Greenly snorts. "If it was Elf, I'd've known it weren't orborb snake."
She clears her throat and speaks in an entirely different tone of voice, light and musical, and her words seem to run together and go on for the length of the sentence.
"It's a Galtan phrase, though the idea may have originated elsewhere. My uncle attempted to teach me about it when I was younger, but I was rather uninterested in magical theory at the time," Photinè admits. "It says that life is cyclical, an infinite cycle of death and rebirth, but I cannot speak to any finer details, nor to it's practical applications."
She holds up the wizard's autobiography before placing it in her purse. "Perhaps Monsieur Glendower can tell us more, but he will have to wait until we find our way out of this place."
Turning to Greenly, she smiles, and speaks in the same musical language. To the trained ear, her words flow less naturally than Greenly's, although they are carefully practiced and precise.
Photinè's magically attuned senses pick out one scroll case in particular, sitting amongst several others on a nearby shelf. A faint magical radiance emanates from within, suggesting that a couple enchanted scrolls are contained within.
Chana finds that the southern doors, in addition to being safe to open, both lead into the same room beyond. These doors offer entrance to another, far larger archive. Towering rows of bookshelves fill the center of the chamber, separated by a low shelf and countertop running the room's length.
One more door exits to the south. Does it lead to yet another repository of quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore?
Greenly excitedly sings back in the lilting musical words before switching to a shorter, more chattery tongue that sounds of laughter and flowers.
Chana peers through the larger library room, half expecting to see a raven lurking about somewhere amid the tomes. When nothing seems to move out there, she steps in and starts to look around. Considering Photine's success in the previous room, she starts clicking her tongue to focus her senses on any magic here.
She pauses in confusion when she hears Greenly say something in a language that sounds awfully like ratlish, but after a couple of seconds, she decides that she must have imagined it.
Amandine hovers about as the book by the obscure writer and circles are discussed, but she does it only for appearances. As she looks through books she keeps a discreet eye on their halfling friend. She had gotten a strange feeling off him before, and hasn't forgotten. Amandine has decided a little extra attention on him wouldn't be a bad thing.
Photinè chuckles as she gathers up the magic scrolls, and replies to Greenly in the same flowery language. She gives the scrolls a cursory glance before tucking them away with the others.
|
"Hmmm" replies Olivia as she thinks hard about what Photine has said. "It just sounds a bit troubling to me is all, this business of coming back from the dead."
Olivia leaves the conversation and heads into the new archive. She lingers for a moment to just broadly look over the large library.
"I think we can safely open doors without having to check them anymore. They've all been safe."
No objects within this long archive display a magical radiance. Either nothing enchanted was ever stored within, or the enchantments decayed and faded long ago with neglect.
Indeed, the countless decades - if not centuries - have been especially unkind to the volumes stored here. Picking up a random book and cracking open the spine results in the pages flopping out and crumbling to moldy heaps upon the floor.
As Photinè unlatches the top of the scroll case, one of the sheets contained within shoots out like a coiled snake. It pops out and unfurls, leaving a long, thin cut upon her cheek, before flapping like an ungainly bird and disappearing within the shelves.
The door to the south opens, safely, onto a far smaller room. Cold metal lockers line the open spaces of this room. Desiccated papers protrude from the few open units, while the rest of the lockers remain tightly shut. Thick metal bolts connect additional lockers to the walls here, some of them reaching up to the ceiling about 20 feet above.
This room, however, is not vacant. A strange sphere, the size of an orange, made of copper and bronze hovers idly in the middle of the room. Two small gilded wings extend from its back. It rotates and turns a single crystalline eye to look upon your entrance.
"Welcome," the metallic creature speaks pleasantly in a tinny voice, despite having no apparent mouth. "I am Factor 12, tasked as custodian of this archive. Have you come to make a withdrawal?"
Greenly looks around, puzzled. "If I wanted to check out a book I would hafta come here first? If that's the order of things, you must have a lot of problems with theft."
She picks her nose and spits, only half paying attention.
"Uh, hullo?" Chana is caught off guard by the appearance of something that isn't immediately trying to kill the team. "I don't think we want to withdraw anything. But you wouldn't happen to know the way out of this place and back to the surface, would you? We've got a whole group of scared people and they'd like to get somewhere safe."
She lowers her hand to her scimitar at her belt, just in case this thing decides it want to be less of a librarian and more of a killer eyeball.
Then, with sudden inspiration she adds "You know, you didn't happen to have someone stop by and try to withdraw books about either circles or immortality, did you?"
When Olivia leaves the conversation to move on to the next room, Amandine hurries after her to catch up. She waits until they are out of easy earshot then speaks to her in a low voice.
Don't look back as I talk, act as if we're just chatting. I've been watching the people who joined us from the other rooms and there's something about the halfling that bothers me. He watches us all very closely, as if making mental notes. I'm not certain his motives are suspect, but I think we should be wary of him."
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Amandine asks Factor 12 "Do you have a catalogue of the archive's holdings?"
Photinè holds her handkerchief unhappily to her cheek where the trapped scroll left its mark, and follows the others into the adjacent room. She perks up when she sees the strange creature, looking at it with interest.
"Yes," she adds with a sideways glance at Chiara, approving of her line of questioning. "Suppose we wanted to withdraw the same titles as your last visitor?"
"I do not know the layout of these halls. My duty binds me to the archives alone. As for my last visitor, he made no withdrawals. He attacked me and stole two items from our holdings. As a result, I have had to crack down on such scofflaws by amending our lending policy: only one item may be withdrawn at a time."
Factor 12's metallic voice briefly carries a hint of bitterness before returning to its stern impassiveness.
"Our holdings currently include the enchanted axe and breastplate of Captain Cortes, a hero of the Third Army of Exploration who remained behind to oversee the defense of the port of Corentyn when General Coren marched the main body of the army north; a pair of magic boots gifted to Ambassador Nerman by the first delegation received from the elves of Kyonin; and a wand carried by a cleric who served with the Sixth Army of Exploration, meant to protect officers from the exotic ailments endemic to Garund."
With a momentary pause, as close to an afterthought as this metallic being is capable, he adds, "Our holdings also include a brass key from an anonymous donor, but we have no record of its use or significance."
"Someone attacked you?" repeats Greenly. "What'd they look like? What'd they take?"
"Damn, that sure as 'ecks gotta-" ... "I mean, that's probably the person behind the circles. We haven't seen sign of anyone else other than us down here. Greenly's right, what did they take, Mr. Factor?"
Chana also listens in to the items available for lending and adds "How does this lending thing work anyway? Because a key sounds like it might help getting out of here."
"Hm, The brass key, do you have a record of when it was donated?"
Gears slowly turn and click together in Greenly's head. "Wait so if the key was donated, does that mean you'll, like, protect anything given to you for your archives?"
She pulls her wad of chew out of her cheek and tries to offer it to the librarian. "I'd like to donate this, please. I believe it has important historical value and stuff."
Greenly coughs and whispers to Olivia. "I wanna see if he'll take, like, just plain old anything. The key could be nothing but a red herald."
"He was a short, furry fellow with a long snout," Factor 12 answers. "He adorned himself with circles painted upon his fur and around his eyes. After browsing our holdings, he became interested in a wand and amulet once owned by a wizard bodyguard of Grand Prince Leopald IV. Without even inquiring about our lending policy, he declared his intent to simply take the items."
The floating metal orb quickly turns to Chana and Amandine, seemingly eager to turn conversation back to archives business.
"By decree of Curator Felix Constine, step-brother of Grand Prince Constine II, artifacts from the archives may be withdrawn for an indefinite period of time as long as they remain within Taldan territory. I suggested that a set lending period be followed and items should remain within the archive, but Curator Felix insisted that his policy was necessary. A signed promissory note is all that is required to check out an item."
Factor 12 turns to Greenly upon hearing the offer of a donation, but seeing what she offers, he does not extend his bronze arm and lets the glob of chew fall to the floor.
"I do not believe that item holds any significance to Taldor," he states with a hint of irritation. "As for the key, it was bequeathed by a circle of nobles who had just finished overseeing renovations on the archives. They wished to remain anonymous, and merely indicated that it was one of two keys important to the renovations."
"I'm sorry for the losses this archive has suffered Factor 12, it must be difficult for you to carry out your tasks efficiently under such trying conditions."
"Thank you for your description of the archive's holdings. Although we have arrived at the same time, we are in fact two separate groups as you can see by out differing Senate badges." Amandine points to her badge.
"The other group, headed by Lady Malphine, wants to depart the Senate building as quickly as possible. I believe they will be most interested in checking out the brass key." Amandine looks pointedly at Malphine. "Isn't that right Lady Malphine?"
"We one the other hand are looking for this character who took multiple items for the archive. The circles you mentioned painted on him make it certain. He is a vandal who has painted graffiti circles through several of the other rooms here. We would be most interested in borrowing the breastplate for out paladin. He may be a dangerous individual."
Greenly catches on and nods a bit over-enthusiastically. "Oh, oh yeah. We, uh, we're gonna catch him and, like, give you your stuff back. That he took, I mean."
"Huh..." Chana thinks over the way the circle-fellow is being described and adds "A ratfolk, or somefing? When was this? Sometimes recent?" As she thinks about the mystery, she starts losing focus on speaking in proper Taldane.
Pulling herself back to speaking normally she adds "Uh, important to the renovations? You don't think they locked off this wing of the Senate during some renovations and lost the key here? I mean, even nobles wouldn't be th-" She cuts off her thought process as she thinks about who she's talking to. "Sounds like we might need the key."
"We'll definitely return it, of course."
Factor 12 seems to mull your proposition carefully, thoughts whirring in his metallic body like clockwork cogs. Greenly's enthused sincerity only bolsters the logic in Amandine's plea.
Apparently the strange being agrees, for he floats over to a table and picks up two slips of paper. The sheets are very yellowed with age, but the words inked upon them are sharp and clear. These are obviously the promissory notes Factor 12 spoke of. He offers one to Amandine and the other to Malphene. He then floats over to one of the tall lockers and withdraws the key. He directs Amandine's attention to another, broad locker within which sits the old, enchanted breastplate.
"It would be good to bring this scofflaw to justice," Factor 12 says as he goes about his work. "He committed his theft 237 years, 6 months, and 3 days ago, but he still lurks in these archives, beyond my jurisdiction. I have caught him sneaking into the outer historical archives, rifling through the books and vandalizing the floors and walls. I spend far too much of my time cleaning up those circles he makes."
"So all those immortality books you were talking about Photine, looks like they weren't just for show. More than two hundred years old sounds like not a normal age for a ratfolk, if that's what he is. And he never left, in all that time?" Chana freezes, realizing something.
"Wait, if that immortal circles guy didn't leave in all that time, how are WE supposed to get out? Mr. Factor, you don't happen to have a wand of digging through stone in your collection... do you?"
Amandine collects the breastplate and hands it over to Olivia.
"Thank you Factor 12. Do you need a signature?"
"Do you need help, Lady Liv? I'd love to help, and I don't think Miss Amandy would be too upset either."
Greenly seems oblivious to the implications of what she just said, simply eager to assist and return the favor.
|
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"I'm fine, thanks." Replies Olivia, but about two minutes into trying to put on the armour, she opens the door a crack and says "Okay maybe I could use a little help."
She's decided to put the breastplate overtop of her dress, and as a result she's having a hard time strapping everything nice and tight. The wonderful part is that the armour changes its form slightly to accommodate her, which is nice considering this breastplate was originally designed to fit a man.
While waiting for Olivia to don the armor, Amandine hops up onto a table to sit. She seems to be deep in thought, as if the wheels are turning rapidly in her head. Whatever may be going on with Olivia and Greenly is completely lost on her.
She does ask Photine "What do you make of this... person responsible for the circles? They may not have found immortality, but they have been here for a very long time indeed. That implies some power. What sort of arcane practice should we expect if we meet them? It's starting to seem it's very likely we will."
Photinè looks thoughtful, considering Amandine's question. "It certainly sounds as though our mysterious friend has discovered some magical way to prolong their life, if not true immortality. Whether through their own power, or some other means, it's hard to say, but perhaps we can narrow it down."
She turns back to the metallic creature, spreading her hands with a smile. "Factor 12, my dear, would you be so kind as to give us a complete description of the items missing from your collection?"
Factor 12 snaps back to attention. He considers Photinè's question and begins rifling through some of the worn-edged pages he keeps in small cubbies.
"The wand was made of iron and gilded with electrum. It was imbued with a spell known as Shocking Grasp. The records do not indicate how much magic energy was stored within the item. As for the amulet, it was a disc and fine chain made of brass and set with a cut carnelian stone. It was imbued with a protection enchantment. As for any magic related to digging, I'm afraid there are no such items in our holdings."
Chana visibly deflates when Factor 12 reveals there'll be no easy way out of this place. "Whatever this maybe-ratfolk is about, I figga' he knows something that'd give us a hint about how to escape." She shrugs then eyes the rest of the group "We up to try to find him?"
She raises her voice "Oliv, you ready?"
If she can get to the western room, Chana takes a look inside in case there's some clue or magical trick for escaping hiding there.
Noticing the sudden interest in the adjoining room, Factor 12 actually opens the door for Chana so she can investigate. Perhaps to her dismay, she finds nothing more than a quiet reading room.
A circular wooden table and several chairs are arranged in the center of this room, illuminated by magic sconces set in the corners. The rest of the room is bare of distractions and utterly silent.
"This is a private reading room for visitors who want peace and quiet when examining volumes and items from our holdings," the floating orb explains, "especially for those interested in particular texts that are not allowed to be removed from the archive. These include especially rare or fragile documents dating back many centuries."
Factor 12 floats back into the artifact storage room to address questions regarding the key. It seems to briefly consider the ramifications in relation to the lending policy before answering.
"As long as the key is not damaged or lost, once you are finished unlocking its corresponding mechanism, you are encouraged to return it and check out another item."
The metal curator then collects the signed promissory notes and files them away before busying himself with dusting the lockers doors.
Chana looks over the paladin for a moment. "Now you're looking like a proper warrior Olivia! Well, almost. I wouldn't mind getting out of this awful dress myself to be honest." She looks down at herself.
She looks back to the floating outsider and awkwardly attempts a curtsy "Oi appreciate the help Factor 12, 'specially the tip about that maybe-immortal ratfolk. Hope we can get back those things 'e stole from you soon enough."
"Now, we ready to go check what's at the end of the western end of that huge hallway?" She waits for the barest semblance of agreement from the others before leading the way out and back to the long hallway.
Amandine offer to help Olivia tie up her skirt in the way she has done her own so at least she will be able to move her legs more easily.
She then joins Chana in checking the hallway to make sure it's safe.
"I really like the armor, it makes you look buff." Greenly walks over to Malphene as the group walks the length of the hallway.
"How are you doin? Weren't that long ago everything, like, happened. Is there, like, anything, anything you need, Miss?"
As the party marches westward down the long hallway, Malphene halfheartedly waves off Greenly's offer.
"The only thing I need right now is to get out of this hole," she protests. "Then we can see about avenging ourselves on those assassins."
Despite her aloof pride, the fact that Malphene has quickly recovered from the ordeal above and the loss of her father suggests that the sympathy offered is having a positive effect on her - even if Dame Trant does her best to hide it
At the far, opposite end of the arterial hallway, Chana and Amandine push open the door once they find that it is safe.
The wooden walls along the northern section of this room give way to natural stone. From the narrow alcove, the room expands into a vast area filled with rampant green vegetation. Thick briars and vines cover the eastern and western walls. To the west, the vegetation overruns several neatly arranged sets of patio furniture. Further south, past the morass of vegetation, a stone building looms, the top of it emblazoned with a brass-winged eye.
A trio of braziers hang from the arching ceiling. They glow with vibrant orange, magical flames that cast rich light down upon the plant growth.
Greenly thinks for a moment, searching for some greater meaning. Finding none, she shrugs and says, "A garden?"
Chana breathes in, then wrinkles her nose. "Smells weird. Not natural for all these plants to be growing down here..." She steps into the garden warily, keeping here eye out for anything living among the plants.
She also chitters under her breath to focus her magical senses on the room.
"Anyone recognize what that bronze eye means? Maybe it has something to do with whoever built this strange place. Or, if we're lucky, it has something to do with getting out of here."
"It's amazing in here... Yes, maybe a garden? Does anyone see any edible plants? The immortality researcher who's been mucking around down here for ages must need to get food somehow, right? This room has the light required to grow it."
Amandine looks about carefully, keeping in mind traps can easily be concealed in foliage, before going too far in.
Besides the magical flames suspended above, you also spot a glimmer of magical energy nestled among a vine-choked worktable. Amandine also seems to have noticed whatever it is that sits on the table.
Amandine's examination suggests that this place was not intended as a garden, but rather some manner of repository for seeds and plant samples. She notices a water leak, where ground water has leeched through narrow crevices in the surrounding stone, that has unintentionally irrigated the hardier plant species that have thrived, further fed by light from the magical braziers suspended above.