Tag: books

Candlekeep

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

Spymaster!!!!

We went to Candlekeep!!! He kept his promise and we went to the LIBRARY!!! They wouldn’t let us go in to see all the books, but then we did and it was so cool! And people go missing inside their own houses and we can read any book we ask for and they made copies of books for us, too!!! Spymaster it was so cool!!! And now we have a mage’s own house for ourselves, to take with us wherever we want, until we find her. She’s not really there, she’s left the plane, I guess. Red wants to use it for robbing places, but I just want to go inside and read all the books! And play with all the kitties! I need to learn how to make proper books and then I can just copy all her books. She has so many books and we can read them all!!! It’s like we brought Candlekeep home with us!!! Or at least part of it!

Right… proper report. Sorry.

We met the Gate Warden Callum Strongbranch, and he said our books were good enough – I gave him a book on stray cats of Waterdeep from Abena over at the Homeward Bookshop. She writes down all the cats she helps. So many cats, so I made a copy of it to take with me. They’ve never seen anything like that before.

He sent us to the House of Rest. Even their Inn is magical. It’s way bigger inside than the building is. A really friendly librarian, Sprig Summerfoot came then and asked us all what we wanted to read so he could gather all the books for us. Everybody but Red had come, but not everybody had an idea what they wanted. Some of us just wanted to see the Library, but Sprig said we weren’t allowed. So, we picked a bunch of random topics to read about and ate, drank, and went to the spa while we waited.

They wouldn’t let me take my… calligraphy kit into the reading rooms, have to pay for copies of the books, they said, not allowed to make my own. I read about Kenku myths and took notes on that weird Luskan tech for Mary Mouse. He really wants to make some of that stuff himself. But really, we came here to figure out why there are worms in Nevi’s bag of holding.

Sprig says that the book Mary Mouse needs was borrowed by a guy named Matrius, and written by a lady named Fistandia. Both of them have disappeared. Fistandia a while ago, but Matrius just a couple days gone. He says maybe we can help find him, and then we can look at the book. We agree, so after we get done reading, we go to bed to rest before going inside.

A new guy, Parmack meets us the next morning, and he lets us go inside the Library. We can’t look around too much, but it is Amazing!!! So many books, and it’s so big and pretty and… Oh. Sorry. Matrius had gone to Fistandia’s lab to try and find her, so Parmack took us there. She had lots of books and scrolls and all sorts of things in her room. Including the book Mary Mouse wanted – The Joy of Extra-Dimensional Space. It has some other guy on the cover though, Nevi says it’s Mordenkainen, or something like that. I start looking at the books, but Nevi gets real focused on Matrius’ notes and then looks up and says Scepter and a door appeared in the middle of the room.

I wrote a quick note to Parmack and slipped it under the door to him before we all went through the magic door. We found Matrius right inside, and he seems really happy to see us. He couldn’t figure out how to get back out. He has a little statue he wants to check out and invites us to look around for Fistandia. He runs out the door and we heard him scream as the door slammed shut behind him.

The tower we’re in is really cool, but some of the boys want to go outside and play in weird purple mist. That seems like a bad idea, and it is, but Nevi gets really stuck on it for a while. Then we start looking around and we find so many books and kitties! They’re really nice kitties. Well, most of them are, anyway, and… oh… Some of the books aren’t so nice either and attack us. But they figure out that she hid the keyword to get out on the spines of seven books, and this place was a gift from her goddess Mystra. There are two odd little men in the kitchen and Nevi said they should be able to talk, but they can, and they were really nice. They said the faerie dragons in the garden aren’t very nice, so we avoided them. But we found lots of cool books and tools and even a room full of monsters in jars. Orange decided to keep the biggest one to display at the Cabaret, but Nevi said we shouldn’t take too much since a goddess made this place. They still took some alchemy stuff, though.

We also had to fight a chair, and a toad demon, and a bookcase, and some hands. That was really strange, but the Big Guy said they might have animated because of all the magic. Some swords attacked us, too. It’s a strange place, this magic tower, but not too dangerous. There was a really cool room with all the stars in the sky, plus five extra stars that opened an extra door to chained books. They attacked us, too. Orange wanted to break the whole bookcase, but I wouldn’t let him. They looked like important books.

But we found the word to get out, Liberty, and went back outside. Matrius got killed while we were gone. Apparently that statue was a little demon. Silly mage, the imp was pretty squishy. Mary Mouse, Nevi, and Orange got held back as we all left the magic house. By Mystra? She told them we could borrow the house until we find Fistandia and that she’s on a different plane. The librarians were happy we figured things out, even if Matrius got dead, and offered us each any two books we wanted, too. I’m going to copy books from the magic tower, too. She has lots of good books.

Anyway, I’m home again if you need anything.

~QS

Swimming, Books, and a Party

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

The investigators question us, but things come round to normal. Families are safe and school is about learning again. Everyone is sure that the Lake holds important spells for them, and thus begins our next adventure.

Some of the boys haven’t really learned to swim before, so Maribeth tries to teach them in the shallows while Klyce heads out to the middle, I sit on the Dock, and Remy stays clear of the water. After Nat lowering me down from that window so softly, I’ve been working on ways to lift people up with the air, too, so I keep an eye on the new swimmers, in case they need pulled out. Remy notice something magical triggering when Dalish goes under and starts flailing, but a desire to live keeps him from investigating too thoroughly.

Watching the center of the lake for Klyce after he says he’s going to do a Rope Trick below the waves is a little nerve-wracking, but he eventually comes to the surface and says he found something. Unsure what it is, he invites everyone out to take a look. Maribeth goes out to the center to keep an eye on them, but doesn’t dive down. Remy and I stay dockside, the water freaks him out, and I know I won’t be any help.

It takes a while before they all pop back up again, and most of them are bleeding, but the spell they learned is apparently really cool. Cool enough that Klyce convinces Remy to go swimming, and Maribeth goes down, as well. I guess it’s called Alter Self, which wasn’t what they were after, but is probably better. The boys then ponder trying to drown again, to see what happens. Klyce thinks it’s ridiculous and not worth the risk. Eventually, they decide not to test the school’s protective magics.

Next, we head to the Library because Nat and I want to look up information on dreams. Mine haven’t gone away, despite everyone elses disappearing after the big fight. The rest of the group go looking for spells, as usual. Maribeth climbs a little too high and knocks over an entire bookshelf, which starts a chain reaction. Between Nat and myself, we manage to stop the tumbling. We’ve never been so glad there isn’t a Librarian in there. The books on dreams are just as dry as every history book we’ve found here, so there’s no hep there.

Remy and Gerhardt find words on a shelf, and thus ensues a very strange scavenger hunt between shelves, the card catalog, and weird old books. I think at one point they squeezed an orange over a book, and then threw dirt on it. Eventually, they ended up with eight books all together and when they opened it they found the spell for Nystul’s Magic Aura. Seems a rather boring spell to me, for all the trouble it was, but Dalish thinks it could be rather useful, or at least fun.

That night, we all get fancy invitations on our doors to Philomena’s Birthday Party on Saturday. She even left fancy clothes for Nat and Klyce. Klyce was Not happy about that, and threw them into the hallway. Given our station, and our families, everyone but Klyce decides we have to go, and work on what gifts to bring her.

With Nat’s family being so far away, I ask if Nat wants to get ready at my house and ride with me to the party. This does not please my parents, but when do I ever? Nat doesn’t wear what Philomena provided, but a suit brought from home. Philomena’s estate is HUGE! And Oliver is here! Oh, he’s so Cool. I couldn’t possibly Talk to him! He’s talking to all the cool upperclassmen.

We hang out like we usually do. Maribeth asks about getting a job at Klyce’s bakery. She’s very worried about her mother. Klyce gives her a very hard lesson in wealth and the lack thereof. Poor Maribeth, I’m sure it’ll all be fine. Even if her brother is a jerk. We wander around the house a bit, enjoying games, fingerfoods, and drinks until Philomena finally shows up.

She welcomes everyone very politely while her parents look on, as only indulgent parents can. Philomena invites us to go riding, and even though I’m in a fancy dress, I have to go. It’s been so long, what with the servires being so creepy. Dalish and Gerhardt come with me, though, so I don’t have to be alone with her. It’s quite a lovely ride, such grounds her family has!

When we get back, everything has gone crazy again! Nat runs out to us yelling about a dead body in the conservatory. Philomena is so angry at him, like he’s the one who did it. We all head inside to see what is going on. Philomena at our heels, until she grabs Klyce and drags him angrily away. I have no idea what that is about, but then the police arrive, declaring that they will take care of everything. Thank goodness.