Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

The initial check was simple—looking over the layout of the place, meeting with the Engineering heads, making sure that no sensitive equipment was somewhere it might clearly have to be moved from. A time was arranged: Allen and Billy would clear everyone else from the lab, if only for a little while, so the search could be made in relative peace. Roxie wasted no time in laying out her orienting equipment, to try and find some trace of direction for what she was looking for: delicate chains laid out in odd patterns on the floor, things suspiciously like dowsing rods in weird freestanding harnesses, shiny rocks and pebbles...

Reversible, certainly, but it all takes a rather lot of floorspace.

Comments

[birthmural]

Daimon said nothing as he entered. He frowned slightly as he took in Roxie's equipment, then the corners of his mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly. "Can it be that I do not see any blasphemous artifacts in your possession."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"I can never tell, given the arbitrary nature of your judgments," Roxie counters, but her heart really isn't into it. She's too focused on the task at hand. "I'm not finding any obvious traces so far of anything supernaturally potent. Either it's shielded or it's very quiescent."

[birthmural]

Daimon closed his eyes and idly rubbed his temple. The muscles of his face tensed as he reached out with his mind and...

Daimon shook his head. "It is there but beyond that I cannot say."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

Allen takes care not to disturb any of Roxie's workings as he finishes securing a few of the more valuable machines, keeping an eye on her progress. Somebody not psychic needs to be around, as much so that Roxie doesn't tear down all the walls and damage the machinery as so that if she or Daimon get hurt during their psychic jaunts, someone can call for help.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie takes a moment to investigate an odd side area (http://cityship.livejournal.com/3982.html)—in particular, a strange seal (http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l127/transmigration9/silenthill/seal.jpg) burned into the floor. At a first glance it would be easy to miss, but she's intentionally looking for anything out of the ordinary, and that entire seared-black area earned a second and a third...

She withdraws a notebook and pencil from her jacket and starts making a reasonably accurate copy of the glyph.

[birthmural]

"Have you ever come across such a symbol?" Daimon asked. Beyond the similarity to other foul marks, such as the one on his chest, Daimon did not recognize it.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"No," Roxie says, finishing up her scale hand-copy. For the sake of thoroughness, she pulls a disposable-looking film camera out of a jacket pocket and takes a careful picture of the seal. "But it might be significant to the topic at hand."

[birthmural]

"Indeed, certainly the emanations from it are of note." Daimon paused. "What would you have me do?" His normal methods of exploration via psychic probing had proved futile. The Son of Satan was unaccustomed to relying on tools.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"We'll have to keep looking. That other door in the main area is an obvious candidate." The one that she's somewhat surprised nobody has tried to force open so far. "If all else fails, I should be able to remove the wall around it." It hasn't even occured to her to ask Stacy to open the door—or to even just ask Stacy where the Book is.

[birthmural]

"Hm, have you attempted to open it?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Not yet," Roxie says, glancing at Daimon and then over at the seal burned into the ground. She straightens up and puts the camera away. "We should try."

[birthmural]

Daimon spared one more long glance at the seal before regarding Roxie. "Very well, after you."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie shuffles her way back into the main Special Weapons area, and finds her way over to that 'Acquisitions' door.

She examines it, looking for any obvious point to try and pry it open.

[cityship]

There are none, of course. It's a rather heavily built door, quite obviously meant to keep people *coughcoughRoxiecough* out.

You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?

[birthmural]

"What, precisely, is your plan?" Daimon could only guess what Roxie was thinking, mostly because he was thinking the same thing. "I do not wish for either of us to incur a violation."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Then move back," Roxie says smoothly. "I'll remove the door myself."

She starts going through her pockets. Oh dear.

[birthmural]

"Hold!" Daimon said, stretching an arm between Roxie and the door. "Perhaps we should ask Stacy if she may assist us. Stacy? Is there a way to open this door?"

[cityship]

Stacy's hologram appears nearby.

||I'm afraid not, without the command codes. If you'd like, I could attempt to direct you to what you are looking for, if it's within my abilities to.||

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie glances over at Daimon. Is he going to ruin her fun? That jerk.

[birthmural]

"Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated." Daimon said, looking back at Roxie.

Oh yes, he was.

[cityship]

||What exactly was it that you were searching for?||

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"It is an item called the 'Book of True Names'," Roxie says, enunciating the phrase with particular emphasis.

[cityship]

A concerned look comes over Stacy's "face".

||I see. Is this an...emergency situation?||

From the look on her face, it's obvious she already knows the answer. She just needs confirmation.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Roxie says firmly. "Very much so."

[cityship]

||...Very well.||

A few seconds later, there's a sort of schlup! sound as a hole in the ceiling opens, and an arm, similar to the tentacles Stacy usually uses, appears. At the end is a small pod, similar to the ones in the pod caverns, but instead of being filled with goo, the Book of True Names is floating in an anti-gravity field in the center of it. A small, holographic interface panel appears in front of the pod.

From what they could see, the Book itself seemed rather unassuming, just a simple, ancient leather-bound tome.

||I...still can't actually release it without the command codes. You can attempt to force it out, but I will be forced to give you a Violation for doing so.||

It's obvious from her tone of voice and expression that it's something she really doesn't want to have to do, but she'd have to do it anyway.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie glances over at Daimon.

"Two," she says, as if that should make complete sense on its own.

[birthmural]

"Are we capable of removing it by brute force and if not is there a way to find the command codes?" Daimon asked.

[cityship]

||You won't be able to even attempt to find the command codes. Everyone who knows them are dead.||

For a moment, she looks around, almost conspiratorially.

||If--hypothetically speaking, of course--you were to plant explosives on the container, the internal shielding would be able to protect the Book from harm while the container itself would be destroyed.||

||In such a hypothetical situation, I would be able to shield the area to prevent further damage to the surrounding area, of course.||

Wink-wink nudge-nudge say no more.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie starts going through her pockets again, withdrawing a small cloth bag and a little lump of putty. She steps forwards towards the pod, and starts using bits of the putty to stick small harmless-looking marbles to its outside surface, carefully arraying them in a loose pattern.

"I will handle it," she says to Daimon over her shoulder.

[birthmural]

"Very well. I pray you succeed." Daimon said, stepping back to give Roxie plenty of room.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

She finishes adhering the marbles, steps back, and murmurs a single word in some ancient, forgotten tongue.

And

[cityship]

A shimmering, transparent column of light appears around the container just before the explosion, containing it and keeping the surrounding area safe.

A split-second later, the column of light disappears, and the Book unceremoniously drops to the floor amidst the remains of the container.

||Roxie Schreiber, causing damage to ship components is against the rules. You have been given one Violation.||

||...Sorry.||

[birthmural]

Slowly, Daimon approached the book, each of his steps sounding in a soft, low thud.

"I did not expect that we would come to acquire it so easily."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie steps forward as well, and crouches, gingerly reaching to touch the book before she picks it up, looking at the cover and spine and back without actually opening it.

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

The book is bound in an old, dark leather, with ancient brass straps along the binding. The pages, from what can be seen without opening it, appear to be rather worn.

On the front, the words Libra Verus Nomen are written in red ink.

There is a slight psychic emanation from the Book at her touch. It seems to be a psychic focus, as well as an actual tome of knowledge.

Other than that, however, nothing else extraordinary seems to be noticeable about the book.

[birthmural]

Daimon frowned and rubbed his brow. As expected, the book was pulsing with energy. "Libra Verus Nomen." Daimon said softly. "The tenses are not correct. In the name of truth and freedom, or..." Daimon paused. "Or the Book of True Names." At least he was right the second time.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie's fingers twitch a little.

She opens up the book to the first page. And then the second—and third—and fourth—and so on, scanning through the pages quickly, looking for anything that particularly calls itself out as important or dangerous.

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

The Book appears to be written in more pseudo-Latin, which the ship's translator struggles to process for a moment.

It appears to hold details of ancient rituals, along with diagrams of warding sigils and ritual circles.

The pages in the very back appear to hold a list of the Names of daemons that the book has found, each of which was impossible to look directly at without extreme discomfort.

[birthmural]

Daimon peered over Roxie's shoulder. "The search for the name, how very much like exorcism. It is unfortunate that unlike an exorcism, we have no means to force him to reveal it."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"That's a large part of why I'm planning to try and capture one of the being's servants," Roxie says, looking back at Daimon out of the corner of her eye. "Testing its essence for sympathetic vibrations may allow me to narrow down the possible candidacy."

[birthmural]

There was a look of momentary surprise in Daimon's eyes. "That would indeed be useful," He said. "But how would you procure a servant?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"When my current projects are finished, I'll be doing my best to hunt one down in the ship's oneiromantic reaches."

[birthmural]

"I see. And does this 'project' require body parts or animal sacrifices?" Come on, you knew he had to bring it up eventually.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Those sorts of elements have already been incorporated," Roxie says dryly.

[birthmural]

"Naturally. Have you performed enough sacrifices to safely guard the book?" It was unnecessary to add "you heathen pig" to the sentence. His tone carried that message through well enough on its own.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Yes."

Her own tone is flat.

[birthmural]

"Well then, we should waste no time in reaping the benefits of your," Heresy. "Efforts."