"So you do have a compass. A compass opens up and there's arrow pointing to the city or at least the plot of land that city is on even if it's shifted around. Which city does it lead to?" She stops look at all the compasses on her belt. It's quite obvious her chain is magic item that swaps out different compasses.

(For anime fans, think eternal log poses from One Piece)

"Well I can make a compass without issue..."  Gotch says with a frown.  He opens up the compass and points in which direction it is pointing.  "This one points that way..."  He  waves away the compass and conjures another, concentrating on making a 'different' compass.  He opens that one and points which direction it now points.  He does this several times, working to remember the difference between the compasses as he conjures them.  "If you let me see some of your compasses, I can make ones that are copies of those..."  Gotch tells the woman.  "I can only have one at a time, and they only last an hour before I need to conjure again, but I should be able to duplicate any compass..."

She seems to chuckle but it was just a moment, "Copying a compass doesn't actually work. A copied compass is static. A real compass will correct itself as you move. If I had a compass that's set to your location, it be point to the my front" She walks to another section of the spectator stands so she's standing to your right.

"Real one would still be pointing to you. Copied one would be still pointing to same direction as you saw it. If you want to create a compass to location, collect some dirt from the spot and go to Cardinal city. You can also buy them at the city," She explained. 

(Assuming you took all three compasses, you have one for Kirkwall, Cardinal and Food)

"Ok, then I just won't duplicate yours, but create ones from scratch." gotch says with a shrug.  He tries this, then frowns as the point of his compass does not change as he moves around.  "Well that is less than satisfactory..." he grumbles as he waves away the last try at a compass.  He conjures another chair and sits with a dissatisfied grunt.  "Seems like we need to travel to this capital and buy us some of these strange compasses."

(Who has the compasses then, I do not believe Gotch found any of them...)

They were on a shelf by the door that led to the outside.

Find then Gotch would have grabbed them as they went out.  (Unless someone else already posted they did...)

Pulling one of the other compasses out, he holds it up.  "I do have some that i found on the way out before..." he says and points in which direction this one is pointing."  He clearly would rather be using conjured ones instead.

🤣

Tundra asks "Are there any specific creatures that live here, or is it a mishmash of lost souls from the planes? I'd be curious to know how life forms would have adapted to such a shifting environment. Is there anything to look out for as we travel around the Valley, are there any risks that the ground just opens below us to let us fall in endless space?"

After she gets answers to those questions, she'll continue "You seem to have an awful lot of compasses. Last time we met, you told us you were not a local and had no plans of meeting us again. I understand not meeting us, but how do you have so many compasses and not consider yourself a blood? Especially if leaving is impossible, does that not make you, by definition, a local? I don't know, maybe I'm just awfully curious. Would not be the first time."

"Kirkwall is the Legion's defensive outpost for this swamp area. I do not know about this Food location. Cardinal is a neutral city where compasses are made and no one is allowed to raise conflict without being an enemy of all the other groups," She explained if told the names on the compasses.

"I'm as local as you were local to the Forgotten Realms. The Valley is vast, larger than many continents of any realm or plane. As for dangers, wild life is as dangerous as wild life in all the realms put together so keep your head on a turn table. Also watch for shooting stars, they're something coming to the valley, sometimes it's new city sometimes it's new beast, new person," She seem to mill around in her head for a moment, "I am just a librarian from the Greta Librarian. In this location, I would appear like a 'Blood' but I'm far from calling myself a professional. If they had sent one of the higher greater librarians, they would have forcefully returned the book by the time you got out of your cage," 

"I'd assume that the Greta library would hold much of the information and history to be found about the Valley? Would it also be the place where we'd find spellslingers and sages? A mage school perhaps?"
"On another note, what does a body do to make a living in the Valley? Does the land shift within cities, making things like farming and mining difficult, or does the shifting happen outside settlements? Are there any martial art schools, adventuring companies perhaps?"
"Ah, but forgive me, perhaps we should discover much of this on our own, I could just talk like this for hours."

After receiving her answers, she then leans back from the conversation, taking a more passive role, still listening and periodically struggling not bounce back on a topic and hog the discussion. 

"The Great library is where great minds gather and share knowledge by invitation. You can find spellcasters anywhere in the valley really. AS for living, there are jobs everywhere in the valley and many hidden locations to explore should you find them. The shifting often displaces areas like floating toys in water,"  she explained before she stop and tilted her head as if she heard something, "Seems like I've taken a bit too long and must be going. I would suggest stopping by Kirkwall if you wish to offload that hide, It's much closer than Cardinal," She turns and head off at a jog. 

"Well, off to Kirkwall then, thank you for your time" Tundra says, with a sincere expression of gratitude.

While walking , Onyx would aproache Izen: „ I have noticed that you are very familiar with handling potions and chemistry, i know a lot about leather work, i just need to get myself the right tools. I was wondering if you could help me to tan this hide, so i can turn it into an armor, maybe even give it a little extra durability. I also got a great idea for a quiver, i want to discuss with you later.“

"Say that is a good indication it is time to be going." Gotch says, heading out with the compass mentioned in hand.  "Let's get moving, in case the wizard there was running because of something she doesn't even wish to face is coming..."

Going to wait for others to give thumbs up on travel plans and any retroactive questions. Also arrange marching order.

"I'm ready lets get going. I want to see what they have"

„Better let‘s get going. We should move slowly and carefully since we don‘t know the area“

(So we're currently down to four)

Seeing the librarian quickly depart, after a few glances to each other, you quickly get out of the pit and retrace your route through the complex until you're make your way to the surface once more but no sign of the woman along the way. Gotch opens the compass marked Kirkwall and gets a heading. The group starts it's path in that direction.

You trek through the muck water and probably some things you rather not know for hours. During these hours you see quick glances of creatures but they seem to peek at you before running off out of view. After a few hours of this, Onyx realizes it must be the gator parts scaring off the creatures. AS night ccomes, you find a reasonably dry patch of land to set up camp for the night.

As you take turns keeping watch as the rest sleep, Mai sees a white being quickly approaching the group and raise an alert. Scrambling from your beds and grab your weapons, you look at the spot Mai points to find nothing, To Mai, a large white rabbit-like creature is sitting on the spot just staring at her while tapping it's foot impatiently. After a few moments, someone tells Mai she's tried and get some sleep and they take over the shift.

Mai climbs into her tent but find the rabbit has appeared in her tent "You're late. So very late," and a hole appears under her feet which she falls into without a sound.

In the morning, there's no sign of Mai or even her tent. The spot where her tent was laid undisturbed. You search and investigate for anything but find nothing. the rest feels really on edge for the following day while following Gotch's directions. When it seems noon, you see a settlement. A large fortress with wooden log walls and sharpened wooden spikes line the walls expect for a gate. As you get closer, you see guards along the wall and they seem to be shourting as you appearch. 

As if someone was standing next to you all, "Stay where you are. State your purpose or intentions at Kirkwall. You can reply to this message," 

" We are new to this land."  gotch speaks up.  "We just want a place to get out of the swamp and have some gator parts to sell..."

”we’re looking for a place to stay here, and to do some stuff with inventions”