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Gary steps closer to the librarian "You must excuse my dilenquent friends here good sir. I am sure this is a ruse in order to shirk their responsabilitys and get us kicked out ot the library tonight in order to attend the gayla. Clasps the man on the shoulder I am quite sure a man of your intelect is quite capable of seeing through their chidish attempts to get out of real work. Now if you could please show us to the rare books section we will be as quick as possible with our research and be on our way
Tobias chuckles nervously at the "inside joke", but seems to buy the ruse. "Follow me, the rare books collection is right down here." He turns and leads you down a short hallway. At the end he opens the door to large room. A large table stands at the center and the 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, the sound of his footsteps echoing like the secondhand of a clock, reminding you of the urgency of your task.
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.
You notice that a section of the western wall is hinged so that it would swing outward.
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Once the team is in and the librarian has left, Nazza lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for saving my bacon back there, guys. I thought that we were good for the first library. Here, Chamius," she says, reaching into her pocket and pulling out some gold. "There's your coin back, with a little interest." Nazza plops six gold coins into the Taldan's hand before going off to look around the room.
She eyes the statues--some sort of puzzle to get into the secret library, maybe?--and walks around examining the room. She stops at the western wall and peers closely at an irregularity. "Hey all, looks like there's some hinges over here. Looks like we found our entrance. Wonder how we get it open without breaking it . . ." Nazza investigates the wall, running her hand along it to try to find the opposite side of the door, wondering if she could pull it open with raw strength. The other half-orcs with her looked in decent shape, and they could probably help her if no one could find the proper way in.
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"We must also form some sort of guise to fool our attendant's ever watchful eyes." Gurau absently pulls a small hedgehog from a thick leather pocket inside her coat and sets him on a table to stretch out.
The hedgehog, Little Thorn, snuffles unhappily at Gurau and then skitters around the table sniffing in various directions.
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"Excellent catch, Ms. Nazza. Undoubtedly there must be some mechanism to activate the door. Although, I believe there's no call for any extra duplicity, our patrons provided us cards infused with illusion magic so that we appear to be perusing the stacks. I only hope they provided enough for all us. Perhaps we should see how many we possess before I get ahead of myself." Sebastian suggests in a quiet library voice.
Taking another look through the scroll tube given to you by Musello you find it contains an unsigned letter that describes many of the mission’s details. One clue that didn't make much sense earlier seems to hint that the hidden entrance to the archive can be found by studying "honor, courage, and glory."
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Nazza eyes Tuskgar's hammer, then looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't doubt that you could open it, bud. Let's look for a, uh, less blunt method first, though. Don't want the whole damn academy breathing down our necks when they find a big hole in the wall."
Nazza goes over to the table to look over the notes in Muesello's scroll tube again. Unfurling the papers, she reaches over to offer a friendly scratch to the sniffing hedgehog while reading for any clues. "Hey, what's this one about 'honor, courage, and glory?'" She looks at the word-inscribed book-holding statue, and scratches her chin. "Probably something to do with this thing. Hey, in case we can't close the door from the inside, do any of you have any of your own illusions to hide the door?"
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"If you would recall, the Venture-Captain specifically asked that we act subtly in this mission and leave little to no trace of our true intentions. I believe knocking down a door would qualify as failure in that regard."
Sebastian joins Nazza in examining the door, "Yes, as I suspected, there must be some sort of activation mechanism. Hopefully we can open and close it from inside so we will not have to worry about masking it."
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"Hmm, I wonder if this will work..." Sebastian wonders out loud as he carefully manipulates the western statue's stylus. If nothing happens when he does that, he'll attempt to remove the stylus and trace over the words honor, courage, glory. If none of those attempts yield results, he'll examine the statue in detail for a clue.
The stylus held by the western statue isn't removable, but Sebastian discovers that the entire arm can be rotated up or down by several degrees, allowing one to shift the word that the statue’s stylus points at. After maneuvering the arm to the indicated words a hidden latch unlocks and the hidden door opens. Another latch on its interior that allows it to be opened and closed from the other side. The 15-foot passage beyond leads to a spiral staircase heading down.
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"Aha!" Nazza exclaims, approaching Sebastian and clapping him on the shoulder. "Good job, Seb. Everyone grab a book and one of those illusion cards."
Nazza plucks a book at random from the shelves and plops it on the center table. She pulls out a chair, takes one of the modified cards, and flicks it into the chair. An illusion of a somewhat bored-looking Nazza appears in the chair, scanning the open book on the table.
The half-orc moves to the passage behind the false wall and waits by the latch to close it. "Ready when you all are. You humans might want to break out your lights."
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"Yes, yes. It was quite simple really with the clue provided." Sebastian humble brags, as he sets up an illusion of himself in the depths of some particularly esoteric tome.
"Before we go down, we should decide a marching order in case of some sort of defense mechanism. I'm quite adept at disabling traps, so I would suggest you allow me near the front."
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"And Tuskgar should probably come last, in case someone tries to sneak up on us. Nazza can go in front with Sebastian; me and Garry can stay in the middle with Gurau. Remember, no breaking things, no fire, and let's try to stay quiet in case there's anyone else down here." The Taldan pauses, struck by a sudden thought. "Can any of you follow a trail? Before we actually go down, might be nice to know if anyone's been here recently." Chamius murmurs a quick cantrip and looks around for any sort of magic that might keep the floors clean; if there isn't any, he'll look at how dusty the stairs are.
Examining the area you find no signs of recent passage. In fact the whole place is immaculately clean, as if swept and dusted often, and some in your group threaten to leave scuff marks and dirt from the streets of the city as you move about.
Chamius detects no magical auras as the party descends the spiral stairwell, using the interior lever to close and lock the secret door behind you.
At the bottom landing is a set of double doors, and beyond them is a long stone hallway that stretches from north to south with several sets of doors - two along its west wall and two more at either end of the east wall. 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.”
As you stare at the divots and your eyes begin to cross and lose focus, you see a phrase appear. "Our monarch’s virtues are our own."
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Gary takes a quick look around the room to make sure they are not missing anything.
"Now thats odd."He then points out."When you let your eyes relax you can see something else.Motions for Nazza to come over a have a look with him." if you look carefully you can see it and it says "Our monarch’s virtues are our own.""
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Nazza goes over to Garry and tries to make her eyes see the message, but gets frustrated and shuts her eyes. "Ugh, it's making my head hurt. Whatever, you already figured it out. 'Our monarch's virtues are our own,' eh? Seems important and tricky if you have you screw up your eyes just to see it."
Nazza examines the doors, and chooses one at random to investigate. She takes a minute to check it for traps...
Chamius examines the third door and believes it safe as Nazza and Sebastian begin examining the first two.
Sebastian examines his door and believes it safe to open.
Nazza opens the door before her into a well-lit classroom that holds many chairs aligned towards two giant chalkboards that hang on the north wall. Along the opposite wall, several shelves hold books on sundry topics. Simple but colorful tapestries hang along the north wall, giving the room a bright appearance despite the lack of sunlight and the dour portrait of Grand Prince Stavian III affixed to the south wall. A brass plaque on the frame of the portrait reads, “To serve Taldor, I must first learn the history of Taldor.” A fifteen minute hourglass sits atop a desk.
Searching a room for texts requires a successful skill check, and multiple PCs can search an area simultaneously. Each researching PC can attempt a Linguistics, Knowledge (history), or text-based Craft or Profession check (such as Profession [librarian] or Craft [bookbinding]) to find texts. A PC might use a different skill or ability albeit with a penalty. If you think you didn't find everything, you can search again.
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.