OOM: Vivec City, 18 First Seed, 3E 428

[moonandstar]

Garyn hadn't felt the need to involve Ibani in his last little spy mission. Retrieving a skull from a tomb for an alchemist who is a little TOO insistent that she isn't a necromancer had been an easy enough job. But this? This was going back to Vivec...a place where he very much had meant to make himself scarce from. What's more, one of their contacts would be in the Foreign Quarter - the very same place where a number of corrupt Fighters Guild members had been killed by a booby trap he had set.

So a little bit of Sith discretion and underhandedness would be welcome, in addition to backup.

They're approaching from the bridge that leads from the silt strider dock - the Guild Guide would bring them too close to the Fighters Guild for his liking.

The buildings are massive ziggurats crossed by canals - not big enough to be impressive by her standards. But it's far from a typical city in Garyn's.

Comments

[last_kallig]

"Where is the copy that is kept here?" Ibani asks, several possible plots springing to mind.

[moonandstar]

"Would it be possible, Mehra...for you to approach the shelf where it is located? Ibani can be very stealthy."

Milo nods. "Please use discretion. The Ordinators might not see her, but they will be watching me."

[last_kallig]

"I will use my utmost discretion," Ibani replies. And then she simply....disappears. Is she showing off a little? Maybe. But since the opportunity to impress people with this doesn't come along often, she's going to take it.

[moonandstar]

Milo nods, remaining stoic as she watches Ibani vanish. Such magic is far from unheard of. (Indeed, Garyn can combine his ring and amulet to achieve it himself - though he's far less light on his feet).

She walks to the front of the library, doing a fine job of making it look like she's simply on her way back to work. But there's a slight, conspicuous hitch in her step as she passes a shelf near the front - one with an Ordinator seated at a desk nearby. She even manages a very subtle gesture with her finger to indicate the general direction as she walks past.

[last_kallig]

Ibani is silent as death as she moves, her expertise in stealth coming into play. With the aid of the Force, it isn't hard for her to snag the book exactly when the Ordinator is looking the wrong way. She stashes it under her cloak, walks out of sight of the Ordinator and makes herself visible again.

She greets Garyn with a kiss. "I've got it." she whispers in his mind.

[moonandstar]

"Saved us another trip to Jobasha's Rare Books, if nothing else. I imagine they have a copy."

They walk out arm in arm.

"I'm rather curious to read it. Though our room at Milliways would be a safer place to read a proscribed book."

[last_kallig]

"That sounds like an excellent idea." She starts searching for a door back to Milliways amidst all the 'noise' Vivec is making. It takes a while, but she finally finds a likely doorway to pull him through after her.

"Home sweet home," she says, gazing at Bar.

[moonandstar]

"In a manner of speaking," Garyn says, smiling.

"I know there are no Ordinators here, but something makes me want to crack that book open someplace private."

[last_kallig]

Ibani nods. "I have that feeling too." She grins. "It's PROBABLY not just paranoia talking. Our room?"

[moonandstar]

Garyn nods. "Our room. May I have the book? I will need to bring it to Caius once we're done with it."

[last_kallig]

"Of course," Ibani fishes it out from where she had stashed it. "Doesn't feel trapped, at least, so that's a point in its favor."

Their room is a welcome sight, one that makes Ibani relax.

[moonandstar]

"Doesn't look too long," Garyn says."I can read you th3 good bits, if you'd like."

He smirks and winks.

[last_kallig]

"I'd like that," she says, removing her cloak. "A decadent afternoon spent with my lover and a forbidden book in bed, how scandalous," she teases.

[moonandstar]

Garyn chuckles. "Scandalous indeed..."

They don't have to get to reading right away, after all. But they will eventually.

[last_kallig]

Ibani is curled up with him in bed as he pages through the tome. She runs her fingers idly through his hair. "And no bloodstains, better than the last book I needed to get my hands on for Zash."

[moonandstar]

Garyn hums, still feeling the warmth of the pre-reading festivities, but increasingly engrossed in what he's reading.

"I can see why this book has been suppressed. The notion that the Tribunal's divine powers have the same source as Dagoth Ur's...and that source is the Heart of Shezzar himself..."

[last_kallig]

"Very heretical sounding indeed, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."

"Did we find enough to satisfy Caius?"

[moonandstar]

"No...I find something compelling about it."

He's still reading, and it takes him time to process that a question has been asked.

"Oh, there's more than enough here. The Sixth House is on the rise, and the Temple is resorting to torture and suppression to try to disguise the fact that they've lost control. Meanwhile the locals are seeking hope in ancient cults. Perhaps they'll find it.

"There's even an explanation of what happened to the Dwemer in here, if you can believe it. Apparently they used the same enchanted tools that the Tribunal used on the Heart to become gods, but something went wrong and they all disappeared. It's as clear an answer as I've heard, at least."

[last_kallig]

"It does seem to fit well, doesn't it? Might be wise to have Bar make a copy, just in case."

She kisses him, then yawns. "All this reading is wearing me out," she mock complains.

[moonandstar]

Garyn feels he's absorbed all the information he will need to. He turns his head to give Ibani a kiss.

"Yes...I feel like I could get forty winks myself."

He stretches his arms, being already in his smallclothes after their previous activity.

[last_kallig]

"Sleep well, my dear."

It won't take her long to drift off, curled up with Garyn like this.

[moonandstar]

Garyn's sleep comes just as easily, but does not stay that way.

He finds himself standing on a windswept plain, blown by ash from Red Mountain. From out of the ash, a tall figure rises, wearing a golden mask and beckoning to him.

"There are many rooms in the house of the Master. Be easy, for from the hands of your enemies I have delivered you."

Now the open plane begins to fade away, and gives way to a dimly lit funeral parlor. He cannot quite see whose body lays upon the plinth...

[last_kallig]

Ibani knows, when she's pulled into the dream, that it isn't hers. The figure in the golden mask feels wrong, feels menacing, far more than he ought to.

She tries to call out to Garyn, to reach him, but the space refuses to bend to her will!

[moonandstar]

Garyn sees now the figure laid out before him...it is himself. His own body, surrounded by candles as funereal incense hangs in the air. He reaches out, touching his dead body with his own hands. And he sees the body's eyes open.

And then suddenly, the thing that was dead is him. He feels himself rise from the table, heaving with unnatural breaths...and then, as a flash of light passes before him, he bolts up screaming in bed.

[last_kallig]

Ibani isn't screaming, but that's only thanks to her years of torment on Korriban. She hugs him as soon as she can, tries to comfort.

"You are here with me, my dear. I will not let him have you."