Arch was grateful that Ben's place had some medical supplies to cover his wounds. He was still rather upset about the evenings failure, and his choice words with Daphne, and he avoided her as best he could.

At Janos words, Arch's voice still hints at that displeasure. "I'm afraid that we must open that damm cursed box now. To not do so would be a rather big waste of time."

Catori watched Arch fumbling for the medical supplies and walked over to him to help him with first aid. Shaking her head with a half smile she cleaned the wounds of any dirt and applied the bandages with uncanny skill.

"Men and their injuries... but I agree with you. We need to open the box. But we also need to find out about this other man the Shade was talking about. I believe he is the one that gave the Shade its unusual power."

Ben had been quietly thinking through most of the trip home, though his focus was a little off. Rasputin... Rasputin... That rings a bell. But no, he's been dead over a decade. It couldn't be, could it? Then Ben actively critiqued that response, considering what he'd seen in the last 4 years of adventuring. Death was not an easy barrier to overcome, it was true, but it wasn't impossible, clearly. And as clearly shown, you didn't necessarily have to come back from death to have an impact.

At Catori's comment, Ben piped up. "I recall of a Rasputin. Grigori Rasputin, I recall his name was. He was a rather larger-than-life character over a decade ago, when Russia was still under a tsar. I recall the details around him were rather foggy though, he was something of a man of legend. A million and one stories around that man, I'm afraid, and I only remember a few. I'd have to look up the stories again, truth be told."

"I think I agree with everyone else - we should open the box, I don't think we have the option of waiting. Also, honestly, I'm damn curious as to what's inside, and I don't relish the idea of waiting six months to sate my curiosity. This time, however, we'll be prepared for whatever comes this way. We'll do it here, where the ley lines are best aligned, and where we can best build defenses against whatever might be against us."

It was only then that Ben noticed that Catori and Arch had fully bandaged and cleaned up his head. "Hmm! I barely noticed that! Excellent work, you two!"

Subtly, Daphne gave Spot the 'stay' command. The big hellhound sank to his belly, looking uncertain. She bent and gave him
a quick rub on his ears before slipping out of the room. This was something she wanted to do alone.

They had told her to stay out of the library, something about a guardian, but Daphne wasn't worried. Few things in this world scared her very much, though that was because she only had a passing acquanience with those things that would scare the pants off the displaced girl. And it wasn't like she as an intruder; she lived here. She just wanted to take a closer look at the box, alone, so that she didn't have to hide what was wrong.

She was lucky, she mused as she opened the door to the library, that no one caught what the spectre had said to her. That might have been very awkward. She stepped into the velvety darkness of the library, her sharp eyes looking for the box.

Moving into the Library Daphne closes the door behind her with a quiet click. The room is mostly dark but the light from outside is enough to see by. Her back resting against the door she scans the room before seeing the Box resting on a table. She steps away from the door toward the table with the Box on it and the candles in the chandelier burst into flame. Around the room other lamps begin to burn and the room is soon lit with soft flickering yellow light. Startled Daphne pauses a moment before continuing towards the book. As she took a step forward a spectral form coalesced in front of her. Though it did not speak Daphne was aware of its question to her, Whom are you? You are not allowed in this place!

"I Daphne," she said, dropping into a crouch. "Live in house. Pack with Ben and Marion." She shivered a little; running into another spectre right after her bizarre encounter earlier was making her nervous. "Look at box." She gestured toward the box while eyeing it, trying to see if she were close enough to do what she needed to do.

You are not known to me, leave now. The spirit being loomed even larger over Daphne as she crouched low. It made a gesture toward the door and it flew open of it's own accord. You have been warned. I ward this room from intruders. You are not welcome here. If the mistress wishes you to enter she will make me aware of you. The spectre looms over her it's eyes dead and empty it's hands cold enough to chill the moisture out of the air.

Marion feels a rush of relief as everyone weighs in on the opening issue. Thank God...she could open it now, and still look like the voice of reason rather than a reckless magelet.

"Well," she says heavily as she hangs her coat on the rack, "If you all think that, then I suppose there's no help for it. I'll need some things before we start. Ben, I think this should be outside, behind the house. Just in case there are...unforeseen consequences. The gazebo, perhaps."

She looks around, thinking. "Of course, we may need the extra power from the Library..." As she muses, her eyes linger on the candles over the study's fireplace.

Abruptly her demeanor changes; becomes tense and focused. "Ben. Someone's in the Library. They may be after the box. I'm going to check."

Marion produces her book from its case, and strides purposefully off towards the library.

Daphne nodded to the spectre, as if agreeing to its demands, then dashed deeper into the library. She made no attempt to touch anything, only to get close enough to the box to see it and to feel it. She knew that she was risking what the spirit would do to her, but being raised in Hell had inured her to fear of risks. One had to take some risks, or one got caught in their place of safety.

She had to know if the box was an artifact of Hell... or worse.

Daphne, her legs already bent beneath her, springs forward with a burst of speed. He feet land surely on the carpeted floor and within moments she is staring face to face with the box. Behind he the spectre lets out and unholy scream, the sound like metal tortuously grinding against metal. Flying after her, it's hands outstretched the, creature plunges icy talons into Daphne's back, raking bits of frozen flesh and blood from her back.

Off balance from the blow Daphne is thrown to the floor face down. Rearing up above her the ghostly form prepares to plunge it's cold dead hands into Daphne once more when Marion steps into the room Grimoire at the ready. Ben and the other just behind her crowd the doorway. "Stop!" she cries out as the situation before he becomes clear. The guardian freezes and turns toward Marion awaiting further instruction.

[OOC: Daphne takes 2 lethal from the icy claws of the Spectre]

Marion closes her eyes, forcing fear and anger to stay under a momentarily calm facade.

"Leave her be. She has my permission to be here right now."

She closes her eyes and puts a hand to her forehead.

"Daphne...come here right now."

(using the knack 'Mom Voice' )

Arch from behind the others looks on at the scene, trying to see what excatly was goiing on. From his view he saw Daphne on the floor and other shade floating above her.

Great, what the heck was she trying to do, steal the box?
Arch goes, "Is she alright?"

Daphne lay still on the floor for a moment, feeling the pain lancing through her back. She really wanted to stay where she was. Still, when she pulled herself to her hands and knees, she looked up at the box, staring at the unfamiliar runes. She also reached out, feeling toward the box, seeking something familiar.

It wasn't. It was wasn't like anything she'd ever sensed, and the young woman snarled in frustration and slammed the side of her fist into the carpet. Moving slowly, she stood and limped to Marion.

Marion reaches out in a surprisingly tender gesture to tuck a stray lock of Daphne's disarrayed hair back behind her ear.

"You could have died, do you know that?" she asks. "If I hadn't seen the candle...you could have -died-. Why didn't you just ask me to let you in?"

She looks around at Catori with a mute plea for help in her eyes.

Yes, master. The spectre glides off into the stacks of books as though nothing at all had happened. The room gradually began to warm as the warm air from the hall cycled through the door and reheated the suddenly very chilly library.

The tenderness got a better answer than yelling might have. "Wanted to see box," Daphne said softly, looking down. "Wanted to... see." She faltered, uncertain of how to say that she was a damned creature who was afraid of being hated by them. She wasn't sure she would be able to handle seeing the look in their eyes, like she'd seen in its eyes. "Wanted to see alone." Her voice became vaguely accusatory. "Never said anything about ghosts."

Clearly, she felt this was a poor choice on Marion's part.

Is she for real? What the heck is wrong with this lady? She keeps acting like a child.

"Do you believe that's all she wanted to do? I'm not conviced that's what she was really there to do?" Arch says rather skeptical.

Catori nodded hesitantly at Marion but smiled nonetheless reaching for the herbs in her leather bag. Would Daphne been her sister she would have just bandaged her and left her to bear the pain of her careless actions. She hoped that the young warriorwoman learned her lesson.

Without waiting for permission Catori started to hum lowly and placed the herbs carefulls over the wounded back where the Spectre had raked her. The familiar green light spread over her fingers and flowed into Daphne healing her almost instantly without leaving any marks.
(ooc: Touch of life and I'm only assuming that there are no marks)

Once she was done Catori nodded to Marion wordlessly but her eyes spoke of her disapproval. "The lonely warrior may win a fight but he won't win the war." Catori said without looking at Daphne. She was obviously holding back more but she felt that it wouldn't lead to anything constructive.

"I did tell you never to go in here without Ben or I present," Marion reminds her, though she winces a bit from guilt. She hadn't told the spirit not to attack Daphne. A grievous oversight. "That wasn't just to throw rules around...even the guardian spirit isn't the only dangerous thing in this library."

Something occurs to her at that moment, and Marion frowns and asks quietly, "The shade said something to you...is this about that?"

She hadn't quite heard its question clearly, but if it had told her to steal or destroy the box...

Arch's suggestion that she was lying - which is how the young misplanted woman was interpreting the remark - earned him bared teeth before Daphne snapped, "You not pack! Not concerned with your thoughts. Don't lie to my pack! Wanted to see box."

She gave Catori a beaming smile when the icy agony in her back faded, but the woman's follow-up comment brought a frown of confusion. Allegory was never a strong point for Daphne, but she dutifully tried to interpret what Catori meant. She finally decided that Catori meant they were at war with ghosts, with she could completely support.

But Marion takes the cake with her last question. Daphne flinched so hard that her hesitant nod was unnecessary. "That why wanted to see box alone," she said softly. "It... not what I thought, though. Don't know what box is."

Marion nods slowly.

"We should talk later," she says...then steps back and looks around at Arch.

"I trust Daphne," she tells him. "I realize she must seem unusual to you, but she has been here long enough that I know her heart. Whether or not that's enough for you is up to you."

Arch looks at Daphne directly "Yeah right. I was there in the circle, I heard what the shade said to you. I think that's the real reason your in here." he says matter of factly.

To Marion he says "Yes it is unusual, but I think that there's something to Daphne that needs watching, but if you say she's earned your trust, well I guess I'll leave it at."

Janos hangs back and makes a note that the library seems to have a previously unknown guardian spirit - that likes to attack little girls. Little in spirit, if not in body.

"Umm Marion, are there any other warded areas about the house you want to make us aware of now that we are working together? We were fortunate this time, but if you are injured the rest of us might not have been as lucky."

Daphne's eyes narrowed a touch as she looked at Arch. "Said that wanted to see box. Said wanted to see because of shade. No lies. No lie to my pack!" The last was shouted, in a very un-ladylike manner. Daphne was getting over-wrought; it was something that Marion and Ben had seen before, though not in the last month or so. She'd been getting better, but the tonight's events had shaken her, and almost seemed to cause a regression.

"This is the only room in which the guardian has authority," Ben answers, "We have no other warded rooms here. The rest of the island anyone may explore freely. Just the library is warded - there's a lot of dangerous things here."

"Right," Ben said, "I don't think we should let something like this happen again, so just to be on the safe side..." Ben attempted to focus again, and as he did so there was a slight glow in the crystal pendant around his neck. Not so obvious to announce it's presence, but certainly enough to notice if you happened to be looking at the time. "Guardian, I claim the following people as Guests of the House, and are not to be harmed in this library - Count Janos Rakozi Graf von Kader. Daphne Walton. Catori of the Apache. Archibald Bannister. Mia Foster."

Ben had, conveniently, worded the command against harm, not action against. He wasn't a cynic, and it wasn't that he didn't trust anyone here, but there was a lot of power built up in the Library - it was the focus of energies in the house. It probably wasn't the best idea to let anyone unfamiliar with the Library have free reign.

"Each of you, announce yourself to the Guardian with your name. After this you will not be harmed by the Guardian in this library. That said, we'd still recommend not coming here without me or Marion. Speaking of which, you know, I thought we'd fixed the lock on the Library door, Marion. Didn't we agree to keep the Library locked when guests were about?"

"I must have left it unlocked when I left to do the ritual," Marion admits sheepishly. "No one was here, and the wards and guardian would keep intruders out so..."

She sighs.

"That won't happen again, that's for sure."

Daphne looked uncomfortable; she didn't like Ben and Marion to disagree, even a little. She actually looked a bit like a child watching Daddy slap Mommy and trying to fit that into her world. "Open box, please," she said softly. "Blame later." Hopefully, there would be no later to deal with.

"Don't worry Daphne," Ben said, putting as much calm and reassurance into his voice as possible, "there's no blame here, merely explanations. We can't have something like this happen again, and we need to know what went wrong to make sure. Now, everyone, announce yourselves to the Guardian, and then I believe we should work on opening that box."

Arch looks around, "Guess I'll go first." Standing tall and facing the Guardian Arch boldly proclaims. "I am Archibald Bannister!"

Once done he turns to Ben, "That felt a bit silly, was that really necessary?" he asks jokingly.

Marion gives Daphne a smile.

"I made a mistake...it's not bad that I recognize that. It helps me learn not to do it again."

As the others identify themselves, Marion goes to the box and picks it up.

"This ritual is not nearly as...involved as the other, and won't take as long to perform. It will have more energy though, so be careful if you want to stay and watch."

She takes the box into the middle of the library, where there's some open space between the stacks and the desk, and sets it down on the floor. Then she opens the Grimoire to a marked page and spreads some salt over it...then blows it off.

A few candles arranged into a circle around the box, and she begins the ritual invocations...

"Well, the dramatic flourish wasn't," Ben quipped back, "but you know, even Guardians have to put faces to names!"

After everybody present announces themselves to the guardian Marion sets about to begin preparations for the ritual. She first places the two iron and two silver rods into an overlapping configuration. Most present do not recognize the pattern until she completes it with two lines of the buffalo horn. The structure forms a six pointed star, twin triangles each with a side of iron, silver, and horn, overlap in opposite directions. Within this Marion places the strongbox. At one point, corresponding to magnetic north, she places the lodestone, at the opposite point the onyx.

Marion takes her place and instructs Catori and Archibald to their own. The three stand at points on the northern pointing triangle with Marion directly in front of the lodestone. The others move back and away, given the earlier ritual's spectacular ending discretion takes the day as the observers take places where they can see but within close cover.

Marion begins to chat the words of the spell and the hexagram begins to glow. As the glow brightens the horn, silver, and iron melt and run together forming a perfect symbol constructed of all three substances. Soon the lodestone and onyx begin to glow too, forming a pair of opposing points on either side of the small box. The ritual quickly reaches it's climax as the library's massive grandfather clock intones the midnight hour. The symbols and runes on the box begin to glow with the same power as the hexagram and soon a seam, a line of light, begins to form distinguishing lid from bottom.

Marion completes the spell as the chime is rung the twelfth time. For a moment it seems as though nothing is going to happen but as the light just begins to fade out of the symbols and the runes, it flares bright and the box top flips open releasing a blast of concussive magical force pushing Marion, Archibald and Catori back a few steps.

For a moment darkness floods the room as the candles and lamps are blown out. The magical natural of the library quickly relights them and light springs back pushing the darkness away. The box rests on the floor, of the symbol and components there is no sign. The lid is flipped back exposing the inside lined with black velvet and silk. Resting atop a small pillow of silk is a shard of what appears to be obsidian.

Mia holds up her camera. "Say cheese!" She takes a picture of the obsidian.

Daphne crept forward and peered closely at the visible shard. There didn't seem to be much to it, she decided, but clearly it was important.

Marion windmills her arms to keep her balance in the concussion of the shard's release. When she sees the others moving to get a look she quickly calls, "Be careful! No one touch it!"

She flushes a little when she realizes they weren't going to, but soldiers on, walking over to stand beside Daphne and get a better look herself.

"I think it...wanted to open the box. As we pulled, it pushed. Let's just see what it does for a moment."

Arch stares at the open box with confusion. "Yeah I stay away for a few, something didn't go quite right, Marion. I'm not sure but there was an something 'extra' present that seemed to help this along. Didn't you feel the same thing?"

"Do you think you could trace where that source of power came from that I felt Marion?" he asks.

"Why can't these things," the Count mutters, "come with clearly ledgeable warnings of Warning: Fell Magic or something like that. No. It has to look like a harmless piece of smoked glass."

Janos' hand taps the pommel of his blade absently.

Ben smiles at Janos's words. "I have to admit, I have wondered that myself. It would have made many of the expeditions I've been on much more routine." Ben's words did not give anyone the impression that he would have actually preferred this state of affairs.

"Marion, Ben... what do?" Daphne's tone and longing look at the shard suggested that one of them do something before her patience ran out. Since the mysterious conversation with the shade, Daphne's attitude toward the box had visibly changed.

In fact, since coming to the library, she was very different. She was more relaxed and more tense, though that tension wasn't the same as before. Something that happened to change the young feral.

For a few awkward silent minutes nothing happens and everybody simply stares at the box and the hunk of obsidian within. As a result when the knock came on the library door everybody ll but jumped out of their skin. It was Stewart, the butler, and he looked concerned. "Is everything all right sir and ma'am? We heard and awful bang and so I decided to come and check up on you."