You've been working with a new group of people to prepare a clown act for an exhibit, and its going mostly well, except that a couple of them are a little careless.  You're reaching over to remove a Coke can from the top of a new electric amplifier, and someone bumps you into the Coke and the amplifier.  Horrified, you see the liquid splash into the live electric equipment and a flashing white arc with strange yellow bubbles in it slams into you.

You're unconscious before you hit the far wall.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You wake up, feeling a bit singed, but that goes rapidly away.  You're draped uncomfortably across the arms of a wooden or metal chair.  You feel fine.

The air is still, a bit dusty, and smells of books.  Light plays across your face. Your eyes are closed.

OOC: And I need to get off line as their is an electrical thunderstorm, and I don't want to verse out..

Playtester

Tornad's nostrils twitch and his eyelids flicker open. His gaze stares with a seeming mindlessness straight ahead for a few seconds before he flinches away from the moving light.

OOC: I'm back from a trip to pick up a futon, and I didn't have access to my account on rpol while there.  But, I usually try to just post M-F anyways.

IC: You flinch back, opening your eyes, and see that a hanging mass of crystals swings in front of a window high in the wall of the book-laden room you are in.  Books, scrolls and sheets groan the shelves to your left, and to your right is a door, and immediately in front of you is a desk with some papers neatly arrayed on it.

The floor is tongue and groove wood, and your chair looks Shaker-made.

Dust drifts in the air...

Playtester

I look around in confusion for some moments before pulling myself off the chair.

"Wuf?" I say softly to myself, and peer at the papers on the desk to try and see what they are about (sans touching them, at least for now). My nose twitches uncomfortably from all the dust.

The papers appear in hieroglypics for a second, and then swirl into form as your native language.

"Dear Visitor, welcome to the Library of Rhodes.  If you are an inter-dimensional invader, be warned, the Libraries' Magi are as great as ever.  Also, be warned that the penalty for book burning is death by defenestration.

If you seek peace and learning, then welcome.

Please fill out the neighboring sheet."

The sheet next to it has a host of questions about "Your native reality", inquires whether you are a psion, gate making wizard, verser, technological traveller, etc..

Playtester

I blink and shake my head a few times, almost convulsively, then peer at the papers again. They did say what I thought I'd seen.

Picking up the 'neighboring sheet', I read through the questions carefully, particularly any fine print. Only after I'm sure I won't be signing myself into being a familiar by filling this out will I look for something to write with.

You fill out the sheet with the available pen, and then the sheet you fill out disappears by turning shadowy and then fades out to be replaced by another empty of answers sheet.

PT

Taken a bit by surprise by the disappearing paper, I cock my head to one side thoughtfully for a moment, considering what I'd seen. Then I check my pockets to make sure I still have my valuables... not merely wallet, keyring, and cash, but Mom's Spanish medallion and the plastic baggy containing a Visionaries hologram (Mortdred's symbol, to be exact) that were my idea of good luck charms.

After determining whether or not I still had my usual not-lint in my pockets, my attention turns towards the shelf, gaze flickering over the assembled books and scrolls trying to make rhyme or reason out of their pattern. If this was a library, it would seem to make that there would be some sort of filing system for arranging what goes where.

You still have your stuff, and indeed you feel as if something of yours is lost out in the direction of the window, but further you decide.

There does seem to be a mix of time based and subject based, and alphabetical based classifications, but with huge gaps in between the topics.  For example, theres a treatsise on hovercars and a stack of books and papers on the Model T, but nothing else on cars or trucks.

Much of the library in this room seems to be in languages you don't know.

PT

I'm not interested in cars, beyond avoiding being hit by one again and such subjects as how to get cats and squirrels out from under a car. So for me, this part of the library seems relatively boring. I peer at the window for several seconds, trying to get up the courage to head towards the light. Then, I do walk over to the window, careful of the crystals - don't want to damage anything or cause a commotion, now - and look over what there is to see there.

You see clouds, and a seagull out the window, and then looking down a great way, perhaps twenty stories, you see a city spread out below you.

It does not look like a modern city. Its too dense, and the roads twine insanely tight, and there's no convenience stores or gas stations or parking lots, and most buildings are you'd guess, one or two stories.

You can at a casual glance see distinct neighborhoods.

In the distance is fog that encircles the farmland that encircles the city.  Its a glittering fog that hurts the brain to look at for too long.

Looking up into the sky, you blink.  You look again. Yep, there's a giant candle hanging in the sky in the place of the sun.

PT

The seagull got my interest for a second or two, before a downward glance spotted the city spread out below. It looked... interesting. The lack of parking lots was a big plus from my point of view, as was the presence of farmland close by. Images from when I'd been studying at Penn State flickered across my mind's eye, brief reviews of various crops and what parts of the world they originated in. Of course, being me, the thought of delicious bunnies also crossed my mind. Where there were crops, there should be rodents and other small prey to eat.

At least, that's what I was thinking until I looked up and saw... the Candle. I blink, look again, and flinch back away from the window like a cringing cat. Turning quickly, I retreat to the relative normalcy of the desk before peering back over my shoulder at the window for a second to be sure it's not following me.

Crouching on the floor next to the chair, I consider what I've seen so far. The changing words, the disappearing paper, the strangely intriguing not-city, the far fog, and the dreadful Candle. Either I was having a particularly unfocused dream, or somehow I'd slipped into another plane of existence. That thought brought up memories of the oddness as the Coke spilled. Yellow bubbles? That certainly hadn't been a normal discharge.

Which brought up a number of interesting ideas... often insane ideas, but seeing as where I was looked to be operating on a completely different logic system than Earth, perhaps a schizophrenic domesticated werewolf would fit in better here.

Standing up again, I walked around the desk to the door and cautiously tried to open it.

There is a landing which leads to a staircase of boards winding down a tall, slender, swaying tree.  The tree is in the center of a twenty story tall tower with books lining all the walls of the library, and no floors except the bottom floor.

Hundreds of people fill the volume, but it does not seem crowded. Most of them seem to be on flying rugs, taking books and scrolls off the shelves, and examining them.

PT

Fearful of the height, I look out towards the tree curiously, then around at the surrounding shelves within a decent arms-length of the landing. Things that I could perhaps study without risking taking the stairs and possibly falling to an early end. My left fingers run through my beard thoughtfully as I consider the available selection of reading material.


OOC: How wide is the stairway? Does it look like I could go down it without crowding another visitor?

Why don't you tell me what types of books you'd like, and I'll roll a General Events roll to see how likely it would be.  This is the preferred technique in Multiverser for such situations.  If I roll a "30" you probably find a cursed book, and if I roll a "3" you find all you desired and then some.

PT

OOC: Okay, I'm looking for any or all of the following subjects in no particular order:

Clown spells.
Basics on how to do magic (pretty much any kind, although more artistic and less combat-oriented forms are higher on my list).
Magical cookbooks (not books that are magical, but have recipes for magical foods a la Willy Wonka).
The Memoirs of Number Ten Ox (of which Eight Skilled Gentlemen purported to be one of the final volumes).
Something on survival/safety if you're ever turned into a balloon, perhaps a stuntman's autobiography or a training guide for human balloon handlers.
Information about the Library itself.

You find the following titles that fit your general guidelines.

"By the Grace and Favor of Ra."
"Laying on of Hands: A Guidebook."
"Basic Religious Ceremonies of the Ynnai Tribes"
"Anti-Caloric Foods: Lose Weight the Easy Way"
"The Memoirs of No. 10 Ox"
"The Vol. 1 Memoirs of a Magic Engineer; My Mutiny, Flight in a Balloon, and the Destruction of the Zombie Army."

PT

I blink a bit, and sniff at "By the Grace and Favor of Ra" curiously. Wasn't Ra a sun god? But this place had... a candle. I decided I'd come back to that one.

Ah! One of Ox's memoirs! But was it one of the three I'd read before (Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen) or one of the 'lost' ones?. And was it an English translation? With great interest, I open the book and try to read.

"Laying on of Hands: A Guidebook" and "Basic Religious Ceremonies of the Ynnai Tribes" both get skimmed through, reading swiftly but carefully so as to avoid damaging them. The mind that had plowed through Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth" in two 50-minute class periods back in high school and understood it well enough to get a B on the book report was hard at work here.

The anti-caloric cookbook gets ignored automatically. I tend to eat many, many calories but don't gain much weight from them. Anti-caloric didn't sound like a good thing for an active dog.

On the other paw, "The Vol. 1 Memoirs of a Magic Engineer; My Mutiny, Flight in a Balloon, and the Destruction of the Zombie Army" gets skimmed through like the pair of religious texts, picking up bits and pieces of the tale to investigate more thoroughly if something seemed to meet my interests or be a juicy bit of cultural information.

Its not in English, but it does appear to be one of the "lost" ones.

"Hands" appears to be Pentecostal Christian, and describes healing techniques and ordination of preachers and such.  It seems to have a number of stories of effectual results and suggestions for practise mixed in with basic theology.  "Ynnai" is more of a guide to all the ceremonies of the Ynnai Tribe which appears to be animist, and is written by an anthropologist.

"Magic Engineer" opens with "Somehow I'd lost twelve years, and not aged a day, or so it seemed.  There was the same two lonely strands of gray in my beard as in 2003.  But here and now was 2015? after the nuclear war, and I am to join the General's army of the Strong, or his slave corp."

It describes a post-apocalyptic America governed by a fascist dictator, and his becoming valuable to the dictator by using his engineering talents, while at the same time building a secret newspaper to promote revolt.  Eventually he succeeded, and then built a hot air balloon to try to find more civilized climes.

There is detailed drawings, draftsman quality, in the book of the balloon.

Then his clipper ship travels to SouthEast Asia where pirates caught him, and ...

"I thought I was about to die.  The sword came down...and I was elsewhere in a medieval kingdom which was being attacked by zombies."

At first he did not believe they were the undead, but some magic spells which he details,and seeing a walking skeleton convinced him.  In the end...

"Then the rain came down, and melted the zombies, the skeletons, and the other horrors into the good earth."

The End for now.


PT

I sigh softly. I've never enjoyed the linguistic talents of my mother, none of the three of us inherited that gift. So, reluctantly, I returned that tale of ancient China (the place and time when Number Ten Ox lived) to the shelf where I'd found it.

The book on laying on hands bores me quickly. I don't trust organized Christianity much, although I respect their God well enough. There's been just too many misuses of scripture in the past that led to suffering and innocents
dying. I've long agreed with what Gandhi said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are very much unlike your Christ." That book to returns to the shelf.

The magic engineer's story intrigues me, and I especially re-read his descriptions of various spells and supernatural events. The balloon is interesting, but I have seen plenty of (mundane) hot air balloons before. Of course, it being a balloon alone interests me.

The Ynnai book gets a thorough sniffing, but no intensive re-reads. Anthropology is interesting but I know that I don't have the background to get the most from such works. Perhaps pieces of it would pop out my unsettled unconscious as inspiration sometime when I was trying to write a story.


Sniffing around the nearby shelves again (after returning all of the first set of finds to where I found them), I look for some more arcane texts. Magic that isn't so intensely religious in nature. Perhaps high dreaming, or cipher-sorcery, or ludicrous magic, or discussions of the occult fast food conspiracy Mak Attax. Of course, being schizophrenic, I had no way of knowing if any of those really existed beyond gaming books and my own mixed-up head.

I'm still keeping an eye out for things about clowns, clown magic, and balloons. And for something I can eat.

In detail, the magic engineer describes how to light a candle by magic.

"One must focus your mind, very clearly, driving doubts and distractions as far away as possible, for a length of time not less than thirty seconds, but longer is better.  Then write in a clear hand on a sheet of paper with charcoal (focusing on the similiarity of charcoal to fire) the desired temperature of the object you wish to light on fire, with a maximum of F451 or you will burn the paper, then blow the intention toward your nearby object, and cry aloud. 'Fiat'."

He then goes on to describe his friend, a wizard casting explosions and walking through walls, but admitted he never learned either.  The most he learned was to create an illusion of a castle.

Looking further, you find several more religious magic texts, and a text "Contra-Elemental Casting" with a blurb below the title. "Simple, flexible, but dangerous. This magic system has its uses as long as one is cautious--David Copperfield, Archmagi."

There are more texts, but they are mostly out of reach altogether, although a few you might be able to reach if you stretch really far over the railing.

And of course, you've only managed to search maybe a tenth of one percent of the library from your perch.

PT

My usual mental photography having stored the descriptions of the spells, and the engineer's explanation of how to start a fire - hmm, I wonder if that will work for ovens?, I returned his book to its' place.

The contra-elemental book sounded interesting, although I was a little disturbed by the author's name. Fetching that one, I retreated to the desk to study it a bit. I'm not going to risk my pelt trying to grab a book over a railing 20 stories up.

At the desk, you open the book.  The first five pages are warnings of various ways in which you can really get messed over using this magic.

Then it explains.

"As most scientists agree, all matter is formed of four elements. Water, Earth, Air, and Fire.  What scientists don't realize is that these are extra-planar elements, and that one can by visualizing, let some in to our reality to accomplish what is called a spell.
However, the elements by nature abhor one another, and to summon fire, is to shortly thereafter summon an equal or greater amount of uncontrolled water.

Some say this is how Atlantis was destroyed."

PT

I make a soft wuffing sound in my throat upon reading that passage, considering what implications that may have. It made a fair amount of sense, with one magical action having an opposite reaction. However, I know that not all cultures have an even number of elements in their mysticism, leaving some questions yet to be answered and more opening their eyes.

As I keep reading the contra-elemental book, flickers of text from roleplaying games cross my thoughts as well, comparing this with elementalism in openly fictional settings. GEM, in particular, springs to mind, using multiple elements in spells to form the final effect, as does a phrase from PLUS' unfinished text on stone magic, "Kharma is a verb."

In my reading, I keep an eye out for anything describing elemental beings or spirits, whether the classical gnomes, sylphs, undines and salamanders, or more gamish creatures composed of pure elemental material.

There's no mention of such creatures other than the Lords of the Elements, and the One.  But no mention is even made of the possibility of summoning or meeting such august entities.

The text takes quite a scientific approach to magic.  Its full of formulae, and measurements, and logical explanations for things, and magic laws.  Yes, making a spell is a matter of a number of different parts, precisely arranged according to laws and guidelines.

A balding, tunic-wearing man walks into the room with you, glances your way, and proceeds on to remove a book from the shelf, and head back toward the door with his sandles padding softly on the wooden floor.

PT

I looked up for a moment when the man entered, watched him curiously for a few seconds, then returned to my reading. This was a library, after all, not my home, so barking frantically at him would be a gross faux pas.

Studying this book was interesting, but all the laws and charts made magic seem so, so... technological. Not an Art. Art? Now there was an idea.

Reading a bit more of this book, and intentionally impressing some of the diagrams and example spells (most noteably air magic) on my memory, I then closed the volume and returned it to the shelf where I'd found it.

Art. That idea seemed to resonate, at least for the moment. So I search for books on the Muses, possibly something about Flames of Inspiration, books on both the fine arts and magic at the same time are what I seek now. Images from the game Agone dance across my thoughts, recalling the art-based magic system Agone uses. Cipher-sorcerers and their trained dancers, pseudo-elemental spirits whose sparks power spells. Vista, the art of magical painting and the crafting of worlds within pictures. Shape, the dwarven art of arcane sculpture and physical craftsmanship. Tune, the art that blurs the line between magic and music, heavily flavored by the inner meaning of the instrument being played. And Scansion, the writing and recitation of poetry whose meter and rhyme harmonizes with time itself. These were what I now sniff for hints of, even daring to descend a few boards down the staircase in my search before retreating to the safety of the desk-room.

You're not able, even at the top, where the roof bends over to reach the books from the staircase.  Further down, its almost forty feet of open air from the stairs to the books.  Of course, you see the floor well below you, and people using flying rugs...

PT

Grimacing briefly, I start to make my way down the stairs with ginger, fearful steps. I have no desire to fall off and become roadkill. However, nor do I have any desire to endanger or crowd others using the stairs, preferring to yield the right of way rather than get in their way, when possible without endangering myself.

You have a bad moment or two, as the stairs sway and once when someone quite large (seven feet tall, four hundred pounds) swoops up on a rug, and jumps off his rug with casual ease before it halts and lands on your step, and brushes past you.

But, trembling, you make it to the bottom.

There's a door to the outside, other doors to follow to other places, and a winding stone staircase down into the ground, and a information desk with people in all sorts of dress lined up in front of it.

And of course, there's quite a bit of books now in easy walking distance of you.

OOC: And this should be my last post until Monday morning.  But feel free to reply at your leisure.

Playtester

My attention wavering between the desk, various interesting-looking people, and the books for a bit, the books win out. Padding towards various shelves, I look over the available reading material in great interest once more, nostrils twitching periodically as I take in the scents.

What subjects I'm looking for, in a rough order of reading priorities:
Clowns and clown magic )not the sleight of hand sort).
Information about this library.
Basics on how to do magic.
Artistic magic.
Flames of Inspiration (a concept from the rpg Agone).
Human balloons.
Dormice - finding them, cooking them, legends about, etc.
The goddess He-Enriath, "She of the Venerable Ebon Shadow" (world of Telostic).
Books describing wild edible plants and their uses.
The god Ksarul, "Doomed Prince of the Blue Room" (world of Tekumel).
The demon Hes, "He Who Laughs Forever" (world of Tekumel).
Help wanted ads.
Dig-Dug.

You find a computer section with a number of early Arcade games discussed including a "Pscyological Study of Dig-Dug Players" and a "Electronic Archeology Review Year 1200 A.S. with an article on the 'Amazing Discovery of a working Dig-Dug Machine, a religious altar, from the Aerusian Dynasty Period near the city-state of Cleveland Browns'.  There may be more data in the area, but this is a quick look.

You find an "Empire of the Petal Throne" RPG book published in Lunagrad in 2017 along with several religious texts about various entities covered in the book although none of the ones you mentioned.

You find about a dozen "Histories of the Great Library", etc... and a number of romance novels about the "Founders of the Library" and their mighty passions...

You find in the bottom of the magic section, a couple books on "Conjuring Light", "Conjuring Shadow", "Conjuring Fog" by the same author, and a TimeLife series of books from the Kingdom of America on "Practical Usages of Magic", and a iron-bound book of "Painting as Weaponry:War Wizard Rituals."

About fifteen feet up, out of reach, you see a brightly colored book titled "Animating Clown Puppets."

PT--sorry you got a bad dice roll

I blink, seeing the dates and 'Kingdom of America' on a book I'd pulled out. Sitting down cross-legged at the base of the magic section shelving, I start skimming through books. 'Practical Usages of Magic' was the first, followed by the rpg.

Amazing. Nearly a decade in the future (?) and the game mechanics still weren't close to the quality of the setting. I wondered briefly how many versions had come out before thise one - I knew of 4 up to when this weirdness started.

One of the 'Histories of the Great Library' gets sniffed and skimmed, but the romances are ignored. I've never had much affinity for romance.

'Conjuring Shadow', however, gets a more thorough reading. Among the religious texts, I'd most likely read up on Gruganu or Dra first if they are among the available subjects, with Ketengku and Dlamelish as somewhat lesser choices. Particularly in the case of Dlamelish, as I knew her cult was... quite adult, so to speak.

Returning all these to their places, I study 'Painting as Weaponry' for a short time, curious about the artwork but rather turned off by the military concepts implied in the title.

"Practical" lists five different types of magic used in a "modern industrial civilization".  Alchemy, Luck and Blessings, Necromancy, Enchantment, and True Names.

This is version seven.

The History you examine tells of the Library of Rhodes, threatened by book-burning invaders, adn the mages of the library cast a great spell, and set it loose in space.  Adn from there it gathered to itself other chunks of 'orphan matter' till its reached the size of nearly fifty miles across.

"Shadow" gives you detailed spells for conjuring up different forms and masses of shadow with variant intensities.  The most complicated spells at the end deal with the temporary creation of shadow weapons.

There is a text on Gruganu.

"Painting" is meant for the strong of stomach who are also good painters, and magicians.  It details how one may paint something happening to an enemy you can see, and then cause destruction to rain on them.  It seems to assume that one is defending a castle for many days from a besieging force as most of its examples detail how to paint such a force into destruction.  It also explicitly warns that since these are directly destructive spells that backlashes are extremely hazardous not only to the painter mage, but to those about him as well.

And it has a number of horrific pictures of human suffering which it claims are now spent spells.

I'm amazed that Empire of the Petal Throne could have produced 3 new editions/versions in a third of the time it took to reach 4. Something strange was definitely going on here. Particularly as this looked like a real book about Gruganu, the demigod charioteer of the Doomed Prince.

Returning the rpg to the shelf, I set the religious text aside for more detailed study after going through my remaining pile.

The 'History' is interesting, yet disturbing. This sounded like I was in a demiplane or microplane of some sort. I wished that I had my copy of Chessboards with me; it would have been useful for cross-referencing details from this kind of tale.

'Shadow' likeside gets set aside for detailed study. If I could pick up the basic principles of shadow magic, it could be very useful. Especially on bright, painful sunny days. Urm. Did that Candle even move in the sky? I didn't know, and got worried thinking about it.

'Paintings' gets put back on the shelf swiftly. I like the idea of painting magic, but the purpose to which these spells were put disgusted me. I've always held myself to be quite a pacifistic werewolf... except for that period when I thought I was a koala. I was a pacifistic koala, then.

In 'Practical', I look up what there is on magic as used in entertainment and medicine. And look in the bibliography for interesting-sounding titles to seek out later.

And before I retreat into a corner with the Gruganu book and 'Shadows', I look through the area where I found Dig-Dug references again. Maybe there was a live action Dig-Dug movie in the time between home and now? I know I've seen some comments towards one on a few websites. Might be something on a Dig-Dug related LARP; that would seem to be a more likely event than a full-scale movie, although putting people in fygar and pooka costumes might be problematic. Cops and Robbers? Inflate the Keystone Kops before they 'bust' you.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Mon 04 Apr 2005.

At the beginning of the rpg is a foreword where the authors "...thank you for making this game system the most popular in history.  We've had challenges, the single Vampire game put out by White Wolf caused some fear here I can tell you now, and the failed attempt at strangling the competition by the D20 system was another such, but you the loyal player stood by us, and so we dedicate this gamebook to  you..."

Nothing on a Live-action Dig-Dug movie is present.

The text on Gruganu looks serious.  It does not look like something made up for Tekumel, but someone with real faith.

Why don't you tell me some of the spells you might want to find in this book, and I will roll a GE roll to see how lucky you are?

PT

I blink a bit upon reading that forward. What kind of alteration in time could have happened?? This doesn't sound like the gaming history I know... White Wolf produced quite a lot of that Vampire baloney. I never liked the World of Insufficient Light, especially their core take on werewolves. But between the dates, the odd forward, the things I'm seeing, and an honest book about Gruganu, I'm starting to wonder if someone somewhere performed a Miracle of Major Change. Would have to be a Ymera or Excrucian, come to think of it. If a Nobilis had cast this there would be an epidemic of dementia animus.

In the Gruganu book, I'm not looking for spells specifically, but rather history. From what I know from gaming, Gruganu was Ksarul's charioteer at the Battle of Dormoron Plain, where Ksarul gained the title of Doomed Prince after he was defeated by the other 9 gods of the pantheon and their servants. But it took 10 gods to bind Ksarul in endless sleep within the Blue Room, the 9 who overcame his bid to rule everything plus the mysterious One Other. I read through the book carefully but swiftly, paying strict attention to descriptions of historic mythological events and relationships.




Perhaps there are portions of the Lament to the Wheel of Black in the book? It was supposed to be an epic poem relating the creation and history of the gods.

If there are spells written herein, they could be any of the 'universal' (lowest level and available to any mage-priest) spells, or even some of the 'generic' (mid-level with some degree of restriction as to which faiths can use each) spells. I would be extremely surprised if any of the temple (high level and generally very secret) spells of Gruganu's faithful are written herein.



The Universal spells (according to my copy of Gardasiyal; there are more in Tirikelu):
Alleviation
Ascertainment
Clairvoyance/Clairaudience
Control of Self
Disenchantment
Domination
Elicitation
Execration
Favouring
Healing
Inscription (an oddity, this spell exists at all 3 levels)
Invisibility
Light and Darkness
Nutrification
Perceptions of the Energies
Phantasms
Robustness
The Seal Upon the Powers
Soporiferousness
The Sphere of Impermeable Quiescence
Terrorisation
Translocation
Transportation
Warding
The Web of Kriyag, Lover of Spiders
Zoic Domination


The Generic spells available to Gruganu's priests (again, Tirikelu has more):
Aeriality
Alleviation (improved)
Artfulness
Ascertainment (improved)
Benefaction
The Blessing of the Planes
Comprehension
Desiccation
Domination (improved)
Elicitation (improved)
Guarding
Inscription (generic level form)
The Missile of Metallja
Necromantic Domination
Perception of the Energies (improved)
Phantasms (improved)
Prorogation
Sagacity
The Speculum of Retribution
Stealth
Vallation (Indigo Fog version, as this spell varies by god invoked)
Vapour of Death
Visitations of Other Planes


Temple spells available to Gruganu's powerful faithful:
Demonology
Inscription
The Muniments of Excellence
Revification
The Affable Blight of Lord Uni
The Antechamber of the Blue Room
The Azure Scarab
The Comprehension of Devices
The Food of the Ssu
The Obsidian Obelisk
Replication of the Mighty
The Web of Refulgent Command
The Attainment of Enlightenment
The Invigorator of Blades
The Labyrinth of Elongated Shadows

OOC: Well then perhaps one day I will send you to one of my takes on the WOD, the World of Obsolescence where police in 2050 are armed with laser blasters, infrared scanners, and the lights on copcars are adjusted to mimic sunlight so as to "be more soothing".  It makes surviving as a vamp a lot harder.

And if I ran the were, I'd do the technophile thing, and say they are fighting the one thing that can save Gaia.  Tech will heal the planet.

Or I might just run it as most people do.

IC: Your copy states categorically that the 'so-called Doomed Prince' is not Doomed at all, but that instead he let the rebels show their hand so that when he comes back, they will have no excuse, and then he will execute wrath upon them, and elevate those faithful such as Gruganu, and Gruganu's followers.  This of course, disagrees with your rpg book.

There's one line in the Lament that strikes you as novel and odd. Its near the beginning.

"And then of the many worlds that were, the Hand gifted to the Ten Gods, to Ksraul, this world for his dominion."  That's the only place "the Hand" is mentioned.

The universal spells are listed in an appendix added later to the book.  They come complete with descriptions and so forth.  They are geared to be used by Gruganans.

PT

I yip softly to myself after reading that line about the Hand, and re-read it twice, comparing that section of the Lament to the bits I'd seen in game materials. What the Heaven was the Hand? Or more likely, WHO was the Hand? It sounded like a Being of power of some kind, given the wording.

Of the spells, I read through Alleviation, Healing, Nutrification, Perceptions of the Energies, and The Seal Upon the Powers carefully. I don't try to cast any of them (taking particular care when reading The Seal, as it's a potent defensive spell in the rpg and close to a generic spell in complexity). Closing my eyes, I call up the image of the page(s) describing the poison-cleansing spell Alleviation before my mind's eye, re-reading it in my memory.

Opening my eyes again, I return both books (Gruganu's and the Shadow book) to their shelves. My belly was complaining a bit. It wanted food. I could try to perform Nutrification, but didn't want to deal with the little drawback that spell had if you relied on it as your sole food source. The book had been much clearer about that than then my old rpg books were. Nor was I intending to become a priest of Gruganu, at least not without investigating a lot more first.

I look towards the information desk, judging the length of the line and how fast it seems to have been moving.

You memorize things carefully, and after checking feel confident that you have committed them solidly to memory.

There are five people ahead of you in line at the information desk, but a wait of twenty minutes, and you reach the desk where a young woman with a quill pen precisely copies a text while answering questions.

"Yes, Library Patron, how can I assist you?"  She says melodiously without looking up.

Playtester

"Are there any places inside the Library to find food, or will I have to leave it to do so?"

"If you are a Visiting Scholar there is the eating hall down that corridor"  She points an arm at an archway across the room.  "Or one of the Prime Mages the way is down the staircase to the bedrock Reality Stones, but if neither, then you are out of luck, and must exit the library through those doors" Here she points to the doors to her immediate right "And outside one can find vendors, or if one has the time for a longer walk one can take a Contemplative Path, or if one is bold and in need of speed you can take a Riddle Path to a variety of inns and cafes. There are many who will guide you. I personally prefer the Menagerie.  Clean, pleasant, cheap, and full of interesting folk, and only a couple minutes away by Riddle."

Her pen dips into the inkwell, and scratches on.

"Thank you... um, cheap?" I think about that for half a second, and check my pockets for cash. "What is the currency on this plane? Is there a moneychanger nearby?"

She looks up for a second, laughing.

"New worldwalker, hunh? Take a tip, carry gold.  Studies show that its valuable on nearly seventy percent of planes you may visit.  And yes, there's plenty of moneychangers just outside the door, and if they don't take your money, there's plenty of folk out there who will hire for skills, and provide room, board, and a bit of solidus until one saves up enough to move to a better position.

Thats how I started.  Got tossed through a gate as a sacrifice to a demon, and landed here.  Guess the local Wizards Order of Fire didn't understand what was going on.  Worked as a seamstress until I found a job translating Rumeric to Tanga at the Library.  Now I know ten languages."

PT

The term 'worldwalker' intrigued me, but then she mentioned... Gold. ICK! My expression of disgust betrayed my opinion of the solar stuff for a second or three before I got some self-control back.

On the other hand, what she said about her own past had pretty much my full attention. "You're a translator? That sounds like a nice job." I said in an approving tone.

"Thank you very much, miss."

And with that I turned and slunk for the exit she indicated.

You step outside and see first a giant pair of statues.  One is a woman holding an open book, and the other is a man, holding a candle above her for light so they can both read.  The candle is actually a functioning torch.

The marble steps and flat areas spreading out for a couple acres in front of you are dotted with vendors of food and clothing, shifty looking men in coats who offer change, jugglers, parents with children, readers of books sitting and enjoying the 'candlelight', sunbathers, and so forth.  Its a parklike atmosphere, complete with several fountains and flocks of seagulls beseeching for food.

Several fly up to you to check you out, and half hover in front of you hoping for a tidbit.  For some reason, they avoid the vendors.

Beyond the stairs you see the city begin.

PT

I eye a nearby gull hungrily, but refrain from trying to catch it as I don't know what the hunting laws are here. Besides, if I can get a bit of fish or bunny, that would taste a lot better than home-cooked gull. I know my cooking skills and they are NOT anywhere close to what a professional short order cook can do with birds, much less a real chef.

The jugglers interest me, as might any other street performers, but remembering why I stepped out I approach a clothing vendor and politely inquire if there was an honest moneychanger he'd recommend.

The old lady looks at you and cackles.

"Honest and moneychanger aren't often used in the same sentence, lad, but Alou over there isn't as bad as most. Let me help you then maybe you have the money to buy something from me."

She calls Alou over.  The lady in a long trenchcoat with a bored bodyguard trailing behind strolls over, and nods assessing you with a comprehensive look.

"Technological plane of existence right? I don't do credit cards."

Playtester

I smile, a little shyly. Credit cards were one thing she didn't have to worry about from me. I don't own any! Just one debit card, and I wasn't planning on trying to use that at a money changer.

Reaching into my right front pants pocket, I pull out a handful of assorted loose change and a few small bills. It turns out to be 7 ones (I keep the bills above fives loose in my left pants front pocket). I show the money to Alou.

OOC: I'm glad to hear that. Credit cards are tools of enslavement.

IC: Alou examines the coins, nods, gives you a few small coppers, and looks at the paper.

"Nice artwork.  I could take this on consignment and sell it, give you oh a third, or I could give you five coppers now. You see, it works like this.  This money is probably not good in a lot of worlds.  I mean, I've never heard of this country. What are the chances I'd be holding this for years before selling it?"

"Then again some wizards favor using money from another dimension for prayers to the god of dice."  The old woman points out.

PT

I listen to the two ladies politely, not interrupting. I do smell the copper coins she handed me though, and look over the designs on them curiously. A stray thought floats across my mind that it's a pity I don't have that sack of assorted foreign coins Aunt Denise gave me with me. Oh well.

She's never heard of the United States of America? Oh goodie. No junkie news about American politicians while I'm here. That was a pleasant thought for someone who worked in television. Politics stories were often real downers, although not quite as bad as having that nut Gary Null in the studio (at least politicians tried to act pleasant). I keep my feelings about this bit of news to myself for the time being.

After the two women dicker a bit, Alou offers you seven coppers for you initial handful of coins, and another ten coppers for each dollar you sell her.

Then the clothing vendor tries to interest you in a very nice cloak.  Sky-blue with inset moons, a removable liner for extra heat, red on the inside, and with a platinum chain, and a detachable hood.

"Only fifteen coppers lad, worth every bit."

PT

I eye the moon insets with some interest, and like the color of the inside. That chain makes me think of alchemical True Platinum, very potent stuff at least in game terms.

"Extra heat? Does it get very cold here in the winter?" I ask curiously as I smell a corner of the fabric to try to figure out what it's made from.

"Snow covers the ground for a month or two in the midst of winter.  We get about twelve inches of snow every year.  Its necessary say the Prime Mages.  Kills insects, recycles water, and prepares the soil for growing.  There's always some who want to change the weather, but I say the Primes have handled things for thousands of years, and there's no reason to change." Alou says soft and precise.

"And I'll repay her favor to me. You should bargain with her. I think she'll go down on the price."

PT

"Only twelve inches? That doesn't sound all that chilly."

If the material smells like wool, I put it back, otherwise I look over the cloak critically, then look to see what else the nice old vendor lady has available that could interest me more. Trousers or breeches close to my size, perhaps. That's long been a problem area for my clothing needs, as few mass produced garments back home stand up to the kind of wear and tear a werewolf can put on pants in the course of daily walks.

"What is the difference between Primes and other mages?" I listen attentively to either or both lady, as I have the feeling that there's something more to a Prime than just being an arch-mage or political leader.

"Primes are the ones who have sworn to spend their life energies holding the base stones in place. Without those stones, this dimension might disintegrate when one of the other dimensions brushes us a little hard.  It gives us what strength and durability this place has.  Most of the time, the stones stay in place on their own, but a Prime, if needed, will die in place spending their life energy to hold one.

They are the descendants of the Founding Mages who brought the Tower here.  They don't speak much about things like politics as most find that dull, but when they do speak, everyone listens."

PT