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All the Pathfinders in your motley crew are summoned by the Master of Scrolls, Kreighton Shaine. You are directed to an annex of the Grand Lodge known to house the archives. As your escort brings you closer to the office of Shaine a large argument is heard within.
"Well...maybe we can wait for a few more moments. Come have a seat over here while I...while I try to gracefully interrupt." says the attendant who moments later takes a deep breath and enters the building.
You find yourself among some strangers and some familiar faces in a small pavilion outside the archives.
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Eranahu follows the attendant in and stops as he sees all of the people gathered. He brushes a strand of his long dark hair out of his face as he smiles. "You were not waiting on us I hope? We did try to hurry!". The Varisian seems completely comfortable work the fact that they are all meeting in a pavilion.
The Archives... This sounds terribly boring. But maybe I'll be able to find out some some information on ole grandad Sunspear while digging around.
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An attractive Tian-Min woman in a red yukata and a paired daisho at her right hip follows after Eranahu and the attendant. She idly looks around, though she remains vigilant even here. Possessed of pale blue eyes and wearing her platinum hair in a chin-length layered bob, Kiyoko has the toned, athletic body of someone raised in the martial arts. A distinctive beauty mark is visible to the right of her chin.
"We will be here," she says as the attendant leaves.
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The commotion of the office subsides and the attendant returns with a covered in sweat.
"Please...this way, he is ready to see you now."
The group enters a stone lobby for what must be a vast library. There are three others present as the attendant flees from the archive leaving you to your mission.
“I have no love of puns yet it cannot go unremarked that the Overflow Archives have begun living up to their name” announces a peeved Kreighton
Shaine, the Master of Scrolls in the Grand Lodge, as he gestures across the room towards a set of double doors that seem to be leaking a steady supply of water.
Another familiar figure stands next to Shaine, Paracountess Zarta Dralneen stands with folded arms, glaring at an initiate whose hair and clothes are utterly drenched. All three speak at once, but Shaine’s shrill voice rises above the din. “Magical shenanigans in the archives are prohibited, especially this soon before the Grand Convocation!”
“Let us prioritize,” Dralneen suggests. “Are the artifacts within the vaults in danger?”
“How should I know?” Shaine barks back. “This delinquent initiate— what was the name? Wormell?”
“Virml, sir,” replies the sodden Pathfinder.
“Virml says he sneaked into the archives on a dare,” summarizes Shaine, painfully emphasizing the initiate’s name with scolding disdain. “Presumably, he thought the holdings would be harmless. Instead, in his naivete, Virml triggered some dormant curse or other. So, yes, thanks to Virml here, the archives and the vaults below continue to flood, threatening all the books therein.”
Miserably, Virml holds up an armload of soggy manuscripts. “I salvaged a few, sir.”
Sighing, Shaine leads Virml towards the stairs. “Take them up to the scriptorium. Start making dry copies.” Then, turning to survey the rest of the room, he continues issuing orders. “The remainder of you should wade in there and plumb the origins of this deluge. Stop it, if you can. I must report this debacle to my colleagues and begin organizing the cleanup.” Abruptly, he seems to notice the paracountess for the first time. “What are you doing here, Dralneen?” [/b]
Zarta smirks and shrugs. “Unlike you, Shaine, I love a good pun.”
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Even though she is a grown up woman, Lady Naysha looks like a young, teenage girl. She has black hair, a bright smile, and eyes that sparkle with joy. She wears very fancy clothes and jewelry, and always carries around her beloved stuffed rabbit, Miss Whiskers.
When she is given a letter by a messenger to meet for her ninth assignment, she smiles and claps her hands! Lady Naysha was in her garden, playing with her fairy friends. Pixies, and brownies and fairies and lots of others too! She had waved goodbye and skipped off to prepare for her mission!
"Oh, boy! This one says we're going to the Grand Lodge! Won't this be fun, Miss Whiskers?"
Lady Naysha and Miss Whiskers skipped down the road and all of her fey friends followed her. She couldn't see them right now, but even walking through the roads she knew they were there!
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When she meets the other pathfinders, Lady Naysha smiles at them, showing off all of her sparkling clean teeth, and curtsies. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lady Naysha! And THIS is Miss Whiskers!" She holds up a big, stuffed rabbit toy. "She's happy to meet you too!"
The stuffed rabbit doesn't seem to move or anything.
"And these are my fairy friends!" she says pointing behind her. "Come out, fairy friends!"
Nothing comes out.
Lady Naysha giggles like it's a real funny joke! "They're very silly," she explains.
Recognizing some of the other Pathfinders, she waves happily. "Hello again Fuzzzy, Bobby, and Fuzzzy's Hat! What's up?" When Fuzzzy inevitably doesn't remember her, Lady Naysha laughs again. "Oh, Fuzzzy! You're so silly. We went on a bunch of missions together. You're a Pathfinder, you know!" she winks at Bobby the owl.
She smiles at Ruslo. "Hi again, Ruslo! Nice to see you."
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When the attendant comes back and ushers them into the archives, Lady Naysha skips inside. Seeing the water everywhere she giggles. "Did you go for a swim, Virml?" she jokes. "I love a good swim."
"How deep is the water down there?" she asks. "Is this a wading or swimming mission?"
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Eranahu stares at Lady Naysha as she makes her entrance and boy does she make an entrance! He catches his dropped chin at one point in time. Several thoughts go through his head during this episode. She's cute. Is she for real? She's got to be some kind of mad magic user. I really really hope that Mr. Whiskers is some kind of construct.
Snapping back to reality from his musings of rabbit, he looks back to Shaine, Zarta, and Virml. "Water huh? I suppose I just thought that this place would be overflowing with information, not water. I guess I was way off target there. Will we need any potions or spells to help us breath water while in there?" Eranahu looks down at his brightly colored clothing, including his hooded scarf. I may need to lose some of this. " Virml, what caused this flood? Did you set something off?"
Eranahu catches himself glancing over at what Lady Naysha may be doing with her bunny and fairies maybe once or twice before glancing at Kiyoko and getting back to business.
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The Tian-Min woman does her best to ignore Naysha's bizarre antics on the way over. After they arrive at the stone lobby, she listens attentively to the briefing. As Virml is named as the culprit, Kiyoko turns a disdainful look on the delinquent. Still, the moment passes quickly enough in the briefing, and soon Shaine is barking out orders--and Eranahu is asking questions.
Kiyoko looks at Eranahu. "A curse," she says, answering for the unfortunate initiate.
She turns to Shaine. "I can swim. I cannot breathe underwater. You can solve this?"
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”Where am I?” his Magnificent Hat echoes.
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”Recall!” the magnificent hat encourages.
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”My name is…” He strokes his beard in thought. ”Ah... That is to say... Hmmm... I can't seem to recall... It's all rather fuzzy….” Suddenly he smiles. ”Ah, yes! That's it! Fuzzzy! My name is FUZZZY! Pleased to meet you! Have we met? I can't seem to recall…”
Looking at his owl, Fuzzzy asks, ”What am I doing here, again…?”
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”Here again!” the Hat explains.
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”Ah, yes! A mission!” he exclaims with a smile. ”I love missions! I'm a Pathfinder, you know!” He nods his head proudly and then suddenly looks confused. ”I’m sorry, have we met? I can't seem to recall…”
The old man's rambling is interrupted by being ushered into the flooding library. As Kreighton Shaine speaks, Fuzzzy smiles and nods along, but you’re not sure he’s absorbing anything. His owl looks like its paying pretty close attention though. Eventually he strokes his beard in thought...
"A flooded library? Oh, dear! Those aren't supposed to be wet at all! Terribly unfortunate! Yes, yes, all those papers and water and..." He strokes his beard and continues to name random things that have no bearing on the mission....
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Ruslo is a tall Varisian man. He has a small patch of facial hair under his lower lip. He wears a Varisian head scarf. Earrings glint in the light. At his hip is a grappling hook with a length of rope. He wears very fine crocodile leather boots.
“Hey there everyone! I’m Ruslo.” He has a friendly smile.
Ruslo winks at Lady Naysha “Very nice to see you again little lady.”
At the sight of Fuzzzy he grins, “Old man! Good to see you found your way.” Ruslo pats Bobby on the head and feeds the owl a piece of rations. "Bobby, always a pleasure."
Ruslo goes up to Eranahu, then Kiyoko, and shakes their hands.
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In the flooded library, Ruslo fiddles with a coin, making it dance across his fingers as he listens. As the briefing ends, he catches the coin, and pockets it. "Got it! Find the source of the water and stop it. Can do, boss man."
Ruslo heads over to Virmyl and pats him on the shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up too much, pal. Could be worse."
"So, Virmyl? You've been down there. Any advice for us?"
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Virml started to head off to copy scrolls but turns around at the joke. He smiles really wide for a moment.
"Oh yes. I figured the archives could use an indoor pool." he whispers to Lady Naysha before Shaine hits him with a long pole.
"Answer their questions quickly before more precious books are ruined!" Shaine urges him.
"“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 handsome man…and then ker-sploosh! I washed out here! I don't think the water should be too high yet...I hope." he sheepishly answers.
"Our delinquent initiate here is vague on the details. But clearly, some unclassified item in there must have borne a well-concealed curse that the fool triggered. You shouldn't be doing any deep diving just stopping this flood of water or better yet reversing it, plus this isn't a quartermaster!” Shaine says grumpy as ever.
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"Well..." Eranahu says as he takes off his boots, puts them in his pack, and rolls up his pant legs. "I guess that's all there is to it. Let's go plug a hole then." he says as he winks at Kiyoko. He then realizes what he just said and what he just did, and has the decency to blush. "...and uh...fix that curse."
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Lady Naysha takes off her fancy bunny flats and her long lacy socks, and puts them in her backpack. Happily, she wears poofy, lace trimmed shorts, so she need to roll up her pats or anything.
"Got it! Let's go! I can't wait!"
Lady Naysha walks to the door. When her feet get wet she giggles. "It tickles!"
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”Oh? Are we taking off our shoes?” Fuzzzy asks his owl, seeing everyone doing the same. Fuzzzy sits down and struggles to take off his floppy cotton shoes. He stuffs them in his bag and rolls his robes up a bit. Then he grins and follows Lady Naysha to the door, looking rather proud of himself.
A few moments later he looks confused.
”Bobby? Where are my shoes?”
”Shoes?” the hat echoes.
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"Well, don't want these beauties getting wet," Ruslo remarks, referring to his crocodile skin boots. He puts them in his backpack and gives Bobby a few more bits of rations. "Well, Bobby? Ready for a swim? What do you think?" He pats the bird on the head and helps Fuzzzy to the door. "This way, old man. I've got you covered."
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"Overflowing with scrolls, tomes, and trinkets more so than water still. I would imagine. The areas shouldn't give your...companion much pause except for some aisles of documents."
With no more questions Shaine and Dralneed go back to their discussions.
Before the group has the chance to open the double doors Virml scampers back over to Lady Naysha.
"Thought you might enjoy this. Hope one of you can read the Sylvan language. Part of that scroll, puns are fun but riddles are better." he winks before being yelled at again by the Master of Scrolls.
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The group pushes pulls the double doors open to reveal a rather spacious library (A2) that has become a damp catastrophe. A lake (1 foot deep lake) of dark 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.
If a square is part of a shallow bog, it has deep mud or standing water of about 1 foot in depth. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with a shallow bog, and the DC of Acrobatics checks in such a square increases by 2.
More peculiar when observing the room is two small winged creatures with the head of an owl and an albatross atop a toppled shelf. It appears at first they are fishing.
"Say hello!" the hat echoes.
"Sure!" the hat confirms.
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Lady Naysha giggles and reads the letter. "Hmmm... Sounds dangerous!"
Lady Naysha heads into the room, looks around, then lets out a yelp of surprise. "Whoa! They're in my poem! And they get eaten by something sleeping in the water!"
She looks at the water. "Cool! We should probably get up off the ground, though."
Lady Naysha has lots of fun, climbing up onto a table, then up onto a bookshelf from there!
Once she's up there she waves at the owl and albatross. "Hello, there! Be careful fishing."
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The two creatures turn to look at the group.
"Hello...Hello...Hel-" says the albatross before being elbowed by the owl.
"The fishing was going fine until we were interrupted..." the owl complains.
"This is the bestest fishin' spot...can't be sharing it with the rude ones, Owl."
"Says you that already caught something nice, Albatross!"
"Be careful she says...what if she knows something, Owl?"
"Bah!"
The two continue to squabble and bonk each other with crude fishing instruments rather than speak with the Pathfinders, mostly driven by the Owl complaining further about their fishing spot being taken by your party.
As they talk periodically a gush of water pours down from the mezzanine above the eastern part of the room.
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Lady Naysha after climbing onto one of the bookcases can make out a oddly-shaped figure, like a large fish, moving about each time more water pours into the room.
Once the group had settled for a moment Ruslo notices a slight current flowing behind the bookcases to the north. Upon further inspection there is a grate clogged with stray leather covers and soggy pages. In the pile of junk is an air-tight scroll case that saved two scrolls.
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"oh! We didn't mean to disrupt your bestest fishin' spot.". Eranahu says, looking to owl as he says this
are these more faeries? Seems to be my thing
Looking to albatross now, "We were only very excited about this water, and wanted to find where it was coming from. Very nice wading water.". He says, indicating their bare feet.
”Fish!”