"It could be to see if we live up to the example set by previous Pathfinders. What sorts of tests have you already done, this is probably going to be different from those."
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Soven relaxes as he enters the room and moves over to the fire place. His eyes catch the gear stacked all too neatly that belonged to kaelor and dakgu, something is wrong. Not sure of what exactly though, Soven moves over to prepare drinks and welcome the party members. As he brings the drinks, on the same book used as a tray last time, to the center of the room- he stops at the words of Komana and Iacobus. Feelings of dread enter Soven and he doesn't bother to hide it.
Soven swallows hard.
What of our companions, Kaelor and Dakgu?
'This morning, as we walked down to our meals, our companions were found decapitated. Kaelor in the library he had gone to find, and Dakgu on his way to catch us up,' her face is ashen now.
'Our mysterious employer, revealed them to me when I left the room, just before he introduced me to Dird and Zareth. I thought you all needed to know just what the stakes are here. If I picked up on the conversation right, and Solany's hints, there is something doing this, and the greater organisation is stumped, thus desiring a smaller more focused team to come to the bottom of this threat.'
She sighes queitly, 'at least now you know, the weight of bearing that knowledge alone was quite a burden.
At this she moves from the door, and sits down, lost in thought.
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Accepting the drink Soven offers, Dird sits on a chair near the fireplace.
"I agree. I came seeking employment and the thrill of adventure and danger, but to know that the one I am replacing was killed in such a gruesome way...."
His shoulders slump with a soft sigh.
"It casts a shadow over me."
Dird gazes into the warm fireplace forlornly, and takes a sip from his drink.
'I couldn't agree more, it wasn't a pleasant sight. We need to keep tabs on each other, and work together to survive this.'
Decapitated? By the path and iniquity made righteous, was there not at least a struggle? Did someone not hear? Dakgu was no fool or fop, he could handle himself, as we all could see.
Soven is visibly shaking and not of fear. Closing his eyes and clenching his hands around the book, Soven regains his composure.
I am truly sorry for their loss, and for your bearing the weight of silence Komana. You have borne it well. Now I must excuse myself, I need to prepare for battle. I will make us something to eat as well. I no longer trust anything. not here.
'Yes, I must ready the magical gifts of the Judge.' Komana gets up steeling herself and walks into her room.
Zareth paces, a snake coiled near his ear. "I do wish they didn't hold the challenge so late in the day."
'Agreed,' Komana comes out into the main room, her back straighter and her face hard with resolve.
'The anticipation is galling,' at this she sits in one of the chairs at the table.'
'We must restart our spculation on this Test of Legacy. I wonder, our legacy or some bygone pathfinder's?'
"How about we all head over to the library and do some research? Better than just sitting here, at any rate."
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Iacobus starts, a soft snort emitting from behind his mask. Apparently, he's been napping while others prepare themselves, and he gets to his feet and follows along to the library.
"The 'legacy' of a Pathfinder is in the lore that is chronicled regarding their exploits and discoveries. As I understand it, there is fierce competition to have one's expeditions immortalized in a chronicle, and the process serves as a motivational tool to encourage individual Pathfinders to seek out more unique and exotic discoveries, worthy of being written up and distributed as a chronicle."
Thinking aloud, he continues, "The first assumption would be that the Pathfinders with the most chronicled expeditions would have the highest status. But it would seem to me that the most fascinating and significant discoveries would be the ones least likely to have been published, due to their having unearthed lore that is neither safe nor appropriate to distribute to the reading public. Secrets and histories of a world-altering nature, so to speak."
"It would be interesting indeed if the leadership of the Pathfinders is composed of those whose discoveries remain forbidden secrets, and who would be regarded as low-status nobodies by their subordinates..."
'An interesting postulation, though who is to know? Perhaps the leadership are as they always were, preserved by magicks and secrets forgotten, and better kept that way. Perhaps our employer is one of them, he's certainly careful enough with his name, and perhaps what we seek is a secret that should never have been unearthed?'
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The Library:
The Library has been converted from a long hallway. Bookshelves line the walls and a plush green floor rug hugs the fine wood floor beneath a single table with four chairs around it. An open book has been left on the table. Between the bookshelves on the eastern wall is a beautifully made landscape tapestry depicting a winter landscape with white and silver threads.
"Well, let's get started with some research, shall we?" Zareth begins walking towards the stacks, stopping for a moment to glance at the open book on the table.
Perception
'Very nicely upholstered, hopefully we'll find something of use!'
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Perception 1d20 + 6 : 5 + 6= 11
Yes, this is most definitely a library, and a nice one.
Soven is in armor and fully armed.
Approaching he book in the center of the room, Komana sniffs loudly.
'Is that ozone?'
"Well, someone was studying Kyonin, in any case." Zareth stops as Komana mentions the smell. "You noticed that too? Good, I thought I was imagining things."
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"Wait, when a planar barrier is breached, the air occasionally becomes burnt, for lack of a better term. That produces the smell of ozone. Meaning, of course, that someone just went to another plane. Whether they did it willingly is another matter entirely." Zareth casts a spell and begins to scan the room.
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'What do you sense?' asks Komana, refraining from casting the orison herself.
"It seems someone cast some sort of transmutation here a few hours ago. Uh, where did they find your companions' bodies again?"
'The library, this library it seems, our arcane companion was an elf, and you said the book mentioned Kyonin.'
At this Komana herself casts detect magic.
'Let's all stay fairly close, and have a snoop around, see if there are any other clues.'
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Looking quite out of place in his rags, Dird fidgets as he studies his surroundings.
"Yes, we certainly shouldn't assume that this place is safe...stay within eyesight of one another. I'd prefer not to have anybody replacing me as I did your previous companion."
With that, he begins wandering the nearby vicinity, searching for any signs of struggle or other disturbances.
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Searching the Library
The room is furnished simply, and nothing seems out of place except the book on the table. The books on the shelves are organized by subject matter: each of the arcane schools, some histories and geographical studies, a few books on combat. A few art objects stand on the shelves, some acting as bookends: a small crystal ball; a gold and glass figurine of Iomedae, two solid blocks of ebony wood with wood inlay and small crystals forming intricate filligree patterns on their surface.
Komana finds a gold coin that had slipped under the bookshelf, but by the amount of dust on it, it is apparent that it has been there for quite some time.
Detecting Magic
(Anyone who detects magic may read the detect magic spoiler I've posted earlier.)
'That seems to be it, whatever was summoned or breached the planar wall wasn't here for long.'
'Shall we quickly browse the books for hints to the Test of Legacy?'
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Iacobus casts detect magic, upon seeing the crystal ball, which he can't imagine is a *real* crystal ball, but can't resist checking. While the spell is active, he sweeps his gaze around the room as well.
He specifically examines the book on the table, flipping through the pages before and after it's current selection, and then returning it to the page it was currently displaying.
He then turns to the books and looks for a sign that one or more are missing, looking not so much for what *is* there, but for the negative space indicative of a book having been removed.
As Iacobus flips through the elven book, Soven catches small glimpses and reads them out loud quietly. His Elven does not flow as elegantly as an actual elves but it is smooth and well practiced.
Soven continues to look around the room on guard, the talk of something possibly entering and exiting with magic- and recently to boot, raises an alarm for Soven.
Answering Komana's inquiry, Soven replies Absolutely Komana, what though would you have us look for? I must admit this legacy finds me confused and almost without a clue.
'Good question, we'll have to go with our assumption of a tie to history so anything you see pertaining to the socities history or even better traditions might be of use.'
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The script is recognizably Elven. It is tight and neat, obviously written by a very studious and attentive person.
I find it hard to believe that Sin Magics were used so often in our ancient history, but I suppose given our Elvish curious nature and the proximity of other magical systems, we would have learned it. The text offers little that I had not already known, so I doubt that I shall take many notes from it, as I was intending. Instead, I suppose I shall ruminate on the possibilities of the challenges that lie ahead of us. It has come to my attention that many of the challenges placed before the Pathfinder core begin easily enough, such as the challenge of initiative we faced earlier today. Boring as usual, though an easy challenge to remove the particularly inept. But the reward for moving correctly was to, amusingly, move correctly. So it is possible, indeed probable, that each challenge is intended to lead to its award and then to the next challenge by following one particular theme. In other words, the award from one challenge should provide some insight into the nature of the next. I (the writing ends abruptly)
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The script is recognizably Elven. It is tight and neat, obviously written by a very studious and attentive person.
** spoiler omitted **
Upon recognizing it as Elven, Iacobus makes sure that Soven gets a good view of it, "Could you, perhaps, translate this for us? I am afraid that I do not read the script of the fair folk."
Soven nods at Iacobus's request and reads the script out loud to the others.
I find it hard to believe that Sin Magics were used so often in our ancient history, but I suppose given our Elvish curious nature and the proximity of other magical systems, we would have learned it. The text offers little that I had not already known, so I doubt that I shall take many notes from it, as I was intending. Instead, I suppose I shall ruminate on the possibilities of the challenges that lie ahead of us. It has come to my attention that many of the challenges placed before the Pathfinder core begin easily enough, such as the challenge of initiative we faced earlier today. Boring as usual, though an easy challenge to remove the particularly inept.
As he approaches the end, his hands begin to tremble and he stops as he looks up. This is the last words, written ones at least, of our fair friend Kaelor
Looking back down at the script he finishes reading it.
But the reward for moving correctly was to, amusingly, move correctly. So it is possible, indeed probable, that each challenge is intended to lead to its award and then to the next challenge by following one particular theme. In other words, the award from one challenge should provide some insight into the nature of the next. I
Soven stops and looks up indicating that is the last of it.
Komana, did they mention where he died. Here for instance
'They said they had found him in the tower, so it must have been here.'
'There's no blood, despite his decapitation,' shaking her head and clearly trying not to think of what that might imply, she asks 'do you still have the completed item from our last test in your bag, Soven? It seems that Kaelor's advice was sound. It itself is a clue to our next challenge.'
While speaking she pointedly avoids looking towards the chair their companion would have sat when his life was ended.
"Well, there is an aura of transmutation here. Some wizard could have just came up and destroyed a layer of his neck like that." Zareth snaps his fingers.
Sovens eyes widen at Komana's mention of the item he had temporarily forgotten, only to wince at the snap of the wizards fingers and his statement.
By the gods I had forgotten, thank you Komana, here it is.
Soven hands the item over to Komana upon retrieving it from his cloak, it takes a second longer as the cloak is under the breastplate armor.
Soven nods to the wizard, Zareth, in appreciation for his expertise.
With the detect magic active, Komana examines the item closely.