To align the groups chronologically, we'll probably start with the trio since we've leveled up and Teri, Fin and Sherri have cool stuff to do to introduce their new powers. Then we'll cut to Lewis and Hanako after a time skip on their end, to hear about stuff going down at the library and come to join the other group.
I'm having hand tics right now which prevent me from typing anything during; I got through this message in about ten or so gos, two minutes and a lot of gritting my teeth. I might be slow during session...
After an eventful escape from the library and the loose blindwyrm lurking inside, you've now rescued a very traumatized Oakwinkle and are sitting on the grass outside taking a breath. It's getting just shy of evening now, and some of the streetlights are turning on, with little clouds of moths and pixies gathering around them.
Sherri lets out a shaky breath. "Alright, Oakwinkle, dear. Now that we're not in immediate danger, would you please be a dear and explain what that "blindwyrm" is and who put it in the library? And how do we get rid of it, the foul thing?"
Oakwinkle takes some deep breaths and seems to recover to his old self a bit. He brushes some grass off his shirt. "...Dear me. I have not encountered one for some time, but the sound of their coils is very distinctive. They are rather frightening lurkers in the Underdark, and the only way to rid them is to scare them off with sounds that are painful to them, if memory serves."
Fin starts to recite a poem, it's clear that she's making it up as she goes along
"Three fair friends, find fear-fast álfurinn, Dark disaster, deemed draugslegur galdur Glass-gazing gleamed, a bleak-bound blackness, Wander in a window widened, drop down, deep-descending"
@Mithical "I would imagine not," Oakwinkle whispers, so as not to interrupt the poem. "This may require an expert... but alas, my phone was quite destroyed."
"A rather unsavory group of individuals accosted me demanding information on the missing relic. I refused to give them anything, and they loosed a fiend upon my library." Oakwinkle presses his hands against his temples. "The interrogator was quite... odd. At first I mistook them for a small child, but when they questioned me they did not speak like one at all. It was almost as though they had many voices. They threatened quite nasty things."
Sherri summons a flame in her palm again. "I don't know what SECO is, but, sweetie, I'm afraid you've got the wrong impression about what's happening here."
"Please be gentle with my books," Oakwinkle says, sounding rather torn up but trying to be elvish and stoic about it. "The tomes in the back are delicate."
@Sciborg "Temporarily. Until we can figure out what to do with whatever the hell is in there." Lewis shakes his head at Oakwinkle. "First you lose a book, and now a monster?"
@Mithical Hanako giggles and casts a glance at Lewis. "Practically 24/7, but you get used to it eventually. At least he's too dense to know when I'm messing with him most of the time" she grins.
Fin draws herself up to her full 4'1" and follows The SECO officer to the door, and attempts to get his attention by tapping him on the shoulder - it's a stretch for the dwarf
Sherri sighs, walks over to Lewis, and stands behind him, arms crossed. "Have you considered, dearie, that talking to the people at scene might be the best way to get up to speed on what happens?"
Lewis turns around. "So I assume you were in there." Lewis takes out a notepad and starts scribbling. "I will need your names, age, residence, and if you can tell me what happened in there."
@bobble Oakwinkle looks back at Teri and whispers, "I wish very much to go home, but I will stay until they leave. They must not go wiping your memories or stirring up more trouble."
Directly at Lewis's brain, telepathically: The little girl you were just thinking of, I am somebody's little girl. I ran from home and now I'm mixed up in all... This
Having decided Oakwinkle is fine, Teri hurries over, then does a short, stiff, half-bow-nod-wave combination, not sure how to properly introduce herself in this situation. "I'm Teri. Fin, you sure you want to talk about the Gesta?"
> For the next 24 hours, when you touch a paper or document that has written text on it, the text transforms into repeating text of "WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID / WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID / WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID..."
"Oh, what the hell." Sherri sits down on the grass. "Being attacked at Robert's house, rescuing Oakwinkle from a monster, getting a gun pointed at us... what is even happening."
"I think what they mean to say is, if they were truly Dreamwalkers we would already have lost. Oakwinkle's with them, I think we can trust them Lewis." Hanako tries to calm him.
"Good God, are you not a man of the people? One who is sworn not to execute without trial?" Oakwinkle pushes himself painfully into a sitting position, wincing. "Let them... oof. Let them say their piece."
@PrinceNorthLæraðr The box thrums gently in your hand, then deactivates. Nothing else appears to change.
Lewis slowly lowers his gun. "Perhaps I'm slightly concerned that there is a Class-A/B exposure within the library and someone is in possession of a world threatening exposure event. So I apologize if I'm being a little obtuse, miss."
With a soft ruffling sound, the notebook pages shift. Now, in your own hand, the words on the page are nothing but a repeating series of "WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID / WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID..."
Fin starts to blush, on the verge of babbling "I think them I came back to the library, we met the detectives.... I tried to put the book in a room filled with .. anti-magic... I screamed at a cat... And I ate a burger?"
"Actually, sorry, before you continue speaking I should advise you of your legal rights." He clears his throat. "This is not a custodial interrogation. You are free to leave and stop at any moment. Please note that although you are not under arrest, your testimony may be ground for arrest should there be any illegal activity. You are also being recorded." He taps his pen.
Lewis frowns. "Normally, I'd have to take you into SECO custody until we can figure out what to do with the book, but I think we may be able to work together."
@PrinceNorthLæraðr You have a vague memory of a detective named Grimsley being involved in a case that trickled down to SECO a while back, with the famed Bancroft family of vampires. You also seem to recall he had something to do with an infamous poltergeist case involving a high-ranking noblewoman and an attempted political murder, but no more details than that.
@PrinceNorthLæraðr "That about matches up with what I know, yes. Anyway, darling, he's a friend of Oakwinkle's here. We went with him and his husband to his house to try to figure out this wonderful Gesta thing, and we were attacked by a... cat thing? and a dragon-like person."
Lewis clicks the pen off and explains the situation to the trio about his work against the Dreamwalkers. "Well, Fin, that object that you are carrying is a highly dangerous and coveted piece of object."
"I have always kept my possession of the object a very closely guarded secret. I cannot imagine how that information would have slipped out." Oakwinkle rubs his temples again. "Do you have any clue, Agent?"
"I have zero clue, Mr. Oakwinkle. Unless there's a mole at SECO, but SECO's known about this for years." Lewis clears his throat. "Though I do believe someone told me that the artifacts tend to gravitate towards each other of a sort."
Fin does her best to imitate her mother's knowing glare, "Are you sure? I was not good at sharing our last meal. Maybe if Mr Agent is finished making notes, we can finish talking over a meal?"
"Like a sort of radar. Once you possess a copy or the original, it becomes easier to possess the others. And high relic artifacts such as the Gesta seems to have a mind of its own, as evidenced by the fact that it bypassed your entire security system."
"I am quite certain I have never told anyone about my possession of the object at all, or its location..." Oakwinkle murmurs fretfully to himself. "Someone must have imparted the information unknowingly..."
"There were a bunch of amateur unsavories who tried to, ah, jump us the other day, and were looking for a book perhaps similar to the Gesta, or perhaps a copy."
"The information must have originated from somewhere... but no matter..." Oakwinkle rubs his eyes with his hands. "I am tired and wish to go home, Agent. Are we quite through arguing?"
@Mithical "I'm aware, yes." Lewis contemplates for a while. He then takes out his pink bouncy ball. "May I see the Gesta? Please don't make me touch it, but I'm curious...."
@Mithical In terms of destroying the Gesta, you realize that he is simply following his duties and trying to, for a lack of better word, not let the world burn
Lewis nods. "Mr. Oakwinkle, I am done for now. I will be here to turn bystanders away and wait for my team to dispatch, and we will enter the premises."
Sherri gestures to the window they used. "That window's loose, dearie, if you can't get the door open. And may I also recommend not dropping bouncy balls on, in your words, a 'world threatening exposure event', hmm, sweetie?"
“My books,” Oakwinkle says, mournfully. “Miss Sherri, dear. Will you do me a kindness and get me a ride home with your... what is it the children say, app?”
I think like... the entire plotline so far has taken place over around two days so Lewis's brusqueness and Sherri's exhaustion led to some... interesting interactions ;)
