ItO solo - Part VII : Sssssshhhhhhhhh!

The borough's public library is an imposing pile of weathered stone fronted by portico of ionic columns. Great steps flanked by recumbent stone lions lead up to the portico, rising some half a story above the street level.

The explorers pause before its grandeur, then slowly begin the climb.

"W-wait," says Isabeau as they are at the halfway point. "On second thought, I'd better not go in."

"Why shouldn't you?" asks Athalie.

"I still haven't returned, erm, the book I borrowed. It's well overdue."

"What book is it?"

"I'd, um, rather not say."

"Oh? Oh! Can I borrow it when you're done, then?"

"Of course!"

"I'll wait with you," offers Mortine. "I don't think they take kindly to pets."


Scene 3

Chaos: average (d10)

Setup: research

NPC List: the Superior Order, PCs' patron, villain, scribe, Mortine

Threads: find lost entrance, investigate location

[Q: Do any of the PCs have overdue books and/or fines? 50/50 (4+): O5 C5 - yes (d3=Isabeau)
+EVENT: NPC action - scribe - I see the recumbent Flocks
=the Scribe is watching those outside the Fortress, and making a plan

Q: What is the librarian like? as the horrid Apparition to Brutus

(the reference is, of course, to Shakespeare (Julius Caesar (Act 4, Scene 3); but I mixed it up in my head with Iulia's ghost in Lucan's Pharsalia (who appeared to Pompey, not Brutus):

membra ducis; diri tum plena horroris imago
uisa caput maestum per hiantis Iulia terras
tollere et accenso furialis stare sepulchro.
                —Luc. 3.9-11

so I went with that.]

Athalie and Bassianus go directly to the cloakroom, for they must check their weapons and Arcana. From there they pass into the entry hall. The weight of the silence within is palpable, and they proceed slowly and carefully, lest their footsteps boom out in the stillness. They approach the enquiry desk. A librarian sits behind it, vengeful and terrifying; her eyes gleam in the dim light, boring into the new arrivals' souls as if cataloguing their deepest secrets. She has the mien of a Fury, ready to punish any transgression in this holy place. Good thing Isabeau waited outside.

Neither Bassianus nor Athalie want to disturb the librarian, so they instead go to the card catalogue.

[WIL saves: 11,7 both make them - each finds something useful.

Q: Does A need to go to the desk? 50/50 (4+): O4 C1 - yes, and... special collections
Q: Does B need to go to the desk? 50/50 (4+): O2 C0 - no, general stacks

Titles & authors to be rolled on my unfinished grimoire generator.]

Each finds something of interest, and notes the title and shelf mark on a piece of paper provided. The scratch of their pencils shatters the quiet, but at least no shushing ensues. Bassianus' discovery is in the general stacks, so he wordlessly goes off to find it. But Athalie wants to consult an item from the restricted stacks, and must meekly take her slip up to the counter. The librarian looks at it briefly, then indicates the special collections wing is found upstairs, pointing with a long, bony finger.

[A reaction roll is needed to view this item: WIL save d20=5, success]

The special collections librarian is much more helpful and much less terrifying than the one downstairs, but Athalie still notes the bulge of a pistol beneath her frock. And the item she wishes to view is not the sort of book one would should admit to reading, unless one were writing a scholarly treatise against such depravity. So Athalie must sit dans l'enfer de la bibliothèque to read it under the watchful eye of a sinister and disapproving invigilator.

The book in question is entitled The Abominable Truth, composed several decades ago by an ill-intentioned libertine. It discusses the psycho-geography of certain Bastion neighbourhoods, its style is a curious admixture of Sade's Philosophie dans le boudoir, Vitruvius' De architectura, and an A-to-Z.

[Q: Is it dangerous? likely (3+): O6 C4 - yes, but...
Her WIL save to avoid complications succeeds.]

She swoons at some of the steamier passages but does not faint, nor sigh, nor cry out. Besides, the invigilator's stare is practically burning holes in the back of her neck, which does put somewhat of a damper on her mood -- as well as reminding her not to turn the pages with her hideous claw.

meanwhile...

[Q: Does Bassianus have any problems finding the book? doubtful (6): O6 C8 - yes
Q: What? (1d6): 1 random encounter, 2 book lost, 3 currently checked out, 4 currently being read, 5 hard to find shelf, 6 roll 2d5: d6=random encounter

Encounter: Appetites of the Brute, d6=f]

Bassianus has been wandering the labyrinth of shelves, looking for the right section. He's nearly come to the right place when he spies a lovely young woman. She looks somewhat familiar. Perhaps he'd ought to say hello. He takes a few steps forward when it suddenly comes to him: she's the nice young lady whose flat he crept out of before she awoke in the morning just Tuesday last. And his footsteps have alerted her to his presence.

He is just able to slip back as she comes down the centre aisle [DEX save succeeds] and bury his face in a tall volume plucked at random from the shelf. Seeing no one of interest about, she soon wanders off towards the [Dewey decimal d1000=260] Social & Ecclesiastical Theology shelves. Fortunately, he's after Architecture [720s].

He finds the book he seeks, and repairs to an out-of-the way carrel to read it.

The Consolation of the Worlds is an obscure work, attributed to a pedantic lich. It describes in exhaustively detailed prose and verse the building of the old stronghold, which the author claimed would be greatly marvelled at by creatures both spiritual and corporeal, so much so that all strife would cease and a new golden age dawn. Bassianus leafs through paeans about window-sills and a mathematical analysis of the Perfection of the Cornices until he finds what it is he truly seeks, for in the midst of the chapter entitled 'The Sub-Basement, or A New Jerusalem', there is an engraved plate with a detailed floor plan. He surreptitiously tears this from the volume and stuffs it beneath his waistcoat.

[DEX save to not get caught, d20=9 ok

Q: Does anything happen to others outside? 50/50 (4+): O3 C5 - no
Q: Can they retrieve their expedition gear without incident? unlikely (5+): O2 C4 - no, but... minor problem
Q: What? worthy of all Observation - they are followed by agents of some unknown party. Adding The Tail to the NPC list, will strike at the appropriate moment]

When Athalie and Bassianus finally emerge from the library, they find Isabeau and Mortine have fallen asleep, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the steps, with Chatterton acting as a guard pig.


Scene 4

Chaos: out of control (d8)

Setup: d8=Interrupt (was: into the Underground)

Interrupt: PC negative - Bassianus - His Bounty is absolutely without Limits

[The library have detected the theft, and there will be trouble should he go back.]


Scene 5

Chaos: average (d10)

Setup: into the Underground

NPC List: the Superior Order, PCs' patron, villain, scribe, Mortine, Tail

Threads: find lost entrance, investigate location

[Setting up the dungeon--

Oddpendium: Is there a link to the Underground? d%= an old well

Since Athalie's research was successful, the Random Location Crafting dungeon (Mythic Magazine #3) will be a Small Location. The Underground of Bastion is weird, so I rolled a d3 for type: d3=Palatial Dungeon.

Story descriptors: The source of a mystery; The place was brought to ruin by a calamity
Region descriptors: Crumbling, in ruins; Thick with plant life

Random encounters were inspired by the Weird Creature Inspiration tables (Nature, Form, Twist) in the Oddpendium. Stats were 3d6 with 2d6hp, except where the inspiration suggested a particularly high or low score. Attacks/Defences/Powers were created with an eye to making the encounters interesting to play beyond just simple attacks & damage. I will probably truncate some of the combats as a strict blow-by-blow can bog down a dungeon adventure.]

Athalie has led her companions to a deserted square surrounded by half-collapsed tenements, abandoned may years ago due to a localised typhus epidemic and subsequent hauntings. In the midst of the square is an old well, stopped by a heavy wooden cover held in place by stout iron chains. A placard nailed to the cover is so faded by time and the elements that the warning it most certainly bore is no longer legible -- nor is the obscene graffiti penned over it by long dead ne'er-do-wells.

Bassianus' crowbar makes short work of the rings securing the chains. Then with a mighty heave [STR 17!] Isabeau shoves the cover off onto the ground.

T0 : expected - random - expected

Inside is complete darkness; had any in Bastion ever seen the sun overhead, surely the shadows cast by the looming ruins about them in the square would still have hidden the well's depths from mortal eyes. Bassianus tosses a rusty nail down, and moments later it pings erratically off something hard, for the well has long since run dry.

Isabeau's lantern is lit and lowered slowly down the well at the end of a rope until it rests on the floor, some 50 feet below. Then begins a lively debate about who's going in first. Athalie is first to tire of the bickering, and peevishly -- I mean, bravely -- volunteers. The rope is secured to a nearby post. Athalie clambers over the side of the well, loops the rope about one foot, then slides down cautiously, holding the rope in her horrible claw and a loaded pistol in her free hand.

As the room below comes into view, Athalie can make out the rubbish-strewn floor, covered in dirt and other sediment. The chamber is squarish, with an alcove or passage at one end. Amongst the filth she spots movement, something long and rusted, like an iron serpent, begins to move with a terrible grating sound. Its tail beings to twitch, and Athalie's gaze traces fine wires extending from the tip of the tail to the ceiling above, where spindly metal arms with spade-like claws are reaching for her.

[Oddpendium Weird Creature Inspiration--
nature: rusted shell
form: snake
twist: grasps with extra limbs]

Rust Cobra
STR 11, DEX 10, WIL 9, 3 HP
Armour 1
catching claws (d8 or Grapple, STR save to escape on subsequent rounds)

[Round 1]
Athalie pauses her descent long enough to fire a shot at the iron serpent. The report is deafening. She sees the spark where the ball dents the flared metal cobra's hood, but does not hear it ricochet off onto the wall, nor the unprintable expletives hurled by her affrighted companions above. [She made a DEX save to avoid Surprise. Damage was 4-1(armour), dropping it to 0hp.]

Athalie lets go the rope, intent of dropping the last few feet into the chamber, but her feet never touch the ground, for the spindly arms catch her and hold her fast.

[Round 2]
More from fear than raw strength, Athalie throws off the claws that bind her. But moments later she is caught from behind by another creaking pair. [Her STR save succeeded. I gave the monster a 50/50 chance to attack normally or start another grapple]

Isabeau slides down rope with consummate grace [DEX save to descend safely in one round; she rolls a natural 1].

[Round 3]
Athalie is held fast [STR save fails] by the claws. Another pair is stabbing at Isabeau, but she's already bringing her sword down hard on the body of the creature. She leaves a huge dent in the side, and it ceases to function. [2-1 dmg to STR 10, d20=crit]

The arms go limp as soon as the snake stops moving. Athalie carefully disengages them from her person, then slides to the ground.

"The rest of you can come down now!" shouts Isabeau.

"You should tell the others to come down now that it's safe," says Athalie.

"I just did, dear heart."

"What?"

"Let's not use guns down here any more!" she shouts, pointing to Athalie's smoking pistol.

Mortine and Bassianus lower the pig down next, which is as absurd an event as Isabeau and Athalie have ever seen. They are still wiping tears of laughter from their eyes when their companions have both rejoined them. Mortine fails to see the humour, and whispers in Chatterton's ear to restore his normal porcine calm.

Isabeau takes the lamp. They all unlimber their hand weapons, and then squeeze through the gap at the end of the alcove.


next post: exploring the Underground