The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog nodded at the dragon, smiling at the little butterfly that flitted around the room. He shook his head as the magical little insect landed and crawled around on Ketefe, still grinning slightly when he  looked back at Mel.
"I can imagine." he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. ".And...I am, familiar, with curses." he said softly. He paused for a moment, seemingly looking nowhere before he blinked and smiled again. He began to idly crack his knuckles as he spoke. "But, although I understand the concepts of what you're saying, I confess I know neither the spell for attaching the magic nor directing it to a power source. Which brings up my next question..."
Cog reached into his jacket and various points about his body, little silver trinkets appearing seemingly from thin air as his hands passed all around himself. Removing something from behind his coat collar and something else from the inside pocket of his jacket, he raised his hands to let the dragon see.
Four little silver charms dangled from chains at the end of his fingers, and a gold coin rested in his palm. "How does one go about charging magical items? Or, indeed, where does one direct the enchantment to get power? They don't get it from me, and they don't get it from themselves, I suppose. Left alone long enough these always recharge. Except for the coin." he said, nodding at the little golden circle. "That needs sunlight."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

In the garden

In the light rain and dripping leaves, Bam had walked slowly and carefully through the wild and overgrown bushes and shrubs.  Whatever footpath that was here, has long since blocked tree limbs or expanding bushes to new young trees, only a few feet around.  Now, she stood in front of a ancient Oak, a tree who may have been here before the castle.  It stood over a hundred and fifty feet tall and twice that around with it's stretch out branches. 

Bambi sheds her clothes and shakes off the light rain off herself as she reaches out her hand onto the Oak' trunk, and asks "How you been, old friend?"

A flash of light magic is felt through the castle, as if a door was opened and closed

PBH

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked over at Ketefe when she giggled at the toy. "There are different schools of magic that use differing methods, and each practitioner develops their own style, so there are tremendous variations, but the same components need to be provided for."

She peered at the charms in Cog's hand. "To start with the last question first, these appear to be passively powered. They grab onto the ambient magic in the environment. If you need them to charge faster you just need to find a spot with a lot of magic. There are many other ways to power things. I can show you the basics or Mistress Msh'taan had several books on the subject selected in the library."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog nodded at Mel, and began putting the charms back in their various places, the little silver trinkets disappearing into his clothing. One of them he simply let hang around his neck, the little piece of twisted silver glowing for a moment as its protections re-activated.
"Ah, I see. That would make sense." he said, scratching his chin. "And I would love nothing more than a lesson, Ms. Icewing. But I fear now," he said, indicating the drinks and the others, "May not be the time." Cog tipped his hat. "Perhaps later?" he said, turning to grab his drink. He called back to the dragon.
"Although," he said, "That butterfly you have is simply amazing. I take it you've been doing this a long time?" Cog turned and sat, taking a sip of his drink as he did so. "I'm sure the others would love to see what amazing things you've produced over the years. Well, them and myself, of course..." Cog grinned.

[Aisha deCabre]

In the library, Rynkura had been immersed in her readings for the time, enjoying the silence that came with the kind of ethereal solitude given to the studious there.  The tigress had long since tuned out whomever spoke, after a while wondering as to whether anyone else was still sitting in there at all.  But she did notice that Bambi had left with something of a pensive look, to which the healer just let her go...perhaps the Fae couldn't get into much more trouble on her own.

The books she had gathered in front of her were all from different authors from their take on enchantment, a curiosity that she thought seemed common in the castle.  Among other theories, there was one written by a 'Cubus on the process of soul trapping...there were a few about an old-time method involving magical jewels and such...and then there was one which one in which someone in Rynkura's generation perhaps invented and that she helped build upon: resonance binding.  I shall bet THAT is how that sword is partially done, the healer thought to herself.

It was then that she heard Sebastian walk into the library in his usual semi-quiet way, meeting his nod with a peaceable one of her own as she watched him snatch a few volumes up.  "Your guests are boring you already?" she joked as the bat walked out, then shook her head with a chuckle and looked into one of the novels while thinking about the company she had met.  Somehow I doubt so.

*     *     *

As Aisha finished the last of her drink, she sat back in her seat with her arms crossed comfortably behind her head, watching the others in the room.  Especially she continued to listen as Cogi and Mel conversed on the subject of enchanting, which though she had no ideas of her own about, was an interesting subject to the panthress nonetheless.  Her mentor hadn't bothered to explain how it was that she made it so the adventurer rarely had to recharge her magical things.

Sometimes her eyes strayed to the whimsical little butterfly that Mel had produced and let flutter around the room to land on various objects and Ketefe.  She certainly agreed with the others, Mel was quite impressive with what she was able to do, even if it showed through such a small trinket.  At the slight mention of Aisha's mentor however, she laughed.

"She has a mountain of books, I guarantee you," the panthress muttered.  "But I agree with the wolf here, you're a natural," she commented to the dragon.

[Angel]

Ketefe looked up from the butterfly when Cog showed his array of magical trinkets. Though they disappeared just as quickly, they'd piqued her interest. "Woukd it be prying if I asked how you got all those?" she asked the wolf, the butterfly crawling across her knuckles.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog had settled down in his chair closed his eyes, taking a just slightly rattling breath, apparently relieved about something, when Ketefe asked him her question. He took a drink of his coffee as she spoke, pausing for just a moment as he thought. He took a loud swallow, and set his cup down as he regarded the masked feline.
"No. That's alright." he said, "One was given to me. The others I took from mage's tower, when the owner himself...ah, fled." Cog said, and gave a smile. He resumed drinking his coffee, leaving something unspoken, and turned his attention back to the dragon.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel bowed politely to Cog and Aisha for their compliments, but also shrugged. "I am a dragon, I have done most everything for a long time. As for enchantments, most everything I own is enchanted to one level or another. But most of it is boringly practical. My clothes change size as I do, and stains fade away within a day or two. Things like that." She paused for a second in thought. "Actually I do have something that might be interesting." She started rummaging around in her belt bag, half her arm disappearing into the hand sized bag. Various odds and ends of things ended up on the nearby end table before she pulled out a pair of silver rimmed spectacles. "These allow you to see magic." She held them out on her palm. "They might be a bit disorienting at first due to the ambient magic. This place is thick with magic."

[Cogidubnus]

The pair of glasses Mel held in her hands caught the low light and sent it around the room, the silver frames making small lines of light upon the walls. From where he was seated, Cog could somewhat see through the lenses, the insides of the glasses glowing an eldritch blue, the intensity of the glow ever-changing.
Cog raised and eyebrow and set his cup down next to the pile of other items, a particular memory of him throwing his old pair of shades into a brick wall running through his head. He stood and approached the dragon, to get a better look.
"See magic? Is that so?" he said, admiring the thing in the dragon's hand. A slight blue glow fell across her hands, where the light passed through the arcane glasses. Cog looked up at the dragon, obviously impressed. "Very useful."
"Perhaps you saw something earlier you might be willing to trade for them?" he said, referencing the trinkets that he had just put away.

[Aisha deCabre]

Smiling as she listened to the dragon, Aisha kept a piqued interest in what else Mel would certainly have in her reportiore of magical things, including how she spoke about the practical use of size-changing clothes.  Practical, she thought, but most fascinating to the eyes of non-dragons, or any Being in general.

The panther's eyes then widened slightly as she saw Mel bring out a small pile of things on the table from her bag until she found what she was looking for.  Being quite the treasure hunter in her free adventuring time, Aisha had the urge to go poking curiously through them, if she didn't think it would be somewhat impolite.  She glanced towards the magic glasses she had brought out with a bit of interest.  "Allows you to see magic?" she echoed Cogidubnus's interest.  "Now that'd probably sell high for adventurer use.  Amazing."

But since the wolf had more of an interest in the shades than she did, Aisha let him look them over and returned her gaze to the table.  She had a magic-seeking device already; dark-magic seeking, but for her occupation that was perhaps enough.

Aisha shrugged off the notion of impoliteness after a moment and looked through the pile of things, an interested look crossing her crimson eyes.  "May I?  I wish I had something to trade," she said quietly upon picking out a small amulet on a silver chain and decorated with ornate symbols, a clear jewel on the front containing the image of a small flame that seemed to be animatedly flickering, a somewhat hypnotizing effect.  On the other side was the face of a clock, like the little treasure doubled as a timepiece.  "I wouldn't mind having some of these in my collection."

[Stygian]

'Seeing magic is only so useful. You can't be too general,' a voice suddenly said from behind Cog, sinuous and lurid. Even as it spoke, the shadows behind Cog deepened and contorted, turning into black shapes that congregated into a humanoid form. Stygian's return was no less dramatic to witness than his exit, especially considering the almost skeletal, bare and glowing-eyed look his face had before the skin and fur formed over it properly.
   No, not him, they realized. Her. The creature, whatever Stygian was, had turned back into the female form of before, complete with a clinging black blouse and short skirt. She laughed. 'Feeling is far superior to seeing. To discern for yourself whether or not what you see... is true,' she practically purred, laying one hand on Cog's shoulder and leaning on his other. Then, as briskly as she had come in, she rounded the wolf and swung something out from behind her, which turned out to be a rolled-up carpet. How she could handle such a large and heavy thing so easily was very hard to see.
   'You know, if we are discussing enchantment right now, I should say that I would be happy to share knowledge or expertise, limited though it may be,' she continued, smiling slightly. 'Right now, the last thing I need worry about is money or time. So...'

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel nodded in agreement with Sebastian's assessment of the glasses. "They are not as useful as they appear at first. They show all magic, without differentiation." She looked at the jumble she had left on the table. "None of these trinkets are of any great power. Take what you like as a gift. That is why I carry them with me."

[Aisha deCabre]

It was a moment before Aisha could say much more.  Her eyes were still trained onto the flickering flaming insignia blazing the front of the hypnotic trinket, as it hung from the silver chain wrapped about her knuckles.  But her self-induced trance of concentration was broken as her ears perked suddenly, hearing the voice coming from behind Cogidubnus.

The panthress's eyes narrowed as the figure took shape, for she at least recognized a portion of the voice and the tricks used as belonging to the bat.  But the surprise of his sudden appearance wasn't anywhere near as startling as the fact that he was now a she... reminiscent of the female body he had been cursed with...had it only been a couple of days ago since that event?

Aisha's face was frozen with an incredulous look for just a moment, as was Cogi's, she seemed to notice.  But her head shook to drive off the confusion, and she just nodded.  "Welcome back, S...um..." she sighed.  What to call her when she was like this? "Welcome back," the dark jaguar just assented with a smile and turned back to the pseudo-timepiece in her hand.

Then her ear quirked back at Mel's statement, and her face broadened into a smile, not unlike a child's when they had gotten a gift.  "Truly?"  Then it turned back to her trademark smirk as she looked at the pile, then at the fire-bound amulet again.  "Hm, I wouldn't mind having one or two things that improve my defenses in battle," she hummed.  Aisha had been working on that for a while, mostly as per previous suggestions from her mentor.  While she was proud of her own skills, a little help was often welcomed.

She looked around at some of the trinkets.  Since she had said not many of the objects had great power, Aisha didn't often expect to find something too ultra-special.  But, a gift was a gift, and enchanted ones were always in her realm of dappling.  "What do some of these do?" she inquired, mostly looking at the amulet, but also a general question on some of the others.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel turned to look at what Aisha had picked up. "That one in your hand has two enchantments. The first is fire resistance. Quite a lot of the items have that. A very popular enchantment where I come from." She smiled a bit at that. Fire protection among ice dragons was more of a mania. "But the main enchantment is a speed spell. Push the second button on the watch to activate it."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog was about to say something else about the spectacles when a he heard Sebastian's distinctive tenor behind him, the bat appearing as suddenly as he had disappeared. Cog turned his head and arched an eyebrow, one of his eyes reflexively twitching. He was about to say something when she leaned against him: his ear flickered and his eye twitched twice, but by sheer force of will he kept the blood from his face. He swallowed before he spoke.
"I...sight isn't everything. But sight helps a great deal, if not as in...familiar as feeling." He said, suddenly taking a large swallow of his drink and setting it down, and immediately dodging the carpet the bat rolled out. Without missing a beat he turned back towards the dragon.
"And that is quite generous of you. Again, if I may?" he said, taking the trinket from her hand. Looking the glasses over for just a moment, he set them on his head, taking care not to set them too far up the bridge of his muzzle. Best get used to them first.
Even not covering his eyes, the lenses were disorienting, and Cog set a hand on a nearby table as he stared through them - dull, dark blue light swirled around the room, interspersed with brighter and faster blues in certain places. The pile of trinkets Mel had set on the table gave off magic like a lamp, and Mel herself fairly glowed like a sun from behind the glasses - Cog looked away quickly, his eyes passing over Aisha. The sword hilt she wore was as bright as white-hot iron, the amulet in her hand only a little less bright. But by far the strangest one of the group was Sebastian herself - not because of any great enchantment, but simply becuase of the glow that she herself gave off. Her entire body glowed from behind the lenses, the half of her below the glasses solid blue, the half above simply her normal, creamy fur.
Cog closed his eyes and took a seat, blinking rapidly as he opened them again. Pushing them a bit farther down his nose.
"...wow. There's...more of it than I thought." he said, picking up his cup again. "A lot more. That may take getting used to."
He looked over at the bat, leaning back in his chair. "But, yes. We were. And by all means." he said, taking a sip of his drink.

[Sunblink]

Keaton was so engrossed with the fascinating presentation given by those in the room, particularly Mel, that she barely noticed or acknowledged Stygian's reappearance. Only thing which captured her attention was the fact "he" was in the same feminine form he had discovered him in when she had walked in on "him" and Cogidubnus, and that he seemed to enjoy tormenting the aforementioned wolf. Good thing nobody else was aware of their encounter aside from Keaton, otherwise it would be very awkward for everyone assembled.

For now Keaton busied herself with studying the various trinkets piled on the table. Idly, Keaton brushed through them, scraping a few uninteresting knickknacks a few inches away from her hand, while simultaneously switching her gaze from the magical specimens grouped before her to Cogidubnus, who was examining the glasses offered to him by Mel. Aside from disorientation and other apparent side effects of the spellbound spectacles, they seemed to be quite effective, according to what Cog had said.

Keaton felt her wrist bump into something, sending it rolling along the table and toward the edge. Reacting quickly, Keaton lunged out with her hand, snatching the indistinct object just before it tumbled off the table's corner. Keaton sighed. Hopefully nobody had seen that. Still clutching it in her palm, she went through the rest of the items, before she finally felt her attention start to teeter towards the item in her hand.

Judging by its shape it was perfectly spherical and about the size of her marble. When Keaton opened her hand she realized it was completely lusterless, about as cold and dead and gray as an ordinary stone, although it was engraved with elaborate networks of hieroglyphics around its sides, eventually leading up to a thin ring in the center. Nothing was particularly interesting about it besides that, as it was cold to the touch and only vaguely pulsated of something magical, but it was, in a way, intriguing, about how something so plain would be found among so many extraordinary enchanted objects.

"Hey Mel?" Keaton held up the marble-sized stone. "What's this?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[lucas marcone]

else where

"Dude you're a f***ing chickin!" A large raccoon shouted at a rat.
"Darrol I'm not sure about you but I don't like holding cells. Breaking and entering is something I don't want on my record." The rat calmly replied.
"Whatever Ian you're just a pansy!" Darrol said with a hint of poison in his tone.
"Fine! If it'll get you to leave me alone I'll do it! Lord knows I don't want you rideing me about it through my entire college career." Ian said exasorbatedly.
"Good to see you grew some balls doctor Abernathy." Darrol said sarcasticly.
Ian walked up to the castle gate. "Dosn't seem too imposeing. Ian walked inside the castle. seconds later Darrol heard a blood curdleing scream. Darrol bolted. Ian watched the whole thing from just inside the door. "Hahaha Serves the lug right. Still while I'm here might as well poke around." Ian started into the castle proper.

[Stygian]

Folding her still somewhat muscled arms across her chest and taking on a leaning posture and sly smile, the bat faced Cog's examination. As the others continued examining the magical items, she chuckled and strolled over toward them. From behind the glasses, Cog could see the magical glow of her flow and trail, hanging in the air behind her for a moment as she passed almost like luminescent vapor, her own form flaring. There were even... other things that he could see. Though it was invisible to the naked eye, even as Stygian stood still little trails and tendrils of magic slowly swirled around her, spreading out and seemingly feeling the surroundings.
   The bat eyed the thing that Keaton had just picked up, and her expression suddenly changed into curiosity. 'That?' she said, furrowing her brow. 'It looks like a bullet. But...' Cog saw some of those thin, wispy things starting to congregate in front of her, almost reaching for the thing as if to touch it.
   Suddenly, the bat stopped, and immediately her ears tensed and one swiveled toward the stairs. The invisible tendrils evaporated like smoke, as she turned her head.
   'Did anyone else hear that?' she said, sounding concerned. 'I think I heard a scream.'

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel frowned at the object in Keaton's hand. "How did that get in here? It does not belong with the trinkets. It is an artificial eye. The demon who commissioned it died before picking it up." Before she could say more Sebastian asked about a scream. "From the library?" she questioned. That was where everyone had been last time they knew.

[Stygian]

Frowning, Stygian looked at Mel boorishly. 'Yeah. Right from the library. In between the sixth and seventh shelves from the west wall, three yards from the main row,' she said and kept her gaze, looking at the dragoness quite seriously. Only a second after she saw the doubt in Mel's face did she snort a laugh and shake her head. 'I'm not a bloody sonar, whatever you make of my ears. It came from downstairs. That's all I could hear.'

[Angel]

Ketefe arched an eyebrow at Cog when he answered. Something was avoided, but she couldn't tell what, and asking further would have really been prying. She turned her attention to Mel's assortment of objects. The glasses were interesting, but Ketefe didn't like the idea of hurting her eyes.

Then Stygian came in. Ketefe succeeded in keeping her jaw from dropping, but her eye did twitch. He had become a she. How was a very good question, but apparently this wasn't new for the bat. Only Keaton and Cog showed any visible distress, and like Ketefe, they quickly hid it. She took a gulp of her drink, which was getting a little cold, and moved her legs so she could start to get up. She wanted to walk over to the table and get a closer look at the items.

The scream distracted her from this, though. It was a little faint, but the way this castle echoed, it was easy for her to hear. She tensed, noticing that Stygian heard it too.

"We should go see who it was," Ketefe said, standing and flexing her leg muscles once to wake them up.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha listened to Mel's answer to her inquiry about the trinket in her hand, and her face lit up with interest as she looked at the amulet again.  "Fire resistance and speed," she mused.  "That'd be a perfect start."  The huntress smiled, then took the chain in both hands, curiously slipping it around her neck with the clear jewel and flame on the surface facing outward.

As soon as it was clasped on, she could feel a slight shiver through her body, both a hot and cold sensation...and then a feeling in the back of her head.  It was like the confidence that she wouldn't be burned if she were to stick her hand in flames.  It didn't take her long either to find the button that the dragon had said was on the watch to activate speed...it was quite small.  She would have to test the attributes soon.  She still had the holy blade strapped to her back, in fact, to do so with that of fire.

"You have many thanks, Mel," Aisha nodded with satisfaction to the dragon and sat back, observing a couple of the others as they took the liberty of finding some treasures of their own in the pile.  She smirked at Cogi as he tested out the glasses and found them to his liking, and observed Keaton pick up a small spherical object of her own interest.  I wish I knew where the other wolf in the party is, I know he might like a free magical trinket, the panther smiled, thinking of her fellow adventurer Gareeku.

But only after little else could be said, Aisha quirked her ear to the door as the bat said she had caught a sound.  A slight disturbance just on the edge of hearing that sounded barely tangible and mortal, and through layers of stone, fairly hard to pinpoint.

"A scream?" Aisha sat up, her eyes darting in that direction, before she semi-quickly got back up to her feet, nodding in agreement to Ketefe.  "Sounds like something to investigate.  I'll go see too."  She made a brief nod to the others, with a quick bow to the female Sebastian.  "Oh, and thanks for the drink," she grinned before starting towards the door, listening for whomever else was coming.

*     *     *

"By Heaven!" Rynkura exclaimed with a hiss as she was jolted from her chair from the sudden mortified scream, her own sensitive ears more easily capturing the new disturbance further away on the first floor.

After a pause to catch her breath, the white tigress closed the book with a soft fwump as her eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to hear what was going on towards the castle's front section.  At first she hesitated, wondering if she should stay put and courteously let the host deal with the distraction...but on the other hand, just in case it was hostile, a guest's greeting was in order.  Judging from the sound...

With a grunt as she stood from her chair, Rynkura grabbed her staff and nodded to Gina and Jeremiah, whom she assumed were still keeping to themselves.  With both hands on the lightly-glowing talisman, the healer moved toward the door to investigate the ruckus.

"Who goes?" she called, leaning against a wall out of sight...at least it was hoped.

[Cogidubnus]

 As soon as he saw the bat's ears perk, Cog's own gave a twitch, a faint, bloodcurdling scream drifting up from somewhere. Cog quirked an eyebrow and took a long, drawn out sip of his drink. He set the cup down dry, and suddenly gave a tiny grin as the bat stated its location. He stood rather quickly, avoiding looking directly at Mel or the pile of trinkets and danced by the Jackal towards the door. He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.
"I'll just go check out was that was then, shall I?"
This was golden: the perfect excuse to get out of the room. The others weren't stupid - anyone with eyes could see the mussed bed and nervous looks, and it would only be a matter of time before one of them put the pieces together. And now with Sebastian leaning on him like that...well, two and two might get put together rather quickly. Although the talk about enchanting was interesting, he was barely keeping himself from jumping at loud sounds or sudden questions.
As he had said, golden. He was about to leave when he bumped straight into a heretobefore unseen table, and almost knocked his head into a wall. Stopping just before touching the stone, he took a slow step backwards and looked sideways at the dragon.
"Ah...might there be some way to turn these down, a little?" he said before opening the door.

[Angel]

Ketefe was relieved to see that others had noticed the scream. Her legs felt normal again (the odd position she'd sat in had only been comfortable until she needed to get up), so she walked toward the door.

But before she could reach it, a flash of yellow from the table caught her eye. She stopped, turning and looking closer at the glinting object. It was a bracelet - two pieces of black, coiled string tied to either end of a small yellow zigzag of gold. She picked it up, turning it over a few times between her fingers. It was small, but there was no question that it had some sort of power. Maybe it was just her strange predilection for lightning bolts, but the bracelet seemed right for her somehow. And Mel HAD said they could each take one if they wished...

"Hey, Mel, what does this do?" she asked, holding up the little bolt, one string already curled around her finger.

[Sunblink]

Keaton turned the hieroglyphic-engraved stone over and over again in-between her fingers, studying it intently. Utterly lifeless, the dull stone didn't reflect any of the light pouring into the room nor the image of Keaton staring at it, giving the impression of an ordinary, uninteresting rock. A bullet, Stygian had said, implying that the stone could indeed be a weapon. Keaton could've believed that, it was probably the only thing this ostensibly useless-looking pebble could be used for. But its true function was made clear by Mel, stating that it was an eye. This made Keaton's entranced state dissolve, her ears lifting themselves into an erect position and her gaze shifting to the dragon.

"Did you say an eye?" she asked, blinking. Still fascinated with the false eye, she lifted the rock in front of her face, feeling her pupils instinctually dilate. "Huh..."

How appropriate, Keaton thought sarcastically. A smirk tugged at the edge of her lips, her unusually pale, dull-looking eye staring lifelessly--an artificial mockery of its opposite companion, a much livelier, chocolate-brown orb--at the eye-stone aligned with it. Such was her interest that she didn't even hear the scream, not even aware of it when it was brought up. Blinking, Keaton lowered the rock, then stared lazily at the door, where everyone was beginning to file out.

Sighing, Keaton stood up, then pocketed the eye-stone. Later use, perhaps. She started to walk over to the door.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[lucas marcone]

"WHAT THE F***?" Ian said considerably confused and surprised. He gained back some composure. "Sorry though this place was empty, stupid college prank you know....Not even my idea heh it was my room mates's and" he said quickly backing tword the door.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Seeing people leaving Mel scooped the remaining trinkets back into her bag as the butterfly flitted from nearby Ketefe back to it's owner's shoulder. At the felines question she looked at what was in her hand. "Hmmm... I barely remember that one. By the design I would say you get to cast a lightning spell a few times a day. But I think it might have a bit of magic shield to it as well, by the look of the magic upon it. I would have to look at it closer to be certain." Then Cog's question drew her attention away. "I guess I should have given out instructions." She walked to the doorway where the wolf was halted. She gently tapped the frame on the edge, by the earpiece, with a fingertip. "Little taps here will dim the effect. On the opposite site will strengthen it again." She smiled a bit, "Much easier than having it in your natural vision."

[Stygian]

At Mel's last comment, Stygian made a face and a little grunt. 'Tell me about it,' she said. 'But yes, I think it would be most appropriate to examine.' Her eyes followed Cogidubnus, already on his way out, but it was Keaton who felt a sudden pinch and gentle tug around her leg that prompted her to stop. A quick, barely noticeable movement of something black whipping back into shadow along the floor was all she caught with her eyes.

[Sunblink]

Shortly after stuffing her new eye-rock in the pocket right next to her marble, Keaton started to follow her companions, knowing that she was going to need to pick up her pace in order to catch up with them. In the midst of a step over the threshold of the door Keaton halted upon feeling the telltale pinch and tug on her leg, fur spiking instinctively and tail bristling like a bottlebrush. Her uncharacteristically feminine streak was still going strong, apparently, but nobody really enjoyed feeling such an unexpected and unpleasant sensation out of nowhere.

Out of her peripheral vision Keaton saw something whip out of sight, withdrawing back into the rippling shadows. That was indication enough of who had made her stop. Again with the unpredictability. She supposed that it was probably fortunate, finally having an opportunity to speak to him, but she hadn't exactly rehearsed how to confront their tension. Once she was sure everyone was gone, Keaton glanced at the shadows, sighing with tense resignation.

"Hello Sebastian. I should've figured you were going to take this opportunity to try to talk... or something."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Aisha deCabre]

As the stranger answered Rynkura's call, she shot her eyebrows up incredulously and stood up, relinquishing the defensive grip on her staff.  A prank?  She thought and allowed herself to step out from the shadows, her steady gaze falling upon the rat who had so boldly walked in.

The elderly-looking but strong white tigress tilted her head at his appearance, then chuckled and raised her hand peacefully...though her ears were slanted a little at the curse that the rodent uttered.  "Ah, don't worry, it's not my castle...we're just guests.  You've yet to meet the host," she said with a sort of ominous voice, nodding towards the door.  "I'm Rynkura.  You might as well come in for a while.  The storm outside seems to have let up, but it may continue again soon.  How you made it past that superstitious village down there is beyond me."

The healer started to turn back for the library, but then paused again.  "Oh, but some of the other guests happen to be adventurers.  You may have grabbed their attention by screaming."

It was then, right on cue, that Aisha had dashed the rest of the way down the stairs, with Ketefe somewhere behind, and she supposed Cogidubnus as well.  She had tested the speed spell on her new amulet and now leaped in front of the stranger and her mentor in a flash of red from her cape, the bladed boomerang already in the black jaguar's hand as she braked before them on the floor.  "Where'd the scream come from?  Anyone hurt?" she demanded with her teeth bared.

Rynkura's eyes rolled.  "Case in point," she laughed, then waved her hand at the eager-to-fight panthress.  "Just another guest, Aisha, there's no threat.  At least it's hoped so," she added, then started back for the library, leaving the rest of the group to meet.

"Mierda..." the feline cursed and replaced the weapon on her belt, looking at the rodent, who looked enough like trouble to do such a thing...at least to one's eyes.  "Another one, huh?  Who're you?"