Apart from the heavy iron chest there was little of interest in the chamber, so The Watchers of Dawn resolved to explore the south western quadrant. Delenn informed you that the section to the west was the 'Practical Thaumaturgy Collection'. The shelves in this area groaned under the weight of red leather bound books.
"We're not alone." Whatever is in the library, Kardas doesn't know what it is but it sure does not belong here. "Ishta, Delenn, do you recognize this outsider?"
Quietly, Azarra says
It is a Suspiridaemon, nigh impervious to all but blessed or silver weapons and is highly resistant to the elements and magic in general. Maybe we should just back away?
Delenn's breath catches when Azarra claims there's a Suspiridaemon. With more fore than you're used to she hisses, "That will have to be eliminated, but not without preparation. Backing away for now is wise."
The Paladin prepares to do battle....He directs Detect Evil at it.
It reeks of evil!
Zane put a hand on Ser Armithia's shoulder, shaking his head. "Let's save this fight for later, friend. Our more knowledgeable friends have advised us to prepare for this fiend." The priest made ready to continue along their track, leaving the demon-spawn to its reading, for now. If the gold elf was adamant about doing battle with the creature, however, the cleric does not abandon him.
Source Ultimate Magic pg. 61 (Amazon)
A paladin who takes an oath against demons, devils, daemons, and other evil outsiders is constantly on the lookout for malicious fiendish insurgence into the world, and faces it with swift and unwavering defiance. Often she works closely with inquisitors, searching for signs of outsider manipulation and possession
Quietly, Azarra pleads
Ser, I'm not saying don't attack it. I'm just saying wait, please. Let's find you a holy or silver weapon first, okay? Otherwise, your life is given for nothing, because you'll barely be scratching it. Isn't it better to live so you can kill it later than to die now?
The Paladin grins.
Helm shall bless my blade!
Ishta wonders what other means of troubling their day that demon has.
Hoping to distract Ser, Azarra steps in front of him and asks him please to smash the gem that was binding the angel from earlier.
Ser, please. I'm not strong enough. Please help me with just this one thing before you go to your death.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Alright, let's see..." Ishta starts, continuing with a short description of the demon's capabilities . "Some inconveniences can be circumvented, but others might need a bit more preparation." Ishta then calls to Ser Armithia's sense of loyalty. "So, since we're your friends and thus we're not letting you go in there alone, I guess you're not willing to risk our lives when we can think of a better plan, right?"
The Paladin slowly eases up and follows the group's decision.
Having been prepared to follow the paladin into the fight, Zane breathed out a quiet sigh of relief as Ser Armithia relented. He patted the gold elf's shoulder, "I'll ask the Morninglord for spells suited to such a task when we return. Between the light of the Sun and Helm's watchful eye the beast shall be sent back to whatever Hell it came from." Hoping that mollified his companion a bit, the priest prepared to continue along their investigation of the remainder of the Library.
Oh, ye of little faith., the Paladin says while staring directly at the camera....
Ser Armithia leads the group North.
As you stop near the northern wall Delenn tells you, "To the left we have the evocation collection. Just look at all these blue covered tomes! Shelf upon shelf of books and manuscripts pertaining to evocation-focused spellcasting. Far more than mere spellbooks these tomes go into philosophical detail on the manifestation and manipulation of magical energy, and many of them are used as textbooks throughout Faerun. There's history books too, one entire shelf holds tomes devoted to the subject of using magic as part of large-scale warfare. You know the kind of stuff the Zulkirs indulge in."
She then gestures to the right, "And on the other side we have the Necromantic Library. Thousands of black covered tomes, shelf after shelf. As with the evocation collection this collection is mostly about the theory and even theological underpinnings. Not all necromancy is bad, healing magics for example. Yet they can be twisted to harm and inflict diseases. The librarians always had to be careful about this section, far too many mad men aspiring for immortality at any price. There's supposed to be some sort of guardian but I don't know the details. At any rate I suppose all the really dodgy stuff would have been in the restricted collection below."
Azarra casts detect magic and takes a close look to try to see if anything stands out as being especially worthwhile or valuable.
Ser Armithia uses Detect Evil.
Zane nodded after Delenn offered her knowledge along with a warning of a possible guardian. Blasty stuff and undead stuff...dangerous works, here. In the wrong hands, at least. The cleric helped to peer through the tomes swiftly, trying to find anything that seemed valuable with a relatively unpracticed eye.
Azarra's clever eyes spot several potentially interesting looking tomes:
The first is from the evocation collection, a slim blue leather wrapped book. The leather is of an indeterminate type, and gives off a faint and unpleasant scent, as of charred meat. The writing inside is in a jagged hand, and many notes on the ash-smudged pages indicate its previous owner sought ever more damaging magic. A glittering rune in the cover’s center is shaped vaguely like a lightning bolt.
3rd—fireball, lightning bolt
2nd—acid arrow, darkness , ghoul touch, gust of wind
1st—burning hands, color spray, corrosive touch, hydraulic push, hypnotism, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shocking grasp
Preparation Ritual
Harmful Surge (Su) You can maximize a spell, but doing so damages you. Spend this boon effect as a free action when you cast a wizard evocation spell. When you do, you can treat that spell as if it were cast with the Maximize Spell metamagic feat, but you take 1d4 points of damage × the level of the spell that you are maximizing. The damage you take cannot be reduced in any way.
From the black bound necromancy library she spots a tome that reeks of decomposing flesh or some even fouler stench. Grave mold clings to the worm-eaten cover, and dirt stains the pages. Some pages have been torn out.
Spells
3rd—blood biography, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch, vitriol (missing)
2nd—command undead, create treasure map, ghoul touch, spectral hand, stone call, web
1st—burning hands, chill touch, disguise self, mage armor, protection from good, ray of enfeeblement, sculpt corpse S, shield, true strike, ventriloquism
Preparation Ritual
Breath of the Grave (Su) As a swift action, spend this boon’s effect to breathe a 15-foot cone of rotting stench. Creatures within the cone must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + your highest caster level in a class that prepares spells) or be sickened for 1 round. This spends the boon. After this boon has been spent, you take a –4 penalty on Diplomacy and Stealth checks until you prepare spells again.
Azarra picks up a couple of interesting books.
Where next? she says brightly.
Zane frowned when Azarra picked up the book bound in black leather, though he said nothing. He trusted the woman's intent and wouldn't think to rush forward as though she had no sense and try to take it from her. Besides, it could just be a trick of the light. This place was making them all jumpy. After they had procured the interesting tomes, the priest made ready to continue to the next room in succession.
The Paladin stares hard at the black bound book.
Definitely evil...
What? The book? Necromancy spells are questionable, sure, but evil? Not sure about that. It seems to be worth a lot, and I don't really see anything evil about it, but tell you what... I'll let you guys examine it after we get out of here and we can decide together whether to sell it or destroy it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ishta seems more interested in the evocation book. "Mmmm... that book seems familiar to me..." Set on having a closer ,look after they finish what they are here for, though, she doesn't comment anything else and stands ready to have a look at the next room.
Kardas' lips perform what can only be described as a shrug. "Books reflect the character of their writer and from what I've seen down here, it wouldn't surprise me if some of these tomes transcend being just ink and paper. Regardless, this one seems to be a simple tool at best and I doubt it will develop sentience anytime soon. Should fetch a pretty penny."
The Paladin points out any that bing as Evil.
Yes. Yup. Obviously. Evil. Trust me. I wouldn't handle those without protection.
Zane has traveled long enough with Ser Armithia to know the man is a poor liar. If he was calling out tomes as evil, they most certainly had an aura of evil about them, likely originating from whomever had created the item. "Perhaps we should just stack those together, and come for them when we're ready to leave. Delenn, did these folks have any precautions for handling dangerous books? That was basically the Restricted area, right?"
Anxious to move on after they had searched the area, the priest proceeded along with the others to the next portion of the Library once the others were satisfied.
Delenn confirms, "The restricted library was the main defence for dangerous books yes."
When talk turns to exploring more, Delenn tells you, "The practical alchemy section is the only major thing left in this level. It's. Good sized room to the south west, past that thing!"
Ser Armithia grins.
So, time to release the angel then?
Zane frowned as the gold elf grew pleased as Delenn indicated the only unexplored area would take them past the dangerous outsider in the Library. Sighing in resignation, the priest nodded an affirmative to the paladin's grin, turning to look at Azarra. "Did we decide that the angel would be friendly if released? I can't remember..."
Continuing to speak to the entire group, he continued, "Before we enter battle with this creature, I can grant the Morninglord's protection on two of us. I will gladly cast it on Kardas and Ser Armithia, unless they can call upon their own divine armament. It should help until the hits pile up and the beast is brought low."
We didn't decide, but it's an angel. I'm guessing that it is less dangerous than that bird thing... and we should not fight that now. Let's release the angel and go buy some silver weapons. And there is that chest we never opened as well. No way are we fighting this thing right now... it was going to kill you before, and it still will. Silver weapons and sleep so that I have some spells back to help you with. I'm not helping you commit suicide. Wait until we have a chance.
Kardas agrees with Azarra and stands by her side in the showdown with the stubborn paladin. "Why rush a good thing? It is probably stuck here, or it does not share our sense of time. I doubt it will be gone come tomorrow."