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(Oof)
Lynn simply stands by after her grand introduction or at least thats how she saw it. She giggled a bit at Zzorn's flustered face, and she was far to distracted listening to her own special briefing to notice the other group. "I can also make short lived illusions though they arent active nor will they pass under close inspection, yet. Aside from a change of clothes i dont think i have any need for more supplies right now. What i'm currently wearing is not discreet to say the least.
After the discussions the Venture-Captain courteously accompanies the noble Taldan lady out of his establishment.
He returns and explains to you that you have approximately 1 day to purchase supplies, prepare spells, and get ready for your mission.
THE KITHARODIAN ACADEMY
Colloquially called “the Kith,” this bard college is the largest in the city, and ranks among the largest on Golarion.
Although the grand KITHARODIAN ACADEMY allows all souls that wish to enroll the chance to prove themselves, students must adhere to a code of education and rigorous self discipline. Each department advisor sets forth the graduation requirements for their students.
While the above is publicly known, the true secret of the academy is known to very few. Many of the faculty are members of the Lion Blades. The academy itself serves as a recruiting ground for the nation’s clandestine spies, and those who leave the school for this purpose feign having washed out as performers so that they can better fade from the public eye. From there, these recruits continue their instruction in secret training facilities. In addition to its role as a hidden archive, the Library of the Lion serves as a Lion Blades training ground.
The Lion Blades do not officially exist, which avoids criticism and oversight. Its members serve Taldor from the shadows without moral considerations. In regards to domestic enemies, one of their tasks is to keep a rein on corruption. Another is to keep any one faction of the imperial court from becoming a threat to Grand Prince Stavian III. Unlike the assassins of Qadira, the Lion Blades prefer crowded urban areas because they are masters of motion within the crowd. They are also quick, agile, knowledgeable, and masters of disguise. Lion Blades are usually recruited out of the famous bardic colleges of Oppara. They are trained at the Shadow Schools for at least a year before taking on missions.Although most Lion Blades work for the government, some hire themselves out to nongovernmental organizations, work for themselves, or even become turncoats and serve Taldor's enemies. Of those who defect to another nation, most work for Cheliax, the nation most eager to accept such traitors.
Despite the Pathfinder Society's resourcefulness, there are many repositories of knowledge to which the Pathfinder Society rarely (if ever) has access, including several rich archives in Taldor’s capital city of Oppara. Pathfinders in Taldor are often considered upstarts with a tenuous grasp of the Inner Sea region’s true history—a history heavily modified dozens of times by Taldor’s competing factions, politicians, and propaganda artists over the centuries. As a result, several institutions, including the Kitharodian Academy, and rarely honor requests by Pathfinder agents to peruse the rarest books in their collections. The Kitharodian Academy in particular has good reason for this: the elite spy organization know as the Lion Blades maintain secret archives of unmodified histories, contentious first-person accounts of famous events, and espionage dossiers in dark corners of the academy’s basements. They also often use Kitharodian as a recruiting ground, and do not appreciate any “poaching” the Society may do to prospective recruits.
Aid another attempt successful.
You have to roll for the second check as well. Dc 20
Following the group seemingly led by women, Heria meekly talks to people, asking as to where the nearest alchemical shop or apothecary was as he was new to town.
[Dice=Diplomacy]d20-1
[dice=kn(nobility)]1d20+11
[dice=kn(nobility)]1d20+11
[dice=kn(nobility)]1d20+11"Ah! a big school for would be opera singers! hmm... perhaps I should bring light reading if it gets boring... or a flask of gin?"
With those buffs, i'll pass that one too. :)
The Kitharodian Academy sits atop the northern cliffs of Oppara and has an impressive view of the Porthmos River valley. The school boasts architecture as lovely as its music, and elegant domes, towers, and columns adorn the principle music hall. On the night of the performance, mirror-focused lanterns and dancing lights illuminate the structure, making the academy a radiant beacon of Taldor’s greatness.
You are all standing just outside the Kitharodian Academy with your invitations to visit the library. Crowds of commoners and nobility alike jostle to enter the music hall where the festivities are soon to begin.
You have no difficulty pushing your way into the increasingly crowded building.
You see several members of the Kitharodian staff sitting at the main desk and some walking through the building.
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Lynn would love to go and enjoy the festivities, but she's here on a mission. She gathers her group aside from the throngs flooding to the performance hall."I've actually seen a map of this place, i know where the library is if we want to head there now, it is probably best that we get this over before we celebrate."
Lynn guides the group to the entrance of the library through a maze of passages and stairs.
The library is nearly empty thanks to the imminent performance, but a young Taldan man named Tobias greets you, introduces himself as the librarian
on duty, and asks you how he can be of assistance.
You show him your invitations and he quickly reads over it before you are accompanied by Tobias through two doors to a restricted section of the library.
Tobias looks at all of you with a stern look "Please do not make any noise as the current performance is not allowed to be disturbed! All visitors must leave the library once the performance concludes in about two hours."
Tobias then leaves you in the restricted area of the library.
A large table stands at the center of this large room, whose walls are lined with rows upon rows of inset shelves. A set of double doors is the only way into the room, and two stone statues depicting bearded scholars with open books are the only other decorations.
Tobias turns around to Alice with a smile
"Oh of course I can tell you about the festivities! The Kitharodian Academy hosts an extravagant orchestral performance in celebration of the Grand Prince’s birthday.
The Kitharodian’s finest are playing a complex medley of Taldor’s greatest songs. I know personally that at some points the passionate and energetic orchestral performance in honor of Grand Prince Stavian III will be unbelievable - the music will echo throughout the academy.
This lengthy piece is a new composition, drawing from several pieces of music drawn from Taldor’s vast history. Some of these songs are particularly thunderous.” he says with some pride in his voice.
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"Dear Alice, I don't want to sound like a horrible taskmaster, but we will only be able to join if we finish our work first. So I suggest we all start now and hurry up to peruse the books we came here to peruse! only then can we think of leisure and enjoying the festivities! Tobias, we will be fine. You don't need to worry about us, and you may enjoy the concert yourself as I don't think we'll be finished early, seeing how some of us are easily distracted..." says Zzorn, casting a look at Alice as he says distracted. :)
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As soon as Tobias departs, Zzorn starts grabbing books off the shelves and putting them around the table to simulate heavy research by the group. He then starts to look around the library for clues to the entrance to the secret archives they are looking for.
"Hey everyone, I'd appreciate some help at some point... we don't have all day!" says Zzorn, frustrated at himself and his general rage meter increasing due to being in a library... :)
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Tobias leaves and closes the doors behind him once you are settled. Most of the books in this section are workbooks of famous composers, original copies of musical treatises, and withered manuscripts describing various operatic traditions from beyond the Taldan empire. Despite their academic value, the texts here are of little use in completing the Pathfinders’ mission. The both of the statues hold blunt styluses—sometimes used to help read old, fragile texts—that point to their books, but only the western statue’s book actually any words: a column of words that reads “Innovation, respect, knowledge, courage, integrity, honor, excellence, glory” in that order.
The group starts searching and Alice discovers that a section of the west wall is hinged to swing outward, and that the mechanism for opening it must be nearby.
Alice shows the group the mechanism and together they are succesful as the right arm of the western statue can be rotated up or down by several degrees, allowing one to shift the word that the statue’s stylus points at. To open the secret door, one must shift the statue’s arm so that its stylus points to the words honor, courage, and glory, in that order. The door has a latch on its interior that allows it to be opened and closed from the other side. The 15-foot passage beyond leads to a spiral staircase.
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Assuming the rest of the group stop interacting with Tobias and let him go
Alice is making a diplomatic distraction. :)
Alice looks at Zzorn like a sister would at a brother's rant.
"I'm sure you'd make a horrible taskmaster.", she says with a tone, which one would be unsure of whether kind of horrible she means.
Yes, she's hinting she thinks he'd be poor at the job. ^^
She shrugs with a smile as she looks at Tobias.
"We'll be fine, thank you mister Tobias."
"No, I thank you very much!" Tobias says before he departs.
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Zzorn smiles at Alice's taunts, "I know... everyone says that I'm too gentle, and that I have the softest of hands..."
He then sits, puts a book in front of him, and for a few seconds appears deep in concentration over the book. Then you see a second Zzorn get up from the chair while the first one stays there in concentration! The second (new) Zzorn looks under the chair to make sure the card sticks there properly. He then passes the Deck of Illusion cards one by one to the rest of the party, making sure they don't glue the sticky end on their clothing.
After the whole illusory party is in place and staged properly, Zzorn jumps after Heria, who seems eager to delve into the secret chambers beyond! He then waits for the party to cross over and closes the door at the end.
After Zzorn sets an example all of you start to create the illusions via the Deck of Illusions to appear researching in the library.
You walk down the spiral staircase and are in a hallway of the Library of the Lion. The walls are carved from the same solid cliffs upon which the Kitharodian Academy was built.
The walls are mostly smoothed stone, and the floor is carved into intricate patterns that also provide better footing than a polished floor might. Most of the rooms have strong wooden doors and wall sconces that hold glass spheres enchanted with continual flame. There are several dozen narrow ducts that allow for ventilation.
This long stone hallway stretches from north to south with several sets of doors along its east and west walls.
The south wall bears a 10-foot-square field of carved divots that create no particular pattern. An inscription above the carving reads “The keenest eyes cannot see everything. Always remember to see the big picture.”
The carved floors here have seen consistent traffic over many years, and countless footsteps have worn a slight groove along the center of the hall.
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Turning around towards Zzorn, Heria's mouth opens silently for a moment as if to say something before running back to a chair while fumbling around in his pockets. Pulling out a card, the absent minded wizard places the item under a chair and activates the illusion before running back. "Sorry, I almost forgot about the cards! New libraries do excite me so!."
"Bigger picture, hmm....."
The slayer paid attention to see if there were any books on planar knowledge in the section of library that they were at.
Criscius could not find any books on planar knowledge in the first section of the library.
Thousands of books line the dozens of shelves in this highceilinged library. Several tables and chairs near the center of the room provide a place to read quietly, and five rows of pewlike benches nearby face an immense lion’s head carved from the eastern wall.
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"More powerful? hmm... let's not loiter then. If it's not undoctored historical records of the Shining Crusade, let's save it for another day! this room is immense: it would take weeks to go through each section. Can one of you perhaps understand this numerical book classification system and somehow use the shelf codes to speed up our research?"
Zzorn looks at the shelves to see if he can make any sense of how the books have been classified.
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Alice would place the illusion card somewhere, where it appears as if she is utterly lost in reading a thick book.
"Prestidigitation. That only lasts one hour.
That would suggest someone would be around here every hour."
"Speaking of time...we have 2 hours."
Alice quickly writes down the [Keenest eyes] hint in her journal.
She then thinks of a song from her childhood that would last about 3 minutes.
Taking a page from her journal, she straps it under a strap of her backpack, hanging over her shoulder, clenching the charcoal stick between her other hand's fingers.
She silently clicks her fingers every 5 seconds, trying to get a general idea of time passed.
Should something interrupt her, she'd have to make an estimate of time passed for whatever caused the pause.
At the end of every song, she puts a mark on the paper.
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"Alice, this finger clicking is annoying... haven't you heard that you're supposed to be quiet in a library? before you get comfortable in these plush chairs, hummin' songs and all, we should go check the other rooms before we sink half an hour aimlessly in this one!"
Zzorn grabs his sword and goes back to the first hallway to check the first room on the left!