forbidden library part 1 (fixed)

On a courtyard before a huge golden gate
  This courtyard is almost entirely empty and stretches for as far as the eye
can see. To the east, a massive golden gate bars entry to what one might
presume to be the library.

A strapping man in a butler suit stands infront of the gate.


It is night, about 38F(3C) degrees, There is a waxing crescent moon.


[                                                       ]
[                                         (east)        ]

"Welcome dear guests." The strapping man in a butler suit greets the group
as they're summoned into the courtyard, as if having expected their arrival,
"My name is Albert." He bends forward at the waist in a servile bow, "I am here
to explain the rules of your ordeal and answer any questions that you may
have."


"Holy shit this actually worked?" Lucia says, glancing down at her invite as
if in disbelief, her brow knitting together, "I just thought this was like
another bloody mary creepy pasta thing."

"...our ordeal?" Daciana asks, eyeballing the butler. "How do we not know
it's your ordeal -- I just signed a paper, dude, I was promised books." Her
arms fold across her chest and she shifts her weight, somewhat uneasily.

"I am not the librarian if that is your concern." The butler retorts easily
to Daciana as he straightens, "Merely an indentured servant of his. He very
rarely oversees these ordeals." he clasps his gloved hands against one another,
"And the books can provide the answers you seek. However - you are not the only
ones that will be in the library."

"Is there going to be like an overly strict hag that kicks our ass if we
chew bubblegum or talk too loudly in there?" Lucia wonders to the butler in a
way that'd suggest she's not taking this entirely seriously.

Daciana glances sidelong at Lucia, giving an amused snort, before admitting
to the butler that, "I didn't come prepared for getting my ass kicked. Is it
violence that you think'll happen?"

"Almost certainly." The butler admits to Daciana, "Many of the librarian's
other.. indentured servants wander the library." he explains cooly, "Only
guests may leave this place. And you are only a guest so long as you hold an
invite."

"That's.. dark." Lucia admits to the butler with brows raising a bit, "Wait,
so if we lose our invites we're just stuck here forever?"


"Fuck this, then, I'm not staying," Daciana flippantly decides, "I came to
find books, not be kept here forever by some creepy librarian creature."


"Of course." The butler agrees toward Daciana with a polite incline of his
head, "The exit is on the third floor." He gestures toward the golden gate, "If
you've no further questions I will open the gate so you may find your book - or
your way back to earth."

"Yes, I have a question." Lucia says to the butler with a raised hand, "What
the fuck?" going on, "And also why are you doing this?"

Daciana gives the butler a skeptical look. "The third floor," she echoes,
"Where other residents are."

"I have little choice in the matter." Says the butler to Lucia, "If I do not
play the part of butler then I will replaced by somebody else who will." His
gaze flicks to Daciana and he smirks faintly, "They are also on the first and
second. Be warned that the further up you go the more dangerous it becomes. But
higher floors have better books."

Daciana pinches her fingers against her face gently, her arm tucked against
her stomach. "Great," she mutters to herself.


Daciana feels her anxiety rising.

"At least you got a snazzy suit out of it." Lucia supposes to the butler.
She chews at the inside of a cheek thoughtfully, "I.. uhh.. don't have any
other questions, I guess." he gaze flicks to Daciana, "Guess we'd better just
leg it?"

Daciana feels a moderate desire to find an old book on first magic.


"...yeah, I guess," Daciana agrees with Lucia. "These books better be worth
it if I'm going to potentially be stuck here forever..."


"May you find your book." The butler says in that same formal tone, "I would
advise not listening to the goblins. They are notorious liars." He turns and
rasps his knuckles against the golden gates. After a few moments they slowly
open - the butler steps to one side and bends into another bow.

open east
You open the eastern golden gate.

Lucia pokes her head past the gate, before her gaze flicks back to the
butler, "..It's pitch black in there."

"It is, yes." The butler agrees to Lucia, "The second floor is better lit.
The first floor's challenge is mainly.. well.." he pauses to think, "You will
see. The first floor is mostly safe."

Daciana plants her hands on her hips. "I'm a human, I don't have flashlight
eyes," she comments, peering into the darkness of the library beyond the gate.
"...great," she mutters, "Really bad turn of phrase. We won't _see_ shit."


"Fuck it. Yolooo." Lucia says as she abruptly runs past the gate into the
dark room.

On the interior of a magnificent library
It is dark.
  This library is a sight to behold. Rows of books stretch on for miles and
miles as if there were no end to them. There are staircases scattered about,
allowing people to ascend and descend the library.

All of the books have a person's name written on them. If they were to be read,
the content is just an autobiography of a person's life.


It is night, about 38F(3C) degrees, There is a waxing crescent moon.


[                                                  up   ]
[   west                                                ]

Daciana is standing here.
Lucia is standing here.


Daciana thinks; "...can't fucking see shit."


Rather than run, Daciana steps gingerly into the first floor, reaching her
hand out in front of herself to prevent any unfortunate accidents that might
cause her to get more bruised up than she already is.

The golden gates slam shut behind the duo as they enter the library. The
silence is almost defeaning, but there's some shuffling of feet and murmurring
a short distance away. A pair of yellow eyes glow eerily in the darkness.

You are guests?" The pair of glowing yellow eyes wonder. It's a very short
figure, almost child sized that slowly begins to approach the duo by where
they're beside the gate.


"No," is Daciana's immediate answer, her own eyes squinting suspiciously at
the short, glowing eyes. "No, I'm not a guest -- where's the stairs?"


"Uhhhh." Lucia eyes flicker about in a panic before echoing after the other
woman, "Yeah. I'm a Fae Slave. Here to like - stack books, or whatever. Stairs
would be pretty awesome."


Daciana thinks; "Gotta keep my fucking invitation."


Daciana feels anxious.

"I take you." The glowing eyes promise. He reaches up, trying to take one of
Daciana's and Lucia's hands into his as if to guide them, "Come. Come. Is this
way."


ucia allows her hand to be taken with a bit of a wince, "Very, uh, nice of
you to offer." there's a pause, "My name is Lucia - w-w-what's yours?"


Daciana takes a step back to avoid her hand being taken, warily wondering,
"Wait, how do we know you're trustworthy..."

"Are blind." The child-sized figure suggests to Daciana, keeping Lucia's
hand firmly held, his other outstretched toward Daciana, "If wanted to hurt,
would do it here, rather than take into light where can fight back, no?"

"Yeah, but how do we know you're taking us to the light and not dragging us
off to some lair somewhere that you can eat us," Daciana presses the issue,
though as her partner in darkness warms up to the small creature, so too does
her hand reach out to place itself into its. "...I'm not nutritious," she
warns.


Daciana recalls the butler telling them not to listen to the goblins.


Daciana thinks; "...is this a goblin?"


The glowing pair of eyes begin to guide Daciana and Lucia through the
library, "If took your invite, would still need to get past two more floors."
he reminds Daciana, "Am very little. Invite would just get it taken by bigger
servant, no?"
Seemingly having kept his word, the duo find themselves on the bottom step,
making it easy to climb up a floor. (OOC: Go up if you climb the stairs)

"...I guess," Daciana murmurs softly, "Are you a goblin?" This is asked
aloud, even as her feet come into contact with the first step of the stairs.

Am human." The child-sized figure asserts at Daciana with a hiss, some of
the light of the second floor revealing his green-skin and pointed ears,
"Stupid Fae does not get to say what I am and am not. Go, go, longer you stay
the more people will know."

"Uhh, thanks, dude." Lucia says to the goblin/human as she hurriedly climbs
up the stairs without sparing a look back down the stairs.

Lucia walks up.

There's dubiousness in Daciana as she's illuminated to the state of the
child-sized figure, heading up the stairs after the other woman. She does
glance back, offering, "Being human sucks, kid," before she disappears onto the
next floor.

Daciana struts with added lethargy up.

This floor of the library is huge and stretches further than the eye can
see. A few mythological creatures are here - reading books, speaking, though
they do not seem to have noticed the duo's arrival just yet. The staircase to
the third floor is about a thirty seconds walk away.

On the second floor of the library
  This library is a sight to behold. Rows of books stretch on for miles and
miles as if there were no end to them. There are staircases scattered about,
allowing people to ascend and descend the library.

All of the books have a person's name written on them. If they were to be read,
the content is just an autobiography of a person's life.


Lucia quietly takes a book off a nearby shelf and begins to read through it.
Her brows raise a bit, "Uhhh." she squints her eyes, "I don't know. Sounds like
someone's journal or something. What even is this?"

"Look, it has a name on it," Daciana comments, giving a little scratch to
the side of her face. "...maybe the books upstairs are better," she suggests,
before wondering to Lucia, "I mean, you came here for a reason, right?"


"It was a dare." Lucia says to Daciana gloomily, "Like I didn't think
anything would actually happen." she strops at Daciana, "When I get back I am
totally kicking his butt."

The goblin steps out from behind a nearby bookcase. He curls a green finger
toward the two women as if beckoning for them to follow. He glances back over a
shoulder and starts to step away but at a very slow pace as if to check if he's
being followed.

Lucia gnaws at her bottom lip after staring at the goblin, then wonders
aside uncertainly to Daciana, "Should we..?"

Daciana looks uneasily after the goblin, then around the library at the
mythological creatures reading their books. "...I dunno," she admits to Lucia,
"The guy said don't trust the goblins -- but the other one seemed okay."

In what may be an unspoken threat, the goblin picks up a book from a nearby
bookcase and chucks it at the ground with a loud THUD that echoes throughout
the library. Several creatures turn to look toward the source of noise -
including a minotaur and a griffin.
There's another, more forceful gesture to beckon from the goblin.

"Think he's going to snitch on us if we don't." Lucia mumbles at Daciana
after a moment spent eyeing the goblin, "Man. What an asshole."


"...yeah, talk about rude," Daciana mutters, her eyes narrowing. She shakes
her head and starts to jog after the goblin.


"I'd take the goblin over the man-bull. Oof." Lucia agrees to Daciana as she
begins to warily follow after the goblin.

"Is this way." The goblin murmurrs to Daciana and Lucia with urgency. He
leads them through various paths between bookcases, seeming to be at about the
half-way point to the staircase to the third floor.

"I dunno, that bull-man looks kinda dope," Daciana murmurs to Lucia as they
catch up with the goblin. "That was rude," she chides him, "You almost got us
caught, you absolute jerk."

"Was the only way to get you to listen." The goblin chides Daciana right
back, "You go to earth. You get help, put stop to all of this." He holds up a
hand toward the two women, "Wait here. Need check path is clear, yes?" He
starts to walk ahead of where the trio are between bookshelves.

"Think he'd snap us over his knee." Lucia comments to Daciana on the topic
of the bull-man. She nods at the goblin, crouching down and waiting as she
nervously glances along the length of the bookshelves, "More journals."


Daciana hunkers down when Lucia does, giving a little grunt. "We have to go
get help for them? For what?" she wonders.

Abruptly, the bookshelf beside Daciana and Lucia begins to rock back and forth
as if being pushed from the other side before it topples - about to crush the
duo if they do not react quickly.

Lucia opens her mouth as if to say to something to Daciana but the bookshelf
suddenly rocking back and forth has her attention. She hurriedly scrambles
back, trying to avoid being flattened, "You fucking....!"


What does one do when something is putting them in danger? Daciana throws
herself to the side, trying to tuck and roll out of the way before it crashes
down atop them.

"Guests! Guests! Get the guests, before the others notice!" The goblin cries
out. Three other goblins start to climb over the toppled bookshelf, hurriedly
starting to rush toward Daciana and Lucia.


Lucia hurriedly climbs to her feet and starts to beeline for the stairs as
fast as her legs will carry her, "Fuck this, let's go."


Daciana thinks; "I'm going to die here, I'm going to die here, I'm going to die here."


With a grunt, Daciana scrambles to her feet to sprint after Lucia. "Go go go
go," she urges, spitting profanities in her stressed mood. "Who fucking toppled
that -- the gobs or something else!"


The minotaur and chimera begin to rush over, before the minotaur abruptly turns
and punches the chimera, sending him flying back into several bookshelves, "The
invite is /mine/!"


"Doesn't matter!" Lucia cries out at Daciana. She tries to shove past one of
the goblins, as if to get to the stairs, "Fuck the books, fuck this library,
I'm going home."

The goblin that lured Lucia and Daciana begins to give instructions to the
other goblins, "Keep an eye on them." He points at the minotaur and chimera,
"If they stop fighting eachother then distract until we get invites, yes?"
One of the goblins clings onto Lucia's leg in an attempt to bring her to a
stop.

"Maybe they'll fight themselves," Daciana pants out, taking a glance over
her shoulder briefly as if assessing the situation. "Fucking hell -- this is
why I don't leave earth! Fuck all this shit!"


"Ew, ew, ew, ew get off me!" Lucia cries, as she stomps down at the goblin
clinging to her leg in a desperate attempt to free herself.

The goblin stubbornly clings to Lucia's leg, but as expected of a goblin,
doesn't seem to be much stronger than a child. He's eventually overpowered and
knocked out. Lucia and Daciana are almost close enough to climb the stairs -
but there's a small swarm of goblins chasing.

"There's places other than earth?" Lucia wonders to Daciana in a bemused way
as she countinues to sprint.

When the goblin is knocked out by Lucia, Daciana aims a kick to get it out
of her way, pushing the other woman with both hands. "Get up the stairs," she
demands of her, "Yeah, there's places other than earth -- we'll talk about this
later."

As the swarm of goblins starts to catch-up with the two women a minotaur
abruptly charges into the goblins and sends them flying. This floor of the library has
erupted into complete chaos with monster brawling monster. Only that lone
goblin from earlier seems to still be following, but from a distance. The two
women are now on the stairs - easily able to climb.


"Up the stairs." Lucia agrees to Daciana as she climbs hastily, "I'm sooooo
done with this."


Lucia walks up.


Daciana takes the stairs two at a time, thanks to her long legs, glancing
back briefly as she disappears up them.


Daciana struts with added lethargy up.

On a portal leading to earth
  This room is much smaller than the others though still considerably large.
In the centre there's a stone portal - with a sign hanging overhead that reads,
"ATTEMPTS TO ENTER WITHOUT AN INVITE WILL RESULT IN YOU BECOMING A BOOK."
There's various books scattered about infront of the portal, each with the name
of a person on the front.


It is night, about 36F(2C) degrees, There is a waxing crescent moon.


[                                                       ]
[                                                 down  ]

Daciana is standing here.
Lucia is standing here.


his room is very on the nose - in the middle it there's a portal that leads
to a familiar road on haven. The goblin follows a short distance behind the
duo, "Please, wait, wait!" He flails his arms in a desperate attempt to get
their attention, "Do not go! Can get powerful book, yes? Learn fleshforming?
Ancient magics, yes?"


"Like I'm going to trust you after your goblin buddies tried to flatten us
with a bookshelf." Lucia tells the goblin, flicking up a middle finger as she
starts to back-pedal toward the portal, "Have fun with the books, biiiiiiitch."



Daciana pivots to keep her eyes on the goblin as she makes her way towards
the portal, jogging backwards to do it. Her gaze is full of suspicion. "Y'all
just fucking tried to get us killed," she snipes at him, "Why should we fucking
help you now?"

Daciana feels a mild desire to stay and learn those ancient magics.

"You would have done same if you were me." The goblin protests at Daciana
pathethically, "Please. Just want to go home. Have family." He beckons, trying
to lure the women away from the portal, "Come. Come. Make it up to you."


"_You_ have a family? _I_ have a family," Daciana claims, raising her voice
a bit, "It's not my job to be your fucking hero and let you go home to your
family when you just tried to kill me!"


Daciana feels angry the house down boots.

he brawling downstairs seems to have drawn to a stop. If the footsteps
coming up the stairs are anything to go by, it would seem that a victor had
been deciding among the fueding monsters. The goblin countinues to stall,
"Would not have killed." he insists at Daciana, "Was little book case. Maybe
hurt little, not kill! Please!"


"He's obviously after the invite." Lucia tells Daciana coming to a stop a
short distance from the portal, "Think we should just go. This is soooooooooooo
not our problem."


"Definitely not my problem," Daciana agrees with Lucia, her eyes going to
the top of the stairs. "Quick -- I think someone's coming up, we have to get
out of here before the fucking bull-man shows up or worse."


"See you on the other side, cutie." Lucia tells Daciana with a brisk salute
as she steps through the portal.


Daciana scowls at the goblin one last time before making to step through the
portal herself.

"NO! PLEASE! NO LEAVE!" The goblin pathethic calls after the two women as
they escape through the portal back into the safey of earth. He sinks down onto
his knees and starts sobbing.

As the two women step through the portal reality distorts for a moment -
before Daciana and Lucia find themselves back in haven.