Entomology 101

Log Info

• Title: Entomology 101
• Emitter: Ashes
• Characters: Ashes, Sabina
• Place: A14: Quill's Repose, City Library
• Time: Tuesday, August 04, 2020, 3:30 PM
• Summary: Ash has decided to do some investigation and gone to the library, where all good disasters start and finish. She has invited Sabina along, to assist. It's not the Tarien cleric's specialty, but it is a chance to do something with the mourner. Ash has collected a number of reference books, overviews for novices mostly, and bestiaries, and is reading through them at a table. Her familiar, the large house centipede, is out. The two discuss monsters, her familiar's name, which is Chippen, short for Chippendale, and naming conventions. Ash expresses a hope that their familiars might one day become friends, and Sabina asks, "like we are?" Ash carefully says, "yes." Sabina confirms they must be friends because of the ooze incident, and by then they have made too much noise laughing, and are chased out of the library.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A14: Quill's Repose, City Library *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

A large hallway, circular in design, is what lies beyond the large doors that let visitors in to the public library. Two guards stand in these doors at all times, employees of the city Watch, hired by the library for protection and to prevent theft of books. The head librarian is more of the same--a retired Watch member, herself: Lady Octagna is a great oruch whose lined face bears with it, as well, the scars of old battle. These days, she battles over books and the impudence of Society, Engineering, and Temple students alike, who spend long hours toiling within the Library's walls and basement.

A sign above proclaims the loan of books to be illegal, and that books may not travel further than the doors. Loud noises are hushed by the Lady Octagna, whose grand stature is said to be second to none. Her movements are rarely heard, though they are often seen, marking her quite agile in her elderly age. Rumors, too, place her as a curmudgeon'd ally of Madame Gelfure, the two of them going back years, with a tradition of lunches or the occasional breakfast.

The hall has marble floors, and two staircases lead upwards, one to the left and another to the right. Bright blue carpets cover the steps to lend to the quiet atmosphere of the great library. Straight ahead of the entryway, a tall archway leads into the main library, with study tables between rows and rows of books. The upper levels contain the city records to the left, and the right is a closed off area for library staff.

The symbols of Navos, the Scribe, may be seen in the markings of columns, in the relief of marble. Marble is the prevalent building material, giving the rooms a regal, official and solemn feeling. A few benches line the walls of the circular hall, and a desk sits to the right of the entrance, a secretary always attending it to help guests, even late into the night. The occasional Seer or Temperance may also be seen, offering advisement and wisdom within the great halls.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ashes        5'11"    177 Lb     Hobgoblin         Female    A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face
Sabina       5'4"     130 Lb     Human             Female    Tsuran woman of dark hair and green eyes
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

A certain Mourner of Vardama has set up to do some research. She has claimed one of the long tables between two sets of shelves, there is a balcony to one end, and more books in the other direction. Researchers are an eclectic lot, often introverted, so it is common for people of poor manners to be forced to share a table. Despite this, Ashlee has achieved above and beyond, and managed to scare everyone off.

It might be her natural aura, which makes even the children's section unsettling. Around actual tomes on eldritch subjects it's much worse. Books have a way of warping their reality. Of course, someone with a skull face, tattered clothes, and a folded parasol with a bone motif also doesn't invite company. Finally, her rather large centipede is out, 'patrolling' the table and while most mages enjoy familiars, some... are not top of the list. Most people see it waving feelers or legs at them, and find someplace else to go.

Still, Ash has her books, has sent out invitations, and looks forward to the social activity of looking through dusty books for lost information.

With a certian type of dread Sabina arrives. Not dread of meeting with or speaking to the Vardama priestess. No, for talking is one of Sabina's strong suits. That which isn't so strong is her love of research. Infact it's down right poor. Near non-exhistant. Yet still the Tarien priestess has on her mask and her smile as she sits across from the Mourner. Ever one to make the best of things. "Hello, Ashely. It's been some time. How are you?" She asks in quiet voice lest she drive off or disturb more people.

Ash looks up. A smile is too much to hope for, Sabina is lavished with a long, silent stare. Her familiar runs up, climbs the stack of books beside the mourner. The centipede waves some forelegs. It's a tall stack of tomes, the finished stack on the other side is much smaller. She apparently has long plans, although the notebook in front of her is largely empty except for a rough sketch.

The sketch is of a Typhilipede, with large cartoonish eyes that make it look a lot friendlier than its reality. Ash is still considering her answer, finally providing, "I'm alive."

"Then all is as it should be?" Sabina says-asks with a grin. "And I am here to help. If I can. But I warn you that searching through records and books is not my normal thing. Books fight back with sleepiness and fuzzy mindedness. But I am here to show my support." She looks around at the tombs and then waves a finger at the centipede. "What is it you're looking for?"

The centipede waves back, then scuttles down and zooms off to the other end of the table. It moves quick with a flurry of legs, a mildly unsettling sight due to it's size, but also one hardly comparable to the bugs battled below.

"The Typhilipede and the Purple Worm larva had outsider aspects. I'm looking for similar invertebrates to see what to expect next." Ash stares at Sabina, she can almost see her face on the silver mask. It's distorted and curious, keeping her attention. Finally she reaches for one of the books on her stack and passes it over, "This one won't attack."

The Tarienite doesn't seem bothered by Ashes stare, seeing as the Mourner isn't putting her weight behind it. The smile stays firm and then expands when she's given a book that won't bite. "Thank you. So.. just anything else that might show up along side these worm things?" She asks and then opens the book to start skimming. "Or something more defined?"

Ash nods slowly, watching 'Bina as she opens the book, "Just bugs. From Hell. That are summoned by spell accidents or associated with Spell Blight."

She takes her own book, flips it open and pages through, primarily looking for pictures but also checking manes and descriptions. The mourner doesn't seem to have a structure for finding the references, her method mostly a random-walk through the book.

She looks down at her notebook, saying, "I like bugs."

Bina's smile shows teeth this time and she motions towards Ashes familiar. "So I can see. Speaking of.. does this little one have a name?" She then starts scanning the book for the key words of hell, planes as well as similar words along side the bugs that most of these books seem to cover. "Perhaps we could ask and check into 'plauges' of insects? Un-natural disassters?"

Ash looks up at the question, says in her monotone, "Yes." She ponders the next question, nods once, "Yes, we should ask for those." Although she doesn't make a move to ask, instead looking back to the pages she's flipping through.

Her centipede arrives from the far end of the table, running across her notebook and looking up at her. She stares back. Finally she returns to staring at Sabina, a mental penny dropping, "It's Chippendale. He dances."

Sabina wonders if he gives lap-dances, but decides not to ask. The centipeded does in fact, do so, considering himself to be an excellent dancer. Sadly such performances are rarely desired. No one wants it.

Bina again distracts herself by fingerwaving to the centipede. "Chippendale. It's nice to meet you Chippendale. May I call you Chip?" She asks the familiar. As if he..it.. could speak to her. "We shall ask for them after getting through these? We'll likely need help wandering through the histories section. If there's anything like that in the section. Perhaps in the planar studies?"

"He prefers 'Chippen'," Ash corrects in her monotone way. The centipede doesn't appear to express any preference, beyond feeler-waving at Sabina, perhaps granting permission. It's difficult to tell with familiars, especially when they're alien.

"Yes." The mourner says again, pointing at the bottom few books in the stack, "These are planar studies." She adds after a moment of silence, "Overviews, for novices."

She flips a page, then taps at it and turns the book around for examination. There is a picture plate, showing a cloud of wasps, the standard black and yellow, but with hungry red eyes. "Hellwasps. They crawl into dead bodies and turn them into zombies. They can be detected because they're visible crawling through the skin."

She reads upside down, pointing with her pen. Chippendale hovers at the top of the turned book, examining also, "They can speak, and might be formed from the souls of dispersed demons."

"Chippen." Bina repeats and then leans forward to look at and read what Ashes is showing her. A small grimace at the ..alien-ness of the creatures and their function. "I do so hate the undead creators. No matter what form they take. It's like fighting multiple foes even though it's truely only one. Is this what you're looking for or you're just giving me an example?"

"An example," Ashlee says, her words carefully pronounced and without inflection. Chippen runs onto the picture-page and the arvec spins the book back around so she can read it more easily. Stretching her hand around she writes in her notebook, first the name, 'Hellwasp', a little picture of a wasp with big eyes and eyebrows, then a couple notes.

"If it forms from a dispersion, that could be important. Killing demons might cause these. There might also be a hole to Hell."

Bina makes a grumbly face and reaches out for a piece of paper and a writing utensil. "Right.. killing a bad thing can cause a bad thing to be formed or happen. Ughh.." Still, true to her word she starts sifting through the book before her. "Is there a creature that controls them? Not just hell wasps but other insects? Like a queen controls a hive of bees?"

That is a question that takes a bit more searching. Ash flips back a few pages, then forward. Her centipede runs up an available arm and settles in her hair, hanging down and looking down. Her voice betrays no disappointment, but the answer seems like it should be, "I can't tell."

She turns a page, stares, then shows a picture of a skeletally thin woman with a mothlike face, with dragonfly wings and swirling shadows. It almost seems to be a twisted version of some kind of Fae, "This one controls things."

Bina glances and again makes a small face before it goes back to normal. "I would start thinking of a thing that may be controlling them. Unless they naturally do al lthe things they've been doing recently. And I'm not in the true know of things. You are more likely to know what's been happening then myself." She pauses to think and then adds. "The corruption out there has been there for years, yes? What started it and why does it grow now?"

Ash reads further, exactly like one reading from a book does. Her words are very dry, their contents, not. "Oolioddroo, a moth demon that lays eggs in the brains of sleeping victims, which hatch into larva that allow it to detect thoughts, modify memory, and use suggestions. The victim can carry it for years."

She doesn't draw a cute moth for this in her notebook.

"This controls people, not bugs. I don't know how the corruption started." The ashen arvec looks up, fixing a stare at Sabina, "I'm not a nature person."

Bina makes a stronger face at the 'years' talk. "Uuugh! So not nice. In fact I'd call it down right nasty. Imagine an entire town under the effect of that being. It's actually a scarry thought. As is most of this research to be honest. I know nothing of nature myself. But this is easy to tell that these things aren't natural."

"It's like a vampire, but worse." Ashlee nods, having some experience with vampires, if mostly culturally. She shakes her head, turning the page, then several more, "They're all unnatural. I asked for the strange books. There are the Explorer's Guild records too."

Bina nods slowly. "Yes. You and I together have seen more then our fair share of vampire related things, haven't we." ,she says with a sigh. "But that gives us a leg up when dealing with them and things like them, I'd like to think. And if not then who will take care of them? Certainly not the normal folk living in the towns and cities."

Ash bobs her head in agreement. She doesn't smile, and there isn't any hint of mirth in her voice, but the flat words sound like they might be meant to be a joke when she says, "Then we can write it all down, and it will be left for others to research."

She reaches the end of her tome, closes it, "More hellish things, nothing that controls or creates them."

The next book comes off the stack, she opens and starts turning pages. "Oh. A conqueror worm. This takes over cities, using mind control. It can grant divine spells, has a holy symbol and a penchant for theatrics. Worm, not wyrm. It can possess people if killed. It looks like a giant maggot."

Ash's voice trails off as she day-dreams about maggots.

Bina blinks behind her mask and does her impression of Ash, staring at the Mourner. "Whaaat?!" She gets up and leans over to take a better look at this creature she's talking about. "How in all the hells does one fight something like that?!" She exclaims and gets a chorus of shushes from nearby studiers. "Sorry." She says in a hushed tone.

The ashen arvec reads the entry some more, finally coming to a conclusion. "It takes an army. Of wizards. If you can tell there is a worm and not regular turmoil. Watch for drama."

She turns the page. Chippen crawls down her face, then encircles her neck and squeezes down tight, like a choker. Ash reads some more. She seems almost excited, her head coming up suddenly. Her words remain monotone, "Swamp Lord. A sapient plant. It takes over areas and retains the abilities of the original host. It understands the surrounding area as if a Commune with Nature was active. If a mage turned, she could still cast spells, perhaps summon strange things. If she was high level enough."

Bina watches the book, giving the familiar only a brief glance and strangely enough a smile. She instead remains focused on the references that Ashes keeps pulling up. "It's amazing to me that we as the humanoid races have managed to stay alive and in numbers enough to keep creatures like this from taking over. I shall have to give Tarien a few extra prayers this evening in thanks for our survival and these creatures small numbers."

"There are a lot." Ash agrees, turning a page. She flips her notebook back a page, where she has some names written. "Even worms, more than Purple. Scavenger, Weaver. Scavenger Worm is really a spitting centipede."

Chippen hopes to one day grow up into being a spitty centipeded.

"Weaver worms fascinate like bards do, and people walk up to it to be eaten. It is like a giant caterpillar." Ash sighs, "The names are very undisciplined."

"You mean you don't like their names because they do not match what they do?" Bina asks with a smile. "That's kind of like saying you dislike a diamond back snake because it doesn't have real diamonds on it's back." A giggle, suppressed greatly as she gets another evil-eye look from a researcher. Not that their gaze has anything on Ashes look. "The question remains what is most or more likely, yes?"

"Sometimes they are worshipped as Goddess manifestations by primitive oruchs and ettercaps." Ashlee reads further in silence. She brings her writing implement up to her mouth, sucks on it a little, and makes a thoughtful noise. "The description is more like a maggot-woman-termite."

She turns over the page, there is a picture-plate. It is as disturbing and disgusting as one can imagine. Almost eagerly, she turns to show it to Sabina.

"It's not really a worm, is it? It is resisted by charming personalities, so a town of worshippers would be strangely all very charismatic."

She lingers on this thought, then adds, "A snake with diamonds on it's back would be neat."

There is the customary face given to the picture. She's obviously not enjoying them too much. But then she must seem strange to Ashes in many different ways. "What would you call it then? Femmagmite? Not that the name matters too much in this case. I would just call it wrong. It's wrong. How it can exhist at all is wrong. Sorry. I must be true humaiod raceist I imagine. Not that I wouldn't get along with it if it had noble goals and the betterment of all beings on it's mind. But chances are it doesn't."

"She might have a great personality." Ash concedes, turning the page so the unsettling picture is no longer staring up at her. "Likely not. Call her Termite Queen?"

She raises her head, stares silently across the table at Sabina, "Where is Emp?"

Bina blinks and then grins, finger pointing upwards. "He's on the roof. Likely sunning himself based on the feel of things. That and being annoyed with the pidgeons and other 'lesser birds' up there. That I can feel strongly." She hmms at the name and shakes her head. Head slug-bug in charge?" she counters with.

"Head-Slug-bug is good. I would correct it, but Lady Octagna would get upset." Ash says, leaning forward across the books and whispering in a monotone. She sits back, touching Chippen around her neck. Her notebook has flipped back a few pages. There's a rough picture of a peacock, with a centipede on his head. Silently, she flips the pages ahead.

"Some of the worms are worms. Death Worm. Back Worm. Maybe the guild records would be better."

Another blink from Bina as she spies the picture and reaches out to flip back to it. "Did you draw that?" She asks with a grin. "Tis kind of cute in a way. Not that I think Emp would enjoy being host to any creature but himself. He fussed so when carrying even a spider familiar. And that was in an emergency."

The ashen arvec nods slowly, again there's no emotion in her voice, no sadness, no hope. Her speculation regarding familiars could be way off. "I thought they might be friends."

She continues to stare, her mouth a flat expressionless line broken by two small tusks, or two very large teeth. "There might be another emergency. If we keep helping with this."

Bina sits back down and covers her mouth as she laughs, but this time doing a good job of keeping the volume down. Recovering she leans towards Ashes and smiles wide. "There will always be another emergency somewhere and chances are good that those of us that stick our noses into things will be in the thick of things. I'll try to see if I can get Emp to understand the whys of taking on passengers for another time it may be important."

"I'd like that." Ashes says, tilting her head and looking down at her notebook, making a few scratches with her pen. Chippen, somewhat alarmingly, uncoils from her neck and goes under her collar, and there is a ruffling of clothes as he moves along her arm, finally appearing at her wrist. Without looking up, but looking at Sabina through the corners of her eyes, Ash adds, "If they were friends."

Bina nods slowly. "Like you and I already are?" She asks, again with a large smile. "I enjoy watching people take form. Blooming in their various ways. I can see how you're trying an think it wonderous."

Ash silently remains in position, staring side-eyes at Sabina, no change to her expression. For her, it is a moment so delicate a smile might break it, and possibly a doubt that she heard correctly. Then, she nods, straightening up so she's staring at Sabina directly, mask to mask, even if hers goes a little deeper and can't be removed. Finally she says, "Yes."

Bina smiles broadly and reaches across the table to pat Ashe's hand. "Good. It takes a friend to be able to snort up a snot monster that another friend vomited out." She chuckles and covers her mouth again to keep from bursting out in laughter and getting them both kicked out.

Ash, does not laugh. She does make an aborted snorting noise as she shakes Sabina's hand, then breathes very carefully afterwards. Very carefully she nods, and says, "Snot-buddies forever."

Bina bursts out into laughter as she's dubbed a snot-buddy. Not just a little loud. VERY loud. Loud enough to make every head in the place turn in her direction and most of the looks are far from amused. In fact the head librarian on duty stands up and points at Ashes and Bina and then to the door. Even going so far as to stamp a foot! "Oopsie.." Bina says in a whisper.

"It's ok," Ash says, hustling her notebook into her messenger bag and Chippen onto her head. She is one who follows orders, and they didn't include putting everything away. Once standing, her slow and mournful composure has returned and she heads towards the door, checking to see that her confirmed friend is following.

Next, the familiars! She walks out into the sun.