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Liadain is dressed much the same - fancy duellist's gear in colours that accentuate her natural complexion (and unnatural hair and eyes). The clothing is perhaps slightly a bit more utilitarian this time, however, for it's accompanied by a well-polished mithral chain shirt poking out from beneath her collar and a buckler engraved with a roaring lion already strapped to her arm.
She smiles and nods to the guards as Great Wizard Etcetera hands them their own ticket, although she can't help but feel sad that they were not going to the performance...
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Percy admires Lia's mail, his own armour is made of elven Darkleaf cloth.
He has slung over his shoulder a rather intricate, well made (and somewhat overly mechanical) crossbow of darkwood, half covered by his cloak. He smiles on as the situation plays out in front of him.
"Handy fellows these, so organised with the passes. A shame to be missing the show though, but then I am hardly dressed for such an occasion now"
The usher looks at the writ and nods. "Yes, yes, fine. I will get to you in just a moment. I have to get these people inside before the performance starts."
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Liadain rolls her eyes and steps forward to the usher with a radiant smile. "Dear friend, surely you must understand the significance of this writ? Open your eyes, and look just here; you know who Arch-Exarch Gregorius is, do you not? One would think his lordship's orders are not to be taken lightly."
She places a gentle hand on the usher's arm and pointedly nestles her chest alongside it, doe-eyed and pleading. "Come now, m'lord, it shan't take much more than a moment..."
The usher sighs and nods. "Very well, I suppose you are correct. Follow me, but hurry. I must get back."
The usher leads the party to the library where he gives a stiff boe and rushes off. The library is nearly empty thanks to the imminent performance, but a young Taldan man comes over. "Greetings, I am Tobias, the librarian on duty. How can I be of assistance to you?"
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Liadain smiles and waves as the usher dashes off; once he's out of sight, she allows herself a light sigh. Of course, two seconds later, the librarian is here and she's expected to play the role of eye candy once more...
"My good sir, friend Tobias, a pleasure to meet you" she begins with a well-practiced smile; it would take a keen eye to notice that it's completely constructed. Lia tips her hat to him in salutations. "We are here from the Pathfinder Society, with the blessings of Arch-Exarch Gregorius, to examine some of the most wonderfully rare books you have here on offer."
"For the most part, I'm sure that such skilled chroniclers as my companions here," she makes a wide, sweeping gesture back at the motley crew of Tian nutters and alchemically-enhanced intellectuals, "will not need you to assist us. But perhaps you can point us in the right direction to begin with?"
Lia raises her index finger dramatically. "One: honour." The middle finger follows. "Two: courage." Finally, the ring finger. "Three: glory."
"These three topics are key to Taldor's great history - and they may yet unlock secrets that would allow us to triumph over the mighty evils of the north. That is what the Society believes, at least; and thus we come here."
"What do you think of when you hear these words, Tobias? Where would you recommend we begin our search? The Taldan military history section? Records of the Crusades? Religious treaties from the Iomedaean church?"
If he has any ideas, Liadain will smile gratefully and offer him a low and flowing bow. If not, she'll simply smile. "Thank you, friend Tobias. That should be enough for us. Please, do feel free to enjoy the performance; we shall contact you if we need you. We shall take it from here."
Tobias' eyes widen slightly as Liadain begins her questions, but he quickly regains his composure. "Follow me to the rare books collection and I will try to answer your questions along the way." He turns and starts down a short hallway. Quieting his voice, he says. "Those words sound familiar, but I can't seem to place them. Ah, here we are."
Tobias opens the door to large room. A large table stands at the center of this 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 gives you efficient instruction on how the books are cataloged and then turns to go. "Enjoy your studies. I will check on you periodically and when two hours is up, I will come to escort you out. Good day!" With that, he shuts the doors behind him and leaves.
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.
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Celfwyn wastes no time getting started, happy to be done dealing with people for the time being. He points to the styluses. "We should find some of those. Old parchments, sweaty fingers, not a good mix. Gloves too abrasive and lose dexterity in handing fragile documents." He looks at the words in the statue's book to see if there is anything associated with those words or if it simply those words. He traces a finger along the word "honour" (or "honor", if that's the Taldane way of spelling it).
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Maaarv sets down his illusion card and activates it. His double appears to be leaning against a row of books, deeply engrossed by a tome on the alchemical properties of the roots of deciduous trees of the River Kingdoms.
"Neat," he mumbles to himself. He then takes a look around the room.
But just notices more books. He shuffles over to Old Shu and takes a look at the patter of words on the stone book.
"Hmmm, 8 words listed. Honor is the sixth word, courage the fourth, and glory is eighth. You don't think that maybe there's some kind of numerological pattern or anything, do you?" He looks up to his companions for any thoughts.
As Shu moves the stylus, you hear a series of clicks. On the last word, there is a soft hiss as the wall swings open.
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Finally able to relax now that every man she was required to deal with had left them alone, Liadain's shoulders sag and she sighs once more. "Ad-libbing on a whim without much of a warm-up is quite the tiring affair," she murmurs, but then grins to herself. "But it's nice to know I haven't lost my panache since leaving Oppara."
Luckily, as she rolls her shoulders and relaxes tense muscles, the others have quickly figured out the trick to getting into the secret library. "Excellent work, gentlemen!" Gathering up a few random treatises (Performance Art of the 4200s, Anduetto's 13th Symphony in F Minor, Mai-Odori: The History of Minkaian Dance, and Ulrik Alfjaggr's Complete Comedic Omnibus), Liadain activates her 'clone card' and artfully spreads the works around it.
Once everyone is ready, she takes a few cautious steps inside and looks around...
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Celfwyn similarly sets up some random books and activates his clone with a most confused look on its face. "That way it will be believable that I'm poring over the same page for some length of time."
He heads toward the revealed portal with the others and peers inside.
"We should use the dust to cover our passage in. Or should you like to hold onto it for something else?"
As the party begin to attach the illusion cards underneath the chairs, you all see that there is a short hall behind the secret door leading to a spiral staircase leading down. Everburning torches dot the wall set in sconces. The floors and walls seem to be immaculately clean.
The party descends the spiral stairwell, leaving the secret door wide open.....
At the bottom landing, is a set of double doors. Opening the double doors reveals a long stone hallway that 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.”
Shu detects no magic other than the everburning torches.
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Percy doubles back and pushes the secret door mostly closed, leaving a large tome to keep it open.
"Right then, that all looks a bit cryptic doesn't it? Might have a look at these doors first...hope those divots don't conceal some sort of trap and spitting darts for the unwary."
Percy pushes forward to the first door, checking his surrounds as he goes. Perception He seems rather fixated on the divots though.
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Maaarv makes his way down the hall. "What do you suppose 'Our monarch's virtues are our own' could mean?" he asks, pointing at the strange pattern. "Don't you guys see it? You need to relax your eyes, like you're looking 'through' the painting."
He stops next to the first door on the south, near Percy. "Well, uh, should we try this door?"
Maarv stands ready to open the door if the others agree.
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Mu Ping brings up the rear, "He not that smart.", trying to repeatedly convince the others so absentmindedly that he forgot to pull the secret door shut. He had snuffed his poled lanterns out and stowed them away, needless in the lit area.
"Now what is tluffle-pig tawking about?", Mu peers at the dots...
...and sees nothing but dots. Ai-yah
Opening the south door reveals the main library chamber. Thousands of books line the dozens of shelves in this high ceilinged library. Several tables and chairs near the center of the room provide a place to read quietly, and five rows of pew-like benches nearby face an immense lion’s head carved from the eastern wall.
Rooms are sized small, medium and large and each size takes a different amount of time to search. More people searching, lessens the time, but only so many people can search a room.
There is no need to worry about who is leading the checks and who is aiding, we take the highest roll.