The lands of the demon realm hold within them an ellegance and beauty that's usually only visible to the eyes of a demon. However, the Lady Madide creates beauty that was said to beguile even non-demonic enemies.
Of course, times have changed since the War, and she is not what she was ... but she is nothing if not observant, and very methodical. If anyone could fashion a plan to unify the demons, it would be her. At least, that's what she thinks, and any demons who plan on working under her should probably at least pretend to thing the same.
Her castle is a circular fortress with multiple walls rising concentric rings, until the keep itself, which is a massive tower. The keep is made of a stone that is linked with Madide herself ... so that she can change the makeup of the walls at a whim. Black iron ... pearly white ... clear glass ... the effect is impressive, and would be even more so if Madide remembered that the walls of the castle changed with her mood.
The castle is staffed by a small army of clockwork soldiers. A group of fourty will be active at any given time, similarly sized groups of soldiers (in matching outfits) held in reserve for when they are needed to match the ever-changing decor.
Additionally, Madide is served by K'thosis, a mighty purple-blue humanoid demon standing about twelve feet high at the shoulder, with sharp claws, teeth, and brutal horns. He's usually dressed in an immaculate black tuxedo and armed with a stack of handkerchiefs to avoid touching anything 'dirty'.
The only other non-clockwork residents of the castle are Arthos, the slightly reddish, four-armed cook, and Sarric, a thin, tall, reedy looking man in a dark suit (one which would match K'thosis's suit, if Sarric were about four feet taller).
Currently, all of the players are waiting in the audience chamber, while Sarric stands by. The room is circular, large black silk banners with gold stiching in ancient runes hanging from five equidistant points about the perimeter of the room. The cieling above them has five beams converging from above each banner, to create a rough five-pointed star.
From between two of the 'points' of the star, a plush red carpet runs across the black marble floor to an imposing (but currently empty) throne made of the same black marble.
"The lady will be here shortly," Sarric says in a wheezy, frail voice.
Seiz's eyes flicker across at his 'companions', before flicking back to Sarric, and then at the big-ass throne.
Ah, what's that they say? The first art of kings is to Make People Wait. Typical.
It's hard to resist the tempation to tap his foot or look incredibly bored, but somehow Seiz maintains control over his more smart-alec urges, and remains relatively still.
Babartus stands with a semi-regal bearing, trying to look important while discreetly sizing up those surrounding him.
I sincerely hope this is worth my time.
He waits patiently, remembering what his father had once told him about the importance of a 'proper entrance.'
Kael stands quietly, arms folded. He briefly wondered what the Lady looked like and gazed at the other two who were waiting out of the corner of his eye. Pushing his spectacles up his nose he shifted to another stance and waited.
A door to one side of the room creaks open, a pair of clockword soldiers advancing for a distance before producing trumpets from ... somewhere ... and playing fanfare.
As they do so, Medide herself strolls through, followed immediately by K'thosis. The lady looks like a human with pale skin. She's actually moderately attractive, both by human and demonic standards, and is slightly over five feet tall.
Currently, she's wearing an outfit with a collar that rises behind her, dark and elaborate robes which trail across the floor behind her (K'thosis needs to keep his distance to avoid stepping on them), and a multitude of glinting rings on her fingers. Her hair is black, and bound in a rather severe looking bun at the moment.
Striding into the room, she pauses, surveying the newly arrived demons for a moment before frowning, and saying, "Well, matching outfits can be aquired."
A happy, glorious feeling arises in Seiz's chest, feeling him with glee and wonderment. Could it be true? Of course, it was a little early to judge, but if this was a sign of what was to come, then he could accurately say...
...that his current lord was an idiot, who had some silly priorities.
While this would doubtless cause a few headaches early on-
No, Seiz! Never judge by first impressions! This could be a cunning ploy!
That being said, Seiz pulled his red jacket tighter to his chest.
"And give up my designer label? I hope not. This came direct from Imp Co, you know."
Madide actually looks irked at this, and the walls of the castle suddenly flash, becoming austere, if somewhat less impressive looking, cement.
The clockwork guards in their matching gray/white outfits quickly scurry out of site, replaced by identical guards in black/brown.
"Imp Co?" she asks, smoothing her voice so she seems calm. "Well, you'll wear the uniform on any missions I send you on." Shaking her head, Medide turns towards the throne, frowning when she realizes it's concrete. A moment of concentration later, and it reverts to its black marble form. The guards again rotate. Not saying anything else for the moment, Madide assumes the throne. "Now then. If we're to work together, we should know more of one-another, yes? Tell me of yourselves." After a heartbeat of pause, before anyone can reply, she crooks a finger at Seiz, "We'll start with you."
Seiz refused to be balked by this.. wanton display. After all, he'd had to put up with this sort of thing all the time...
"Seiz Ruion is my name, son of Zeiz Ruion, the now-" it was hard for Seiz to repress a snicker at this point- "-deceased general of the fourth wing of the Demonstorm.
I'm a tactician. Because my idiot father didn't have enough brains to fill a teaspoon, it was me who worked out the details for him, and him who took the credit. He didn't know I was a mage, as you now do.
Did I mention he's dead? Yup. He got skewered by an angel in the Final Battle. It was the happiest day of my life."
Seiz paused for a moment, reflecting that that wasn't true at all, but hey. Demons are as demons do.
"In short, m'lady, I can think, and I can cast. Because most demons can't do either-"
Yourself included, 'm'lady', I'll bet.
"-it already puts me above most of the rabble you could hire."
Kael smoothly disguises his snort with a quiet cough. He'd seen this sort of attitude all the time, when drunk aristocrats burst into his library thinking it was the Happy Happy Fun Pleasure Room. He wondered if Seiz could live up to his claim, but did not say anything about the matter. He would never speak up unnecessarily -- babbling was a sign of poorly educated minds.
He waited patiently for his turn.
Madide looks thoughtfully at Seiz, and then finally nods. "We'll need to do something about your hair, but you'll do." Turning to Kael next, she smiles, and asks, "And you?"
Seiz represses a cringe. By the time this woman was through with him, he was sure he'd look like some kind of mannequin.
Not to worry, really; if she bothered about appearances, she wouldn't have time for other things.
In theory.
Babartus did his level best not to stare in total shock at Madide.
This woman...is a complete idiot. Why in the Hells is she worried about our uniforms? This could be used to my advantage, though, if I play my cards right.
He patiently waited his turn, knowing that for now, he would have to play along.
"Ma'am," said Kael, straightening slightly. "In my former Lord's castle I was the book-keeper and resident scholar. It may not be much --"
To your standards....
"--but I know that it will help your image to have someone like myself in your keep, and there are many ways in which I can be useful."
He did not tell her about what he really did. It would be likely he would never tell her, unless she found out, which he doubted.
"Hmm," Medide murmurs. "A touch of sophistication would be good to have about...." She frowns suddenly, the walls and floors of the keep turning to a darkened iron, as the guards rotated out once more. "A scholar, hmm?" Medide purrs, a a glint of green fire deep in her eyes flashing for a moment. "Much of what was lost might yet be recovered, and my library is vast. I will have a use for you." In a flash, the castle's decor shifted once more to black marble.
While the guards rotated again, Medide added, "We'll need to get you a proper robe, of course." Turning to Babartus, she asked, "And what of you?"
Babartus gave her a small, courtly smile and dropped into an elaborate, well-practiced bow.
"Barbartus Madrigal, at your service, my lady. I am, at current, a skilled hunter of beasts and demons alike, and have been trained to serve and speak in court and government. I offer my services to you, to do as you wish."
That ought to please her.
Madide studies Bartabus silently for a long minute before finally deciding, "You'll do. Your outfit won't need much work."
Babartus tipped his head acceptingly and smiled again.
This woman has power...but she's still an idiot. I can't believe she bought all of that without further question. This should be fun.
"Now," Madide says. "K'thosis, you can show these beings to their quarters shortly, as I have matters to attend. We shall all meet again for dinner, then you new recruits shall be properly dressed, and then we shall discuss matters of business." She smiles at this. "Unless you have any questions first?"
"I have nothing further to add, your Majesty." said with a bow.
Matching...uniforms? Oh HELLS no.
Kael wordlessly shook his head. He looked forward to going to his room so he could take a breather and do some planning.
K'thosis strides forward, only just now reminding everyone he was even there. For a twelve foot tall purple demon, he sure is subtle.
He pauses for a moment, allowing Seiz a moment to reply before leading everyone to their quarters.
"No questions, M'Lady," replies Seiz.
The stuff that needs explaining should be done when she starts talking business, anyway.
I hope this uniforms look nice. This had better be worth it.
"Then, this way," K'thosis says, before turning away and marching towards a set of doors. They open as he approach, and close behind everyone. Through the long hallway, and then to a spiral staircase, and then across another hallway.
The quarters the demons are assigned are decent, if not fabulous. Three bedrooms which share a common room, and a washroom. "Until you prove yourselves of significant value to the Mistress, this is where you will stay," K'thosis says, handing a key to each of the demons. "Touch your key to the door of the room you choose, and it's yours. They're all the same, though." He smiles at that. "If you need anything, ask a guard. You'll be seen by the tailor shortly."
Without waiting for a reply, the lumbering brute marches out the door, and into the hall.
Seiz grabs the door closest to the exit of the room, rolling his eyes.
"Man, this place is bizzare," he says, opening and checking out his new place to crash.
The rooms are all identically appointed. A bed, a dresser, and a walk-in-closet the size of the bedroom. The bathroom looks like it's been built to withstand whatever demons might need to use it, and looks sparsely decorated enough to suggest that it did not personally recieve Medide's touch as far as decoration is concerned.
The central living area has a small bookshelf with a few novels and a lot of demonic fashion magazines. There's two couches and about five over-stuffed chairs (which look reasonably comfortable), along with a handful of bare side-tables.
Kael chooses the middle room. He goes in and looks around, then nods in satisfaction. Wandering out of his room, he goes straight to the bookshelf and peruses.
Babartus chooses the room in the center and goes to settle in.
As he does so, he calls out to Seiz. "It's not the weirdest I've ever seen, but it's up there."
Sarric knocks before entering, but comes into the room shortly after everyone has gotten a chance to get used to their surroundings. He has a tape measure draped over his shoulder and is carrying a noteapd.
"Who'd like to be first?" he asks, peering around the room (and over a pair of glasses he wasn't wearing before).
"May as well get this over with," says Seiz, jokingly, approching Sarric. "So do we need to wear these uniforms all the time, or just when we're on missions?" he asks, standing before him, ready to be measured.
"The rules of the uniform are as follows," Sarric says harshly, snapping the length of the measuring tape like a whip. In a heartbeat he's standing behind Seiz, rolling up the tape measure. "Firstly, you shall always take care to mend and clean your uniform before partaking of any action that involves the Lady." Sarric turns around, and Seiz is suddenly wearing a pair of dark khaki trousers, and similarly colored shirt. A badge of rank is embroidered on the shoulder, a garnet set inside Medide's silver circle crest.
"Moreover," he says, eyeing Seiz critically, "you must look your best when you confront demons who serve others; we have a reputation to maintain." Sarric looks in one pocket, breaking off his tirade, and then frowns thoughtfully. "Does that suit you, or shall I continue?"
"Where'd my jacket go?" blurts out Seiz, annoyed. It was his favourite jacket! The one he'd had since.. well.. since always!
"It's in your room," Sarric replies. "Next?"
Babartus calmly presented himself. "Ready for fitting."
Let's just get this over with. Eurgh. I cannot wait to get away from this place.
"Quite right," Sarric says dryly. "To continue, it is important to wear the proper uniform for the proper occasion. Your standard uniform should be used for standard activities." The tailor then snaps out his measuring tape, slides past Barbartus.
The demon finds himself dressed similarly to Seiz, only his uniform has the sleeves rolled up to just above the elbows, and comes with a pair of dark leather gloves and well fitted boots. Seiz, it appears, only got comfortable looking shoes. "Your dress uniform should be used during formal occasions." He frowns at Barbartus. "If you need a customization to your uniform, you should probably tell me now.
"The most important thing to remember is that we're all about appearance here. Then you need to remember that appearance is not everything, and if everyone expects you to be a prissy slave to fashion, they get a bit surprised when you turn out to have ... more depth."
He smirks slightly at this last, and then eyes Barbartus speculatively. "Does this work, or shall I move on?"
Kael manages to pry his nose from a novel he was reading, curled up on one of the couches. He looked curiously at the proceedings and put the book aside, knowing that he was next. He got up from the couch.
Formal occasions, eh? Probably parties, parades, exhibitions.. And all this talk about the depth of appearances, eh? No surprise, really.
Seiz leans against the wall, adjusting to his new uniform as best he can.
Babartus inspects himself briefly. "Yes, this will do. I have no changes that I can think of, at the moment."
"Moving on," Sarric intones, snapping his tape measure towards Kael and flourishing it briefly over his head. "The uniforms should be comfortable enough for you to maintain composure, and work well enough to allow you full mobility. If your uniform becomes damaged in the course of duty, this is acceptible, but it must be repaired immediately upon return here."
Kael is now dressed in comfortable (if somewhat loose) tan robes with a silvered fur hem. His uniform has his rank in the same locations as the others, save, now that all three demons can see one-another, they realize that the clothes really do help accentuate what they claimed their skills to be. Seiz's uniform looks more like a commander's than a grunts (save the rank, and lack of medals), and Barbartus looks more like a specialist or covert agent. Kael on the other hand looks entirely harmless, if well educated.
"You can just ask after me if you need anything else done with your uniforms," Sarric says. "Do you need anything done right now?"
"I'd like a jacket," speaks up Seiz, shrugging. "With a few decent-sized pockets."
"I'd like paper and pens," Kael spoke up. He liked his new robes. Very suitable for his line of work.
"Look in your rooms," Sarric replies. "Anything else, ring the bell and ask a guard for it. Your first meal is in an hour; you'll have it here so there's time to adjust to everything. The Lady won't have a job for you until the morning."
Man, we're not being treated badly. But we're still just raw recruits, so to speak.
I wonder how plush the rooms of her foremost retainers are?
Seiz gives a short nod to Sarric, and reclines on a couch, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Thank you," Kael says to Sarric and promptly goes back to his couch and novel.
This place seemed better than the last place he worked in, but it was probably that only way on the surface. Who knew what the Lady had in store for them.
As soon as he started working he was going to have to talk to her. Her taste in books were appalling.
About an hour passes before there's a knock at the dooor. A clockwork guard is there, carrying a large tray with three covered platters on it.
After the evening meal (which is decent) the clockwork collects the dishes and wanders off.
"Well...that was pleasent." says Babartus. He looks at the other two in the room with him. "I suppose we should all get to know each other a bit, since we'll be working together for a while. I'm Babartus."
"Kael," said the dark-haired demon, nose still buried in another book. He had already finished the first one long ago. He was sprawled on the couch with every evidence of being in his own little world, but he was actually attendant to anything that was happening.
His eyes flickered toward Babartus.
"Seiz," replies Seiz, leaning back on a couch. "Man, this place is plush."
Kael agrees by wiggling further down on the couch.
Babartus nodded, enjoying the fact that they weren't currently doing anything. "I don't suppose you two know what our new Lady will have us do next, hmm?"
"Yeah, right," replies Seiz, snorting. "We'll probably be raiding some clothing outlet or something. Maybe some magazine that savaged her. Maybe she'll be putting us on parade to show off our new outfits.
Gods, I don't know."
The lights flicker to notify everyone in the room of the suggested time to sleep.
Deep within the castle, a clock can be heard chiming, very quietly. After thirteen strikes, the clock stops.
Kael quietly gets up, puts the book away, and after saying good night to the other two, goes to his room.
Seiz moodily wanders off to bed, giving Barbartus a short wave before crashing in his room.
Mmmmm. A bed..
Babartus returns to his room and settles in to bed.
Well, this was nice, for a change. I wonder what she'll have us do first? I sincerely hope it's nothing like what Seiz was suggesting...
Heis thoughts turn quickly to those of home and better times, and he drifts off to sleep.
All three demons are woken up by the deep, resonating tolling sound of a clock stricking the hour the following morning. It sounds like it's about 6:00 AM.
Shortly after the chimes, a clockwork guard drops off a tray loaded with an assortment of breakfast foods, and a rolled up scroll sealed with a lump of wax.
Seiz lurches out of bed, stumbles through the door, and grabs a piece of Fried Erkleschtoff. Chomping it down, he eventually, through bleary eyes, notices the sealed note. Hurriedly stuffing down a sizable portion of the breakfast tray, he unseals the scroll, and reads it out to himself, mumbling the words under his breath.
All in all, a typical morning.
Man, she wants us to get up early? Even the army wasn't that cruel!
An unidentifiable creature oozes out of his room clad in white pajamas, until one could see it was Kael, hair disheveled, blank gaze that positively screamed for a huge dose of caffeine.
He stopped short when he saw Seiz at the table. Staring at him for a moment, swaying on his feet, he did a swift about-face and went into his room and slammed the door.
A few minutes later he comes out nice and fresh and squeaky clean with his uniform on and hair combed back and spectacles perched on his nose.
"Good morning," he says pleasantly to Seiz, sitting down on the table. Peacefully gathering assorted breakfast foods on his plate, he starts to eat.
Seiz scans through the letter swiftly:Faithful servants,
I hope the morning finds you well. Due to the status of the realm, I expect the need to mobilize you shortly. Because of this, six of the planned weeks of fashion training are going to be dropped in favor of K'thosis's diplomacy and unarmed combat training.
Please meet with him in the great hall at 7:30 AM sharp.
Regards,
M.
Next to her name, she has affixed her seal.
As Seiz finishes reading the note, he hears two sounds: one, the crunch of Fried Erkleschtoff in another demon's mouth, and two, the tick of a clock.
Looking over to the floor-length clock with pendulums and chimes, Seiz has enough time to wonder how it got there before he notices the time: 6:15. If memory serves, the Great Hall is probably a ten minute walk away, so there's still plenty of time left.
Babartus exits his room crisply, already in his uniform, which appears professionally pressed and cleaned, despite having been worn just the day before.
"What's all this about?" he asks, looking at his two roommates.
"Darn...and I was so looking forward to the fashion training," Kael said dryly as he leaned over to look at the note.
Thank goodness for that.... I already know how to dress myself, thankyouverymuch.
Seiz rubs his eyes, then passes the note to Barbartus.
"Mornin'," he mumbles in Kael's general direction, before falling into his room and somehow emerging neatly dressed in his uniform.
"Unarmed combat or fashion training," he mutters, sizing up his newfound teammates. "Both are painful, but one is useful. Theoretically."
Babartus reads the note, then hands it to Kael. "Personally, I think I'd rather get some exercize. Somehow, I don't find myself too attached to the thought of this...'fashion training.' Somehow, I doubt it will become overly relevant."
"You can never know," replies Seiz, darkly. "If you're attending a ball or a reception, fashion training might actually come in handy.
Not that it matters. You think she'd let us pick our own outfits? Un-likely!"
"Believe me, I've lived my life with my mother hammering that garbage into my brain. I do what I do to get away from all of that, not out of some strange sense of duty." grumbled Babartus, rolling his eyes and snatching some food.
"As for our uniforms, I figure that, not only will we fit into her little scheme of making everything blend into the walls, but I suspect that with these uniforms, she can track us so that she will know where we are at all times. No sane demon lord just lets their vassals run willy-nilly without some kind of protection in effect. She wouldn't have survived this long unless she had at least a little brains to back up her brawn."
Seiz snorts. "Debatable. Man, at this point, I don't care. I just prefer changing myself, not having some supertailor do it for me."
"Agreed, clothes these days cost a pretty penny. At least, decent ones do. I rather miss my old hunter digs. They were perfectly comfortable." Babartus sighed and looked over at Kael. "Any opinions on this whole mess?"
"Good fashion makes a good impression," said Kael, placing the note down on the table after reading it. "I personally don't mind about the uniforms, as long as they don't make me look like a fool and impede my movement."
He looked to the clock. "How much time do we have left?"
"We've got, like, an hour, and then some?" says Seiz, rolling his eyes. "Man. I wish I'd done some combat training like this before. At least I'm still in shape."
Babartus looks at Seiz incredulously. "You don't have formal combat training? Why the hells not?"
"Melee combat training," clarifies Seiz. "And mainly because I preferred not to get thrown in with the rest of the rabble. I liked being a tactician better, thanks. You get a better tent."
"I didn't have any either..." Kael said in a quiet voice. He looked slightly sheepish. "My former master strongly believed that someone like me should be pushing books instead of doing 'heavy stuff',"
He sniffed in disdain as he thought about the indignity of his profession being adressed in such a manner.
"He swamped me with so much work I did not have time to train."
Babartus nods. "I'll give you that one. Myself, I'll fight when needs be, but there are better ways to do things of that nature."
"Oh, for sure," replies Seiz, shrugging. "Nothing like putting someone down in person."
"However, there's something to be said for getting your enemies convinced to the point where they kill each other for you." Babartus chuckles darkly.
"Yeah, whatever," replies Seiz, shrugging. "I'm sure you'll get your chance, and all."
He grabs another piece of Fried Erklescthoff- man, it's good stuff. "This food is good stuff," he comments.
Babartus grabs another bite. "Yeah, it is. You'd think that if the food were this good, they'd be able to be at least a little serious about their uniforms here, instead of it all being a color-coded nightmare."
"Maybe the chef is exempt from the uniform-thing, and thus can work to maximum efficiency," replies Seiz, shrugging. "Or they could be ordering from that new breakfast joint."
Kael listened to the two of them talking and couldn't help but feel a bit let out. But of course, he had something that he could do especially well, and no one was going to take that away.
"Hand me another of those sausages, will you please?"
Babartus looks at Seiz curiously. "New breakfast joint?" He hands Kael two more sausages. "Here ya go."
"Yeah, man. Kargo's Morning Munchies. It's great, they have this huge bowl of meat, and every table has it's own deep-fry," replies Seiz.
Babartus stares at Seiz. "You're kidding."
"No way, man," replies Seiz. "It's become one of my favourite spots."
Babartus shakes his head. "Well, not anymore. I doubt the lady in charge will let you out of the house anymore withour her expressed permission. The best you can hope for is that they're catering."
"Oh, for real," replies Seiz, leaning back. "Hey, I think I'll check out the grounds a little. Nobody told me I couldn't."
That said, Seiz gets up, goes out his door, and starts wandering around the castle, until it's time to go.
OOC: GM timeskip go!
Seiz meets up with the others in time to join them for the trek to meet with K'thosis.
The castle is scenic, and the demon feels he at least knows his way around better (and he spotted the cook, a six-armed demon with light orange skin who seemed a bit busy at the moment, but promised to discuss the art of cooking in more detail later).
The great hall is just as it was the last time Medide was here, though currently she's nowhere in sight. K'thosis stands at the base of Medide's currently empty throne, and says, "I'm glad that you could make it. The lady has a mission for you, to ... give you a chance to practice and make your peace before your initial assignment. Before we begin, you may each choose a weapon to take with you if you haven't got one already. Now, your mission will be this:
"Years ago, before the War, the lady kept a book of some import in the library. The furthest reaches of the library are no longer ... hospitable, but they do contain the tome we need you to retrieve. Your mission is to figh-- er, find your way to this tome, the 'Record of Silver'. Once you complete this task, Medide will see fit to trust you with the responsibility of acting field agents." K'thosis frowns a bit. "But not until then."
"Uh, why is this place dangerous?" ask Seiz, looking everywhere but K'Thosis.
Man, if I have to stare at him, I'm going to burst out laughing. That suit..
"Well," K'thosis replies, pulling a handkerchief from one pocket and wiping away non-existant motes of dust from one sleeve. "It's ... dusty. There are all sorts of dust bunnies and ... and ... I think the far corner is leaky and has ... mildew." The huge demon shudders slightly at this. "But you look brave and healthy. I'm sure you can handle it."
"That's it?" replies Seiz, rolling his eyes.
Either he's not telling us, or he doesn't know. Geez.
K'thosis shivers slightly. "Dust bunnies," he mutters, his eyes glowing red. "They must be wiped out."
"Huh. Well, ok," replies Seiz, shrugging.
Kael could sympathize a bit. Mildew and books do not mix very well. As K'Thosis talked, he had a sudden mental image of himself weilding a sword against a giant dust bunny with ravenous teeth. How....exciting.
What was more exciting was that he would be in the library most of the time looking for that tome. Book hunting was his favorite hobby.
He stomped down the urge to clasp his hands and go "Eeexcellent," in an evil voice and instead listened intently to the prude of a demon.
"If you don't have any questions, what weapons would you choose?" K'thosis asks.
"A light fencing sabre, and knives," Kael spoke up, thinking. Throwing knives would be good also... I need to defend myself at both close and far range.... I would also need to know manual combat just in case.....
He subsided to think some more.
K'thosis nods, and two clockword guards appear, arms filled to nearly overflowing with equipment. "Light cavalry saber," the large demon says, pulling a single weapon from the guard on the left. "Knives ... throwing, stabbing, posing, or otherwise?" he asks, throwing samples of each into separate piles on the floor.
Oddly, each stack of weapons lands on an already placed (and massive) handkerchief. K'thosis hands the saber over to Kael, and adds, "I'd also suggest one of these for you," pulling a broom from the guard on the right, and offering it as well.
Babartus ponders for a moment, then says "I'll take a proper longsword, if you've got one."
K'thosis hands over a long-sword, and identically handled duster. "And for you?" he asks, looking at Seiz.
"Oh, uh, I have some of my own stuff," replies Seiz, shrugging. "But I'll take some of them throwing knives."
Kael grabs some throwing knives and a knife for each hand.
K'thosis nods, and then sweeps up the weapons, leaving the handkerchiefs for a third clockwork guard to gather. "Then follow me," he intones, turning and marching briskly away.
A brisk pace for a demon that size ends up making everyone else scurry to keep up, but in short order he leads everyone to a door that none of them have seen before. It's massive -- sized for someone as much larger than K'thosis as he is larger than everyone else. Grunting, the huge demon reaches up to unlatch the door, after a moment straining on tip-toe to unlatch the lock.
"Guh," he grunts. "Okay. This is the library. When you are ready ... enter."
Seiz has, from somewhere, produced a short bow and a quiver. The broom is handily strapped to his back, and he eyes his companions.
"Quite a door," he says, eyeing K'Thosis, before peering into the library itself.
The library doesn't look too bad from the door. An inch, perhaps, of dust on everything in sight.
It's a huge library, too. The bookshelves are meters upon meters high, crammed to overflowing with books left in disrepair since the War. Aisles between the lofty shelves (the roof is hard to make out ... how big is this place, anyway?) lead into the distance, but things that far away are indistinct.
Kael gasps in outrage at the sight of so many books in that horrible condition. He wields his broom offensively, his weapons already equipped.
"Ready when you are," he says.
Shrugging, Seiz marches into the library, peering around. "Man, we're gonna have a tough time finding it," he grouses. "Where did you say it was, again?" he shouts back to K'Thosis.
Babartus sighs. "Somewhere in the back corner, I believe. Hmm...Unless the dust has become overly hostile," he snorts softly. "I don't believe I'll be needing this soon." With that, he sheathes the longsword at his side and brandishes his duster.
"I suppose this is more appropriate, then. Shall we?"
"Somewhere in the back corner. Bleh, this'll take all day," mutters Seiz. "Yeah, let's go."
The demons set off through the library. As they progress, the dust does become thicker, however. By the time the trio is a good hundred yards from the door, it's nearly a foot thick.
Seiz starts attacking the dust with his broom, shaking his head.
"Man, how one place can have so much, I won't know," he comments. "Is the roof disintegrating or something?"
As Seiz starts stirring the dust up with his broom, he sees a pair of largeish (about the size of himself, if he were to hunch over to waist-height, but retained the same amount of mass) lumps of dust start moving towards the trio.
Kael sneezes. "I knew it!" he says vehemently. He takes out his sabre, putting his broom nearby.
The dust-lumps surge closer, stopping just outside of striking distance and then rising slightly. They look like huge dust-bunnies with glowing red eyes. After studying the demons for a moment, they start circling slowly, like sharks.
Seiz eyes his surroundings.
Wood and paper. Nope, not a good place to start setting fires, unless he wanted to burn the entire library down...
Which left nothing for it, really.
"They're made of dust," he notes, flinging a knife at a random dust-bunny experimentally.
I bet this doesn't work.
"Maybe you should hold onto that broom."
Babartus flourishes his duster neatly, nodding. "Agreed. If these things are made of dust, I doubt our blades will have much effect. Shall we?" he nods to Seiz and Kael.
Kael brandishes his broom after putting his sabre away. He puts his back to the other two, facing the dust bunnies that were at the back. His nose tickled again.
The thrown knife causes a quiet 'puff' of dust. It also sets off the dust-...bunnies? charge at the demonic trio.
The nearest lump of dust charges into Kael's broom, to be swiftly struck atop the head by Barbartus's duster. This decapitates the dust bunny, which bleeds a thick, vaguely lemon-scented yellow ichor. This also (interestingly) causes that dust-bunnie's corpse to dissolve quickly, creating a large clean spot in the floor.
The second dust-bunny, however, sweeps around, and charges Seiz. The thing's reddish eyes shrink to points as a huge, gaping maw forms on one side of the thing, and it roars a silent and dusty roar. Dusty spittle flecks Seiz's uniform.
"Watch out!" Kael yells to Seiz, and whacks the third dust bunny with his broom.
The dust-bunny is smote, and quickly taken down. This one was probably a different breed or something; its pine-scented ichor cleanses a large and irregular splotch of the surrounding area, revealing a (now) well-polished knife.
Seiz backs off a little, and tries whacking the dust-bunny across the (well, was it a head?) the head-like region.[/i]
Babartus stares at the area of sudden cleanliness in absolute shock. "...riiiiight."
Kael grins. "This is fun," he said. He whacked another dust bunny.
All of the dust-bunnies immediately nearby are vanquished. In fact, the local level of dust appears to have dropped a centimeter or two.
The demons realize with a start that the dust is actually running like thick water -- flowing into the cleaning ichor of the fallen dust-bunnies. Soon the level of dust will be about half of its former height, and the two clean patches will be gone. Not sure if the pine-scented dagger will remain or not, though.
Dust-bunny-like lumps await in the distant dimness....
Kael scurries quickly forward and snatches up the dagger. Now that it was coated in pine-scented stuff, it would probably be of great use. He holds it in his other hand.
Babartus shakes off his shock and growls determinedly, "Onward, before this gets any more ridiculous!"
The distant mounds of dust that are most likely other dust-bunnies are currently inactive. The other demons are able to move forward without noticing any immediate reaction to their presence.
Grinning to himself, Kael walked on to the back of the library, holding his broom, just in case.
As the dusk rises (or really, just gets deeper the further into the library the further Kael ventures), the still dust-mounds (sleeping dust-bunnies?) stir.
But only when Kael disturbs the dust. It's also worth noting that these dustmounds are a little bit larger than the last pair, and there's eight of them in sight before the dust gets deeper. They're still currently dormant, and not visibly moving, however....
Kael slowed down and stopped. Looking at the dust around him, he waited for the other two to catch up. He would walk on when they arrive, but this time a bit more carefully.
"We should stay close," states Seiz moving up to stand next to Kael.
"There are more of these things than us, but they seem to move slower and don't attack swiftly. If we keep our, er, broomheads in some kind of formation, they shouldn't be able to get anywhere near us if they decide to, erm, attack."
A skittering noise gets the attention of all three demons, as they watch a minute trickle of dust form from one of the higher bookshelves nearby. The falling dust floats a few feet from the base of the bookshelf, and begins to collect in a short mound. Currently it's to the right, and ahead.
Babartus Stares at the growing mound of dust. "Er."
Seiz blinks, then moves towards the dust and tries to sweep it.
"Man, before we search, maybe we should just clean up the whole library," he grouses.
The only partially created dust-bunny does not resist, but yeilds slightly less of the cleansing (pine-scented again, this time) ichor. The clean spot seems to last not nearly as long this time around.
"Somehow, the thought of a larger one of these creatures both pleases and frightens me at the same time. Where did all this dust come from, anyway?" Babartus asks, peering around.
Of special interest is the fact that on the bookshelf behind the dust-bunny, there was a marble plate on the face of the shelf (it looked like dust, before). Now, however, it's clean, and some glowing letters can be seen, along with an arrow pointing to the left:<-RefeThe rest of it is unreadable through the dust.
"What the hells is a 'Refe?'" he asked Kael. "You're the bookish one, can you figure this one out?"
"Reference?" posits Seiz, getting closer to try and clear out the rest of the dust that's in the way.
Kael cautiously skirts around the half-formed dust bunny to the plaque. Wiping off the excess dust, he looks at the inscription. I know this language.... He racks his brain. Ah!
"It says..."
Kael uncovers the area to either side of the inscription, revealing the full text:<-Reference Ba-Bi
"Nope, the book is still further back," Kael said, then turned and bonked the large dust bunny to delay its growth so he could get back to the other two.
There's no immediately nearby dust bunnies, only the clean spots where dust-bunnies had once been.
"Right. Off we go, then." Babartus says, looking at the others.
"Yeah. To the back!" replies Seiz, starting to move.
Surprisingly, the eight larger dust bunnies don't react, and when swept, turn out to be holes in the dust capped with little dusty domes, not actual dust-bunnies.
After passing them, the trio reaches the center of the library. Three large dust mounds, and two dust-bunny sized-ones are scattered around a giant display of some kind. Right now it's just a featureless dusty rectangular prism; who knows what's beneath the dust?
Seiz moves forward and starts dusting across the dust, attempting to dust away the dustiness in order to see what lurks beneath.
Babartus moves foreward and starts dusting the main display.
Kael joins in, humming quietly an ancient melody under his breath. He looked content.
IT takes little time to cleanse the glass obelisk. Which is pretty much what it is.
But inside the thick chunk of glass, there's a nice map of the area, along with a helpful, "You are here!" sign. Apparently, the library is set up like a wheel, with the shelves like spokes around the central hub. The display at the bottom also says something in text that only Kael can read easily; the others can pick out a handful of words, but the script is just too archaic ... still heavily influenced by Angelic characters. The two languages originally were united, and then split, but over time, the language of Demons has drifted away. This combination of the two gives most Demons a headache. Even if they don't recongize the words, they know that reading some causes their eyes to sting...."Welcome to Medide and Arafael's library; a wedding gift from Me to My children."
Currently referencing: A-D
Instructions: To change which sections of the library are being referenced, please place one hand on the obelisk, and speak the title of the tome you are searching for. If it is to be found within the confines of the library, you will be directed to it. And if this guidepost can't find a book, then to Hell with it.
Now that the dust is cleared, though, the obelisk evidences a certain inescapable aura of age ... by touch alone, the sense is that this display predates the War by a very significant stretch of time.
"Arafael? Why does that name ring a bell?" Babartus mumbles. "What's the name of the book we're looking for, Kael?"
" 'Record of Silver,' " said Kael. "I have to put my hand here like so--" he placed his palm on the obelisk. Clearly he intoned the title in the old language. "Gah," he said after that, rubbing his throat. "Leaves it a little raw..."
"Not easy on the ears, either," comments Seiz. "Let's just find this book and be done with it."
With a slow, rumbling grind, the lofty shelves begin to sink into the floor, shedding massive volumes of dust as they sink. For all of their motion, however, the tops don't seem to actually come any closer....
After a minute of the rumbling, dust fogs the air, and it ceases, though the nearby dust level appears to have risen. A flashing pearl on the map indicates the location of ... something. The display's text has changed, too, though nobody saw it change. It now reads:
QuoteCurrently referencing: R-U
"Well, I think that makes it pretty straightforward," comments Seiz, heading towards the corresponding part of the library to the pearl on the map.
Babartus nods. "Yeah, now all we need to do is avoid These creatures, get our book, and go."
Slogging through the dust, the group makes their way through the knee-deep dust until they approach the point where it seems likely the book would be. In the center of the aisle, leaving only enough space to squeeze through on the right-hand side, is the largest mound of dust yet. It stretches easily four times the height of Kael.
It's also quiet, and no dust-bunnies have been spotted yet.
Kael whips out a handkerchief to stifle the sneeze that racked his frame. Sniffing, he happily peered at the nearest shelf. While doing so he thought.
Arafael and Medide... I wondered what happened to him and their marriage? This is all so interesting, I might get a book of their family histories and check those out.
Babartus stares at the dust mound. "That's...a lot of dust."
Kael's sneeze is almost completely muffled by the surrounding dust, though a tiny bit of dust drifts down from above.
Despite Babartus's observations, the dust-mound does not react.
Seiz tries clearing away the dust with his broom, cursing.
"We'll never find anything with all this crap," he mutters.
The huge dust mound does react to being swept at, however. A pair of eyes the size of Seiz's head open, glowing baleful red. A gap opens in the base of the dust-bunny, revealing a dusty, cavernous maw.
The scent of dust and the force of a strong wind emerge silently, blowing more dusty saliva across the demonic troupe.
Seiz gawks at the huge dust-bunny, taking a few steps back.
Then a few more, just to be safe.
Then he pulls a knife from his belt and flings it at one of the huge eyes.
Kael lets out a squeak. His nose tickles horrendously again, and he moves back from the dust bunny's reach.... which is a lot.
Just had to happen that the dust bunny was in front of the book they were looking for. Eyes watering with the force of trying to hold back his sneeze, he whips out a dagger without looking.
Seiz's knife sinks into one glowing red eye, vanishing without visible effect. In response, the dust-bunny rears upward, now towering a good seven meters over the troupe, and roars silently.
But the dusty quiet roar is followed by swiftly thickening rivulets of dust from the tops of the bookshelves, falling down the spines of the books like a dirty waterfall.
Babartus looks up. "...Right! Have at you!" he shouts, darting forward to smack the creature with his duster.
The creature shuffles back on four huge dusty paws, Barbartus's duster slashing through the dusty hide, and causing minor amounts of cleansing ichor to seep from the wounds.
One paw rises, and sweeps across the aisle, headed straight for the hunter.
Babartus dodges left and rolls.
Kael finally sneezes mightily. Holding a hankie to his nose, he leaps into the fray after putting away the dagger, weilding his broom at a swipe at the dust bunny's head.
Kael's sneeze distracts the monster from Babartus, allowing the hunter to roll easily outside of the dusty paw's destructive swath. Then the dust bunny spins around, and leaps towards Kael, the broom intercepting a lunging paw. Ichor splashes across the floor as the bunny rears back, motes of dust trickling down as the wounds healed.
This silent frenzy has caused the dust against the sides of the bookshelf to thicken, now to the point where the individual books can't be made out. Odd what's observed in the heat of a pitched battle.
"See if you two can drive him back!" Kael shouted at the other two. "I'll get the book."
Quickly wrapping a spare hankie around his nose and mouth to keep away most of the dust, he started to brush off the dust from the books, searching for the Tome.
Kael works on dusting a few of the nearby books while the bunny-monster is distracted. It seems reasonable that Kael could figure out where the book is if he could just get a small sample of the existing organizational system.
Babartus launches himself at the bunny, his duster whirling, in an attempt to skewer the beast's head. "Come on, Seiz! Don't just stand there!"
Barbartus bops the bunny squarely on the nose, and hears a (heavily muffled) "Ow!"
The bunny itself looks anxious and angry, opting to go for a tackle at the hunter. Lumbering forward like a dusty engine of destruction, it surges forward, dust roiling in its wake.
Babartus dodges backward, attempting to get out of the way. "Erk!"
Hefting his broom, Seiz flings it like a javelin at the creature's head, figuring that it should distract or stun the thing long enough for Barbie to take it out.
Everything ends up happening at once. Kael, trying to ignore the wild melee behind him, finds the book, and dusts off the immaculate ivory spine of the tome. It's pretty big, but Kael can carry it. He won't be able to do much else while he's doing so, though.
Barbartus scrambles out of the way, but his feet lose purchase in the thick dust (it's nearly like mud), and he goes down, just as the broom that Siez flung drives through half of the dust-bunny's head, causing the entire thing to explode in an all-enveloping cloud of dust. From within, the demons can barely breathe, though they can hear: "Damn imps!" This speaker does not sound familiar.
"Ha ha! Nice shot, Seiz!" Babartus grins and clambers to his feet, looking for the source of the new voice. "Have you got the book, Kael?"
There's a very dusty and annoyed demon standing where the dust-bunny was, as the dust clears. He's of average height (well, slightly taller than Kael) with very fair features. The ichor from the omega-bunny spreads out, quickly consuming all of the dust that isn't already on someone, as the aura of cleaning works its way away from the site of what one presumes was the source. The newly arrived demon has dusty gray skin, but blue eyes. He's wearing what looks like a loose set of robes (also dusty gray right now), and he's carrying a clean broomstick in his right hand.
In his left hand, he's holding a handful of tiny imps, who are struggling to escape, and occasionally fling dust at him.
"I've gone blind," mutters Kael. Freeing one hand from his burden, he quickly takes off his spectacles and hankie with one hand, and blows on the lenses to remove the rest of the dust that's left. Putting on the specs and quickly supporting the tome that was trying to slip and fall to the floor, he said to Barbatus. "Yes, I have it right here... isn't it marvelous?" he grins happily down at it, before looking up and noticing the stranger in front of them.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Mephelion, though you can call me ... the Librarian," the dust-shrouded figure intones. "Oh, wow," he adds, looking around. "How long was I out?"
Kael's only answer was a little gasp of outrage.
"A while," replies Seiz, testily. "Good luck, and all that. I guess you've got some dusting to do."
"Bleah," Mephelion grumbles, shaking the imps fiercely. "No more of that from you." The aisle is currently clean of dust, sparkling from the cleansing ichor the omega-bunny released.
"And thanks," he adds, glancing at the assembled demons, and whisking all the dust away with his broom in a single swipe. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Well, there was that book," notes Seiz, jabbing a finger at Kael. "I suppose you don't mind if we take it?"
"I'll need to see the title before it leaves," Mephelion warns, producing a pair of spectacles, and ruffling his wings. The dust disperses from him, revealing his own color. His flesh is pale gray, and his wings, oddly, have owl-feathers on them. "Ah," he says, pausing, as he sees the book. "That one. Very well then. If you need any other books, just come see me."
Babartus nods. "We will. Try to keep this dust down to manageable levels, will you? Hire some help or something."
"Sure thing," Mephelion says, shoving the struggling imps into one pocket, then pulling out a tiny cage, the imps trapped inside. "Be careful. It's hell out there."
Mephelion leads the way to the door, sweeping aside what little dust is left on the the way there.
Seiz snorts. "Nice pun," he notes, heading for the door.
Babartus shakes his head and sighs, mumbling, "Someone's been in this library for way too long." He looks over at Kael. "Well?"
Mephelion shrugs, not seeming to really care about the comments tossed at him. He doesn't really follow the other demons all the way to the exit, either. Once the huge doors are in sight, he shrugs, and wanders off towards one of the huge aisles of the library, calling back, "I've got some more dust to take care of."
Kael curses as the book slips down a bit further and he adjusts it. This book is a bit heavier than it looks, so the paper must be the Heavy-Duty All Purpose Never-Wear-Out Parchment (tm) that was introduced some centuries ago.
"That was interesting," he said, looking at the Librarian's retreating figure. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah," says Seiz, shrugging.
"What's that thing about, anyway?"
"Well, we can hardly look at this now, can we?" Kael said. "We're tired and we smell strongly of cleaning fluid, and I don't know about the both of you, but I'm starving. Why don't we go back and look at this properly in the common room?"
"Yeah," replies Seiz, fingering his uniform.
At the exit to the library, the demons all face mighty K'thosis, who flicks his handkerchief at each of the trio in turn, cleaning them (and the book) off. "I can't let you track dust into the castle proper. You should probably wash up and eat before bringing the tome to Medide." K'thosis then closes the massive library doors. Apparently, K'thosis dusted off an unused sally-port at the base of the door, so there's still a way in.
It's just too small for K'thosis now.
"Do you need anything?" the large demon asks, tucking his hanky away into one pocket of his suit.
"Yeah, a bath and food sounds good," remarks Seiz.
"Indeed, a bath would be quite nice." Babartus nods.
K'thosis nods, and leads the trio back to their quarters, where he says, "Lunch will be along shortly," and vanishes.
"Well, no time like the present." Babartus quips, heading toward the baths.
The demon's quarters have been cleaned when they return (post bathing expedition). Everything looks to have been thoroughly scrubbed, swept, mopped, and who knows what else.
They even left mints on the pillows.
But there are clean uniforms awaiting, and The Record of Silver is on the table in the trio's main room.
Kael munches on his mint, while pulling on his clean uniform. Scrubbing his damp hair with a towel in one hand, he wanders into the main room and arranges himself comfortably on a couch.
Seiz flops on a couch in a towel, eschewing getting changed for the moment.
"So what's in the book, library-boy?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow.
That's what we're here for," Kael replied serenely. "To find out." He carefully folded the towel and set it aside. He leaned forward and opened the cover of the tome. For a moment he just sat there. He just loved the scent of old parchment.
edit: added word that I've missed typing.
Seiz irreverently grabs the cover of the book and opens it. "Man, it's not that hard," he mumbles.
The book is written in an elegant script that's unfamiliar to most of the demons, though Kael can read it. It's the same script as what was on the obelisk in the center of the library. However, this script has each character attached to another character in a different script. Essentially, two complete texts occupying the same space. It can be read four different ways.
1.) Alternating the lines of each script as a whole.
2.) Reading just the familiar script.
3.) Reading just the unfamiliar script.
4.) Taking each of both script's characters and completing them into more complex words (though, it'd take quite a while to translate the entire thing like that).
Vexingly, all forms of interpetation seem to return actual information, so they're all valid. But they all say different things....
1.) Using this interpetation, the book is a journal of two newlyweds as they explore their new marriage. Odd.
2.) This script seems feminine, and any of the demons can read it easily. It details the use of feminine wiles in controlling men. Not really that handy, all things considered, but it gives you an idea of what to look out for.
3.) This is an odd script, but essentially it seems to go on at length for some obscure principle called 'justice'. It gives Kael a headache to read it alone, though.
4.) This is perhaps the most revealing of all interpetations, though Kael only has enough time to translate two lines before he needs to rest his eyes. It seems that this reading reveals what this book really is. It's a journal from two demons that were married at some point. However, demonic script is pretty efficient, and the script that it's linked with is pretty detailed, too.
When the two are combined, it becomes less text, and more a detailed celestial/infernal blueprint to the fundamental workings of a given concept. This means at any point where the two journals discuss a common point, information can be extracted from this tome on how to manufacture that common point, be it weather, a ball of fire, or a really, really awesome hat. It's a pretty thick tome, with very thin (though seemingly quite sturdy) pages.
"This tome," Kael said, looking up with glee. "is awesome."
Seiz peers over Kael's shoulder.
"Man, those weird characters give me a headache," he notes, recoiling.
Babartus peers over Kael's other shoulder, his left ear flicking with consternation. "But what the hells is it, really?"
There's a knock at the door, and then (unbidden) K'thosis sweeps into the room, setting down a large platter of tiny sandwiches and a tea tray. "The Lady will expect to see you in an hour," he informs everyone before vanishing.
For a big guy, he sure is quiet.
The sandwiches are of varying types, similar in style to the sandwiches they used to make at Poppa Diablo's Infernal Eatery, before they went out of business a few years ago. The tea comes in two varieties: mint, and lemon. Sugar and sulpher are provided.
Seiz yawns a little. "Aww. And here I was hoping for a nap," he comments, pulling himself up from the couch and heading into his room to get changed.
Babartus sighs, inhaling a sandwich. "You'll get used to it. These types think they're the most important thing since the Overlord."
He pours himself some mint tea and adds a pinch of sulphur. "For now, let's see if we can translate some of that book. If it's at all important."
After eating a satisfying amount of sandwiches, Kael drank his lemon tea with sugar and sulphur -- he liked how the tastes clashed -- and wiped his hands carefully. Going into his room he grabbed paper and pens and wandered out again to sit at the table with the tome.
Kael manages to work a bit on translating what will probably be the most useful part of the entire book: The index in the end. It seems to shift around when he's not looking ... it's certainly ... wily. But Kael can still slowly make a key to translate it, which will eventually allow him to look up anything he'd desire.
He gets about one page of his key complete (of, at an estimate, twenty) before there's a knock at the door, and K'thosis pokes his head in. "The lady is ready to see you," he answers gravely, his massive jaw working carefully to pronounce each sylable correctly around his tusks.
Babartus stands, straightening his clothing. "Let's go, then."
Kael stands as well and smooths down the front of his uniform after wiping away any stray spot of ink on his hands. He gathers the notes and tucks them safely away inside his uniform and follows the smaller demon to the door.
Seiz follows, tugging at his collar uncomfortably.. again.
In short order, K'thosis leads everyone to Medide's chamber.
It's been done up in soft blues and greens ... lots of nicely subtle malevolence in the lighting. The clockwork soldiers are all dressed in black for the moment. It makes sense she'd have a set that matched with everything....
"M'lady," K'thosis says with a bow. "They've returned, successful."
"Excellent," Medide says softly, glancing from her contemplation of a hand-mirror to the newly arrived demons. "Tell me of your quest, then," Medide says, looking the demons over.
Seiz glances shortly at Kael and Barbatus, and giving a little shrug, steps forward to report.
"My lady, we found the Library cluttered and foggy with dust. It was.. difficult to navigate. Odd imps and demons formed from the mist-like mess, but with the.. er.. brooms we were equipped with, we managed to easily fend them off.
Eventually, we managed to uncover the Silver Record from the library; we also found the, ah, Librarian. Claims he's getting back to work right away.
We took the book and brought it back with us; Kael here has been translating it."
"I already have a librarian?" Medide asks, looking somewhat bemused. "Oh, Mephelion, no doubt. I suppose that's a better title for him, but ... no matter." She shifts in her seat slightly, and sets the hand-mirror on a pedastal beside her throne. "Bring me the tome," she instructs.
Kael sketches a quick bow. "I'll go, milady." Turning, he walks quickly to the dorms and fetches the book, carrying it carefully in his arms. He returns to Medide's chamber.
This errand takes very little time. Kael returns with the tome, and Medide eyes it without taking it. "Bah," she says, grimacing. "It clashes with my drapes. Go ahead and keep it."
K'thosis coughs quietly, and Medide blinks, as though remembering something. "Oh, yes," she says suddenly. "Now that your trial is complete, I have a slightly more dangerous task for you.
"There's an artifact of some power hidden in the territory of another general. I would ask you to fetch it for me. With that, we will be prepared to launch an assault against our enemy! Enemies. Do we have any enemies, K'thosis?"
"Not currently, Madame," the large demon replies.
"Well, we'll make some, then," Medide decides. "Power is only a useful accessory if it's been demonstrated at least once. K'thosis, if you will, go ahead and brief them."
Babartus, Kael, and Seiz now go to Medide's Errand (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=53421#53421).
Seiz blinks.
Then he blinks again.
Then he mentally shrugs. If it's enemies Medide wants, all she needs to do is continue acting like a vapid teenager, and she'll have plenty of other demons out to grab her power in the meantime.
There *was* the question of just how potent she was, of course. Seiz made a note to do some homework in his spare time- if, of course, he got any.