Crailek begins to head back up towards the locked door.

He soon came upon the locked door. The fish wasn't here to help him now.

Crailek stares at the door, and concentrates on pushing it lightly with his mind, trying to keep from blowing something up this time.

The locked door rattles.

Crailek knows that he can blast it down.

Crailek hits the door harder, then, making sure it goes away, and doesn't just come back and kill him.

The door is ruined by the force of his mind.

Inside was a common room, of some sort, couches and chairs and desks and bookcases and liquer cabinets all over, as well as a single locked chest in the right of the room. Large enough, Crailek supposed, to hide weapons..

Crailek walks over to the locked chest, then concentrates on the lock, specifically on breaking said lock in half.

The lock became bent, twisted, and finally shattered.

Inside the chest, Crailek saw, was a small, dark red orb, certain alien runes and glyphs having been inscribed upon its face. Crailek felt fear at the prospect of touching another random sphere..

Crailek frowns at the orb, and stands up. Best to leave that there for the time being. Crailek leaves out of a portal for now, to the Funeral.

It was not long before Crailek was where he needed to be, at the Funeral.

Crailek clutches his stomach lightly, and heads up stairs towards the chest with the orb in it as quickly as he could, given the circumstances arising. Along the way, he mutters about how much he hated poison and the like.

Crailek felt even worse. When he saw the chest once more, a sudden thought hit him and he felt momentarily worse.

Wood of the Charnal tree. 500 x 500. No enchantments. Standard lock - decayed. Age: 567 years. Owner: once Magestus Tep, Grand Constable of the League of Crailek, now the Witch of Whitening. Contents: Orb of Ghandash. Carver: Misteri Avum.

Crailek stumbled a little as the thoughts hit him.

Crailek grimaces, clutching his head lightly. He opens the chest, and after a moments hesitation, reaches forward to touch the Orb.

As Crailek touches the Orb of Ghandash, he feels a withering sensation - not pleasant, and yet not entirely unpleasant - crawl across his body. There are no explosions or death.

However, Crailek's mind is wracked once again..

The Orb of Ghandash. Sister to the Orb of Gh'zaar and the Orb of Ghant. Crafting using the magic of the Realm Sorcerous. Crafted by the Alkanite Heidous in the Age of the City (2.90 before Age of Odin). Properties: crawling sensation, removes and destroys all magical properties in an area. Reading: 7.8.

Suddenly the feelings become much more intense, and Crailek crashes to the floor clutching his head.

  1. A spherical body; a globe; especially, one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star.

          In the small orb of one particular tear. --Shakespeare.
          Whether the prime orb, Incredible how swift, had thither rolled. -- John Milton.

   2. One of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be inclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions.
   3. A circle; especially, a circle, or nearly circular orbit, described by the revolution of a heavenly body; an orbit.

          The schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs. --Bacon.
          You seem to me as Dian in her orb. --Shakespeare.
          In orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood, Orb within orb. --John Milton.

   4. (rare) A period of time marked off by the revolution of a heavenly body. --John Milton.
   5. (poetic) The eye, as luminous and spherical.

          A drop serene hath quenched their orbs. --John Milton.

   6. (poetic) A revolving circular body; a wheel.

          The orbs Of his fierce chariot rolled. --John Milton.

   7. (rare) A sphere of action. --William Wordsworth.

          But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe. --Shakespeare

   8. A globus cruciger.
   9. A translucent sphere appearing in flash photography.

Crailek grabs his head with one hand, and begins to force himself back up onto his feet, and then back down towards the library. If he manages to get there, he carefully avoids the Black orb, giving it a wide berth, to get to the books.

Crailek enters the library, stumbling down the flight of stairs as he does so. When he tries to pick himself, he vomits. Black, stringy, stirring bile runs from his throat. He looks up, and..

  1. a place set apart to contain books, periodicals, and other material for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference, as a room, set of rooms, or building where books may be read or borrowed.
2. a public body organizing and maintaining such an establishment.
3. a collection of manuscripts, publications, and other materials for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference.
4. a collection of any materials for study and enjoyment, as films, musical recordings, or maps.
5. a commercial establishment lending books for a fixed charge; a lending library.
6. a series of books of similar character or alike in size, binding, etc., issued by a single publishing house.
7. Biology. a collection of standard materials or formulations by which specimens are identified.
8. canon 1 (def. 9).
9. Computers. a collection of software or data usually reflecting a specific theme or application.

  1. a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
2. a number of sheets of blank or ruled paper bound together for writing, recording business transactions, etc.
3. a division of a literary work, esp. one of the larger divisions.
4. the Book, the Bible.
5. Music. the text or libretto of an opera, operetta, or musical.
6. books. book of account.
7. Jazz. the total repertoire of a band.
8. a script or story for a play.
9. a record of bets, as on a horse race.
10. Cards. the number of basic tricks or cards that must be taken before any trick or card counts in the score.
11. a set or packet of tickets, checks, stamps, matches, etc., bound together like a book.
12. anything that serves for the recording of facts or events: The petrified tree was a book of Nature.
13. Sports. a collection of facts and information about the usual playing habits, weaknesses, methods, etc., of an opposing team or player, esp. in baseball: The White Sox book on Mickey Mantle cautioned pitchers to keep the ball fast and high.
14. Stock Exchange.
a. the customers served by each registered representative in a brokerage house.
b. a loose-leaf binder kept by a specialist to record orders to buy and sell stock at specified prices.
15. a pile or package of leaves, as of tobacco.
16. Mineralogy. a thick block or crystal of mica.
17. a magazine: used esp. in magazine publishing.
18. book value.
19. Slang. bookmaker (def. 1).
20. the book,
a. a set of rules, conventions, or standards: The solution was not according to the book but it served the purpose.
b. the telephone book: I've looked him up, but he's not in the book.


Crailek hasn't felt this bad since the time he stuffed up fighting the legions of Osiris-Ra..

Crailek pushes himself back up quite forcefully, leaning slightly on the giant candle. He began to pull books out and open at random, glancing inside to see what was said.

Crailek peered into the musty tomes, and as he did so he was assaulted by a magnificent and pure stream of information - information that filled his mind like the jug is filled from a stream. The words came out of the page, heavy ink and somber glyphs, and they swirled and forced entry into the God of Shadows. They did not come as words, however, which were overfed, pompous symbols of an inefficient civilization; rather, they came as something more, the concentrated form..

123129312930912748468912640912641209472490624
129471234712847190247089421894209186409214602481686
953790735094=974723-957-03792-03579032755068=04876997473
3248972852906590632590325609523609756325625396853096
8750359-0573230573575390357350795390752390357093257953
4530957087538-9735-8927595238797259769489065

495095723095720953790275230957057039257395730957509325
825823578-257097253982350965326-09868-256-9852

1

Crailek was thrown to the floor, the books scattering, as the numbers seemed to crash down upon his physical body. Crailek died with the taste of black tar in his mouth and a thousand fleeting images in his mind..

As Crailek enters the tower once again, he heads for the library, careful once again to avoid the floating orb of death and horror.

The library was quiet, empty. He was surrounded by thousands of books. The orb of death was nowhere in sight.

There was a clicking, rasping sound from behind. Something had crept up on him..

Crailek quickly spins around to face this new adversary, putting his hands up into a defensive position, ready to deflect any attacks. He studies what, if anything, he sees, as best he can to figure everything out about it.

It was him.

It was Crailek.

His old, sick body, blood on the lips and draining from the eyes, currently in the process of a crystallized metamorphosis. Tiny diamond-things, shimmering silver, hung from his nose and flesh, his eyes completely blank, silver only remaining. He was wearing the exact same clothes that Crailek wore when he last died.

Crai... Crailek..

Crailek cocks his head at himself. "And just what do you think you are doing? You're supposed to be on the floor, where I left you! What do you have to say for yourself?"
He lowers his hands, but stays wary for any sort of danger or attack.

The being frowned. As it did so Crailek saw that its mouth cracked and popped, small crystals fell to the floor.

It seemed harmless enough.

Crailek frowns back. "Well fine then. Any idea what your purpose is, if it's so important that it transcends death? It would be nice to know, yeah?"