(Rotten Roots) Burning the Midnight Oil

[Anatole]

Darkness fills the spaces of the Autumn Court Hollow. It hangs thickly in the air and oozes out from behind the many shelves and volumes of Dread Lord Rhodes' library. It breathes down the neck of any unfortunate Lost venturing into the space without a strong light. Occasionally, the chamber creaks and cracks; the Thorns scratch and skitter on the outside of the enclosing walls and panels - testing fingers looking for a chink or a fissure in the wards to gain purchase.

Anatole is used to this and has bought many candles with him over the past weeks: they lie scattered across the chamber, shrunken and dissolved. The Wizened's mantle is darkness and it works tirelessly to wither the light away. The Paladin of Shadow's knows his own mantle so the array of candles has been vast - the usually empty Hollow now feels like it has been lived in even if it only 'lived in' in a very gothic and abandoned sense.

The candles, however, are guttering. They are failing, one by one, as the burned dwarf's mantle devours the light.

Anatole sits at a desk surrounded by scrolls and books - indeed the desk is struggling to maintain its integrity with the weight of the volumes and the hefty weight of the dwarf face down on top of them. The Paladin has worked and worked and worked, long into the late hours over these past weeks; he has scoured every book and volume the library has - all for a spare few pages of notes. The 'Rust' is illusive and rare. He isn't even sure he has the correct name or terminology to describe what he is looking for.

Dogged determination simply isn't enough. And so the exhausted Paladin sleeps where he has been working and the darkness closes about him.

Gothic indeed.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2023-01-14 00:25:36	[01] Anatole can do research rolls 3 to Intelligence + Occult - 3 (obscure information, lack of research materials) (10 Again)	8, 8, 7	2 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2023-01-14 00:25:36	[02] Anatole can do research rolls 3 to Intelligence + Occult - 3 (obscure information, lack of research materials) (10 Again)	6, 9, 4	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2023-01-14 00:25:36	[03] Anatole can do research rolls 3 to Intelligence + Occult - 3 (obscure information, lack of research materials) (10 Again)	7, 3, 3	failure

Saber Sloth - Not sure how I ended up with two sets of results - must be a bad internet connection somewhere. I've gone with the second set of results.

The Autumn Court Hollow does have a library but it doesn't really have anything that leaps out as relating to the "Rust". Hence the thumping -3 penalty to reflect lack of correct research materials and the obscure nature of the information. I am assuming the time interval between rolls is around a week (again reflecting the obscure information) and has been capped at his adjusted dice pool level.

Anatole has exhausted the library in regards to this question.

[Saber Sloth]

Long hours, dim light, dwindling sources means that Anatole doesn't find the mystical tome with All The Answers, but he does find a few things that might connect.

The first thing he finds is a mention of the Elemental kith Metalflesh, which rings a bell. Liam mentioned a dead Metalflesh, wrapped in vines where the rust was first found.

Looking through the Dread Lord's inclusions to the Autumn Archive Anatole does find something mentioning the Hedge Wardens with their ideas of the Promise of the Thorns, and the ones known to Sacramento, are a large Motley that spend the year walking the Hedge from Redding to San Francisco and how when they're Entitled their Mien's take on the appearance of Iron.

With the Mien in mind, Anatole flips through a book of children's stories, an echoing theme among them. Turning something, into something else. Something into gold usually like straw or lead, but as always, a price, consequences, and if they can't pay that help turns to hurt.