The Archive (Jaela)

[Corwin]

"Footsteps," Jaela says apologetically. "Sorry, already heard that one before."

[Anastasia]

"Unfortunate," The succubus steps aside, "Go on...and be careful."

[Corwin]

"Planning on it," Jaela responds, heading up.

[Anastasia]

The fifth floor is quiet, empty. Just bookshelves, row after row of them instead of being a maze. It's so quiet you can hear your own breathing clearly.

Then a rumble of thunder, so loud it startles you. Then another and another, before silence returns.

[Corwin]

"Maybe you'll get your chance to figure this out," Jaela muses, looking sideways at Canderella. "Sounds like the storm's where we're heading, too."

She keeps going, however!

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d100
<Serith> Zombie_Ko roll for Serith < 98 > [d100=98]
> roll 1d100 subtables
<Serith> Zombie_Ko roll for Serith < 66 > [d100=66]

Oh boy, here we go.

You walk along - until you all walk into a comfortable, cozy den. Lots of chairs around a roaring fire, the scent of cocoa and pine in the air. It's dark, lit by the fireplace and fireless torches on the walls. Sitting in one chair is a old man, hale and hearty, his long, unkempt hair white-gray. He wears a rather tattered robe, once finery but now closer to being purple scraps.

"Sit." The old man says.

[Corwin]

Jaela makes use of the invitation, observing the old man and waiting for him to make the next move.

[Anastasia]

Moonlight follows, gaze on him all the while.

Canderella smiles and sketches a curtsy. "Greetings, sir."

"I am known as many things," The man says, "But in this place, I am known as the owner and master."

[Corwin]

"I'm Jaela, regardless of where I am," she introduces herself. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[Anastasia]

"You've been here many times, yet you no longer smell of that vampire," He says, "Curious. You seek answers?"

[Corwin]

"Not that many," Jaela demurs. "And what can I say? I like to read. The chance to do it without things devolving into a fight is to be cherished."

To answer the actual question, she says, "I was heading to the sixth's floor to seek the Forgotten. I was told that it would lead me to a way to kill devils permanently without allowing for reincarnation, respawning and the like, and is a different method from doing so upon their plane of origin. And, of course, that this is a means I can use."

[Anastasia]

"That information can be yours for the right price," The old man says, the sound of cracking bone as he steeples his fingers together. "Yes," He sits back deeply into his chair, "Would you like to make a contract with me, celestial?"

[Corwin]

"What would that entail?" Jaela answers his question with her own, ignoring the overtly villainous behavior to get at the core of the offer.

[Anastasia]

"Six pieces of lore worth killing for," The old man says, "Lore valuable enough that life is naught but a trifle before it."

[Corwin]

I'm suddenly drawing a blank, here. Can you give me a few examples of this sort of lore?