Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

"All the magic I see is light. These bottles and that window." The half-elf is a little patronising, looking down on Kothar for his poor grasp of Common. "Sure, I'll read your little book." The wood-clad adventurer opens the notebook and looks at the first pages- the recipe for the light potion illuminating the room. "Alchemy. I can't help you here, I don't know enough about alchemy to say if this is the right process for the bottles. All the ingredients are commonly available, too." None are particularly sinister, either. The half-elf snaps the book shut and steps aside, trying to get Kothar out of their way so they can reach the book on the pedestal.

Kothar's divine senses... tingle. This space is, bizarre as that may seem, artificial; a god has never dwelt or touched this space. There's arcane energy woven into everything present, a great big block of it within the metal tome upon its pedestal. Do souls count as 'holy'? If so, the half-elf has one. So does the book; that one might count as 'unholy', however, as it has been bound into the tin pages by thick loops of necromantic magic, which... probably also count as 'unholy' but were shaped entirely by mortal hands, without influence from fiends or deities.

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Seph doesn't turn back to look out the window while he continues to describe his things.

But.
The lights going out in the penthouse catch her attention, as it suddenly gets dark. She turns around to look outside - and it's dark out there, too. "I-impressive," she says. As much as she wants to not be impressed, being able to shut out all these lights with a single flick is pretty impressive. Even more so when all the lights suddenly return and grow brighter.

Doubt creeps into her tone of voice: "And you think they like you better now than in the underworld?"

Anyway. He sounds like he wants her to ask 'why', so he can have the satisfaction of answering. "You just like having power over them, don't you." she says.



[Smooth Stew Bar]

Vampires only exist in mythology, where Harley comes from. Sure, she's learned more about them due to Westside, but there's so many different varieties, practically anything could be a vampire.

"Get him a virgin Smooth Stew," she instructs the bartender, after rolling her eyes and paying him.
Apparently, it can get you drunk.

As the guy starts from scratch to make a nonalcoholic stew, Harley decides this is the best time to ask question him. She asks a couple questions about the vigilante she encountered, to learn where he usually appears, what his normal MO is. They don't know the vigilante's identity, however, but she learns a couple things.

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Hades shrugs, removing the curious key from the inside of his cane. "Doesn't matter what they like." With a flourish, the god holds the key up to his lips, taking care to hide it beneath a cupped palm. He whispers something into the key, causing it to flash and glow. "Times are hard, and I'm all they've got." The key continues to glow for several seconds before Hades strides back to his desk in order to return the key to its hiding place. "I keep their lights on, and I put food on their tables." The secret compartment is unceremoniously shut. "Do you know how many businesses I own at this point?" Hades steps towards his wife as he continues, gesturing passionately as he does so, counting off his fingers.

"Refineries, power-plants, warehouses!" He chuckles a little here. "I run the trains, and I build the cities. Whole cities! Marching to the beat of my drum." At this point, his statements are mere matter-of-fact. "I keep the time they wear 'round their wrists as shackles." He all but sneers here. "And you know what? They thank me for it." He continues to sneer, this time staring out of the window. "As they should! Without me, you know what'd happen?" His face goes deadpan. "They'd starve." A sigh. "But this was never about power, Seph." He clasps his hands together, scowling. "How could I crave what I've always had?" He slowly glances back towards his wife, a complicated expression on his face. "This was always about you."

He points a finger out towards her before his gaze returns to the refinery in the distance. "You leave for six months or more every year! Every year. You tell me it's for your mother, or - or for the spring, or whatever else! And I'm done, done with it all! At the heart of that building is a machine, a great machine. And if it does what it was built for, the seasons will be as pliable as any mortal in my hands, and you'll never have to leave again. There'll be no more excuses."

Hades faces away from her now, shoulders raised. "I'm doing this for you."

[Purple Eagle]

Vampires only exist in mythology, where Harley comes from. Sure, she's learned more about them due to Westside, but there's so many different varieties, practically anything could be a vampire.

"Get him a virgin Smooth Stew," she instructs the bartender, after rolling her eyes and paying him.
Apparently, it can get you drunk.

As the guy starts from scratch to make a nonalcoholic stew, Harley decides this is the best time to ask question him. She asks a couple questions about the vigilante she encountered, to learn where he usually appears, what his normal MO is. They don't know the vigilante's identity, however, but she learns a couple things.

[Smooth Stew Bar]

Shuyoru giggles, but remains silent and behaves himself as Harley asks her questions of the bartender, and once they're done and the stew comes, it occurs to him that they have no reason to be there. However, to look good, they have to eat anyway, unless... "Can we get it to go, mummy?" He asks.

Of course, he has to say it to keep up appearances, but he's definitely enjoying himself.

[bc56]

Fissure

Kothar steps into the half-elf's way, barring the path to the book. "No. Read. More." He thrusts the notebook towards the other adventurer again. Attempts to force him out of the way probably won't work. He's supernaturally strong and intent on staying put.

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

"Ugh, fine." The half-elf rolls its eyes and opens the book again. "Stuff about... uh, subdimensional pockets? I have no idea what that means. And the book. Those are dwarfish runes, but... the language looks elvish. I can't read it, though. Oh! Yes, I can, if I reverse the grammar and ignore some of the letters. It's, uh... Oh. It's been translated. Reasonably well, too. Book's about... necromancy, I guess? Those translations are nasty. Listen-" Kothar has a brief moment now, to stop the half-elf speaking.

[5a Violista]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Seph doubts this isn't just about power. Maybe that's her problem: she doesn't believe him, even if he's actually telling the truth. Or, at least, if he thinks he's telling the truth. Maybe if they communicated more, things would be better, but she feels like she has heard enough.

"For me?" she asks. She pulls her hand away. While it would be sweet if it was for her...she doesn't believe him. "If you craved me then you wouldn't have left me behind for the half-year that we had, to take care of the whole of the underworld myself while you're up here playing with refineries and warehouses."

Not to mention, "You can't even get the weather right, and it's already been this long."

She turns around and her feet click as she starts to walk away in the penthouse. "I've got some souls trying to escape that I need to recapture." Part of Hades' duty was to prevent souls of the dead from returning to the land of the living, but now that he's up here this job falls onto The Mistress.


[Smooth Stew Bar]

The bartender mentions that they charge extra if you want to take it 'to go'.

"...sure." Vigilantes sure take care to not reveal their identities. At least she now knows a little bit more. "Yeah. He'll have it to go."

She waits for the nonalcoholic stew to get put in a plastic zip-lock bag, and picks it up. She pays the rest, and tips for the info. "Thanks."

She heads out of the bar.

[Shadowcaller]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

Her ancestors...?

This man certainly had a eccentric way of talking, as rich people do she had to remind herself.
They were simply too rich to be odd.
"Yes, yes, of course. Mr. Kelligan..." Now to try to forget everything she had learned about him the last few days. "He's a engineer by education with a degree at Homeowa University, one of the most prestigious institutions in Ithki, the capital nation of seaside. Not only that but the Kelligan family is well-known for it's vast wealth. However, rather than relying on old money my boss went his own way and started the KABAL mercenary company out of his own pocket and managed to make it into the prominent organization it is today. The world wouldn't be what it is today without the scrappiness that KABAL have brought to the table." She explains, reciting a part of the company description she herself had written.
"Right now he isn't doing a lot of engineering projects as he's overseeing this entire organization but if you have a challenging enough task presented to him I'm sure he'd love to take it on." She explains all this with a smile on her face.

[Silken Whisper]

I am assuming Larza is approaching Minerva here since I might have lost track on where everyone is in the scene. Suddenly, Zee is inside the brothel once more?
The sister of battle turns as Larza wanders in. The grot helper had returned it seemed. "I don't know actually, I need to talk to Zee. Do you know where she is? She's the one detecting the xenos and she disappeared on me." The brothel room looked normal if not for all the disgusting heresy and xenos infesting it of course. It was honestly hard for her to tell if the cultists had been here or not but as there was no reaction from the guard she just had to assume this revolting state of things was normal here.

[Purple Eagle]

The bartender mentions that they charge extra if you want to take it 'to go'.

"...sure." Vigilantes sure take care to not reveal their identities. At least she now knows a little bit more. "Yeah. He'll have it to go."

She waits for the nonalcoholic stew to get put in a plastic zip-lock bag, and picks it up. She pays the rest, and tips for the info. "Thanks."

She heads out of the bar.

[Smooth Stew Bar]

"That was fun, I thought your eyes would roll outta your head, haha!"

Once out of the bar, Shuyoru waits until they're a ways from the bar, and while she's not looking - or anyone else, for that matter - changes to his base form. It's that of a bi-racial Afro-Japanese boy of about 10, with a short curly afro for hair, Japanese-shaped hazel eyes on black sclera and a slightly-chubby frame. Unlike Svetlana, who looks like a Polish woman with typically-asian eyes, this boy has a mix of both Japanese and Nigerian features. His lips, for instance.

"Thought that since I know your real face, you should see mine. No, I'm not a vampire. I'm also not 10, either, I just stopped physically growing at that age. I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." A test, perhaps? Who can say? Unlike in the bar, his face is devoid of emotion, his eyes dead in the manner of a psychopath. Though his voice is pitched to match his appearance, from his manner of speaking he clearly sounds older than 10.

"Now!" Shuyoru switches back to jovial at the drop of a hat, like flipping a switch. He always did like acting, after all, and he's decided acting unpredictable suits him. "What's next? Create some corpses for the vigilante to come and investigate? Put him in contact with Svetlana so we can monitor both thorns in our respective sides?"

[bc56]

Fissure

"No! Speak it not!" Kothar knows better than to read mysterious incantations out loud. How experienced is this half-elf? Kothar has years of adventuring experience, in much more dangerous environments than this. Even as he speaks, he draws his shield in preparation. He doesn't want whatever magic might be about to go off to hit him.

[5a Violista]

[having left Smooth Stew Bar]

"Don't worry, my eyes are attached better than that," Harley says.

After he changes and starts talking about it, she turns to see him. She lets go of his hand, now that he no longer looks like her kid. "'Real faces' isn't really a thing I care about," she says. She shrugs, and then shoves the warm bag of stew to him. She figured he wasn't ten, but him not being a vampire is potentially interesting. But...the concept of which face is the true one just isn't a big deal to her.

"He's not the type of guy who'd care about senseless murder," she says, "especially in this neighborhood." So she shuts down that idea. "Again, the problem is that we don't know who he is, so we can't put him in contact with anybody."

However, with a small modification to that plan, it could maybe work: "But maybe you could convince Svetlana that he'd be a good ally, or could send her after the types of criminals here in Skyside that he usually goes after."

[Hattish Thing]

[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Hades scoffs at his wife's incredulous response, scowling as she doubts him to his face. There's an attempt to mask the bitter taste of rejection which wells up in his mouth, but to little avail. In truth, that hurt more than he had expected it would. A glowering expression slowly forms upon his face. "Don't you ever turn your god damn back on me!" With shaking hands, he lunges forward and slams a fist down upon his desk, accidentally clipping the rim of the glass ashtray upon its glossy surface. The glass shatters into dozens of shards, and although his hand is miraculously unharmed, Hades curses, filling the room with his booming voice. "God ******* dammit!"

Shallow breaths slowly regulate until finally Hades raises a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, his gray eyes downcast. "You don't get it! You have never understood me!" His face quivers as his lip rises into a sneer, and the god points a finger once more at his wife. "If you made even half the effort I did, we wouldn't be in this spot! Things wouldn't be like this, and you know it!" Hades shoots a mournful, exasperated glance towards Persephone before repeating himself. "You know it. You... rgh."

He shakes his head towards Persephone before turning away, his corrosive tone darkening. His eyes grow vacant as he returns to his chair, slumping down into it.

Finally, he glances up towards Persephone again, now cold and distant. "Before you go, you should know our anniversary's coming up. I got you something."

"Do me the honor of at least looking at it before you throw it away."

---

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

With an all-too friendly expression upon his chiseled face, the well-dressed man nods attentively as the goblin recites what is clearly some sort of memorized advert. Although somewhat tedious, the man secretly appreciated the extra effort taking by the company in having their slogans and descriptions committed to the memories of its employees. Still, the admiration he feels within is masked well beneath his undeniably theatrical professional identity. Once she's finished, he clasps his hands together and breathes in deeply, clearly quite satisfied. "Magnificent!"

"Ha! Whatever they pay you, it isn't enough!" He rests his hands upon the counter once more before retrieving a glossy gray business card from within a pocket, passing it along. Vibrant gold lettering laid out in an elegant, modern font upon the card offers a selection of methods in which one might reach the offices of Olympian Extractions. "You ever in need of alternative employment opportunities, feel free to call that number there." Hades chuckles a little here, dragging upon his fine cigarette once again. "Now, back to the business at hand." Dark, sparkling smoke gushes forth from between the man's full lips, slowly dissipating as he continues.

"Kelligan, when's he free to talk shop?"

---

[Silken Whisper]

The goblin shrugs before scratching at her dyed hair. "How am I supposed to do, she's completely insane! She killed that guy, then ran off!"

"I think maybe she went back to the bar?"

[Purple Eagle]

"Don't worry, my eyes are attached better than that," Harley says.

After he changes and starts talking about it, she turns to see him. She lets go of his hand, now that he no longer looks like her kid. "'Real faces' isn't really a thing I care about," she says. She shrugs, and then shoves the warm bag of stew to him. She figured he wasn't ten, but him not being a vampire is potentially interesting. But...the concept of which face is the true one just isn't a big deal to her.

"He's not the type of guy who'd care about senseless murder," she says, "especially in this neighborhood." So she shuts down that idea. "Again, the problem is that we don't know who he is, so we can't put him in contact with anybody."

However, with a small modification to that plan, it could maybe work: "But maybe you could convince Svetlana that he'd be a good ally, or could send her after the types of criminals here in Skyside that he usually goes after."

[having left Smooth Stew Bar]

How does one impersonate someone if they don't care about true faces? However, he simply nods and collects the stew. "I see, that's good. Want some stew? You did buy it..." He offers, opening the container and drinking out of it. "Mmm..."

Listening attentively, he smiles widely upon hearing her modification to that plan. "That's a good idea, especially since you know where she is. In VIGIL, no doubt, I even have some spying to do for AMEN. Being new here, she'd need more allies outside of VIGIL, just in case. What type of criminals, exactly, does he go after?"

Oh, there's another idea, though. "Of course, one of us could always impersonate her. Since he's likely never met her before, he probably won't be able to tell until he does... assuming he has no way of detecting shapeshifters."

[Shadowcaller]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

Amy's smile turns more more genuine and nervous at what she belives to be compliment from the strange man... wait, what was his name again? Had she missed him introducing himself somehow or had he simply never done it? Suddenly she couldn't be sure.

"Eh, thank you sire. I'll remember the offer." She remarks with a nod. "But I can check. Who should I tell want to speak with Mr. Kelligan? Never catch your name I'm afraid, sir."

[Hattish Thing]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

Once the goblin requests a name, the well-dressed leans up against the counter before winking towards her. "You want a name? I got a few." He takes a long drag from his cigarette before exhaling a cloud of noxious smoke. His introduction is rehearsed, but the man's quite the showman. "Aidoneus, they once called me. Sometimes Pluto, or Dis Pater. Most often, though, they called me... Hades." He removes his cigarette from in between his full lips before continuing. "Nowadays, I go by different names. The Big Sleep. King Coal, maybe."

His voice lowers to an almost conspiratorial degree, as if he was letting Amy in on a secret. "Why don't you just put me down as M.H, huh?"

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

The half-elf, unfortunately, doesn't listen to Kothar, and continues to read. Their voice becomes laden with power, mystic symbols appearing in the darkness of the half-elf's mouth. "'And shiver at the sound of my Voice, for my Words are Power, Strident and Vile.'" As the half-elf speaks the last word, the book they're reading from crumbles to dust, their wooden armour cracks and warps as a burst of entropy ages all the organic objects within two metres of them. The half-elf themselves, as the speaker of the spell, is protected by this effect, but Kothar may find himself ageing at an accelerated rate for a few seconds at the end, seconds lasting years- or possibly even decades, if Kothar's unlucky. Magical items are protected, though temporary enchantments and enhancements may wear off sooner than expected.

The Silken Whisper

Zee's genetic tampering works, and the baby genestealer is killed. It can resist many things; many, many things. But not a biomanipulator directly tampering with its chromosomes. The girl nods at being freed, eyes wide. Of course she'll help Zee; she just saved her life, probably! The chain is hard to break with most things that one of the girls here could get their hands on, but melts easily enough to Zee's empyreal energies.

Zee is on the brothel's first floor; the ground floor, where the bar is, is now empty. Minerva went to the top floor, which is the second floor. Third floor if you count the ground floor as the 'first floor'. If Minerva and Larza head down now, they'll probably bump into Zee as she and the human girl (who has put on a massive coat the runner left behind) go towards the other rooms where there's infected girls. The purple-haired gunslinger is also heading up the stairs, with a large automatic pistol held loosely in her left hand.

[bc56]

Fissure

As the wave of necromancy strikes Kothar's shield, a curious reaction takes place. A burning symbol appears superimposed over the lightning bolt icon, a ring of circles around the shield's edge, with another ring of many smaller circles towards the middle, and squiggly lines radiating between them. As the glyph appears, the entity bound within the shield wakens for just a moment, consuming much of the magic which would strike the lizardman and leaving him relatively unharmed. "See? I tell you not speak," he scolds the half-elf. "That could be much worse."

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

"I've never been able to cast a spell before! I didn't know it would do that. That's some potent magic." The half elf unsheathes their wooden sword and looks the blade over, checking to see if the sudden ageing has affected it. Given that magic is almost certainly involved in making such a thing practical, it seems to be fine- even if the half-elf's armour is not. "I'm less magical than a ripe banana."

[Shadowcaller]

[Petroldactyl - Lobby]

King Coal? She very much prefered his older names. Nonetheless she eagerly nods. "Okay then, Mr. M.H. If you just give me a few moments and I'll tell him." She gestures at a nearby couch for him to wait. "Just, uh, try not to touch anything. Just in case."
There was an unusual amount of warning tape crossing off tubes and sharp edges that are sticking out of the walls seemingly without any pattern. "We're still trying to adjust things in here."

[5a Violista]

[outside Smooth Stew Bar]

Turns out, she doesn't want the stew. If she had wanted some, she could have ordered it.

Harley doesn't know whether he has a way to identify shapeshifters or not. Maybe. Regardless, "I'm pretty sure he could identify me, at the very least," she says. "Yes, last I heard, she joined Vigil. Idolizes Wenomir, even."



[Cloudtop Penthouse]

Persephone doesn't dignify him with a response to his outburst. She just continues to walk away, until...

...he mentions their anniversary.

That's right.

It was the end of winter that marked their decision to stay together, that she chose to eat those six pomegranate seeds. Reminded of this, she stops and turns back to him, to listen to what he says. Her own face isn't as cold and uncaring as usual, this time. "Okay," she says. Half of her honestly hopes it's something she would really like, but the other half sadistically just hopes it's something awful that she can dismiss, and she's torn between which she wants more. "Is...is it here, or somewhere else?"

[Purple Eagle]

Turns out, she doesn't want the stew. If she had wanted some, she could have ordered it.

Harley doesn't know whether he has a way to identify shapeshifters or not. Maybe. Regardless, "I'm pretty sure he could identify me, at the very least," she says. "Yes, last I heard, she joined Vigil. Idolizes Wenomir, even."

[outside Smooth Stew Bar]

Shuyoru shrugs at the stew offer being denied. She's missing out, too, this stuff is surprisingly good. Perhaps he'll come over next time to get the alcoholic version, in a more appropriate form, that is. "VIGIL, eh? I have business there, even. Perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone. Thanks, Harl." Rubbing his chin and taking in Harley's face once more, he nods to himself. "I hope we meet again. I should be going, get started on getting Svetlana to take an interest in our vigilante. This should be fun. Meet up in the bar again?" He asks.

Once she's replied, he'll say his good-byes, give a friendly wave and walk off... after changing to a nondescript man in a trenchcoat and hat, because this is Skyside and kids shouldn't walk about unattended in Skyside.

[bc56]

Fissure

"Not you. The words. Dangerous magic. Do not read any other thing aloud." Kothar moves forward, towards the book, drawing a flask of water from his pack. "I will destroy the book. It may release what evil is within." He empties the bottle onto the ground, speaking a forceful incantation in the Draconic tongue. The water spreads and pools into a pattern of elegant glyphs and circles around the pedestal, glowing faintly with holy power. If the half-elf understands it, it goes <By the power vested in me by the great mother, queen of light and guardian of the weak, may no unclean thing leave this place while I stand.>

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

The half-elf moves back, loading their arbalest just in case something happens that the massive crossbow could be useful against. There's nothing else from the translation to read aloud; the book crumbled to dust.

The metal tome upon the doesn't react immediately to the warding. As the book is not a particularly intelligent artefact, it doesn't react in time to stop the wards from taking effect. Though the book does open by itself and the pages flip open until it reaches the correct part and glyphs of its own lift from the pages and float into the air, glowing malevolently- though primarily in the ultraviolet spectrum. The glyphs form into a circle of their own, expanding out until they near the edge of Kothar's ward. Then, with a flare, they attempt to burst the circle by speeding up the effects of entropy upon the ward.

[bc56]

Fissure

The holy water which Kothar poured is already starting to dry up, far sooner than it should, but he doesn't falter. He steps forward, drawing his axe and raising it above his head. Flames both divine and arcane burst around its blade, and he swings it down at the book on its pedestal, shouting in Draconic, "Burn, foul thing!"

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

The book is hit with the axe! The flames don't take, the metal refusing to burn but it does start to glow as it heats up. The axe has sliced through some of the pages, and the book slams itself shut over the blade. When it opens again, the axe is in a different section- like the book rearranged what was written where for its benefit- and more of the black glyphs emerge from the book. They fly off towards Kothar, aiming to hit the lizardpaladin and sink into his flesh. If they succeed, and aren't blocked by the shield or the ward he put up, they'll slow his metabolism. His heart will beat slower, he'll have trouble breathing, and the strength will be drained from his limbs. He'd have trouble thinking, too, but the symbol that would have sunk into his head dissipates after a wooden quarrel passes through it, before the stained glass window smashes as the bolt finishes its journey. The broken pane of glass has stopped glowing, and the bolt that the half-elf shot is glowing with spectral blue light and embedded in the stone wall behind the window.

[bc56]

Fissure

Kothar is struck by the runes, but shakes their effects off. He's made of sturdy stuff, and fortified by a lot of divine magic. He raises his axe again and strikes off-center this time, aiming to shred pages with his second blow, shouting at the same time, "Shoot the book! Shoot the book!"

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

Can resist MANY things.

That's really good to know.

Zee makes a mental note to read up on the sort of stuff these monsters are good at surviving before they head up to the actual ship. Her bio-manipulation really only works well if she's in direct contact with something or the target is totally helpless. And if the whole 'jaws that bite and claws that catch' thing is accurate it would probably be best if she didn't try going into melee with horrible flesh-ripping aliens.

Anyway! Zee will reach out to steady the poor girl. She's been through some traumatic stuff and someone who seems safe being close should help.

And then?

She grabs a random object off the floor, very possibly one of the hybrid's shoes, and throws it against the ceiling.

It thumps loudly.

Somehow that innocuous sound will very specifically mean 'Hey it's Zee I'm down on the second floor disinfecting the women' to Minerva.

Having a connection to the sphere of Information is seriously useful for this sort of thing.

So anyway! On to the next room! Hopefully they don't get shot at. Zee is allergic to gunshot wounds.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Silken Whisper]

Minerva expression remains completely neutral as she looks at Larza. Whatever thoughts she might have regarding Zee and her potential madness is not readable there at least.
"Then let's go and look at the bar."

Then there is a loud thud.

Now, if a thud could actually mean as many things as Zee had intended there then that would surely be heresy. But loud noises was still enough cause to investigate at this point.

"Heard that?" She moves towards the noise, passing by Larza without a second look. Only the fact that she was talking to a grot was pretty silly but with any luck she'd be out of this situation soon.

She's planning to try to determine where the sound came from. Likely opening even more doors and interrupting even more johns and workers as she moves through the pleasure den.

[Earl of Purple]

Fissure

As its prior effect seems to have been shrugged off by Kothar, the book attempts something else. The pages flap through several chapters, before reaching a double-page spread covered in glyphs and graphs, which flare and detonate with ultraviolet light and a smell of rotting onions. There's force in the explosion, possibly enough to throw Kothar back as he cuts more of the pages and damages the book further. If that works, the book flips back and creates more glowing ultraviolet symbols, winding time back on the book to repair its pages.

Either way, a heavy crossbow bolt hits the book and skitters off its metal pages, scratching and damaging the glyphs but not impaling the book.

[bc56]

Fissure

Kothar blocks with his shield and slides back a short distance due to the explosion. As the book begins to regenerate himself, he swings the axe overhead at it again, shouting, <By dragon's fire, be purged!> The flames around the axe blade intensify and brighten, and as he strikes, they stick to what they touch and continue burning.