"Ma'am, may i have a moment in private?"
When none of the others are within hearing distance, Alice takes the woman's hand in her small halfling hands while talking."Within the society, i belong to a group that devotes itself to scholarly pursuits. Texts, artifacts, histories, of various sorts.
Someone with your experience and profession would be welcomed with open arms.""What of your condition, you may ask? Donating for a healing spell is well within budget. As for what i am told about your family, the society is, from what i've heard, quite apt in rescuing people from hazardous places. I'd say it is well within their capacity to ensure the three of you get a safe home elsewhere."
"You may be wondering what guarantee you have. Well, i am but one of a group, but i can speak to our group's leader, and i can plead on behalf of your situation and value."
"Ma'am, would you do me the honor of being able to relay that i have found a friend to scholarly pursuits?"
...
During the discussion you see that Iliyana Baslee is torn. Alice can feel that her words are giving her hope and at the same time throw this simple woman into a hole of guilt. After about five minutes of debate and reassurance from Alice she believes that Iliyana is convinced that her family will be safe and that the society will take care of her.
"Alice, these last 60 minutes with you and your companions have given me so much hope. At the same time I do not want to endanger you. I will stay here for the time being to be able to hide your intrusion into this secret facility. But I promise you that I will find a way to send you a secret message so that you can rescue my son and husband. And when they are safe I will join your organization and serve you to the best of my knowledge! I promise this to you! Maybe I can even provide you with knowledge sometimes even though I am here ... we will find a way Alice!" she says with a smile.
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"That was mighty noble of you Alice. The ice queen rumors about you were total shyte. Your heart is in the right place, you know. Well done lass!"
Zzorn gets in on the hug; you can see moisture welling up in his eyes...
Iliyana also starts to cry. After decades you are the first persons that embrace her with warmth and want her to be happy.
"I will dearly miss you! And I am looking forward to seeing you again!" Iliyana says with tears in her eyes.
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Zzorn kisses her on the head, hugs her once more and waves at her. He's going to miss the good woman very much and wishes he could break her out of here immediately... Sometimes revenge is best served cold, he's learned, and it will be better to secure the husband and son's safety before breaking her out of her confinement.
Zzorn then heads back out to see Glorymane, "Noble Guardian! we have found this heavy bronze shield embossed with your likeness! is this, mighty Glorymane, what would give you the means to travel out of here?"
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Ferverously taking notes and copying information down, the wizard looks at the group hug and shrugs whilst keeping his pace of taking information down. Once the time to leave comes about, he makes sure that everything is placed back in their original spots before heading out.
"It would have been nice to take something that was written, but supposedly we can't. Perhaps You, Guardian Glorymane have a vastness of knowledge we could use! I do hope this shield can help you as much as you can help us."
You take extra care to place everything at the spot it was before leaving the secret libraries and you make your way back to the Guardian.
After presenting him with the shield he says, "Well done friends, that shield will do just fine. It appears to have held an enchantment similar to my own."
The lion then gingerly takes the shield in it's mouth and concentrates for a minute. As it does so, the shield's patina recedes leaving a bright and burnished surface. The inside of the shield also bears the inscription "Glorymane". "That is my true name and one I only share with true friends."
He says happily, "The shield now contains a spark of awareness and will happily assist one of you so long as the cause is just or the potential glory great. My consciousness will be connected to this shield and although it will not be me that will travel with you I will be able to witness your adventures and see the outside world with my own eyes."
Glorymane beams and continues "I sincerely want to thank you! My isolation will end and I will always remember you Alice, Baied, Criscius, Heria, Lynn, and Zzorn ... believe me that your present to me will not be forgotten!"
You now hold a lion's shield in your hands that is beginning to form consciousness and intelligence.
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"Well whichever one of us takes you to your new adventure I do hope you enjoy it. I'm not much for shields or traveling heavy so I must sadly pass on this charge. But... we are almost out of time we should leave quickly and return to our places." Lynn placed a hand on Zzorn's shoulder, it was a bit of a stretch for her, and nodded approvingly.
"I am sure that you will choose wisely!" Glorymane says.
Lynn suddenly hears that the final parts of the concert are about to begin. You only have little time left!
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Zzorn runs to return the hourglass and the wooden box of reference cards, and as everyone sits down through their illusory selves, he carefully closes the door to the ancient library, then sits on his chair too. He carefully buries the shield under his clothes, pointy end in his butt crack, and large wide end across his shoulders. He straps his armor back on top of the shield, then puts his coat on, and says, "Apologies, Glorymane... this humbling experience will only be momentary! you shall breathe fresh air soon, and I will bolster your enchantments as soon as I can afford it!"
You all return via the stairs and the secret door to the restricted library where you were left to do your research. You remove the cards from beneath your chair so the illusions vanish and prepare for the arrival of the librarian.
A short time later there is a polite knock on the door and a moment later Tobias pokes his head in.
"Hallo there! I hope your studies were fruitful! I'm afraid two hours is up and it is now time for you to leave. Enjoy your day and I'm sorry you had to miss the performance, it sounded grand from my desk! What I could hear of it at least! Hope you were able to find what you were looking for."
vs.
He then shows you out of the library, and seemingly doesn't notice that Glorymane is hidden. Passing the reception, people are milling about and dispersing into Oppara but they are all very excited about the past two hours and the grand performance. It appears that Grand Prince Stavian has already left.
You report back to Venture-Captain Muesello.
Upon arriving at Musello's bait shop you find the Venture Captain eager to hear your findings. "Well, how'd it go?" Musello asks, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
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According to this text, one common cipher involves changing each consonant into the letter that comes three places after it in the alphabet and changing each vowel into the letter that comes two places before. For example, D would become G, U would become S, and Z would become C. (Since the vowels rotate backward and the consonants rotate forward, it’s a particularly puzzling cipher to break).
Upon arriving at the lodge, Zzorn has a thought... a nagging one... If the message was already coded... perhaps the third cipher we found needs to be used in reverse in order to decode the message??
"Just a moment Venture-Captain... I think I'm having... an idea... I know... this feels weird to me as well..."
Jotting down the reverse letters under the letters of the handout they received, Zzorn gets the following:
K-Y-V-W-K-C-E-C-O-O-M-I-M-E-C-G-G-C-Q-F-C
part 1: original handout with reverse consonants (letters that come three place "BEFORE")
H-V-S-T-H-Z-B-Z-L-L-J-F-J-B-Z-D-D-Z-N-C-Z
part 2: original handout with forward vowels (letters that come two place "AFTER")
M-A-X-Y-M-E-G-E-Q-Q-O-K-O-G-E-I-I-E-S-H-E
part 3: reject letters of part 2 that are NOT vowels, and fill those with part 1 letters
H-A-S-T-H-E-B-E-L-L-O-F-O-B-E-I-I-E-N-C-E
Swapping of the 'I's with a 'D' we get: 'has the bell of obedience'
???
Zzorn is puzzled and shows his scribbling to everyone, "Venture-Captain? fellow agents? anyone knows what this means?"
Zzorn then proceeds to remove his coat, armor and shirt in order to let Glorymane breathe at once! he dutifully polishes the beautifully embossed shield, and introduce the lion to the Venture-Captain.
"Sir, behold: Glorymane! Glorymane, this is Venture-Captain Muesello of Oppara."
The Venture-Captain looks at Lynn and then at Zzorn "This is the secret message that I entrusted Lynn with I assume. Yes, I have a vague idea what it means and who will be happy that you decoded this message." he says with a sly smile.
From another room you see Lady Morilla entering and smiling "There have been no reports of a break in at the library which is excellent news and means you did your job well."
Both of them look at Glorymane with high interest and great concern at the same time. It takes a couple of minutes for you and Glorymane to explain that the 'true' guardian is still in the library. Your ability to rescue Glorymane in this fashion is highly appreciated by the Venture-Captain. Also Lady Morilla seems quite pleased with your work - she congratulates you all on a job well done.
Then she looks at Muesello with a raised eyebrow "Now let us focus more on the critical information you have gathered and less on Taldan secrets that are now in the hands of the society." she says and looks at you.
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Zzorn assists the group in relating all the information they uncovered about the Shining Crusade, Lake Encathan military logs, and the Silver Horn, including the group's find that it could be located in southern Brevoy right now.
"Here's a copy of the original poem, Milady. Perhaps it can be analyzed further by your experts in order to gain a more accurate location?"
After turning in your notes Muesello's and Lady Morilla's eyes widen as they read.
The Venture-Captain is very excited "This is much more then we expected, I will get this information to the Grand Lodge immediately and I think it may greatly help the efforts in Mendev. Well done Pathfinders you have exceeded our expectations on this mission."
Lady Morilla claps her hands "Excellent, excellent! This is exactly the sort of knowledge we will need to turn the tide in the war against the Worldwound. And you acquired it with discretion." She is very pleased with the information you gathered from the Library of the Lion, and promises to convey your success and report your findings as soon as possible.
You sense that Lady Morilla is especially happy about the Lines of Succession text "Well, this is unbelievably interesting. You probably cannot fathom what this means for our cause ... what this means for Taldor. Thank you Pathfinders!"
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Lynn smiles sheepishly, "Ah well yes it was the message i was given but it seems that i was right to allow such a quick witted fellow help decipher it. Good job Zzorn."
She helpped to compile all their information and then looked to both of their patrons. She pulled out thr scroll that would have betrayed who theur benefactor was from her pouch. "I would like to say we didnt have to use this during our delve into forbidden knowledge either."
She would hand the scroll back to Lady Morilla. She'd look at Zzorn proudly beaming about the shield. "I could have hidden that far easier if you'd only asked by the way. I am a mistress of illusion after all."
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"My back is wide, but not that wide," answers Zzorn. "There exists ways to revoke noble titles, and almost all of them involve death or exile, none of which I wish to explore at this time. I was lucky to do this delicate mission with intelligent individuals who see the big picture. The smallest of mistakes back there would have had dire consequences for the Society. The only reason I even agreed to do this is in the hope it will prevent at least a tiny amount of relief to the troops in Mendev. Think of these brave souls who risk their lives every day for the rest of Golarion. It will help you erase such notions that you should return to this library for selfish reason and even risk undoing what we've achieved today."
Zzorn pauses a few moments, and calms down. When he resumes, he now has a smile, "There's a time to work, and there's a time to play. Let us find a tavern with a good bard, and let's have some food and drink. My stomach has been asking for chicken pot pie for the last hour now. Perhaps Lynn can even grace us with one of her performances, yes?"
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Heria's stomach rumbles at the mention of food, the wizard looking at it in surprise. "Well I... I guess food DOES sound good. We left the banquet's feats and entertainment for something that was quite enjoyable! Pot pie sounds delicious, with a side salad for Snufflebottoms here." Picking up the white hare, the wizard rubs his face on the creature as it squirms in his grip.
A pity about that journal, though. It looked very interesting, from the few pages i've seen.
"Apart from the information, do you have any other questions?
After all, we can give you a some more in-detail description of the place."
"So, we go into a library I can't take books out of, and you are pleased? I am confused about that, but I am glad we got quite a bit of information for the society."
"My back is wide, but not that wide," answers Zzorn. "There exists ways to revoke noble titles, and almost all of them involve death or exile, none of which I wish to explore at this time. I was lucky to do this delicate mission with intelligent individuals who see the big picture. The smallest of mistakes back there would have had dire consequences for the Society. The only reason I even agreed to do this is in the hope it will prevent at least a tiny amount of relief to the troops in Mendev. Think of these brave souls who risk their lives every day for the rest of Golarion. It will help you erase such notions that you should return to this library for selfish reason and even risk undoing what we've achieved today."
The Venture-Captain listens with interest to your discussion "I see that this mission has led to some controversy and I believe that there is a partial truth to all your arguments. While I personally would have like to learn so much more during this mission I am happy that we learned this much. And of course we will invite you all back here tomorrow for a thorough debriefing to record everything that you can still recollect or that you have wrote down. So please take the time until tomorrow to already start writing your reports." the Venture-Captain says with a stern look on his face.
Lynn smiles sheepishly, "Ah well yes it was the message i was given but it seems that i was right to allow such a quick witted fellow help decipher it. Good job Zzorn."
She helpped to compile all their information and then looked to both of their patrons. She pulled out thr scroll that would have betrayed who theur benefactor was from her pouch. "I would like to say we didnt have to use this during our delve into forbidden knowledge either."
She would hand the scroll back to Lady Morilla.
Lady Morilla takes the scroll that Lynn handed to her "It was one of the key assumptions that we would never need to use this scroll. With all the stories of Pathfinders storming into missions with blazing guns I am quite relieved that you chose Pathfinders with cool heads and warm hearts for this mission."
Heria's stomach rumbles at the mention of food, the wizard looking at it in surprise. "Well I... I guess food DOES sound good. We left the banquet's feats and entertainment for something that was quite enjoyable! Pot pie sounds delicious, with a side salad for Snufflebottoms here." Picking up the white hare, the wizard rubs his face on the creature as it squirms in his grip.
"Yes! Go and get something to eat and sleep well. Tomorrow is going to be a long day!" the Venture-Captain says smiling.
Later ... in the dark archives.
The Paracountess is truly pleased that Alice was able to build a relationship to the caretaker - she promises to reward her ... personally ... at a later date. And she knows that you need to help that woman ... eventually. But until then ... let us use her the best we can!
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Alice made a slight bow with her head, at the notion of the paracountess being truly pleased.
"I have the feeling that, when that eventual day comes, she may be even more than happy to help our pursuits."
Personally, Alice would rather see the librarian not have to wait for far too long, but the knowledge that the woman would, in the end, get out of there with her family, was comforting enough.
she promises to reward her ... personally ... at a later date.