”Where exactly were you located when you noticed the flooding, Virmyl? That’d be as good a spot as any to find a possible clue to how you did all this...”
“Our delinquent student is vague on the details. But clearly, some unclassified item in there must have borne a well-concealed curse.”
Shaine shouts for the soggy initiate to come back down from upstairs and explain himself.
“I…I merely picked up a wee scroll, read part of it aloud for fun—some kind of riddle about birds and fish? And then it flew to bits in my hand, and I caught the quickest glimpse of a distinguished-looking man…and then ker-sploosh! I washed out here.”
"Not the only place you will be washing out of to be sure." mutters the Master of Scrolls. No one can ever recall seeing him this angry.
Virml sheepishly produces a dripping fragment of damp parchment. "This was a part of the longer scroll of riddles entitled The Name of the Fox. I managed to save it when it blew apart."
Shaine snatches the parchment, looks at it critically, and hands it over, saying “It appears to be one of the rhymes from the parchment. It’s an odd trifle of Varisian doggerel, scripted in Sylvan. There’s nothing remarkable about it—”
“Nothing until now, perhaps?” quips Zarta Dralneen.
|
Striding purposefully over to Dean Shaine, Yangrit growls: "Let me see that parchment, sir." After reading (silently, just in case) what is there, she stares at it, dumbfounded. This stupidity caused all that?! "Well, this does not help us now, but it may yet. We should all memorize this before we head in there. Taking it with us may cause even more trouble, especially if it gets ruined by the water. Virmil, you say you saw a distinguished looking man. What else do you remember about him? Was he dressed like someone from our time or long ago? Of which culture was his clothing? What was his coloration and build?" The grouchy dwarf's words are perfectly articulated, clipped, and barked like a cross between a drill Sargent and the Commissioner of the Grammar Police.
"The flood grabbed me up immediately. I only just got the impression that he was of noble mean, but he had strong angular features, and that horizon-seeking gaze that marks a man of real quality, but beyond that well... I didn't really get a good look."
|
Xusius waits for an opportunistic moment and speaks to the Paracountess.
"Xometh, Xusius Xometh. Eet ees a pleasure to meet zou, Paracountess. Excuse me, but zere ees zis business matter zat must be dealt weeth first.
He turns and fixes his elven gaze upon the hapless and rather damp initiate.
"Zis man. Was he human or perhaps another maybe a deefferent ancestry?"
Muttering to himself, he says, "Varisia! Every magic item from zat place zeems to have zome alternative purpose. No wonder my cousin moved zere to explore ze strange majicks."
|
Deluge comes hurrying into the room, huffing and puffing. He has always found that it looks better to arrive huffing and puffing when one is late, even if you came at a stately walk 99% of the way.
"What's...this...all about? Oh, hi Zerta."
That is her name, right? Should know it by now, her being the head of my faction.
"Ah. Excellent. Our second unexpected Deluge of the night. And this one not unwelcome." says Zarta at the arrival of the out of breath druid. "Where you dreaming about me again, sweet Deluge?"
"Zis man. Was he human or perhaps another maybe a deefferent ancestry?"
"Well, I didn't get a good look at his ears, but he certainly did nae have any head ridges, if that's any help."
|
|
"Ah. Excellent. Our second unexpected Deluge of the night. And this one not unwelcome." says Zarta at the arrival of the out of breath druid. "Where you dreaming about me again, sweet Deluge?"
"Most assuredly not. When that infernal bird arrived my dreams turned to boiled owl. Not sure what I was dreaming of before that so, perhaps, could have been you I suppose."
Deluge gives her a wink, having heard of and been prepared for her antics.
"So, the place has been deluged has it? All those fancy artifacts down there."
I'm sure my druidic superiors would be happy to see them all destroyed. Still, I am curious. And something is messing with something powerful. And that IS what they sent me to look out for.
"Yep, we should investigate."
As there are no more questions , the others disperse to their assigned tasks, that is all the others but Zarta, who seems to linger.
"About that earlier point you brought up my lovely little damp dumpling." she says to Deluge. "Follow me."
She shrugs and smiles before continuing. “That said, I know that there is more than junk beyond those doors. I’ve heard that someone squirreled away a copy of The Darklands Precepts somewhere in there, and it’s far too dangerous a tome to leave lying about. Get it out of there and return it to me, no matter what excuse Shaine might make to toss it back in the pile.”
|
|
Bernard finishes his tankard, and asks "Am i allowed to bring this in with me? I mean, look at the place, looks like the flooding has made it through the door, what's some allllleeee gonna do?"
He waits while Yangrit memories the poem, "A poem about a fox and an albatross? Now where have a i heard that one before?"
He trails behind, and waits for someone to open the door into the archive. He will look around the wet patch, to see if he can tell if there is anything out of the ordinary about it.
|
|
Deluge trudges up the stairs after Zarta, expecting something more sensual that a request to fetch her some tome. Still, he nods obediently, wondering to himself if he should just destroy it.
"Yes, I will definitely get it out of there given the chance."
When he gets back down he takes the opportunity to read the mysterious poem himself. After reading it he mutters, "Charming," and stuffs it in one of his pockets. He then takes a fortifying swig of his noxious smelling fermented goats milk and follows Pau.
Zarta blows a kiss to Deluge as she leaves.
Yangit throws open the doors onto a spacious library that is now a damp catastrophe. Lit by magical torchlight, a foot-deep lake of water clogged with books, scroll cases, and a few overturned shelves obscures the floor. Steps descend into the brine from the western doors, while at the east end of the room a spiral staircase rises from the water to a mezzanine above. The same metal staircase must descend into a basement below as well, for the water there burbles downward in a dark, lazy whirlpool.
Overhead, the vaulted ceiling starts out at about 20' high near at the walls and reaches 35' at its apex. Across ceilings, and around the pillars, and walls chipped, and faded murals feature elaborate patterns interweaving moons, stars, and butterflies.
|
|
Xusius gives a Gallic shrug of the shoulders as the paracountess seems to ignore him. Fortunately, he is aware of the fact that there are more women than men in the world, so he is not upset at all. He turns toward the matter at hand and considers that using his Wand of Mage Armor might be a good idea at this point. He does so, then puts that wand up while drawing out his trusty Wand of Magic Missiles.
He peers into the damp library and takes note of what he sees.
Off the southern edge of the mezzanine flows a beautiful waterfall while just to the side of it and the stairwell a curious vessel bobs into view--or rather it would be curious if this weren't a library. The vessel--an overturned book shelf--is crewed by a pair of small humanoid creatures with leaf-like wings, and traceries of creeping vines seemingly growing from their bodies. While their small bodies are similar, their heads are not. One has the head of an owl, while the other has the head of an albatross. Both stand on opposite edges of their makeshift boat with their little fishing spears readied. Suddenly one thrusts his spear into the water, and pulls up a bit of soggy papyrus.
"Owl! Look what I caught!" shouts one.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Albatross! That one was mine, and you know it!" grouses the other.
Knowing less than nothing about the natural world, Pau confronts the creatures. ”You there! Do you two know anything about the flooding of our library? We are here to stop all this and dry the place out. Owl, have you caught anything interesting,” he calls out, hoping the dumb poem applied here.
The Albatross hides a smile behind one wing, while the Owl bristles and shouts: "Of course I haven't what with big job, ninnies like you tramping around, and scaring all the fish!"
|
Pau rolls his eyes at the attempt at a joke.
He waits for any more diplomatic members of the team to try and help him here, but wants to try and get the speared parchment if he can. ”Can I make a deal with you to give us that piece of a scroll you just speared? If you give it to us, we will stay on the other side of the room until we move on to the next part of the library. And you all can fish to your hearts content,” he said through gritted teeth, trying his best to come off as friendly, no small accomplishment for him.
Diplomacy
As usual, trying to be friendly achieved him literally nothing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Owl's eyes go wide. An explosion seems imminent.
|
|
Yangrit stands in the doorway, showing off her excellent breeding, and stares up at the waterfall. Water flows downward, so maybe the source is up there. She's about to mention it to her team, when she spots the odd creatures. "Oh, great. The poem. What is the sleeper the owl is going to awaken, I wonder?"
|
|
Xusius surveys the room and its contents. Hearing Yangrit's words about the waterfall, he wonders what is upstairs that could be causing it to flow. He realizes there is a mezzanine which the waterfall flows from. Looking about he sees the metal stairs go up to it and down to a lower level.
"While you amuse ze fey weeth zour poor diplomacy, I zhall zeek out where ze water ees coming from. Eet may be a clue as to how to zhut off ze flow of ze water."
Xusius hikes up his robe and begins to wade through the water towards the staircase.
"Sure friend, OVER MY DEAD BODY!" hoots the Owl, raising his little spear in defiance.
"NO ONE STEAL OUR FISH!" cries the Albatross, hoisting his spear as well.
Round 1! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Bernard
__ Yangrit
__ Hannar
__ Albatross
__ Owl
__ Xusius
__ Deluge
__ Pau
|
|
Bernard moves backwards through the water trying to get behind one of the stone pillars holding the archives up. As he does so, he takes out his bow. "I never liked fish anyway..." He mutters as he draws his string and holds it in place, ready to fire the bow if his friends pull the first blow, or if the animals make an agressive action.
|
|
Deluge maneuvers his highly buoyant body over to another floating bookshelf and heaves himself onto it like some fat seal before delivering his failed attempt at convincing them to spill the beans.
Deluge fishes around in his bag of snacks for something that might appease the two critters. He pulls out some jerky and sniffs it.
"Smells like goat. Probably won't want that." Shrugging he pops the whole strip in his mouth and stars chewing it. He also manages to fish out various nuts and dried berries in his hunt for fish, all of which end up in his mouth. By the time action starts he will look like a highly successful squirrel.
|
|
Splashing down off the stairs and into the (to her) knee-ish deep water, Yangrit objurgates the squabblers. "Oh, keep your knickers on, boys. They are mentioned in the poem, so you had better not mess with them. We have no idea if that will make things worse! As for you..." She is at a loss as to what to call the Gathlains, so she merely gestures in their direction. "...we are doing an investigation, so either help us or let us get on with it in peace! Now do not mind me; I am headed up those stairs behind you." She ends with a nearly inaudible grumble about obtuse texts coming to life.
Bernard moves backwards through the water trying to get behind one of the stone pillars holding the archives up. As he does so, he takes out his bow. "I never liked fish anyway..." He mutters as he draws his string and holds it in place, ready to fire the bow if his friends pull the first blow, or if the animals make an agressive action.
Hannar delays waiting to see what happens.
Owl, and Albatross take to the air upon their leafy wings. Owl calls upon some inner arcane power, but Bernard can't tell what exactly because he is using inborn spell-like ability, which suddenly causes all the paper in the water to gravitate to the party members legs, and cling to them.
The Albatross meanwhile flies low and does cast an actual spell , sending waves of scintillating light into the faces of Deluge, Xusius and Yangrit.
Bernard let's fly his arrow at this point, but until he makes his save vs. the entangling debris I won't know if he hits Owl or not.
Round 1 and then some! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Xusius (pending reflex and will saves)
__ Deluge (pending a will save)
__ Pau (pending a reflex save)
__ Hannar (pending a reflex save)
__ Bernard (pending a reflex save)
__ Yangrit (pending reflex and will saves)
__ Albatross
__ Owl (pending damage maybe)