Dot here.
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"Aye Oh, is this the place? Buggers! I am early again. I guess I should introduce myself ... over and over again as everyone arrives or we could sit here and agree we will explain when everyone is here? Which would you prefer, my red-headed waiting partner? I am good with either way. Words are free after all."
A tallish dark haired, tan skinned man in a shiny breast plate and winter coat strolls in and sits down in a chair near the gnome. A silver chain with the symbol of a bow is prominently displayed around his neck. He also as a heavy mace on a loop attached to his belt.
"And we wait."
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"I heard there was wine...?" a dark haired Varisian man asks after peering in the room. He saunters in and looks around seemingly for a decanter or a bottle or a pitcher. He is dressed in dark yet soft leathers which conceals a chain shirt underneath and has a long slender sword and a few daggers hanging from his baldric. He has a mug in his hand that he shows you is empty by holding upside down. "Is there anything to drink? I was told to report here and that there was food and drink to be had.... Who are you...?"
Late at night, fortunately after Xanko has sobered up from his night's carousing, Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine summons the six of you to an annex of the vast libraries of the Grand Lodge. You make your way to the entrance area, where a trio of figures await.
“I have no love of puns,” Master Shaine announces, “Yet it cannot go unremarked that the Overflow Archives have begun living up to their name.” The pale elf gestures across the library’s stone lobby toward a pair of shut double doors from beneath which water steadily seeps. He is only one of the midnight visitors bearing witness to this disaster. 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, not really looking at the paracountess. “This delinquent initiate—what was the name? Wormell?”
“Virml, sir,” replies the sodden Pathfinder.
“Virml says he snuck 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?”
Zarta smirks and shrugs. “Unlike you, Shaine, I love a good pun.”
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"I never trust a man who can't laugh at himself. He is taking life too seriously if that is the case. Hello, all. I am Lybram Tendras, cleric of Erastil. It looks like you need a plumber not an adventuring group. But we will get to the bottom of this. If not, at least we can mop it up."
"But seriously, what can you tell us that will help us not cause further problems in the vault? Is there anything we particularly need to avoid? Do we get any goodies to help in this task? Sometimes you give out scrolls and such to help."
The paracountess directs a moderately frosty glance towards the gnome and halfling. "I believe I specified *good* puns. In any case, you have your task."
The response to Lybram's questions is rather more disjointed; clearly Dralneen and Shaine have a contentious history, and the waterlogged initiate seems to be trying to justify himself. Master Shaine eventually apologizes to the priest. "I fear this happened so quickly--and must be resolved with such haste--that I wasn't able to find anything useful for you. As for what to avoid--" Zarta Dralneen cuts him off. "There really isn't anything to watch out for, apart from what did thi--what *did* do this, initiate?"
Virml responds sheepishly, "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!"
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Virml responds sheepishly, "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!"
"Washed out here? Was it bath day?" Seebonickk smiles.
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Markus groans at the puns with a chuckle, and greets Malakar, Good to see you again Malakar! Been a while since Tamran hasn't it? the dwarf looks down at his clothes, muttering to himself, Why didn't I bring that potion of waterbreathing.... looking to the group, he speaks louder, Okay, I suppose we should get started with this.
"The ri--oh! Of course!" Virml holds up a sodden piece of parchment. Shaine grabs it before any of the party members can, glances at it, then hands it to the halfling. "It appears to be one of the rhymes from The Name of the Fox. An odd little scroll from Varisia, full of Sylvan doggerel. There's nothing remarkable about it--"
"Nothing until now, perhaps?" Dralneen interjects.
Virml continues, "I didn't see him long enough to tell what he was doing."
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"I thought this was a vault? I guess a library is a vault of sorts. Anyway, the water seems to be coming from the Eastern double doors. Perhaps we should start through there?"
Lybram points his mace at the doors.
"The rhyme seems to have a bird and fish theme. Not sure what it all means if anything. Good thinking to ask for it, Malakar. It could be helpful as we discover more information."
"Are we ready?"
Shaine shakes his head. "I will leave you to this. Virml--"
The initiate starts. "I was going to take these volumes up to the scriptorium and copy them, if that's all right?" The elf nods, and Virml gives the party a nervous wave and heads up the stairs in the south of the room.
Zarta Dralneen eyes the party as if looking for someone, then shakes her head minutely and sweeps out the west doors, followed by Master Shaine.
Lybram steps up and opens the double doors, revealing a much larger chamber. This spacious library is a damp catastrophe. A 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. Every now and then, another gush of water washes over the edge of the mezzanine. Oddly, the tang of salt is in the air.
Near the spiral staircase, a strange pair of creatures sit on a bookshelf that floats in the water. They hold crude fishing rods, and when the door opens they appear to be in the middle of an argument.
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Markus looks where Seebonick is pointing, and grunts, Yeah, I see that now that you point it out. as he moves slightly forward, peeking his head into the room. The dwarf sniffs the air deeply, Seawater? How'd seawater get in here, but it would explain why there's so much of it! And who are those two over there? Hilarious, they are fishing in a library.
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Zim peers around in disgust. "Why do they always call the short folk for jobs like this?"
She glances at Markus and nods in agreement. "It almost looks like waves coming in. But I think we might want to check the basement first. It's going to flood faster than here and if there's anything important, I don't want to swim."
Ignoring the two fishing creatures, she casts longstrider on herself and starts sloshing towards the spiral stairs.
The water isn't more than a foot or so deep, at least as yet.
One of the pair looks up at Seebonickk. "We're fishing! An' I just cau--" The other interrupts, "What d'y'mean, you caught? I got this!" They return to their squabbling over what seems to be a piece of parchment.
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Hearing Lybram speak to the creatures, Zim redirects towards them instead of the stairwell. She speaks in a much softer, almost honeyed voice, in contrast to the brusque phrases she's uttered before. "That looks absolutely fascinating. I've made a study of these sorts of things and I might be able to tell you something about it. Something worth money, perhaps."
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The two creatures ignore Lybram's entreaties, but perhaps it was his size that put them off--they are certainly far more receptive to the pair of gnomes. "Oh, sure! I'd be glad to give you what I--" "Hey, I fished it out, and I'm going to give it to her! You've been a problem since we came through the big sleeper!" "Oh, yeah? Well, you're more of a problem than that smarty-pants dog-cat! Now hush, before the big sleeper wakes up and eats us!"
Despite the argument, the pair does hand over the scroll fragment.
Malakar finds a 1' square grate in the floor, partially blocked with papers and other debris. It looks like the grate could be removed, and there's still air in the room below it...for the moment, at least.
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"Yes, very funny Xanko." "I wear armor and can't swim. Perhaps I should be a little afraid."
"There was a sleeper in the riddle, and these two look like an owl and an albatross." "Get them to tell you about the sleeper. It could be dangerous. It makes a meal of these two in the riddle."
Lybram looks at the water around him. "Is there any place the water is deeper?"
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Markus examines the riddles on the paper, and shrugs, uncertain of what it all means. I've no idea what this means, any of you got ideas? This isn't my strong point definitely. he looks around cautiously for the sleeper mentioned by the two small fey.
Do you think you can tell us about that sleeper? he asks them.
"Water's deeper in the fishin' spot here. Go down there, and I bet there's lot of it."
Both of them frantically shush Markus and Zim, glancing up at the mezzanine with terror in their eyes. "Don't talk about her! You'll wake her up! I don't want to get et again!" "Oooh, neither do I!"
In response to Zim's next question, the owl-headed creature fluffs its feathered ruff. "Don't know much about him--he came popping out of--" A quick head turn from side to side, far further than a human could manage. "the, the you-know-what the same time we did. We all ran away from...you know...but we stopped here to fish. He went splashin' down into the fishin' hole, stirred everything up, so we only got the one nibble." The other one looks dejected.