((Gaahh, what's with the daily updates? This is too fast!))
Store the murakumo again, pick up Wiellste by the neck, in an effort to hide her collarless nature from the guards. Then grab Kara and leave with her. Gesture for at Medizin to follow, too. Walk through the bore until finding a room that does not have guards in it, then take the artifact from Kara's pack (preferably without being noticed, despite being a giant wearing full plate), set her down, and continue deeper into the bore. Thrust the orb into Wiellste's hands, tell her that her effort to destroy the collar made it explode instead, and request that she transmute the explosives in Nyw's collar. As quickly as possible.
Stop only if Nyw or one of his charges is threatened, or if a guard follows him too closely to take the artifact, or let Wiellste dive.
Edit: Nyw would stop Kara from attracting the guards' attention, if he had any sign that she was about to do so, but I don't think he really would. So, if she gives away the artifact, he'll just take Wiellste to a remote part of the bore and physically block any guards from being able to see her. Maybe drag Addam along if Nyw spots him.
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Only one murakumo, but hey! Dual wielding them is stupid anyway.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "Mourning the foolish young moth".
Stats:Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:13
Cun:8
Kno:6
Ner:10
Skills:Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor [Protective 4]
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
Kara tapped Nyw's shoulder, winked at him and then motioned towards the general direction of the guard with her head while at the same time weakly pushing him away.
"I'm fine.." she said, struggling to shout to make sure she would be heard over the noise of the engine.
I don't know what's going on. I don't know the best thing to do. But I know Wiellste needs a distraction. Whether Nyw will use that distraction to stow Wiellste away or incapacitate the guard is up to him. Honored Dead are supposed to work for the greater good. I'll trust his choice.
Unless Nyw stops me, shout to get the guard's attention and get him to come close to me: "Hey! You! Can you come take a look at this? Is this the Artifact you wanted?"
Name: "Kara" is what most humans call her, though the closest pronunciation would be Kr'ra-Kax
Race: Corven (advantage for climb, disadvantage for falls)
Appearance: She is a crow-like Corven with matte-black feathers. A bit short. Constantly moves her head around, examining her surroundings. Moves her tail up and down whenever she's excited.
Age: Adult, but just barely
Goal: Wants to find artifacts and experiences that she can use to make an (under)world-famous museum. Wants to prove herself to her mother and piss off her brother with her success (both financially and socially).
StatusSacrificed left arm to reverse time. Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.
StatsStr:8
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:6
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:8 + 3 = 11
Ner:10
SkillsRifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1
InventoryFire Orb Artifact (in backpack-like thing made from shirt)
Ethral Rifle (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Crystal Friend
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Simple Clothes (no shirt)
Kara's Diary
((Gaahh, what's with the daily updates? This is too fast!))
Store the murakumo again, pick up Wiellste by the neck, in an effort to hide her collarless nature from the guards. Then grab Kara and leave with her. Gesture for at Medizin to follow, too. Walk through the bore until finding a room that does not have guards in it, then take the artifact from Kara's pack (preferably without being noticed, despite being a giant wearing full plate), set her down, and continue deeper into the bore. Thrust the orb into Wiellste's hands, tell her that her effort to destroy the collar made it explode instead, and request that she transmute the explosives in Nyw's collar. As quickly as possible.
Stop only if Nyw or one of his charges is threatened, or if a guard follows him too closely to take the artifact, or let Wiellste dive.
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Only one murakumo, but hey! Dual wielding them is stupid anyway.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "Mourning the foolish young moth".
Stats:Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:13
Cun:8
Kno:6
Ner:10
Skills:Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor [Protective 4]
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
ASSUMING that all that works out:
"I see. Then we can no longer allow room for error. I'll be sad to see this go, but I must trade one defender for another."
Sacrifice my revolver, and a point of Speed.
Again, 6, 20, 14, 21.
Estimate the reinforcement needed to transmute the explosive into an inert, or at least not immediately threatening substance, without touching the sensors or Nyw.
If no estimate, 3 material and 5 action.
Name: Wiellste Gunsmithy
Description: A young Ethral, no taller than 4 feet. Her fur is unpatterned and a milky white. Usually wears a rather plain quilted brown silk cloak, and a polished copper mask with symmetrical, spiraling lines etched on the sides.
Goal: Wiellste is like many Ethral in that she seeks to gather knowledge about the world before all else. Though being an Ethral from Knot, her skills are largely more on the practical building side than the scholarly side. She isn't particularly invested in the teachings of the Tenebrous Church, but the idea of the spheres intrigues her, especially Balarim, with it's writings and technology.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 15
Kno: 13
Ner: 11
Skills:
Weaponsmith 2
Diving 2
Pistol 1
Bore 1
Translate 1
Stealth 1
Inventory:
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Ethral revolver 6/6
1 Fathom
Maybe drag Addam along if Nyw spots him.
"Did you need me for anything, honorable ancestor?"
Assist with the distraction/field of view blocking thing if needed, if not just tag along for now and try to figure out what this beaker artifact is.
Name: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza
Description: A young man of slightly pale complexion and eternal 9 o’clock shadow, he was raised in a small village. While the village priest and passing mystics droned with endless sermons of the Church and their teachings, what had always captivated young Adam’s attention more were the stories of his Granny.
Old stories of the world as it once was, before people were forced to flee to the caves and crannies of this damp hell. Of warm days where pleasant green plants tickled your feet as you walked through them and a cool breeze blew through your hair. Where food was plentiful, nature was benign and endless vistas reached as far as they eye could see.
Adam was nominally a card-carrying member of the church, though he mostly did it for the connections and perks that brought. They were powerful and had ancient lore, all things he would need to fulfill his true heart’s desire: to return to the surface, vanquish the madness that tainted their homeland and reconquer paradise.
Goal: Plunge the secrets of the depths below to find an answer to the horrors above.
Stats
Str: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13
Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Inventory
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements
1 minor artifact
1 beaker artifact
1 black book copy
1 black flame
1 Silent Night
1 field lighter
17 fathoms
(loaned 6 fathoms to aigre)
1 crystal construct
"Hah!" Kara exclaimed at Drett's joke, trying to laugh, though it came out more as a pained gasp.
As the painkiller started to take effect, she raised her arm and brought it to Drett's fuzzy head.
"You really don't hate me..." she murmured as she rubbed the fuzz gently. It helped her relax further.
"I'm glad." she commented and closed her eyes.
After a second she let her arm fall to her side. She wasn't thinking about much, she was mostly trying not to vomit. In her disoriented state she was thinking that it would be embarrassing to vomit in front of people she was trying to impress. The bloodloss and constant movement wasn't helping with her dizziness.
Of course not. I acted rather... Drett pauses for a second, embarrassment clear in his voice. ...Harshly toward you earlier.
As her eyes close and her hands fall, he begins to take stock of his bag.
Flame above, that's right, he mutters, rifling through his bag, I spilled the rest of that venom. Good thing I planned for... No, I didn't plan for what just happened. I was expecting a fire fight, not spontaneously healing severed heads and disappearing limbs.
Do be careful with her! She's suffered a traumatic injury recovering the artifact for you! He says, then under his breath quiet enough for the group around him to hear, she's braver than you lot, sending others to die for you.
Reflect on life in the Archives. Keep Kara stable. Assist in the distraction. Pray to the flame for inspiration out of this mess.
Drett Medizin, Ethral- Str: 07
- Dex: 12
- Spe: 10
- End: 08
- Awa: 07
- Cun: 14
- Kno: 15
- Ner: 10
SKILLS:- Medical +2
- Biological +2
- Mechanical +1
- Chemical +1
- Occult +1
- Archeology +1
INVENTORY:- Doctor's Bag x1
- Field Lighter x1
- Cave Spider Venom x5
- Fathoms x10
[11][1]
Nyw quickly moves from the hatch over to the two moths helping to awkwardly shove Kara up to the next floor. He carefully steps between the guard and them, obscuring Kara's pack with his bulk. After they make it up into the engine room he picks Kara up in one arm again and starts moving up, higher into the bore, doing his best to walk smoothly and carefully despite the rocking and shaking of the bore. Kara, apparently half conscious, weakly waves her remaining arm at a nearby guard and starts to say something. Nyw places his hand on her beak in a way that appears comforting from a distance, but he snakes a thumb under the bottom of the beak and holds her mouth shut.
"Delirious. Pay her no mind." Nyw says, his tone flat, and then carries her up and out of the engine room, into the bore compartments proper. Slipping the guards' attention is not something as easily done as he would have liked, they're quite keyed up and looking to corral everyone into a single room. In the end the best he can do is quietly slip into a side room before being seen, pulling the moths and Adam in with him. He sets Kara down against the far wall of the room and has Adam and Medizin put themselves around her; the best shield he can manage at the moment. He whispers an explanation and his desires to Wiellste, gesturing first at her lack of collar and then at his own. Wiellste's expression is unknown under the mask but her body language seems strained and nervous. She seems to consider the situation for a moment and then nods tightly. She looks over at Kara and the others before gesturing for Nyw to join her in the opposite corner of the room. She kneels down, facing the wall, with Nyw behind her, facing the others. It seems the best possible position for either a failed dive or an accidental detonation, at least in her estimation.
Wiellste pulls the revolver from her cloak and sets it down directly in front of her. She places a hand on it and then a hand on her own chest, closing her eyes. [17] She considers the best dive configuration for a few moments but Nyw's impatient tapping of his foot and her own nervousness make such complex calculations impossible. She huffs out a breath and estimates as best she can. With a silent assent she sacrifices the revolver and a part of herself. The revolver flashes through hundreds of different materials before transmuting into a sort of water vapor or smoke and dissipating into nothing. Wiellste feels the power flash down her limbs and then up from her hips, crawling like an electrical jolt in slow motion straight to her head. She smells ozone and her entire body aches as though she just ran several marathons in a row; she has serious doubts as to if she'll be able to stand up after this. And then she begins the dive.
(14 + 10 + 20 + 3 + 10 + 2 + 6 + 19 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 11) [-4 nerve, +5 nerve from sacrifices][20+1]
Wiellste's back arches and her body convulses, every muscle straining. She falls backwards and her muscles strain, forcing her up into an arch, her voice coming out as a shrill chittering insect scream between clenched jaws. Nyw's collar rattles and its material seems to grow unsteady, islands of transmutation spread and shrink in organic patterns like fungal blooms. Apparently somewhere in that mess something changed that triggered a sensor but the resulting explosion was little more than a pop, a small crack appearing in the back of the collar and a gout of steam, oil and what might be fat issuing forth. It subsides with a tea pot whistle and the entire collar then rusts away and crumbles into a pile of flowers and copper wire. Nyw turns to find Wiellste laying limp and seemingly unconscious, thin trickles of blue ichor leaking through the mouth and eyes of the mask.
Sit on the ground and read from my book. There isn't anything I can do to escape anymore.
Name: Lokam Pilgrim
Description: Lokam is an Ethral Aspirant of the Tenebrous Chruch currently on pilgrimage. His soft fur is pale yellow, his large and fuzzy mane is golden and antennae and wings are dark purple with white details. His antennae, unlike most Ethral, are also very long and fluffy. Most of the time, he's wearing his silky church robes, which also have a hood included. His mask is very dark purple, with bright yellow spirals and curves, similar to tentacles.
Goal: His goal is to just complete his pilgrimage and ascend in the chruch. He wishes to go as deep as possible and someday become a Living Saint, Stygian or even a member of the Council. But his dream is to someday go deeper than everyone, reach the center and finally find God.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 13
Kno: 13
Ner: 13
Skills:
Diving: 3
Caving: 1
Navigation: 1
Survival: 1
Translate: 1
Inventory:
The Black Book (Real)
Black Flame
Bag of Path Markers
Silk Aspirant Gray Robes
Purple Mask
Do not fear, do not lose hope. The faithful are loved and all suffering shall be repaid tenfold. In sickness, in injury, in strife, remember this. Experiment with persuading or just manipulating my crystal spider. Does it seem able to learn? Are there ways to control it beyond that dumb rod?
Name: Auft Kindheart
Description: Standing 3'10", with even fluffier than usual snow-white fur, this Ethral radiates adorable innocence even by the standards of her kind. Her porcelain-white mask is a circular shape carved into slices, each bearing a smiling face with eyes and mouths arched in joy, and adorned with pink blush marks. Her cloak is similarly pure white and a little too large for her, adding to her cute and defenseless appearance.
Goal: To amass and improve loyal pets and slaves.
Stats
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 16
Kno: 13
Ner: 10
Skills
+1 Medical
+1 Translate
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Persuasion
+1 Stealth
+1 Animal Handling
+1 Archeology
+1 Biological
+1 Chemical
+1 Occult
Inventory
2 Fathoms
Ethral Rifle [7/7]
Doctor's Bag
Dodecahedron Spider-Thing: Fist-sized dodecahedron body, long unjointed legs that move in very slow cascades. Ceased moving upon being picked up.
2 quarter-inch cubes of impossibly heavy black stuff: Estimated 50 lbs weight total
[16]
You set the spider down and over the next few minutes subject it to various tests, bopping it when it does something you don't like. It takes a while but the thing does seem to learn so long as you are very clear on what you want it to do. Obviously it doesn't understand you but hand gestures plus bops seem to work, after some repetition.
Find an airvent and try to climb in, aiming to get into the air ducts.
Name: Moku Youkou
Race: Abomination Shang-Gei
Description: A female Shang-Gei cloaked in a heavy and rough looking worm wool coat. Underneath the clothing, is a heavily mutated figure. Her scales has been coat in plastic, giving each one a iridescent sheen to them. Spikes of melded plastic, metal and circuitry are studded haphazardly, the largest one is a foot long, spearing right above her pelvis. Her many tongues have been replaced with metal tendrils that sneak in and out of her mouth when she is not paying attention.
Goal: To "find" her mate.
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 8
Speed: 8
Endurance: 10
Awareness: 12
Cunning: 12
Knowledge: 11
Nerve: 9 (temp -4)
Skills:
Medical: +2
Machine Control: +1
Electronics: +1
Mechanical: +1
Armorsmith: +1
Occult: +1
Diving: +1
Stealth +1
Inventory:
Fathoms:16
Relic fragment
Bladed Shovel
Clothing with ? Balarim Jal
One stone snake piece
[4]
You run up a wall, grab hold of a vent cover and use your weight to simply fall back and tear the cover off. You fall on your back and wriggle around for a moment before righting yourself and moving to crawl into the vent. You're halfway there when a guard shouts at you and your collar makes a little warning beeping noise.
"Get. Down." The guard says, slowly and with brutal clarity, pointing at the rest of the people sitting around in the room.
"Now I really want to believe they will let us go after this. Such a mess for this artifact..."
Just keep helping Vikkan for now.
Name: Garos Ellon
Description: Garos is a 4 feet moth-creature, with a black fur coating his body, the only different colors standing out on his form are located on his wings; blue circular marks that do give him two "eyes" on the back. Aside from the mask his kind naturally wears, he is also wearing a worn kettle helmet, which while doesn't provide the protection it normally should due to its current condition works like his lucky charm. The mask Garos wears is somewhat plain looking, all black aside from some blue marks along the "cheeks" and a crudely drawn star on the forehead area.
Goal: He is just hoping to gather himself a fortune and hopefully some fame too, just in case the hiring-and-shooting business becomes a necessity.
Stats
Str: 7
Dex: 12+2
Spe: 10+1
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 13
Kno: 13
Ner: 10
Skills
Weapon Skill: 2
Stealth: 2
Acrobatics: 2
Defense Skill: 1
Inventory
(40)Ethral Rifle [7/7]
Silk Cloak
"Is everyone in? Everyone accounted for?" Vikkan asked as he tried to ignore the ever-present dizziness that reared its head after he put too much strain on his blood-deprived body.
Move the bore to the other entrance to collect the rest of the group, then it's time for a hasty escape.
Name: Vikkan Laerthe
Description: A human from Anvil and a moderate Chthonic who was born and raised close in the neighborhood of the Hammerfall boreyard, where his parents were employed as menial workers. Being so close to a place so filled with machinery and boring machines left a lasting impression on Vikkan, who became a furnace helper, then a drivemaster's apprentice until he finally reached the controls of a bore. He's quite good at conducting driving bores and, most importantly, he deeply enjoys his work.
Bore love aside, Vikkan is also generally quite friendly and good-humored even when he's not behind a bore's controls. He is, however, aware of his limitations out of the control room, and he'd rather leave most other matters to more skilled people. What he lacks in intellectual education he displays in polite curiosity, and he tends to be interested in listening even to topics he can only vaguely grasp, making for a good talking and drinking buddy if nothing else.
At odds with his friendliness, he looks rugged, if young. His hair is dark brown and cut short, and he has a well-groomed handlebar mustache (though he's been known to let it grow and style it into a horseshoe at times). A small diagonal scar moves from his right eyebrow to the bridge of his nose. His skin is brown and displays a few burns thanks to a few years of furnace and boiler work. He's fairly hairy, with his shirt's sleeves covering hairy arms and a few spots of scar tissue. His uniform is made of thick cloth and utilitarian, overalls, a long-sleeved shirt and a cap. His major concession to vanity is keeping his uniform and mustache impeccable.
He doesn't have a right hand.Goal: To deep driving bores and having fun while doing it. It's not a difficult dream, even if it can be hard at times.
StatsStr: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)
Inventory-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-2 Fathoms
-Crystal key golem (actually Garos', but he forgot to add it to his sheet)
Vikkan leans over the controls, Garos helping him keep his balance, and activates the return trip. The clockwork computer whirs with a million little clinks and clacks of metal and the Bore jerks into motion. The return trip to the original bore hole is quick enough, maybe a minute or two with the cleared tunnel and the automatic systems. It drops out of the ceiling of the horizontal borehole and lands with a sharp jerk and then a gradual hiss as the legs relax into a waiting position.
Find the viewport and keep an eye on the ruins.
Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop.
Goal: Overall, Harm would like to find a place where refugees and travelers could seek refuge without dealing with the dogmatic influence of the church. Right now, though, she just wants to get away.
Stats
Str:10
Dex:11
Spe:10
End:10
Awa:10
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:10
Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)
Inventory
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
Silver/Tin wire spool
3 gold cubes
7 Octahedrons
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6 rounds)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
There aren't a lot of windows on the bore...none in fact other than the ones in the control room. Instead you head down to the nearest airlock and open it up once the bore has stopped moving. It gives you a good view down the bore hole towards the cavern and the ruins.
Sit down and wait for the bore to arrive, enter it when it arrives.
Name: Alex Wells
Description: A middle aged man standing 5'7" feet tall. He has short brown hair and an unkempt beard.
Goal: Exploring the depths and collecting its wealth.
Stats:
Str: 11
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 12
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
3 TNT
Broken Bladed Shovel (Handle and Shovelhead)
Mail Shirt
8 Fathoms
Stone and crystal samples (including a diamond, black opals, quartz and goldlace marble)
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
If still alive, run back to the bore!
Name: Aigresaur
Description: A sexy lizard with a serpentine head, smooth pale scales, a slender velociraptor's body with lanky arms and legs...
Goal: it just wants to snuggle
Stats Shang-Gei
Str: 8
Dex: 15
Spe: 12
End: 8
Awa: 12
Cun: 10
Kno: 8
Ner: 10
Skills
shotgun: 3
acrobatics: 2
Unarmed: 1
Inventory
Tunnel Clearer 5/5
[1]
Aigresaur, hitherto staring blankly at a ceiling in the balcony room, turns on her heel and sprints out towards the remains of the abomination bridge. She scrabbles across the smashed stone and onto the bridge, picking up considerable speed. She slings the gun over her shoulder and drops to all fours, lopping along in a sort of springy fast motion caterpillar crawl. She reaches the edge of the sheered off section at a full sprint and leaps with a violent spring like motion, tightly bound muscle jerking her forward in a full body lunge. She clears the 20 foot gap with several feet to spare and keeps running, seemingly unslowed. She scuttles down the borehole and leaps onto the rope ladder that Harm has lowered down from the airlock. Alex is already halfway up it but She clambers straight over the top of him and up into the bore. Only once she has run down a hall and skidded into a wall does she stop.
Alex, grumbling, climbs in after her. He stops at door and gestures with his head to Harm, indicating AsHul's kneeling form still in the tunnel.
"Should we worry about him?"
As he says this, a slab of stone roughly 1/3rd the size of the ruins separates from the roof of the cavern and falls in gravity defying slow motion into the lava below. A massive wave of liquid metal rises up around it, flowing over the ruins and rolling towards the bore hole like a white hot tsunami.
((sheesh Everyone got into the Bore in one round. And here I was going to spend about three rounds poking around in here))
Explore. Find a way to the front of the bookshelf. Peek out cautiously, so as not to startle the giant floating eye that probably roams these aisles reading at infinite speeds.
Where does the information it reads go? No one knows. Perhaps the eye knows. Perhaps even the eye does not know. Perhaps the Eye reads continuously because the information goes nowhere.
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:9 Dex:8 Spe:8 End:10 Awa:12 Cun:10 Kno:10 Ner:16 (currently at -1)
Skills
Diving: 3
Animal Handling: 2
Survival: 1
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy)
1 Silent Night - calming. gives advantage on diving rolls
3 Worm Blood - steadies nerves (restores to max)
2 Occult Junks
3 Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," one standard)
One Brass sphere with clockwork innards (From Balaram)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
You walk to the edge of one of the books. There's a small gap there and you squeeze sideways through it, sidling for a good minute or two before you reach the edge and come out onto the front of the bookshelf. You're in a library, or something like it. Its hard to tell, being so small and everything being so far away, but you can see another bookshelf like what this one probably is several hundred feet away, by your subjective measure. Way up above, past several more levels of this shelf, you can see a stone block ceiling with stone "Rafters" of a sort rising into pointed domes over and over with huge chandeliers hanging from the apex of each dome. There are no giant librarians, least so far as you can see.