The Halls of Medeia - Chapter 1

[Ail]

"No, Niles, thank you for asking, but that is better left for the Headmistress.
Instead... you have good access to the students, so many of them come to you during the year. Try and find if anyone knew him, and what they can tell us about him. What could have made him go to the forest in the night?"

The last question sounds like the priest is thinking aloud, but on the other hand, it may have been a direct question to Niles.

[Ail]

The Librarian leads George down an aisle through the folklore section, where she shows books on general mythological themes: traditions of the British Isles, fairies giants and the otherworld, ghosts, witches and werewolves. They seem curiosities, mere scholarly accounts or lurid fiction for the masses, but George surely will find no esoteric books in here.

"In my first year as a student here, I was curious about the stories I heard of the castle. I wanted to know more of it, the ruins intrigued me, as they do you. So I thought to look up its history. You know what's funny? All the books about the history of this place had gone. They were missing, and still haven't returned. I kept their place in the records, but I don't know where they might be."

[steveflam]

"Strange indeed. Does yer know who took 'em out? See, this interests me. Anythin like this ye've got in tha library, I am very interested. Do you know who took them books out? If not, mebbe tha previous librarian does. Can I talk to he or she?"

[Ail]

"No, I don't know George. The previous librarian would do, I'm sure. He retired last year, after training me into his place."

[Ail]

Christine follows courageously through the night, down the hills until she reaches the wall. There are sounds all around her, and everything around her is barely revealed by the milky light cast by the full moon. In the eerie shadows around her, Christine trembles. She keeps well away from the forest until she reaches the wall, and can not distinguish the sources of the sounds and fast movements around her. It may be night, but the wild world seems far more alive than in the day.

There are the sounds she expected: owls, squirrels, insects. Are those foxes? But she is surprised by how soft and treacherous the earth feels. More than once, she almost fell, and her feet have found a soggy place.
(OOC: Dex check: DC 12. If failed, Christine twists an ankle, for a -2 temporary modifier to Dex.)

She follows the wall until she reaches the trees, and looking back at the castle on the top of the hill she just descended, she wonders how long it will have taken her. It feels like 2 hours. In bright daylight, it would probably be 30 minutes at a leisure pace, maybe 20 if running. But in the dark, with just the moonlight and her lamp, she knows she must have been much slower.

She looks at the trees, wondering if she came prepared for whatever is in there. She remembers from their last time that the gypsy camp is outside the boundary, but also outside the forest. She has heard from the gypsies that the wall is not fully repaired within the forest, there are places where the boundary ceases. But will she risk going into the trees or trying to climb the wall?

As she wonders, she quickly turns in the direction of the castle. Was that a light she saw coming down as well?

(OOC: what sort of lantern does Christine have? Bull's eye or open all around?)

[steveflam]

"No, I don't know George. The previous librarian would do, I'm sure. He retired last year, after training me into his place."

"Thanks, then. Be seein yer soon enough, mum."

George leaves the library and heads for his room, unsatisfied with his research.

[A G Thing]

For the DM

VIEW CONTENT:

Die roll for Christines Dex Check

Rolled on: Dec. 28, 2014, 8:40 p.m.
1d20+1 → [5,1] = (6)
Link
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4749491/

Guess that is a twisted ankle... Ow... Well at least I have two ankles!

As for the type of lantern it is just a simple table oil lantern as you would find on a table. It casts light around her and has a glass shield over the flame to prevent the wind from putting it out, but beyond a handle on the metal base to hold it it does nothing special really.

Christine seeing the light approaching shields her own under her rain slicker and dashes into the woods following close to the wall trying to lose whomever might have seen her table lanterns light. However she soon feels a sharp twist as her ankle bends in the soft earth and catches on the edge of a root forcing it painfully to the side.

She gasps but bites back the sound to a muffle as she almost falls but after pulling herself up she keeps painfully hobbling along as fast as she is able, keeping one hand firmly on the wall as her other keeps hold of her lantern. Her eyes now set to finding a safe path alongside the wall. She begins to move as fast as she can while trying not to further injure herself but occasionally she looks back to see if the light of whomever is following her is continuing to move towards her.

[Ail]

Christine moves further into the forest, wondering if that was the best option. The light that she saw appears irregularly hidden and revealed by the terrain as its owner comes down. From the distance, she can see someone stop by the wall, and hesitate. Suddenly, a hiss nearby attracts Christine's attention, and as she looks in that direction, she sees the eyes of a beast looking at her.

------------------------------------------

George leaves the library frustrated, as the girl who tried to help him is busy looking for something among a ream of papers. She doesn't notice as he leaves.

It's almost dark, and George feels his head almost exploding of too much, useless information. All, except the notion that some books have disappeared about two years ago. If only he could find the old librarian...

[steveflam]

Turning on his heels... George heads back to the library. "She prolly knows is name an where he lives now. Dumb of me not ter ask er at any rate," he scolds himself.

Upon arriving in the library he heads straight for the librarian. "Pardon me again. I was thinkin mebbe ye be knowin the retired librarian's name an where I might fin' 'im. "Is address would be a great 'elp."

[Ail]

When George enters the library, the librarian is keeping some books in shelves. She returns to George as soon as she sees him and smiles as he speaks.

"Ah, yes. I thought you would. Here, I was looking for it and wrote it down".

She gives a slip of paper to George, then complains.

"Sorry for this mess, but I have lots of work today. I don't understand why, but this year suddenly I have lots of students checking out books and magazines like never before, and I was just keeping away a group of them that I just received.

She points at a small pile of them and George can quickly see that they all are about present events: politics, recent news, new investments, railroads and a few books on economics and social philosophy.

Then he looks at the note:

"John Barnaby, Badger's Close, Ladymere. (by the lake)"

[steveflam]

"THanks fer that information." Thinking about how much work she has, he frowns. A thought occurs to him and he voices it ot her.

"Do you need help 'ere in the library? I'd be willing ter help ye, fer a small fee or salary. Not right today but somethnig on the semi regular if it is possible." He picks up the slip of paper, pocketing it.

"Er, do you know where this address is from here?"

[A G Thing]

Christine is startled seeing the eyes ahead of her but does not scream as she nearly freezes in fear. She keeps her eyes glued to the creature as after a brief stop, she begins to walk backward slowly, trying to keep the creatures eyes in sight as best she can.

She tries to keep herself from trembling and keeps her lantern out ahead of her tensing her arm to throw it should the creature charge her. Her other arm is grasping nearby to find things to support her slow retreat. Her gaze locked and the urge to wince is resisted in that moment as her sprained ankle shifts back and she ignores the pain or the urge to baby it and show weakness in it in front of the the creature.

She has surprised herself by not screaming but knows that if the thing even moves to advance upon her then she will not stop herself from screaming as loudly as possible for help.

She just needs to make it to the edge of the woods so she moves away from the beast toward where she thinks the edge is behind her keeping the wall to her side if she can. She worries when she will lose sight of the creature and works to keep her gaze locked to its own hoping it is just an animal that is as scared of her as she is of it.

All this thought does not however stop a few nervous tears from forming in the corners of her eyes as she waits fearfully tense for it to attack her in her cautious retreat.

[Ail]

"THanks fer that information." Thinking about how much work she has, he frowns. A thought occurs to him and he voices it ot her.

"Do you need help 'ere in the library? I'd be willing ter help ye, fer a small fee or salary. Not right today but somethnig on the semi regular if it is possible." He picks up the slip of paper, pocketing it.

"Er, do you know where this address is from here?"

"Ah, that is the address of the previous librarian, that you asked me. He's an affable man, you'll find."

"Help me? Oh, most of the days it's fine, it's just that occasionally I have this lump of requests on me and then the returns. I wouldn't mind, but I can not decide that. You would have to ask Miss Emily, I suppose."

[Ail]

As Christine recedes, the creature hisses as well, trying to keep her ground and improve its position. A low growl issues from its muzzle, as Christine moves back and inadvertently makes some sounds of her own. To the nearby presence, in the otherwise quiet (but not silent) night, her whimpers are unmistakeably those of a girl, and Christine hears footsteps rushing in her direction, a new light approaching her.

[steveflam]

"THanks fer that information." Thinking about how much work she has, he frowns. A thought occurs to him and he voices it ot her.

"Do you need help 'ere in the library? I'd be willing ter help ye, fer a small fee or salary. Not right today but somethnig on the semi regular if it is possible." He picks up the slip of paper, pocketing it.

"Er, do you know where this address is from here?"

"Ah, that is the address of the previous librarian, that you asked me. He's an affable man, you'll find."

"Help me? Oh, most of the days it's fine, it's just that occasionally I have this lump of requests on me and then the returns. I wouldn't mind, but I can not decide that. You would have to ask Miss Emily, I suppose."

"You misundertood me. How do I get to this address from the school?"