"Shall we try the way without the shapes? We want to avoid mad men as well as we can, my father taught me."
"Why do you assume it's a man?" Lollia asks with a frown. "Women go mad as well." She glances at Shulamit and then looks away quickly.
~~~~~
She continues to follow close behind the slayer, but tries to keep her eyes elsewhere to avoid any further strange thoughts.
Lucretia simply raises an eyebrow at Lollia's comment.
Clearly her pointed comments aren't just aimed at me.
Continuing to follow the group Lucretia keeps her eyes out for any useful information.
He's such a stuck up git. The voice in Lollia's head says. We should kick him. Hard!
The Shield Maiden pries open the valuable looking scroll case and immediately wishes she hadn't as a scroll leaps out, slicing at her with its unnaturally sharp edges!
The Maiden quickly recovers from her shock, cursing and slicing at the scroll as Hilde distracts it.
Lollia jumps back from the attacking scroll as she pulls out her dulcimer and begins a quick jig.
Shula dodges past Victor and under the scroll, slicing as she goes. "Prepare to die, tiny...paper...thing?" She looks towards Robert, figuring he's the most likely to know why a scroll has come alive and started attacking them.
Unsure of what she can do against a flying scroll Lucretia stays back and simply glares at the thing.
Robert's bolt flies straight through the scroll leaving only a tiny hole in its wake. It is too agile for the Shield Maiden but Shula lands a cut, although the paper seems to be magically reinforced and the blow barely rips it.
In retaliation the scroll flies at Shula, slicing at her with razor edges
The Shield Maiden tightens her grip on her blade as she moves up and slices at the scroll again.
Shula instinctively slashes at the scroll as it approaches, only for it to slice her arm open in retaliation. Gritting her teeth against the sickening feeling of the worst paper cut ever, she continues trying to rip the scroll apart.
As a surge of resentment wells up inside her Lollia turns and swings a dagger towards her cousin. It misses by some margin however. Robert punches another hole through the scroll, larger this time and the Shield Maiden lands a blow.
The scroll is starting to look somewhat ragged, although it fights with undiminished vigor.
Even with Hilde's help it flits beneath the Maiden's shield and leaves a bloody gash up her arm.
Lucretia yells out in surprise as she leaps backwards, just missing thr swipe of her cousin's blade. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She exclaims.
Realising that this is very much unlike Lollia to do something so physically brutish and to turn on someone so suddenly with sword rather than with words, Lucretia tries to subdue her cousin in the way she knows best.
Grimacing in pain as her blood drips on the floor, the Maiden slashes again!
Hoping that Lucretia can handle whatever is going on with Lollia, Shula joins the Shield Maiden in continuing to take the (surprisingly fierce) scroll down. "Never making fun of Orania for complaining about papercuts ever again."
Lollia's face is a mask of shock at what she's done. She stumbles back, her dagger falling from trembling hands.
"I don't know ... I'm so ... gods, what am I doing?" she stammers out. She continues backing up until a bookshelf stops her.
Unfortunately not a single blow lands with any significant force and the scroll fights on without any trouble. Fortunately Hilde's intervention helps the Shield Maiden avoid being cut once more.
Shaking off the drowsiness she feels falling over her, Lollia slides down to the floor and pulls her dulcimer from her back, plucking at the strings to calm herself.
The Maiden strikes again!
Shula is beginning to feel distinctly woozy from loss of blood. She's committed now though, and it's not like she has any bandages to staunch the bleeding anyway. "This scroll...is ridiculously...hard to kill."
Not wanting to take her eyes of Lollia but having little choice, Lucretia strides towards Shula's back, wanting to help but not knowing how.
"Help them Jabir!" Prince Ali commands and his bodyguard strides forward to swing his scimitar at the scroll.
He lands a strong hit and the Shield Maiden lands a follow up blow that finally tears the scroll in twain! In the scroll case you find a scroll of dispel magic, a scroll of invisibility, a scroll of mirror image and a scroll of mount.
The Prince has a brief conversation with Zubari and the cleric raises his holy symbol, intoning prayers to the Master of the First Vault before the Prince hands over two fine platinum coins.
"My thanks for your valor and aid." The Prince says courteously. "I cannot have my protectors falling when I have the means to avoid it."
"Well said sir!" Imistos pipes up, and then looks very embarrassed - as though he's spoken out of turn.
With nothing else to find here you push on through the doors to the south. The first room is a towering archive, full of mighty bookshelves and, as best a brief search can determine, nothing at all of use. The next room however proves more interesting. Cold metal lockers line the open spaces in this room. Desiccated papers protrude from the few open units, while the rest remain tightly shut. Thick metal bolts connect additional lockers to the walls and some are stacked nearly to the ceiling twenty feet above.
A small winged creature floats in this room - its metallic body marking it as some sort of inevitable. "Greetings." It says. "I am Factor Twelve, curator of the archives. Have you come to withdraw an item, or do you wish for a particular tome in the reading room?"
Shula nearly falls over as Jabir finishes off the scroll. She's about to ask Zubari how much he would charge for some healing when Prince Ali takes care of the situation. (Which is fortunate, given that the answer to 'How much?' is apparently a platinum coin!)
Feeling better but with some wounds still bleeding sluggishly, she looks to Robert instead of Zubari. "Any chance the Lady still has some healing available? Or maybe one of the scrolls we found was a healing one?" She'd much rather not already be bleeding if they find themselves in more trouble.
Once that's all taken care of and she feels better, she turns her attention to Lollia. "So, uh, what happened? I mean, I was a bit busy at the time, but I could have sworn I saw you try to stab Lucretia." She raises an eyebrow as she looks between the two other women. "If she stole your boyfriend or something, I don't think now is the best time to try and settle the score."
"Hello Factor Twelve." It hasn't immediately attacked them, which Shula considers a good sign. "May I ask what kind of items are stored here?"
Lollia's cheeks are crimson and she doesn't meet Shula questioning gaze. "I ... I don't know. It was like ... like there was a voice whispering .... whispering horrible things." She looks up at her cousin. "I'm sorry, Luci. I'm so sorry." Tears begin to fall from her gray eyes.
"Something is messing with your head," the Shield Maiden says.
Hilde leaps up on the Maiden's shoulder and leans in to sniff Lollia.
Hilde finds the scent of the hat thoroughly unappealing, but can't pick out any specific malfeasance.
-----------------------------------
"We are in the Senate archives." Factor Twelve replies politely. "The original building was commissioned during the lifetime of Emperor Taldaris, although the architect is unknown. As to the current chamber it was constructed during the third renovation, approximately 1745 Absalom Reckoning."
It pauses for a few moments before responding to the reference requests.
"I have tomes of the Third Army of Exploration if you would like to read them. There are also a number of items in storage - a magical axe, a magical breastplate, some enchanted shoes used when particularly noisy people are in the archive, a wand to remove diseases which was donated by a rather amorous archivist and one of the keys for the auditorium. The other was stolen by a gremlin some time ago." The inevitable makes an annoyed sound. "What would you like to withdraw. I can only allow one item. Since the thefts I have had to crack down."
Watching Lollia's reaction, Lucretia takes a deep breath and steadies herself. "Come on now, Victor is right, something is certainly going on here and its obviously not your fault" Lucretia mutters an small incantation and casts as steps over to Lollia cautiously and pulls her into a gentle hug.
"That key sounds like it would be important Factor Twelve. Please could I take a look?" Lucretia asks adding some thanks, not sure if its appropriate or not. "You have been very helpful."
Shula tries to remain skeptical, but it's hard when Lollia looks so miserable. "How long has this voice been whispering to you?" Her tone is much less sarcastic now. "Since we got teleported down here? Before that? After? If we can figure out the when, maybe we can figure out the how."
Shula's fingers start to itch a little as Factor Twelve lists off the items available. Now's not the time, don't think about it, don't think about it... Doing her best to appear perfectly calm and reasonable, she asks, "Why would the auditorium need two keys? Is one a copy?" She pauses as a more relevant question occurs to her. "Also, do you know how to leave the Archives? Or have a map of the place?"
Apart from her magical wig Lollia has no auras of magic about her. Exactly what is speaking to her remains unclear...
"Both keys are required for the auditorium." Factor Twelve says pleasantly. "The doors are very large and I believe it was to avoid undesirables attempting to infiltrate any important meetings. There was a spate of vandalism and other subversive activity some time ago."
It pauses. "I am afraid I cannot help with exits, I was summoned directly here and given my role to fulfill. I do have numerous maps, but they mostly cover the Taldan Empire, rather than a local area."
"How long has this voice been whispering to you?" Her tone is much less sarcastic now. "Since we got teleported down here? Before that? After? If we can figure out the when, maybe we can figure out the how."
Reaching up and wiping her eyes, Lollia considers Shula's question. "Um ... the trophy room? No. Was it the room with the display cases?" Her brow furrows. "The room with the mannequins? Wait!" One hand reaches up to the hat in the guise of a scarf on her head and attempts to remove it.
Lucretia's face shows horror as she realises the same thing as her cousin and she back peddles a few paces to put space between her and whatever Lollia might be about to find.
As Lollia tugs at her scarf it resists her, spawning tiny appendages which clutch tightly to her head!
"Kill them!" The voice commands in Lollia's head.
Lollia manages to resist the urge and tear the creature from her hair and onto the floor, where it is promptly bludgeoned, cut and torn into small pieces.
The wig seems to maintain all its magical powers, but is now thankfully free of infesting oozes...
-----------------------------------
"They are not." Factor Twelve states. "The gremlin removed the key, as well as a number of other items. I suggest that you attempt to track it down, I know it is not in this wing but otherwise I cannot assist you. It was extremely cowardly however and fled when I confronted it."
Shula joins in the destruction of the many-legged creature that spouted from the scarf. "And here I thought the worst that could happen from wearing someone else's hat was a bad case of lice." She stares at the remains with horrified disgust.
"That should do it, right?" She looks to Lucretia for confirmation. "We should also probably have a policy that if anyone hears voices whispering strange things in their heads, they tell the rest of the group. Just in case." She's very glad now that Lollia had been the one to put on the hat, as opposed to someone better at stabbing things.
"I appreciate your assistance, Factor Twelve." As nice as the enchanted shoes sound, Shula has to admit that they have more pressing concerns. "I think we would like to withdraw the axe for now, to help us as we hunt down this gremlin. I'm assuming that later we'd be able to trade the axe for the key?"
Lollia kicks the now inert wig away from herself with a shudder. "Someone else can keep that," she says with disgust. The musician adjusts the borrowed coat on her shoulders and attempts to regain her aloof air from before.
"Shall we check the other end of the hall then?" she questions the others once trading with the inevitable has concluded.
The Shield Maiden isn't sure what to make of the strange inevitable, but she grins fiercely when offered the magical axe. "A fine weapon. Onward!"
She leads the way down the other end of the hall.
"I don't think that discarding it is the safest idea either," She says, pausing and watching Lollia give the wig a therapeutic kick. "Perhaps we should take it with us, Im sure someone knows how to fix it or a better use for it?" Lucretia suggests.
Lucretia follows along to the other end of the hall, keeping a close eye on her cousin to check that the ill effects of the wig haven't continued even without the wig.
Noting Lucretia's watching eye, Lollia sighs. "I understand if you don't trust me anymore," she says as she keeps her focus on Shula ahead of her. "But I am really sorry about all that. I feel horrible. It doesn't help that the only reason no one got hurt was that I'm incompetent with a weapon. I shouldn't be here, Luci. I'm dead weight."
At the far end of the long corridor the wooden walls give way to natural stone. From the narrow entry 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.
Inside the small building three rows of pews stand before a stone altar. A human statue stands atop the altar, its face and right arm broken off and shattered at the floor around it. Two smaller statues of women—each wielding a sword and shield—stand in raised alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners.
As you enter a translucent figure emerges from the front of the statue.
"Greetings, mortals. You have entered the temple of Arrow-dean and must pay tribute to him!" The figure makes a beckoning gesture towards the open box at the statue's feet.
The Shield Maiden salutes the statues of her sisters-in-arms, but she frowns at the apparition when it appears. "I think you mean 'AIR-o-den.' Somehow, I doubt you serve the Last Azlanti if you cannot even pronounce his name correctly."
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Robert completes the Shield Maiden's thought "And if you were, in fact, connected to Aroden, you'd be wearing something more fitting of the time, not shoes that became fashionable about eighty years ago. You mock the gods. I don't mind the mocking, but it's hard not to notice you're a fraud. Who are you really?" He is clearly a little too tired for diplomacy.
"What? Lies! You have caused Arrow-deans anger!" The image declares, its voice becoming slightly squeaky. A shower of glittering dust covers Robert and everyone near him!