Session 15 - Chapter 5: Blackout pt. VII

Mandi,
  Rest skipped over us last night. Quivers, shakes and yips jolted open restless eyes until the great granddaughter culled the sleep demons. Winter's bite softens on our skin but his bristly beard still leaves us sore and wet. Creatures lurk in the night, intelligence follows them; we do not. Its domicile awaits our entry like an oven awaits roast beast. We arrived at the knowledge library sometime after the creatures, their marks of grime mar the portals above me. The others fail to worry, tracing its paths with their minds and follow in its gargantuan footprints. Rudimentary traps protect the portals, all of them, but the Jewel inside beckons us to safety and warmth so we trigger one and reset it instantly. She extends her eyes and ears through glass and metal, gifts our Eladrin wishes to acquire. I suppose she will, permission be damned.
  Inside we watch history repeating through colorful windows. The creature was a man, an uncut one at that. But his shape was wrong, too disproportionate and the noise he walked to seemed to sing to his feet and hands, controlling them like a marionette. I can only imagine the sound was his own labored breathing, perhaps he was one of those new metal men? Either way, his paths and movements are predictable and thus predictably avoidable. What if he sees our tracks in Frostbreak's unbroken frost though?
  Our cover is blown, are my allies forgetful or foolish? The Jewel reveals her emotions project her abjuration and we reveal our identities, hardly the fair trade of information! Away we go then, visiting the wing of gifted students. Poor penmanship plights this place however, they're misspelled nearly everything on the walls. "Arcanum Sanctuary" they call this portal but it seems like it was once known as the Department of Elemental and Applied Evocation. It is very different from the rest of the library however; newer, sturdier, darker. Oh and more metal beings darling you would have loved them, they fix the paint with incredible precision and without bickering!
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  I've never been in a library like this before, the shape is peculiar and reminds me of a playing card suit - the club. Blackened bronze locks block the leftmost portal, a picture of some old fellow named Grand Evocator Maltheran Pyrecrest. First time I've heard a name like that, Grand. And two middle names? You thought I was indecisive with Haelra, these parents clearly struggled to compromise. I digress. This Pyreman only allows magic-blooded peoples to enter, apparently he is some father of evocation, maybe this room is for his children only? Since we aren't welcome though we remain in the grand atrium, momentarily dancing on the octet mosaic. The traveling party casts spell after spell with the Rumored One in the center reading their spell commands. I never was good at puzzles. Somehow they discover a staircase and work to comprehend how to unlock it further, if only I was of use here.
  This lecture hall however is quite intriguing. It appears that metallurgists and evocationists can co-exist and in-fact do. An ashy firepit in the middle must capture their excess flame, my what excellent craftsmanship has gone into these benches. And to think they're all metal? I couldn't imagine having such wealth to afford this! There is a grinding learning board in the back of the room though I don't know if I understand any of it and- who is clapping? It keeps happening and everybody hears it, meaning I'm not completely mad. Not yet anyways. They cheer too, the invisible peoples.
  I had to leave that room, too much happened and was overstimulating. Hot then cold, loud then quiet, thunderous applause and hollering then stoic silence. And the learning pedestal somehow kept repeating the same whisper over and over as if it was desperately begging for something, oh but it was so clean Mandi, a surface after your own heart! The others chase glass shards in the ground and wall but I can only sit and think about you, what I'm missing back at home. Haelra must be so big now I've certainly missed her first steps and words- do you think she will even recognize me when I come home? I am coming home, I promise.
  ------
  We've moved on again. Several of the traveling party were interested in taking some glass and found some experimental chambers loaded who who knows what but their wits got a hold of them at the last second. We seem to have lost a few though to curiosity in the professor's office, bookworms I'm sure - I noticed them lingering at the bookshelf before migrating back to the strange octet circle.
  The final room was hellish, glowing like the inside of a furnace but without the heat and the wall littered with framed papers and odd objects behind the glass. Thesis is the word they kept saying, what a funny word for circle art. Nearly all of the art in here is similar; many circles, sometimes with additional lettering and spherical objects. The student seems quite interested in many of them though including this one titled "Circle of Forfold Spheres" designed by L. Azorith. Strange how this ones parents only chose a single letter while Grand's parents chose dozens. Alas, they're convinced this art can open portals to construction sites and magical tunnels. I'll let them have their fun, what kind of friend would I be to ruin their joyous fantasy?
  The student and the injured one have gone into the door no others can enter now. Are they siblings? Surely they must be. That leaves the rest of the traveling party to investigate further. One found some sort of fire suppression system but for all magic, and two -the man of metal and the Eladrin- have disappeared entirely into the professor's office. And the cat, naturally, has found the noisiest device I have ever had the displeasure of listening to and plays with it in the center of the grand atrium. I am and always will be a dog person, I'm sorry love. I know you long for the affection of a cat but I can confirm first hand the clever nuisance they truly are! Grand, the cat has also found a stack of plaques to play with; heavy, noisy and plentiful. He said they were for the student but she is in lesson right now so instead we suffer with the sphere of noise-making.
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  I'm sorry I haven't written in a while love, treachery and heartache struck simultaneously. The sisters finished their lessons and the man of metal and Eladrin returned to beckon us into the professor's office. Except when we entered they spoke to rocks and we traversed a hallway to land in a curtain of lava that brought us somewhere else. In this other place were dozens of crates full of rocks and metals covered in odd symbols and somewhat pretty art, far nicer to look at than the art in the Senior's room anyways. The lotus returned too, do you remember me writing about it? An ancient symbol of malice embedded in the old wood, its paint still somehow vibrant and relevant despite the obvious centuries eroding the material beneath. Most of the traveling party express interest in the boxes but, oh I don't know if I should even write it Mandi. I can't, not now. They need me.
  Safety seems elusive to this traveling party however. In the wake of tragedy, the student and several others deeply discussed a plains animal apparently loaded with some explosive device. They seem worried more are present and are small, as if somehow young gazelles are being born as weapons of mass destruction and it is their duty to find and disarm them. They've returned to the framed art, apparently we are to memorize one of the shapes and alert the confederation to be on alert for it. I can only worry about the crates of metals hoarded here, so many of these are quite rare and exotic with very dangerous properties. I think we've accidentally stumbled onto something big Mandi, and they need me to help them figure out what it all means.
  ------
  We took time to plan our next moves. The student studied the plaques and took several of them with her, apparently they are of significant use for writing spells. Oh and before I forget, those pieces of art were spells, stamped with these same plates! How very clever, right? And fitting to live in a library. And her sister returned from lesson late but seems in a far greater mood, I suspect she scored quite well on her lesson. I didn't pry into her personal business but she did carry something in her hand with pride, perhaps something from her studies? The man of metal studies the papers in the office and found connections to the Eladrin's employer and the comic book writer but I don't understand their worry fully. They keep conversing about this Magda Vaskir and some Ember Consortium, apparently she is some extortionist who writes children's comics in her free time? I did what I could to assist with the crates of metal, though many were too heavy to carry. One garnishes everyone's interest, Vyranthium, the metal we found under the Scorpion/
  The rumored one and his spouse weep over a different box and I could not blame them. When they peered inside a crystal heart, ablaze internally greeted them and the wife erupted into violent sobbing. She wanted to bad to touch it, what I could only imagine was a treasured relic of their past but the flames threatened severe injury to her. I could see the terror and heartbreak in every tear that fell and knew I had to act, but before I could reach in and grab the burning heart for her, her flesh seared and she screamed in response. We all lurched back, stunned at her second-long decision before reflexes saved her skin. But she was different. Her husband was different. Something happened, something unspoken and tragic happened and they both were ruined because of it.
  No longer did the purchase orders, notes and receipts in the boxes and on the desk matter. Quieted were the worries of the comic book characters who told secret tales about powerful cores and living bombs. These Rumored Ones act as if they've lost a child, how could I possibly comfort them? Time and space, I decided. I pray we will never hurt as they do, Mandi. We must make a safe world for Haelra.
  I have to go my love, my companions need me to help console them. The heart apparently belonged to a man, a father perhaps of the Rumored Ones and the professor -or someone he worked with- tortured him. The husband cleverly used the magic suppression system to extinguish the fire but it seems it only ignited their hearts instead.
  I will see you soon my love, I promise.
  Forever and always yours,
incomprehensible