The Ancient Library, Part 6 (Friday-Saturday, Abadius (I) 17th-18th, 4708 AR)
Fen attempted to go through some of the rubble using gaseous form, which also triggered a shining child appearing and looking for intruders. One of the dwarven prisoners the heroes freed perished in the ensuing battle, a victim of Bruthien's area effects. The particular rubble Fen crossed led to the library, and the heroes decided to trigger another shining child to have Fen open the doors from the inside the following day.
Library of Thassilon. Numerous glowing crystal lanterns hung on fine chains from the domed ceiling sixty feet above, filling this circular room with bright light. The walls of the room were carved with more runes and sigils, while overstuffed wood and leather chairs and polished oak tables surrounded a thirty-foot-wide shaft in the floor.
The central shaft contained the library's holdings. The walls of the shaft, 30 feet wide and 50 feet deep, contained shelf after shelf of books, scrolls, tablets, and other means of storing information. All of these books were written in Thassilonian, and all were in excellent condition. The subjects covered all facets of Thassilonian life - this chamber represented perhaps the single greatest repository of lore from this nearly forgotten age on all of Golarion, and as such, if its existence were made public, it would become a magnet for all manner of scholars, arcanists, and thieves from around the world. There were no ladders or stairs provided for those who wished to peruse the stacks. The heroes could use this library to research all manner of subjects relating to Thassilon.
One remnant from Thassilon remained "alive" in this chamber - a curious clockwork creature built to serve as a caretaker, sorter, and assistant for those who wished to use the library. Parts of it constantly smoked and its limbs creaked and whirred.
The clockwork librarian clattered and smoked to life when it noticed the heroes entering the room and hobbled over to greet them in an ungainly lurch (one of its three legs didn't quite work right anymore). It addressed the heroes in Thassilonian, asking, "Which volume of lore would you like me to retrieve for you? There are currently 24, 491 volumes, scrolls, pamphlets, and unbound manuscripts available. Please indicate your wish by author, title, subject, or date of acquisition by the Therassic Monastery." The librarian waited patiently for requests.
There was a staggering amount of information awaiting discovery in this library. Until this point, very few in Varisia knew much about Thassilon apart from the fact that the mysterious monuments that dot the land came from this ancient empire, and that the rulers of the land were despots and tyrants of the worst possible order. With the discovery of the Thassilonian Library, the heroes had a window into the ancient times of Thassilon, and with this window they could learn much of this time.
The books in the library helped introduce the heroes to the concept of Thassilon itself. The heroes' investigations turned to Karzoug.
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