Aside from a dagger of its own, the dead thing has nothing of interest or value on it.
Liadain hears nothing on the other side of the eastern door.
Well-stocked bookshelves line the perimeter of the room, surrounding a small, central area with four reading desks. A low partition separates two more desks, which face away from the center of the room, toward the shelves.
Bright light comes from something on the far east side of the room.
A small figure, similar to the dead one found under the organ, hops up and down frantically when the party appears. He's saying something in a strange tongue.
The doll's evil touch sends a terrible amount of negative energy into Brak, and he clutches his chest and bellows in pain before collapsing to his knees. Marla gasps and rushes to Brak. As she gets closer to him, he seems to grow stronger again.
She casts a spell, and he grows stronger still.
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Barham gasps as the doll's foul magic wracks the dwarfolon, straining his connection to the plane.
"Scrumpy! We had best take some precautions, I think we had better."
Placing his hand in the familiar spot on the eidolon's shoulder, Barham draws a scrap of tanned hide from his pouch. A swift gesture and a few soft words conjure an ethereal film of force around the creature.
Barham and beast peek around the door into the adjacent room.
"We're not here to hurt you!" the halfling calls out. He points to himself, then to his companion, and begins gently petting the eidolon's fur. "Friends! Do you understand?"
The party deduces that he's quite upset about something coming from the direction of the glowing section of wall but shows no hostile intent.
Peering over the divider, Barham spots bright lines of light illuminating the edges of a hidden doorway.
Brak nods to Marla after he is healed and stands, leaning on his axe for a moment, then stomping into the next room as though nothing had happened. He eyes the strange corpse as he passes.
What have we here?" he says.
Brak recognizes the creature for what it is along with its still living peer in the next room.
Liadain easily finds the catch for the hidden doorway, causing the section of wall to slide away. As it does, more intense light spills out into the library causing the little figure in the other room to cower behind a shelf. When the doorway is completely opened Liadain can finally see inside.
Burning, blinding light explodes from a large circular alcove in the southeast corner of the room. Within, an elaborate arrangement of mirrors, prisms, and similarly refractive materials stands carefully positioned by calipers, strings, and wires marking its precise settings. In the opposite corner dangles a three-dimensional mobile of various sized metal spheres. A complex frame surrounds the spheres. The length of the frame is etched with numbers. A broad work desk divides the two alcoves. On the desk are a number of scattered papers.
On the desk, Bazresh finds a journal. A quick browsing reveals an interesting entry. In addition there's a note.
When the party returns to the library, the creeper jabbers in anger and points back to the brightly lit room.
After Bazresh swaps a couple of the sunrods, the light dims from an intense blinding intensity to a comfortably warm brightness.
The creeper mumbles something unhappily and wanders off.
Bazresh hears nothing at the door.
A narrow passage leads west from this musty storeroom. Beyond, an arching, iron tripod rises from the center of the room, spanning a narrow hole in the packed dirt floor. A wooden-handled winch holds a thick chain that leads down into the darkness below.
The chain isn't really attached to anything but dangles ~40 feet down into a lightless chamber below. At the bottom is a small platform about 10 feet across surrounded by dark water.
"Huh. Dark Creeper. Thought they exploded when they died." Brak says. He shields his eyes from the light in the next room, and stays by the door while the others go in.
After the apparatus is examined, he stands looking into the hole.
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Marla moves through the room, her eyes squinting almost shut. She examines the device, but seems to be doing so experimentally rather than with any knowledge.
After the light is turned down, she purses her lips and shrugs, before pulling her book out and making notes of the instructions and some details of the journal and the device itself while the others examine the hole.
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Barham scratches his chin nervously.
"Surely this isn't the only, there must be another route," he fusses. "Why would a fellow ever possibly want to go such a way?"
He paces about the study, examining books on the shelf at random, hoping to find some other avenue to continue their search.
"Come on Scrump, help me look." The beast gives a reluctant snort, and pads after its master, half-heartedly nudging and pawing at various furnishings around the room.
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"Nothing," he sighs. "We'd better get some light down there, drop down a light source before we act too hastily."
From the pack tied to his eidolon's back, Barham fishes out a series of tools: a rope, a torch, and a flint and tinder. He ties one end of the rope around the bottom of the torch, then loops the torch around one leg of the tripod spanning the hole. A few strikes of flint, and the torch sparks into flame. Looping the free end of the rope around his arm, Barham slowly lowers the torch down into the hole, stopping about 10 feet above the platform. He adjusts the rope's position so that it dangles away from the chain, then secures it with a jumbled series of knots.
Barham steps back, considering his handiwork with a frown. He turns to his eidolon.
"I don't think you can come with us, Scrump," he breaks the unfortunate news. "Go wait outside. When we're ready, I'll call you back."
A short performance of sorcery, and the beast disappears.
The platform is stable and easily supports the weight of the party (those descending).
Once down there, the party discovers a looped rope leading some distance west, tied to the platform and anchored to some far off object.
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Barham sighs, and carefully begins his descent.
The summoner descends around 15 feet of the 40-foot chain. He removes his higher hand and goes to grab another link, but his sweaty palm slips on the cool metal. He flails desperately to regain his purchase, but the motion only shakes the chain further. His other hand and his feet slip off. He pinwheels madly for a moment, then with a terrified screech plummets to the platform below.
"Bwaaaaaaaaaa!"
He lands with a powerful thud, but his backside absorbs most of the force for his bones and cranium. He rolls onto his stomach and pushes himself up onto hands and knees, gasping for breath.
Pulling on the rope drags a small boat across the water to the platform.