**A small crowd of townsfolk, largely youths, followed the heroes now. Many others, however, refused to leave their homes under the logic that the monsters - should there still be some and should the undead attack - might spare those that continued to show subservience.**
Once inside the room with the pillar, Laghairt looked around. He held the orb collected from Acair's body in his Lavaforge Hand that was no longer phased into the spirit world.
**The orb is warmer than before. Also, the orb tries to embed itself into Laghairt's hand if he holds it still for any significant period of time.
Esyllt cautiously moves near the pillar, eventually resting a finger upon it.**
Esyllt - "I think this is what controlling the undead. It's like.. some sort of living magic item. Is this a unihakka? Can they become objects? What is it living off of?"
**The woman glances about the pillar with curiosity and a just tinge of fear.**
Laghairt - Maybe Binge will know more about this. He's been pretty agreeable and I don't believe he's mislead us on anything so far. I am going to ask him if he knew about the living automatons though.
Laghairt ripped off a piece of what was left of his winter jacket and tried to see if he could carry the orb in it.
Arl - "Some of us should stay here to protect the town if anything else happens. We still don't know how this pillar works. Although Gear wanted that orb, so maybe the undead won't do anything as long as we have it?"
Before going to the temple, Damaek grabbed the Ashshaper ring.
At the temple, Damek thought about the situation. "Do you want me to take it there and come back? Or take it there and stay? Or take it there and come back with the information about what it is?" He wasn't exactly against leaving the area, but he wasn't keen on running into more monsters alone.
Kage let the others figure out what to do with the orb. He continued his exploration of the area, not being invisible, and looked for any more secret rooms.
Laghairt - I'll hold onto the orb, it seems to be pretty dormant at the moment, but who knows if that'll change if it leaves the island. However, it would be helpful if you'd inform Dr. Smalls about the pillar. I'm sure he'd like to see it for himself, and while he's here, he can look into the orb.
**Damek's journey to the shore proves to be completely uneventful. Not a single monster in sight - unless he counts the dozens (possibly hundreds) of undead that are just standing around in the woods.**
**Kage doesn't find anymore secret rooms, although he finds some storage closests. The most interesting thing he finds is probably a leathery tome that appears to be a sort of Diary / Research notebook for Acair. Or rather, the most recent book? It says "XXVII" on it, so there must be.. ah, in the room over there. Correction. The most interesting thing he finds is probably the series of Diaries / Research notebooks written be Acair. The belmaestrocucito was either very old, very studious, or very verbose. Glancing through the pages suggests it's option number three. It's also written in some language other than the common tongue.. looks a little like Atarin?**
**Kaia carefully leafs through the pages with the tip of her blade**
Kaia - <I see names here and there? "May" comes up a few times. Other than that, no. Didn't Binge say something about priss-stich upper class using some other language? That's why they have all the weird titles but Binge speaks the common tongue? Or was I the only one awake during that? It was the night Esyllt was testing mushroom meatloaf?>
**Closer inspection of the book also reveals some diagrams, but nothing that explains what is going on with the orb. There is, however, some evidence that the 'undead' are not just any dead bodies; it looks like they were specially prepared and have a bit of something else placed inside them. The "something else" doesn't look like the orb though.. nore like a chunk of flesh?.**
----
**Cee flies within speaking distance of Damek once the wolf reaches the shore**
Cee - "What's going on?! I saw a dark wind or something flying over the island earlier! Did you beat it?!"
Laghairt - That's true, though there's always the chance that he might have picked up on some of it. Dr. Smalls might know some as well considering how thorough he is with this sort of thing.
**The bird flies off to the distant ship. He returns several minutes later to continue the conversation with Damek.**
----------------
Later
**Eventually Dr. Smalls finishes swimming to shore. He arrives at the temple a swift jog later, along with a dozen more townsfolk that apparently found their courage during continued period of silence. The temple group had developed a map of the facility and had begun to hastily plan what to do in case of an attack. No attack occurs, however, and another hour later Dr. Smalls removes himself from the acquired tomes and turns to those present, including a few that had just arrived from the pillar room.**
Dr.Smalls - "Right. As some of you already know, the lettering of these tomes is similar to to the language used by the Atarins and the vampires. Although Binge is illiterate he was familiar with enough of the belmaestrocucito's noble tongue for me to at least match a few of the words and work from there. Based on this book -" **Taps the 1st volume** "I believe that the orb is used to control the pillar, which in turn controls all of the undead on the island. The pillar itself appears to be powered by some underground source, possibly a layline or the heat of the dormant volcano. It doesn't appear to need human sacrifices. I further believe the Yue-Yue created the 'seed' that became the pillar out of one or more heroes.**
Cee - "So we could take an undead army with us?"
Dr.Smalls - "I believe the range is limited, and even if it were not there is a limit to how large a force we can sneak into the city."
Arl - "We also haven't seen anything that suggests there were more monsters on the island than just Magumo, Gear, and Acair, right?"
Dr.Smalls - "There are a few other names listed in the final volume, but all of them seem to be in paragraphs talking about ships or Notawhere itself."
Laghairt - Hey, Dr. Smalls, I have a question that you might know at least part of an answer to. How are the Bruttezzaavansi and Belmaestrocucito born or created?
Epic World! Because seriously! It's the awesome!
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Dr. Smalls - "Binge mentioned a structure called the "Senzaeta Telaio" where Maestro Della Nascita Cucito oversees their creation. The recently created ones then serve under him until they are allowed to join one of the other collezioni, or indefinitely as is the case with most Bruttezzaavansi. How they are created, unfortunately, is apparently not something Binge ever had any interest in. He only knows that the process doesn't involve captured mortals, as the Maestro rarely keeps what his hunters bring in."
Cee - "Music might be involved? I heard Garibaldi - that's the Cucito guy - really like instruments?"
Dr. Smalls - "Oh?" *Turns to Olus* "I suppose we could take a few."
Arl - "What if we left the orb with the villagers?"
Cee, nodding to Darby - "or we could dump the army in the ocean and take the orb with us."
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Esyllt cautiously moves near the pillar, eventually resting a finger upon it.**
Esyllt - "I think this is what controlling the undead. It's like.. some sort of living magic item. Is this a unihakka? Can they become objects? What is it living off of?"
**The woman glances about the pillar with curiosity and a just tinge of fear.**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Laghairt ripped off a piece of what was left of his winter jacket and tried to see if he could carry the orb in it.
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Esyllt - "I suppose so."
Arl - "Some of us should stay here to protect the town if anything else happens. We still don't know how this pillar works. Although Gear wanted that orb, so maybe the undead won't do anything as long as we have it?"
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
At the temple, Damek thought about the situation. "Do you want me to take it there and come back? Or take it there and stay? Or take it there and come back with the information about what it is?" He wasn't exactly against leaving the area, but he wasn't keen on running into more monsters alone.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
**Kage doesn't find anymore secret rooms, although he finds some storage closests. The most interesting thing he finds is probably a leathery tome that appears to be a sort of Diary / Research notebook for Acair. Or rather, the most recent book? It says "XXVII" on it, so there must be.. ah, in the room over there. Correction. The most interesting thing he finds is probably the series of Diaries / Research notebooks written be Acair. The belmaestrocucito was either very old, very studious, or very verbose. Glancing through the pages suggests it's option number three. It's also written in some language other than the common tongue.. looks a little like Atarin?**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Laghairt - Yeah, Dr. Smalls will definitely want to see all of these. Can you read any of this Kage?
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Kaia - <I see names here and there? "May" comes up a few times. Other than that, no. Didn't Binge say something about priss-stich upper class using some other language? That's why they have all the weird titles but Binge speaks the common tongue? Or was I the only one awake during that? It was the night Esyllt was testing mushroom meatloaf?>
**Closer inspection of the book also reveals some diagrams, but nothing that explains what is going on with the orb. There is, however, some evidence that the 'undead' are not just any dead bodies; it looks like they were specially prepared and have a bit of something else placed inside them. The "something else" doesn't look like the orb though.. nore like a chunk of flesh?.**
----
**Cee flies within speaking distance of Damek once the wolf reaches the shore**
Cee - "What's going on?! I saw a dark wind or something flying over the island earlier! Did you beat it?!"
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
**The bird flies off to the distant ship. He returns several minutes later to continue the conversation with Damek.**
----------------
Later
**Eventually Dr. Smalls finishes swimming to shore. He arrives at the temple a swift jog later, along with a dozen more townsfolk that apparently found their courage during continued period of silence. The temple group had developed a map of the facility and had begun to hastily plan what to do in case of an attack. No attack occurs, however, and another hour later Dr. Smalls removes himself from the acquired tomes and turns to those present, including a few that had just arrived from the pillar room.**
Dr.Smalls - "Right. As some of you already know, the lettering of these tomes is similar to to the language used by the Atarins and the vampires. Although Binge is illiterate he was familiar with enough of the belmaestrocucito's noble tongue for me to at least match a few of the words and work from there. Based on this book -" **Taps the 1st volume** "I believe that the orb is used to control the pillar, which in turn controls all of the undead on the island. The pillar itself appears to be powered by some underground source, possibly a layline or the heat of the dormant volcano. It doesn't appear to need human sacrifices. I further believe the Yue-Yue created the 'seed' that became the pillar out of one or more heroes.**
Cee - "So we could take an undead army with us?"
Dr.Smalls - "I believe the range is limited, and even if it were not there is a limit to how large a force we can sneak into the city."
Arl - "We also haven't seen anything that suggests there were more monsters on the island than just Magumo, Gear, and Acair, right?"
Dr.Smalls - "There are a few other names listed in the final volume, but all of them seem to be in paragraphs talking about ships or Notawhere itself."
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
Colt Wyrmbane
Olivar'Romov
Detective Taskmage
Darby, Esteemed Adventurer
Mike, the Situation
Herschell Ratliff, Merchant of Finery
Yaagh, the Pummeler
And don't forget to do your shopping at The Newe Haberdashery, the finest vendor of magic items and oddball services ... Ever!
Cee - "Music might be involved? I heard Garibaldi - that's the Cucito guy - really like instruments?"
Dr. Smalls - "Oh?" *Turns to Olus* "I suppose we could take a few."
Arl - "What if we left the orb with the villagers?"
Cee, nodding to Darby - "or we could dump the army in the ocean and take the orb with us."
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya