Chapter 7: Raiding the Ruins Thread

Elora holds her breath as she witnesses Ember's ascent.

Ember’s worries expression twitches before bursting into a grin.

This is so cool! she cries, looking more like she’s laying in a bed than walking. Hey, come slow, okay? I’m not sure how many people this can hold.

If she reaches the door, she’ll examine it.

Yelnar tentatively starts the walk of weird.

"I'm quite alright down here. But...okay." Elore will wait until Yelnar is comfortably situated up there before joining in, not wanting to pull any unnecessary stunts.

Eanala, will you take up the rear? Ember calls behind her.

There's no way out.
There's this door, though
What's your plan when you pass through?
Still working on that.
Just make sure you get out alive. That was stupid, reaching for Yelnar like that.

A little worry flashes across Ember's face, but nobody behind her would be able to see it. She calls out bracingly. Everyone all right? I think we've got this!

Everyone experiences much the same thing Ember did: ascending the path doesn't feel in the least like you're climbing up. Gravity seems to melt and shift to keep you walking normally. As you reach the vertical section, it feels just like the rest of the world has turned sideways.

Which now leaves the question of the door. It's a simple wooden door with a plain handle, and no apparent lock. If it weren't for the fact that it would appear to lead into thin air on the other side, it'd hardly be noteworthy.

Ember glances behind her and winks at the others.

Catch me if I fall, will ya?

And, seeing nothing odd, she opens the door.

Elora is thankful gravity doesn't make her hat -or any of her belongings- haven't plummeted downward. It gives her time to stare at this curious door, by far the most mundane object at them moment.

Dimension door? She ponders, meanwhile Ember opens it before Elora can voice her many concerns and due caution this particular door should be given.

As if it weren't bad enough for the equilibrium, standing on a brick pathway that once seemed to go straight up in the air but now feels perfectly normal, opening a door that's evidently hanging in mid-air, the intrepid explorers peer through the door frame and see an entire room before them.

A poorly-lit room full of shelves that reach from floor to well above the angle of view you're able to get from where you stand. From what you can see, there's barely room between the shelves for two people to stand abreast, and the rows go on as far as the light extends.

But at least it looks like a regular room. No weird twisting geometry, infinite iterations of gem-carrying statues or things floating in mid-air.

It's a library! Ember laughs. Hey, Verrian, we could -

She blushes fiercely, glad nobody can see her face. Eanala? Is your dad published? And Elora, you think books can be artifacts, too? I think with Yelnar we can reach some of these higher shelves.

She steps in gingerly and begins looking around, though she's careful to keep the door in sight. If this was a normal library, it'd be organized and have some books that were clearly magic, and some not, right? Maybe a forbidden section! That sure would come in handy about now.

Granted, she's never been in a normal library, either.

Man, I'd be stuck here for years trying to read all of this.
Then choose wisely.

Oh great, a library. Yelnar inwardly groaned, recalling the many occasions his more scholarly inclined family would drag him along to such places. Maybe this would be one of the rare few with some Choose your own adventure books?

Going inside the room gives you a much better idea of just what it is you're facing. The ceiling here is high enough that you can't easily tell just how far up it goes... but one thing's for sure. The shelves go up that high too. And a quick glance tells you that it's not just a library. In fact, there are more boxes and glass cases and other random items filed away than there are books.

The room is lit only by dim glass spheres that radiate feebly found in sconces at the endcaps of each row of shelves: glowglobes, most of which stopped working at the end of the War. It used to be that holding one would cause it to radiate more, but a quick test of the ones nearby suggest that these no longer work in such a way.

There's a heavy layer of dust on everything in here, which allows you to easily notice the one exception. A set of small, but humanoid, prints that lead off into the darkness down the main 'road' through the shelves in front of you.

Ember freezes and waits for the others, pressing her finger to her lips to "shush" them with one hand, while pointing out the footprints with the other.

Oh, this is nice... Elora has a light smile on her lips as she takes in the vast amount of knowledge within their fingertips, and from a college to boot. She can probably find another collection of horror stories, but first: "Well by definition artifacts could be any simple object really." She answers, not aware Ember already moved on ahead.

Feeling a bit silly she and Pip move forward to find the teenager, spotting her giving a telltale sign to be quiet. She points at Pip, who stares back at Elora quizzically.

Yelnar pauses exaggeratedly and freezes, looking around earnestly for the go ahead.

Pip flits merrily ahead on silent wings. He goes down the main aisle between the rows and rows of shelves, following the footprints into the dark. Just at the edge of vision, he banks to the left and disappears from view.

It's only maybe a minute later that he comes swooping back into view to alight on Elora's outstretched hand.

"Okay, thank you Pip." Elora pats Pip, who returns to the brim of her hat. "Pip can't find anyone down there, he says the tracks just vanish. Quite peculiar."

Yelnar blurts out "Probably just got teleported to a different dimension, that would make sense in this place"

He shakes his head, almost like a dog shaking its whole body.

Yeah, but on purpose, or not? Yelnar's shudder doesn't seem to faze Ember.

I assume Pip flew past the prints. So then it's not a portal between the shelves. What if it's a trigger? Elora, will you ask Pip to take us to the place?

"Um..." Pip lets out a few chirps before flying ahead 10 feet, landing on one of the bookshelves. "He says to follow the tracks, should take us right to it."