“I…I merely picked up a wee scroll, read part of it aloud for fun—some kind of riddle about birds and fish? And then it flew to bits in my hand, and I caught the quickest glimpse of a distinguished-looking man…and then ker-sploosh! I washed out here.”
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"So Hoot is on first. Virml read some kind of riddle, and that overflowed the Overflow Archives."
Unlike Shane, Dawn found this wordplay to be absolutely delightful. She manages to keep a straight face when Zarta zings Shane.
"Are there any parts of the library we should prioritize? Hey Virml the worml, which part of the library were you in when you read the riddle?"
"Are there any parts of the library we should prioritize? Hey Virml the worml, which part of the library were you in when you read the riddle?"
Virml frowns at the wordplay. "W-well, I know that there were a lot of books around, but with the sudden flood--I'm not very good with directions to begin with."
"You mean like not fiddling with items in the collection." snaps Shaine. Virml gulps.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As soon as he sees Zarta Dralneen, Razka pretty much ignores anything Kreighton says. A paracountess from his homeland and leader of the faction he's chosen to provide his services to? Why would he bother listening, or dealing with a plebeian when someone of her glory was around. He rescued her one time, you know...
His posture improves, his whole body becoming more imperious and his nose literally turning up.
"What?" he asks Dawn, though, thrown off by her word play.
He shakes his head as though to dismiss it all before speaking to Virml.
"I have three questions. First, what else do you remember about the riddle? Second, did the man disappear or did you just get washed away and not see what happened to him?"
Then he turns to Zarta. "And third...will there be a lottery or tickets for watching this fool get flogged for destroying potentially hundreds of documents, each one of which is worth more than his miserable life?"
|
|
Watching the interchange with amusement, Bob stifles a large yawn. 'So...the pipes be busted?
Trying to follow the situation, he finally speaks up. "I reckon whatcha needin is sum plummas... Since wes here guess wes gonna be doin this job. How bad be that flooded?"
Thumbing his battered musket, a sly smile crosses his face. "We is gonna get some pretties fer our time, ya? Gotta balance it all an such."
He shakes his head as though to dismiss it all before speaking to Virml.
"I have three questions. First, what else do you remember about the riddle?"
Virml sheepishly produces a dripping fragment of parchment. "It was a part of a longer scroll of riddles called The Name of the Fox."
Shaine snatches the parchment and hands it over, saying “It appears to be one of the rhymes from the parchment. It’s an odd trifle of Varisian doggerel, scripted in Sylvan. There’s nothing remarkable about it—”
“Nothing until now, perhaps?” quips Zarta Dralneen.
|
|
"Wait, are we getting paid for this?" Dawn scratches her head, confused (and numbing the pain where the owl dug into her scalp). This money thing is so confusing!
"Did you say it was written in Sylvan? Foremother loves to curse in Sylvan. But it's all so... longwinded and flowerly. She figured out I learned it one day because I laughed after she muttered something about a warm breeze melting ice."
She'll make sure not to hold the scroll as she translates and reads its contents to everyone there.
"Second, did the man disappear or did you just get washed away and not see what happened to him?"
"The flood grabbed me up immediately. I only just got the impression that he was of noble mean."
Then he turns to Zarta. "And third...will there be a lottery or tickets for watching this fool get flogged for destroying potentially hundreds of documents, each one of which is worth more than his miserable life?"
"Now now, I would remind you that justice should be unbiased and within the strictures of the law."
"That's right. Flogging is too good for him. Stoning is too good for him. He should be forced to apprentice for Master Zey."
"Now now, don't you start too."
"Are there any parts of the library we should prioritize?"
"Don’t waste your time with the individual pieces. You must arrest the flood at its source—or reverse it, if possible."
Watching the interchange with amusement, Bob stifles a large yawn. 'So...the pipes be busted?
Trying to follow the situation, he finally speaks up. "I reckon whatcha needin is sum plummas... Since wes here guess wes gonna be doin this job. How bad be that flooded?"
Thumbing his battered musket, a sly smile crosses his face. "We is gonna get some pretties fer our time, ya? Gotta balance it all an such."
!!!
The owl folds a wing over its head. Gwendolyn winces and then puts her hands over Apollyanna's ears.
The Master of Scrolls blinks indignantly before launching into a rant
about saving knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
Zarta Dralneen interrupts with a smile. "Oh, I agree, Shaine, there’s no reason to compensate capable people for their risk and hard work, especially when they came of their own accord to help at this late hour."
"Wait, are we getting paid for this?" Dawn scratches her head, confused (and numbing the pain where the owl dug into her scalp). This money thing is so confusing!
"Did you say it was written in Sylvan? Foremother loves to curse in Sylvan. But it's all so... longwinded and flowerly. She figured out I learned it one day because I laughed after she muttered something about a warm breeze melting ice."
She'll make sure not to hold the scroll as she translates and reads its contents to everyone there.
Zarta Dralneen interrupts with a smile. "Oh, I agree, Shaine, there’s no reason to compensate capable people for their risk and hard work, especially when they came of their own accord to help at this late hour."
"...Fine. It's mostly a loss anyway and the stuff is going to need an airing out. You can have SOME of what you find useful--but I have the final say, understand?"
"...How bad be that flooded?"
"Open the eastern doors and see for yourself."
"Now if you will- Virml what are you doing there just dripping!? Take those up to the scriptorium and begin copying."
The initiate rushes off up the stairs with his pile of soggy books and papers.
"Now if you will all excuse me." the Master of Scrolls says and prepares to leave by the western doors.
~THE NAME OF THE FOX~
May the winner wear gold while the loser eats crow
Knowing nothing save that which he knew not to know.Cross! Cross was the owl at the albatross
For catching the bulk of the fish
So the owl cast deeper, awaking a sleeper
Who made of both feathers one dish.
The paracountess lingers a moment before catching Razka's eye. She leads him outside for a private conversation while the rest of the party prepares to enter the archive proper.
She shrugs and smiles before continuing. “That said, I know that there is more than junk beyond those doors. I’ve heard that someone squirreled away a copy of The Darklands Precepts somewhere in there, and it’s far too dangerous a tome to leave lying about. Get it out of there and return it to me, no matter what excuse Shaine might make to toss it back in the pile. Do you understand?”
|
|
Razka is somewhat mollified when it becomes evident that punishment for Virml is on the minds of both of the higher ranking Pathfinders. He mutters something about papercuts from each ruined text as the culprit is ushered off.
Razka has an air of imperious superciliousness that verges on the insufferable as he is called aside by Zarta.
But he is entirely serious as he answers her.
"I swear by my life that I will be the epitome of professionalism and will save everything I can, Milady. I will deliver The Darklands Precepts directly into your hands no matter who I have to sacrifice to do so," he says, and gives her a deep bow.
When he returns, he takes a moment to read the poem, his demeanor completely serious and businesslike.
"That has got to be a riddle or a spell. It's too terrible to be an actual poem. It doesn't even mention a fox!" he says as he reads their only clue.
"Unless anyone has conjure rain boots memorized, there's no point in waiting around here any more. Things are getting any drier. Let's get moving."
|
Elianna sighs a bit, muttering to herself in elven "Τα στρώματα από μετάξι και νερό ίσως να με αφήσουν λίγο ... καλά ... ελαφρώς διαπεραστικά. Ελπίζω να μην αποσπάται η προσοχή από τους άλλους."
She draws a wand of mage armor and casts it on herself before tucking it away. She then checks that her wand of shield and one of her bladed scarves are tucked away in her spring loaded wrist sheaths, nodding to the others that she's ready to go. She'll make liberal use of the spell detect magic to scan for anything of interest as they move forward.
The eastern doors open upon a spacious library turned drowned catastrophe. The space is lit with magical everburning torches that illuminate an ached ceiling mural decorated with stars planets and butterflies. A lake of dark water clogged with books, scroll cases, and a few overturned shelves covers the floor about a foot deep . Steps descend into the brine from the western doors, while at the east end of the room a spiral staircase rises from the water to a mezzanine above. The same metal staircase must descend into a basement below as well, for the water there burbles downward in a dark, lazy whirlpool.
|
|
"Aye we be burnin daylight....errrr...night light as twer." announces the man as he eyes the water with annoyance. "Me tinks this aint gunna be a good time a'tall."
Standing, he makes his way through the open door. Propping the rifle over his shoulder, he begins to slosh through the water, glancing towards the sogging papers with distaste. "Be horrid waste o magics."
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dawn shrugs as Elianna muses. "And awaaaay we go!" She saunters into the room, her falchion at her side. "Maybe some wizard angered a river god and it's taking revenge. Maybe Shane tried lecturing one."
|
|
"Maybe idiots shouldn't be allowed in libraries," Razka mutters, in a particularly foul mood.
Seeing all this knowledge destroyed makes him sad. He doesn't like being sad. That makes him mad. He's very much looking forward to hitting something in the face with a magic missile.
Still, he starts wading through the water and, much like Elianna taps into his magical abilities and starts detecting for magic, casting his gaze over everything he can and moving slow to make sure he doesn't miss anything (and because it takes time to wade through the morass.)
"Well, unless this magic has also changed the rules of physics, the water must be coming from this floor or above. It would have had to fill the floors below before rising to this level, otherwise."
Off the southern edge of the mezzanine flows a waterfall while just to the side of it and the stairwell bobs a curious vessel--or rather it would be curious if this weren't a library. The vessel--an overturned book shelf--is crewed by a pair of small humanoid creatures with wings and traceries of creeping vines seemingly growing form their bodies. While their bodies are similar their heads are not. One has the head of an owl, while the other has the head of an albatross. Both stand on opposite edges of their makeshift boat with their little spears readied. Suddenly one thrusts his spear into the water and pulls up a bit of soggy scroll.
"Owl! Look what I caught!" shouts one.
"Albatross! That was mine and you know it!" says the other.
|
|
Razka sloshes in after the others, hindered like them all by the water and the morass of objects floating in it. It is quite unpleasant, especially since his pants and long coat are immediately soaked and cling to his legs and water sloshes over the top of his boots. Not that they were water tight, anyway so his feet and socks are just as wet, too.
He fights down his first urge when he sees the oddly avian and vegetable creatures, which is to yell at them to run them off. He visibly flinches as one of them skewers a piece of text that might be centuries old.
"Yes, what have you found? And what are you doing here owl and albat...?" he asks.
He abruptly remembers the poem. "That's not such an impressive catch your friend has there, Mr. Owl. Just an old bit of parchment," he says, hoping to keep the creature calm since he has little desire to meet the sleeper.
Curiousity peaked, Bob sloshes towards the duo. "Whatcha catch? Lemme see! Didn realize yall had 'em fishies in da shindig!" exclaims the man.
"Stop sloshing about!" shouts the albatross-headed figure.
"And stop exclaiming!!" exclaims the other.
"You're scaring the fish!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Yes, what have you found? And what are you doing here owl and albat...?" he asks.
He abruptly remembers the poem. "That's not such an impressive catch your friend has there, Mr. Owl. Just an old bit of parchment," he says, hoping to keep the creature calm since he has little desire to meet the sleeper.
"Oh?" says the owl-headed one indignantly. "And I suppose you are some sort of expert ay? Got an advanced degree in fish ay? A fishologist ay? Come to explain it to us simple backward hicks ay? Bet you all drink coffee with a lot of that foam stuff, and Katapeshy-sounding names ay?"
The small albatross-person nods in fervent agreement.
|
|
"No, no, not me. I'm no fish expert. I'm just saying, to me, that doesn't look like a very impressive catch. I'm sure you could do better with only a little effort. You should prove just how good a fisherman you are by barely trying," Razka says.
"And espressos are delicious..." he continues, though much more quietly.
"No, no, not me. I'm no fish expert. I'm just saying, to me, that doesn't look like a very impressive catch. I'm sure you could do better with only a little effort. You should prove just how good a fisherman you are by barely trying," Razka says.
"Yes, but we can hardly do that with you and your friends there sloshing can we?" snaps the owl.
"That goes double for the tree" says the albatross. "Rooting around down here."
Vina whispers to Lakadee, hiding within his canopy, "...let us see what secrets The Green has for us this day..."
"Hey, there's a bonobo up there." says the owl slightly charmed by the sight of the 'pygmy chimp'. "Looks like it knows magic. The little fellow's casting a spell."
"Oh, it's one of those simple animal charming spells. You know for simple animals. Looks like it is aiming it at you there, Owl." says the albatross offhandedly.
"That's ador--WHAT!? Is that's what your pet monkey takes us for!? ANIMALS! ANIMALS!" fumes the now thoroughly ruffled owl.