Event Seventeen.

[awashmods]

I went to the wood and got it; I sat me down to look for it And brought it home because I couldn’t find it.

he magical vines creep ever onward, slowly infringing upon the Town. No matter how many are chopped down, no matter how many are set on fire, they keep coming even so. And slowly, one by one, the people in the Town start to fall to the curse that they bring along with them. Stay and tend to the cursed? Venture out into the woods to find the castle at the source of these vines? Whatever you choose to do, you'd better decide quickly; the curse only seems to get worse and worse the longer everyone is afflicted. Welcome to Awash's seventeenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event! If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

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[lacrimose]

[Akira glances back to them, and although he says nothing, he gives a small smile over his shoulder as he notices Pyra's kind gesture to Ryo. It means a lot to him to see them getting along in some small way, something that Ryo typically doesn't accomplish with most people.

As for the tiles, Akira squints down at them.]

Guess it couldn't hurt to see if they do anything...

[Akira steps on one, and it sinks slightly as if sensitive to pressure... but nothing else happens. So he leaves it and steps on another, and another, and then finally the fourth -- and still nothing happens.]

Hope they're not broken. [Maybe there really is a puzzle, but Akira can only guess what might be the answer.]

[pyrafect]

It could be a specific pattern [ So if there's only four tiles, trying out all the different combinations won't be too tedious. ] Or maybe we should try pushing them down all together.

[ It's worth a shot?

She places her foot upon one, and it sinks into its place. ]

[apocalypticist]

Let's try that before we start going through the combinations.

[ Ryo follows suit, moving to stand on the next one. If Akira stands with his legs really wide, he should be able to put one foot on the third tile and the other on the last one. ]

[lacrimose]

[Akira steps on one tile, and, screwing his face up in concentration, stretches his other leg aaaaaall the way across... and manages to reach both tiles at the same time. He looks ridiculous in a squat pose, but it seems to work, because suddenly the wall rumbles and slides aside to let them through. Shelves and shelves of books in the room ahead are now visible.]

It worked--! [Akira almost loses his balance and topples over in surprise, though he manages to right himself by grabbing Ryo's shoulder for support.]

[pyrafect]

[ Pyra steps off of her tile, approaching the entrance to the-- ] ... Amazing. [ She whispers, breathless as she looks over the expanse of the archives.

In this world, in this castle, there had been people-- scholars who had gathered and compiled information, beliefs, and stories... and undoubtedly across many generations. ] It's magnificent.

[ She'll be walking towards one of the shelves. ]

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo gives Akira a couple of moments to steady himself before following Pyra into the library, sweeping his gaze from one side of the room to the other. Nothing immediately sticks out as a trap to him, just rows and rows of books lining the shelves.

He stops in front of one of the shelves, skimming the well-worn spines for titles that might point toward. ]

We should look for books on fairy tales, magic, or curses. [ If there's a cure in any of these books, it's most likely to be in a book covering one of those topics. ]

[lacrimose]

[Akira follows after them last, gazing around in awe at the array of books. As Pyra and Ryo begin to look through the shelves, there's a rumbling sound behind him, and the false wall slides back into place, leaving a bookcase and no hint to the uninformed that a secret passage was ever there in the first place.]

Hey--!

[He growls and tries to tackle the bookcase as if to force the passage back open, but no joy. Hopefully that wasn't their only way out of here.]

[pyrafect]

[ When the passage they took closes up, she whirls around in surprise. This castle has all sorts of tricks up its sleeve, huh.

She's just about to walk back towards where Akira is beginning to attack a bookcase when one of the tomes on a pedestal nearest to her begins to twitch. She glances at it with suspicion, peering at it closer, and that's when it springs to life. ] --Ah? [ It begins to flap into the air like a bat, loose pages falling out of its spine as wicked teeth emerge in rows.

She's quick to dodge its next attack as well, and it takes her a moment longer for it to finally register that, yes, that is literally a book that's flapping around trying to hit her-- no, bite her. ] What-- hey-- [ She lunges and grasps the thing, forcing its jaws to clamp shut by her sheer strength alone, but it's a feisty thing. ] What is this thing?!

[ This must look ridiculous-- but, uh, yeah. It's a thing that is definitely happening. ]

[apocalypticist]

[ ...THAT SURE IS A THING THAT IS HAPPENING. Ryo whips his head toward her when he hears the sound of chomping jaws and paper hitting the floor—though he makes no effort to step in and help, merely observing her as he steps away from the bookcase he was investigating moments ago. ]

It must be some kind of mimic. [ Mimicry is common in nature, but a creature disguising itself as a book is new. ] Be careful. There may be more of them around.

[lacrimose]

[The way out is definitely not opening back up despite Akira's efforts, though he abandons it when he hears Pyra struggling with the book.]

Pyra! Are you okay? [He runs over, but she already seems to have the book under control as she clamps it shut. It almost seems like it's possessed by a demon, even if that usually only applies to living things.] A mimic... You think it's guarding something?

[Kind of like in the forest? Or maybe it's just a trap, and whatever is behind this castle just doesn't like people.]

[pyrafect]

[ Thank goodness Ryo is here to tell them what these things are... Pyra wouldn't have been able to identify them. ]

I'm alright, I'm alright... thank you. [ The book still shakes in her hands, as if it's trying to break free. She'd feel bad about actually destroying it. ]

If they're protecting anything, maybe it's just the information contained within them? [ That's her best guess, for all she knows! Information is pretty valuable, after all. ] Maybe there's a way to-- [ "---get them to stop," is what she had been about to say but then another book decides to take life off the shelf and fly at them. ]

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo manages to step out of the way before it can launch teeth-first into his face, but instead it manages to sink its teeth into the sleeve of his coat. ]

—!! Let go of me!

[ He swings his arm wildly in an attempt to fend off the book. ]

[lacrimose]

Ryo!

[Akira can scarcely breathe a sigh of relief that Pyra is unhurt when the second book flies at Ryo. He runs to his side and grabs the book by its jaws, using his strength to prise it away from his arm. ...Which is easier said than done given how determined the thing seems to be, but at least it still isn't a match for strength like Akira's.]

[pyrafect]

[ What to do, what to do?

Well in the end, it might not matter what sort of information these books hold, because these monsters are attacking them! ] --Look, there's more...!

[ They're flying off the shelves now in droves, zipping above them like a swarm of bats. Okay, okay, time to actually fight these things--

Only, she won't be using any sort of fire because that wouldn't be such a smart thing to do in a goddamn library with so many flammable items around. Instead, she's going to reach for one of the stools and break a leg off of it, using it as a spear to strike and impale these things! ]

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo slants Akira a brief, grateful look for removing the book biting at his sleeve, before shifting his attention to the books flying off the shelves, rows of sharp teeth exposed and ready to tear into flesh.

He wastes no time pulling out a rifle from inside his coat, flicking off the safety before firing off several bullets to thin the swarm. One by one the mimics drop to the floor, twitching weakly before becoming motionless. ]