Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Porphios, a one on one

"I see," Eirwyn said, somewhat relieved she hadn't been wrong. No, she didn't strike her as a magic user at all. She barely concealed a smile of amusement as the illithid decided what they would all be doing. She supposed she had been heading in that direction anyway. She wasn't sure if Mephorae would let both of them read the book after acquiring it, though. But she may be made to feel obliged to if they proved to be helpful.

"I know of a good place to start," she said. "Hephanter Helos. He's a notorious debauchee. His three great loves are books, sex, and wine. I can see him having a magic book for the sake of having it, even if he can't read magic." She made a motion from Mephorae to herself, grinning now. "I'm sure between the two of us we won't have much trouble working our way into his library..." Perhaps she should say three. For all she knew, the nobleman had a thing for tentacles.

Mephorae allowed her lips to curl into a grin at Eirwyn's words. She was reluctant to let the book get into others hands, but if this was the only way to find it, then so be it. She let her mind wander to how she might get a sneak at the book herself. Having never formally trained her magic use, she couldn't read magic. But she could steal it.

Maybe letting them read the volume first wouldn't be a bad idea at all, she thought as Eirwyn filled them in on where to find this Mr. Helos.

The tentacles are not for sex! Sheesh.

But in any event, despite its enormously creepy appearance, Aethaerraent was an unexpectedly excellent librarian. If Mephorae could win back its respect, it might prove most helpful in deciphering the book. But it said nothing and made no offers, gliding smoothly away from the table to allow Eirwyn to rise. One long-fingered hand swept outward, gesturing that it wished her to lead the way to this Helos person.

(Hahaha, I know. )

Eirwyn took her staff in hand and made her way out of the door, not glancing back to make sure the others were following her- she knew they would be. Once out on the street she paused a moment, looking both ways and frowning. So, they were at The Ivory Cap. That meant Helos's abode was somewhere to the north west of them. She knew that much. If they took a right, then a left, heading north, they could take another left four streets down, and his house was the sixth one down. All right, then.

The streets were hardly crowded, but there were definitely many people of many types around. Eirwyn spotted a sea elf at least once, her green hair giving her away, as well as a few dark-skinned wood elves. These were the least strange of the city's visitors. At one point they passed a minotaur, who comically (at least in the lich's opinion) had people scurrying out of his way as he walked down the street. They passed by a booth set up at the side of the street where someone was cooking finger foods. Though she never got hungry, Eirwyn couldn't help inhaling the scent of the food as best as she could. Her sense of smell wasn't what it used to be, intact nose or no intact nose.

At length, they arrived at a two story house. Unlike the houses around it, its colors were a little too bold to reflect sunset shades. Its base was white, but the rest of it was done in strikingly vivid shades of purple and red. Fitting.

Someone was there before them. It was a man in a doublet that looked like it had been made of a quilted sheet, wearing a plume in his hat. He held a scroll, half unraveled, in one hand. He glanced at them suspiciously. "I was here first," he warned.

The lich restrained the urge to snort at him. "Fair enough." They could afford to be patient, couldn't they?

Soon the door opened. The man revealed behind it was surprisingly handsome. Not exactly the first image that came to mind when one thought of a pervert who sat around drinking copious amounts of wine all day. He was well muscled, tanned, with dark bronze-gold hair that parted in the middle, falling to the sides of his face in curves. His eyes were an average shade of blue, but not hard to look at, either. He did have a bit of a "wine belly", but it was not very large. He wore a tan-gold doublet over slightly darker leggings, and a single plain gold band flashed on his right hand. The face of the band was raised and blank, as though it were waiting to be engraved on.

His eyes moved over the forms of the people standing in the door, appraising them. A grin of approval was on his features up until he noticed the illithid. He gave a little gasp and nearly reeled backwards. Clutching a hand to his chest, he chuckled. "Ho! Goodness. You startled me. I can't imagine what business a mindflayer has with me. This should be interesting. Come in, all of you!" He had a loud way of speaking, as though he were used to addressing crowded rooms. The man with the plumed hat had been about to speak, but was silenced when he was yanked unceremoniously through the door.

Hephantes Helos set about pouring glasses of wine for all of them, Aethaerraent as well, though he was not at all certain illithids drank wine. He handed out glasses to all. Eirwyn took hers and tried a futile sniff, trying to determine the type, origin, et cetera.

Plume man impatiently set aside the glass of wine and thrust the partially opened scroll at Helos. "This is the new play I've been working on," he said. "I think you will be pleased. I just require funding..."

Helos snatched up the play and raked his eyes over the words. "Hmmm. Yes, yes. Yes! YES! Indeed! Quite good! Now just work on it some more and come back in a week!" He slapped the man on the shoulder heavily. The man's mouth opened and closed, reminiscent of a fish out of water. "A-all right," he said finally, then left the house in a daze.

"Now! How can I help you? What can I do you for?" the exuberant man asked, turning to his other three guests. One got the feeling that he meant the latter in the most explicit sense.

(W-whoa... I had no idea it would end up that long. ; Sorry!)

(Additional edit: Helos's reaction to Aethaerraent seems pretty mild, but I felt like we wouldn't have much to do if he just refused to let it in. Then again I guess it could use its powers on him, or they could break in later... pfft... argh.)

(No need to feel badly about post length; I almost prefer longer posts to shorter.)

Mephorae fell in step behind the mindflayer and lich. She chose the rear in order to keep an eye on the inky creature. She kept a distance from it at all times, but tried not to lag too far, less she get lost. She smiled somewhat stupidly to see the bovine man through a parting crowd, glad to to see someone else so physically different in this area. Her eyes were still glowing from the encounter when they reached the garish residence. That soon changed as their host barreled through the door, did a double-take and then over-graciously invited them in.

She entered slowly behind her companions, accepted the wine but did not imbibe, and drew back her cloak upon settling. She wore a white, off-the-shoulder chemise with puffed sleeves under a brown leather bodice with a harness around her underbust and over her shoulders. Her breeches were plain beige and pouches dangled from the black belt doubled about her waist. She was careful while folding the cloak back, wary of the cat-like talons where a normal human's nails would be on her hands. Helos had just said something in his booming voice that caused her ears to twitch in protest. She realized he was dimsissing the impatient man before them and was refocussing his attention to her party.

His tone made her uncomfortable, but she knew she had to do her best to win this male over and make up for the grave mistake of losing her directions. She was loathe to be the object of her employer's wrath and the mere thought sent a strange shiver down her spine, causing her tail fur to stand on end. Leaning forward and brushing her burgunday hair over her shoulder, she started:

"Good day Sir Helos. How do we find you; well I hope?" She turned on the charm with a small smile, careful to keep her lips closed, less her fangs make the gesture into more of a sneer than intended. Hephantes returned with like pleasantries and Mephorae sorted her words to best sway him. "My name is Mephorae, and these are my companions..." She faultered there, realizing they had never properly introduced themselves... Forgetting to keep her lips as one, she flashed some teeth and made a glance to Eirwyn, hoping the woman would have smoother words. She certainly couldn't implore the Illithid.

The writer who attempted to defend his rights to first visitation got a milky-eyed stare, impressed and unamused. But Aethaerraent was immediately suspicious when Helos simply invited the flayer inside after a moments startlement. It was extremely rare that mere mortals did anything other than draw bolts and arm themselves when they found an illithid on their stoop.

A trap? Perhaps. More likely that this Hephanter fellow had had much more contact with creatures of evil than one would expect from a simple overindulger. It was not entirely unknown for illithids to traffick in the most black market of goods; hideous devices of torture, mind-altering drugs, black knowledge no sane person would wish to possess. Might Helos secretly be dabbling in any of these? Drugs didn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility.

The flayer entered behind the two women, and though it made no motion to take the wine with its spindly hands, the glass assumed a hover in the air beside Aeth. Mephorae and Eirwyn were allowed to do the talking for now, for Aeth was simply busy listening, crowding around Helos' mind in search of thoughts of books. Other than the play.

Helos chuckled- a big 'ho ho' chuckle that came, if not from his belly, at least from his chest region. "Well, aren't you delightful? Yes, who the hell are you people?" he asked, grinning round at them.

Eirwyn, too, had to wonder just why he let an illithid into his home so easily after the first initial shock. Perhaps he DID have a thing for tentacles...

"My name is Eirwyn Killsong," the lich said, inclining her head slightly in the least humble of bows. "We have come to offer you our services in whatever you might need- within reason. In return, we would like to have a look at your library."

The word 'library' brought a veritable flood of thoughts about books to the man's head. Unfortunately, most of them were of the inappropriate sort, but he was reasoning to himself that two respectable young women were probably not after his special collection. Perhaps, then, they were after magic? His thoughts grew fuzzy at this point. His mind had a tendency to ramble quickly and aimlessly, careening off track multiple times- from this Aethaerraent might be able to tell he was a bit insane. That might account for his nonchalance in dealing with an illithid, though black dealings were not out of the question just yet.

"Certainly," he said at length. "I may have just the thing for you ladies. I am having a... party, of sorts. I need someone attractive to serve the wine, or my guests simply won't be satisfied."

Eirwyn considered. It seemed rather beneath her to be a wine server at a party, but that seemed a small sacrifice to make to get a look at a rather rare magic tome. Perhaps they should find out if he had the book first, though, before they decided anything.

"Do you happen to have any books of magic?" she asked, leaning slightly on her staff, more out of fidgeting than because she needed its support.

"Oh, yes, of course!" The man clapped his hands together. "Very many. You're free to take your pick- just one, mind you! Don't get greedy!" He chuckled his 'ho ho' laugh again, his belly quaking. His mind was filled with images of books now- a midnight blue leather cover studded with cheap gemstones, the first page on the inside of the book bearing a circle with two intersecting triangles within, one facing upward, one facing downward. A rather small black book with gilded pages and no writing on the front or spine. A red book with faded, yellowed pages, with a blue ribbon sticking out to serve as a bookmark.

(Slipping in a detail out of turn, so Meph has a chance to include it in her response)

As Aeth gathered up these thoughts of magical tomes, it passed them on to Mephorae's mind, a most distracting and unnatural flood of foreign thoughts and images. Nevertheless, it wanted to give her the opportunity to recognize any of these tomes as "the" tome.

She was jolted by the flurry of images and it took her a stiff-backed moment to realize what was happening. She chided herself silently for being so jumpy. She was too new at this job; give her a sword, a rocking ship at sea... Mephorae put her thoughts in check to review the images.

The black book could be it. She remembered the brief description: Dark cover, black or possibley midnight blue. Pages have a silver tint and the book would be cool to the touch. She couldn't remember whether or not there were runes on the cover or spine...

She did remember the book would be old. Very old and fairly worn. She glanced to Aethaerraent's milky orbs which could or could not be looking at her. She had no way of being sure. However, she was sure it had got a glimpse into what she was thinking.

She wanted to pursue the black book.

Aethaerraent wanted to pursue all the books, but it would wait to bring this up with Helos until after the two ladies had concluded their negotiations. It 'spoke' for the first time, projecting its 'voice' into Helos' brain. May I assume I will not be required to serve wine? Illithids were really not the most popular party guests, after all. Immediately after, while Helos was still recovering from the shock of thoughts being forced upon him, it would convey to Eirwyn the image of the book that Mephorae was interested in. See how useful creepy horrifying monsters can be?

Helos shuddered as the voice invaded his mind, and dragged a hand down his face. It took a few seconds for him to recover enough to be able to speak.

"No," he said. "Not unless you want to, of course." What kind of 'parties' did he have anyway?

Eirwyn nodded absently to the illithid after she received the image of the book, taking care to remember its appearance.

(wrong account?

Mephorae was getting used to the uncomfortable presence of the illithid. "Well," she started, trying to get their host's attention. "May we see the books?"

Either really awesome ones or really bad ones.

I do not want to. Aeth responded with ominous finality. So far, this was all turning out to be very easy, which should have pleased the Illithid; but the way these people treated information! Just handing it out in return for standing around and looking pretty. Or letting it get singed or dropped, for that matter. How depressing.

Helos shook his head. "No time, I'm afraid," he said. "The party's already starting. This way, if you please." Instead of walking through the door out into the hall, he stepped up to a small bookshelf and opened it, letting them down into a staircase. Eirwyn's wrongness senses were tingling, but she had to admit she was intrigued. Whatever the others chose to do, she began to follow him downstairs.

The teifling's hackles raised with the same feeling of impending danger. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the feeling lingered in the back of her mind. She followed to the book shelf and eyed her surroundings. Under her lashes she shot a look at their host and decided to err on the side of caution.

She recalled her racial spell that might come of some use in case this "party" was going south.

(He's taking them to a party, which is located behind a bookshelf. It's a secret entrance leading downward.)

(Oooh, okay.)

Aethaerraent, having been told it was not wanted for the party, and deeply suspicious of this Helos character, remained just where it was and looked menacing. I will await your return, it informed the two girls, eying the bookshelf itself.

(Edited; sorry for the failure. I apparently was confused as well.)

Eirwyn followed the man down the stairs along with Mephorae. At first, it was very dark, and then quite bright. They entered a chamber with several openings around it, leading into tunnels. It was comfortably lit, and there was a long table covered in a luxurious table cloth, with fine silverware and crystal goblets set on top of it. Servants coming down a trap door to one side of the room were setting the table and filling the glasses. Already several other guests were sitting at the table, waiting, while others entered. It looked fairly normal so far, except for something at the far end of the room. It was a short piece of furniture made of stone, almost like an unusual hutch, and it had a pair of dark red candles sitting on it, evenly spaced from each other.

Eirwyn let down her defenses and directed her thoughts to the illithid as best as she could. She didn't really feel comfortable letting her guard down, but she figured as long as she was reporting information to it, it wouldn't be getting anything she wasn't comfortable sharing, nor would it look for anything other than what she was giving it. She sent the image of the strange stone thing at it, and then, briefly, the faces of the guests in case they might need to identify them later for whatever reason.

Helos moved to the servants and picked up two pitchers of wine, handing it to the women and beaming. "We're almost ready!"

(... At this point, let's not even bother to fix it.)

She was uncertain she could do this. But with a reassuring look from the Lich, she took the pitcher and went about serving some guests. She was careful not to be her clumsy self and sum up that buried part of her that was confident and agile. She moved through the people, trying to get a good look at them. Her eyesight was not its best in brightly lit faces but she tried to keep her expression pleasant. The strange stone "furniture" made her uncomfortable and caused her skin to prickle.

Helos' voice then thundered through the room to announce the beginning of the occasions.