As they descend and continue their conversation, Erudisia thanks Bell for the charm upon her garments. She in her turn casts the same magic (in function if not invocation and form) on Little One.
“I am sure if you had recently read this rhyme or some reference to this ghoulish nursery rhyme figure in the most recent of your audited books, then you’d have noted the connection, but may we see the most recent audited books — and the books next on the docket to be reviewed, for that matter?”
”Ebdar…” Erudisia muses. “Does he audit independently also, and is his daughter often with him at work?”
You reach the next level down the spiral staircase. Little One has had to squeeze through.
“How come always spiral staircase?,” he grumbles. “Oh thank you Air D. I hardly feel cold but you spell is nice.” A wide grin curls as his features relax slightly.
Yet the chill in the air remains.
On the next level, more bookcases filled with books and lit by the Firefly Cellar’s signature light source, many bottles of bioluminescent bugs, surround a study table at its center. A tabaxi paces nervously around the table, singing the song, her eyes rather wild.
“This is K’Tulah,” Varnyr says. “K’Tulah, we have visitors. The Keeper of Tomes’ valor guard, the Scholar’s Shield.” Under her breath, she warns, “K’Tukah is having a hard time with our quarantine.”
“I hear you!,” the tabaxi says, pulling out of the rhyming trance, “and what do you expect? My people roam the plains as nomads, living off the earth, under the open skies. Trapped in a hole in the ground in this stone fortress! This is driving me to distraction! I am hyperventilating! Please, Keeper’s Shielders, can you do something?”
While Meredith asks her questions, Erudisia glides softly over to the study desk. She will look at what the Tabaxi, K’Tulah has been studying and the books that form their area of inquiry.
Stepping over the threshold, Bell descend the worn stone steps, the scent of damp earth and age replacing the fresh air above. With each step deeper into the cellar, the sounds from the world above recede, replaced by a profound, echoing silence. The stairs spiral down into an ever-deepening gloom, the bottom shrouded in an impenetrable darkness. The chill slowly increases making her glad she did that warming cantrip.
The air changes, becoming heavy and still. It no longer smells of something ancient and forgotten. It is the scent of preserved knowledge; a perfume of dust motes dancing in slivers of glowbug light, of leather bindings that whisper of long-dead hands, and of pages that crinkle with the dry echo of a thousand whispered secrets. THIS is part of why Bell loved old books. You could FEEL the history just by picking them up and feeling their weight; smelling the leather, parchment and inks.
As her eyes adjust, the dim lighting finally coalesces into solid shapes. The space stretches far beyond the mundane confines of a simple cellar, expanding impossibly into a vast, cavernous, multifaceted hall. Endless rows of bookshelves, carved from a wood the color of aged honey, rise like a petrified forest. Books line every surface, their spines a kaleidoscope of forgotten tongues, their very presence a gravity that pulls at the mind.
Some books hum softly, a low thrum that vibrates through the air and seems to speak a language only the shelves can understand. Others are bound in materials that should not exist, their pages shifting and the words on them crawling like insects before settling into unfamiliar glyphs. This is not a room of simple records, but a sentient repository of knowledge. The library itself is a living being, its shelves an infinite labyrinth that reshapes itself to protect its secrets.
Now the sounds from above -- including the singing of the rhyme are no longer reaching down in the cellar. However, the chant has been taken up by those 'below' and softly echoes about the chamber. Searching all these book stacks will take time and there is no telling which tome might be the source of this singsong curse.
(You are now in the middle of the next level down at the study table. You see another narrow staircase on the far side of the room going yet farther down. North and south walls each hold doors. You can look up through the gap in the ceiling where a balcony overlooks the study table from the entry level of the Firefly Cellar library stacks. Here is a current map:)
The musty smell of old books hangs in the air here. Concentric rings of bookcases dominate the space, with the table – of heavy granite – occupying the room’s center. The table would be a circle, but for six semicircular gaps cut into it around its edge, creating spaces for six chairs. Small stacks of books rest on the table along with a candleholder that contains firefly-filled jars.
When you reach the table, you can look straight up through the gap in the ceiling where a balcony overlooks the study table from the entry level of the Firefly Cellar library stacks. Something you didn’t notice for you headed straight downstairs, but now can’t help be see: a huge, 12 foot-wide statue of a flying book is suspended above the study table, held by chains from a heavy old beam in the ceiling. Engraved upon its cover are the words, ‘BE CURIOUS.’
The room looks like it is not in its normal state. Four rugs are rolled up under the table. They seem to be runners which would cover the floors in each direction radiating out from the table. “Oh, please do ignore the mess,” Varnyr says again. “These rugs are really quite lovely, so I don’t want dust from the stacks spoiling them while my restoration and cataloging project is underway.”
Meredith tries very hard not to stare at the tabaxi......she always had a slight tingle of jealousy when regarding the cat-folk.
" Which was the first voice you heard singing the song?"
“The first voice?... I… pffft! I do not remember," the tabaxi answers, eying Meredith curiously and trying to make sense of the envy she notes in Meredith's glance. "When I woke up from my nap this afternoon I was humming the tune and soon I was singing the words too! I didn’t even know I knew this tune, it seems new to me! But…,” and here, she looks at Varnyr, “but… this is hardly a reason to keep us locked away down here!” K’Tulah studies the stairs you just came down with curious intensity.
“Do you know,” says Varnyr, “this is starting to remind me of something that happened long ago. Something about the Firefly Cellar itself having been locked shut… can it be? I am an elf and my memory is long… but I would have to think, and this blasted song keeps interrupting my thoughts! And why is it so cold?”
While Meredith asks her questions, Erudisia glides softly over to the study desk. She will look at what the Tabaxi, K’Tulah has been studying and the books that form their area of inquiry.
Erudisia sees that the books K’Tulah was consulting are texts focusing on regional forms of folk magic.
As they descend and continue their conversation, Erudisia thanks Bell for the charm upon her garments. She in her turn casts the same magic (in function if not invocation and form) on Little One.
“I am sure if you had recently read this rhyme or some reference to this ghoulish nursery rhyme figure in the most recent of your audited books, then you’d have noted the connection, but may we see the most recent audited books — and the books next on the docket to be reviewed, for that matter?”
”Ebdar…” Erudisia muses. “Does he audit independently also, and is his daughter often with him at work?”
You reach the next level down the spiral staircase. Little One has had to squeeze through.
“How come always spiral staircase?,” he grumbles. “Oh thank you Air D. I hardly feel cold but you spell is nice.” A wide grin curls as his features relax slightly.
Yet the chill in the air remains.
On the next level, more bookcases filled with books and lit by the Firefly Cellar’s signature light source, many bottles of bioluminescent bugs, surround a study table at its center. A tabaxi paces nervously around the table, singing the song, her eyes rather wild.
“This is K’Tulah,” Varnyr says. “K’Tulah, we have visitors. The Keeper of Tomes’ valor guard, the Scholar’s Shield.” Under her breath, she warns, “K’Tukah is having a hard time with our quarantine.”
“I hear you!,” the tabaxi says, pulling out of the rhyming trance, “and what do you expect? My people roam the plains as nomads, living off the earth, under the open skies. Trapped in a hole in the ground in this stone fortress! This is driving me to distraction! I am hyperventilating! Please, Keeper’s Shielders, can you do something?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith tries very hard not to stare at the tabaxi......she always had a slight tingle of jealousy when regarding the cat-folk.
" Which was the first voice you heard singing the song?"
While Meredith asks her questions, Erudisia glides softly over to the study desk. She will look at what the Tabaxi, K’Tulah has been studying and the books that form their area of inquiry.
(You are now in the middle of the next level down at the study table. You see another narrow staircase on the far side of the room going yet farther down. North and south walls each hold doors. You can look up through the gap in the ceiling where a balcony overlooks the study table from the entry level of the Firefly Cellar library stacks. Here is a current map:)
The musty smell of old books hangs in the air here. Concentric rings of bookcases dominate the space, with the table – of heavy granite – occupying the room’s center. The table would be a circle, but for six semicircular gaps cut into it around its edge, creating spaces for six chairs. Small stacks of books rest on the table along with a candleholder that contains firefly-filled jars.
When you reach the table, you can look straight up through the gap in the ceiling where a balcony overlooks the study table from the entry level of the Firefly Cellar library stacks. Something you didn’t notice for you headed straight downstairs, but now can’t help be see: a huge, 12 foot-wide statue of a flying book is suspended above the study table, held by chains from a heavy old beam in the ceiling. Engraved upon its cover are the words, ‘BE CURIOUS.’
The room looks like it is not in its normal state. Four rugs are rolled up under the table. They seem to be runners which would cover the floors in each direction radiating out from the table. “Oh, please do ignore the mess,” Varnyr says again. “These rugs are really quite lovely, so I don’t want dust from the stacks spoiling them while my restoration and cataloging project is underway.”
Quote from Damian_May >>
“The first voice?... I… pffft! I do not remember," the tabaxi answers, eying Meredith curiously and trying to make sense of the envy she notes in Meredith's glance. "When I woke up from my nap this afternoon I was humming the tune and soon I was singing the words too! I didn’t even know I knew this tune, it seems new to me! But…,” and here, she looks at Varnyr, “but… this is hardly a reason to keep us locked away down here!” K’Tulah studies the stairs you just came down with curious intensity.
“Do you know,” says Varnyr, “this is starting to remind me of something that happened long ago. Something about the Firefly Cellar itself having been locked shut… can it be? I am an elf and my memory is long… but I would have to think, and this blasted song keeps interrupting my thoughts! And why is it so cold?”
Erudisia sees that the books K’Tulah was consulting are texts focusing on regional forms of folk magic.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(( OOC: Has it been a uniform 'cold' or are some areas colder than others? ))
Bell Passive Perception: 11