Zivilyn asked me for help recovering some books so he could make his own library. Apparently much like with pets he doesn't believe in buying preferring to take a "finders keepers" approach. It would be dishonest of me to claim I find it wrong, but sometimes I wonder if he is making his life harder than it needs to be.
The catalyst for this venture was someone finding the will of Levar the wise a renowned magician that lived just before the closing of the gates. A whole bunch of treasure seekers felt that was the sign to go out and seek the treasure trove of knowledge he must have hidden away from the world.
As a side note, what is with magicians and their constant bragging about how much they know but are not willing to share? Surely if the knew such important secrets of the world they would be better used by letting everyone know?
Azurea, Nez, and Reys were also roped in this caper and we promptly left to go research in the library, yet again ripe for "two trolls and three windlings walk into a ..." jokes. The Great Library, fearing a sudden influx of unwashed adventurers wanting to look at their prize tomes had put together an information package about Levar, but Zivilyn insisted on doing some research himself. Apparently the only hint we had was that the books were hidden where Levar did "his best thinking". Reys voiced what we all thought when he suggested the privy, but thankfully that train of thought was interrupted by an ork named Sholmes who claimed he would be the first to the prize. I had not really heard of Sholmes before but I was told he was a non adept known for canvassing Kaers after the adepts had got all the easy pickings.
Zivilyn had found a lead to a tower Levar resided in just before the scourge, so we set off in that direction. I checked with the Aeronaut Club if we could borrow the Arngeir to speed the travelling, but they were still mounting those cannons Sandrin had acquired, so we had to walk south towards Dveil.
The trip was uneventful and we reached the tower in good time. It was guarded by a bunch of gargoyles which did not pose much of a challenge, but I learnt that gargoyles can puke when Haze screamed at one of them. Inside we found little of interest except for some children toys until Zivilyn spotted a secret compartment in the floor.
Inside we found a package holding five books: one on the use of gargoyles for protection, one on capturing gargoyles, a spellbook, a journal, and a children's book. The journal included a lot of old man wishing for kids to get off their lawn, but also a note about moving even further away from Throal, with some directions.
The directions took us even further south, across the Serpent and into the forest there. As we got close to the location we heard sounds of combat, so Zivilyn, Nez and Azurea scouted ahead where they found Sholmes running for his life. Apperently he had encountered fiercer resistance than expected and his adept bodyguards were not quite up to the task.
As we approached the clearing containing a cottage we spotted four Skeorxes just about to have lunch. The fight was brief, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure it was a fight, one of the skeorxes wrapped me in its tail so I hugged it back, but I hugged a bit too hard and crushed its ribcage. Reys soothed a couple and the last one got taken out by the others.
Immediately we went to work on saving the guards, I patched the wounds on the ones still breathing while Azurea just zapped the one that looked beyond hope with lighting from one of her thread items. Apparently I am not the only one that things lightning is friendly.
Sholmes seemed suitably cowed by the encounter and let us have first pickings in the cottage. Inside we found more children toys and detritus of the ages but also another secret compartment, in the fireplace this time. No treasure trove yet, but more spellbooks, children books, and journal. The journal was full of cryptic references but eventually Reys and Zivilyn put together a theory that Levar had gone back to Throal under a fake name, specifically as Stephen Cozart, a relatively famous author of children's books.
We hurried back to Throal to try and get in touch with the Cozart family, which proved quite easy, and instead of being treated as crackpots we were told we had been expected as they had passed knowledge of the events down the generations. We were given a tile to place in some mosaic in the Great Library which would unlock the next stage in this wild goose chase.
The librarians were unsurprisingly unhappy with the idea of some random adepts hacking at their artwork, but we managed to convince them. Once the tiles were switched, the mosaic cracked open revealing a stash of about fifty books, mostly Levar's research notes but also some new children's book and some botanical illustrations. At which point the librarians started drooling and I am pretty sure one of them made sounds usually heard in a bedroom.
What followed was some quick negotiations as we bartered the stash for compensation and copies of the books for Zivilyn's library.Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:03 pm
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