“No,” Valna responds, eyes casting about the entire courtyard before lingering inquisitively on the House of Rest, under which lies the Firefly Cellar.
“No, Gailby is the only child here. What child comes to Candlekeep alone with a book we do not already count in our collection, or, what adult, with the requisite donation in one hand, arrives holding a child by the other?,” she inquires rhetorically.
“And the Avowed are vowed to celibacy.”
“But Gailby’s father’s story is not mine to tell. It is he, the widower, a clerk for the priests of Oghma, who requested, and was granted, sole license to bring his daughter here.”
She stops speaking, for another sound is now heard. The eternal chant, the constant repetition of the prescient foretellings of Aulando the Seer, chanted by a group of Avowed at all times… you hear the chant echoing below the castle, coming up through the air vents. But it is not Aulondo’s words they now sing. It is Gailby’s song!
Valna’s eyes widen in horror.
“I must inform the Keeper of Tomes immediately of this incursion,” she hisses, casting her glance around the courtyard, at the open gate, the priests of Oghma in the tent beyond, at Bell’s web, holding now a becalmed horse and an anxiously melodious postal rider, at the temple of Oghma, at the House of Rest, and back to you.
“I command you to reestablish order here and find out what you can about this… this Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme!!”
With a brisk swishing of satiny robes, Valna Oxylanthrinn rushes back to the Emerald Door, passes through it, and is gone.
Meredith looked to the other two, " Do we question the girl? Or research to try and locate the songs original origin? Or something else? She kept looking at the House of Rest.....or below it....should we check there?"
( This will instead be quickly written down and displayed to the others if the Concentration Check fails).
Bell groans as she tries to keep her concentration focus while battling the urge to sing the child's song. Concentration: 15
She was finding it harder and harder to hold the web in place; sweat starting to bead on her brow as she fought the internal struggle as the main gate doors were finally being closed and bolted.
Erudisia taps her foot against the ground absent-mindedly. “The child,” she declares, as Oxylanthrinn vanishes through a grand doorway. “If we find Gailby, we might find also answers to other questions, too.”
Erudisia’s eyes linger on where the fierce warden has vanished. “Do you ever feel as if she thinks we are all dim-witted children ourselves? Don’t answer that. Let’s save our strength against this song.”
Erudisia moves to head towards where Gailby may be found if the others don’t disagree.
Indeed, the main gates are shut, allowing Bell to lower concentration and once again, stop herself from singing the rhyme. The horse approaches Meredith and nuzzles her in a friendly way before the stable hands return it to the stable. The guards bid the postman to "knock it off!," and help him up, brush him off, and sit him on a stool in the stable.
You still hear the Avowed chanting Shemshime's Rhyme. You suddenly notice that, though it is the height of summer, you can see your breath. A chill has descended upon Candlekeep, and hair-like strands of frost crinkle across the stonework all around you.
You know that the Firefly Cellar is under the House of Rest, but you’ve yet to enter it. The entrance is a small round tower, 10’ tall, adjoining to the base of the House of Rest. The tower holds a single door which, you’ve come to understand, opens onto a stairway down to the Firefly Cellar.
With Erudisia in the lead, you three approach this door. Little One follows.
“No,” Valna responds, eyes casting about the entire courtyard before lingering inquisitively on the House of Rest, under which lies the Firefly Cellar.
“No, Gailby is the only child here. What child comes to Candlekeep alone with a book we do not already count in our collection, or, what adult, with the requisite donation in one hand, arrives holding a child by the other?,” she inquires rhetorically.
“And the Avowed are vowed to celibacy.”
“But Gailby’s father’s story is not mine to tell. It is he, the widower, a clerk for the priests of Oghma, who requested, and was granted, sole license to bring his daughter here.”
She stops speaking, for another sound is now heard. The eternal chant, the constant repetition of the prescient foretellings of Aulando the Seer, chanted by a group of Avowed at all times… you hear the chant echoing below the castle, coming up through the air vents. But it is not Aulondo’s words they now sing. It is Gailby’s song!
Valna’s eyes widen in horror.
“I must inform the Keeper of Tomes immediately of this incursion,” she hisses, casting her glance around the courtyard, at the open gate, the priests of Oghma in the tent beyond, at Bell’s web, holding now a becalmed horse and an anxiously melodious postal rider, at the temple of Oghma, at the House of Rest, and back to you.
“I command you to reestablish order here and find out what you can about this… this Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme!!”
With a brisk swishing of satiny robes, Valna Oxylanthrinn rushes back to the Emerald Door, passes through it, and is gone.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith looked to the other two, " Do we question the girl? Or research to try and locate the songs original origin? Or something else? She kept looking at the House of Rest.....or below it....should we check there?"
( This will instead be quickly written down and displayed to the others if the Concentration Check fails).
Concentration- 2
Bell groans as she tries to keep her concentration focus while battling the urge to sing the child's song. Concentration: 15
She was finding it harder and harder to hold the web in place; sweat starting to bead on her brow as she fought the internal struggle as the main gate doors were finally being closed and bolted.
Concentration: 10.
Erudisia taps her foot against the ground absent-mindedly. “The child,” she declares, as Oxylanthrinn vanishes through a grand doorway. “If we find Gailby, we might find also answers to other questions, too.”
Erudisia’s eyes linger on where the fierce warden has vanished. “Do you ever feel as if she thinks we are all dim-witted children ourselves? Don’t answer that. Let’s save our strength against this song.”
Erudisia moves to head towards where Gailby may be found if the others don’t disagree.
Indeed, the main gates are shut, allowing Bell to lower concentration and once again, stop herself from singing the rhyme. The horse approaches Meredith and nuzzles her in a friendly way before the stable hands return it to the stable. The guards bid the postman to "knock it off!," and help him up, brush him off, and sit him on a stool in the stable.
You still hear the Avowed chanting Shemshime's Rhyme. You suddenly notice that, though it is the height of summer, you can see your breath. A chill has descended upon Candlekeep, and hair-like strands of frost crinkle across the stonework all around you.
You know that the Firefly Cellar is under the House of Rest, but you’ve yet to enter it. The entrance is a small round tower, 10’ tall, adjoining to the base of the House of Rest. The tower holds a single door which, you’ve come to understand, opens onto a stairway down to the Firefly Cellar.
With Erudisia in the lead, you three approach this door. Little One follows.
Trying the handle, you find that it is locked.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Erudisia knocks. “Hello?”
There is no response.
”Like this, Air D,” Little One says after a pause. He gently shifts Erudisia aside then pounds his loaf-sized fist on the door Boom, Boom, Boom!
The frost etching the door’s cracks splinters into a fine web. You shiver slightly in the unexpected coolness as you await a response.
A few moments later, an adult’s voice is heard weakly approaching on the other side, singing the Shemshime Rhyme. It stops, then shouts,
”Go away!! Sickness holds us!! We have quarantined ourselves!! Go away or you will suffer the same malady!!”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
" Does it involve singing? If so its already out here.", Meredith said loudly, waving over her shoulder to the horse.