Level 4: Two Books [RD 16]

[shiromadoushi]

[[Bakura's in the library of the Hero's Headquarters, looking a touch befuddled.]]

Does anyone know where these books came from? [[Holds up a pair of old looking books, neither of them labeled. One of them has a simple lock on it.]]

I can't find a key for this one, and this... [[he sets down the locked book to open the unlocked one, opening it to a page that has the day written on top of it, followed by smaller writing that's hard to read from the orb]]

It looks like a journal of sort... but this is today's date. And it has what was posted on the news board written in it.

Comments

[shadow_sage]

[Liara studies the page, and frowns.]

Who was the first one to arrive in the Kingdom? Who has been here the longest?

[She leans in, a little bit.]

Is it chronological, like the other?

[shiromadoushi]

[[blinks]] I think... I think it was Ben, Fakir and I... on that day. [[he nods at the book, looking just a touch unnerved. Something...]]

The other one has the current day first... this.... [[he turns a page]] The 20th? [[he blinks again before flipping back and checking to make sure pages aren't stuck together]] It skipped a few days...

[shadow_sage]

Did it? And it doesn't seem like the nonsense that's filling up the other, does it? The next page?

[She's interested in what it says, but establishing what that actually is might also be kind of important, after all.]

Let us look through the dates. Perhaps a patter will emerge. Every three days? Or something else? What happened the first few days you were here, if you recall?

[shiromadoushi]

Mmm.. [[ponder ponder]] Aaa! [[His eyes go wide and he puts his fist in his open palm.]] That town! The one that everyone had vanished from, only it hadn't actually existed to start with!

[shadow_sage]

'...saw a town that wasn't there.' Hmm.

[She reaches down and carefully turns to the third page]

The 5th, following month, I assume. The town disappeared about then, unless I'm missing my guess.

[shiromadoushi]

[[nods]] Un... I think that was when we went there and broke the spell.

[shadow_sage]

Mmm. Let's see what else the creator of this book, or at least the spell it carries, thought worth noting.

[A pause, and then she turns back to the first page, instead.]

'So it begins anew...'

[She turns to look at Bakura.]

It's dated for the day the first 'Heroes' arrived. It seems to be marking down events in which they were involved. Indicates that our presence, or at least the reason for it, started here, on the 17th of the Beginning of the Season of Rebirth.

Anew implies it's happened before.

[shiromadoushi]

[[blink blink]]

You mean they summoned people from other worlds before? But...

[[he peers back down at the book before looking up again]] But no one's made any mention of any other heroes before us...

[shadow_sage]

I can't imagine a book like this would be carelessly worded.

[She flips through the pages, glancing at dates and the information on each one as she speaks.]

And no one seems to know anything about the ubiquitous Wall, though it is the basis of their calender year. At least, no one seems willing to speak of it. They don't know what lays beyond the thorns or the sea, up or down the coast.

They don't even know why Schwanheim is the capital, now, instead of the 'Old Capital,' which doesn't even have a name. I don't find it surprising no one mentioned other heroes.

[She points to the bottom of the last page.]

Here, this is the day we went looking for the King. Where was this 'battle'?

[Shakes her head. Too much to consider with too few resources to investigate them all.]

Later. Do you think this book is recording off of some...ledger? Like the other pulls from the postings on the board?

[shiromadoushi]

I'm not sure.... if it is, I don't think it's from all the same place. This... [[nods at the last page]] isn't at all the same as this... [[flips back to the 2nd page's cryptic rhyme.]]

[[he pauses]] Though there's a lot of different people who post on that rumor board... [[acknowledges, again looking down at the book.]] Maybe a wall by different sort of people who actually are trying to record a history? Since no one else seems to have?

Okay, one more.

[shadow_sage]

I wonder where it might be.

[Like the monastery. Or that locked tower in the castle?]

Let's try another experiment, then.

[She takes the ink and pen, and then writes a note below the latest entry.]

Now, we'll see if either one is actually linked to something else. Have to go and look at the board, I think.

*waits to make sure you've gone to eat before replying* :)

[shiromadoushi]

[[nods]] Though I don't think it's that one. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any of this on that board, and the other book has those things...

[[he pauses, looking over at the lock]] I wonder why this one was locked... Maybe this goes to some secret place?

[shadow_sage]

Hmmm? Oh, of course not. But it will tell us if the other is spelled like that. And they did seem to be very similiar, if my omni-tool isn't simply useless now.

We should have our own made, I think. Especially if someone does write back. The locals might not be so terribly excited to find out we're talking to someone they don't know. We'll have to make a few keys.

[shiromadoushi]

They shouldn't be able to get in here, though... that was part of the reason for getting this place, after all...

[shadow_sage]

I've seen many impossible things happen. Besides, it was locked for a reason, I'd imagine. If the only reason was to keep us out, why make it so flimsy? Why give it to us in the first place?

Besides, there may come a time when someone who has a reason to be in here might be the same person we would rather keep out of the book.

[She's...occasionally a bit paranoid. Sorry about that, Bakura.]

[shiromadoushi]

There was probably some mini quest we were supposed to do to get the key, I'm sure.

Just seems a lot of effort when really, anyone who wanted to get past the lock could just rip the cover off. It's not like it's all metal or anything like that...

[shadow_sage]

Mini-quest?

Yes. I was thinking of asking for a sturdy box to go wirh it, I think.

[shiromadoushi]

Aa-- like having to go find 5 of some item to get something that lets the quest giver restore the key you need for the lock. It's a pretty standard thing in RPGs....

[shadow_sage]

That sounds incredibly pointless.

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That sounds incredibly pointless.

<i[Says someone who has had occasion to send a certain human Commander on rather similar quests; the irony is lost on her, unfortunatly.]</i>

Why not simply give us the key in the first place, then? Or a book with no lock?

[shiromadoushi]

Aaaa--- Most of the time it's about proving worth or just getting things done that the NPCs want but don't want to go do themselves...

[shadow_sage]

NPC?

[shiromadoushi]

Aaa.... non player character... [[said so awkwardly like he's been caught at something]] I play a lot of RPGs -- Roll playing games-- and they work a lot like how this world does sometimes...

[shadow_sage]

Does that make us players? Or merely characters being played?

[This is said in something of a deadpan.]

[shiromadoushi]

Players playing ourselves, really. Sort of like a really well done LARP!

[shadow_sage]

If we're playing a game, I think the rules are dufferent from what our captors would like them to be.