Amelia Eva Steinbeck 📚 Teacher 📚 Witch 📚 Available for pop culture consultation regarding the arts, literature, and other foreign mediums of expression.
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NAME: Amelia Eva Steinbeck BIRTHDAY: February 28th FAV CAKE FLAVOR: Mixed berries, whipped cream, and lemon curd
WHAT THEY WANT MOST FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY: For her AP Lit. class to pass their test w/ a 3 or higher.
[He doesn't make her tell him again— not with that urgency in her voice, and as loathe as he is to put distance between them with a monster closing in, he knows better. He trusts her, just as he would expect her or any of his other companions to trust him, and he only gives a firm nod before he pulls away from her.
Rather than run, he Misty Steps away, vanishing from sight with a soft gust of wind and a sound pop before reappearing at the end of the hallway. Immediately, he puts his feet apart to plant himself, raising both hands in preparation to throw a spell at any moment— which one will depend on what she does, but he keeps his eyes trained on both Amelia and the space between her and the door, able to hear the ice splintering even from where he now stands.]
[The barbaric mimic looms over Amelia and takes a swipe at her. She dodges with some surprising athleticism. It's the kicking that nearly knocks the witch off of her feet but she skids across the floor between the mimic's legs and green magic sparks from under the soles of her shoes. Next, she thrusts out her arm and the runes encircle her arm and then gather into the palm of her hand.
Soon the crackling sound of electricity fills the air and a lance of emerald lightning forms. Amelia throws the lightning lance right into the open mouth of the mimic and it causes a beautifully chaotic explosion upon impact. It stuns the monster and it begins to stagger backwards clumsily.]
GALE! Can you pin it down with ice?
[Amelia has more magic lightning at the ready, but if her conjecture is correct, Gale would be more than capable of following up.]
[If there were time to stop and admire her work, he most certainly would; magic is beautiful in all its forms, and the mystery of how Amelia's presents itself is one he is keen to unravel, but now is hardly the time or place. Rather than responding to her request, he simply acts, his muscles already tensed and ready to launch whatever spell the moment demanded, the very air around him nearly buzzing as even here, in another world entirely, he draws upon the Weave.]
Glacies percutiens!
[Her lightning strike had done the bulk of the work, knocking the creature off-balance, and a lance of ice proceeds to follow it, splintering into three before it strikes— one of the shards goes wide and hits the wall, shattering, but the others strike true, one managing to pierce its abdomen while the other follows the path of Amelia's own emerald lance into its gaping maw.]
[The mimic for all its strength and unnatural limbs is no match for their swift teamwork. Gale's ice attack makes it fall over and with an unearthly gargle, perishes and lies on the ground twitching for several more seconds.
Its tongue lolls out of its chest mouth and when it's done moving completely, that's when Amelia steps forward to examine it with a grimace. ]
Ugh. Imagine if we tried to open it up normally. And why is it so long?
...
[And then Amelia takes out her phone and starts taking some pictures at several angles. Hey, research.]
[As the mimic goes still, Gale closes the distance between them in another blink, popping into existence beside her and gently prodding at the mimic's tongue with the sharp end of his staff before he goes down on one knee to examine it more closely, as well.]
I'd rather not imagine that, thank you. Good thing we took precautions. It's much faster than the creatures of its like I've seen, and they're not exactly slow.
[He wrinkles his nose, then looks over as he hears the snap sound effect from her phone's camera and lets out a breath that manages to be a laugh at the same time.]
That really is a useful tool for documentation, I must say.
Some devices are specialized to only capture images but for what we have on our phones, the image clarity is good enough.
[Click, click, click! After taking a few more pictures at different angles, Amelia puts her phone away satisfied. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a dull glint on the ground that has dropped out of the mimic's mouth.]
... A key?
[Kneeling, she gingerly takes it between two fingers, frowning. She holds it up to Gale.]
Here, look at this. We could look for the door that this unlocks and if it proves to be nothing particularly fruitful, we'll go back to an elevator.
[He echoes her as he looks it over, reaching to gently take it from her grasp and turning it over in his hand. It doesn't seem to have any magical properties, but he supposes a key needn't do so to be of interest. They tend to lead all sorts of fascinating places, in his experience.]
Well, color me intrigued. If this encounter hasn't put you off, then I say we press onward. If it's worth locking away, it's likely worth seeing.
[All knowledge is worth having!]
I do hope today's adventure has been as thrilling as you'd hoped.
[Actually, Amelia feels her muscles burning, her eyesight getting irritated by the dim lamplight, and everything is cold and smells wet. Sure they managed to defeat several swarms of skeletons, and overcome an ogre, and a very scary mimic, but was it worth it? Really?? She had to do a complicated reversal spell and oh god, she doesn't want to think about how stressful it would have been if she messed up.
She'd much rather curl up in a blanket with some hot tea and finish her book in the fake afternoon sunlight in her room right now and...
Although Amelia has all sorts of old-lady complaints stirring in her mind, before she opens her mouth, she looks at Gale...]
[... And remembers how he had just protected her with his body and his arm around her when they were up close to the mimic. He wasn't afraid of getting injured again for her sake. Throughout their whole mini-adventure, Gale has managed to keep his spirits up while working in tandem with her.
... Amelia thinks that she doesn't dislike this. She has many complaints, but working through the obstacles with Gale isn't one of them.
So she stands up to stretch her arms out in front of her and nods.]
Let's finish our excursion on a good note and make sure we treat ourselves to a good meal after this. I'm thinking of a large steak.
[That meal was going to be well-earned after all they've done here today; magic itself takes a great deal of energy even among the most experienced practitioners, and while they've not seen anything they couldn't handle thus far, it's certainly more than their vacation has demanded of them up until now.
He returns the key to her as he draws back up to his full height, giving a stretch of his own and feeling the muscles in his back loosen as a result. Adventuring, it turns out, is rather fun when it's not a life or death situation. He gestures to the way ahead, deferring to her.]
Let's see exactly what was worth hiding behind undead soldiers and locked doors. Perhaps even a small piece of the puzzle that is Hotel Caelum.
[And their trek continues. There are more enemy skeletons, some in groups, others stalking the corners to make a surprise attack. Anytime Amelia sees a chest, she immediately sets it on fire which is a good way to get any sneaky mimics out of the way. Using the key's design as a reference, they're led to a spiraling staircase that goes down, down, and down...
And finally, there's an enormous set of locked doors at the bottom. Though the keyhole matches what they have on hand, there's a stone slab that sits across the handles and there's an inscription that's hard to make out.]
It looks like we have some directions to follow before we can open up. Can you light it up Gale?
[With their early encounters in this place behind them, they manage the skeletons and potential mimics they come across with aplomb. The spiral staircase seems quite promising even as they approach, and when they do reach the bottom, Gale believes they've absolutely come to the right place, should they hope to find anything of worth.
At her request, he immediately raises a hand and gives it a wave, lighting the end of his staff.]
It would be my pleasure.
[He proceeds to take the staff in both hands and angle it so that the light shines on the inscription, leaning in and squinting a bit to examine the text.]
[The script is very small and written in fine lines but the light from Gale's staff helps illuminate it. The inherent magic makes the lines glow making it easier for Amelia to read it aloud.]
"Greetings travelers You've come this far. Now you've one last foe One most bizarre.
One last thing, Before you attack..."
[Amelia pauses, not to be dramatic but to be... Dumbfounded.]
[With a roll of 17, Amelia's natural intelligence and experience with wordplay comes into full force. Now if she's actually proud of being able to figure this out... Well.]
...
...
...
Spare ribs.
[The words of the riddle light up and the stone slab disintegrates into dust.]
I've never even heard of such a thing, at least not in that context— perhaps when referring to the field of necromancy, but I don't think most of their lot are terribly concerned about the ribs.
[Rather more focused on the fleshy bits, generally. He shakes his head, muttering under his breath:]
Favorite snack... ridiculous.
[He doesn't love having been outfoxed by a door. Heaving a sigh of his own, he collects himself and dims the light on his staff, straightening up.]
[Pfffff. Well, he can puzzle that out while Amelia unlocks the doors with a 'click' and they open up automatically for the two adventurers. She looks around the new room they're in, careful and alert. It looks suspiciously sparse with bits of dry grass poking through the cracks. Further ahead, it starts to become more littered with half-melted candles that keep the arena alight.]
... Nothing yet. But the unease is... Palpable down here. More so than any parts of the corridors we've been through.
[He stays close as they cross the threshold, unwilling to let her venture too far ahead on her own. The room appears to be empty, but he can feel the tension as it rolls over them, the air itself thick with unease.]
Perfect place for an ambush.
[He doesn't need to tell Amelia to be on her guard, he knows— she's been on alert all the while, as has he.
He exhales, his voice low as he pulls from the Weave and feels energy coursing through his arm, down to the very tips of his fingers, a spell ready to take form at a moment's notice.]
Whatever comes our way, I don't fancy their chances.
[It's tempting to create a stronger light source to cast away the shadows but on the other hand, she doesn't want to attract anything that may be hiding in the darkness. So forward with caution it is and Gale is at the ready.
The tension is high but it feels balanced between them. As they move further, the candlelight reveals long structures lying on the floor at various angles. It's hard to make the color out so Amelia takes it upon herself to go up close and make a small orb of green light to take a closer look.]
[He frowns as he joins her, also suppressing the urge to summon up brighter light to aid them— best not to put a spotlight on themselves, though that's assuming that whatever is here isn't already very aware of their presence.]
There's quite a lot of them... difficult to tell what they're made of in this light, but certainly not logs.
[Given the size of them, it seems questionable, but there has been a particular theme about this place as they've progressed through.]
[He follows her gaze into the dimly lit distance; not for the first time, he curses his human eyes, knowing that even summoning a bit of light won't do much to reveal it from where they stand. Now that he has bones in mind, however, what they're seeing begins to take shape, and he exhales.]
That does seem very, very possible— and in my experience, giant bones are never a good sign.
[Is it possible that they could be lucky enough that these won't reanimate in some way?]
This place almost feels akin to a necromancer's playhouse...
[Amelia decides to throw a little caution to the wind and summon a small orb of emerald green light. It orbits around the witch to help illuminate their path even further but with a narrow enough scope to not light up the whole dungeon.
Let's just say that up ahead the curvature of some hip bones begins to emerge and even further up is the outline of a ribcage.
This is not promising. Amelia's lips are a thin grimace.]
Gale. What's the most physically gigantic monster you've ever taken down?
[You know so that they can plan accordingly. Amelia has experience, for better or for worse.]
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Rather than run, he Misty Steps away, vanishing from sight with a soft gust of wind and a sound pop before reappearing at the end of the hallway. Immediately, he puts his feet apart to plant himself, raising both hands in preparation to throw a spell at any moment— which one will depend on what she does, but he keeps his eyes trained on both Amelia and the space between her and the door, able to hear the ice splintering even from where he now stands.]
I'll cover you!
[Whatever she chooses, he'll follow her lead.]
no subject
Soon the crackling sound of electricity fills the air and a lance of emerald lightning forms. Amelia throws the lightning lance right into the open mouth of the mimic and it causes a beautifully chaotic explosion upon impact. It stuns the monster and it begins to stagger backwards clumsily.]
GALE! Can you pin it down with ice?
[Amelia has more magic lightning at the ready, but if her conjecture is correct, Gale would be more than capable of following up.]
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Glacies percutiens!
[Her lightning strike had done the bulk of the work, knocking the creature off-balance, and a lance of ice proceeds to follow it, splintering into three before it strikes— one of the shards goes wide and hits the wall, shattering, but the others strike true, one managing to pierce its abdomen while the other follows the path of Amelia's own emerald lance into its gaping maw.]
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Its tongue lolls out of its chest mouth and when it's done moving completely, that's when Amelia steps forward to examine it with a grimace. ]
Ugh. Imagine if we tried to open it up normally. And why is it so long?
...
[And then Amelia takes out her phone and starts taking some pictures at several angles. Hey, research.]
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I'd rather not imagine that, thank you. Good thing we took precautions. It's much faster than the creatures of its like I've seen, and they're not exactly slow.
[He wrinkles his nose, then looks over as he hears the snap sound effect from her phone's camera and lets out a breath that manages to be a laugh at the same time.]
That really is a useful tool for documentation, I must say.
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[Click, click, click! After taking a few more pictures at different angles, Amelia puts her phone away satisfied. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a dull glint on the ground that has dropped out of the mimic's mouth.]
... A key?
[Kneeling, she gingerly takes it between two fingers, frowning. She holds it up to Gale.]
Here, look at this. We could look for the door that this unlocks and if it proves to be nothing particularly fruitful, we'll go back to an elevator.
no subject
[He echoes her as he looks it over, reaching to gently take it from her grasp and turning it over in his hand. It doesn't seem to have any magical properties, but he supposes a key needn't do so to be of interest. They tend to lead all sorts of fascinating places, in his experience.]
Well, color me intrigued. If this encounter hasn't put you off, then I say we press onward. If it's worth locking away, it's likely worth seeing.
[All knowledge is worth having!]
I do hope today's adventure has been as thrilling as you'd hoped.
1/2
She'd much rather curl up in a blanket with some hot tea and finish her book in the fake afternoon sunlight in her room right now and...
Although Amelia has all sorts of old-lady complaints stirring in her mind, before she opens her mouth, she looks at Gale...]
no subject
... Amelia thinks that she doesn't dislike this. She has many complaints, but working through the obstacles with Gale isn't one of them.
So she stands up to stretch her arms out in front of her and nods.]
Let's finish our excursion on a good note and make sure we treat ourselves to a good meal after this. I'm thinking of a large steak.
no subject
[That meal was going to be well-earned after all they've done here today; magic itself takes a great deal of energy even among the most experienced practitioners, and while they've not seen anything they couldn't handle thus far, it's certainly more than their vacation has demanded of them up until now.
He returns the key to her as he draws back up to his full height, giving a stretch of his own and feeling the muscles in his back loosen as a result. Adventuring, it turns out, is rather fun when it's not a life or death situation. He gestures to the way ahead, deferring to her.]
Let's see exactly what was worth hiding behind undead soldiers and locked doors. Perhaps even a small piece of the puzzle that is Hotel Caelum.
no subject
Here's hoping. Let's go.
[And their trek continues. There are more enemy skeletons, some in groups, others stalking the corners to make a surprise attack. Anytime Amelia sees a chest, she immediately sets it on fire which is a good way to get any sneaky mimics out of the way. Using the key's design as a reference, they're led to a spiraling staircase that goes down, down, and down...
And finally, there's an enormous set of locked doors at the bottom. Though the keyhole matches what they have on hand, there's a stone slab that sits across the handles and there's an inscription that's hard to make out.]
It looks like we have some directions to follow before we can open up. Can you light it up Gale?
no subject
At her request, he immediately raises a hand and gives it a wave, lighting the end of his staff.]
It would be my pleasure.
[He proceeds to take the staff in both hands and angle it so that the light shines on the inscription, leaning in and squinting a bit to examine the text.]
It appears to be quite old. Can you make it out?
no subject
"Greetings travelers
You've come this far.
Now you've one last foe
One most bizarre.
One last thing,
Before you attack..."
[Amelia pauses, not to be dramatic but to be... Dumbfounded.]
"What is a skeleton's favorite snack...?"
What.
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What sort of riddle is that?
[Frowning, he folds his arms in front of him, careful to keep the light steady regardless.]
I would expect it's aiming for some sort of clever wordplay, but skeletons don't eat.
[Something that rhymes with a body part, perhaps...?]
no subject
...
...
...
Spare ribs.
[The words of the riddle light up and the stone slab disintegrates into dust.]
no subject
What?
[This man has at least one fantasy PhD, probably more, and he is struggling to connect these dots.]
As in... rib of boar?
[That's hardly snappy or clever. Clearly, however, Amelia has solved this thing quite handily.]
no subject
Yes... It's less of a riddle and more of a joke where you have to figure out the pun.
[She sighs heavily and takes out the key to unlock the door.]
You don't call them spare ribs?
no subject
[Rather more focused on the fleshy bits, generally. He shakes his head, muttering under his breath:]
Favorite snack... ridiculous.
[He doesn't love having been outfoxed by a door. Heaving a sigh of his own, he collects himself and dims the light on his staff, straightening up.]
Shall we see what awaits us on the other side?
no subject
... Nothing yet. But the unease is... Palpable down here. More so than any parts of the corridors we've been through.
no subject
Perfect place for an ambush.
[He doesn't need to tell Amelia to be on her guard, he knows— she's been on alert all the while, as has he.
He exhales, his voice low as he pulls from the Weave and feels energy coursing through his arm, down to the very tips of his fingers, a spell ready to take form at a moment's notice.]
Whatever comes our way, I don't fancy their chances.
no subject
The tension is high but it feels balanced between them. As they move further, the candlelight reveals long structures lying on the floor at various angles. It's hard to make the color out so Amelia takes it upon herself to go up close and make a small orb of green light to take a closer look.]
... Logs? No... It's not wooden.
no subject
There's quite a lot of them... difficult to tell what they're made of in this light, but certainly not logs.
[Given the size of them, it seems questionable, but there has been a particular theme about this place as they've progressed through.]
Bones?
no subject
Are we...?
[The witch takes several steps back and looks up trying to make out something in the distance.]
Is this the skeleton of a giant??
no subject
That does seem very, very possible— and in my experience, giant bones are never a good sign.
[Is it possible that they could be lucky enough that these won't reanimate in some way?]
This place almost feels akin to a necromancer's playhouse...
no subject
Let's just say that up ahead the curvature of some hip bones begins to emerge and even further up is the outline of a ribcage.
This is not promising. Amelia's lips are a thin grimace.]
Gale. What's the most physically gigantic monster you've ever taken down?
[You know so that they can plan accordingly. Amelia has experience, for better or for worse.]
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