"That could be ussseful. Next room then?"
A lecture hall (Map).
This room is dark, moist, and rank with the smell of sweat, mildew, and iron. Desks sit in even, tiered rows facing the southern end of the room, where thick metal chains hang from the slate-covered wall.
A woman is chained to the wall opposite the entrance—this is Illia Ean, the Cerulean Society thief, one of the other contestants in the Breaching festival. She must have garnered her key-light early and entered the hall of wards ahead of you. She appears to have been badly beaten; perhaps even tortured.
She ceases her weeping when you enter the room, hauling herself to her feet, quickly, but with obviously great effort.
"You! Quickly, get me out of these chains! Quickly! Before she comes back! Please!"
Rost recalled what he knew of such magic and filled in his companions.
That scroll could very well work against us. Remember that we are not on our home plane anymore. It will be most usefull against creatures that are summoned here.
As they continued on he was horrifed at the sight of the young lady chained to the wall.
Ware friends! She fears for her life.
He turned to the young lady and asked
Who is she?
"The tentacled woman! She tried to get it out of me! She's gone now, but she might come back! Please, set me loose!"
"Get what out of you?"
"I don't like the sound of that..."
Raven then starts casting spells.
"She wants my everything, my core, my being, she wants it all, she tried to take it from me, she tried to take it, she tried to take everything, unchain me, unchain me, unchain me!" At the end her voice trails off into a shriek. She is obviously desperate and hysterical.
"Nah. Not buying it. Letsss go." Angelo says, raising one scaled eyebrow.
"I'm not comfortable leaving her here... regardless of her state, she is from our world and should not be abandoned."
"It'sss probably a trap. There are outsssidersss who are very talented at deception. Can you prove ssshe isss what ssshe appearsss to be? Why don't we just use the scroll on her?"
"I cannot; but neither can I conscience leaving her here, even if she is bate. I would accept using the scroll on her, or looking elsewhere and coming back for her when we know more, so long as this element is not forgotten."
"I don't agree with leaving her here permanently, but coming back to collect her once we know more would be reasonable. I don't want to use a scroll, simply because we can, especially when there is a risk of screwing it up...."
"If ssshe isss some fiend, it would return her to own plane. I ssshe is human, it will return her to oursss. An elegant sssolution that doesssn't involve freeing her if you asssk me."
We cant leave her here...its just...not right. Enough people have died already this day. Sounds like this tentacled 'woman'tried to possess her. If she returns and is successful...thats a horrible thing.
Rost approached closer to the chained woman scanning her body for injuries.
Do you know where she went?
Raven shakes his head.
"I don't want to send her back. I still plan to win this challenge. If she goes back whilst we are still trapped here, she will have the chance to beat us to the prize... Keeping her here, ideally restrained, is much more reasonable. That said, I see no reason to let her continue to be tormented - we should try and deal with this fiend who was tormenting her."
"Foolish girl, you only have yourself to blame. Had you not been careless and weak, you wouldn't be in this situation. We are not caretakers of children, you would burden us in your current condition. However, should you offer us useful information, or things we can use to stop this tentacled woman, then maybe, just maybe, you might be worth our time." Jeska says coldly, staring into the fearful eyes of the thief.
Angelo nods at Jeska's words.
"She is... is... just evil. She sucks the mind, and the soul, oh my soul! The pain; it pulls, it tugs, she's evil. She grabbed on to the me that's at my center and pulls, and I want to come apart. Let me out of here... I just want out!"
Angelo takes the scroll if allowed, and attempts to read it.
The scroll is activated without difficulty by the talented usage of the reptilian summoner. The magic reaches out to the woman and envelops her. However, as soon as it touches her, and starts to shift her back to her home plane, the magic hits a barrier. Angelo is able to feel as the magic slams into the barrier and shatters, like glass hitting stone.
Some sort of dimensional anchor holds her here; something extraordinarily powerful. It feels much larger than just around her, and may surround this entire structure.
"Huh. That was unexpected. It looks like getting home may be a little more difficult than expected..."
I'd say that the only way out is through the exit door. Which means we need to free her at least before moving on.
"Letsss hope ssshe doesssn't turn into a fiend." Angelo says, moving over to release the woman's bonds.
As you work on her bindings, the rogue breaks down crying with relief that she will not be left here. Once free, she doesn't do anything strange, just sits crying for a few moments before shakily getting to her feet.
Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves cover the walls of this dimly lit library, with shorter stacks creating small dividers in the room’s interior. A reading table sits empty and unused in the library’s center. The shelves are a mass of fluttering pages, and books rearrange themselves and fly across the room constantly.
This room resembles a sizable academic library and houses thousands of bound volumes on overflowing shelves. The books rearrange themselves constantly, flying through the air and shifting about haphazardly.
A man, Chelish by his dress and complexion, is racing around the room looking at the stacks, sorting through the books haphazardly, and occasionally chasing or leaping up after the books that are flying over his head.
Raven stares around the room incredulously.
"I am not sure what I was expecting to find in here, but I can honestly say I was not expecting this!"
He then cautiously steps into the room.
"Hello?"
Rost waited to see if the Chelish man answered Raven before taking any course of action. He had been expecting the worse in this competition but so far he was just confused.
Angelo keeps his eyes warily on the girl and the books as the others address the Chelaxian.
The man turns and faces the party as they come and enter the room. He has a tense, exasperated look on his face.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in here? Can you make these damn books stop moving!"
He waves furiously at the flying and flapping books angrily and then at you, as though he honestly expects you to do something about it. There is a mad light to his eyes.
My name is Rost. Why do you want to stop the books from flying?
"My spellbook! My damnable spellbook! It's in here somewhere, and I need it to get out of this hell hole!"
"Our friend here hasss very good eyesss. Perhapsss if you describe it for him he could ssseee it. Then we can retrieve it for you."
Rost cast Detect Magic and starts scanning the room hoping to find the spellbook.
The man himself appears to be carrying a few magical items of one sort or another, but within the room itself there is no sign of magical auras.
Likewise, Rotann does not see any books that look like a spellbook from the outside.
"Perhapsss he isss a jussst a madman."
I am not mad! I simply need to find that book to get out of here. He tricked me! 'Just get your spellbook and you can leave...' If you cannot see it, can you at least think of a way to stop them all from flying? If they'd just stay still, I could go through them all in a day! I could leave... finally leave!"
Rost was beginning to think that Angelo was correct in his assumption of the man's mental prowess...or lack thereof...
Who's he? And how will your spellbook help you leave? We understood that there was only one way out of here.