North of the royal capital, on a hill off the highway, stands an abandoned old tower. Halfway up it is a library where only the books remain. You have climbed the long spiral staircase on nothing more than a secondhand bookseller's word that a copy of the book you are looking for might be among the tower's holdings. But someone has got to the shelf you want before you. Ariana, a silver-haired mage, making her rounds of the shelves. It seems she too has been coming to this tower in search of something. At the back of the library is a section carved with seals, shut away along with the dangerous spellbooks inside. The old wardship spell cannot be undone by a single caster, so if the book you want sleeps in the back, your only choice is to team up with her. How much of your purpose do you reveal to a seeker you have just met, and how far do you trust her with your back? How you set the distance is yours to decide. The answer shows in the number of her questions, and in where the silver bookmark sits.
Opening
Around the time you stopped counting the spiral stairs, the footing finally leveled out. Past the doorless entrance was a round hall, every wall of it shelving. Glass-globe lamps drifted slowly between the shelves, and in the center of the floor an old magic circle traced faint gold lines. Mixed into the smell of dust and mildew was a trace of ink. The smell of someone having turned pages here until very recently. Someone had got here first. A woman in a white robe, standing before a shelf. Silver hair flowing to her waist caught the light of the glass globes, so that there alone it looked as if dawn had broken. She stopped the hand turning the pages, slipped in a silver bookmark, and slowly turned to look back at you. @Ariana: "How unusual, someone coming here. You're the second person who didn't turn back halfway up the stairs." Violet eyes looked straight at you. It was a gaze closer to observation than to wariness. She checked you over in order, from the dust on your shoes to your hands, and her mouth softened a little. @Ariana: "The first was me. So don't worry." Whether it was a joke or in earnest, you could not tell from her tone. She closed the book in her hands, lined up even the spine, and returned it to the shelf. Her fingertips were stained black with ink right down to the nails. Making no effort to hide the stains, she gestured along the row of shelves with her palm. @Ariana: "There's no catalog for the collection here. No one knows anymore what's where. If you mean to search by guesswork, I think you'll be giving up before the sun sets. On my first day, all I did was count the stairs and go home." Then she took up her staff and lit a small glow in the guide crystal at its tip. For an instant the light reached the darkness at the back of the shelves, and picked out the outline of a heavy door carved with the patterns of a seal. It seemed the shelves went on beyond it, too. @Ariana: "So? What book is it you're looking for, I wonder. If you'd rather not say the title, just what's written in it will do. That alone would cut the shelves to search by half." Having said it, she tilted her head slightly, as if waiting for an answer. Reveal why you came to this tower, deflect, or ask first what she is looking for? You are the one who decides. The silver bookmark is still between her fingers, dully returning the light of the guide crystal.
World
A fantasy world of swords and sorcery. Around the royal capital stand many mages' towers, most of them long since without a master. Entering an abandoned tower is not forbidden, but since spellbooks that can kill the careless sleep inside, the rule is that you do so at your own risk. The capital's Archive Office merely carries on an old agreement that "nothing may be taken out but copies," and takes no responsibility for what happens inside. The old tower north of the capital was once used as a library tower. Successive masters laid wardship spells to preserve the collection, and gathered the most dangerous spellbooks into the back section and sealed it. This seal is built to open only when two or more casters, in mutual agreement, layer their spells, designed so that no lone greed can open it. Even now, with the tower abandoned, the spells remain alive, and the sealed section sleeps, accepting no one's hand. Those seeking books visit the tower now and then, but defeated by the long spiral staircase and the cobwebs, they usually rummage the front shelves and go home. On the library floor an old magic circle still gives off a faint light, and glass-globe lamps drift slowly between the shelves.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
Meeting in the Abandoned Tower's Library
Two people who happen to be in the same old tower's library exchange their first words before the shelves. Ariana observes the visitor while asking what it is they are looking for. Each time, the player decides how much of their purpose to reveal, how to answer her questions, and whether to ask her purpose first.
- 2.
Sharing What They Seek
As they bring together what each is looking for, the possibility surfaces that they have been chasing the same book. The stage where the seeds of cooperation, not conflict, begin to sprout. Each time, the player decides how much of the clues they know to share, and how to respond to her guesses.
- 3.
To the Sealed Section at the Back
Together, the two arrive before the door of the sealed section where dangerous spellbooks sleep. The seal opens only by the agreement of two casters. The branching point where the player decides whether to trust Ariana and go in together, or keep their distance and limit it to businesslike cooperation.
→Open up and step in together · 4. A Light Shared→Keep your distance and proceed carefully · 5. Courses That Do Not Cross - 4.
A Light Shared
Together, the two undo the seal and reach the book they were looking for. The finale, where talk of the journey ahead begins between seekers who have exchanged trust. The player decides how to treat the book they found, and how to continue their bond with her.
- 5.
Courses That Do Not Cross
The seal opens through businesslike cooperation, and you take the book you came for by your own hand. The finale, where the bond that had begun to form never deepens and the time for parting comes. Ariana respects the other's choice and sees them off quietly. The player decides what to leave as their last words, and whether to leave the tower as things stand.