Virgil looks at Seid with a puzzled expression.

"...and who would this 'Deceiver' be?"

Once again the mention of Vark’s patron elicits a tangible disturbance in the crowd, and the warlock lets out an anxious whimper. “Seid I think we should go.” he mutters, pulling on the wizard’s sleeve. “Uhm, V-virgil it was so nice to meet you! Thanks for all your help but we really gotta get going.” Before Seid can press the strange echo of a man any further, Vark pulls him along towards the nearest door. Once they’re out of earshot he leans down to talk in a hushed flurry. “Did you see how they were looking at us when we brought up Matthew? And the way Virgil... I don’t know, it’s like part of his brain was missing - the part that knew anything about Matthew. I think we should be careful asking questions, he might have restricted some of the information in here.” he says as they continue deeper into the codex.

The spiral stairway of the tower leads down under the ground and the ambient red light grows ever dimmer as the pair descend. Eventually, an archway opens up in the side of the stairwell, leading to the shining floor of a great ballroom filled with dancing couples. A gargantuan snake slithers in circles around the edge of the dance floor.

Behind Seid and Vark, the descent continues past the exit into the darkness below. The expansive ballroom has nine sides, each of which houses a door of its own, and the glossy floor has the lustre of blackened-ruddy glass. The dancers move in a close embrace, with long elegant steps and syncopated rhythmic footwork. The tension between them is electric even from a distance.

“Uhm...” Vark’s blush is lost in the dim red lights. He’s heard of such events, of ballrooms and waltzes, but only with the same mythical detachment that comes with studying anything in a dusty old tome in a giant’s library. He has never seen such a display of intimacy this close, and suddenly it’s very hard to look Seid directly in the eyes. “Uh-uhm w-w-what should we do?”

String music with a lucid rhythm fills the air, but it is unclear where it's coming from. The dancers are scantily clad in thin strips of fabric that barely cover their modesty and flap about with every twirl.

Seid looks around at the dancers and the strange room, the massive snake, and the numerous doors. He hesitates as he stares around. "Vark, I... I don't know. This is far beyond my understanding right now. I fear that perhaps if we pass that threshold, we will become ensnared and find our ability to leave difficult if not impossible, but... This place, it is more than I ever anticipated and perhaps the risk is worth it? I leave the decision to you. Part of me wishes to explore further and see if we can find something to use against this Matthew, or perhaps to repurpose this artifact away from his machinations. It is clear to me that he was not the creator of it, but rather has stolen it from this Asgorath. The sensible part of me realizes that the magnitude of that task is likely far beyond our abilities, clever though we may be. I will follow your lead, Vark."

Aiden and Thurston arrive in the mayor's library. A dull red glow pulses underneath the door. Aiden looks to Thurston, and both men wordlessly draw their weapons. On a count of three, they burst through the door to see Vark and a human -- presumably Seid -- catatonic, with their eyes glowing red. Both men have their hands on the codex and are unmoving. Aiden curses in Norscan and throws a hand forward, conjuring power to destroy the bond locking the two to the codex.

"Wait, are you sure this is safe?" Thurston shouts as Aiden releases the spell. A red pulse of energy sends books scattering throughout the room. Aiden braces himself and slides backwards along the wooden floor, while Thurston slams spine-first into a wall.

The arcane connection between Vark, Seid, and the codex glows ever-brighter.

"Ooof... wait Aiden " says Thurston trying to recover the air of his lungs and standing up. " Maybe they are doing something good? or necessary? who understand this witchery anyway? Taht's Seid by the way..." he says poiting to the human.

"Oh?" Is all Vark can muster in response, not expecting Seid to defer to him in this fantastical place. "Uhm..." he watches the dancers move and sway as the serpent prowls around the  ballroom. Whether or not there is any enchanting magic affecting the young mage, he certainly seems hypnotized for the moment. "M-maybe you're right... I get a weird feeling about this room. But... well yes I think we should continue on." He steps back and gestures towards the descending stairs. "I've gone along with Matthew this far, even after learning that the whole world thinks he's a liar and a trickster because... well I think the best way to learn the truth about him and the best way to protect ourselves against him is by getting closer. There has to be something in here." Finding a sense of resolution he looks to Seid with a nod before continuing down the stairs.

Aiden sheaths his sword and hangs his shield on his back. "I assumed so," he says, straightening his clothes and retying his hair after the arcane blast. "They might be trapped in there." He takes a few steps toward the pair. "Vark! Can you hear me? Can either of you hear me?"

Inside the crimson citadel, the ambient light flares brighter. Walls shake and the floor rumbles, making dust shower from above in glistening scarlet motes.

"Vark! Can you hear me? Can either of you hear me?"

The voice is distant, like the words are being shouted down a long hallway, but Seid and Vark both hear it.

Vark stops in his tracks, bracing against the wall of the stairwell as Ignis shakes around them. “That’s Aiden!” he exclaims to his friend a few steps behind him. “He wanted to come talk to you, he must be in the library.” Vark takes a moment to channel his sorcerous power and his eyes flare red as his voice booms back, much louder than normal. “Aiden! We can hear you! Seid found a way inside the runestone. We’re okay... for now. We’re going to go a little deeper.”

Vark opens his mouth and speaks, but instead of the half-orc's normal excitable tones, the sound is monotonous. Further, the language he speaks is strange and archaic. Aiden looks at Thurston. "I've got to get them out of this. I'm going to try again."

Aiden conjures another dispelling mote of energy and channels it into the codex. Once again, the codex lashes out, this time with lightning. A tingle of ozone crackles across the room. Aiden swears again as the lightning crackles into him. "Do you have any better ideas?"

For some reason Jex doesn't go straight to the library as he planned. Perhaps nerves about asking Seid for help, perhaps the good fortune that followed him made him get distracted, or perhaps, Set forbid, it was being back here in this place and he had grown so genuinely attached to it that he needed to check in on his project. So instead he had taken a walk around, checking on his plans and the limited construction work that had gotten underway. He takes a deep breath and smiles joyfully as he imagines the army of dwarven builders following them and what they will achieve here. The noises and smells as they work, the beauty of their labour. The glory of their results. He looks up to the sky imagining the tower. That's when he sees the glow from the library window and the flash of energy.

Oh no.

He heads off at a run.

"You fools. What have you done?" He chastises them to himself as he takes the stairs.

Vark's magically enhanced voice reverberates down the stairwell, only to echo back at him in a deep electric whine that once more makes the walls shake as red light shines from the walls.

The pair descend further still and a new doorway appears ahead in the outer wall of the spiral staircase. Beyond it, fat, naked people can be seen wallowing in a vile, putrid slush produced by a ceaseless, icy rain. A monstrous three-headed beast ravenously guards those lying in the freezing mire, mauling and flaying them with its claws as they howl like dogs.

Val also spots the strange energy at the same time as Jex and joins him in the rush into the room. She stops short as she spots the pair with the red glow in their eyes, Codex sitting in the open between the pair. She curses over and over, stomping around the room in frustration. "What can we do?!"

Aiden shrugs. "I've tried everything I can think of. The codex keeps defending itself."

Seid looks at Vark and the scene playing out before them disgust and fear playing openly across his face. "Vark, I fear we are beginning to tread where mortals should not. I fear what we will find here and it would seem that our friends are calling to us. This place... is... awful."

"Witchcraft!" says Thurston once when he hears Vark's voice and again when the energy of the codex sends a lighting to them. 

"I should smash the thing!" he says to Aiden but the cleric stop him when he is raising his arm.

"No!" he says " You could trap them forever or even kill us all... "

"We need an expert on witchcraft!" he yells, frustrated " But the two idiots who know about this are trapped! You see Aiden? See why they need me? " 

Aiden's face contorts in an expression of amused confusion, despite the situation. "I...do not see. At all." He looks up at Valaith. "I think we have to wait and hope that they'll be okay."