Session 18: Return to the Hidden Library Report

General Summary

Peter, Quinn, Jessica and Hazel set off for Washington D.C. and the Library of Congress. As they chat, Peter informs Jessica that he has kept an eye on her apartment, but has not paid rent on it over the last year. It is noted that Peter and Quinn told Hazel and Jessica about finding the cryptex, but did not disclose to them that they had solved it, or revealed what is inside. During the drive, the group investigates a group of newspapers that Quinn had taken from the library. Among their discoveries, they find out about

• Some recovered artifacts from Egypt and the curse associated with them, which has the people who made the discoveries died under strange circumstances. This happened about 15 years ago, and it appears that the major players in the discovery were most impacted by the curse. Jessica and Hazel note that in the same way that the Greek Gods took on a different form when they were worshiped by the Romans, it is possible that the EgyptianGods were also the Greek Gods in a different form.
• An orchard that burned down and had ‘chaos’ surrounding it. This happened more recently, a little more than a year ago. Apples have appeared multiple times in Greek myths, including Golden Apples in the garden of Hesperities, they were a wedding gift from Gaia to Harrah and were protected by the serpent, Ladon. There were many stories of heroes needing to retrieve golden apples, including Hercules. And Arias, the Goddess of Discourse, threw apples into a banquet hosted by Zeus that were fought over by gods and goddesses and eventually led to the start of the Trojan War.
• Odd Weather patterns though nothing as dramatic as recent events. This included storms and tsunami’s forming from nowhere.
• About 70 years ago, a cult committed mass suicide by drinking poison.

  Our heroes safely make their way to the Library of Congress without seeing any threats or being attacked as they do. Upon arrival, the crew entered the secret section of the library and began to research. They ended up in a room primarily devoted to the Titans. There, they found ‘the basic’ information on the Titans and Kronos and his relationship to Zeus. Kronos was Zeus’ father, who ate all of his children except for Zeus, because Zeus’ mother tricked Kronos into eating a rock instead of Zeus. Kronos ate all of his children because it had been foretold that one of them would overthrow him. Zeus fought Kronos, slicing open his stomach to free his siblings, and upon defeating Kronos, threw him into Tartarus, the inescapable pit in Hades.   Quinn was able to find information on ‘The Royal Scepter’ which was the symbol of the King of the Universe. Phanes passed it to Nyx, who then had it seized by Kronos, who then lost it to Zeus. Our heroes did not have any insight into what had happened to the Scepter once it had passed to Zeus’ possession.   Peter found a book that gave him information that in the past, the Titans have been able to communicate with demigods from Tartarus. The last time this happened it led to a battle between demigods. Peter also discovered that during this conflict was the last time that there was a child of Aries like him, who could wield magic and heal. At this point, two figures began to attack our adventures. Quinn grabbed the book as our heroes began to fight their way out of the room. When moving towards the elevator, our heroes encountered invisible foes, bottlenecks, and alas, tables that could not be traversed. In a battle changing move, after bringing Jessica back from a state of unconsciousness, Quinn invoked a thunder wave that broke the bottle neck and allowed most of the party to move towards the elevator, while also leeching life away from the enemies in a surge of wild magic. Hazel valiantly moved into the elevator doorway and held open a path for our heroes to rush to and escaped, book in hand. While speeding away from the Library, Quinn began to read the book and see what secrets it held that made it so valuable as to draw an attack.