Finding Calley

[Nephrite]

Moore smiles at Kaja and grins a little. "I can't blame you for thinking that way. No, Sylvie is..."

He takes a breath. "She's one of the few people who ever understood me. Who listened to me with any trouble I had. She confided things in me that... well, I'll still have to apologize to her for, but that can be later." He shakes his head.

"I'm liberated by my faith and the path that Erathaol has given me. I've seen too many people chained down in darkness and... that's where Sylvie is. She's stuck, chained to a destiny that was never hers to begin with." He takes in a breath. "I won't ever let anyone suffer like that. Too many people during Aurora's crusade were never given choices in their lives. It's why this is so important to me -- since I've been part of this group, I understand the power of possibility."

[Anastasia]

"The parable of the pebble," Cresiel says, and after a moment, "A pebble is merely a pebble, yet a wise man takes it and throws it down the cliff. Down and down it goes, loosening another pebble, another and another, then a rock. A rock, another rock. So on and so forth, until that choice to throw it has created an avalanche."

"There is far more to Sealtiel's lessons than that," Xandra speaks up as she works on the parchment.

"There is," Cresiel bows his head a moment, "But the essence of it suffices. Sylvie may only be a pebble, but if free to be thrown, she may make a landslide that changes everything. Aurora's Crusade was exactly that."

[Nephrite]

Moore laughs a little bit. "I feel like I missed out on some of the finer teachings around here since I kind of cheated. I'll have to do some rudimentary reading sometime."

He turns to look at Xandra. "What do you see when you look at all of that? I can't help but feel a kind of sadness when I look at it, knowing the truth of where it all came from."

[Anastasia]

Xandra takes 10 as needed.

"It's complex and part of something bigger, but what I cannot say," Xandra confesses, tearing her eyes away. "It's advanced magic, perfected, like I see in the writings of ancient celestials and wizards. The sort of honing that only ages can bestow."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "That's what I saw too. He said it was part of a puzzle."

A smile and a shrug. "It's all right, I'm pretty good when it comes to puzzles myself, so I think I can solve it. It may take a while, but I'll manage. Grias, no word back yet from Tannin, right?"

[Anastasia]

With a sniff as Wood gets up, paces and curls up around Xandra's feet, Grias says, "I'm afraid not, though he did send a message of that it may be a little longer than expected. Complications."

[Nephrite]

"It ends up working out." Moore says. "All right. I'm going to go to Xiranthador, I may be there for a while, so if any of you need me, just come and find me, all right? If I haven't made any real progress in three days I'll come back."

[Anastasia]

Nods all around and...

Plan here?

[Nephrite]

Go to Xiranthador and start hitting the books!

Tepen would be so proud.

Maybe Vul'lath, too.

[Anastasia]

Okay, what are you researching?

[Nephrite]

More or less he's going to try and fill in the gaps in the ritual. If he can't figure out exactly what it's for, then maybe at least give some possibilities -- like what it COULD be for.

[Anastasia]

Okay, gimme an K:A check. Only boosters that can last a full researching day (8 hours+) apply here. Xiranthador won't apply a bonus, I'll factor that in on DM side.

[Nephrite]

Okay. In that case, Bibliotecha Arcana applies but Greater Improvisation does not.

Take 10 for 90.

[Anastasia]

Okay, run me through the various +es real quick, then?

[Nephrite]

Sure. 10+34 (Skill points) + 11 (int bonus) + 15 (Bibliotecha) +20 (Knowledge Prism) = 10+34+11+15+20 = 90.