Essays and Evildoers: Claremont Academy IC [M&M2e]

[betafin]

Avari:

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I'm going on the assumption that you have better hearing than the others what with different alien physiology and ultrasonic hearing capacity.

Warp walks over and flips through a few nearby books. He can't read them but they seem legit, each one is distinctly different from the others. In fact, from him shuffling different books trying to notice anything wrong, it really seems like a library of some sort, minus the Dewey Decimal System.

Warp:

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Sometimes when picking a book up you notice that the strange texts on them seem to start changing to a different shape, but always just out of the corner of your eye and stops when you look.

(Your next Will save will determine what you meta-learn of this.)

Avari, held back by the others being cautious and taking their time, starts to feel mentally clearer and more purposeful. It still definitely seems like an aimless maze, but there's noticeably less draw to it.

Avari:

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Casually glancing across the bookshelves, she hears one relatively close person's footsteps stop. They can't be more than a few rows away, although she's not paying particularly close attention to the others across the maze. She does, however, hear a papery sliding noise followed by a male voice mutter something that she can't quite make out (it sounds calm - like the person asked themself a question) and then there's absolutely nothing. No noise whatsoever.

Something about what Warp said latches onto Conduit's mind. This is a maze, after all, but in why are there books? You all are technically surrounded by knowledge, aren't you... She figures that this would probably be easier if any of them had magical abilities, and is starting to suspect that a few of the more purposefully-moving students do.

Conduit:

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The natural thing to do in a maze is explore, but the placard doesn't directly bring it up. In fact, it focuses on 'knowledge' instead. Maybe the placard isn't as much directions as an indicator of how to think?

Now that she's paying close attention to the presences of people, Conduit suddenly looks over in the direction Avari is as another nearby presence suddenly vanishes.

Curio springs up suddenly through a spark of inspiration, looking as though he's bipolar in the process. "Wait, say that again!", he says to Warp. "This is a library, right?" He starts walking down the same path as Avari, looking among the rows for anything that draws his attention.

Everyone:

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The first round was setting the stage for the findings this round, the next round or two could be used to find the mechanisms you need to clear it.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Another one vanished..." Conduit says, looking in the direction, she narrows her eyes, then her eyes start to glow and spark as she channels her electricity to them to empower her senses.

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Spend enough points to get electricity control with the alternate power Detect and Awareness for Energy, trying to tune into magical energy.

Will: (1d20+6)[21]
Search: (1d20+4)[7]

[Mekboy]

Avari looks back towards the group. "I heard him. It sounded to me like he read something from one of the books before he left." Drawing a random book from the nearest shelf, she flips it open.

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Will: (1d20+4)[5]
Notice: (1d20+10)[25]

[BluesEclipse]

Warp thinks for a moment, Did that book just... He looks at Avari taking one of the books, and says, "Hey... memorize the page you're on, then pass it here. Don't say what's in it, though - let me see that for myself."

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Will: (1d20+4)[15]
Search: (1d20+2)[18]

[betafin]

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Curio Rolls:
Will: (1d20+10)[14]
Investigate: (1d20+2)[4]

[betafin]

Avari hands the still-unreadable book over to Warp to compare results, Curio is still flipping around while moving further away and Conduit's eyes eerily glow as she looks at the room around her.

Conduit:

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Conduit extends her senses outwards and... well, short answer: she can't sense anything. Magic doesn't seem to operate on a level she's familiar with.

Long answer: she can't sense anything. There are none of the usual traces of various forms of electrical energy flowing around. And it's not just that there is nothing here, even the familiar "ley line"-ish currents that energy moves by when it's not being directed just aren't present. The sheer, almost oppressive lack of free-moving energy is suspicious and makes her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Cumulative Will save hint:

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Putting her mind on it, it's like the rules here are different. This doesn't seem to be a normal place, let alone natural. It's like everything here is just standing by for a stimuli.

In fact, thinking about everything that has happened so far, she has to question if everything here has been operating by some sort of ruleset the entire time.

Warp:

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Warp takes the book from Avari and looks at it for himself. It... does not change. Comparing what he sees with what Avari describes, the strange texts look the same as when she had it.

Cumulative Will save hint:

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After studying the nearby books and then comparing that to Avari's book, Warp suspects that they only change when someone isn't specifically focusing on them. But then what is it that decides what they "lock" at? It seems to be a triggerable cause-effect event.

Avari:

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There's books! So many books! Overwhelming amounts of books! If you run you might find a better spot! Run!

Since she has been keeping her actual senses honed the entire time (if not her mental fortitude), she has started to notice that as she moves further forward the text on the books' spines seem to change more often. She has no idea if they will get more readable, however.

Everyone:

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If you suspect something and want to try it, you don't necessarily have to act as a group. It's fully possible for someone to individually trigger a reaction, on purpose or by stumbling across it with the right setup and a lucky roll.

By the way, at this point I'll flat out say that low will saves will get you swept up in the maze aspect of it and higher will saves will get progressively clearer hints (I'm trying not to make them too obvious or too obfuscated). So far this has had a disturbing level of correlation to their personalities.

[EdroGrimshell]

Not even the slightest bit of energy... Angelica thinks, eyes narrowing as the lighting in them dies down, she instantly goes to one of the bookshelves, then does something that'd seem very spontaneous, she fires a bolt of lightning at the shelves, keeping her senses up and running, but more focused to the nearby area.

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Will: (1d20+6)[14] 21 via Hero Point
Notice: (1d20+10)[24]

May use a Hero Point if I roll too low. was too low for comfort, spent a hero point

[BluesEclipse]

Warp looks around at the books, raising an eyebrow as Conduit fires a lightning blast at one of the nearby shelves. After a moment's thought, he closes his eyes, raises a hand towards one of the shelves farther down the hall, and thinks, I can only guess the books lock their text when opened... do they show what the reader needs them to? If so... I need directions on how to proceed through this test. He fixes the final thought firmly in his mind as he fires one of his warp bolts down the hall, teleporting an as-of-yet unseen book into his hand. Upon receiving the book, he opens it, wondering if his hunch was right.

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Will Save: (1d20+4)[13] Hero point spent to reroll(in OOC): 20
Survival: (1d20+2)[14]

Like Conduit, I reserve the right to use hero points as needed.

[Mekboy]

Handing the book back to Warp, Avari suddenly feels overwhelmed. It all seems too much - the library, the maze, the ever-changing books. Breathing quickening, Avari panics and starts to run.

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Will: (1d20+4)[10]
Notice:(1d20+10)[22]

[betafin]

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Curio:
Will: (1d20+10)[27]
Survival: (1d20+10)[28]

[betafin]

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Thanks to a small amount of circumstance and some memory, I do in fact have power!

There is a blinding flash of light as Conduit's lightning arcs through the air, hitting the bookshelves. The shelves and books glow a hot white for a moment, then the electricity pulses outwards along the bookshelves and into the maze. Facing a different direction, Warp portals in a random book. Closing his eyes in concentration, he mutters slightly to himself before opening the book. Behind them, Curio takes a cue from Warp and also closes his eyes while reaching out at random while Avari dives further into the maze.

Conduit:

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Conduit sees that her electricity keeps to the bookshelves and doesn't seem to touch the actual books. Sensing outwards, she can feel it trace a short path along the bookshelves until it stops at a specific point a small distance away.

What really stands out is that, unlike when she normally uses her power, the electricity stays stable after she fires it, sticking to the line it "drew" without dispersing or spreading. It also doesn't behave like a natural element, as electricity usually does; she can still feel a connection to it - it's as though it were still a part of her, still inside her, but simultaneously being spread outwards into the outside world. It's a new sensation that feels... well, slightly discomforting to say the least, but could range to downright heretical depending on her feelings about (very) personal boundaries.

She hears a strange noise behind you for a brief moment, almost like what it would sound like if the air itself was gasping for air. Warp's nearby presence vanishes. She also notices that in that small time frame when she was distracted by the electricity, four other far-away presences have disappeared.

Warp:

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Finally looking at the book you opened, the first thing Warp notices is that he didn't see the text change at all. Feeling disappointed that the text didn't change around and then lock, it takes a few seconds for the fact he could actually read the text in the first place to kick in.

The first page says, in large letters, "Introduction to Magic."

As Warp reads it to himself, his vision suddenly goes black and he feels whirling air around him and a vertigo feeling dropping into the pit of his stomach.

Avari:

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Avari dashes through the maze, trying to find a way through this confounded puzzle. She's not built for this kind of thing! No sane person back home would have enjoyed something like this!

At this point it's hard to even discern which direction is up, let alone the correct way to go. She's moving through the maze more on impulse than logic. The texts around her shimmer and change more and more, and the more she goes the easier and easier it seems to get to run further outwards in the maze.

[EdroGrimshell]

Angelica grins, well, Warp made it, and she was onto it too. She picked a book up and focused, not only on her electricity, "I want to learn," she whispers, "expand my horizons," she continues, "show me the way," she then opens the book.

[BluesEclipse]

Warp blinks, looking around himself curious as he experiences the unusual sensasion of movement, thinking, I wonder if this is what teleporting actually feels like...

[Mekboy]

Some degree of panic turning to curiosity, Avari considers her options. It would probably be impossible to get back to her friends, and anyway the maze seemed easier to move through this way. Maybe if she tried to find someone else nearby they could help?

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Trying to hear/smell someone nearby and get to them. If no-one's there, just keep going.

Will: (1d20+4)[6]
Notice: (1d20+10)[11]

EDIT: Or keep running and screaming. That works too.