "Do they all do that?"

[SPoD]

"Or maybe it's not as strong as you think. Maybe you'll learn to make it go back," Sorra says. It's probably not comforting, but it's the closest thing she can think of that feels true.

Eztra sniffed and sat up. "Do you...do you think that's possible?" She had never even considered such a thing. It had just been in control, and the best she had ever hoped for was to lull it to sleep for a time. But even as she thought about it, she could feel it shift uneasily inside her—it was possible, or else why would it feel uncomfortable now? "OK...maybe I can...try," she said quietly, wiping her tears.

The lid comes off with a bit of tugging. The box screams at you, sentence after sentence of gibberish, voice of man and woman, dwarf and goblin and human, no two moments exactly the same, madness and nonsense and did I mention the screaming? Loud and quiet and loud again, the babbling yells persist for nearly a minute.

And then it stops, as suddenly as it started. The only sounds are the quiet whirrings of the two gears within the box grinding to a halt, the wind outside, and your own shocked breathing.

Eztra listened impassively to the cacphony; it was little worse than her own voice could reach. She felt as if, on some level, she should be able to understand it, but she just couldn't. She sighed. She would learn more about her power, and she would unlock whatever secrets this babbling possessed, even if they turned out to be unrelated.

"I think...I think the magic was to keep the voice inside. Like, to preserve it? So someone could use it later," she said to Samuel, timidly. She felt foolish for erupting like that at him when he was only trying to help. "Sorry," she added quietly.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra's first response to the screeching box is an urge to join Magdi hiding under the desk. Her next is to kick it, hard, until it stops, but she dismisses both when she sees Eztra watching it calmly. If the girl can just stand there, she can too.

When it's finally done--hopefully--she takes a few steps closer to it and bends down to look at the markings.

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Ajadea, can I take 10 on an autohypnosis check to memorize things? I'd like to try and memorize the markings on the boxes is possible, and any other text that might be around in the room. If not (1d20+7)[16] for the first 800 words or symbols worth of stuff that's obvious.

[Ajadea]

Sorra carefully studies the box for a moment, noting every sigil in her mind.

[Starwulf]

Samuel drops the box to the floor, startled, as it starts to wail and babble in an incomprehensible language. He stares in shock for a moment, then regains his composure, desperately trying to make sense of any of it. Wondering if perhaps any of what was being said was magical in nature, he starts analyzing it inside his mind, looking for any similarities to various invocations he's learned throughout the years of study.

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Knowledge Arcane check: (1d20+6)[24]

After it ends, Eztra speaks, voicing her own theory about the boxes, then apologizes to Samuel. Looking directly at her, with as much compassion and understanding he can possibly muster, he replies "It's ok, really. Sometimes people are born with unique powers, and they can be hard to understand, and even harder to control. I"m here for you if you ever want to talk about your powers, or just talk in general. Just don't let your fears build up inside, they'll eat you alive if you do." with that, he turns to the rest of the group and speaks to everyone in general "Did any of you understand any of that? Should we take one of those boxes with us? They could be useful, if nothing else, they could serve as a distraction to enemies that don't know what they can do."

[PollyOliver]

Sorra walks over to the other boxes and takes a look at them.

"That is, if they all do the same thing."

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Do the symbols on the other boxes look the same as the ones on the one that was opened?

[Ajadea]

Samuel

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Doesn't sound like any words of magic you know-and you know quite a lot of them.

Sorra

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Looks the same.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi shifted a little and sat on her haunches, still in the desk's shadow."Would doing that be..." she twiddled her fingers trying to think of an appropriate wording. "ok?" She avoided looking directly at Samuel.
"I mean, whatever all that was about, it sounded like... well, like people suffering, really. I don't know how the noises were made but if it wasn't just all magically fabricated by this..." she gesticulated at the room in general, unable or unwilling to come up with a fitting title, "...person... well, using the boxes as cantrips like that would make me feel pretty uncomfortable."
She shifted back in the other direction a bit, considering Samuel's first question.
"It was quite difficult to listen to," she confessed, "if it helps you any, I definately heard some goblin voices in there but no elves. And no giants."

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Were the voices from the box speaking Erlissan or a different language or multiple tongues?

[PollyOliver]

"I don't know," Sorra says to Magdi. She turns to Sam. "The markings all look the same. I've memorized them, but it might be good to have one we can show to someone, just in case they might be able to tell us more?"

[Eleanor_Rigby]

"If Arcidius Valkore really did get out last night then surely he'd know" Magdi mused without really realising she'd spoken aloud. Of course, if Arcidius Valkore had escaped, he ought to have brought reinforcements back. How long did that take with the magical enhancements posessed by the leader of the whole city's mage order? There ought to be people digging through the rubble and checking things out if Valkore had survived. Maybe it was too soon for that. Perhaps she was expecting too much of magic. Either way it was too late for too many people and there was little point in hanging one's hopes on those who were absent.
Magdi tried to think of tales of trapped voices that she might have heard somewhere.

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[roll=Knowledge(local)]1d20+8[/roll]
Bardic Knowledge - (1d20+5)[18]
...just in case.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Starwulf]

"Actually Magdi, Arcidius, while being the head of the Warmages, is still just a Warmage, and we don't have spells that can enhance our travel speed, or teleport us here and there, our magic is strictly offensive and a little bit of defensive, no other enchantment types, so if he managed to escape, it could be days before he even reaches the nearest settlement of Navek, and even if he managed to get away on horseback, it could be 3 days of hard riding there and back before re-inforcements arrive. pausing a moment for breath, he continued on "I do think we should take several of these boxes with us, both as a possible diversion, and so we have something to present to someone more knowledgeable. They are small, so they should just fit inside a regular pocket, and I have plenty of space in my spell pouch to fit a few as well." another short pause, before he finished speaking "I suggest we give this room one final look over, in case we've missed something, then we should find a way around that pit that was blocking our way. We shouldn't tarry to long in any place, as our little dwarf child friend is waiting on us."

[PollyOliver]

Sorra feels the familiar rage creeping back up on her as Sam speaks. She tries not to grind her teeth. Gone to "get help", with help days away and the whole city dying around him. So much for their great protector.

"So he ran," she says. Her voice is not nearly as angry as she wants it to be--it's flat and unemotional and matter-of-fact instead. She'd much rather take a leaf out of Eztra's book and start screaming, but something holds her back. "He ran or he died, just like everyone else." She picks up one of the boxes and carefully puts it in her sack, and then turns and gives the room a quick search herself.

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I don't think I searched this room yet, though maybe I've forgotten. (1d20+5)[6]

[Starwulf]

Samuel feels a small tinge of irritation at the insinuation that the leader of the Warmages, Arcidius Valkore, ran from combat. "It's not so much that he ran, I'm sure he used up all of his spells trying to protect the city. After that, as the head of the Warmages, and one of the most influential people in the city, it was his duty" here Samuel emphasizes the word duty To flee, and to try to acquire some form of help for the city. Dying once he could no longer cast spells would benefit no-one, whereas fleeing and using his well-known position in Sunpeak Spire to acquire assistance and aid for any survivors, is very useful. If I hadn't been knocked unconscious by a flying boulder and a subsequent fall to the ground, I'd have probably fled once I was out of spells too. Dying when you can't help is meaningless, living to fight another day, to find out what caused the giants to attack, to perhaps pursue and achieve a modicum of revenge against them, that is meaningful. There is never a point in time when throwing your life away without a reason is worthwhile Sorra." winded from his long speech, and just from all the activity and stress from the last 24 hours, Samuel sits down on the bed and breathes slowly, trying to regain some equilibrium.

[Ajadea]

Samuel

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Well, it's not what one would refer to as an equilibrium, but your scan of the room reveals nothing out of the ordinary (unless you count the far wall being very much gone).

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi contemplated backing up and hiding under the desk again.
Head of the warmages, she noted. That was what Sam was then? A magically enhanced warrior? "Strictly offensive and a little bit of defensive".
She shouldn't judge. Sam could have joined the order of mages and specialised in combat for any number of reasons and yesterday's disaster only proved that even Sunpeak Spire needed defending. She supposed it only made things more disappointing - to have specifically trained to protect people and to be present at a mess like that. Presumably that was what Sam had been training himself to do: protect people, not just to harm them. Being a warrior was an ugly job, but she'd heard plenty of times that it was a necessary one.
"Sorry, Sam" she told him, "I didn't think before I spoke." She watched Sorra pack one of the nasty little boxes into her sack. "I won't take a box" she announced, trying to sound offhand "we shouldn't need many to show to people and ask questions and I don't want to do anything else with them."
Her statement was overshadowed by the one that preceded it.
Sam had clearly respected Arcidius and Arcidius might not have escaped from the battle. Duty was a funny word to stress though: had it been Blodwyn's duty to flee as well? Blodwyn had probably thought so, yes: it had been her solemn duty to get away from the big boomy sound and drag Magdi through several yards of ice-encrusted snow on her face. It was lucky for Magdi that she had, anyhow. At least, she knew she ought to think it had been lucky. In this regard, Magdi had quite clearly neglected her duty to flee. If it had been up to her she'd have been crushed dead under a wall quite quickly through impassivity. There again, Magdi wasn't an influencial person. Not in terms of her station. She might have influenced how at ease people were during their stay at the guilded steeple, or how comfortable her mother had been in her final years... she might have influenced whether manure was inside the stables or out of it, or whether people had something else to listen to during a thunder storm... whether or not visiting kids had known how to make a snow angel free of charge... but she wasn't an influencial person so she could probably relax about having forgotten not to get herself killed: it hadn't been her duty. She'd still like to help if she could though.
Once Sam's speech had wound down and he'd flopped down on the bed for a rest, she clapped her hands together and stood up, almost disappearing behind the mushroom cloud of dust the action had stirred.
"You're right," she said, not wanting to linger on a potential row, "Jory will be waiting for us and we don't want to keep him too long."

[PollyOliver]

Sorra looks at Sam for a long time after he finishes speaking. The rage burned cold in the hollow between her breasts while he spoke, and she couldn't help but clench her fingers around her sickle, but when he is done the anger seems to lift, slowly, until she is aware of it but floating oddly above it.

"I don't care if he ran," Sorra says. Her voice is harsher than she means, but calmer than she expects. "I ran. Else I'd be dead. I was in the city with...with--" she shakes her head, hard, and pushes the words past the sudden catch in her throat. "With my family. We all ran, and I guess I ran fastest, else I'd be dead. But it doesn't make him a hero, to have run like I did." I'm certainly not a hero. The thought echoes empty in her head. She swallows hard and turns away.

[Starwulf]

Sorra looks at Sam for a long time after he finishes speaking. The rage burned cold in the hollow between her breasts while he spoke, and she couldn't help but clench her fingers around her sickle, but when he is done the anger seems to lift, slowly, until she is aware of it but floating oddly above it.

"I don't care if he ran," Sorra says. Her voice is harsher than she means, but calmer than she expects. "I ran. Else I'd be dead. I was in the city with...with--" she shakes her head, hard, and pushes the words past the sudden catch in her throat. "With my family. We all ran, and I guess I ran fastest, else I'd be dead. But it doesn't make him a hero, to have run like I did." I'm certainly not a hero. The thought echoes empty in her head. She swallows hard and turns away.

"No, you're perfectly right in that, there were no heroes yesterday, heroes save the day and protect the city from total destruction, or rescue the fair damsel from the dragon. No, there were only victims and survivors yesterday. Samuel's eyes tear up as he finishes, as he again remembers all the comrades that he lost yesterday, and all the loss of innocent lives, and for what? he doesn't know, but he swears he'll find out, and he'll make them pay, pay for killing so many people, he'll rip out their innards and drag them around by them....Suddenly Samuel realizes that he is clenching the bed very tightly and grinding his teeth, his emotions getting the best of him. Taking a deep breath, he calms his mind, stands up, looks around the room at his fellow survivors, and says "Ok, well, we have looked around enough in here, I don't think we'll find anything else. Shall we go back out to the main hallway and try to find a way past that pit?"

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi nodded slowly. There didn't look to be anything left to find in this room and it was cold.
As they moved out to leave the sleeping quarters Magdi paused trying to think of something to say to poor Sorra.
"I'm really, really sorry about what happened to your family - it's really horrible?" that would be dwelling on the awful and only reminding her about it.
"I'm really sorry - I can only imagine how it must feel, I've lost siblings myself"? Too self involved. And besides her siblings weren't Sorra's siblings, the relationships were bound to have been different, and why should being told that other people had lost family before her make Sorra feel any less robbed?
"I wish they hadn't been there yesterday" well, that was certainly true. She wished the giants hadn't been there more though.
There wasn't anything she could say. Instead she gently took her poor friend's hand as they reached the doorway and gave it a little squeeze.