The Battle for Vulture Point Act III Scene III

 As the smoke settled around the prone halfling the occupants of the library regained their wits. The first to do so was an aristocratic elven woman who strode over, righted the panicked halfling and with a few questions and a stern tone gained a sketch of what had happened below: Nardo, the halfling in question, had been bringing a morning restorative to Martin and Dr. Thorngreen in the restricted stacks when he heard a loud bang. This was followed by an explosion of white smoke which engulfed whole of the room containing the two scholars - Martin staggered out of the smoke only to be grabbed about the neck by a tentacle and dragged back. This was when Nardo fled. The elven women became somewhat ashen herself at this news, and prepared to head down to investigate when she was stopped by some of the other staff - the Loremistress was acting irrationally and could hardly investigate this alone and unarmed. 

At this our three nobles stepped forward, offering their swords as one and neatly ending the argument. When asked to introduce themselves Dietrich replied that he was the lady's dinner companion two nights from now - at which pronouncement her features went from deep concern to puzzlement to the ghost of a smile as she placed him as the new lord Von Eisenwald. Gladly accepting their help, she formally introduced herself as Portia d'Ferrantino, Loremistress of the library, and sketched out the situation: Waldo Thorngreen and her son Martin ]D'Ferrantino were in the process of cataloging a new collection of arcane texts by the conjurer Albatier, and it is possible that some accident might have occurred. The arcane research room was still hazy, but much of the particulate matter had settled to the floor, revealing that someone had been dragged from the research room to the stacks, and there were multiple sets off prints wearing heavy boots in addition to the light slippers favored by Dr. Thorngreen. 

Cybele called forth her sorceress sight but found no magic in the room other than the faint glimmer of the spellbooks and the knife on lady d'Ferrantino's arm. After a moment's thought she was able to place the scent and texture of the dust - it was builder's plaster. This hypothesis was born out when the tracks led to a hole in the wall, the door that was once covered lying in shattered pieces in the thick dust and the once hidden stairwell revealed. Hiram recalled an anecdote about the original Ferrantino library, how it had been taken in the chaos invasion, every book that had not been salvaged destroyed by the enemy and the structure used as a stables. Indeed, the lower levels held their fell beasts - griffins, hippogriffs and even a catoblepas. Lady Portia said that the records were unclear on that last: it might have been a basilisk. (Tom: it's a regular petrification ho-down!) In any event, the old Loremasters escaped with all the books they could manage and eventually rebuilt this library. She is, however, at a loss concerning the existence of this passage or what it might contain.

Not griffin nor hippogriff, catoblepas nor basilisk fit the hob nailed boots and tentacles thus far in evidence, and the things they did know was down there were the young d'Ferrantino and Dr. Thorngreen, so with magical energies illuming their path and with blades drawn the quartet descended into the darkness. The circular stairs and craved walls match the design of the rest of the old library above, and when they reach their base and witness what the lights reveal, the blood rushes from lady d'Ferrantino far features and she faints dead away. 

Fortunately, the young actor was standing behind the Loremistress, and Hiram was able to catch the elf lest her fall do her harm. The reasons for her collapse are obvious to her trio of defenders, as the space they entered was not so much a room as a vacancy in the haphazard stacks of full bookshelves, running from floor to ceiling. (Tom: wait, the shelves full of books are running from floor to ceiling? Brian: Yes. Dave: OK, we thought you meant the books were huge. Tom: Which would have been pretty cool.) A very rough multiplication of spine sizes indicated hundreds of volumes in this space alone, with bookshelf forged passages extended in three directions. Cybele and Dietrich glance down those, finding them haphazard in their layout, such that the stacks formed a labyrinth of texts, and the dust on the floor had enough recent passages across it that neither of them had the skill to suss out the direction taken by those they followed. 

Hiram was able to rouse lady D'Ferrantino, who gasped with wonder with her first breath and began cursing herself the second "For decades we had tried to divine if any other books survived the destruction, and the answer was always that all the surviving volumes were within the walls of the library. Fools!" Our heroes wisely brush aside this personal tirade, and Dietrich recommends that the lady stay by the stairs, as there were multiple entrances to this space and they didn't want to run the risk of the invader, whatever it is, circling around them to return above. When the question was raised of how they might locate Martin and Dr. Thorngreen in the maze, Cybele smiled and called forth her serpentine soul, depositing Renee on the dusty floor. With a few flicks of its tongue the viper settled on a passage, with Cyble, Dietrich and Hiram tailing cautiously behind. 

The multiple twists and turns of the stacks indicate the haste with which the old librarians stored their charges, but with Renee guiding them the trio were able to navigate it successfully for some distance until the path both went straight ahead and branched twice to their left in quick succession. Cybele's familiar froze, which the sorceress took to indicate a confusion of the path. Via gestures the group sent Hiram down the first of the two branches while the other two prepared to rush to his aid if something occurs. He reached the end of the passage with no incident, then turned to check the passage to his right. It was then that Dietrich and Cybele saw a tentacle lash out from the darkness and grasp the young actor about the throat, pulling him out of their line of sight! The stricken bard witnessed a huge shape in the stacks with an amalgam of arms and legs and three heads before he was yanked to the ground!

Dietrich rushed to Hiram's aid down the passage, while Cybele ran down the next branch up, hoping it would let her flank their adversary. The lord Von Eisenwald executed a graceful turn at the corner and was saved by his quick reflexes - he was able to leap over Hiram and the two other bound bodies in the path to engage more directly with the beast in the flickering light. It took a second for the threat to properly resolve itself into a trio of boar men, one armed with a whip, rather than a more terrifying creature of pure chaos. Trusting that Cybele would arrive and Hiram recover in moments, Dietrich engaged them without fear, only to take a grazing wound from one of the creature's primitive short bows. Still, that did nothing to dissuade him from his attack through the guard of the group's leader, and then dodging the beasts counterstroke with an axe that severed the spines of several priceless volumes. 

The creature roared in its tongue (with which Dietrich was studied), ordering his comrades to engage the others while he dealt with this troublesome human. Any semblance of humanity vanished from the boar-man's eyes as it unlimbered a greatword and made to bisect the noble Dietrich. Hiram pulled himself to his feet, and, seeing the captives here conscious, dropped his knife to one of them so that they might engineer their own escape while he pulled his new wooden sword from its scabbard and made to engage. The crowded space of the melee worked against everyone involved, but Hiram proved that even with a practice blade he could hold his own. Still, the hope that Cybele would arrive and turn the tide proved fruitless - the lovely sorceress did not appear. 

Martin d' Ferrantino used Hiram's knife to free his hands and, with a gesture, clouded the mind of the hulking beast man, giving Dietrich another opportunity to penetrate the creature’s defenses with what should have been a deadly thrust. Alas, the thing refused to die! Hiram scored clubbing blow on the barbarian but could see over the boar man's shoulder that the bow wielder was preparing another shot that could spell the end of any of the combatants in the crowded melee - of the third boar man there was no sign. The archer's shot took Hiram in the shoulder but the young actor persevered, only to see his companion felled by a devastating blow from the leading beast's great sword! Dietrich lay prone, death precious seconds away, his noble blood forever staining the pages of the sundered volumes, but the actor interposed himself to prevent a final blow, landing another strike with Raul's insult. Before the wooden blade could meet the great sword in a parry the creature sprouted Hiram's knife in his throat and suffered an explosion of magic- sir d'Ferrantino's throw having been guided by the same divination that Cybele had on occasion displayed! 

Hiram watched the creature fall, only to see that the archer had re-armed and was preparing to fire again. Before the arrow could fly, a slender shape appeared in the gloom behind the bestial creature and a graceful hand was laid on its shoulder. The boar man dropped stone dead in an instant. To Hiram's surprise his rescuer was not Cybele but the Lady de'Ferrantino, who had followed the sounds of the conflict. The scion of the Desaud line wasted no time contemplating the timeliness of his rescue, instead dropping to one knee and dramaturgically drawing away the worst of Dietrich's wounds. Despite this magic his friend was still unconscious, but the lady d'Ferrantino was able to set him right with a potion of similar consistency and color to the one the group had rescued from Vulture Point. The lady was then gratefully reunited with her son, who had freed and righted Dr. Thorngreen. But where was Cybele? 

The lady Floriane, having hoped that she could navigate the labyrinth to her advantage instead found herself mired in the twisting stacks, unable to cover the distance required to reach the battle in time. She had reached a connecting passage in time to see the fair Martin launch his thrown knife, and from behind the rest of the throng was able to aid the assault with some of her own eldritch energies. Before she could step forward an introduce herself to the half bound noble, she was grabbed from behind, one burly arm pinning her limbs to her torso, a set of sausage thick fingers stifling her cry. As she was dragged away from her unknowing companions she heard a raspy growl in her ear, "Gront claim you. Now you no fight, slave."

"Not bloody likely" she thought. After a second more of being unceremoniously pulled along she felt the beast man's grip weaken, and with a shrug she pushed the staggering monstrosity away. Over the next few moments, the boar man's skin turned pale as its lungs failed to pull in the musty air before it dropped to the ground and expired. Cybele's serpentine soul hissed once then slithered back into her mistresses hands before the sorceress straightened her clothes and retraced her path to her companions.