"Well I'm free now", the Kitsune explains. "I just want to know the answer to the riddle to satisfy my own pride. You know how it is."
"Certainly!" the kitsune replies. "You'll never hear from me again except in song and legend. You have my word."
"I think so", he says after looking over the party's collected fragments.
"Oh, never mind. It's all there."
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The kitsune's eyes grow wide when Morvius speaks the word 'Caught' and he shakes his head. "I wish you hadn't done that quite yet. Well, until next time friends."
The fragments glow with power and rise into the air, swirling on unseen currents. In a flash, they assemble themselves into a whole scroll once again. From its center a powerful magical wind erupts that scatters the contents of the scriptorium but strangely leaves the party untouched. Howls of panic and delight are heard as various creatures are pulled up the stairs from the Stacks and Understacks below flying past the party's eyes in stretched out blurs. Lady Gormandelle's remains, the fishing birdmen, and the even the slain crocodile are barely glimpsed as they're sucked up into the powerful scroll's confines once again. Last is the kitsune himself, Caught, who smirks one final time.
"Do me a favor, eh? Figure out the answer to the riddle. I'll get it from you next time I escape", he says before the scroll captures him as well. "I'm looking forward to it..."
Finally, the enchanted script settles back to its original form, and the scroll drops to the floor, its magic dormant once more.
Returning down the stairs, it appears the water has stopped flowing. Unfortunately, the Archives are still very flooded.
Though doesn't seem to care how or why it happened, Kreighton is happy to hear that the flooding has been halted in the Overflow Archives. is visibly disappointed to learn that the party hasn't found a way to reverse the damage.
"Well done I suppose but I hope you're prepared for the many back-breaking hours of bailing, cleaning, and recopying that lie ahead."
When shown the trinkets and scrolls recovered during their search, Shaine waves his hand dismissively. "You can keep all of those things. Just make sure you mention them in your report."
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The Plan:
When she finds it she looks over the Precepts with detect magic to see if there are any arcane marks or alarm-style abjurations on it (or anything else for that matter). If there are that might change some of her plans below.
If the Precepts are spellbook shaped and it takes longer than a day to clean, Natula keeps it lodged safe in an unkempt pile of books overnight then relearns her spells the next day memorizing unseen servant and prestidigitation in place of hydraulic push and ray of frost.
She returns to the archive with her pack pillowed out with empty scroll paper from her transcribing or maybe an actual pillow from her room. She looses whatever the stuffing was in the cleanup work that day.
She finds another book similar to the Precepts and recolors it with prestidigitation to look more like her prize, and likewise disguises the Precepts to look like her own spellbook -- which since this is a Pathfinder facility she had left behind in her room. She stows the book in her backpack and walks out. Otherwise if that seems too difficult she has the unseen servant drag the book outside behind everyone's back and claims it there.
That's the plan anyway.
Another option involves emptying the archives to allow the damaged texts to 'air out' outside in the sun (otherwise there's bound to be a lot of mold--and we wouldn't want that would we?) and simply snatching it there using the above outline to switch the Precepts for her own spellbook or some other text or use the unseen servant to snatch it in the evening.
Kalas of course provides distractions as needed.
Finally depending on how much 'recopying' is necessary....
The Precepts doesn't have any alarms or arcane marks that Natula can discern but it does have a nasty quirk - it screams like a banshee whenever it's moved.
Disguising it as a spellbook is easy enough but it's unlikely to go unnoticed.
"I suppose. It'll only last a few minutes though."
Once it's silenced, hiding the Darklands Precepts in a backpack is simple enough but it's still a large tome and difficult to completely obscure the presence of.
Natula doesn't make it far before she's stopped by a veteran pathfinder, a seeker perhaps, on her way elsewhere.
"Hold on there", a hulking ulfen man with a long braided beard calls out. "You're part of the group Shaine sent down to clean up the archive, aren't you? Are you done already?"
He pauses, eyeing the awkward lumpy shape in her pack. "And what's in the bag?"
"SQUEEE!!"
The seeker cocks an eyebrow and nods slightly. "On your way then I suppose."
Though she believes she's made it out safely, later Kreighton Shaine arrives with a full team of veteran pathfinders. Without a word, they begin aggressively searching her quarters. Eventually they find the Precepts and the Master of Scrolls shakes his head in disbelief.
"I don't much care who you've stolen this for or why you stole it but know that I am disappointed. See that you remember what it means to be a Pathfinder in the future: 'Explore. Cooperate. Report.'
***
Fortunately, despite her frustration, Zarta is able to smooth things over with the Society, saving Natula from being expelled for the theft.