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"Are you alright, Hakak?" Fenric asks with concern as the half-orc is stabbed in the neck.
After ensuring his companion's well being, he examines the lion statuettes, including looking at the bottom of the bases for any clue to the order in which to line them. "We should also search the bookcases and drawers in this room for clues."
You don't find anything new in your search. You definitely think the statues are some sort of combination to the door, but beyond that there's nothing obvious leaping out to direct you further.
You think it would take about 12 minutes for five of you to search the room and copy down all the relevant information, though there's not quite enough room for a sixth person to join in.
Hakak leaves the others to search, staring at the statuettes as he tries to make heads or tails of them while the others quickly move through the room. Their effort is rewarded with a single tome of potential interest, a mess of esoteric poetry and obscure riddles. One of these entries describes a silver horn once used by Taldor, which seems to be hidden somewhere in southern Brevoy. Spending considerably more time analyzing the poem may reveal additional hints about this horn and its location.
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Six freestanding statuettes of lions in various poses stand atop the furniture. One crouches as if preparing to ambush its prey. The second is roaring as it leaps at prey. The third wears a yoke that is chained to a large block that the lion strains to pull. The fourth wears a tiny pair of spectacles and reads from an ornate scroll. The fifth is draped in the flag of Taldor. The sixth sits erect and wears a crown.
"The only other clues down here are the paintings," Fenric muses. "First, learn about our history." He places the scholarly looking lion in the first slot. "That one is the only one I'm sure of."
He looks over the other lions. "A cunning lie is never told twice--that's not bad advice--but which one of you is lying?"
He frowns at the lions and shakes his head. "Let's try to build a nation then. Study." He picks up the scholarly lion and puts it back down in the first slot. "Attack your enemies." He puts the ambush lion in the second slot. "Build." He puts the yoked lion in the third slot. "Succeed." He puts the lion with a flag draped over its shoulders in the fourth slot.
"There can't be too many combinations to try."
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Katarina watches as Fenric attempts to place the statuettes, her own mind thinking back to the various brass plaques they'd seen scattered about the secret archives.
"Hmm...if that combination doesn't work, may I try?" she asks.
"Okay first - to serve, we must learn - that one has to be first," she reasons as she places the scholarly lion in the first slot.
"Next, you have to perserve, which makes sense because you won't get anywhere without hard work and the willingness to keep going despite setbacks," Kat continues, placing the lion pulling the stone block into the second slot.
"Then we come to Grand Prince Stavian III's smug grin and the cunning lie. I'd guess that either the ambushing lion or maybe the roaring lion would be the best bets - a successful ambush relies on trickery and guile but so does a good bluff to seem bold and strong." She leaves the third slot empty for the moment, still thinking over which statue would be the best fit.
"Finally...if we're still talking about serving Taldor then I think maybe the lion draped in the Taldan flag would be the most appropriate option," she finishes. "That's what I've come up with. What do you guys think?"
Fenric's combination appears to be correct as far as you can tell, the door swinging open when he tries it, revealing another room.
Chests of expert craftsmanship line the walls, and on the far side of the room stand two bookshelves burdened with yellow-paged tomes and sundry ancient trinkets. Banners and tapestries cover nearly every inch of the walls, each representing long-dead nations or depicting conflicts left not chronicled.
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"Hey, nice work!" Kat nods to Fenric, impressed. "Have you done much of this sort of thing before? Seems like you've got a real talent for it," she chuckles as they peer through the now-open door.
"Oh...oh wow, look at all of this..." she gasps, spending a moment to take it all in. "There must be things worth a fortune in here...no, not just a fortune - priceless. We need to be really, really careful while we're looking around down here. Those tomes look fragile; we don't want to damage or destroy anything."
With the presence of the chests piquing her interest, Kat decides to first scan the room and its contents for traces of magic before proceeding to help in a more thorough search.
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You begin searching as quickly as possible, and after a little more than 10 minutes discover a pair of texts that might be of interest:
The first is a thin journal that explores the origins of Tar-Baphon, studies the circumstance of his lichdom, and analyzes what the author
knew of his necromantic techniques from the perspective of a scholar searching for a weak spot in the Whispering Tyrant’s defenses.
The second is a long scroll that details the rules of succession throughout the history of Taldor. It also highlights times when the nation chose an heir in a way that was an exception to the rules.
In addition, Ashton notices a heavy bronze shield decorated with a lion’s head in the same style as the Guardian’s.
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Once everyone is out of the deepest room, Fenric replaces the lion statuettes back where he recalls finding them.
He then makes sure all of the library doors are closed and locks the two locked doors (the one with the desk and the one with the glass cabinets). He carefully lays the keys on the floor near the corner of the hall in front of the caretaker's room where they might have fallen as if by accident.
He will lead the others up the stairs and then take his place on the chair, removing and disposing (probably eating) the illusion generating card.
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"Okay fine, we'll leave the shield. I guess you're right, it'd be pretty obvious if that got moved or went missing," Ashton agrees as he and Kat follow the others back the way they'd came. He attempts to do what he can to help put things back like they were.
"No need for me to try this sneaky stuff - I'll just zip back into Kat's head once we're almost back to that first reading room," he chuckles as the others do their best to make a stealthy return.
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"Right, now let's get going before we run out of time!" Kat agrees, following the rest back towards their starting room and trying to be as helpful and quiet as she can manage in the process...
...but ends up doing a pretty lousy job at both, tripping over a chair in one room and thudding against the ground painfully.
You make your way back to where Tobias left you, no one the wiser so far as you know, and Fenric recovers and eats his card.
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It doesn't feel quite like two hours since he left you, but a few minutes after you arrive, Tobias returns, peeking in his head to see you posing again as simple students. Telling you the library is closing, he escorts you out as you hear the last strains of music from the other room.
You make your way back to Venture-Captain Muesello, who excitedly welcomes you back and inquires what they were able to learn. The hitherto unknown facts about the Shining Crusade excite him to no end, and he heartily congratulates you on a job well done.
"Congratulations, Pathfinders," he says. "You've done great work here. Go, rest, relax, report, and you'll be called when your services are needed again."