Play@YSDC

Duc's Palace, Guest Quarters - Vyones, Auvergne, France
10:00 AM - Monday, April 20, 1517

As Leonardo da Vinci left his quarters in the company of Story, Elizabeth, Brook, and Jean Luc de Monet, Gui l'Argot and a tall, handsome Spaniard that Story and Brook recognized as Diego approached.

"Ah, we meet again, Senorina Story and Senorina Brook," said Diego with a bow. "Won't you please introduce me to your lovely friend?"

Everyone may roll Listen.

Following Diego’s lead, Gui bowed also. There was no sign of the pompous ass, thankfully, although his ‘benefactor’ was here.

(35%) 1d100

[57] = 57
Listen 55 d%: [ 57 ] = 57
Ooh close!

"Good morning Diego," beams Brook. "This is our friend Elizabeth. How's things? We're off to the library with Leonardo."

"I am well, thank you," said Diego. "I trust you are too. I would be honored to accompany you to the library." He turned to Elizabeth, his eyes meeting hers. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Senorina Elizabeth."

Elizabeth smiles demurely.
“Charmed.” She says simply but she flashes a puzzled look at Story and Brook, and then she remembers; they must have met him upstairs.
“Are you a friend of M. L’Argot?” She asks Diego.

"I have only just met him," said Diego, smiling back at Elizabeth. "I am charmed to meet you as well."

”Short-term acquaintances who surely may become life-long friends,” said Gui with another bow and a winning smile.

"Indeed, it pleases me when that happens," said Diego, still looking at Elizabeth.

Brook rolls her eyes and looks askance at Story, as if to say ‘men!’

“Um, well.”
Elizabeth says as she feels a flush rising up over her face and almost wishes she had taken up Jacque’s offer of horse riding after all.

"Shall we proceed to the library?" asked Leonardo.

“Yes, let’s go for it,” enthuses Brook.

Gui fell in next to Brook. ”Mademoiselle, we meet again,” he said with an ingratiating smile.

Elizabeth collects herself and, with an arch look at Diego, she swishes after Leonardo to the library.

Leonardo led the group downstairs and down a corridor to the Duc's library. Tall, elegant bookshelves lined the walls, except for one wall with large windows that admitted plenty of sunlight into the room. There was also a decorated fireplace, which could be used for both warmth and light when reading at night. The shelves were filled with books of various shapes and sizes. It was difficult to say how or if they were organized, so it would take some time to look through them.

Everyone who wants to begin research may specify a topic and roll Library Use. A normal success will take four hours, so your research will be interrupted by lunch and will not be completed until after that, but a good enough success will be finished faster.

Gui looked around, nodding in approval at the room. ”What is it we are looking for, Monsieur?” he asked Da Vinci.

Smiling politely, but hopefully not encouragingly, at Gui, Brook peels off in the search of anything relating to Atlantis.

[6] = 6
Library use 25 d%: [ 6 ] = 6
Wow, didn’t expect that!

"We're looking for anything that has to do with Atlantis," said Leonardo, "but I think the young lady has that well in hand. Another topic of interest is something known as a 'soul crystal.'"

Nice! You'll definitely get those answers before lunch. I'll wait to see how the others roll before proceeding.

Library 75 roll: 21

Like a child in a sweet shop, Elizabeth tries to look everywhere at once. But she soon homes in to some useful looking books and carries them to a table.
“These might have something about soul crystals.”

"I'll see if there's something about that play, Le Roi en Jaune," said Story, perusing the shelves.

Great! That will be complete by lunchtime too. I'll give Gui and Jean Luc a chance to roll before I roll for Story, Diego, and Leonardo.

Gui had always admired books for their value rather than for whatever knowledge was contained within so his search was magpie-like, moving randomly from one finely-bound tome to another…

(25%) 1d100

Brook found not only a copy of Plato's Republic, but also a curious tome called the Livre d'Ivon. Comparing notes with Elizabeth, who was engrossed in her own research, it soon became clear to both of them that Ivon was the French translation of the name Eibon, the same Atlantean sorcerer Elizabeth had heard of before. Atlantis was said to be located somewhere in the sea, though its exact location had been unknown. Still, the prevailing theory was that it was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, from which it got its name. Millennia ago, the island suffered a cataclysm that caused it to sink beneath the waves, though there were reports that some people, such as Eibon, managed to escape its destruction. Indeed, in Eibon's own book, he mentions this. According to Eibon, the doom of Atlantis came because someone had summoned an entity into a gigantic statue, causing it to come to life. The statue had gone on a rampage, ultimately destroying a device that enabled Atlantis to float on the surface of the water. Eibon managed to imprison the entity in a soul crystal in his possession, but the damage had been done, and all he could do was escape from Atlantis before it sank. In his writing, he speculated that this entity was capable of somehow consuming time, and that it was a manifestation of Nyarlathotep.

Eibon discussed soul crystals in detail in his book. They were common tools used by sorcerers such as Eibon. With the proper ritual, which was actually detailed in the book and which Elizabeth was able to learn, a soul could be imprisoned in an empty soul crystal. This could be a human soul, but it could be any entity, apparently including the being that had destroyed Atlantis. It could then very easily be discharged into a suitable receptacle, which could be a living being but also perhaps an inanimate object, such as the statue. Eibon mentioned that sorcerers often used soul crystals in order to prolong their lives by stealing the soul of another person with one soul crystal and then using a second one to transfer the sorcerer's own soul into the now soulless body. He implied that he had used this process himself many times to take over a younger body, which was quite disturbing.

Story found a history book about the Roman Republic that mentioned a play that was performed only once called "Rex In Flavo," which translated to "The King in Yellow," just as "Le Roi en Jaune" did. This play had horrified the audience, causing a riot that resulted in the amphitheater where it was performed being burned down and the actors being killed. The author of the treatise speculated that the play had met with such a reception because the idea of having a king was anathema in the Republic of Rome, which had risen after the overthrow of a tyrannical king.

At this point, a servant came into the library. "Honored guests," he said, "luncheon will be served shortly." Then he departed.

Jean Luc's player hasn't been here in some time, so I'll go ahead. Everyone managed to succeed well enough to find everything before lunch.

Story's Library Use roll (90% skill) looking up Le Roi en Jaune:
d%
Elizabeth, you may roll Cthulhu Mythos again.

Gui made a mental note where the valuable tomes were and wondered whether this room was accessible by the passages in the walls, should the opportunity present itself. He was about to carefully walk the walls of the room when the servant entered and then the thought of food banished everything else.

Elizabeth spent the morning riveted to the book. The research was horrifying but also fascinating. And lots of things fell into place.
She was just finishing her last notes when the servant called for lunch. Her stomach rumbled.

Cthulhu Mythos roll: 3rd time not so lucky: 66

Brook shudders as she reads the account of the destruction of Atlantis.

“Nyarlathotep…” she mutters, casting a significant glance at her friends; memories of London flooding back. “If he’s been released from the gem…”

Perhaps thankfully, her musings are interrupted by the servant.

“Yeah, let’s eat; before my appetite gets too creeped out.”

Everyone is moving to the thread linked below:

Time Is an Illusion, Lunchtime Doubly So