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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 1, 2012 19:37:26 GMT -6
"Where do you think the throne room is?" Faro asked. "Ganon told me that the Ikana highly valued knowledge, often placing libraries where their rulers would have easy access to them." He explained, tracing his finger over several of the larger rooms.
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 2, 2012 17:53:24 GMT -6
Artie didn't answer Faro's question right away, he was focusing on the many rooms that were contained within the old castle.
"It might branch off from the throne room..." he said, pointing to the large room that was located at the far back of the castle. "From the few maps of the interior of castles I have seen in my lifetime...most of them were in the back or in the middle."
He looked up into the unending darkness and said "Let's get going." he rolled up the map and placed it in his belt and moved forward, using Sky's light so that he could see.
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 2, 2012 22:47:06 GMT -6
"What about you?" Faro asked. "You've been pretty tight-lipped as far as your own mission goes." Faro said, walking at Artie's side. "This promise, is it personal?"
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 3, 2012 0:42:42 GMT -6
"Some of it is personal. I owe this favor to someone of a higher power...they helped cure me of lycanthropy and all I owe them is the collection of a mask that is said to be buried here." Artie replied. They had fought together and Artie trusted Faro to a certain extent.
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 3, 2012 10:24:59 GMT -6
"Sounds simple enough. As long as this mask doesn't try to kill us." Faro remarked. After a bit silence, he spoke again. "Lycanthropy, huh? Can't say I've ever met anyone who had that. I know many who had something similar, but they changed into real animals." Faro explained.
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 3, 2012 11:25:22 GMT -6
Artie chuckled a bit. "I was close to losing my mind to the feral instincts. The transformation was slowed down due to my ability to already transform into a wolf." Artie said, stopping as they came to a closed door.
He looked around using Sky's light to search for a lever of some kind.
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 3, 2012 12:07:20 GMT -6
Artie's sudden revelation shattered Faro's composure, causing him to trip over a bone. Faro neither cursed nor grunted from pain. He merely lay there, dumbstruck. Faro suspected that some of his clan had escaped, but always dismissed it as wishful thinking. Could Artie really be another Takahi? He sprung to his feet.
"Can you change whenever you want? Can you transform right now?" He asked, half-screaming.
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 3, 2012 15:27:21 GMT -6
Artie looked over his shoulder at Faro and answered "Yes I can." He fully turned around so he faced Faro and his features started to take on a more canine appearance and he started to go down on all fours and was soon replaced with a wolf.
Artie sat down and his voice rang through Faro's head as he used telepathy to communicate with this form. "Cool, huh?"
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 3, 2012 21:52:37 GMT -6
"By the goddesses." Faro whispered as Artie transformed. He stood up straight, still in awe of Artie's animal form. However, there were other things that might not add up. He regained himself and began questioning Artie. "Do you remember anything from your childhood?"
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 3, 2012 22:12:45 GMT -6
Artie placed a paw up to his snout as if he were placing a hand on his chin. "Sky told me that I was abandoned in the streets of Hyrule Castle Market when I was a baby. I spent most of my childhood stealing to survive until I met my old master...who's pocket I also tried to pick." he laughed at the last bit.
(Can you explain what a Takahi is, Faro?)
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 4, 2012 0:10:47 GMT -6
(PM'd)
"I see. Without memory of your childhood, or your parents, this is futile. We should get moving." Faro walked past him toward the throne room. He knew he was being impatient, it wasn't Artie's fault that he didn't remember his parents, and Faro certainly wasn't helping anyone by getting his own hopes up. He resolved to finish his mission, and think on this another time.
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 4, 2012 12:03:45 GMT -6
Artie tilted his head at Faro in confusion before reverting back into his human form and followed him into the throne room.
The throne room was rather large, large enough that it could fit a dragon in there and maybe a smaller infant dragon. In the far back of the room there stood a throne with a skeleton of a long since dead king slumped in it. If he hadn't decayed down to his skeletal structure, Artie could have sworn that the dead king was just sleeping. Awaiting the day in which his kingdom would need him once more.
Azrael crouched low at the entrance to the throne room and thought about the conversation that took place. Within he felt a twinge of pity for Faro, like Azrael, he had lost his entire family. Of course...the key difference being Azrael didn't slaughter his under the control of an artificial demon.
He could have offered to scan the mind of Artie and to travel back to his early days to try to discover the identities of his parents. But, decided better against that until either offered or the story came up once more.
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 6, 2012 12:30:17 GMT -6
(Too much Skyrim symptom #542: Use of dragons as a unit of measurement.)
"Big place." Faro remarked. He approached the king's throne, examining it for any switches. "Would your wolf form be able to sense any switches in the walls?" Faro asked, as his hand traveled over what felt like a switch. "Hold on." Faro pressed the switch down, and a section of the wall opened up, revealing a door. Faro came down from the throne, and approached the door. He cautiously reached out a hand, brushing the worn stone with his middle finger. The simple touch was enough to open the door. It folded away, brick by brick, making a sound reminiscent of rustling pages.
Faro walked into the library, it was about half the size of the throne room, but more ornate. It was two stories high, stairs leading two the upper level were on either side of Faro's position near the door. The shelves were stacked with books, most of them in no condition to be read, and each shelf seemed as though it ran clear through both floors. A single coffin lay in the back of the library, behind many wooden tables with the appropriate number of chairs. The stone lid shifted and slid off the casket, and a wretched hand gripped the side. The figure sat up, and revealed itself. The lich climbed out of the coffin, and floated toward Faro. But rather than attack, it spoke.
"I am the Bookkeeper." The Bookkeeper spoke in a deep, rumbling voice that reverberated through the stacks. "Why have you come?"
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Azrael/Iris
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Post by Azrael/Iris on Jan 6, 2012 14:29:40 GMT -6
"To answer your question...yes I could have found it in my wolf form." Artie answered after watching the passageway open up after Faro had activated the switch.
Artie looked around the library, he went over to a nearby table and read one of the titles of the books that seemed to resist the decaying of the others. The Way of the Ninja was the title...yet the author's name seemed to be illegible.
The top of the coffin moved and Artie wheeled around and pulled out his weapons instinctively.
When the lich spoke, revealing it's name as 'the Bookkeeper'. Artie lowered his weapons and looked at the undead being.
Azrael peered down at the library from the throne room and watched.
"I could feel it's presence all the way from entrance...whoever this Bookkeeper is...it's a very powerful undead." the monk thought, his hand was gripped on the hilt of Desert Ghost, ready to attack at a moment's notice of the Bookkeeper turned hostile towards Artie and Faro.
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Post by Faro/Blade on Jan 6, 2012 23:59:20 GMT -6
"I require knowledge." Faro said.
"There is much knowledge here. What do you wish to know?" The Bookkeeper replied.
"Many centuries ago, a great cataclysm befell your people. However, it was not what ended you." Faro specified his request as best he could, given his limited briefing.
"If you speak not of our end, then you speak of the Black Quake. It is the only other event in our history fitting of the name "cataclysm". This way, please." The Bookkeeper turned and led the both of them through the bookshelf closest to the door, on Faro's left. The Bookkeeper traced a gnarled finger over the books. As he did so, a strange cone of energy enveloped each one. When it did, the book was restored to perfect condition, readable as the day it was bound. They nearly reached the end of the stack when the Bookkeeper found the correct tome. He pulled from the shelf with care.
"You turn back time to make these old books legible again." Faro observed.
"It is as you say. I turn back the aging of these pages, so that knowledge seekers like yourself are not denied by time." The Bookkeeper floated back to one of the many tables, the same one that bore Way of the Ninja He passed his other hand over the tome, causing it to revert to prime condition, and moved it out of the way. He placed the other book on the table. Simply titled The Black Quake It was bound in fine brown leather, and fairly thick. He gestured toward the book, and Faro stepped forward to open it. He flipped through the pages, looking for the information he required. Mainly, a description of the incident. After a few moments, he found it.
On the first full moon since the conclusion of the planting season, the sky was overcast. An uncommon sight, and a good omen for the coming growing season. However, this gray sky bore no good will, for at what we suspected was noon that day, the sky turned a sickening black, and the ground shook uncontrollably. A cry echoed through land as well, but many believe it was far louder than what we heard. I number among them, as it was barely a whisper when it reached us, no louder than a newborn. As soon as it had begun, it ended. Many were killed by the quake, some met their end to head injuries, some were simply swallowed by the earth. The following winter shortage claimed many more. As for how such an event took place, many theories have been brought forward, and I have detailed the most likely in the following pages.
"How long ago was this written?" Faro asked, having finished reading.
"That book was written ten years after the Black Quake. The tome itself is approximately four-hundred and ninety years old."
"Five hundred years ago. I see." Faro closed the book, his mission complete. He had made sure that both he and Malevolence had read the tome, for gazing into the other's memories granted them perfect recall. Faro picked up the book and handed it back to the Bookkeeper. The Bookkeeper turned to Artie.
"What may I do for you?" It asked.
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