Hireath pales. "If the kobolds want us all to look into Hell, I don't think that's a good idea. We don't even know if the books we're looking for are back there. Let's just leave and explore somewhere else. We can always come back later if we have to."
Anita blinks slowly, closing one eye after another. Taking the mirror, she looks into her reflection and makes a displeased face. "I'm not looking at that again. If we're going to go, we or perhaps I, should go now. I will not experience Hell and leave empty-handed."
The human girl wipes the blood she missed earlier, straightens her hair and dusts herself off. Her hands shake, but she clasps them together, determined to push on.
Vernon nods with Lindaer, "True Anita. That must have been hard. But let's go and see if the little ones will talk with you now."
Hireath nods. "Okay, if you're sure. Just...let us know if you need anything. Okay? Don't push yourself too hard."
As you return to the kobolds, you notice how their eyes are glowing in Hireath's shade of green, an their mouths are smeared with chocolate. They start yapping in Draconic, and two of them appear to start bickering almost immediately.
"The Mark of the Brass King! Ah, they did it!" squeals one of the kobolds.
"Yes, yes, but one of them only, and one of the eyes only! It's not enough!" remarks another, sounding critical.
"The Book Wyrm never said the Mark had to be double! We do it for devotion, but she gazed through the Brass King and is now People!"
"Half People at most!"
"You are so sure, want to ask the Book Wyrm?"
"You go ask the Wyrm, rule-ignorer!"
"Word-bender!"
"Idiot!"
"Prig!"
Right before Anita opens the door to the kobold's lair, she takes a moment to once again straighten herself up. The bard retrieves a small perfume bottle and spritzes herself once, hoping to cover the smell of her own blood.
Seeing the kobolds in such confusion, Anita hatches a quick plan. Forcing a smile to her face, Anita boldly steps over the boundary, into the kobold's territory.
The two creatures confer quietly after Anita's words, too quietly to hear. Then, the one who was agreeable to letting her pass addresses you.
The kobold hops over and hands Anita a paper mask like the ones thy are wearing, if human-sized. It seems to be torn from a book about mating rituals in owlbears.
If any of the group don't speak draconic Vernon will translate. "Because of the mark she received Anita is accepted. We have to wait. They'll only allow her to meet the Book Wyrm. And apparently only with a mask...."
Turning back to her compatriots, Anita gives them a small wave. "Looks like this is where we part ways. At least for now." With that, she covers her unmarked eye and follows the kobolds deeper into their lair.
Do I really have to wear this ridiculous thing? Anita moved slowly, but still manages to bump into things due to her lack of depth perception. She quietly hoped the kobolds didn't see her make a fool of herself.
Hireath doesn't like Anita having to go off on her own, but Anita did already sacrifice a lot for this meeting.
"Be safe Anita. If you're not back in an hour, we'll come after you. Okay?"
She then settles down to wait.
"No, no." says the friendly kobold to Anita. "The mask has holes for the eyes, even though you are only Half-Mark. Put it over your face to cover your shame, that's the way of the Book Wyrm."
Your small guide moves you through a larger room that is apparently the main dwelling of the People of the Book Wyrm. Here are a dozen of armed kobolds standing guard, and three times as many elderly, children and other civilians, or at least noncombatants. There is a lectern to the south, holding a book, but the kobold is showing you north.
You also notice something interesting on the western wall. One of the libraries is not aligned with the others, standing at a slight angle, and there is a hint of a draft coming through it. You have little doubt that you have found a secret door.
The Book Wyrm is an enormously fat blue dragon. A real, true dragon in flesh and bones, although only as large as a big horse, slumbering sprawled on a gigantic mound of copper coins, while six shirtless kobolds are fanning her with large origami palm fronds.
Anita's arrival wakes her from her sleep and the dragon steps towards the bard, eyes glowing a fierce green behind a paper mask. Despite being evidently young and impaired by her obesity, she still looks as menacing and intimidating as any predator.
"Since Kiridak brought you here, I assume you speak Draconic" she addresses you in that language, her voice a rumble of thunder "but if you prefer, we can converse in Common. Welcome in my People's Hall, little humanoid. As long as you don't bring violence here, none shall be wrought against you."
Her neck cranes closer to you. "You only have half of the Mark of the Brass King, though. Was the vision too much for you? Squeamishness is not encouraged among our kind."
Once Anita was alone, away from her companions, doubts started to flood into her mind. The risks she'd taken were far beyond what she'd thought herself capable of and now it seemed she was once again jumping into the dragon's maw. How could I have been this reckless? What possessed me to look into the stupid telescope!? I wish I could just walk back to the others, but I'd be throwing away our best chance to really get anywhere. No, I've got to move forward.
Lost in her thoughts, Anita was taken aback when the kobold adressed her. Taking the mask in shivering fingers, she quickly re-arranges it to match the others around her. There are so many of them down here and- The bard stops in her tracks once she sees the book on the lectern. That's got to be something important, maybe even one of the ones we're looking for. After a moment, she realizes that she's stopped and doubles her pace trying to catch up with the kobold guide.
The reveal of a dragon was a shock to the bard, she'd been expecting some wizened kobold. After standing stunned for moment, she quickly kneels before the great beast. The dragon speaks and Anita shivers as the it's thunderous voice assailed her. She continued to gaze into the floor, hoping the wyrm hadn't noticed her fear. Careful not to interrupt the massive predator, Anita speaks as steadily as she can muster. "I am honored to be in your presence, Your Grace. I do not mean any offense by my unmarked eye, I was simply unaware of the need to switch between my two. Once the Mark was revealed upon me, I was eager to meet the Book Wyrm your subjects spoke so highly of. Please pardon my haste."
"I will allow this slight once." harrumphs the dragon. "But the next time you enter my realm, be sure to have a proper mark. It's a sign of inner will and sacrifice and whatnot. Anyway. Tiny and inexperienced as you are, I assume you came here for Astral Fires and the Endless Sea?"
Bingo! Anita tenses in excitement, but tries to relax. She didn't have the book yet, but this was one great leap of progress. "You are as wise as they say, Your Grace. My compatriots and I have come to beseech your favor. The book is key to our future. However, I would never ask the great Book Wyrm to part with one of her books in charity. Please, tell us your will so it may be done."
"Straight to the point, aren't you? Very well."
The Book Wyrm lies on the ground, sighing like an old person with arthritis. "I will sell you the book for ten thousand copper pieces. No gold, no silver, platinum is straight out of the question."
I'm only carrying 23 crowns myself. And to convert all of it to copper? Not only would it be impractical to carry, but weight would take it's toll upon us.
"My, that is quite a weighty sum indeed, might I enlist the aid of your kobold subject to carry it? I shall have your tithe prepared as soon as I can, Your Grace." Anita prepares to be dismissed, half-baked plans racing through her head.
"You might not. Your act shall be a testament of your own hatred towards the vile metal, and as such you shall carry it out yourself. But you may bring other copper objects, if you have trouble finding coins, and you need not bring it all at once. You may go, now. Return properly marked and heavy with metal."
Anita takes her leave, once again flanked by the kobolds. As she passed the pedestal, she pointed out the book upon it. "Umm, Kiridak, was it? Might the book over there be the one the Book Wyrm speaks of? Do not worry, I just wish to look upon it, even if from afar."
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Either way, Anita makes her way back to the rest of party, alive and well. "Alright everyone, good news. They do indeed have one of the books we're looking for! but let's make out way out of this dusty place, and speak together in private."
Hireath brightens as Anita returns. "Good! I'm glad everything went well. It has been a long day; maybe we should head back to one of the dorms. We can go to my room if people want."
Vernon nods and turns back to the entrance."So one found. That's a beginning...."
The sky is dark as you emerge into the Library after tracing back your steps. The academy is silent, but well-lit by continual flame spells, as well as the windows of those burning the midnight oil.
Your dormitories have been arranged: four small bedrooms sharing a common area with an unlocked door facing the hallway in the second floor of the communal building with all the other first-years. The common area has a large window, a fireplace, two currently empty bookshelves and a table big enough to sit eight.
Hireath sits down at the table. "So you already found one of the books? That's great! What do we need to do in order to obtain it?"
Once Anita is safely behind closed doors, the mask falls off. She's absolutely livid.
"That overgrown newt demands we bring her ten thousand copper pieces, Hireath. I've never been this insulted in my life! Being forced to haul coins, that by the corpulent lizard's own admission, are almost worthless! The blubbery reptile was clearly just trying to be rid of us. I-I... I need some tea. That insipid creature's breath almost killed me with its hateful reek and I'd be quite pleased to never see it in it's fatty squalor again.
Anita rather forcefully digs through her bag, almost haphazardly throwing a box of tea leaves onto the table. She then proceeds to start preparing the calming liquid, while cursing of bloated pig-drakes under her breath.
"Ten thousand?!" Hireath looks shocked. "How could anyone ever afford it? I certainly don't have anywhere near that much, even if I converted the little gold I have. There's got to be some other way of getting that book."
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”Well...if we pool our funds together we should be able to accomplish this. So let’s see...” The young Drow dug through his robes. ”Father gave me some spending money. How does your currency work again? One gold is worth one hundred copper, I believe.” Fishing out a pouch he began counting. ”I don’t have enough. How much do all of you have?”
Vernon checks his coin pouch and shrugs. "I doubt we'll have enough even combining all and spending it all. I've only got 16 gold left from my initial stake."
"They can't expect novices to do combat with a wyrm, let alone the room full of his servants. What if we were all to take the mark, then any that have it (not me) cast charm as we enter the room. We interact with just the kobolds, telling them we just need to look at a page in the book and don't want to disturb the great book wyrm. While you distract them we take the book, maybe casting an illusion of the book in its place? Sneak out, close the door and run! It didn't look like that wyrm could run after us did it? I'm sure we could outrun the kobolds if we had to."
"I never thought you could afford it, Hireath!" Anita snaps."I know you got in on scholarship!"
The human girl goes quiet as the others talk, focusing on making her tea.
Eventually, Anita returns with a tray of teacups and a hot kettle. Setting cups for everyone, she takes quietly takes her seat. "I'm sorry, Hireath. I'm sure you've worked hard, it's been quite a day for all of us." There flustered bard quickly downs her cup of tea and pours herself another.
"Phew. I have but a quarter of the money we need. However, those scrolls we made in Scrivening could fetch us enough money to cover our costs, should we find a buyer. If we plan to honor the bloated lizard's deal there are several obstacles. One, We need to find somewhere to exchange for the coin we need. Two, all this coin will be heavy, I personally could only carry a third of it at most. Finally, the movement of all this coin could attract the attention of our rivals.
On the other hand, attempting to steal the book would be difficult, there's at least twenty kobolds in our way and they seem fairly alert. I had noticed something that appeared to be a hidden entrance into their chamber, but I have no idea where to access it."
Hireath flushes purple at Anita’s pointed comment regarding her lack of funds. ”Well, it’s not like any of you have that much either.” That retort seems to be all the she can manage, and she keeps her gaze firmly on her hands as Anita makes tea, clearly embarrassed.
At Anita’s apology though, she raises her head. ”It’s, well, it’s not alright, but...” But you did look into hell and then face down a dragon alone, she thinks but doesn’t say. Instead she smiles, although it’s a little weak. ”I accept your apology. Besides, you’re not wrong. I only have about five gold to spare.
Hoping to get past the awkwardness, she focuses on the planning. ”If we want to try and cover the cost, I do have a couple extra scrolls as well that I scribed before I came here. There must be a shop around here that would buy them. As for exchanging the money to copper, are there any banks around? They might be able to do it for us. If so, between the four of us I think we could carry it all. You’re right though, it would attract attention.”
She starts flipping through her spellbook. ”I have a spell that could probably knock all the guards unconscious at once. If we went when the kobold’s normally sleep, maybe we could sneak past the rest of them. Does anyone know whether kobolds are nocturnal or diurnal? Also, how far away from the door was the book? I have a spell that would turn me invisible for a few seconds, if it was close enough for me to just dash in. She closes her spellbook and leans forward.
”Of course, there’s also the third option. We could simply ignore this book for now and try to find one of the others. Although I suspect they’re all guarded in one way or another.”
Kiridak nods. "That it is, it is! The Book Wyrm says that once a year, that tome is the source of much income to our lands. But I don't recommend getting close, not without permission and a guide, hee hee."
From afar, the book looks like a very normal tome in a blue cover.
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Lindaer counter out fifty gold crowns from his pouch. ”So how much are these worth, anyways?” He asked. This group seemed like they were worth trusting. More so than any other surfacer. Maybe he could get some real information from them. ”I haven’t spent anything yet. But one of these pieces of gold? Would it buy a meal? A s-“ He almost said slave, but remembered the warning that the surface races looked down on the practice. ”-a spell scroll?” He easily transitioned to. ”Id rather not anger a dragon. Especially if it can be a resource in the future.”
Hireath gapes as Lindaer casually counts out fifty gold. "Um, okay. Uh, a single gold piece would buy all your meals for three to four days. A scroll like the ones we scribed would normally be worth around 25 gold; in places that aren't magical academies not that many people can make spell scrolls so they cost a lot. Unfortunately this is a magical academy so I doubt we'd get anywhere near that much here. 50 gold..." She tries to think of a way to describe it. "50 gold would cover about 5 months worth of living expenses, if you were careful."
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”Oh. Well.” He somewhat awkwardly put the coins back. ”If we can get the coins changed in town, then that seems like it would be best. We can also make more than one trip. I’m sure that the wyrm wouldn’t mind tribute coming in Though we’d all need to be marked. Something I wouldn’t mind either, to see the other planes.”
He shrugged. ”If not, I think bribing a kobold might well work. Even with copper coins. Bring us the book and we give the kobold coins so that it might improve it’s status. Cheaper, less to carry...”
"I was worried I might have to write Father for money, but I suppose we have it well in hand. As for being marked, I remember the kobolds mentioning angels as well as devils. We might be able to look upon the Heavens instead of the Hells. I think most of us would prefer that choice." Anita politely covers a yawn before continuing.
"I think I shall retire now, may you all sleep well."
"We could also maybe fake the mark, if looking at the Heavens doesn't work. I know a spell that can change my physical appearance, eye color included. I'll make sure to prepare it."
Seeing Anita yawn, Hireath stifles one as well. "Yes, I think some sleep would do us all good. See you tomorrow."
Dawn cracks through the windows of your bedrooms, each only large enough for a single bed and a writing desk. The day is sunny, and your schedule for the day includes Alchemy and Lore classes, as well as the Music and Artificing clubs.
The night's rest was fitful, as the sights of Hell would return to her throughout. Once she could not stand it anymore, Anita sings a small song to herself. It was a simple lullaby her mother would sing to her as she went to bed. As she sings, the bard picks up ones of Squacks' loose feathers and throws it in the air, watching as it drifted lazily back to the ground. For some reason, this comforted her enough to get back to sleep.
Anita woke up later than she had in many years, and spent a good portion of her time making herself presentable again. It wouldn't do for her to look so disheveled after all. She thought of the rather shabby looking Hireath and grimaced a little. Perhaps it would be wise to ask Father to send some extra clothes. After changing to fresh clothes, better suited to the dusty delving of the Library, Anita sat down at the writing desk. Only one piece of stationary left... best restock on those as well.
Once she had completed her letter, the human girl heated some wax and sealed it shut. Pushing her signet ring into the quickly cooling seal, the finished envelope proudly boasted her family's insignia. After preparing food for her pet hawk, Anita set about brewing tea in the common room.
Hireath wakes up feeling a bit better about the whole situation. It's only been an afternoon, and we've already located one of the books and have at least some idea of how to get it.
Contemplating her spell book, she tries to figure out which spells would be useful. Hmmm. I should always be with one of the others so I can probably get by without Detect Magic, and Vanish might be more useful than Grease... She spends a rather pleasant hour in this manner.
Feeling much more prepared, she heads out to the common room. "Morning Anita, did you sleep well?"
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Lindaer woke up cursing the light. It was so insufferably bright. He immediately cast a cantrip to protect his eyes from the tyranny of the sun. That aside, it was a good morning. They knew where one of the books was, and how to get it! They also had found a device that could scry into different planes. And the best part? The two were linked together. He did look forward to the opportunity to see what the abyss and the heavens were like. But first? Breakfast.
"Yes, Quite well Hireath."Anita lied,"And how about you? Today looks to be quite busy."
As the kettle was warming, Anita had taken the liberty of reviewing some of the Academy's layout in hopes of finding some place where money could be exchanged. A small book on Draconic and it's dialects was lying open nearby, showing an image of a kobold and the words "Yipyak". She had likely searched the book for anything it might have said about the little creatures.
Vernon wakes well rested and considers his spells for the day. He decides to keep the armor spell in case they run into anything hostile, but changes out the sleep for a spell to help in the alchemy class. As for cantrips.... a minor change there as well. He joins the group for a quick bite before classes. "Slept well. Hopefully today will be at least as productive as yesterday."
Hireath consults her timetable. "It should be. Looks like we've got Alchemy first." She hesitates, clearly uncomfortable with what she's about to suggest. "Do we have any idea of where to start exchanging coins? If so, I could..." she visibly winces, "...maybe skip class?"
Hurriedly, hoping to finish explaining before her classmates decide she's lazy, she adds, "I've studied quite a bit of alchemy, so I doubt we'll cover anything today I don't already know. We were worried about our classmates noticing what we're doing and catching on. If we, or I, did the exchanging during class, that would be less likely. It would take several trips, but I could hopefully get the coins back here so we'd have them ready later."
Anita nods to Hireath's suggestion. "I have no objections to that, I never quite got the hang of alchemy myself. We might even create some potions or some such in class we could sell, if I'm lucky." With a titter she says, "If only we could transmute lead to copper, like in the old legends. The bloated wyrm made it clear it would accept anything made of copper, not just coins."
The human girl thinks to herself for a moment before speaking aloud. "I think we should move on this book today, whether or not we can procure the coinage. Hireath, perhaps you may procure some form of copper from the Artificing Club? Our target book is blue and about these dimensions." Anita mimes the shape of the book with her hands. "We might be able to purchase a similar one somewhere and replace it. Be careful though, I hear the student library is rather draconian about their late books. Come to think of it, I might be able to create a copy if we were to get a similar blank book."
Kobolds are nocturnal reptilian creatures that worship dragons, being somewhat related to them. A dragon is considered by a kobold to be a majestic creature that the paragons of their society can only aspire to be.
Being physically weak, they supply their lack of martial prowess with devilish cunning and an innate propensity for trapmaking. There are tales of kobolds turning corridors into deathtraps for powerful warriors.
As for the money, your problem is that the Academy wasn't built in a city: its location was forced by the discovery of the Living Library, and since they take few students every year, there has been little push for urbanization around there. The pub and the supply shops will have some copper pieces that they use to round things up, but you don't suppose you can gather more than a couple thousand pieces, even if you have the gold for it.
Vernon offers the 16 gold coins that he has remaining. "I want to attend the alchemy class, but any copper that you do find will make it harder for any of the other teams to get it. Pity there isn't a Fool's Copper spell...."
"If kobolds are nocturnal, then if we're not going to be able to get the coins we should probably act now. They'll be sleeping, or inattentive at the very least." She considers for a moment. "I could actually probably get in and grab the book without anyone noticing. There's a...not a spell, exactly. But I can make people ignore me. Combine that with an illusion of the book still on its pedestal..." she shrugs. "By the time anyone noticed anything amiss, I should be long gone."