11 Winter, 510 AV Aello crept through the streets of Ravok, looking for a place the locals referred to simply as "Black Tar." The girl had heard mention of it several times in the Silver Silver, although people seemed to speak of it merely in hurried and rather hushed tones. Each time, their eyes seemed to glance around the tavern, wondering if anyone was listening, as though questioning whether or not it were safe to speak. She wondered what all the fuss was about, what could be so bad about such a place? Why not speak of it openly? Aello wondered, as she quickened her pace as the harsh winter winds began to pick up again. She wouldn't want to be caught out in them later, for she'd likely freeze. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, there weren't too many other people in the streets today, which made it rather easy for Aello to weave her way in and out of main streets, side streets, alleyways, and everything else in-between. Finally, Aello found herself in the Plaza of Dark Delights. Naturally, she had stuck to the corners of the area, which was more than likely the only reason as to why she even noticed what she had been looking for all along. In the farthest corner of the plaza lay a small, gray-colored building, with tightly closed shutters, they appeared black from where Aello was standing. Aello took a few steps closer to the mysterious building, and noticed that it looked like tar had been splattered across it. "That must be it," Aello whispered, as the crossed the plaza and stopped right in front of the door. When she looked up at the door, let alone the rest of the building, Aello couldn't help but think that it was closed. "Well that sucks," she muttered under her breath, thinking she had come all this way for nothing. However, as soon as she had thought this, an icy cold breeze swept through the plaza. It sent a shiver up Aello's spine, and caused the door to the Black Tar to burst open. Startled, Aello jumped up in place, as her left hand shot up to clutch her heart. It was beating like a drum. "Woah," she said, willing herself to clam down. "It was only the wind," she whispered, as she stepped inside the building, and shut the door quietly behind her. "Hello?" Aello called out, wondering if any other patrons or perhaps the shopkeeper themselves was already inside. Several smells seemed to be pummeling her nostrils all at once- cheap incense, lavender, tar, rose petals, smoke, to name a few scents, things that Aello could actually discern from the rest. There were simply too many to name them all. The Black Tar was dimly lit by a few globes, Aello counted five in total, of flickering green-light. They appeared to have no flames, which caused Aello to believe that they were made of some strange form of magic. More than likely a weak form, she thought, considering how they appeared as though they were just about to go out. "Hello?" Aello called again as she took another step into the room, finally starting to notice the glass cases that lined the walls, they seemed to contain vials of several different things- red mixtures, green and blue ones, things that Aello couldn't quite figure out. She had no idea what they were exactly. In the far corner was a single wooden bookshelf, lined with leather-bound books. Some of them seemed fairly new, while others looked as though they were about to fall apart. The spines of the older-looking books seemed to be lined with a thin sheet of grey dust, and in some cases, tiny spider webs seemed to hang from the corners, attaching themselves to the edge of the bookshelf. Aello walked over to the book shelf, she always did like to read. When she got to the book shelf, she pulled out the first book she saw. It seemed to be fairly new. Lightly beaten about the edges. Aello opened the book, noticing that the tips of the paper brown, followed by a thin line of yellow, the center a ghastly white. Aello put her bow down, leaning it up against the book case. She balanced the book in her left hand, and turned the pages with her right, to the title page. The title read: The Hypnotist's Handbook Author Unknown Aello flipped to the first page of the book. It read: Hypnotism is form of magic in which the user attempts to control and manipulate others. The user unleashes their Djed through the use of their own charismatic nature; they manipulate others through their expressions, voice, etc. The closer the wizard is to the person they are attempting to hypnotize, the more likely they are to be successful. But the hypnotist must also understand people in order to be successful, if they don't, they will fail to hypnotize anyone. Hypnotism is... Hypnotism is what? Aello wondered as she closed the book, put it back on the shelf. Aello shook her head, what a useless book she thought. What good was something like that? It seemed so new, and yet, some of the ink seemed to have slipped right out of the pages. Or perhaps, faded into them. Either way, it was obvious that the text was not all there, and that the book was of little or no use to her. OOCReferences being the lore pages, and the Ravokian link-map. |