Tests and Trials Game Thread

"I mean that Cladmir here has no love for the drow, and, I think...", he looks over at Clad, "is willing to assist in clearing them out of this complex. He's just not in his best fighting shape right now."

"We'll have to work on clearing out the remaining drow.  And we'll have to go back to make absolutely certain the tunnel's fully collapsed, and to further collapse it.  There was certainly a large collapse, but that is also the very reason that we weren't able to confirm the damage this time; much of our magic is spent in achieving the damage, the dust raised by the collapse made it difficult to breathe, and were we to wait the few minutes for it to clear so we could check the drow would have had ample time to close in on us and prevent us from ensuring a complete collapse.  Even if they didn't, without magic it would be far less possible to collapse the tunnel any further."

Jaq nods the entire while the others are talking.  "Yes, we did collapse the main tunnel the drow were using.   But that did not make the ones that were on this side of the cave-in happy.  We did...eliminate...many of them, including a really annoying mage.  But there are still some, and we will regroup and take care of them all as we stated we would."

The Librarian doesn't shift her gaze from Kroshav during his explanation but does give a small nod for the clarification.

When Lurn starts talking she switches her focus to Lurn and then on to Jaq, long fork tongue extending and retracting in a thoughtful manner.

"Once you can guarantee the tunnel is closed and that my participation in cleansing the drow will not be reported, I will send the golems."

She pauses and looks over to where she summoned you the pile of amalgamated "food" and creates a new steaming pile.

"Eat. I forget how often you eat, but it is often many times a day? You have recovered your equipment as well?"

"Yes, at least once a day, but better if it's three or four times. Most of our equipment, yes. I'm still missing a magic hammer that would have made dropping the tunnel easier.", Kroshav replies.

"Three or four times? That honestly seems excessive and time consuming." Her eyes narrow on everyone a she takes a strict lecturing tone, "You will purge yourselves in designated spots only. I remember that people came and soiled the library, despite there being a clearly marked location for it."

A pair of golems carry in a heavy looking stone bowl filled with water that they place near the food.

"Once the drow are cleared I can assist you in your searching for any remaining items."

"Purge? Err oh, yeah. What goes in must go out. We'll be tidy about our purging. Thank you."

Kroshav inclines his head in a bow and heads over to see what's for lunch.

The Librarian nods curtly before moving back and assuming a glazed eyed look into a wall.

This pile of food seems to include a greater assortment of vegetables half smashed vegetables than the previous pile. A few cuts of mystery meats are visible in the mix though. One side has a layer of grey sauce, or maybe it is pudding, mixed with chucks that upon close inspection are probably bulgur or couscous. Maybe they are just pieces of something else too. The pile is warm and, during Kroshav's inspection, has started to slowly decrease in height and increase in diameter as it oozes outwards. It doesn't smell bad.

Jaq is willing to eat more of the food, mainly picking out vegetables he recognizes and staying away from anything looking of pudding or ooze.

The part of the library we are now in, what do we see?   just books on shelves or other things, too? 

((The room is mostly a large cavern with tunnels out of it. You'd have passed rooms stacked high with books but this one is largely empty with only a relatively small number of books stacked along the walls.))

Kroshav selects the more recognizable items out of the pile for his meal. 

"Joe, you able to heat this up, or make it taste less like a pile of mushed up stuff?", he whispers.

Not knowing what is happening and frankly quite alarmed at the new development, Cladmir has resorted to holding his tongue and let others do all the talking.  He was pretty sure that he was more or less gawking at the "Librarian", and he tried the best he could to stop staring when he caught himself doing so, although he could not help but feel uneasy every time the forked tongue shot out.

He became much more relaxed, however, as the food made an appearance and decided to discreetly follow the other's lead.  Although he shared Jaq's sentiments when it comes to picking what to eat, he did try to see if he could divine if the pudding and ooze are safe for consumption.

Survival:  5

(( Sorry for being absent but work has been crazy. ))

Cladmir pokes around and finds an apple half fused to something that looks like it was maybe cottage cheese. It's all edible things, just that its like someone tossed everything from a fancy kitchen into a barrel,  rolled it down a hill and then heated the barrel before dumping it on a cave floor.

Yum.

Lurn sits by the food pile and starts on his regular prayers, then sets to eating.

All eat and drink their fills. What's the plan?

((It's still early, right? Think we'd proposed earlier letting Clad long rest to knock off some exhaustion, but it'd  be too soon for the rest of us just yet?))

((It is, you've half a day left before the long rest.))

"Librarian, I know you are focusing on other things too, but if you can still hear me...We need to wait several hours down here, then sleep before we can regain our magic spells and some of our stamina.  So we will be down here for many hours before we go back up to deal with the drow again.  Just so you know our plans.  To pass the time, i'm going to find a book that is in a language I can read.  I will treat it with respect and will return it to it's place when I am done."

Whether he gets a response or not, he will kinda assume he was heard and wander over to the wall with some of the books and will pick one out.  He is looking for one that is a slender book that he thinks he might be able to finish reading in a couple hours, and one that has writing on the spine that he can read.   Once he finds a book, he will plop down near where he found it on the shelf, sit criss-cross, and begin reading.    Glancing over at Cladmir, "Find the quietest corner you can and sleep, man.   I'll keep Joe from being too loud." he adds with a grin.

The Librarian doesn't respond to Jaq until he says he is going to pick a book himself, that brings her immediately back with a look of horror.

"No! Or I mean yes, and no. Yes you may read a book but no you may not simply pull out a book of the order that has been established."

On getting Jaq's preferences her eyes glaze and she says,

"Wait a few minutes and a selection will be provided."

As Jaq waits, under her watchful eye, he'd notice that none of the books here seem to fit his length requirement. All of them a quite thick and most look to rather expensive.

Five books are brought to Jaq -

• A dwarven book explaining the best method to create a bronze alloy for statues and fixtures labeled simply, "Bronze Alloys"
• A book in common, "A ranking of foods part 7: The disappointing foods in the Northeast Quarter" (a listing, description and ranking of foods in the Northeast Quarter)
• A book in common, "A short guide to owlbear husbandry" (it is more of a pamphlet, not in great shape)
• A book in elven, "The woods of Glenor Hollow" (poetry)
• A book in elven, "My season of sowing" (the author's discussion of seemingly whatever crossed her mind)

"Excuse me, Librarian? Do you have any books on combat styles? With drawings that show what the moves are?"