Undercroft – Ravonlocke's Adventures

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Cover of Clouds takes Peddle and Yorgen home with her.
Mr. Darkfoot convinces the group that the skull we found would be safer with him, but the next time he comes around, he has large chains on his wrists, so I’m not so sure.
There is a silver key waiting for us in The Room, which opens a door to a room filled with teleportation circles leading all over Faerûn and into the Undercroft.
I set to work reading the scroll Mask gave me, and when I finish, a stone golem is in the room, staring at me – I name him Petra, but I’m not sure what to do with him.
Shohei wishes to purify the sword we found in Chult – Backtalker – with the power of his Goddess Queen. It seems though, that rather than purification, he absorbs the powers of the sword for it turns to rust and he is then able to summon a larger blade made of magic that looks fairly similar, but for the raven feathers, the aura of evil suppressed for now.
Questdrone heads up to Baldur’s Gate to look for a new dino pet, but comes back disappointed.

Broken Conduits

The Keeper has been secluded for a while and everyone is very busy.
More containment issues and fires in the Library!
Mr. Trisfir finds that the conduits where the fires broke out have been changed – the law preventing fires edited.
Mr. Trisfir and Mr. Darkfoot go speak to the First Reader and he sends them to check the others.
Every conduit in the Library has had a word erased, different words, changing individual rules, every rule in one place or another.

Going Down

Mr. Trisfir and Mr. Darkfoot fill the rest of us in so we can make a plan to help.
I ask Oghma for answers – the damages are intentional, by a force inside the Library, and something to do with the Keeper.
The First Reader decides to forge us a writ of passage to go find the Keeper.
We use our new found teleportation circle to enter the Undercroft.
It takes us to Miirym’s private sorting room.
The others try to deceive her about our presence, but she only calms when I tell her it was an accident of trying to teleport here.
The spectral dragon lets us go and we head down to the caves and back to the Mythal viewing chamber.
Unfortunately, we run into a living spell – Mighty Fortress – which delays us for some time and with many accidental effects of the wild magic down there.

The Mythal

Inside the viewing room, we find gear for four people and some books and papers lying about is if in use.
The viewing window is dark, but Mr. Darkfoot peers through to see that the Mythal, the floating tablets, and the Keeper of Tomes are all frozen into stillness inside.
Their supplies have barely been touched, whatever happened was weeks ago.
With haste, we read through the open books and spread papers of mythal lore.
A journal of activity – Archmagus Kyrran interface and did not return. Great Scribe entered and did not return. Another blank. The Keeper must now enter.
We relay a message to The First Reader who suggests the Keeper cast Timestop, and that he would understand if we came back, but asks us to find out what has happened.
The door we used before no longer exists into the Mythal’s chamber, but the conduit in here is still functioning, as are all the rest so the Mythal, while frozen, is still functioning.
Mr. Trisfir believes he can use the conduit in this room to create some protections and get a couple people into the Mythal room.
Using the conduit and his Staff, Mr. Trisfir is able to create a doorway through the stone wall, and fortunately, the Timestop does not flood in.
The room’s colors are muted and grey, and I toss a pebble to see where the Timestop barrier is, a few inches beyond our door.
Mr. Trisfir is able to use one of the books here and the conduit, to create a small bubble of protection against the Timestop.
Questdrone uses it to go inside and see that the rules on the tablets are indeed rewritten. The tablet with a prohibition against changing the rules is cracked, and the words missing above are also missing here.
He is able to bring The Keeper out and back up to the viewing room, where we explain how long he has been trapped.
He explains that his Archmagus friend went inside, there was a crack and he was gone. He does not remember the two Great Scribes who were also here and gone. He saw the crack expanding on the tablet and felt imminent dread, so he went in and cast his Timestop, but the Mythal took hold of the spell.
He does not know who has done this, but believes he knows a man who can help undo the Timestop, he will find him and send us to retrieve him.
After getting back up to our Room, we wonder if it is part of the disappearing Darkfoot records, if Mask or one of his agents, or an agent of the Darkfoot family itself is here, sabotaging the Library.

Meeting with the Keeper of Tomes

Keeper Janussi summons me to his office.

He has a writ of permission for myself and the group to go down into the Undercroft in search of information on mythals.

He tells me that the magics down there respond to those who come, and rise to challenge them.

He cautions that we must be mindful of Miirym and play into their beliefs.

He warns that while we should not be able to get close to the Library’s mythal, that should it happen anyway, we should be very careful.

He asks I give him a full report when we return, and should it be good enough, he might be able to get me access to nearby mythals of slightly less power.

The Basement of Doors

We gather up in the morning and head to the Restricted Section of the Library.

The guard there inspect our writ, and advise me to give one tassel to each party member, who must stay within 120 feet of me at all times.

We head down into the catacombs and first come upon a high vaulted room filled with shelves, crates, case, tables and chairs.

An altar to Oghma is at the far end, I offer a prayer to guide our quest for knowledge.

The rogue crew begins checking the doors for our path further down.

The first is full of pots and pans, the next door reveals a ratman bathing, the third door leads to stacks of books.

We find a path leading east and down, to a glass-domed laboratory.

Here, the doors lead to falling wine racks, an impossible decrepit tavern, and people who try to pull Questdrone in until he slams the door.

Shohei objects and disappears into this room for a short while, returning unhurt, but very tired.

Ms. Lendiel finds us a passage going further down to a room with statues eerily resembling golems.

The doors here lead to a narrow hatch going upward and a room full of buttons, and a passage further down.

Heading down we find a room full of mist, with several doors.

One to a room with a spying coin on a table, and one with a small dark floating sphere of annihilation in it. Mr. Darkfoot must be convinced to leave it be, and I fear he may try to come back for it another time.

There is also a stairway up, but it leads us to an airvent overlooking the Court of Air, but is magically protected from being used as an exit.

Having to backtrack at this point, we search more carefully, and Ms. Lendiel finds a moving bookcase with a downward chute behind it.

We all feather fall down together, a total of thee hundred feet to the bottom, into a room full of socks.

This room has but one door with a stone carving of a dragon attacking a keep, perhaps this is the greath Miirym’s battle against Candlekeep.

Mr. Darkfoot disarms and unlocks this door, and we head further on.

There are several passages and a door beyond, this doorway revealing a vast chasm with a singular bridge guarded by a minotaur, who appears to be feasting on part of a horse.

Questdrone speaks to him and discovers he his guarding the bookcase on the far side and will not be moved from his task.

Mr. Darkfoot and Questdrone begin to cross, but the minotaur shakes the bridge so badly, that Mr. Darkfoot must enter his book.

Questdrone is able to duck and dodge his way past the minotaur to the far side, though I worry they are getting outside the protective range of the writ.

They take all of the books they discover on the far side, including a Tome of Clear Thought, and make their way back, quite injured by the minotaur, but he stays his post on the bridge and does not pursue them.

I fear we are taking things that would rather stay in their places, but the others assure me that locked away is no place for such a powerful Tome.

We head down again, and the air grow hot and dry, and there is the sound of breathing.

Perhaps we have found Miirym at last.

Ravonlocke's Adventures

Tag: Undercroft

Report 24: The Keeper of Tomes