The Library of Uke.
Of all the Church's monoliths to faith, it was perhaps the most impressive from an architectural point of view. With its flying buttresses and stained-glass windows, it seemed more like a cathedral than a library.
Lieze couldn't quite see the beauty of it, however. Against a backdrop of darkening clouds, it seemed more to her like a cruel display of the Church's influence, seeding itself within the city's western district. She tugged the hood of her robe down as ice-cold raindrops forced her hands to clench involuntarily.
"That letter didn't happen to mention where the grimoires were kept, did it?" From her side, the familiar voice of Drayya spoke. It may have been the light, but from Lieze's perspective, she seemed somewhat apprehensive about the idea of entering.
"If they're as forbidden as the Church claims, I have a feeling they'll be locked up somewhere." Lieze answered, "No matter how secure they are, I don't have any intentions of leaving before we have our hands on them."
"Hm. That's what I'm concerned about." She paused, "...Shall I send out the Wraith?"
"Is it in position?"
"As far as I know. I picked just about the busiest spot there is at this time of day." She assured.
"Very well. Let's begin."
The plan was very simple: send the Wraith out to terrorise a street in the city and wait for the guards stationed outside of the Library to hear the screams and run off to save the day. Thanks to the creature's incorporeal nature, Lieze didn't have to worry about smuggling it into the city.
"Will we have enough time?" Drayya asked.
"Certainly. Though Helmach managed to weaken it during our first battle, it's still incredibly powerful. But, I hope you'll have the sense to recall it if things become too risky."
"I do have common sense, yes. Thank you for making sure." The raven-haired girl snapped.
She fell into a daze of concentration, manifesting her will across the cold air of the city towards the Wraith, bending its terrible power to her whims. Lieze raised her head as a scream pierced the air moments later, sending a flock of nearby pigeons skyward. Like trained hounds, the tabard-clothed soldiers idling at the Library doors raised their spears and sprinted off towards the source of the commotion, leaving the entrance conveniently open.
"If only everyone in this city was such a mouth-breathing simpleton…" Drayya muttered.
"There's no time to waste." Lieze stepped onto the rain-soaked road, "Let's go."
New Quest Received!
'Secrets of the Forbidden School' - Own at least 3 spellbooks in the [Necromancy] school of magic
Reward - 2,000xp
The double doors leading into the Library were heavy, requiring the strength of both necromancers to open a crack wide enough to slip through. Lieze's wet footsteps echoed as she wandered into the building. Drayya pushed the door shut behind them, muffling the sound of the rain.
Four sets of balconies overlooked a room flanked on every side with bookshelves stretching up to the ceiling. The scent of musty tomes and ancient history mixed with the conservative lamplight peeking around the various corners to create a sagely and venerated atmosphere. The sight would have been rather striking, if it hadn't immediately filled Lieze with dread.
"Sages' beards… how are we going to find what we're looking for in here?"
"Shh!" Drayya hissed while placing a finger to her lips, "What if someone's here!?"
"It's not a real library, you know… it's just an archive." Lieze placed a hand on her hip, "Marché thought the place would be overrun with zealots keen to unearth the old scriptures, but I'd bet gold on us being the first visitors in months."
"Forgive me for trying to exercise the slightest amount of discreteness. It's not as if you're the most wanted woman in the city or anything like that." Drayya shrugged, "Still - we'd best err on the side of caution."
"Agreed. Now-" Returning her gaze to the bookshelves, Lieze sighed, "...Where do we even begin?"
Scriptures. Hymns. Treatises. Theses. Chipped shunts of wood extending from the edges of the bookshelves had arranged the Church's documents into quite the organised portfolio of madness. The earliest documents weren't books at all, but cuneiform tablets of clay, penned in a tongue Lieze had never seen in her life and couldn't be entirely convinced belonged to the Church at all.
"Knowledge from a bygone era." Drayya ran two fingers over the characters, "This is the sort of thing the Sages would have razed the entire city to get their hands on."
"Ancient wisdom lifted from ancient cultures. Not with permission, I would guess." Lieze commented, "It will all be destroyed. This is the pitiful truth of we who are cursed with life - gleaning information from the past in the unfounded hope that it will lead us towards enlightenment."
"How very kind of them to put all of their treasures in one building." Drayya leaned back and allowed her eyes to wash over the countless spines of grimoires, "No forbidden tomes, however."
"No. I doubt they'll be out in the open." Lieze glimpsed one of the chambers through the gap of a balcony above, "We should split up and search for them. These are the works of necromancers we're looking for, so I imagine they'll be quite distinctive."
A single nod was all she got in response. While Drayya combed the ground floor and its gargantuan bookshelves, Lieze veered off to a doorway on the right, ascending a staircase to one of the Library's many side chambers.
The room she ascended to was a decrepit scriptorium. Wooden stands played host to half-copied sheets of parchment and jars of dried ink - the workspaces of monks who most likely staffed the Library once upon a time. The sight didn't interest Lieze in the slightest.
Ascending yet another staircase, she came upon what appeared to be an anachronistic alchemy laboratory. Fine instruments of glass more exquisite than a centuries-old country had the right to own collected dust on a labyrinthine mess of tables and benches. Behind the windows of wall-mounted cabinets were laid disorganised groups of chemicals and reagents.
"Alchemists? I didn't think the Church was so keen on this sort of thing…" Muttering to herself, Lieze ran a hand over the dome of an alembic, "And such complicated equipment, too… you wouldn't have seen any of this in a Sage's laboratory until about 15 years ago, but they seem ancient."
Questions boiled in her head, but she dismissed them with a sigh. There were still 2 floors left to see. The room above the alchemy laboratory was the least interesting of them all - living quarters for the former denizens of the Library. Rodents and insects had picked apart the finery draping rows of bunk beds over the years. A thick layer of dust coating every surface dissolved what little homeliness remained.
The final staircase ascended to a single wooden door shackled with a lock so rusty that Lieze was surprised it hadn't crumbled into scrap. Pulling out her dagger, she stuck its length into the rung and jostled the grip back and forward, smirking as a metallic *ping* accompanied the sound of it dropping to the floor in pieces.
"Doors are never locked without a good reason." She muttered, "Now - what secrets are stowed away in this pitiful slice of history?"
A cloud of dust awaited her on the other side of the door. As she coughed and sputtered and waved a hand in front of her face, the sudden change in the air caused an unlocked window at the room's far end to buckle, sending a chill through the air as wind blew in from the opening.
"Damned dust…" Lieze cursed, "...What is this place?"
At first glance, it appeared to be a private study of some sort. Opened tomes and manuscripts had spilled from a desk onto the floor. The single bed pushed into a corner was collapsed on one side. Combined with the sight of the rainy streets below the window, it conjured images of the sort of place a sorcerer would call home - quiet and secluded and ravenously studious.
The mess wasn't at all interesting to Lieze. Rather, her gaze had been caught by the sight of a particular tome resting shut on a stand upon the desk. There was a particularly repulsive quality to its appearance, which took on the pinkish hue of bare flesh inflicted with what appeared to be patches of emerald mold. Lieze couldn't help but shudder as she felt her fingers sinking into the material.
"Bound in skin…" She clenched her teeth involuntarily, "This must be one of the grimoires we're looking for. But why is it here, of all places?"
New Quest Received!
'Curiosity' - Examine the grimoire of bound flesh
Reward - 500xp
"I was going to do that anyway…" She blinked, "Let's see…"
Yellowed pages marked with an unsteady hand revealed what appeared to be the as-of-yet unexploited secrets of necromancy. Differing itself from the blood magic grimoire already in Lieze's possession, the skin-tome seemed devoted to optimising the raising of thralls in order to facilitate the creation of great armies.
"How long has this been in the Church's possession?" Lieze wondered, "It must have been written by a member of the Order long ago. Not even my father is aware of these techniques. But with that in mind, why is it out in the open like this?"
Quest 'Curiosity' Complete!
Reward - 500xp
Her train of thought was interrupted by a distant sound. The echo of something large and ancient scraping against the floor directed her towards a short balcony connected to the study. With her hands over the chalk balustrade, she peered down from her perch towards the entranceway of the Library.
"Damn it…" She whispered, "What a terrible time to have visitors…"
Fog and rain poured in from the entrance as two priests pushed the doors open with all of their might, freshening the stale air of the building with a chilly wind. A woman dressed head-to-toe in the garments of a nun walked in with both arms folded neatly at her waist. Five members of the Order of Green Dragons followed at her back, plate armour and spears slick with rainwater.
"That woman…" Lieze kneeled down to stare through the balusters, "Furainé? What is she doing here?"
When last they spoke, that strange woman had left Lieze with a terrible taste in her mouth. A knot of danger formed in her chest as she recalled that Furainé was part of the same esoteric fold as Helmach and Alistair - touched by the Gods and left with a mimicry of Lieze's power.
A silhouette in the distance caught her eye. At the opposite end of the Library, Drayya was knelt by a balcony one floor down, waving something in her grasp - a terribly large crimson tome. In response, Lieze brandished her own grimoire, eliciting an uncharacteristic thumbs-up from her comrade in place of a reply.
They didn't need to exchange words. Their objective was clear: escape from the Library with grimoires in hand without being spotted by its sudden visitors. Understanding full-well the advantage Drayya had in stealth over her own, Lieze beckoned with her arm for the girl to move towards her position. With an exasperated expression, Drayya retreated to the side chamber, leaving Lieze with nothing but time to consider their escape.
New Quest Received!
'Search Party' - Escape from the Library of Uke undetected
Reward - 2,200xp
"Furainé can see her name… does that mean an invisibility spell won't fool her?" She considered, "No… Drayya already knows about that. She'll just avoid being seen altogether… hopefully."
She wasted no time establishing an avenue of escape. The study was host to a single window which overlooked the declining rooftop, leaving an uncomfortably small area to scramble onto. Lieze wasn't keen on the idea of walking along layers of dilapidated, rain-soaked shingles, but it was certainly the safest way to escape undetected.
"Oh dear…" She sighed, "Why can't it ever be easy?"