Lets hunt some Artifacts!

Inkormine sighed in annoyance as he put away yet another book with nothing of note in it. Just a few hours ago he'd been having a delicious breakfast made up by the Silver Wolf cooking team, when a man he didn't know had entered with a box of papers, taking it over to the job board and pinning up the latest job requests, causing Inky to make his way over... after a suitable delay, as a couple of others had gone over before him, and he knew most of the guild wasn't comfortable with him coming right up on them, even when he made sure they could hear him coming over. A bunch of them were just so unobservant! So instead he just finished the sweet cake from a pan with tree sap on it that he'd gotten, which was really quite good, then made his way over to the board, and scanning over jobs, noting a woman who came over as he looked but continuing his own check.

It hadn't been long until a job involving some sort of tower had caught his eye, and looking into it, it looked to be a research job into a magic tower that nobody had been able to enter, or at least nobody who then came back out. That was interesting and cool sounding if also dangerous sounding, but as the request was just for some sort of information on it to generate an initial payout of Jewels, that was enough to get Inkormine to take the job. Before going anywhere near that place though, the spider did want some information on it, so he went to look into the guild library... And was then told this was just mercantile ledgers and the like, the real library is downstairs, not in the entrance hall. He'd waved to Song as he went by, distracted by the thought of an even bigger library and therefore kind of rushing, being a little rude to his sister, but he was excited, wondering how much more they had here?

Queue suitably shocked spider at the appearance of a real library, with plenty of excited skittering around before he eventually got back on track, resolving to explore the whole place top to bottom after this job. Then came trying to find a text on this 'Mystic Tower'. Should have been easy, the place was apparently famous. Unfortunately, that also meant it was covered in folk tales and fiction.

Leaving Inkormine in his predicament of putting up the twelfth book in the last hour after realizing that the initially promising book was just someone making up theories about the tower out of whole cloth, likely not even a mage based off the wierd stuff they said about 'energies' and complete lack of any notable discussion of accepted magic science. Inkormine wasn't super versed in magic theory but even he could tell that level of fake. Unlike 'An Interior Take on the Mystic Tower of Fiore', a book that had taken him an hour of careful study before he realized it was just someones fiction, albeit well written and convincing, if dry and pseudo-academic.

The last book on his list was actually a three book set the librarian had suggested, a newly published one they'd gotten in apperantly less then a month ago, 'Security Advisors Analysis of the Threat of the Fiore Mystic Tower'. Sounded just dry enough to be worthwhile, after the last twenty-five flops. And that set should be up near the top of this wall shelf. There was one of those stair-ladder things somewhere in here to help people get to these high shelves, but Inky didn't bother, climbing up the bookshelf, careful to keep on the supporting structure so he didn't break anything, and stretching over to grab the three heavy books.

Word Count: 636/2000 (Total, it doesnt divide evenly for the three)

Haley could not help but notice how one of the two spiders people of the guild sighing over book after book after book. She knew of their existence, as in their presence in the guild. It was not hard to sometimes hear the murmurs of scientist guild mates wondering about about the anatomy of their species. Haley could not help but wonder the same when it came to her own curiousity. Originally the Silver Wolf mage was to interview a certain lamia over in Lamia Scale, however Hargeon posted guild's sudden disband lead any plans to a halt. Instead now Haley had set her purple eyes on a set of siblings with a spider for a lower half.

For a while Haley wanted to engage the spider in conversation, most likely to help the arachnid in his studies of whatever he is reading about. The alchemist was more than capable, having a personal library of her own, and was no stranger to the guild's own vast collection. It was just a matter of cross referencing and finding suitable factual sources for whatever the spider's goal was. The mage tried to engage him at the job board, seeing him approach it and thought it would have been opportune. However her target did not seem interested in a conversation and her own personal lack of confidence.

So the mage did what she knew best. Haley stalked the spider by turning into various people, and eventually by turning into the librarian learnt of what his research is about. Haley knew a good recent arrival that had said information and pointed it out to him before leaving and returning to the stalking. The mage watched the spider scaling the shelves with a careful climb. It fascinated her. However it seemed to her that the spider struggled to grab the three thick volumes of books.

It was then did it come to her this might be her chance to engage the spider in conversation, and possibly help in his endeavour. Haley, now in her normal form, the same form Inky saw her at the job board. Taking out a thick book from thin air, Haley brings forth a shimmering swarm of fairies that weave their way through and grabbed the volumes off the shelf for him and placing them in Haley's hands, who nearly drops them from their weight. Looking up Haley smiled sheepishly, a fairy adjusted her glasses so she did not look goofy.

"You looked like you were struggling..." Haley now realizes she never really planned how she would actually introduce herself and a sweat droplet falls from her forehead as she tried to think of some sort of way to say hello. "I thought perhaps I could be helpful and help you out... I'm Haley!" Haley waved as the fairies helped her support the books.

Post Word Count: 432
Total Word Count: 1068/2000

The small spider had already long since finished breakfast, being used to waking and eating at a very early time. It was a habit training had put in her, one that almost a year of being away hadn't been able to rub out of her. Her breakfast had been curry with potatoes and egg with a side of tea. Why? She hadn't picked it for it's flavor, but rather that it was the first thing she had managed to point at. It would take a lot to get the small girl to dislike a certain food, all good food was good to her.
The little girl had been reading a book at that time, touching the words to more easily tell the different materials apart from each other. Song looked over from what she was reading when her brother rushed by. She couldn't see the excitement that had been on his face, but had figured from the speed that he likely was. What other reason would he rush by? There wasn't exactly an emergency going on. The young spider placed a bookmark in her spot before closing the thick tomb.

Her curiosity than led the desert born person to chase after her elder sibling. The youth quickly moved along, following behind her busy footed brother. She made sure to keep her eyes out  for him, easily making her way around. What was he excited about? What was going on? The answer became very obvious once the stalking had led her to the guild library, the same place she got the thick book in her arms from.
This wasn't something that would have been easy to get to in her home country. Even if other countries had open libraries, it was a new thing to have one at the very place that you live open for your own use. After figuring out the mystery, the girl had simply gone back to reading her book. This was something she was more than content on doing, only thinking to look over when she heard a voice break the silence of the area.

Someone was struggling? The Talea looked over, quickly realizing that the person in question was her older brother. Maybe if she could see peoples faces, she would have noticed! But she couldn't exactly see faces in that way so there was nothing she could do about that. Still, her place in the book was marked by the item meant for that very purpose before closing the book and quietly hurrying over. The person near her brother was strange.
What were those things around her flying and holding books? 'No! Stay on task!' Even if the flying things seemed very interesting. "Brother, do you have a goal besides just reading?" She had taken the job, but it had been before the big rush. This was one of the reasons why she had no idea who else had taken on the job, or that others might be looking for the very same book she had already been reading.

These were simply not things the child thought about. But, there were more than a few things that she was not all that careful with. She didn't know better yet, something she would probably learn to do with time. Just like she would eventually one day likely learn that busting into the middle of a conversation was rude. "Oh, hi Miss Haley person, I'm his sister Song." At least she was still a kid with a lot of time to learn.

Words: 586
Total wordcount: 1654/2000

When he'd thought of these books as heavy, Inky hadn't been thinking of THAT heavy! These weren't books, they were Tomes of Knowledge! At least they felt like it, wow. He was going to have to get both hands onto just one from this angle to pull it out safely... At least he was, before a bunch of shimmery glowy small creatures suddenly swooped in and pulled all three off the shelf right in front of him, to his astonishment. Following their movement back to a vaguely familiar mage, he didnt quite start switching from astonished to annoyed before she spoke, saying she'd noticed he was struggling and was trying to help, which defused the tension easily enough as he smiled down at the woman below. "Oh, well, thank you then, miss Haley!" He walked quickly down the wall and back to the floor, looking away for a moment as he transitioned from wall to floor... only to look back and see a familiar face there suddenly. Song had just popped up, asking if he was doing more then just reading. "Ah, well, after this job doing some reading sounds nice. There are so many books here!" He said to Song, then looking past her at the woman who'd introduced herself as Haley. She seemed more familiar now, and a step forward and a moments thought as Song spoke made it click. "Hey, weren't you at the job board this morning when I took that job for the Mystic Tower?"

"That's what I was looking for Song, there was a job posted to investigate the Fiore Mystic Tower, and I was doign some research before I went out, since it sounds dangerous. The books miss Haley has are the last ones I've got on my list for likely helpful ones, so i'm hoping." Inky gestured to a piece of paper on a nearby table with its chair beside the desk instead of in front of it, with plenty of lined out titles on it. "Miss Haley, might you know anything about that tower? And could I take those books from you now? They seem a little... heavy for you to be comfortable." He said, eyeing the glowballs under the books that were probably taking a lot of the weight.

Words: 379
Word Count: 2,033/2000 (Word Count met)

Haley never thought she would encounter the spider siblings so easily. The crow mage had knowledge that they were around and she could at any time simply find them in the guild, especially if her eyes permit such a fateful encounter. Haley smiled in a semi-awkward way, trying not to be too over-the-top with her curiosity. However the way the conversation was going, perhaps the spider research can come another time.

“Oh um yeah I was, I did not really see a job I was interested in so I'm here… doing my usual reading and all,” Haley answered Inky, before turning to Song and bowed slightly, much to the discomfort of the fairies holding up the books, who chimed and whistled like rattling windchimes in a strong breeze. Apologising to her tiny friends, she listened to Inky's reason behind the intense research he was doing. Now that the pieces fell in place, it clicked in Haley's mind what to do.

“Well I may be of service then…” Haley would thank Inky for his kind offering however she puts the books down herself. The fairies remained, floating about the spiders like curious fireflies. One landed on Inky's leg, the first one on the right side, and laid down as if to relax. The other fairies followed suit, making Inky look like he had lights attached to his legs. Haley on the other hand was flipping with blinding speed, her eyes darting across the thick tomes of sheer academic boredom. However she stops flipping and points to a page.

“There ya go… Most of the pages are theories and accounts of various sources but here… Here is somewhat more pinpointed research that used various methods in an attempt to document the tower… And while it was not all successful… It is the biggest thing we got.”

Word Count: Doesn't matter no more.