Alrik, Amarsia: ---
Lovissa, Etna, Rorrim: +10
Solemnia: +30
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Despite having the keys, Amarsia is unable to find one that opens the glass cabinet. Unlike other places in the library, the inside of this cabinet looks like it has been untouched for a very long time- a noticeable layer of dust covers the books even inside of the glass.
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Now more a little more leery than before, Lovissa heads off down the dark corridor- guided by the light of her wayfinder. Taking a few moments longer than usual, she watches carefully for signs of traps, finding none. However, Lovissa doesn't need the wayfidner for long, as the hallway quickly opens up into a room lit by several continual flame spells.
Cabinets with two tall drawers each line the east and west walls of this room. A relief carving of a lion’s head dominates the south wall, hanging imperiously over a low stone step. Six freestanding statuettes of lions in various poses stand atop the furniture.
Amarsia and Alrik being their search on the medium sized room. It takes about 30 minutes, but between them they are able to find two very interesting documents. The first is an unedited version of the generals orders during the shining crusades. The other is a document referencing an ancient relic of Taldor- a silver horn.
Lovissa, Rorrim, Etna = ----
Solemnia, Amarsia, Alrik= +20 mins
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Amarsia finds these documents interesting and shares them with Alrik. She makes a mental note of both of them. She has no interest in breaking into things but She certainly will mention it.
"Alrik was it? I detect magic in the cabinet but I am not sure it's important to our mission. Maybe the others want to check it out. These keys don't seem to unlock it. However, these documents do seem useful for the society's knowledge."
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Alrik nods at Amarsia
"The cabinet is interesting. If the keys don't work, I'm hesitant to break into it. Perhaps one of the others will be able to open it. Or perhaps the Lion or Iliyana can shed some light on the situation.
In any case, it seems we have found something useful. Perhaps we can move to a different area?"
You hear a rising and a falling of music from outside of the library. The tune is a familiar one to many in Taldor- one of the finest battle marches! You know that you can expect a swell of music and a crescendo in the next 2-5 minutes. This music may cover loud noises in the library. You would also know that this particular march would be ending at around the one hour mark.
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Despite the room being filled with filing cabinets, Lovissa's attention is drawn to the lion's head at the far side of the room. Approaching it, she sees no indication that it contains the same magical presence as The Guardian encountered earlier.
Meanwhile, Rorrim has found 6 statues scattered about the room- each of a lion in a different pose. He strongly suspects that these are related to Taldor in some way, but there is no clear use or context for them at this time.
A quick look in one of the filing cabinets indicates that these are the personnel files of all the Lion Blades- documenting the membership, successes, and failures of all of their initiates.
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B10 (Lovassa, Rorrim, Etna)---
B9: (Amarsia, Alrik) +20 minutes
B8: (Solemina) +20 minutes
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Etna will poke her head into the room where all the personnel files are.
"well that looks important. Should we get some copies of those?"
She will do a quick perception check on that room as well, not for any research but to notice something quickly. If nothing pops out to her she will walk over to look up the stairs.
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Etna enters the room already occupied by Lovissa and Rorrim. She pokes around in a drawer or two- each time putting the documents back in place- before arriving at the Lion's head. Stepping up to the side of Lovissa, she notices something interesting... small, almost unperceptable, hinges on the side of the sculpture.
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Rorrim starts humming along with the battle march coming from the university above them."Those drums are so catchy, I think I've heard it in just about every Taldan city traveling here,". Rorrim has to talk louder and louder as the drums and trumpets echo through the chamber. As Rorrim searches the cabinets as well he motions to the statues,"do these statues talk as well Lovissa?"
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Fifteen minutes into her search, but unheard by all others due to the crescendoing orchestra outside, Solemnia stomps, and curses as she continues her search.
Etna swings back the Lion's head to expose a 10 foot wide, 4 step staircase into a medium sized room, lined with chests, bookshelves, tapestries, flags, and an assortment of other objects.
You notice each step contains a circular hole, that would appear to comfortably fit the base of the statues scattered about the previous room. You get a strong inclination that there is something beyond a simple staircase
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While Etna explores the lion's head, Lovissa and [/Rorrim] begin to shuffle through the immense amount of information in this room. It is clear to each of you that cataloguing all of this would takes weeks. About 5 minutes into this search, despite the depth of this library, you hear the thunderous roar of the orchestra outside.
After spending another roughly 15 minutes searching by yourselves, you estimate you about 2/3 of the way through the room when you are joined by Alrik, Amarsia and Solemnia- once they have navigated their way back through the secret entrance.
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"Hello again Solemnia." Amarsia holds out some papers. "You might find these of interest. We didn't really find much else in the other room but there was a cabinet with transmutation magic in it. It was locked and we didn't feel the need to break into it. What do you got here?" She looks around the room.
Perception to aid in the search.
Joining the main group and seeing the rest of the party hard at work, Amarsia and Alrik jump right into searching the personnel files- each contributing to the teams overall success
Etna makes some observations regarding the statue.
Each lion statue is slightly different from the others:
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.
However, Lovissa's skill with objects pays off: These statues all give off a slight aura of a warding spell and that it feels, in some respects, like a key. Each of the statues gives off a slightly different feel, leading Lovissa to assume that the function with each other, but also independently.
It is at this moment that Etna makes the connections between the size of the statue bases and the size of the indentations on the steps below- they are the same. However, there are 6 statues and 4 indentations.
Rorrim contributes his search to the room, and while there are several interesting finds- there is no sign of Ilyiana's son in the documents they are pouring over.
The pathfinders finish pouring over the room. With searching of the various locations and splitting up, it can be difficult to estimate how much time you have spent down here- however, you doubt it has been more than 90 minutes.
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Lovissa opens her mind to the auras around her, curious if any of the statues or the grooves have a magical aura she can match up.
She also inspects the indents to see if there's a way she can identify which goes where.
She looks from the locations of the statues to the indentations in the floor, curious if there are any drag marks that shows where they are regularly moved to.
Lastly, she thinks about if there's any historical links she can discern in the statues that might shed light on their purpose, or which ones are needed.
She looks at the stairwell to see if there's something she could manually activate, in order to bypass the statues completely.
Lovissa begins to work through several options that she sees available. Upon further inspection she sees that all six lions share an identical base. Their location around the room appears random and she is unable to determine which ones have been used most recently (even with object reading as it has been longer than 24 hours since they have been used).
Looking at the lion's shape and posture appears more convincing. She thinks that each of them symbolize a different virtue- though some of lions are difficult to identify without some knowledge of the words in advance.
Lastly, looking at the floor she can see a space where a skilled adventurer could jam the floor plate to prevent its pressure sensor from triggering- however, due to the size of each step and intriciousies it would require more skill than she has in the matter.
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" Amarsia could I take a look at the documents you found?"
Rorrim looks over the documents detailing the silver horn and the generals maps.
"I think this may be what we were sent here for, the Pathfinders will be very happy about this,"
"I believe Etna is right, we should look for more of the prince's portraits as they appear to be connected to these statues," says Rorrim getting ready to leave.
Taking a moment to back track, and shaking off the calls from the guardian- the threesome of Lovissa, Amarsia, and Rorrim head back to the original hallway.
Lovissa quickly checks the north door and, finding no traps or locks, opens it to expose a well-lit room holding many chairs aligned towards the 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.
The eyes of the party are quickly drawn to the portrait and the brass plaque hanging underneath: “To serve Taldor, I must first learn the history of Taldor.”
Finding no traps, the team pushes forward and opens the door. This room’s well-worn wooden floor sets it apart from the others. The west wall is lined with shelves that support books, a variety of instruments, and dozens of rectangular baskets that contain loose sheaves of paper. Several chairs are pushed against the wall, and a portrait of the Grand Prince hangs to east, surveying everything in the room with magisterial authority.
A closer inspection on the painting shows a brass plaque with the following script:
“Persevere, persevere, persevere!”
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"That's 4 messages. Should be all there is. If I had to guess, I would say that the “To serve Taldor, I must first learn the history of Taldor.” message relates to the lion with the spectacles reading the scroll and that the “Persevere, persevere, persevere!” relates to the lion with the ball & chain."
“A cunning lie is never told twice.” seems to best match the lion preparing to ambush.
“In the end, loyalty is its own reward.” seems to best match the lion draped in Taldor's flag.
However, in saying all that - I'm not overly confidant in my guesses - What say you all?