Gnatty Spider - Gubal Meria Side pt. 1

Meria Boucher lets out a breath, turning her gaze towards the darkened corridors and the fluttering creatures beyond. "This place is heavily warded and heavily trapped," she says, looking to her group. "Do be careful. There are also many... Sharlayan experiments wandering the halls."
Isaudorel Vairemont glances around, awe-struck. "Absolutely fascinating..." He reaches into his coat and removes a small crystal, looking it over. "Perhaps something to shed more light on this," he mutters to himself.
Meria Boucher: ...I believe that would be prudent, yes.
Artani Dazkar scanned the area around them, very obviously becoming more excited to be there by the minute. "I can't imagine what this place must've looked like before..."
Meria Boucher shifts her gaze upwards to the chandelier, eyes growing somewhat distant. "It was beautiful," she began. "Scholars pouring over tomes, hallways decorated with light, fervent work and fervent, whispered conversation, it -- " A long sigh. "And then, in one night, everyone was gone."
Meria Boucher: Even as dusty and unloved as it is, it's still a beautiful place. Are... you all ready?
Isaudorel Vairemont pats Meria on the shoulder. "Perhaps someday we shall see it restored to former glory."
Ereayri Dicentra: "Ready as I'll ever be."
Artani Dazkar: "Ready."
Meria Boucher: Very well. Let us commence.
Meria, Isaudorel, and Artani make it to the doorway completely unscathed. However, as they pass through the darkened halls, a book lying by the doorway catches everyone's eye, giving off an... unsettling aura. To Ere'a, however, it looks extremely interesting and exactly like the sort of thing he should pick up.
Ereayri Dicentra: "Hot dang, a book just ready for pickin." He struts on over and snatches it up, clearly having no sense of danger whatsoever.
Isaudorel Vairemont holds a hand up, opening his mouth to speak... and then closing it because he was too late in stopping Ere'a from making a no-doubt very bad choice.
Isaudorel Vairemont pointedly moves away from the man and his spooky book.
Meria Boucher || It's too late to stop the idiot panty-thief from picking up a book off the floor. As soon as he examines the cover, a wash of aether courses over him, settling on his body like dew and coalescing on his tongue. Ere'a has been cursed. For the rest of the dungeon...
Meria Boucher || He can only speak in rhymes.
Meria Boucher: -- Mister Ere'a, please don't -- oh no, are you alright?
Ereayri Dicentra: "Well shit, I didn't think I'd get hit."
Meria Boucher: ...You don't look harmed, but I definitely felt something from that book. Do you feel well?
Artani Dazkar: "Maybe it's best we just don't touch anything...."
Ereayri Dicentra holds the book to his face and takes a huge whiff. "I feel fine, maybe not divine."
Isaudorel Vairemont: "I was about to suggest the same, Miss Artani. In fact, I had attempted to warn the group away from that book, but..." He gestures to Ere, leaving out 'but this dope decided to do the thing.'
Ereayri Dicentra: "Mmm gonna keep it," he looks at the others. "IN my pocket's a nice fit."
Meria Boucher: Miss Batachikan did ask for books, but... perhaps we should read the titles or examine them before touching them from now on.
Meria Boucher: Well, if you're feeling well, then we can continue on.
Artani Dazkar looked quizically at Ere for a moment or two, but shrugged and nodded at Meria. "Yeah, let's keep going."
Isaudorel Vairemont rummages through the stacks upon stacks upon stacks of books, muttering something about subpar cataloging and organization methods.
Meria Boucher: ...The nautilus. It's so nostalgic... mm.
(Meria Boucher) Artani - in your searchings, the most interesting book you find is called 'So Long, and Thanks for All the Ale' - a diary written by a playboy Sharlayan scholar about his travels. Sadly, it focuses very little on the places he visited and more on the drink he imbibed, but it's still a rare volume nonetheless.

(Artani Dazkar) Meria, what do I need to roll if I wanted to go ahead and start looking for Emmett's glamour stuff?
Artani Dazkar began rifling through the books on the shelves. She pulled over a table that didn't look too broken to use as a stool to reach the higher shelves, setting aside whatever looked interesting.
Ereayri Dicentra presses himself against the bookshelf, cheek squishing against the old, dusty books. "If only I had everyone's eye -- then I'd be really good at findin things, says I~"
(Meria Boucher) Isaudorel - you find quite a few books that might be of interest to Batachikan, but one in particular stands out to you. The Perfect Conundrums, which is a treatise on ways to kill people without leaving any evidence. ...Ehh, is this the kind of book that should really be in a Sharlayan library?...
Isaudorel Vairemont immediately pockets the murder book, piling the ones that would interest his boss in a separate bag.
Artani Dazkar frowned and put the book she'd been holding back on the shelf, moving down a couple of levels to search there instead.
(Meria Boucher) Ere'a - you find absolutely nothing of interest to Batachikan, but you DO find, tucked within a boring looking atlas, a small volume of extremely lewd smut fiction complete with drawings.
Ereayri Dicentra 's eyes widen as he gazes upon the treasure of all treasures, hand raising and shaking as he reaches for this beauty collection. "C-can it really be....JUST FOR ME?!" His words are muttered and sing song, a sweat breaking on his forehead as he pulls the book off the shelf and slides it into his clothes.
Meria Boucher: ...M-Mister Ere'a...? Do I -- do I even want to know...?
Ereayri Dicentra lets out a pteradatyl noise and looks to Meria. "NO no no nononono...no. But I assure you it is DEFINITEly for me though~!"
(Meria Boucher) As for the glamour - Artani, you briefly skim through a safe looking book about the subject, but nothing seems to describe permanent glamours. However, the book DOES cite another book called the Empirical Notes on Aether, Appearance, and the Mingling of the Two which seems like it'd be much, much more useful. Perhaps if you could track that down?
Artani Dazkar smiled slightly at her find, taking out a pen to jot down the name of the book she needed to look for next before tucking the other back in its slot. The two volumes should be located close together, shouldn't they?
Meria Boucher || It doesn't seem like they are, unfortunately. You locate a place where the book might once have been, but it's now empty, and none of the books scattered around this room seem to be it either. Damn irresponsible idiot scholars, not reshelving their books.
Meria Boucher: Well, um. Very well. I think? ....Ah, Miss Artani, Isaudorel, have the two of you located anything of note? Please don't tell me all our finds are as...
Meria Boucher: ...Um. Unique. As what Mister Ere'a may have acquired for himself.
Isaudorel Vairemont smiles and removes the murder book from his coat. "Something of interest to us, my dearest and most cherished Meria!" A pause. "Ah, right, and several volumes that would interest our employer."
Meria Boucher: Excellent. She'll be most pleased, I hope.
Artani Dazkar returned to the others, tucking her small notebook back into her tunic. "The good news is that there -is- a volume here about conjuring permanent glamours. The bad news - it's not on the shelf with the first volume." She shook her head. "Even ancient Sharlyan libraries are still libraries, I guess."
Meria Boucher: It was left in some disarray during the exodus. But let's keep a look out for it in future rooms, or something similar. Good work. ...I hope the others are faring well...
Ereayri Dicentra "Wouldn't be surprised if it's somewhere on the floor -- but diggin' through the messes would be a bore." He waved a hand.
Meria Boucher: It is in a state, isn't it? Well - let's continue. We may be able to come back and do a sweep if necessary, but... at the very least, I know the section about the Aetherytes is deeper within.
Meria Boucher: ...Well, it seems like we'll have to go through... that to proceed.
Artani Dazkar: "He's......thick."
Isaudorel Vairemont: "Do you have any idea what this is, my dear Meria?"
Meria Boucher: ...Thick? As in... stupid?

Ereayri Dicentra rolls his shoulders. "Knockin' down a few rocks? We'll give em a few shocks~"
Artani Dazkar: "Oh, no, as in....there's quite a bit of him."
Isaudorel Vairemont looks to Ere, finally realizing he's been rhyming this whole time. He doesn't comment on it.
Meria Boucher: Oh. Thick... yes, I suppose that makes sense. Well - it looks to be an aetherically animated golem. Much like the animated brooms which kept the halls tidy at the colony, such constructs are used to defend and are used as servants. It will likely try to punch us with its 'thick arms' should we approach.
Ereayri Dicentra pauses a moment, using his single braincell. "Heheh, thick like my...." He gives a thousand yard stare. "YOu know what, we'll just make his death quick."
Artani Dazkar choked.
Meria Boucher blinks. "Your what, Mister Ere'a?"
Isaudorel Vairemont leans down to whisper to Meria, explaining what Ere'a was likely referring to.
Meria Boucher: --Oh! Yes, I understand, Mister Ere'a. Yes, let us show this golemn the mighty girth of your prick. You do have nice daggers.
Artani Dazkar dragged out her bow.  Barely able to hold back a deep chuckle.
Ereayri Dicentra sweats and the n flexes his arms. "Thick liek... uh.. my dAGGERS YES MY DAGGERS. S O FULL OF SWAGGER."
Meria Boucher: I will attempt to topple it with my gravity magic so you may have your way and kick its.... ah... 'thick behind'?
Isaudorel Vairemont looks absolutely satisfied with the outcome of all of this.
Ereayri Dicentra waves at them as he walks over to the thick rock. "Heck yes, this'll be no stress. " He stares long and hard at it and thinks. "YOu know, love trumps anything -- so we'll give it a ring~" He blows a kiss at the rock monster, because honestly he did this once and he'll do it again.
Ereayri Dicentra: "romance books LIE (but my love of them will never die)."
Meria Boucher || The golemn is rock-hard, but not from Ere'a's flirtations - but because it is a literal rock, and it immediately swings its fist towards Ere'a.
Meria Boucher throws her hand up, preparing to do what she'd said she would previously - slam this Big Thicc Rock Boy onto the ground before it can slam-dunk punch Ere in the face.
Meria Boucher || It is successful, and the thing CRASHES down just before the flirtatious miqo'te and sparing the beautiful man a less-beautiful black eye.
Artani Dazkar Unsure of what good it would do, Tani went ahead and fired an arrow towards the creature's face, hoping it'd at least....chip it.
Meria Boucher || While the thin? ?? made of rock, there are a few portions of it here and there which are seemingly fashioned from some form of... crystal. Artani's arrow doesn't break the crystal it strikes, but it does crack it, and the thing writhes in response. A weak point, perhaps?
Isaudorel Vairemont tosses a vial of acid at the golem, secretly hoping that his aim training with his fiance has been paying off.
Meria Boucher || It absolutely has, and the acid burns through it, quickly eating away at the rock and revealing more of the crystalline core beneath.
Ereayri Dicentra throws a hand forward, thunder sparking around fingers and shot out as the crystal core -- striking like an array of vipers.
Meria Boucher || Well, perhaps Ere'a was always destined for an electric meeting with this particular golem. The good news is, after the catacalysmic shock-wave that reverberates through the air and sets everyone's hair on end, the golem lies still and unmoving. The BAD news is, touching the thing with that lightning charged aether caused it all to bounce back into Ere'a... burning his hand terribly and rendering the miqo'te a completely pink puffball of a man.
Meria Boucher || He could probably use some ointment for that one. Ouch.
Isaudorel Vairemont pulls a potion from his coat. Anyone who's actually looking can see that it's kept right next to far too many vials of acid. "There you are, Ser Ere'a."

Ereayri Dicentra "FJDLSKJFKLJEKLJF" Pain ripples, eyes shiny like he's trying not to cry. He looks to Isa, ears pinned down. He looks like a kicked kitten. A stupid kicked kitten. "..Thank," he muttered, using his good hand to reach for the potion. "That rock really sank."
Artani Dazkar made a face and started brushing her own hair back into place - despite appearances, she did have a smidgen of a vanity streak. "Everyone all right?"
Meria Boucher: --Oh no, Mister Ere'a! Your poor fur... here, I have a comb. We can rest for a moment. I am well - and you?
Isaudorel Vairemont: "Considerably better at aiming." He smiles to Meria. "You have my thanks once again, my dear Meria."
Meria Boucher: You did very well. You've improved considerably.
Meria Boucher withdraws a comb from somewhere within her coat, attempting to step forward and tidy the kicked cat's poor hair.
Ereayri Dicentra 's tail wagged as the potion helped, pain in hand dulling a bit. He noticed he took a pink color, but really didn't think much of it. He sees shit all the time.
Meria Boucher: ...It's so strange, seeing these halls filled with beasts.
Meria Boucher: And this room -
Artani Dazkar: "This room seems more intact than the others..."
Meria Boucher looks up at the windows, a frown tugging at her mouth. "We're... beginning to reach the section on natural studies. Where the samples and studies of creatures were kept."
Isaudorel Vairemont takes a breath. "I stand by my suggestion of potentially restoring this place one day. You know far too well that I would support you in such an endeavor, my dear Meria." As he's encouraging her, he begins to scope out any potential books or notes of interest.
Artani Dazkar began her hunt for Emmet's book again, starting with some volumes near the desk on the right side of the room.
Meria Boucher || It's not a book Isaudorel finds, but a small latched box. When he opens it, it reveals a selection of multicolored vials - each having a different... thing suspended in the liquid. A claw in one, a shard of bone in the other, and is that -- is that a human finger...?
Meria Boucher || Ere'a finds an entire five-part anthology on spiders, voidsent, and the intersection between them. Mom is going to be VERY happy.
Isaudorel Vairemont whispers to himself. "Fascinating..."
Meria Boucher || --There it is. It's just lying there on a desk, the cover worn over with dust but the pages still perfectly legible. It's the book, and it goes into meticulous depth about permanent glamours.
Meria Boucher: What did you find, Isaudorel?
Isaudorel Vairemont: "A variety of specimens, suspended in fluid. Some beast's claw, a bone shard, and what very may well be a human finger!" He sounds entirely too excited about this.
Ereayri Dicentra lets out a noise, ears perking up and his good hand picks up the book. He tilts his head and rolls it in his hand, opening it a bit and watching pages flutter with the movement. "Spiders and voidy stuff. Ma will like it lots sure enough."
Artani Dazkar "Finally." Artani blew the dust from the top of a volume on the desk, brushing away the rest with her fingers. She thumbed through it carefully before turning to the others, grinning. "A volume on permanent glamours. Emmett's going to lose it when he sees this."
Meria Boucher: What a strange assortment. What kind of liquid...?
Artani Dazkar She carefully wrapped the volume in some spare parchemnt she'd found lying nearby before slipping it into her pack.
Meria Boucher: Really? With that we can... and yes, Miss Batachikan will surely enjoy...
Meria Boucher: ...I am glad this is -- working.
Meria Boucher || Each vial is a different color, and it doesn't look to be the slow sludge of formaldahyde. Are these... potions? With parts inside?

Isaudorel Vairemont studies the vials further. "Potions," he whispers. "But with hard, solid pieces of matter inside?" He goes from excited to annoyed very quickly, launching into a rant about how the makeup of the potion should aid in it being easy to drink, not having bits and pieces of bone and finger floating in it.
Meria Boucher: Perhaps... perhaps they're not ready to be consumed yet? As if, they are... aging? Like wine?
Isaudorel Vairemont immediately snaps back to pleasant. "Of course! Brilliant observation, my dearest Meria." He closes the box, tucking it in his bag. "And so they will continue to age in my office."
Ereayri Dicentra pockets the book (nevermind how he's keeping those books on him) and he turns to face the others, listening to Isa speaking of his finds excitedly.
Meria Boucher nods. Once she turns and looks at the door from whence they came, her expression changes ever so slightly, shifting into something more melancholy. "...It isn't too much farther now."
Meria Boucher || Before you is a door made from the same material as the rest of the place, bare except for a series of deep rectangular indentations carved into its surface. There are two at about eye-level for a hyur of normal height, there is one immediately above that, and at the bottom are four slots arranged in a row. The now 'dead' book lays open on the floor, turned open to page 64.
Meria Boucher || When shaken or jostled, the door is found to be locked.
Meria Boucher: ...I spent so much time in this room.
Artani Dazkar: "What was it used for?"
Isaudorel Vairemont: "Really? What was the- Ah, yes, that!"
Meria Boucher: Studying the mathmatical repetitions in the natural world. See, in this tree? You can see the swirls of a logarithmic spiral, or the 'marvelous spiral'... its a design you've likely seen echoed many times around this place.
Isaudorel Vairemont: "The nautilus you mentioned earlier, correct?"
Meria Boucher: It is why I enjoy the study of vilekin so much. Mathmatically, geometrically, they are such beautiful creatures.
Meria Boucher: Indeed, yes...
Ereayri Dicentra has elevator music on loop in his head. Math and all the number stuff is just lost on him, os he just nods his head. "Yes...math and, uh, somethin somethin knowledge bath."
Artani Dazkar looked up at the tree, stepping back slightly to see the designs better. "I almost wish I'd gone into this sort of work rather than just....shooting and stabbing things. Seems far more useful."
Meria Boucher glances at her, head titled. "Stabbing things is quite useful, especially in this war-torn world. You do seem... interested by this place, though. If you care for academia, it is hardly too late, Miss Artani. And an academic who can protect oneself is, perhaps, the most useful kind."
Isaudorel Vairemont: "Speaking as an academic who *cannot* protect himself, I agree completely."
Artani Dazkar nodded, folding her arms. "That's a fair point. It's something I'll have to give more thought..." She trailed off, nodding to the locked door. "Any ideas as to how we're meant to get that open, at any rate/"
Artani Dazkar ?*))
Isaudorel Vairemont: "Likely a key in the form of those indents, yes?"
Meria Boucher looks over to it, giving it a soft 'hm' of contemplation. "...One of the ways that Sharlayans enjoyed protecting their knowledge was through puzzles. Riddles. 'Only the wise may pass - ' and so on. While we could try forcing it, I cannot at all promise a... good result for such a venture. But I think Isaudorel is right - there are indents, and likely something belongs in them.
Ereayri Dicentra: "Might be keys layin' round -- doesn't gotta be shaped like a usual one ya find abound. Ya know, like how people use coins and others use shells as payment so their lives grow."
Meria Boucher squints at Ere'a. "...Have -- have you turned into a poet, Mister Ere'a? Are you practicing your verse?"
Ereayri Dicentra tilts his head. "Poet? HahHAHHAH! If I tried that I'd blow it!"
Meria Boucher: Well, whether it be blowing or sucking... it does make some people very happy.
Artani Dazkar walked over to the dead book creature, attempting to read the words on Page 64 for any possible clues.
Meria Boucher || With THAT Meria turns away and begins examining the room.
Isaudorel Vairemont gives Meria the smallest glance as he dies inside. Death aside, he gets around to looking for key-shaped items.
Ereayri Dicentra gives off a peter griffin laugh and skitters around the room, opting to climb on a table and shuffle thrugh books. "Hhehehe...sucking..heheheh...or maybe waddlin' like a duckling..."
Meria Boucher || The book itself is written in some manner of cursed void scrawl, and the page its opened to is bleeding with ink. It is immediately obvious upon comparing the size of the open book to the slots that it is the same size, however, and in the corner, it can be seen that Page 64 is opened to... well. Page 64.
Meria Boucher || Isaudorel is too busy daydreaming and trips over a stray stack of books. Oops!
Isaudorel Vairemont grumbles about people leaving stacks of books scattered about.
Meria Boucher || Since Ere'a is on the table, he gets a chance to look at many of the open books that were left behind by hurrying scholars. A lot of them talk about the mathmatical perfection of nature, and some discuss numerology and important numbers - like 64, a ""superperfect" number defined by... exponents or something, and... uh... something about numbers allowing aetheric crystals to store values for computation?
Artani Dazkar "I suspect the books themselves might go into these slots."
Artani Dazkar She glanced over at Meria, nodding down at the book in front of her. "Is it okay to pick this one up?"
Meria Boucher: ...Hm. Yes, it is, and I think you may be right. Which ones though, I wonder?
Ereayri Dicentra squints his eyes at the words on the pages, eyes continuously going to 64. "They think that's super perfect? PFFFFF. Add 5 and then it's title will have an effect." He takes the book and folds a page to keep it bookmarked.
Artani Dazkar picked up the book, hesitated, and then attempted to fit it into one of the slots easiest to reach in f ront of her.
Meria Boucher || The book easily fits into the slot right in front of her, at least - it does when it's still spread open, and there's a very brief surge of aetheric /glow/. The door is still closed, but now there is a book opened to page 64 in one of the middle slots.
Isaudorel Vairemont studies the rest of the slots before going back to looking for books and hopefully not tripping over them this time.
Artani Dazkar:  "Okay. So....look for books open to page 64, I suppose."
Artani Dazkar stepped away from the holes to go look for more books.
Ereayri Dicentra reopens the book he bookmarked and sticks the book in a bottom slot, not bothering on straightening the page out.
Meria Boucher || In his consideration of NOT tripping over any more books, Isaudorel carefully steps over the pile he knocked over previously. As he does so, though, he notices that two of the books on the floor have bookmarks in them, and look to be about the right size as the ones needed. If he opens them, he might notice that one is marked at page 64, and the one beneath it is bookmarked at page 32.
Isaudorel Vairemont slots in the 64 book before turning his attention back to the 32 book. He runs his thumb over the page, seeing if there's anything notable about it before doing the same to page 64 (assuming this book has that many pages).
Meria Boucher || Artani finds a stack of likely looking candidates. While she looks through them, she finds papers full of calculations being flattened beneath them. ...it seems like someone might have spilled coffee on their work.
Meria Boucher || As Ere'a pushes the book into one of the bottom slots, it glows. But... why? Was that... sheer blind luck?...
Meria Boucher || It seems to fit, though.
Artani Dazkar gingerly peeled the stained papers away from the books she set aside, spreading them out on the desk in front of her to see if anything at all was legible. With a small grumble, she turned the pages of each book to Page 64 (if they had that many pages), and started using what notes she could to determine which books were the right ones for the slots.
Meria Boucher || Isaudorel's first page 64 book fits in pefectly well, and it glows just the same as the others. The second book doesn't really have anything particularly strange on either page 32 or 64, most of it just being a continual blather about seashell formation.
Isaudorel Vairemont sets the 32 book aside and continues to look for additional 64 books.
Meria Boucher || It's a frustrating endeavor, not just because of whatever moron spilled their morning wake-up juice on their work, but also because there aren't a lot of... obvious /connections/ between what exists on each 64 page. One of them didn't even have that many pages, stopping at 54 and being mostly composed of handwritten experimental notes. It was the right size though. There's one thing she notices though - there's one page that's just... the author multiplying things by two, and next to -
Meria Boucher | each result, listing plants with that number of petals or leaves. What a strange endeavor.
Meria Boucher | Isaudorel finds nothing else bookmarked, dog-eared, or open to page 64, but he does find a book marked at page 128 with a letter. Reading it, it seems to be a love note. How cute.
Artani Dazkar | Leaving the notes organized on the desk (with a small mark of her own in each corner to keep track), Artani carried over a small stack of the books, including the Page 54 book. Setting them all down, she put the Page 54 book to one side before studying the pages with the calculations and plants.
Meria Boucher: ...Mister Ere'a, how did you decide to put this book here in at the bottom? It's at page 32...
Ereayri Dicentra: "Oh? Well it has 64 on the page so I slapped it on there, ya know?"
Meria Boucher: ...I suppose that's logical enough, is it anything that has a 'sixty-four' written on it? But wait, the others don't, so -- eh... wait, is it...
(Artani Dazkar) Artani flipped the book that ended at 54 to page 32, and slipped it into one of the bottom slots.
(Meria Boucher) Another glow. Meria looks at her, looks at the spread, and then slots another book flipped to page 32 in the bottom slot, leaving one left to fill in the bottom and one on the top.
(Isaudorel Vairemont) Isaudorel carefully places the 128 book into the final slot, quickly backing up just in case.
(Meria Boucher) Another glow, and after the bottom row is filled with another page 32, the doorway parts with a slow, uneasy creak and reveals the hallway beyond. There's an aetheric wind blowing from deeper within the Gubal library, and in it, the book-keys used close and gently levitate to the ground.
(Meria Boucher) "Well," Meria says, looking at the group. "...I believe we can call that a success."