Moving into the room she leapt up onto one of the tables and glared down at the Asmodean from her perch down the barrel of her pistol.
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Jack looks disdainfully at the Asmodean when he begs for mercy. He leaves the man's fate for the others to decide, instead gallantly offering his hand to Canacha to help her down off the tabletop.
"You made that jump almost as gracefully as a Yolubilis heron," he compliments her with an amused smile. "You know--those long-legged, cottage-sized birds who usually reduce a table to splinters when they hop up onto them."
Inspecting the table, Jack adds, "This one's still intact. Color me impressed!"
She began reloading her pistol until Jacks words registered with her. Did he just call her a really fat bird? It kinda felt like he just calld her a really fat bird. A dark expression crossed her face for a moment as it looked like she was deep in thought.
"Hey Asmodite what are you doing here?"
Her scowl held a hint of malice in it... and certainly flashed a little longer than normal canines. But it also certainly didnt look like the malice was directed torwards the cleric...yet.
Lena holds her next attack. "Out of the churches graces are you? What made you think coming here would get you back into the church? Her voice is filled with disgust for that particular god. "I'd just as soon kill you as let you go."
"Now, now... let's be a little bit civil."
Meliora puts a hand on her hip as she looks at the Asmo.
"So. I doubt that it's just you and the others that we killed earlier. Tell us everything. We'll call it the first part of reparations."
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The man swallows hard before speaking. "I'm not well liked in the clergy, my ideas are a bit on thethe wrong side of asmodean teaching. I was send here to oversee the redactors going through the building, but I wasn't allowed into the secret archives below because of distrust. If you let me leave Kintargo with my gear I'll tell you how to get below and the amount of guards down below." je says hoping to be spared.
"...'s good intel. Assuming he's not lying to us about the numbers, anyways."
She looks at the others.
"I'm for it, I guess. The diviner in me'd rather be prepared."
"What are your ideas that are on the wrong side?" This could be an important answer that determines your life, answer well.
Jack listens closely to the evil priest's answers to his friends' questions (especially Mic's) without chiming in himself, knowing that he's still a bit steamed and embarrassed about the way the Asmodean magically compelled him to bow to the tyrannical devil-god.
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"Nothing in particullar, they just don't seem to care about the words of god that I bring to them. It's like anything I suggest is swept away right away without any thought. But do we have a deal my life for infomations, I'll even show you how to enter the secret place and can off what little healing I have prepared if you let me keep my armor and weapons." He answers.
Jack you get the feeling he is telling the truth, but you also get a sense that he is a low ranking cleric but has an ego like it was one of the heads. He seems oblivivous to it himself.
Jack looks around at his new comrades, carefully considering each. Not a single liar or good obfuscator among the lot of 'em, he thinks. Though he's a decent gambler, he's not great at bluffing or picking up on tells. And a world-class bluff is what's needed here....
"So what we heard from that street rogue is true--there is something valuable hidden beneath this glorified joke shop!" Jack exclaims to the others. "Might be worth it to let this fellow go...IF he's thorough in telling us what's below and who or what is down there protecting it."
Pistol reloaded she moved suddenly pistol cocked and pulled almost to his face. After a moment she slowly eased the hammer forward and dropped the aim. With an devilish grin she gave the cleric a wicked grin.
if we let you go i dont expect to see you in this city ever again right? Also tell him you are sorry!"
She added pointing to jack.
Lena nods in agreement. "Healing and tell us what you know. Then get out of here."
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Raul stands up and hangs his weapon from the belt once again, he makes a slight bow towards Jack. "I'm sorry. Your girlfriend has quite the mean mind, but I can sense her heart and care for you is in the right place."
He then looks around on the group, points to them to follow him out the room and through the building back to the top middle room. On the way he says. "I've got the ability to cure a moderate amount of health once and a lesser amount twice. In regards to the people down stairs, last headcount was nine redactors, an orgekin, an outsider I don't know which kind, and overseeing it all is Nox with her pet hellhound." He fiddles around the rune of Irori on the Aroden statue, and it slights to the right revealing a hidden staircase.
"Nox..."
The woman who took a knife through the throat and lived?
"This is going to be a pain in the arse."
"Apology accepted," Jack tells the Asmodean. As the information begins to flow from the diabolist's mouth, Jack pumps the man for more details. "Nox? Isn't she the woman from the Aria Park protest? I heard she took a dagger or arrow to the throat and just plucked it out, not harmed in the least! Is this true? If so...is she even human?"
Turning to his friends he asks, "Is whatever's allegedly hidden down below worth the trouble of going through all those foes to recover?"
Finally, when it comes to healing, Jack suggests that the priest use his moderate healing on Mic first and then possibly split the two lesser spells on him and the brawler.
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"Hmm well the redactors are hard at work and there should be a whole library, but I'm not sure how much has been 'worked' on or removed. I also heard there were some artefacts from the age of the Silver Ravens, apart from that I don't know. The rumors around goes that she was bound with a devil through a secret ritual Thrune conducted, but I'm not skilled in the knowledge of the planes, so I don't know if it's true or even possible." He rumages through his packs and finds a scroll to give the party as a farewell present "You might have more need for this than I, it dispels magic."
When he lays out what healing he can do Mic steps forward.
"I am pretty banged up, closing up these wounds would be a good thing and it will buy you some good will from me."
"We'll just escort you out of town. Thank you for the information. We appreciate it, and the healing."
"I have three spells I can convert into to healing spells. Who else needs healing?" Lena examines everyone to see how they are feeling.
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You escort the cleric without any incident towards the citygate. After a brief stop at the man's house to get some personal belongings, you find yourself in sight of the gate. The cleric thanks you for sparing him and breaks off from you going to the gate alone so that the guards won't answer any questions. The Dottari searches his back as he is about to leave, but them seem to do it half heartedly and he exits town without any problem.
The next day you arrive back at the fantasmogorium and find the top floor exatly as you left them, without any sign or trace there has been anyone through the hidden path. The way down is a winding staircase.
"Seems like whatever they're here for, it's such a big deal that they just won't leave."
She had been quiet since the escorting of the cleric working away in the makeshift forge in their hideout casting bullets. Something the Asmo had said had stuck in her head and wouldnt just sneak out. She had almost corrected him back then but thought that well Jack would. Only he didnt. Did that mean?
She glanced over at one of the little wooden shelves at her new toy. Was it ready to use yet? did it need more work? Did Jack think of her as girlfriend material? Is that why he never corrected the Asmodite? She wasnt sure, she had never been anyone's girlfriend before. She shook her head and instead focused on doing mathmatical equations involving lift patterns in her head. Mental math always kept her grounded and focused.
Jack nods to Meliora and then sneaks down the spiral staircase. Once he reaches bottom, he peeks around for foes.
Lena rests, and prays to Milani the next morning. "Guide us today. We're going to need the help."
She stands at the top of the stairs and waits for Jack's signal to head down.
She gives both Jack and Canacha looks as they carefully don't look at each other. What's up with them? Did they have an argument over something?
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A wrought-iron spiral stairway descends from the ceiling into a massive library. Bookshelves, both freestanding and wall-mounted, rise up to a ceiling forty feet above. Ladders on tracks allow access to the higher shelves, yet few books and scrolls remain here. Bloodstains mar the floor here and there, and some of the shelves bear what appears to be recent battle damage. A strange rune inscribed in a circle decorates the floor.
The large rune on the floor is the Master's Rebus - a rune sacred to Irori.
"Bottoms up I suppose"
She began outside the building pulling out a small vialed concoction that's terrible smell was obvious even from a distance. She made a slight face and shuddered for just a second her eyes clothing as she made he classic Blech face. When she opened her eyes they seemed a dull burnished yellow color and they glanced about rapidly for a moment. She drew her pistol in a smooth measured motion and followed after Jack.
Jack returns quietly to the spiral staircase and waves the others down. Then he stands at Canacha's side, not approaching the strange creature until the full party is present.
for
"Right walking book monster."
As the others move she sighs and comments as she moves down the stairs.
"Time to fold the pages!" That didn't really make sense.
She moves down to the floor but stops before the ruin.
Blasted thing can come to me.
"This is a temple to Irori. That's his rune." she looks at the creature. "Let's see if we can talk to it first, but be ready."
She moves in front of the others. "Well met my friend. Blessings of Irori and Milani upon you." she calls out the creature.
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Meliora has heard of this rare outsider, it's a Scrivenite a humanoid-shaped figure of folded paper and silken ribbons which hovers gently in the air. It wears the open cover of some great tome like a metal- and leather-bound mask. It's a lawful neutral outsider, they are able to retract into the book mask to look like any ordinary book.
Lawful Neutral, and called a scrivenite eh...? And the other guys were called Redactors... dollars to donuts the name means it protects libraries. That feels like something an incarnation of order would do.
Maybe she can use this.
"Hey... it's not the Asmodeans you should be listening to. They're a group called the Redactors, right? And what they do is redact. That means your entire library's like-as-not to be destroyed in short order."
"Oh, really? And what exactly is this rare tome about? You made sure to find out what you were gettin' before you got got, right?"
"Sounds interesting. I hate to see knowledge destroyed. Don't you?"
"You cannot but you seem honorable. We can, will you try and stop us if we do move to save knowledge?"
"...oh. Okay, I can see why you're in on this."
She looks to the others.
"So uh, guys. I don't think we're going to get them to move... and as much as I like 'em, this is what planar binding does. The upside is they just go back to their own dimension? If we beat the crap out of them? The downside is that they'll warn the Assmos that we're here..."
She sighs.
"Well, here's an idea. They said you can't interfere, right? How about, before we try to interfere, you tell us everything you know about what they've got going on in here?"