(Bibliophile) Hollow Souls

[Forn Clakes]

The other side of the ritual doorway opened by HAL is thick with darkness, the moment a hand is passed over the threshold, it seems to disappear as it is enveloped like a blanket. A scent of ozone wafts from the doorway and with a snap of his fingers, HAL orders some torches to be brought by his blue-skinned 'assistant.' They are clockwork, wind-up torches, capable of around 30 minutes of usage before needing to be re-wound, and are enough for each changeling to possess one.

"Fate watch over you," HAL says before waiting for them to cross over the door and into his abandoned Hollow, eyes trying to pierce the gloom.

This scene continues from Dinner, Wine & Doors. All Glamour, Willpower and Health pools are unchanged

[Degnar]

Degnar politely declined the clockwork torch, figuring that it would work against his desire of remaining unnoticed if possible. Besides, the Tunnelgrub was used to roaming around in the darkness. A lifetime of traveling mostly through tunnel systems certainly helped to get used to such things. Once they had stepped through the door, he wasted no time in taking the necessary precautions. Calling upon his Contract with Smoke, the Darkling made certain that he left no tracks as he walked, while borrowing the shadows around him to assist in his efforts of being sneaky.

He would much rather catch the automatons unaware, than the other way around. Thus, the Archer moved carefully, sticking to the shadows around him with every step. Hopefully the others would do the same, but he had to be ready in case they didn't. Degnar blinked his black beady eyes a couple of times, allowing for his eyes to adjust to the darkness around them. He kept an eye out for any potential threats, moving slowly and quietly as he did so.

  contract activations, 7 suxx stealth, 2 suxx perception

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 15:32:41		Degnar rolls 8 to Wits+Composure (10 Again)		4, 8, 8, 3, 7, 2, 4, 4		2 successes
2015-03-10 15:21:55		Degnar rolls 12 to Dex+Stealth+Shadowpatch to be sneaky, sneaky hedgehog! (9 Again)		1, 10, 7, 8, 8, 10, 6, 9, 8, 8, 1, 1, 5, 6, 5		7 successes
2015-03-10 15:20:47		Degnar rolls 7 to Wyrd+Wits for "Shadowpatch" (10 Again)		2, 5, 10, 6, 4, 2, 2, 3		1 success
2015-03-10 15:20:25		Degnar rolls 6 to Wyrd+Intelligence for "Nevertread" (10 Again)		1, 8, 4, 6, 6, 10, 4		2 successes

Reactivating stuff since its a new scene. Catch met on both Contracts. Mantle benefit incurs -3 penalty to notice him. I think Cave Sense would negate any penalties for darkness?

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel excepts one of the torches. However, since Degnar had gone ahead without one, the Gravewight refrains from wind it up just yet. Degnar probably hadn't taken one for stealth reason, so Daniel wasn't going to ruin any surprise by suddenly shining a bright light all over. However, Degnar also knew the Hedge and Hollow better than anyone. The Tunnlegrub could run without worry of stumbling off the path. Daniel didn't have that knowledge and if it came time to flee it was better to be a beacon on the path than lost off of it.

He stepped through the tent door as silently and carefully as he could. He took a quick look around to get his bearings. Degnar had disappeared. Daniel bit the tip of his tongue at that and looked for a place to hide.

"Degnar?" he called barely above a whisper.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 18:22:40		Daniel Leto rolls 6 to Wits+Comp (10 Again)		1, 8, 5, 5, 7, 6		1 success
2015-03-10 18:22:21		Daniel Leto rolls 1 to Specialty In darkness? (10 Again)		10, 6		1 success
2015-03-10 18:21:55		Daniel Leto rolls 4 to Stealth+Dex (9 Again)		4, 8, 3, 10, 6		2 successes

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan imitiated the Archer of the Lonely March, forgoing a torch as she followed him through. She had her own light sources, mechanical and chemical, if she needed them. There was also the matter of her preferences for going unnoticed. The raccoon could run and climb enough to ditch pursuers, but sometimes it was better to hide to let the hunters pass. Or never be spotted by them in the first place. Degnar had vanished from her sight, though now she knew he was a sneaky type that was less distressing then it could have been. She smiled as a thought occurred to her. What she mumbled out, "Imma mmmore copy-cat then raccoon, heh-here," was quiet though her motley mates might be close enough to hear her.

Copy cat

  Shadowpatch

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:02:56		Morgan Bellanar rolls 6 to Shadowpatch (10 Again)		7, 3, 2, 3, 2, 10, 6		1 success

  Nevertread

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:04:15		Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Nevertread		2, 5, 7, 7, 10		1 success

  Perception=3 Suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:04:51		Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Perception Check (10 Again)		2, 9, 8, 8, 5		3 successes

  Stealth=3 Suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:05:22		Morgan Bellanar rolls 11 to Stealth + Shadowpatch (10 Again)		2, 7, 5, 3, 8, 10, 1, 7, 7, 2, 1, 9		3 successes

She sent a grin with a small salute towards Daniel and Lynn as the shadows oozed over her body, causing her to fade into the darkness. Her voice whispered out of the darkness, "I am heh-here. I ssshall g-g-guard-protect from the dark." Then the Twilit Page tried to keep quiet and keep her senses open.

Who knows what was waiting.

[Trickster]

Lynn nodded her thanks to HAL as she accepted a torch, though she followed the other's lead in not lighting it as she passed into the darkness. She had already decided not to use any of her Contracts to hide, as her stated purpose on this trip was to be the shiny bit of bait. She almost instantly regretted both decisions as the inky darkness on the other side of the door caused her to trip and fall forward to sprawl inelegantly on the path before her. Through some whim of fate, she managed not to twist anything as she fell, although a string of snarled curse words could quite clearly be heard.

  Blind as a Bat

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:36:01		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to look around [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		4, 1, 7, 5, 2		failure

  And she sticks the landing!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-03-10 21:40:31		Lynn Mills rolls 4 to catch herself [Dex (3) + Athletics (1)] (10 Again)		2, 1, 9, 9		2 successes

[Forn Clakes]

The door closed behind them, cutting off HAL as he was about to speak. The darkness consumed them entirely. In fact, only Degnar's keen sight in such poor light managed to make out Lynn's stumble. The ozone scent still lingered and it left a metallic taste on the palette. Degnar can make out that they have emerged into some type of cellar with three large, untouched wine racks reaching the ceiling, roughly a couple of feet above the tallest of them. The room itself wasn't particularly large but gave the four changelings enough room so as not to bump into each other. The walls remind the Archer of the Lonely Path of the type that would make up a castle; large-cut, stone masonry blocks of dark grey. As he scans the room, the last thing Degnar makes out are five steps leading up to a heavy wooden door that has been barred shut from inside the cellar; no doubt where the banished Autumn King fled from his creations.

The dark was too heavy for Daniel to pierce but his ears could make out a distant whine, reminding him of a static whine from when a computer monitor is left on, power escaping from its casing, leaking into the world. As for Morgan, the ozone was overpowering here and even though she couldn't make out anything as well as Degnar, she could see the door also. Finally, there was Lynn. The stumble made her brace herself on something metallic, one of the wine racks. The moment she touched it, she was given a very small static discharge from it's surface.

[Degnar]

As the Darkling studied the scene around him, he heard Lynn stumble in the dark. He cringed slightly, but relaxed as he noticed that they were the only ones in the room. He frowned slightly as he noticed the door, but did not move towards it just yet. "I'm here," he said in response to Daniel, not bothering with whispering since it was just them for the time being. "Its just us in this room," he added after a brief pause.

The Tunnelgrub moved in the direction of the Nightsinger, just to make sure that she was alright. "Are you hurt?" he asked, glancing over at the wine rack that she had touched. "Avoid touching anything in this place; we don't know what sort of security measures HAL had in place." Degnar offered Lynn a hand, making sure not to startle her in the process. Clearly the girl's eyes were not used to such darkness, so perhaps he would need to lead her.

"There's a door up ahead," he said to his companions. "Its barred from this side, and there are some steps that lead up to it." The Tunnelgrub paused for a moment as he glanced over at the door once more. "We should be able to lift the bar to get it open," he added after the brief pause. Honestly, he was more concerned about what laid behind the door, waiting for them.

[Morgan Bellanar]

The smell of burnt air filled her nostrils, like from electricity. Degnar's warning on not touching suddenly made a lot of sense. The smell could be from the automatons or traps, it was tough to know which could be worse. "T-t-there tis an electric ssscent in the air-r-r. B-be careful of shock-zaps." A late warning for Lynn.

She could see the door but very little else. "I t-t-think listen and slow heh-hover hand on-over door-r-r-r. M-make sure it ain't electrified..." She mumbled something about fire being a mistake as she very slowly made her way towards the door, leading with her toes to make sure she didn't trip.

[Trickster]

She had managed not to curse again when whatever her hand had landed on shocked her, so there was that at least. It was so dark that she couldn't see a bloody thing, so instead she stayed still until her eyes adjusted. A mass in the darkness moved towards her, before she could panic she heard Degnar's voice coming softly out of the darkness.

Lynn gratefully took the hand that Degnar was offering, using it to work her way carefully back to her feet, wincing a bit as she did so. "Sorry." She kept one hand on the Archer's shoulder, more as a way to stay oriented than anything else. Her eyes were adjusting, but slowly. "Anybody here speak to elements? I'm wondering if we need to take precautions." She gestured with the flashlight.

She really, really didn't want to get the journals that HAL wanted. The idea of twisting the Hedge the way he was . . . it just seemed as if it was going to go south really quickly and in a very spectacular fashion. If the automatons here hated HAL as much as she thought, they might be better off by seeming to fail on this trip and coming back later to try and negotiate a separate deal later. But that would only work if HAL didn't have some way to listen to them right now.

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel heard the humming of what sounded like some sort of screen. He couldn't quiet pin the sources. Partly due to lack of sight and partly due to Lynn's thump.

"Sorry, can't speak with elements," Daniel replied "But before we go too much further and while we're away from HAL, I think it might be good to talk," he paused and the electric buzz filled the silence. It was hard to take social cues from people he couldn't see clearly but he assumed they were turned towards him to listen "I'm not sure getting HAL what he needs for his project is the best idea. Between what Hurley said and the fact the HAL has been banished before, he does seem a little... obsessed with his project in a way that might keep him from seeing flaws. I mean, if the Fae could hack a network like that..." he shuddered to think "Not sure how much I trust his played down version of events either. Can't help but feel there's something he did to get thrown out by his own creations. Depending on how things go and what they're like, it might be better to ally ourselves with the automatons if we can. Or those blue hobs."

He looked around at his fellow shadows in the dark "Just thought I'd throw out that thought before we dug ourselves deeper."