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Septette Arcubielle      "The Deep City"- when one sees the Atlantean jewel of a town in person, the name seems almost sacrilegiously plain. It's a beautiful city of cozy marble architecture, ensconced in a magical dome of air on the seafloor and shaded by the branches of an enormous tree. The sun, barely visible through the hundreds of feet of water above, casts the entire landscape in gentle, shifting azure hues. It's an effect that nicely complements the magical spheres of yellow light that illuminate its plazas and roads like streetlamps, although the city is still dimly lit enough to force one's eyes to adjust.

     The warpgate opens up into a quiet plaza that's a fair distance from the library, but its residents are friendly and helpful enough to direct Elites to their destination with a minimum of surprise and fuss. The faces here are varied in ethnicities and even species- here and there, one can spy a bestial Sentinel or gray and emaciated Vessel- but nearly all seem rather pale, doubtless a consequence of living in such a shadowed city. The directions they give lead down winding paths, through bustling marketplaces and quiet residential areas. It appears that people here enjoy a high standard of living, despite the Colonial-era technology.

     The library itself is at the northern edge of town, brushing up against the very perimeter of the air bubble. Its southern half- where the front entrance lies- is an alabaster Romanesque structure that almost resembles a basilica in structure, with white steps leading up to an open foyer. The northern half, by contrast, seems much more recent and constructed of materials dug from the seafloor: green serpentinite mingles with black basalt, with white marble scavenged from the ruins elsewhere accenting the stately and dark architecture.

     Septette waits on the front stairs, her dark purple shawl sharply outlining her against the white marble steps. As she spots the other Elites in the distance, though, she waves before turning on her heel and wordlessly beckons them to follow her inside- they'll have to catch up indoors. There don't seem to be any other residents nearby; one might expect more foot traffic. Perhaps, with the library closed to most visitors, they've got little reason to visit this corner of town?
Alucard Tepes     While he hadn't spoken up on the radio when the invitations went out, Alucard did find himself curious. So he went to the place the directions pointed to. On the one hand, it's pleasantly dim here. For once Alucard doesn't have to cover up his head to shade his eyes from the sun. On the other hand, WATER! Alucard has never really gotten along with water. His vampire heritage has always made it a hazard. Thankfully the warpgate leads into the city itself, meaning he doesn't have to traverse the water. Which is a good thing.

    Alucard has all his vampire 'dark aura' business suppressed. It's kind of something he does by default, so as not to frighten the people, or out himself to the masses as being half-vampire. He's dressed in his usual black Victorian attire, but this time his hood is back, revealing his features.

    As he arrives at the area where the library is located, he notes the rest of the Elites arriving, and offers a quiet nod of greeting before following Septette into the library proper. He assumes that, yes, the group will catch up inside the building.
Staren     It's a city and it's deep, so the name is apt. Naming things is hard.

    Staren emerges from the warpgate followed by a violet-haired woman in a simple dark dress and a humanoid robot in a T-shirt and shorts. Some might recognize the woman as identical to the gynoid Staren's AI uses for physical tasks, and the robot as a Synth from Rory's world. Staren 'skates' slowly through the city on his hovershoes, taking in the surroundings. For once he isn't in his armor -- this is a peaceful mission in a peaceful place. Upon sighting Septette he approaches, moving a bit faster to try and catch up as she walks inside.
Miari "Oh this is lovely!" Is Miari's first reaction to a city that's DEEP UNDERWATER but somehow not all wet. One can all but see stars in her eyes as she hurries about to examine various bits of architecture!

    For once, she is far from dignified or loquacious. Instead she makes girly squeals at all the things there are to see. And this time she seems to have picked up a smartphone of all things and is taking pictures.
Staren     "People went on a dungeon crawl here? And I missed it?" Staren sounds slightly put out. He'd love to know more about Septette's world, after all, including the hazards its residents face so that he can find solutions. And nothing's as good as first-hand experience!
Alexis Maaka     Maaka's not quite sure if there'll be hostiles on-site today, but she's still come armed nonetheless. For once, she's coming with her coat rather than high-tech body armor from the future, but pretty much everyone can see a Saiga-12k slung over her shoulder. Clearly she comes in peace! "Hey, Septette!" SHe greets, waving in a pretty cheery manner despite loaded for (sea)bear. "SOrry if I came a bit overequipped, but usually things around here tend to try and kill us whenever we go anywhere." She remarks, before nodding to Staren, MIari and Alucard.

    She regards Alucard curiously, but isn't sure what about him is so odd to her eye. Not that she can sense the aura of a vampire, but he does carry himself like someone 'more' than human. When he doesn't seem to be the talkative type, Maaka shrugs and carries on, following Septette. "So, I miss anything since we last went on some kind of dungeon crawl in your world?"

    Staren gets a cheeky grin, "Crawls plural. Septette's world is -full- of weird shit buried deep, you'll get your chance sometime."
Starbound Flotilla     The Starbound Flotilla are here! And they're not all armored up like tanks for once. AS they walk, they speak among themselves, chattering and jabbering endlessly as they so often do. Today's topic of discussion is, of course, Septette herself; they have a lot of opinions on her. When they wander through, they let Moonfin do all the navigating and suchlike, letting him handle getting directions. They take in the sights of the city, between chattering discussion, on the way to the library and to Septette.

"...Too paranoid, really, I don't think it's like that."
"Hmph. Everything she does is deliberate. Doesn't make it inauthentic."
"Aye, merely means she's got agendas for everything."
"Critical. Well she's lived long past the stage of seeking purpose."
"Seft makes a good point. After a certain time, one cannot be expected to saturate their actions with such misdirected white noise of a sort, Pavo."
"Why agenda isss bad? Meansss, not do random bad thing jussst becaussse feel like it. Floran thinksss?"
"Mmh. A calculated alliance is better than an impulsive one."
"Mark my words, mateys. We're good to her now, but ye don't live so long in a world like this without being willin' to walk out the moment ye feel the heat 'round the corner."
"You're making me start to agree with Seft about you here, Pav'."
"Mmmh. Bird friend, Floran can tell you like ssskeleton friend."
"Well... Aye, she turns a mighty profit, and she's ruthless where it counts."
"Let that be enough, Pavo. Insecurity does not suit you."

    "Mr. Tepes." Moonfin provides a short bow-like nod to Alucard on the way in, and leads the group on striding on in. "Ms. Maaka is correct, in fact. We reconnected with her quite recently, only when we chanced upon her coordinates in our failing SAIL lattice; its offerings of materials are quite plentiful."
Ainsley     Weirdly enough, Ainsley shows up late to this little gathering. She's in her Paladin uniform, looking like a modern US police officer with white gloves and white ribbons in her feathers, and the 'Cursebreaker' insignia set under the Paladin and rank patches. She's adjusting her gloves as she approaches. When she stops, she has a smile for just about everyone here. Alucard gets a respectful nod, too, but mostly because of her knowing almost exactly who he is and what he does in his world. She's been around a while and they're in the same faction.

    "I would have shown up earlier than this," she tells Septette, for some reason, "But I had a lot of business to attend to in evacuating a city due to a cultist attack. Paperwork."

    Sniff. Ainsley's feathers puff up a little, and she does a little stretch and yawn. She seems tired, though it's harder to see thanks to her reptilian physiology.
Septette Arcubielle      The inside of the library is no less unusual than the city as a whole. Past an expansive but empty foyer, and lived-in (though likewise vacant) receptionist's desk, the building opens up into high, vaulted white marble rooms with polished stone floors and lit with candle-like magical orbs. Bookshelves stretch towards the ceiling thirty meters up like trees jockeying for light, accessible only via precarious-looking ladders, and fill the room with a faint aroma of tanned leather and ancient pages.

     Despite the library's size, one gets the sense that space has always been at a premium here: one can scarcely see from one side of a room to the other without seeing a bookshelf of some description, lending the building the feel of some dense yet orderly forest where the trees are too thick to see the horizon. Still, there are clear trails blazed through the forest of paper, and all of them shortly converge on a central 'clearing' where Septette awaits.

     The center of the library is a wide-open space where the white marble meets the dark basalt in a jagged, yet smoothly healed fault-line. The floor, walls, and ceiling quickly transition from one building material and style to another right along the middle, giving the distinct impression of a jigsaw puzzle assembled from two different boxes. Perhaps most strikingly of all, a swirling column of solid white light stretches up from the floor in the very center of that line and grazes the ceiling, appearing luminescent without itself illuminating the surroundings.

     In contrast to the pretense of cramped orderliness that pervades the rest of the library, the little base of operations that Septette has set up around the shining column for the scanning procedures has little time for aesthetic orderliness. Ancient tomes are stacked in piles on the floor like the walls of some childish play-fort, surrounding boxy nineties-style fax machines that must've been borrowed from another world. They make whirring mechanical noises while scanning the books one page at a time; it's getting the job done, but surely an Elite could find some way to greatly improve on the process.
Septette Arcubielle      Septette calls out over her shoulder cheerfully: "No worries, Maaka- if they didn't allow weapons here, they wouldn't let me in!" She consorts briefly with a bespectacled woman over a long checklist as the others pile in, and the robot turns to properly greet them with a smile and gracious inclination of her head. "Welcome to the shared libraries of the Deep City and Armoroad," Septette says, gesturing to the pole of light at that last word. "We've gathered up nearly all of the books that don't have any extant copies elsewhere- ideally, we'd like to scan everything whether there are copies or not, but that's a bit beyond our scope today. There are just a few items that are proving... intractable," she confesses.

     The librarian pushes up her glasses, scanning the list with her finger. "We've got 'False Genealogies of the Royal Family of Armoroad', last known location- Deep City secure reference vault. 'Origins of the Practice of Necromancy', last known location- Armoroad library, fourth floor. And 'Irregularities of the Abyssal War', last known location- Deep City sec... no, wait, Deep City east wing first floor. It may've been caught up in the fire." The librarian purses her lips in annoyance before concluding, "Should likely check on that one just in case, anyhow."

     She finally glances up at the party, her eyes widening in surprise at their outlandish appearances, before forcing herself back into a businesslike demeanor. "W-well. I should get back to my duties in Armoroad. Good day, everyone." With that, the woman presses one hand to the column of light... and just like that, she's gone.

     "I wouldn't hold it against any of you if you don't want to run errands for us," Septette says brightly a moment later, carefully rolling up the checklist and setting it atop a pile of books. "After all, you are visitors here- it'd be a shame if you didn't stop to take in the sights. But at the same time, your help would be greatly appreciated. For one reason or another, each of those books is proving rather difficult to get ahold of. Nobody's had the key to the secure reference vault in years; the fourth floor of the Armoroad library is a precarious ruin; and the last one is..." She shrugs, as if to communicate- 'what are you gonna do'?
Ainsley     Ainsley follows through the shelves, restraining herself only just from grabbing any random book off a shelf and reading it by reminding herself that she'll get to read them anyways if allowed to. She spares some time to approach the copy machines, one of her hands lifting to rub at the back of her neck and a skeptical frown showing on her face at the sight of it. The reminder of the mountains of totally soul-draining paperwork that comes as a part of her job is not a good thought for her.

    The moment that it's even hinted that she doesn't have to find any specific books, she lifts her gaze away from the machine and toward Septette... and she promptly turns to disappear among the shelves, seeking out the first interesting book, particularly one with an exciting or mysterious title.

    Seems like she's not much in a working mood right now.
Staren     Once upon a time, any collection of books was somewhere Staren could spend hours just looking for interesting books and then reading as much of the selection as he could. Certainly as a child, he was a more frequent visitor to Lazlo's libraries than most.

    But nowadays... It's not that there isn't the allure of knowledge for its own sake, but there's just so much. There's an entire Multiverse out there. Staren could easily spend years here just reading books... but there's so much to do in the world, he can't stop for that long, alas.

    In fact, with online access to common reference materials, Staren hasn't even been to Lazlo's libraries physically in awhile. He's probably visited the Union library at least as often, in the last few years. As Union librarians go, this one reminds Staren more of Nathan than Yomiko. Which is probably for the best for keeping the library running...

    Such is the line of thought running through his head as he looks around at the collection of books. With a thought, he directs his two robotic assistants to start scanning books -- they simply sit by piles and start flipping through them, pausing only an instant at each open page to scan it.

    Staren himself listens to the list of troublesome volumes. While he might have the tools to get through a vault, the last book sounds most interesting. He looks at Ainsley curiously. "I don't suppose your powers could recover information from a damaged book?" Either way, he's gotta at least go check that out. "Um... which way to all these things? Do you have a map?"
Alexis Maaka     Alexis just gives AInsley an amused look, "You strike me as someone who'd be here day 1, honestly." She says, before following the lizard wizard, keeping her distance in case Ainsley decides she doesn't like having a cyborg loaded for (sea)bear isn't too conductive to her reading exploits. Either way, she kind of pokes her way through some of the books, picking one at random and plucking it out.
Alucard Tepes     Alucard is not unaware of Maaka's curious look. In fact, he looks in her direction as well. But he does bow his head politely in greeting to her, though yes, he remains silent for now. But Maaka's quite right; Alucard's bearing is something otherworldly, even if the darkness is being suppressed. It doesn't help that because of the way he's allowing his cloak to drape about him and hide his legs and feet from sight, that it makes it look like he's gliding across the ground rather than walking properly...

    Moonfin's greeting gets a bowed head as well. "Moonfin, yes? Greetings." He CAN talk! A deep baritone voice, in fact. He also seems to regard Moonfin with much less suspicion this time than their initial meeting. Whatever had his tights in a bunch about Moonfin initially seems to have abated, so there's that.

    Alucard regards the surprised woman with a flat expression, neither confirming nor denying the validity of her apparent fear of them. He's stoic because he's accustomed to being regarded with something like fear, and so it doesn't surprise him when she decides to flee. He turns then to Septette and listens to her explanation. "I have some experience traversing ruined structures," he offers. "Perhaps I could assist in locating the fourth book."
Septette Arcubielle      Septette watches Ainsley disappear between the shelves with a concerned expression, her ear-fins drooping slightly. That doesn't seem like the bright and perky lizard she's met before! Then she tears her eyes away and nods to Staren sheepishly- "Ach, sorry. I forgot." Digging around in her leather bag, she pulls out a sheaf of near-identical hand-drawn maps and distributes them to anyone who'll take one.

     The maps are fairly accurate and sufficient for their purposes, they'll find- but strangely, they have a few blank areas, as if the would-be cartographer couldn't access all the areas they wanted to. On the reverse of each sheet is a drawing of another, separate library- this one labeled ARMOROAD, with a strangely mirrored design. A note on both sides says that the two are connected via an artificial "submagnetic pole"- is that what that thing is? Seems Alucard will have to go poke at it to get anywhere.
Starbound Flotilla     The Starbound Flotilla are architects, and that means each of them, no matter their personality, find something to admire about the construction of this wonderful library. Pavo loves the open, wide, high, vaulted ceilings, Seft admires the craftsmanship of those well-cared-for and well-crafted stone floors, Albert admires the efficient use of space, Moonfin admires the magical orbs and the teleporter column that he assumes is the geomantic pole, Biteblade admires the heady scent of literature, and George... Well, George put out his cigarette, so he has to have admired something, but it's not clear what.

    "Good day to you as well, miss." Moonfin says, bowing to the librarian. "As for running /errands/, I shall do no such thing, but the noble task of restoration is no mere errand, and I shall do all I may to assist it." He smiles pleasantly, as he takes one of the maps. "I believe our abilities in the realm of mining would be best suited to breaching the vault." He says, looking to the others. "Though I believe our abilities may also be put well to use on a final and unspoken task." He gestures to the staging area. "Our rapid facilities construction techniques may assist in your... Unrefined restoration pipeline, Ms. Arcubielle. Perhaps I might leave the other members of the Flotilla here, to begin constructions while I work to locate and breach the vault?"

    If that sounds okay, he's going to turn and set off on the path the map might indicate for the vault.
Septette Arcubielle      The section that Ainsley and Alexis are in right now seems to be dedicated to the principles of the more common branches of magic in Etria. A simple, slender book might catch Ainsley's eye- "An Outsider's View of the Runemaster's Art", decorated with strange symbols that seem to shift slightly in the corner of one's vision- and a considerably heftier tome finds its way to Alexis's hand: a heavy, ostentatious-looking tome studded with tri-colored gems and engraved with the title "The Patterns and Traditions of the Zodiac".

     The "Runemaster's Art" describes an unusual and inventive practice: magic is invoked through specific patterns that channel mana, and these 'Runemasters' create the requisite patterns within their own brains by evoking specific patterns of neural activity with incantations and scripted motions. Though inflexible and easily exhausted, specialists in this magical practice are able to bring their skills to bear at a moment's notice.

     "Traditions of the Zodiac", by contrast, details a wholly different source of magic: these 'Zodiacs' are described as creating arcane circuits that channel the energy of the stars themselves, to accomplish great effects with a minimum of effort. But their calculations must account for an enormous number of variables: their position relative to the star, the location of their desired effect, and countless other fine criteria. Because of that, only the most brilliant prodigies can cast their spells without long preparation.

     But before either of them have had much time to get past the foreword, Septette butts in with a concerned expression. "Hey, Ainsley? You look kinda... down, I suppose. I think the bistro here is open- would either of you care to take your books there and chat over something refreshing?" The hesitant expression on her face indicates she'll still take no for an answer, but that does sound at least a little tempting...
Alucard Tepes     Alucard accepts the map, taking a moment to look at it to get his bearings. At the note on the map he pauses. 'Submagnetic pole'? Various alchemical ideas crop up in his mind, but none that can adequately explain that. So he looks up again, at Septette, one brow raised. "What is a 'submagnetic pole'?" he asks. He's aware of what a 'magnetic pole' is, but this isn't something he's familiar with.
Septette Arcubielle      As Staren approaches the site of the fire, the smell of burned leather and paper hangs in the air, yet visible signs of actual damage are absent until they're practically on top of the shelves. Whatever happened here was highly concentrated- yet the magical lights here don't seem to give off any heat, and the cold, imperforate marble walls give no clues as to the fire's origin either.

     The fire seems to have only affected a couple of shelves, singing and lightly damaging the adjacent ones without fully catching. But those two shelves are scorched down to little more than ash and charcoal- whatever flammable substance got on them, it must've burned hot. An examination of the nearby area will show that the book they seek isn't on the untouched shelves, and scraping through the pile of ash will yield a grim piece of evidence: a charred, blackened book with the letters 'IRRE' still visibly embossed on its cover.

     The fact that it's physically intact at all is impressive, but opening it leads only to disappointment: the pages didn't fully burn, but they're blackened to the point of illegibility. Analysis of the script on other wavelengths of light to distinguish the ink from the soot may be able to recover some information where the pages are still physically intact, but the physical damage is too severe for that to permit a full salvage of its text.
Septette Arcubielle      Septette glances back over her shoulder at Alucard, looking slightly embarrassed again. "Oh! I'm sorry. A submagnetic pole is a kind of inferior geomagnetic pole that allows teleportation between two connected poles, instead of between any number of poles in a network. I'm given to understand the name for them doesn't translate very intuitively?"

     "Anyway, all you have to do is touch it- like so," she says, rapidly folding one of the maps into a paper airplane and tossing it at the column of light. As soon as it touches the light's surface, the paper airplane disappears without fanfare, as if it were suddenly plucked out of existence. "It's not as jarring as it looks, I promise!"
Alucard Tepes     Alucard watches the disappearance of the paper plane. He doesn't seem to to be upset about it, though that could just be because he's too stoic to show it. "A teleporter?" he inquires, looking back at Septette. Though he nods. "I have dealt with teleportation devices before."

    Then he nods, and puts the map in his cloak. "I will return shortly with the book." Then he heads for the pillar of light. He just walks right into the pillar, without a second's hesitation, as if he's done this sort of thing a thousand times.
Septette Arcubielle      The little robot seems happy to delegate the task of manually scanning the books to the other Flotilla members and Staren's bots, and indicates the location of the secure reference storage to Moonfin on the map! It's a just short walk into the darker half of the library before he'll reach a stone staircase that plunges down twenty feet into a gloomy basement hallway. The hallway branches off into a number of rooms used for book repair, or cataloguing, or sorting returns- but at the far end, it comes to an abrupt halt at a vault door.

     The door is a square chunk of metal with a keyhole in the very center, looking as though it's fit to repel a battering ram. Despite the sturdy construction, it's exquisitely engraved and inlaid with abstract patterns in gold, with a stylized butterfly over the keyhole. It's Moonfin's one weakness: art. Maybe just destroying the door isn't such a good idea...
Miari "The key to the secure reference vault? The security must be impressive if nobody's bothered to simply force their way in all this time." Miari posits questioningly to Septette.
Staren     A shame. This will be the part of the mission to not tell Twilight about later...

    Still, that one book lasted indicates something must be special about its construction. Staren scans it for magic but finds nothing. Hmm...

    For the moment, he puts it in a sealed plastic bag and slips it into his bag for transport. Now to see how Moonfin's doing... He heads over that way. "What's wrong?"
Septette Arcubielle      Touching the swirling column of light induces an instantaneous teleportation effect; it appears as though one's environment has radically changed in the blink of an eye without any interruption or sensation of travel. In this case, it looks as though the surroundings have abruptly flipped around the fault line: where previously the ancient white marble architecture was the southern half of the library, here it's the northern half, split along the precise same jagged midline!

     The architecture of the newer half of this library is different, as well: gray slabs of stone and mortar have been carefully assembled with stucco into a structure that feels surprisingly light and airy, for using such primitive materials. Evening sunlight pours through the windows, all soft and red, and the halls are filled with the subtle susurrus of ceaseless human activity. Unlike the Deep City's library, Armoroad's is open for business!

     The map's directions take Alucard to a place where the shelves are largely bare, and the crowds thin out again. There's a cave-in in the corner here, where mossy bricks have long ago collapsed down a tower's spiral staircase to spill out onto the library's floor. It does wonders for the room's atmosphere, really... except for the fact that it ought to be the main staircase to the fourth story.

     There's enough room for a mouse to slip through the cobblestones and up to the floor above, perhaps, but certainly none for a human. They look too heavy to shift in a timely fashion, as well.
Septette Arcubielle      "It's not that it's warded, exactly," Septette answers Miari with a light shrug. "It's that we haven't needed it for much. There are maybe a half-dozen books inside, and none of them are very popular for light reading. So nobody's bothered to try cracking it open ever since we lost the key. You're welcome to take a look if you like- if nothing else, the vault is rather pretty."
Alexis Maaka     Alexis, suddnely, pokes her head into the bistro. "Yo. AInsley's still running about doin' stuff. Figured I'd not bother her more and instead be with you guys." She brings BOOKS, random books too! Mostly stuff about flora and fauna about the region and such, not to mention geographical stuff. Grabbing a seat, she just gets to reading about wildlife! It might be useful, this planet's a Death World.
Miari Finding little of interest in Septette's explanation, Miari sighs... and troddles over after Staren, having spotted the strange book he'd been handling. "A moment, please? What did you just stuff away? It looked damaged..."
Alucard Tepes     Thankfully Alucard isn't too terribly disturbed by the sudden shift of surroundings. Though the mirrored appearance does give him pause, and he consults the map again once he comes out of the teleportation pillar, to get his bearings. Once he's sure of where he's going, he'll head that way, and he will eventually make his way to the ruined spiral staircase.

    Mouse? How about mist? Alucard's form dissolves into a large bank of thick fog, which travels up, through whatever cracks in the way he needs to go. As long as it's not airtght, he should be able to navigate through it.
Septette Arcubielle      Maaka handily beats Septette to the bistro by at least a full minute. It's a cozy little coffeeshop-type place that is, predictably, devoid of any other customers- but strangely, there is someone tending the counter. An androgynous figure with a mop of silver hair, a gaunt face, and a grayish cast to his features polishes a mug, and glances up at Maaka with a curious expression. "Huh," he mutters. "Forgot to give me the day off. Guess I'll have something to do, at least. What are you here for? Can I get you anything?"

     He steps out from behind the counter, resting on a black wooden cane, and eyes Alexis cautiously. On closer inspection, the man looks like the dead: his skin is pulled taut over what looks like nothing but unnaturally slender bones, and if the way he leans is any indication, he's putting more weight on the cane than on his feet. After a moment of thought, he points one elongated, spidery finger at her. "You don't look like you're from around here. A guest, huh?"
Alexis Maaka     "Gimme a coffee, two sugars and cream. Hint of honey." Alexis orders from the barista. "Yeah. Off-worlder if you can believe that." She eyes the barista curiously, noting how stretched his skin looks. Something about it just...feels off, like a plastic surgery fanatic or something. That finger doesn't help at all, considering how it looks more like a talon than a digit. "Soooo...get much business?"
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin explains his woes. "Somehow, this vault door has been constructed with such a tremendously powerful defense that it limits my ability as even a Hylotl to breach it." He says, practically wringing his webbed hands, as if the door were kryptonite and he was struggling to breathe in its presence. "The vault door appears to be fine art. I am paralyzed." He can't just dig through fine art!! That would be /barbaric/. Well, for now, he gets to work as best he can.

    Immediately disabling the mining functions on his Matter Manipulator, the Hylotl missionary calls George over. "Staren, do you intend to assist?" He asks. "If so, hold a moment before you dissolve such grand mechanisms as these." Conferring with George for a moment, they measure the lock, and over the next few dozen minutes of uninterrupted focus, they work out and rapidly craft up what looks like some sort of electromechanical lockpick, inserting it into place.

    "Our programmer is indisposed for the moment. Staren, if you would be so kind and courteous?" They would much, much rather perform an automated tumbler-testing brute-force than risk damaging the lock. Moonfin seems to expect it to have some kind of fancy, dramatic mechanical effect if they can get it to /turn/!
Septette Arcubielle      There are a fair few tight squeezes on the way up the winding staircase, and even a dead end or two as cracks between the rocks come to an abrupt halt, but it's by no means airtight- Alucard should be able to get to the fourth floor without too much difficulty, in that form! The mossy cobblestones of the top floor are largely open to the rays of the setting sun, but it's nothing harsher than what he's seen so far.

     There's a roof overhead, crumbling and derelict, but nothing else above- seems like this is the top floor. In fact, if he looks out at the landscape, Alucard would be able to see a small spectacle: the library overlooks a bustling port town of white walls and green roofs, cradled under the branches of a truly enormous tree, and sloping down a steep hill towards a jagged coastline that hasn't had time to erode into smoothness. Somewhere out there, under those very waves illuminated by the setting sun, is the sister library where he stood not a moment earlier. It's a little surreal, if one stops to think about it.

     But the fourth floor isn't all ruins. A few rooms are inexplicably well-kept, sealed off from the overgrown and weathered portions by iron doors. The directions lead him to one of those rooms, dusty but otherwise remarkably dry and preserved. The books here seem to be very much out of favor to be neglected like this, but one stands out: a cheerfully brick-red book with gold embossing. Cursory examination confirms it as the "Origins of Necromancy"- the only question now is how curious he's feeling about its potentially dark contents...
Septette Arcubielle      "Coffee, two sugars, cream, dash of honey," the ill-looking man repeats, smiling faintly. His surprisingly-lively eyes stay trained on Maaka as he half-walks, half-limps back behind the counter. He sits down on a padded stool, spindly legs crossed, and makes a series of peculiar gestures in the general direction of a series of glass flasks- a low-tech pressurized condenser coffee machine, it looks like. Pale green symbols float in the air around the machine, and a moment later the water in it begins to boil. Similar gestures retrieve the beans and get out the creamer. So that's how he manages...

     "You look like you've never seen a Vessel before," he remarks, before laughing a light and shallow laugh. "Well, if you're not from around here, I guess you probably haven't. ... We get enough business to keep going, but not too much that it'd keep me on my feet. I guess like things just like they are." Then his eyes flit up towards the entrance of the bistro, seeming to stare through the door at something on the other side.

     "It thinks it's a person," the man says in a mildly irritated tone, with a nod towards the door. "Play along." That's all he says before, a few seconds later, Septette steps through and waves at Maaka. "Hey! Found this place on your own, I see! Isn't it cozy?"
Staren     Staren's been followed! Not that there's anything wrong with that. He shows Miori the book as they head towards the vault, letting her take and examine it. "I suspect it's the book on 'irregularities' of the Abyssal war, although finding a way to read it is going to be a challenge. Just as interesting is the fact that it has survived some sort of concentrated arson when everything else was reduced to ash. I don't detect any magical enchantment, so either it's magic way more advanced than anything I've seen, or it's made of some pretty unusual materials for a book."

    After arriving, Staren nods at Moonfin's query about his attentions, and watches them assemble the... electromechanical lockpick. "Sure!" He wirelessly takes control of the lockpick (or connects it to one of his devices) and... doesn't seem to be doing anything but staring into space, as he mentally programs. There's the occasional click or clack at first as he tests and confirms the lockpick's operation, and then it doesn't take long to write a simple 'try every combination' program. "Okay, here goes!"
Septette Arcubielle      The lock on the "secure" vault is heavy and made with masterful craftsmanship, but by Multiversal standards, it's not very secure at all: four tumblers, no special safeguards, no magical wards. There's a dramatic CLICK-THUNK as the electronic lockpick fits and presses the tumblers, then turns the 'key'! The vault door swings inwards with a resounding CLANK and a rusty whine, revealing a small, unlit room with metal walls.

     There are just a couple of waist-height shelves here, but something stands out: a glittering book on a pedestal at the far end of the room shines in the murky darkness. A closer look at the cover soon confirms it- that's the book they're here for!

     Their quarry, The False Genealogies of the Royal Family of Armoroad, is a handwritten vellum tome bound in milky-white leather with a stylized butterfly- some heraldic symbol, perhaps?- inlaid on the front cover in semi-precious gemstones. It seems to have been written pre-Unification, but within the last few decades, and it focuses on the traditions and political marriages of the figurehead monarchy of Armoroad. One charming quirk that stands out is that each eldest daughter was named Gutrune, and each eldest son Siegfried- even in the cases where the royal family adopted their children from among commoners.

     However, the book rapidly takes a bizarre and morbid turn when its timeline reaches three hundred years ago. It glosses over the precise details, mentioning only that Princess Gutrune VI slowly transformed into an immortal aberration after something called the 'Cataclysm', but took great pains to conceal her condition- even fabricating elaborate family trees and passing herself off as her own daughter, and then granddaughter, in rare public appearances to avoid raising suspicions as the decades dragged on.

     The book covers all of this in a remarkably dry and informative fashion, skipping over many things the author clearly believed would be common knowledge to the reader. It seems to primarily concern itself with the elaborate ruse that went into fabricating an entire lineage to conceal Princess Gutrune's immortality from the public for over a century, going into excruciatingly boring detail about the clerical and heraldic processes involved in the deception before making passing mention of her eventual disappearance. But given how much the author assumes is common knowledge, maybe a native could fill in the gaps?
Alexis Maaka     "Yo!" Alexis greets Septette with a casual nod. "Don't worry she-Wait, what do you mean she thinks she's people?" She furrows her brow. "Actually, more importantly, what's a Vessel?"
Alucard Tepes     Mist winds up through the cracks in the collapsed staircase tower, and then to the roof they collapsed through. He pauses when he reforms on the roof, wincing a bit when the bright sunlight hits his eyes. Nonetheless, he also pauses to look out at the landscape for a moment or two. It might or might not remind him of home, though that tree probably looms over everything like his father's castle loomed over the landscape of Wallachia...

    But there's business to be attended to here. He doesn't spend too terribly long looking at it before he heads in to where the book is. It's true, the dark contents do give him a few moments of consternation. So, just to be safe, he picks the book up and begins to look through it. He's aware he may not be able to read the words in it, but he looks nonetheless.
Staren     Staren makes a sudden intake of breath, eyes widening and ears turning forward as the vault opens...

    >a glittering book on a pedestal

    "Oh my god, /seriously/?" He's amused, though.

    As the book is examined, he can't help but ask, "Who /wrote/ this? If she went to such great efforts to hide it..."
Septette Arcubielle      The thin man opens his eyes wide in bewildered anger at Maaka, as if he's momentarily unable to believe that she'd really just repeat him in front of the person he was talking about. Then, as his eyes slide over to Septette, he looks like a deer caught in the headlights. There's no fear in his expression- 'shock' would be a better term, his mind racing to figure out how to respond.

     "Entirely correct," Septette chirps without a hint of malice in her voice. "I do think I'm a person, Samil. And I'd like some brown tea, one sugar." The man relaxes a bit as Sept defuses the situation on her own, still remaining silent for lack of anything to say as he serves Maaka's coffee and Septette's tea, and then excuses himself to a back room at the earliest opportunity with a final sidelong glare at Maaka.

     "Vessels are a subspecies of humanity here," Septette explains between sips. "Nobody is entirely certain why, but all of them have an innate knack for magic in addition to their physical frailty. They were confined to a pretty small geographical region until about a century ago, but you're seeing more and more of them spread out these days- guess they get wanderlust the same as anybody else."

     She takes a long, slow sip of her drink before slipping Maaka an easy smile. "Or, in Samil's case, maybe he just ran out of new people to be a dick to. Hard to say."
Miari After being handed the book, and taking a few moments to examine it... Miari's face lights up with a clear interest. With a hurried thanks, she ducks off and gets herself a blank book and several inkwells from nearby rooms... and soon sets herself up not far from the vault, where she can see what Moonfin and the others are up to.

    But her attention is on this burned book. LOST KNOWLEDGE is intolerable to her.

    Using a few other books as a character reference for the language she's not quite familiar with, she sets down at a table and sets down the burned book, the blank book, and the few language references...

    The blackened, scorched pages would seem beyond repair. They would seem that way, but Miari's quick to direct her mental energies to the task. The pages flutter and separate. Layers are carved off the pages, the damage shaved away with fine precision to expose damaged, but legible-enough ink. One would perhaps need a microscope or similar too to reveal it normally, but whatever strange magic the Exalt is using seems sufficient.

    She begins RAPIDLY ripping through the book and transcribing new writings into the blank book. This looks pretty weird indeed, given the pages are all flipping on their own and tiny streams of ink fly from the wells, THROUGH THE AIR and onto the page with exacting precision... not to mention machine-gun like speeds.

    It'll probably take about ten minutes to restore what can be restored.
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin makes a haughty noise as he joins Staren in the chamber. "I'm not sure how else you believe great works ought to be given their due." He says, striding forward and digging into the tome alongside Staren himself. As the pages wear on, he begins to insert his tongue firmly into his cheek.

    "It would seem that she ran into the other trouble that emerges from your immortality: The fact that modern forms of governance and bureaucracy are ill-suited to the handling of an immortal in their most long-term sense." He gives a grin as he collects the book into a sealed preservation unit. "I wish you best of luck when it comes time to falsify a child. Your choice of significant other shall certainly make such matters equally /historical/ in their absurdity."

    His traditional arrogant-laugh approach is friendly, however lightly annoying it is. "Now, shall we return the book and perhaps re-connect with our friends, wherever they may have gone to?"
Septette Arcubielle      The book in Alucard's hands details a bizarre, though not entirely unwholesome, tradition. It seems to have begun with a single man who acquired strange powers that were weak and undeveloped, but did not fit into any existing magical paradigm. He gathered curiosity-seekers and scholars around himself to teach them his otherworldly techniques, the book says, and on the eve of his death perpetrated a ritual that created a magical vessel to collect his soul, so that he could communicate with the world of the living even after death- an 'artificial afterlife', of sorts.

     This first master continued to teach and groom his students as a disembodied spirit, and they too created magical vessels for their souls- in fact, they made the commitment to contribute knowledge even in death a contractual obligation to learn their teachings. This carried on over the centuries, until eventually, every practitioner of these arts could call upon dozens of the old masters to educate them. Magicians stood on the shoulders of giants, cultivating their art and learning to channel the souls of past necromancers to more direct ends.

     Now, centuries later, the art has finally been developed into a full branch of magic. Alone, a necromancer is a charlatan, a magician with nothing but parlor tricks. But with the concentrated might of dozens or hundreds of the old masters behind him, he becomes a competent spellcaster on par with a more traditional alchemist or runemaster. Where the art could go from here is anyone's guess- but it is showing signs of leveling off in power, at least, rather than continuing to grow to dominate other disciplines.

     There's little else to glean from the book, unfortunately- and likely little else to do here, save to return to the Deep City and rejoin the others, or admire the scenery.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka can only just stare at the barista for a moment, before she takes another sip of coffee. "You know this guy?" She asks Septette, musing on the trade off between magic and durability. It makes SOME sense, somehow. "You have weird friends." She remarks, before taking another casual sip.
Septette Arcubielle      Though many pages near the middle of the book are too damaged to transcribe even with Miari's magic, a clear picture begins to resolve itself as she transcribes it page by page. Irregularities of the Abyssal War: a Contemporary Account was once an unassumingly slender book with bone-white paper pages made of some inorganic material, bound in a kind of slick inky skin that recalled the appearance of a deep-sea gulper eel. It was dated at over a hundred and fifty years old, but none of the pages were dog-eared or annotated- it seems to have been hardly perused at all, if such can still be distinguished under the damage.

     The author purports to be one 'Captain Wealh', a veteran who was at that time entering her hundred and twenty-second year. The book itself is written with a shaky hand, but a cuttingly clear mind: whoever this Wealh was, she must have been a truly formidable woman.

     "I shall keep this account short by necessity," the foreword says, "for my time has been prolonged enough. No other mortal still lives who knows this story, and though I had once thought to bear it to my grave, its significance may now outlive me. I can no longer in good conscience allow it to pass from memory, or worse, into the hands of those who may distort its lessons." Below that, in smaller and steadier letters: "For Amaranth and KBLN-9. I still carry your torch."

     The story that Wealh tells is crisp, concise, and references dozens of other historical documents, piecing them together masterfully into a coherent picture. Its backdrop is the clandestine war between the Deep City and abominations that came from beyond the sky, ended some two hundred years ago, and the tree called Yggdrasil that blessed the Deep City's inhabitants with weapons and inhumanly strong mechanical soldiers beyond their own ken to make.

     But she spares little time on fleshing out the larger arc of the war itself. Her focus is on the latter forty years of the conflict- specifically, a series of suspicious violent deaths of yggdroids away from enemy lines, showing the telltale cauterized and slagged wounds characteristic of another machine.

     The killings continued for decades, culminating in an unexplained massacre in the war's final years, on an operation where a elite task force of yggdroids accompanied by the Abyssal King himself returned to Armoroad and attempted to destroy the monster that its ruler had become. Their deaths at the hands of the Princess's guards would be improbable, but not impossible- what is remarkable is how they died, exhibiting precisely the same injuries that so many of the Deep City's other soldiers had.

     The last third of the book is by far the densest. Wealh used contemporary schedules and accounts to determine who could possibly have been at the sites of each murder, winnowing down the pool of suspects to a manageable number. It's a list of a few dozen serial-code-like designations. Near the bottom of the column, a single name stands out. "RQBL-7".
Staren     Staren seems to take the ribbing in the friendly context it's given, but responds matter-of-factly: "I intend to be open about it. Both of our societies are quite familiar with the supernatural and interact with millenia-old beings. Worlds we visit can think what they want." He nods to Moonfin as they exit the vault...

    ...only to be confronted by Miari engaged as a most spectacular amanuensis! "Wow. that is a neat trick." He approaches, "How are you doing that?"

    He eagerly leans next to her to read the book, and is soon engaged. A story of Septette's world... and a mysterious hunter of yggdroids. Could it still be a threat to Septette?

    Or could it be Septette?

    After several seconds, Staren says, "We should just ask her. If it was her, I'm sure there's another side to the story. And if this threat is still out there, hiding it will only hurt her." He blinks. "Cauterized and slagged... could the culprit have been /here/? Tried to burn this book? We'd better ask about that fire..."
Staren     And, in a part of Staren's mind that reflexively plans, he thinks: I've already sent this information away. Killing me wouldn't help her.
Septette Arcubielle      "Well," Septette replies drily, "I know of him. It's not hard to learn the names of everyone in a city like this- there are only a few thousand people in the Deep City, and when one never forgets a face..." She shrugs, before downing the rest of her tea in a few undignified swigs. "You end up being loose acquaintances with a lot of people, I guess. Show up at a lot of funerals and weddings."

     Then she sets a couple of coins down on the counter, and turns to head back to the Submagnetic Pole at the center of the library. "That'll cover you too, Maaka. I'm gonna head back- get the sense that I'm making your barista a tiny bit uncomfortable," she jokes.
Alucard Tepes     That doesn't seem too terribly bad, at least. Alucard is mollified by this, and feels a little better about taking the book back to where it belongs. He tucks the book in his cloak, and moves back to that area that he'd needed to turn to mist to navigate through. He does this again, though he waits a moment before heading back down, to make sure the book makes the transition with him. It seems to have, so Alucard heads back down to the lower area.

    He takes human form at the base of the destroyed stairs, and then heads into the pillar of light again, then back to the area he had first been told of the book. Though he may need to look around, if Septette and others have changed locations, before he can actually find them. He's also forgotten to 'turn off' his dhampir aura, so he's probably detectable a little before he appears.

    Alucard retrieves the book from his cloak. "Is this the book you require?" he asks.
Miari Seeing 'RQBL-7' show up like that would normally not bother Miari, because the characters being shown don't mean a lot to her. She's only recently gotten a grasp for english and common analogues across the Multiverse though. So it gets her narrowing her eyes when she reaches that serial number.

    A very short pause. Just enough to purse her lips tightly and scratch at her chin. "You may. I see little to gain from that line of questioning though..." But she will definitely be watching her back more when Septette is around it.

    Definitely.

    "Ah... it's much easier to work at speed and precision when the tools are all mental. The ink used here can be distinguished from the charred caking with a little digging. A few pages were burned to ash though.... "
Septette Arcubielle      The people in the Armoroad Library subconsciously give Alucard much more of a berth than they would otherwise, but none of them point or gasp as he passes. It helps that the crowds are sparse enough now that nobody needs to come within ten paces of him. But perhaps it would've been more convenient if someone had reacted dramatically- at least it would've clued him in.

     Septette nearly bumps into the vampire as the Submagnetic Pole sets him back down right in front of her. "Oh! There you are," she chirps cheerfully. "Yes, that's precisely what we're looking for. At least, it's got the same name..." She thumbs through the book swiftly to confirm its contents are undamaged, then glances up into Alucard's eyes. Her gaze is sharp, piercing, and filled with intense curiosity- but not malice or aversion.

     Septette smiles disarmingly, quirking her head to one side. "Well. I suppose everyone's got things they want to hide." Then she turns and walks off to hand the book over to the scanners, feeling that she's said enough.
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin looks critically to Staren as they come upon this revelation. He heads towards the central staging area, presuming the others are likely to follow. "...Ms. Arcubielle has many problems to deal with. Humans choose to spill the blood of other humans at whim, as a solution for problems such as those. I've known Septette and heard just enough of her circumstances to understand that this is little different. There is simply a longer life cut shorter, and more experience to inform the choice." He then sighs, and seems to ready himself to deliver one of his pre-prepared condescending wise-man speeches. "But I shall put this in terms that are far more familiar to you, Staren, and even perhaps for you Miari:" He gestures upwards.

    "What may be best regarded as God in this world created her race for a temporary purpose. As one stage of a multi-stage aggression performed against a great and terrible foe. Yggdroids were not created to last the same way landmines are not created to last. Both persist regardless, and are quite spectacularly dangerous when handled inexpertly. When a landmine might get up, walk about, and affect geopolitical development, landmine disposal becomes quite a bit more important."

    That may be an especially awkward point for Septette to walk in on, if she does!
Alucard Tepes     Alucard raises a brow as Septette looks at him so. Her statement, though, reminds him that he forgot -- he can't use most of his vampiric abilities when he's suppressed, so he'd had to release it in order to change to mist. Though her statement reminds him, and as she turns towards the scanners, he visibly winces. He takes a moment to put that back in order, then, before he does anything else. "...My apologies," he offers to Septette, with a bow. Though he doesn't venture any information to explain it.
Septette Arcubielle      "No apologies needed. You needn't worry about my ease in that regard," she remarks to Alucard with a charming smile. Then, a moment later, she taps her radio headset with one finger and turns to head towards the vault. "Ah, seems they've gotten the secure storage area open. I have to admit, I'm quite interested to see what it looks like- even before the key was lost, I've never had the time nor an excuse to see the inside. Perhaps it's all as pretty as the door. Care to come with?"

     Fortunately for Moonfin's social graces, Septette's arrival is heralded- as always- by clanking, resounding footsteps that give everyone enough time to stop any conversations they wouldn't want overheard. Her glowing eyes pierce through the gloom, made perhaps more ominous by context. When her eyes land upon the ruined book, and on the new tome that Miari wrote, she makes a leap of inference- though if she is shocked or dismayed, the emotion never reaches her placid face or easy tone.

     "I'd hoped you'd find the Irregularities intact," she says in a tone that's almost reminiscing. "That's a very important account you're holding there, you know- more people really ought to read it. It's historically important, for one. And it's the best first-hand demonstration we have of the effects that fighting the Deep Ones had on mortal veterans' sanity. Captain Wealh held it together better than most, but... she was still damaged. Frayed. I don't think anyone ever made it out of the Abyssal War whole."
Staren     Staren blinks at Moonfin. Before he can reply though, there's Septette.

    If noone says anything, it will always be there, between them.

    Staren can't stand dealing with people that way. "So who was it?"
Miari Miari's gaze sharpens when Septette enters the room... because all that information from Moonfin has her thinking rather critically about the matter. And she's come to the conflusion that this doesn't really involve her! So why press?

    "The records kept by Wealh are among the crispest and neatest accountings of any series of events I have had the privilege of reading. If only more books on Creation's history were as pragmatic! Or brazen enough to name names despite possible consequences. Very courageous of them, wouldn't you say?"

    Miari's smile, this time, is not as genuine as earlier ones.
Alucard Tepes     Alucard seems put at ease by Septette's understanding of whatever his situation is. The mention of the storage area gets a nod, and to the question of whether he'd like to accompany, "If you would not mind to terribly." He will walk with Septette down to the storage area, as silent as Septette is clinking. He's also doing that thing where it looks like he's gliding because he's let his cloak drape closed around him.

    However, he listens to the words, his expression taking on a darker countenance. It's a hint of sadness, is what it is. "...The struggle against That Which Should Not Be always changes a mortal," he replies quietly. "And rarely does it do so for the better." That seems to be about all his two pence, though.
Septette Arcubielle      "Not 'who', Staren. 'What'. It's not plausible that all of those people were the victims of one killer," she says with a kind of tired patience, as if she were reciting an explanation for the hundredth time. "Deep Prelates were one of the few castes capable of defeating a yggdroid in single combat. They used bladed weapons forged of unearthly metal, and enchanted with elemental effects. They gave as hard as they took- casualties were common. It's a statistical inevitability that multiple yggdroids would fall victim to similar attacks with similar elemental effects, over the years."

     She crosses her arms behind her back, lacing her bladelike fingers together. "As for the Abyssal King and his escorts- they underestimated how far gone Princess Gutrune really was. She consumed the flesh of a Deep One to gain immortality, and that infestation burgeoned inside of her for nearly a century. The only wonder there is that she kept her sanity for as long as she did."

     "So when she finally slipped into the last stages of her metamorphosis," Septette concludes, "it was like punching a hole in a pressure cooker. The Princess tore them apart herself before slinking off to succumb to her injuries. Tragic and dramatic, yes, but hardly the work of some shadowy killer." The puzzle pieces do fit with what they've read in the False Genealogies- but then, she'd know they'd be likely to read that, wouldn't she? Would it be so hard to tailor her lies to suit what they already know?

     "Do you want the truth? Wealh broke inside the day that her lover died. KBLN-9. Did she mention that in her little manifesto? That was the day she started seeing patterns where there were none. To rationalize her own little tragedy."
Staren     Staren listens, and gives Moonfin a look that says 'see'? "Of course I want the truth. But as they're both dead now, instead of old tragedies we should instead focus on making a brighter future. There's still an outstanding mystery though: What made such a controlled, compartmentalized fire in the library? I'm not trying to insist you did it. That's dumb. If you were the killer you wouldn't leave this book for us to find. But whatever /did/ cause it may need to be looked into, if it's destroying knowledge held here."
Miari "That doesn't mean they did not do valid research. I hardly care who was behind such an ancient conspiracy at the moment though. It's far from relevant." Miari exasperatedly exclaims.

    She then proceeds to ask, "What exactly is a Deep One?"
Septette Arcubielle      "Courageous, yes," Septette replies, turning her attention to Miari. "It wasn't for nothing that she rose to become a Captain. She was one of the most courageous people I ever had the pleasure of knowing. But courage and conviction do not make her right. Zealous conviction, in fact, can numb a person to alternate explanations. And anyone can make a sharp, concise account of something if they spend eighty years obsessing over a single sequence of events."

     She stares at the sorceress for a moment longer... then her shoulders slump a fraction of an inch under her shawl, and her gaze drifts slightly downwards. "It's an important document, even so. Wealh was... important. To a lot of people. I'd rather remember her as she was before all this, but this... it's all we have. Let's scan it in."

     Alucard elicits a respectful nod as she glances over her shoulder. "That's why it's useful to fight evil with inhumanity, sometimes. Sometimes humans can fend for themselves, in those situations. But they should never have to. That's my wish."
Alucard Tepes     Alucard eyes Miari for a moment, raising a brow curiously. Though he doesn't comment on it now. But the look, if she sees it, will probably note that he's aware of something. That said, he is also listening to Septette. He has no reason to believe she would be lying. But then again, he didn't know what had been read in the book that had been in the vault. For the time being he remains quiet.

    The talk of eating the flesh of a 'Deep One' to gain immortality gets a frown of distaste. Though he doesn't speak up until Staren mentions looking into deaths, particularly if the ones responsible are still around. "I would volunteer to assist," he offers quietly. "I have... some experience with fighting against supernatural horrors." That hesitation is telling. And he nods to Septette's words. He seems to agree with her whole-heartedly, if the ghost of an expression of determination haunting his face isn't just imagined.
Septette Arcubielle      "You raise a valid concern, Staren," she replies. "Sometimes freak elemental occurrences do crop up in areas with concentrated Zodiac magic- glitches or unexpected interactions between magical apparatuses. But this does seem more targeted than that. There are things on these shelves that some people would rather see erased- some of them wealthy or powerful enough to hire an alchemist to do this work for them. We'll look into this, rest assured."

     "You're asking a surprisingly difficult question, Miss Miari. They are what we were built to kill. Monsters that came from beyond the sky, enslaved to an incomprehensible god and bent on destroying humanity and all its creations. All dead now- but their bodies never decay. I could show you one sometime," she offers, shifting to a more amiable tone for a moment. That offer, at least, is genuine.

     She turns on her heel to head back up the stairs to the main library, but pauses for moment and glances back at Alucard. "I look forward to working alongside you someday, in that case. Somehow, I feel sure that such a day will come."

     Then she walks back up into the light of the library, shawl swishing behind her. It seems there's nothing left she has to say... except: "Thank you all for coming. I do appreciate the goodwill... and you are always welcome here, should you wish to return." And then she's gone.
Staren     Staren nods. It seems he'll need to look up what 'zodiac magic' and 'alchemy' are on this world. How convenient that he's already in a library!

    The robots continue their work tirelessly. Staren will even leave them here when he's done with his magic research, and perhaps bring more, along with golems -- he can make more easily, after all. They'll likely need a recharge in several days, but that's easy to sort out. They'll get this project done one way or another.
Miari "... Well, that's... apocalyptic, to say the least!" Miari's gone a bit wide-eyed at that breakdown of matters. The inverse of her own world's history, and quite jarring at that!