Rationalising that that much metal makes for an excellent conductor of electricity, Theo let the lightning flow through his hand as he moved in.
Rudrik scores two hits on the construct, and Theo’s shocking grasp causes it to shudder and spark. The clockwork is vulnerable to electricity! It tries to stab Rudrik again, but the half-orc’s armor proves superior!
Nime pulls back. Her hair rises up in a blue aura behind her head in response to the electricity in the air.
"It doesn't like that," she says noting its reaction to Theo's electrical attack. "Maybe you should do it again."
Showing incredible mobility, Rudrik uses the opportunity to get behind the construct while Theo prepares to zap it again.
Theo zaps the clockwork again, causing it to spasm and smoke.
The construct stabs Rudrik as he moves to flank it, but the half-orc gives back as good as he got. Badly damaged, the construct nonetheless continues its assault, landing two more good hits on Rudrik.
Nime moves near Rudrik and touches him with a healing hand.
Risking another casting this close (and annoyed that his other spells were ill-suited to the situation), Theo once more unleashed the lightning, this time drawing on the metamagic rod.
Rudrik brings his sword up again, ready to hammer the crap out of the construct if Theo's spell doesn't fell it.
As the clockwork reels from Theodric's empowered spell, Rudrik tears it asunder with his sword. At last, it collapses, sparking and smoking!
Once the chamber’s guardian has been defeated, an investigation of the room quickly reveals that almost every object in the room and its well is locked outside of time and cannot be manipulated—with one exception. The large book on the northern table is a copy of a rare text called the Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns. The book is damaged; every other page is missing from it.
Nime looks over the single item that they can interact with, but doesn't see anything that would indicate how to stop the anomalies. A frown crosses her face.
"How can we figure this out if we can't read any of the darn books?" she asks of no one in particular.
Theodric scratches his head as well. Perhaps you should go back to Shenuska and ask for her help after she finishes reading the books in the previous chamber.
Nime wanders back through the archives, her gaze wandering here and there, but with everything trapped behind a manifestation of broken time, there's not much else she can do.
"Hey, Shenuska?" she asks when she reaches the engrossed woman. "Would you take a moment to come look at something?"
Shensuka looks up. "Fine." She says with a sigh, laying the books aside.
"Interesting." She says, reaching carefully for the book and flicking through it. "The temporal focus is centered here. If we remove the book then time should restart. So I'd prefer we don't for a little longer. Reading the notes will be much easier without interruptions."
"Oh, ok," Nime says with a tip of her head. The undine takes a seat near Shenuska, resting her chin in her hand and proceeds to watch the woman read.
After finishing reading the scrolls, Shenuska feels like she has a better understanding of how the Therassic Library is organized. In order to study the library itself, though, the temporal fissure will need to be restored. Once you are ready, you pluck the damaged Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns from the air and start to take it out of the area. As soon as you step out of the library, though, mist begins to gather in the corner of the hallway as a familiar danger appears--a hulking hound of Tindalos!
"Bother." Shenuska says flatly, lashing out at the hounds mind.
"Another one of those things?" Nime questions in annoyance.
Shenuska gestures and time bends to favour her companions.
The hound growls as it pulls at the threads of time, counteracting Shenuska's spell. It howls and rushes towards the front line.
"That was very rude," Nime grouses as the creature negates Shenuska's spell. "Why don't you just go back where you came from!"
The words of a different prayer follow and then Nime gestures towards the strange creature.
The hound resists Nime’s spell.
Unsure of how often a hound could counteract such temporal acceleration, Theo decided to put it to the test.
Since the dog refuses to shoo when Nime tells it to leave, Rudrik steps in to protect his friends and give it a whack on the snout.
Shenuska flicks a hand dismissively and blasts the hound on the nose with force missiles.
As Theodric speeds up the group again, Rudrik tears into the hound with his blade. Shenuska blasts it with magic missiles, further wounding it.
The hound moves with increased speed as well, biting and clawing at Rudrik, scoring two hits. A gathering of smoke heralds the arrival of a second hound that appears behind Theodric, attacking the sorcerer and destroying four of his mirror images.
"Bad dog! Go home!" Nime shouts at the new foe. She attempts to send the new one away this time.
The second hound barely manages to resist Nime's spell!
"Well that's enough of that." Shen proclaims, wresting the Hound's temporal magic from them.
Doing his best to keep the hound off of his arm using his shield, Rudrik keeps swinging his bastard sword, jabbing it downward at the dog-like creature.
Rudrik hacks into the wounded hound three times, and with the final strike, it howls and dissolves into mist!
Theodric scorches the remaining hound with a pair of burning rays! It retaliates, biting apart his last mirror image before clawing the sorcerer.
A third hound manifests in a cloud of smoke, biting Rudrik!
Cursing at the hound's strikes, Theo stepped back and unleashed a breath of dragon's fire onto it.
"This is getting very annoying." Shenuska says. She gestures with one hand and attempts to grasp the new arrival in a grip of pure force.
Rudrik growls and turns to face the new arrival, bringing his sword down again multiple times in rapid succession.
As the brutality unfolds and Nime's efforts have been mostly for naught, the undine takes a step back crossing her arms over her tunic-clad chest defensively.
Unable to just stand by and watch, though, she reaches forward and touches Theo with a healing hand.
Theodric’s attacker dodges his fire breath. Shenuska fails to grapple the newly arrive hound, and Rudrik only scores one hit.
The first hound rips at Theo while Rudrik fends off the second. Yet another hound manifests behind Nime, biting and clawing the undine!
Maybe it's seeing Nime taking some hits that does it, but Rudrik lays ferociously into the hound this time, scoring a couple of solid shots.
Nime staggers back from the attacking hound. She speaks out quickly the words of a spell that will hopefully protect her.
Shenuska rises into the air, out of reach of the hounds and their assorted claws.
"This many of them is strange." She comments, still sounding calm. "Should I take the book?"
The hound was really pissing Theo off now and he lashed out at it with his claws, wreathing them in arcane energy as he did before stepping back from it.
"Yes, please," Nime says with a nod in Shenuska's direction. "Perhaps removing the book will improve their attitude."
Rudrik and Theo both wound their opponents, but both hounds remain standing. The uninjured hound tries to attack Nime, but her sanctuary spell protects her. Snarling, it instead runs up through the air to threaten Shenuska. The others attack, Theodric taking several hits but Rudrik's armor continuing to protect him.
Another healing spell follows as Nime steps in to place a hand on Theo's back.
Shenuska ignores the hound and easily casts a spell before whistling away through the air by the power of flight.
Rudrik lets out an angry roar as he finishes off his foe, then looks for the next one to hunt down.
Continuing to move back from the hound, Theo called up the flames once more.
Rudrik hacks down his opponent without mercy. While both hounds avoid the worst of Theo’s spell, the one he has been attacking is already wounds enough that the fire finishes it off. As Shenuska takes off through the air, the final hound bites at her. Then it dissolves into mist and reappears at a junction of the corridor ahead of the psychic, running on air to bite at her again!
"Go home!" Nime shouts at the strange creature in one last attempt to dismiss the other-worldly creature.
Nime's spell banishes the final hound of Tindalos back to the dimension from whence it came!
After recovering from the battle, you leave the area of the library. The Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns vanishes from Shenuska's hands, and the world around you lurches as you are returned to the proper timeline. The blurred forms of the researchers and scholars in Jorgenfist become solid, and they react with mild surprise as, to their eyes, you suddenly appear in their midst! They quickly recover and take the event in stride--after all, the site is certainly no stranger to spellcasters teleporting into the region out of the blue!
When you seek out the time dragon Ninuron atop the Black Tower, it seems he has returned to the normal timeline as well. He thanks you for repairing the time fractures and offers his hoard as a reward. He’s eager to learn what you did to heal the fractures in time and promises to do what he can to help you when you meet again before he flies off in search of a way to return to his home.
Now that you have restored the flow of time, you are able to research the cult of the Peacock Spirit in the Therassic Library. No one group controls the library today; instead, the various groups of scholars who have settled in the region work together to ensure that the site remains protected while still honoring each other’s privacy. In time, this group may well form into its own faction devoted to preserving and protecting Thassilonian lore, but for now, you are regarded curiously but not opposed or bothered as you go about your research.
By unwritten agreement, no books are removed from the immediate surroundings, but neither are any sections of the library off-limits to those who make the journey. Now and then, the site’s defenders have been forced to step in and prevent access to those obviously intending villainy, but as long as you don’t look or act suspicious, you won’t have any issues in researching here. At There are numerous tomes within the Therassic Library, and it will take some time for you to find the information you seek.
Languages: Thassilonian
Research Check: Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility), or Knowledge (religion); Knowledge Bonus +4
kp 42