The party's efforts don't go unrewarded. Floating among the family histories and genealogy trees is not Chup's illustrious family history, but a scroll fragment.
Upon lunching on some of the judge;
Then he made of the father a rather fine sauce
To show him he bore him no grudge.
Chup, Orophin, and Ysermo also sense something odd within the darkness, through most cannot see into it. Orophin, however, has Darkvision, and after a moment, the shape of a book swims into view. Thick, and bound with the skin of something that once looked alive and...perhaps dwarven. It's abundantly clear that this book, titled in a language the party doesn't know, isn't the same kind of dry genealogy as the rest of the ones in the room.
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When Virml suddenly stops, Senach immediately becomes suspicious again. "No... we DON'T know what you mean. Your double is upstairs, and we have already told you that. What do you know of this room??" he demands.
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+7
When the book is pointed out to him, Senach will think hard for a few moments before recalling a few supplies in his bag. "Orophin, you are a fount of good ideas tonight. Lets try this!" And by "this", he means pulling out a torch and using that to prod within the darkness in an attempt to scoot the book out where it can be seen.
"Oh, come on. I just want to leave this whole mess behind me and go back to bed until Shaine yells at me, but I can't even do that because you say my double's out there. I'm tired of the wet and exhausted from that torment the 'lovely lady' put me through. Show some mercy!" Virml plops down on a half-submerged shelf. "Look, I'll stay right here and I won't even touch anything. I just need to rest."
As Aldur covers the book, its darkness fades rapidly, revealing...not much, actually. Aside from its previous description, including the skin binding and strange, sinister-looking script, it seems pretty nondescript.
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"let's put that in a bag and examine it later. For now, let's head up the stairs and go talk to that fish!" Senach says.
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Orophin looks hard at the book, trying to work out if it is magical itself. "Is anyone good with scripts...it would be nice to know what this one says.."
"There there Virml, I'm sure I could compose a lay to your courage and suffering. You could be the talk of Absalom by the end of the week. The toast of nobles dinner parties. The center of all the ladies attention..."
@Aldur: Aldur thinks he can see parts of the elvish D and A, and perhaps a K as well, but beyond that, the book's title is a mystery.
@Orophin: The book radiates a pair of auras. Additionally, the scroll scrap radiates one.
Stonegrin picks up Chup and the party makes their way carefully up the now-cascading spiral stairs. Once in the main library, they're greeted by a wave from the two gathlain, who seem to be happily fishing and arguing amongst themselves.
Madame Koi remains more-or-less where she was before, still pensievely spewing forth prodigious amounts of water. She blinks as the party arrives in her presence, looking at each of them in turn before slowly and solemnly offering each of them a tentacle. She speaks, a quick sentence or two that's easily translated by the traveler's dictionary."Have we met? Are you foxes?"
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Using the translation book, Orophin tells her "I am Orophin, and yes Madame Koi we have met. The fox assumed the form of another. He has fled the archives! We will go in search of him if you will stop flooding our rooms. Please stop, we want to help but will be unable to if we must spend our time draining out the water."
Madame Koi looks at Orophin, raising a scaly eyebrow and grabbing the translation book with a tentacle. She looks at it and laughs a bubbly laugh before handing it back. "You don't understand me! Isn't that quaint?"
At the aasimar's request, her expression takes on a puzzled look. "How did you know about the fox? And where would he flee to? He's supposed to be coming home with his mommy, not running away." She bursts into sobs, teardrops the size of buckets rolling down her face in an almost comical manner. "Go, and tell him his mommy misses him! If I could only remember his name..." She shuts her mouth, stemming the rising tide of water filling the archives.
The grodair grins at Senach, accidentally creating a wave in the ankle-deep water as more drips out of her mouth. She stops the surge quickly, though, looking embarrassed. "Sorry! I forgot! Now let me think...scraps of paper...words written on them...oh! Those must be fragments of the Fey Riddler's home she built for the fox. Now, the Fey Riddler, she liked, um, riddles, so the key is one of those." She eyes the party's weapons mistrustfully. "You're not going to kill him, are you? He may be a dreadful, tricksy fox, and I can't seem to remember his name, but mommy misses him anyways!" Suddenly, she blinks in a confused manner, opens her mouth to let out a surge of water, and looks at the party again. "I say, who are you, and have you seen a fox?"
"Hello, Orophin." Madame Koi offers a tentacle for the aasimar to shake.
"I think you have it wrong. There's an answer to the riddle, and it's the key to our wonderful home. If you don't have the answer, you don't have the key, and if you don't have the fox and the key, I can't go home." The Koi crosses her tentacles in front of her, a surprisingly human gesture from a giant fish. "If the fox and his mommy can't go home, I won't clean this up!" The grodair looks around, swimming a few feet to the right and then a few feet to the left. "Ooooh dear. I lost...where is he...Mommy is going to be so cross with him!" It's obvious she's once again forgotten the thread of conversation.
"Search for what?" Madame Koi looks out at the party, blinking suddenly as if just seeing them for the first time. "Oh! You know it's a riddle, right? I did tell you that? Well, he couldn't solve this riddle, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was hiding the scroll scraps from us. Maybe he even has one still! That clever, tricksy Whatshisface! He thinks he's so clever, well! I'll show him!" She opens her mouth and spews forth water yet again.
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"Madam, please stop, he has left for the moment."
he looks around "Do you think we can write a note and stick it in front of her nose to keep reminding her not to flood the place?"
After trying to write the note he speaks again.
"We must find the fox. That means returning to the entrance. Hopefully our esteemed captains have apprehended the imposer!" says Orophin, heading out towards the exit to the overflow.
He tries putting the last part of the riddle to song
"Unpalatable!" Spat the fat, flesh-fed wyrm
Upon lunching on some of the judge;
Then he made of the father a rather fine sauce
To show him he bore him no grudge."
He ponders as he goes.
"A wyrm sounds like a dragon. Did I tell you about the small fae dragon I met recently? " the singer gets sidetracked for a moment.
"Judge... jury... magistrate..assessor.."
He recites a bit more and then "The judge sounds like he is also a father..poppa..patriarch.. ancestor..elder"
He shrugs "It still makes little sense to me."
After a moment he adds "The first poem was about fishing, which uses worms sometimes. The second riddle was all about worms eating dead birds. the third was all about eating and teeth, and seemed to tie into those nasty tooth faeries. There is a common theme of eating going on."
The party heads out of the archives, where there's no one to be seen in the lobby. It seems Zarta and Shaine have gone back to bed; not surprising, given that it's pushing close to one in the morning.
From the bottom of the stairs to the scriptorium, it's possible to hear a faint chanting in Sylvan, from a voice that doesn't really sound at all like Virml's. The voice seems smooth and silky, almost sensuous, as it says its speech, though it's too quick to use the traveler's dictionary on.
The door to the scriptorium is shut, but doesn't seem to bear locks, and the stairs seem to have seen more use than the archives the party's just explored. The engravings on the stone steps are worn in the middle, as if a lot of people have used the pathway up to the scriptorium in the past.
In the instant before his head is smashed by the falling bookshelf full of inkbottles, Ysermo sees a large chamber crammed with wooden desks and lecterns designed for copying scrolls and manuscripts. Along the north wall, a tall, broad shelf sags with the weight of parchment. Two bays of windows on the west wall offer an impressive view of the Lodge's greatest landmark, Skyreach Tower, while the eastern windows overlook the library's main stacks. Then, his body is covered as dozens of inkbottles shatter around him.
A moment later, the fox-headed man working on some sort of ritual looks up. "Come to catch me!? You can't catch me unless you can catch my name." At the same time, a funny-colored crocodile rears its head from the floor and hisses.
Ysermo enters the room, punching at a particularly bony part of the crocodile, though the bones seem solid and unyielding. None of the other combatants are able to enter melee, but the team rushes into the fighting nonetheless.
The fox looks at Aldur and blinks as his words are nearly drowned out by a sudden, cacophonous screaming from the book he carries. So deafening is the shouting that when it stops as suddenly as his words do, no one notices for a second. He laughs. "No, that's not it! When is a door not a door?" As he shouts, he backpedals and begins chanting under his breath. A moment later, Orophin feels the near-overwhelming urge to burst out in crippling laughter. He chokes it down, however, not letting so much as a giggle get by.
The crocodile, meanwhile, does what crocodiles do. Its jaws clamp down on Ysermo's neck, quickly flipping the poor nagaji on his back. The jaws seem to have a good grip on the suddenly-endangered monk, too.
Round 1
Ysermo: Punch!
Aldur: Not solve!
Chup: Sing!
Senach: Enter!
Orophin: Enter!
Kitsune: Spell!
Crocodile: Chomp!
Stonegrin:
Round 2
Ysermo:
Aldur:
Chup:
Senach:
Orophin:
Kitsune:
Crocodile:
Stonegrin:
As Aldur begins speaking, the book once again starts screaming at the top of its apparently-many lungs, stopping immediately as his voice does. It's not enough to drown out the half-elf, but it certainly is annoying!
Stonegrin's axe smashes into the crocodile's head just a few inches from Ysmero's, staggering it in one massively-powerful blow.
Round 1
Stonegrin: Smash!
Round 2
Ysermo: Stabilize!
Aldur: Drink, Sprint!
Chup: Sing, Whip!
Senach:
Orophin: Heal!
Kitsune:
Crocodile: (staggered)
Stonegrin: