Well enough, I hope.
Iron would be better though.
Hakon lays the cement while Oloch moves the lid.
"That looks good."
Hakon, this isn't like whatever you put in your hair. You can't just glop it on!
"You sure? It looks the same."
Hakon spreads the cement more uniformly as instructed.
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Thanks in no small part to Oloch's help Hakon is able to fix the iron lid in place cementing it against future incursions from the degenerated humanoids slumbering below ground.
You sigh of relief as you leave the chamber undisturbed and then exit the monolith structure, making a mental note to warn the inhabitants of the nearby village so they could send someone to seal it off for good.
Once back to Dr. Quolorum the old gnome eagerly listens to the tale of your exploits. The professor's interest focuses on Gorum's Eye and he mentions that:""Such warding sign are known to be effective against the forces of evil. It may very well be instrumental in protecting you against whatever is causing the strange phenomena in the Hungry Mountains. Another good find! You are surpassing my expectations by far, young fellows! Now, for your next stop you shall enjoy a change of scenery. I guess none of you studied at the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Rozenport, am I right?"
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Turns out Dr. Quolorum just needs you to retrieve a vial of experimental herbicide from his office at the University of Rozenport, a fairly mundane mission after all the weirdness you had to deal with to satisfy the gnome's requests...
school extolled the dual virtues of broad education and guarded ignorance, but rumors constantly swirl regarding the occult, forbidden knowledge often studied here.
Herbicide! Waste of time if you ask me. Any fool knows you can't poison a plant.
"No, but I understand that Rozenport is an attractive city. The school deals in occult studies, but we gathered that."
"If you say so, though I prefer the desert to a cozy little city of scholars."
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With Dr Quolorum's help you don't have any difficulties locating the University grounds and are quickly directed towards the good professor's office by the accademical staff.
Dr. Quolorum’s office is a single-story, 20-by-20-foot square building made of fitted limestone and covered in ivy vines. Despite having received the key with Dr Quolorum's letter you find the door swung partially open. As you enter you find yourself confronted with one of the strangest phenomena you ever witnessed as the contents of the room float aimlessly about as if loosed from the bounds of gravity. A large oak desk spins slowly in the center, and a matching carved oak chair floats near the ceiling. The walls are lined with low bookshelves, but the books and countless other items that once rested there drift gently in midair. Ivy-covered windows to the west and east provide only dim light.
The poison you need is probably stashed somewhere inside the room... the problem is gravity seems to have gone mad inside there!
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Lem begins tying rope to himself. "Wait, a room with nothing to fight? Finally, my kinda room. If it gets too bad, you guys can pull me out."
Lem takes a moment to stretch, bending over to touch his toes and making big circles with his arms. "Been a while since breakfast, so I should be okay." The halfling looks in the room for any sign of the poison and steps into the room in an attempt to grab it.
Oloch doesn't trust a world where iron doesn't weight you down properly, and, for now, will hold Lem's leash.
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By observing the room Lem feels pretty certain what the group is searching for should be held inside the cupboard resting against the north wall, probably ancored to the floor by sturdy nails. Once he's got a goal the halfling steps inside the room and immediately starts to float as well. Despite the strangeness of the situation he easily "swims" through the room and quickly reaches the cupboard. Unfortunately, once opened it proves empty. Cursing against his bad luck Lem prepares to "swim" back when a a large tome bound in red leather and titled "Collected Wisdom and Secrets of the Luralia", flaps its pages and begins to speak!
"Oh, a visitor? surely you wouldn't be so rude to leave without greeting such luminaries as us" says a dignified female voice, sounding vaguely indignant.
"Who goes there! Who! I say it's the minions of the slimy ones come for us at last! Bar the doors! Prepare your spells! Unsheat your steel! Those mud sifters won't get to lay their tentacles on us THAT easily or my name is not Pelin Luralia anymore!" another voice speaks sounding imperious and more than a little mad, then another female voice responds "Please, don't mind Pelin, he's never been the same after a close encounter with..." the voice pauses then speaks again "Well, I'm not entirely sure I want to part with that information, especially with unknown intruders of no certain lineage... who are you? I, Zame Lauralia, demand to know your names, NOW!"
"Good job, Lem!" Hakon cheers the agile halfling as the bard makes wingless flight look easy.
When the book accosts Lem on the way back, the skald just stares.
". . ."
"Really?"
Oloch gives a bemused look at the talking book. I am Oloch. What are you?
I wonder if there is power in our names. Perhaps it will use my name to turn me into a book, or a candle holder. I don't want to be a candle holder. Or maybe if it writes my name into its infernal book, my soul will be trapped in there for eternity! Nah!
"Kyra"
"Wait, it's addressing us? I thought it was talking to Lem. My name is Hakon."
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Gently spinning on his own axis near the cupboard, "Ah...hi there...yes, well, miss ah...Zame is it? I'm ah...Lem. No relations to ...uh...slimy things. You know that your friend is a book...right? What are you by the way...like a quill, or an serving platter or something? Maybe a tea pot, with a son named Chip? I wouldn't say I'm an intruder...not really. Sure, I came in unannounced, but in my defense, you're just ...you know...things. No one introduces themselves to things. Well no one sane. Crazy people, sure, but I'm not crazy...unless you aren't real and I'm talking to myself, in which case that would make me crazy...um..what was the question again?"
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"Pelin! Zame! Stop this barbarous behaviour at once! Last time I checked I and oly I, Nhorean Luralia, was the matriarch of this family, so be silent and let your elder speak to these... hmm... visitors, I guess?"
The tome shakes a little before Nhorean's voice starts speaking again:"Yes, right... where were I? Oh, yes, visitors. Hello, travellers... you seem like decent people and considering you braved the inexcusable pit of chaos this whole office has become I believe there's something you want in here... information, perhaps? I, Nhorean Luralia can probably satisfy your curiosity about what transpired here inside these walls but I think it's only fair we trade information for information... You want to know something and we want to know something. Give us three pieces of information on the current state of the world and I'll tell you what you want to know... or at least try to"
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Continuing to gently spin as if were the most natural thing in the world, Lem becomes very engaged in his conversation with the book. "Well...sure...uh.. It rained a few days ago. Thunder and lightning and everything. Umm...The Blakros Museum had problems, again. Really hard to be specific with that one really. Let's say it was something about monkeys this time. Hmm...one more. Oh yeah! I heard that the Scarab Sages faction will be ending soon. Gonna be replaced by some kinda 'elemental' thingamajig or somethin'. That was three, right? Okee dokie then. Dr. Quolorum sent us here. We are looking for a vial of experimental herbicide. Now that I think of it, what happened here? He didn't mention floating desks and talking books. When did all this start? Or has it always been like this? You do know who Dr. Quolorum is, right? "
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As Lem finishes speaking the voice belonging to Nhorean speaks sounding perplexed:"Darling... I can't understand half of what you said. Blakros Museum? Scarab Sages? I believe you made an effort to convey someuseful information but try to be more specific, please..." just as she finishes the other 2 voices join in:"Unhinged, I tell you! Clear sign of the tentacled ones' tampering with his mind!" and "Bah! Be as it may the halfling's rumblings were amusing at least... I think we should keep him, mother...", to which Nhorean answers with an unfriendly "I told you two to stay silent, stop scaring our guests!"
Umm... Aroden died? A big hole ripped open to the Abyss too. When were you... written? I'm not sure how recent your recent events are.
"Aucturn's Tear passed through the sky once again, but this time it called out for aid. The Pathfinders sent an army to investigate and discovered the Untouchable Opal... or thingamajig as Lem called it."
"Yes, knowing exactly when you left the world would help us in determining what kind of info you would be interested in. I expect you are not interested in things like family disputes, births, ailments, and deaths? Because for most people if you ask them for news, that's what you get."
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Despite sounding a bit exasperated, Nhorean voice answers politely:"Yes, well, we know about Aroden, thank you, he is be sorely missed, I'm sure. The news on Aucturn's tear are noteworthy. That's the kind of information we'd like to hear, not something that happened when we were still penning this book. As for the strange phenomena mr Harsk talks about I'd like to hear more... seems like there's an interesting story there..."
For once, the other 2 voices happily agree:"Seems like the tentacled ones are being mischievous again...", and "Mmmh... could be. Maybe your madness gave you some form of superior clarity, brother... or you just happened to get this right by sheer luck!"
"Abasalom came under siege once again," Hakon adds. "I know it used to happen often, but it has been quite some time. The assaulting legion was comprised of
"Wasn't there some kind of Azlanti ghost ship that sailed into Absalom port a couple of years back? That sounds like a good story. Then there is the whole scarabs sages saga, time dragons and necromancers and divs, oh my. But that would take a long time to tell about and I've only heard rumors. "
It was only a century ago, how am I supposed to know how much the book knows... If you like weird stuff, 13 eyeless krakens washed up on the Isle of Kortos a couple years ago.
"Really?" Hakon asks Olloch.
You didn't see 'em?
"And a time dragon! An odd lot those scarab sages with odd enemies."
Kyra relates what she can remember from her readings of the Pathfinder Chronicles.
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"13 kakens!!!", "And eyeless besides!!!" Pelin and Zame's voices squeal in unison. Nhorean is more composed and adresses the lot of you:"You kept your end of the bargain so I'll keep ours. Two days ago a wild-eyed man dressed like a farmer and covered in dirt rushed in here and broke open the cupboard behind the desk. He took a vial from it, and suddenly everything in the room started floating around. It was quite a sight watching him kick and spin in the air. Eventually he made his way back out, but not before he’d cursed Dr. Quolorum up and down. He kept yelling about the greenhouse and how he was going to be too late. More than this I don't know but if you were searching for that vial it's probably in the greenhouse... or what's left of it is, anyway"
Oloch eyes the mud splattered about the floor and walls. I guess that would happen when your dirt starts floating around too.