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With in the main hall of the Grand Lodge itself, extending outward to the sprawling lawn before it a call it heard, "PATHFINDERS! PATHFINDERS!"
The commotion causes you to look up from your activity only to witness a soaking wet Pathfinder apprentice running through the hall yelling at the top of his lungs. Water drips like a spring rain from his sponge-like robe while his shoes emit loud squishing noises as he charges forward. He stops, water pooling around his feet as he yells to anybody that will listen.
"Master Shaine..." He yells before gasping for air.
"...Master Shaine needs you, and you, and you!" He points at the first six figures he spots.
"The...", clearly out of breath he gulps in the air before continuing.
"...The Overflow Archives. He needs you in the Overflow archives. A..."; he stops, his gasp turns into a wheeze.
"...A problem. Please he said to hurry!"
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"What the..?"
A large man that's a sad mix of brute and scholar looks up mildly irritated by the distraction. He smooths out his pathetic comb-over before returning to his book for a moment to scratch a few last words onto the page. Stowing his ink pen and ink vial then closing the book and placing them all into his bag that sits on the ground by his feet, he stands from the patio table awkwardly.
"(sigh)..I'll never get my funding back while in this circus.. Alright, alright." He hefts his pack and a great sword onto his back, then strides towards the archives after a black haired woman and some strange bird-faced creature.
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You round the of the only hall to the Overflow Archives only to see a peeved Kreighton Shaine, the Master of Scrolls in the Grand Lodge waiting in the hall.
“I have no love of puns,” he announces.
He turns abruptly and begins walking hastily with you as you move into the main lobby. As you hike, an uncharacteristically aggravated Shane pierces the near silence,
“Yet it cannot go unremarked that the Overflow Archives have begun living up to their name.”
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As you round the last corner, you're given a respite to catch your breath while Shaine continues to frantically react to the situation at hand. The pale elf gestures across the library’s stone lobby toward a pair of shut double doors from beneath which water steadily seeps. He is only one of the visitors bearing witness to this disaster. Next to Shaine, Paracountess Zarta Dralneen stands with folded arms, glaring at an initiate whose hair and clothes are utterly drenched.
All three speak at once, but Shaine’s shrill voice rises above the din. “Magical shenanigans in the archives are prohibited!
An exasperated Draleen attempts to calm the Master, “Let us prioritize,” she suggests. “Are the artifacts within the vaults in danger?”
“How should I know?” Shaine barks back.
With an outstretched finger he angrily jabs in the direction of the water-laden youth, “This delinquent initiate— what was the name? Wormell?”
“Virml, sir,” replies the sodden Pathfinder.
“Virml says he sneaked into the archives on a dare,” summarizes Shaine, painfully emphasizing the initiate’s name with scolding disdain. “Presumably, Virml thought the holdings would be harmless. Instead, in his naivete, Virml triggered some dormant curse or other. So, yes, thanks to Virml here, the archives and the vaults below continue to flood, threatening all the books therein.”
Miserably, Virml holds up an armload of soggy manuscripts. “I salvaged a few, sir.”
Sighing, Shaine leads Virml towards the stairs. “Take them up to the scriptorium. Start making dry copies.”
Then, turning to survey the rest of the room, he continues issuing orders. “The remainder of you should wade in there and plumb the origins of this deluge. Stop it, if you can. I must report this debacle to my colleagues and begin organizing the cleanup.”
Abruptly, he seems to notice the paracountess for the first time. “What are you doing here, Dralneen?”
Zarta smirks and shrugs. “Unlike you, Shaine, I love a good pun.”
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Gaz shakes his head at the mess but tries to be possitive, "Nothing like a good swim, I'm sure all the rare books are safe in enclosures or air pockets..." Gaz trails off as he becomes less certain in what he is saying.
"Uh, Virml! Before you go, where the hell were you exactly when all this went off? Speed is a necessity here, boy. And what of this dare, was there more a of a goal to it than just sneaking in?"
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Virml looks terrified at the sudden deluge of questions.
He sheepishly relates to Gaz, “I...I merely picked up a wee scroll in the mezzanine, 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 handsome man…and then ker-sploosh! I washed out here!”
As Triana lunges into the conversation Virml looks terrified, "It...it was just a few of the other initiates that dared me. They didn't put me up to it, they just said I was too chicken to go into Master Shaine's private archives. When I got inside I just wanted something to prove I had done it."
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Shaine looks a little flustered, "Our delinquent initiate here is vague on the details, but clearly some unclassified item in there must have borne a well-concealed curse."
Zarta snorts at the unintentional pun.
Shaine shoots Zarta a look that could kill cats.
Virml sheepishly reaches into a pocket and produces a dripping fragment of a scroll.
Shaine, clearly unamused by Zarta's interjection, snatches the parchment from Virml's hands. "It appears to be one of the rhymes from The Name of the Fox. It's an odd little scroll of Varisian doggerel, scripted in Sylvan. There's nothing remarkable about it-".
"Nothing until now, perhaps?" quips Zarta Dralneen, clearly enjoying herself.
Shaine hands the scroll fragment to Amarantha before drying his hands on his robes.
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Zarta Dralneen smiles a long and luxurious smile at Wellentänzer, "Oh, the Overflow Archives are merely an annex of Master Shaine's vast libraries. Specifically, this is where he stores the oddities he doesn't know what else to do with."
Kreighton Shaine frowns at the blunt admission, "Zarta, you know that this was once a temple to Desna before it collapsed. The Grand Lodge was build on the ruins. There's so much more..."
Zarta holds up a hand and chides Shaine, "My dear Kreighton, the Pathfinders care not for a long-winded history lesson. Just answer their question; no there are no additional security measures in place. See, that wasn't hard."
She forms a smile as wide as her Chelaxian features will allow.
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The Master of Scrolls blinks indignantly, "Magical swimming aid?! You're being asked to save knowledge for the sake of knowledge and you're asking me for magical water wings? Why, when I was a young Pathfinder I would never ask the Master of Scrolls..."
Again Zarta interrupts with a smile, "Oh, I agree Shaine, there's no reason at all to lend aid Pathfinders who are assisting their Masters with hard work, especially when they came here of their own accord to help."
Clearly self-conscious about seeming the tyrant Kreighton Shaine verbally begins to backpedal, "I...I don't have any magic ready, but you're free to keep anything you may find in the course of your work."
Zarta leans back, gives a slight smile, and winks at Gaz.
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Some master of scrolls.. Gaz grumbles in his head as he returns his most charismatic smile back at Zarta. Keeps scrolls that'll flood his library but doesn't think to setup emergency scrolls at the exits for when everything goes wrong."
"Well, I guess we should just dive in." Gaz blunders to Zarta's glee.
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The atmosphere in the room is filled with various kinds of tension, broken only by the abruptness of Shaine’s words, ”Virml, you can consider your actions while taking what little you salvaged and begin transcribing it all immediately. Pathfinders, good luck.”
Virml sullenly sulks up the stairs into the scriptorium with his pile of soaked tomes overflowing in his harms.
As Triana asks her question to Zarta, the head of the Dark Archive quietly holds her arms out to Triana and Amarantha, ”If I may have just a moment with you two. No worries Pathfinders, they are not in trouble.” She hurries Triana and Amarantha outside the room.
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.”
She briefly strokes Triana's arm before also turning and leaving you alone in the hallway.
The party stands in the entry hall to the Overflow archives. Massive double doors rise to the east where a trickle of salty smelling seawater can be seen pooling under the door. A set of stairs rise to the scriptorium above, with only the faint sound running of water coming from the other side of the doors breaking the silence, as if a water closet had been left running.
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'I spent a good amount of time studying under Master Shaine. You'd think he'd have a scroll on hand to help us save all these other scrolls he's so fond of. Guess we'll figure something out along the way!
"Well! Is everyone ready to get started?!" Kelnea asks as he starts dressing down to his skivvies and combat/magical gear.
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Gaz looks at the door and imagines a room filled with water over taking them all. "Maybe it'd be wise to open the second story door... we have no idea what kind of pressure is behind this one."
If no one objects, Gaz will head upstairs and inspect that door, but is someone is adamant on opening this door Gaz will simply shrug and give in to the leadership without a fight.
After inspection, if all appears well Gaz will open the door.
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Gaz follows Virml up the stairs to the Scriptorium (see map, lower left corner).
Upstairs
This large chamber is crammed with desks and lecterns designed for copying scrolls and manuscripts. Along the north wall, a tall, broad shelf sags with sheaves of parchment, while near the exit to the south, a stack of ceramic ink jugs stands near wall-mounted racks of quills. 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.
Virml turns in surprise at your entry. He appears to have pulled together a large quantity of multi-colored ink which he has started setting on a desk near the door. ”Um…can I…uh…help you?” he stammers, clearly surprised that somebody followed him upstairs to where Shaine instructed him to begin transcribing what little he saved.
Looking into the library through the window
There is no 'second story door' to be seen, though the large window provides an expansive view of a spacious library which can only be described as a damp catastrophe. The room beyond is made of superior masonry with vaulted ceilings 20 feet in high at the walls, rising to 35 feet at the apex. Across the ceiling and around pillars, faded murals feature elaborate patterns interweaving moons, stars, and butterflies. The entire room is bathed in the unnatural light of countless everburning torches casting ample reading light for the many bookshelves within the room.
Below you, a lake of dark water sits clogged with books, scroll cases, and a few overturned shelves, all of which obscures the floor. You see below you 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 mezzanine is too high for you to see from your vantage point. The same metal staircase must descend into a basement below as well, for the water there burbles downward in a dark, lazy whirlpool.
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Gaz opens the door to little fanfare as they do not appear to be locked.
Beyond the room is filled with clear, cool water approximately a foot in depth. The northeast corner of the room appears to have been damaged, but it's clear that the damage is ancient, not related to the current disaster.
Fifteen feet above the spiral staircase sprawls a mezzanine level. As you open the door, you see a massive gout of seawater flow like a waterfall from the spaces in the stone railing protecting the mezzanine. As it pours into the library below you hear a slight gurgle to the north, and you see much of it spiral down the staircase to the lower level.
From your vantage point in the room you see two small figures sitting on a bookcase near the spiral staircase just past the transient wall of water. One has the head of an owl, the other an albatross. They seem to be talking, but over the occasional roar and the sloshing of water you cannot hear the conversation from your vantage point near the door. They appear to be fishing.
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Triana turns to the other PCs before venturing further into the archives.
"If we run into any trouble, heal me with your spells or wands...it's....complicated..." She deftly moves wrist, producing a wand. She points at the wand, "Should I fall unconscious, please use this to heal me." With another movement, the wand returns to its sheath.
She then points upward at the mezzanine.
"It looks like the water is coming from there, but we'll have to get past those bird things first."
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Amarantha shouts, but clearly very little can be heard over the occasional roar of the waterfall as the two do not seem to respond.
Another woosh of water comes flowing out of the mezzanine before again slowing to just a trickle. You continue to hear it gurgle to the north and watch it flow down the spiral staircase to the lower level.
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Triana moves up to the first overturned bookshelf and gives the upward step a test for stability. It appears that one can stand safely on the bookshelf.
Now that you have a clearer view, it's clear that the Gathlains have turned their mahogany bookshelf into a makeshift raft. They appear to be sitting on top of a small scrap of paper.
Triana can hear them arguing.
The albastross headed creature speaks to the other, "Owl knows it isn't his! Even though, it's mine he says."
The owl headed creature shakes his head in response, "That's not what I heard, the Koi said it's Owl's. So quit your complaining and screeching and howls."
The albatross again, "NO! You can't have it, it's my big prize!"
The owl continues fishing but shoots back, "Shut your hole and quit your lies!"
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Gaz lets out a hearty and sincere laugh at James joke. "Good man! Hey there boys! With water this shallow you might be better off noodling! Any particular quarry? I heard this used to be a library all but a half hour ago!" Gaz's deep voice rumbles jovially as he sloshes through to a bookshelf raft. "Oh, the fish are too dumb to mind, they'll scatter and be back in a minute. Ha! Reminds me of the Dru'bak Horde one winter in the Mindspin mountains..." The historians rambles fade in the noise of stomping through the water.
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The owl drops his pole and stands furiously as Gaz approaches, "You there big one, go away!"
The albatross continues waving his arms frantically, "This fishing spot ain't yours you dumb toupee!"
They put on a significant show of stomping around and appearing to be very upset at your movements; however, they take no overtly aggressive actions.
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With the mention of yelling the two look at each other and their eyes get wide. In unison they speak, point at each other, and at the rest of the party while not-so-quietly whispering, "Ssssshhhhhh. The big sleeper is listening - you don't want to get eaten!"
And then as if they've essentially forgotten that they should be quiet, owl waves his fist at Triana and says a little louder, "You just leave, you can keep your greetin'"
The two gathlain's jump at the sudden noise of another enormous wave of water from the mezzanine. It drenches the shelves below and pours down the spiral staircase, again letting a loud gurgle.
As the wave pours down the two, clearly upset at your approach decide that they need to do something about it.
Owl, clearly upset by the incursion by the Pathfinders cries, "Stop where you are. You've gone too far."
He raises his hands above his head as you watch magical energies flow from his fingertips into the books in the library. The books form a mind of their own and begin wrapping around your ankles, moving to block your step, and otherwise act as a hindrance.
Owl
Gaz
James
Triana (Entangled)
Albatross
Kelnea
Wellentanzer (Entangled)
Amarantha (Entangled)