A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

[sblock=about Keldar]

Trouvere said:

OOC: I guess. I don't regard Keldar as being particularly good at bluffing. His low Wisdom and lack of ranks in Sense Motive make him personally gullible. He's told so many tales and revised his own personal history so many times that he's no longer sure what's true himself. He veers wildly between grandiose claims of competence and (presumably) obfuscating stupidity depending on his mood from moment to moment. It was Rapture who was supposed to cover Bluff and Diplomacy for the team. Keldar's (probably) a fantasist; she lived a role.

Click to expand...

if keldar is such a good lier, then bluffing comes naturally to him. further more, it hink bluff is charisma based, it is sense motive that is wisdom based.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC: ]So, according to Trouvere, Keldar has nothing to contribute. Do I have that right?

Tarag passed his check, so that's another +2.

And heroism is available. Will you use that instead? I'll assume so.

Tommy's base: +5
Guidance: +1
Heroism: +2
Fimble: +2
Tarag: +2
Helm: +2
Library: +2
-------
Total: +16

Sounds right?[/sblock]

After a short while, the young scholar returns with an ornate helmet. He hands it to the librarian, who passes it on to Tommy. "Here you are, as requested."

ooc: sounds good to me.

[sblock=OOC]Yeah, call me literal minded, but I don't think Keldar can do anything, unless you want to count his trite obviousness in 574 as some sort of check. I have no idea what Tarag has actually done with his Craft check. Damn 4e nonsense creeping in everywhere.

Guidance gives a competence bonus to a single check. Where's that coming from? Schrödinger's Cleric? In any case, it won't stack with the +2 from the Helm, so it's irrelevant.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]

Trouvere said:

Guidance gives a competence bonus to a single check. Where's that coming from? Schrödinger's Cleric? In any case, it won't stack with the +2 from the Helm, so it's irrelevant.

Click to expand...

If Tarag doesn't have it prepared, we can pay for it. I assumed an orison wouldn't be hard to come by. Yes, it gives a competence bonus, but the helm's competence bonus is +5, and we're only getting a +2 out of it. I think it could be argued that it's being treated as a circumstance bonus in this case. Up to Rae, though.
[/sblock]

Tommy sits down with the many books collected throughout the day arrayed in a semi-circle around him. Fimble stands nearby, the book of maps in his hands.

Setting the helmet firmly on his head, Tommy requests the spell. With all of the resources you could possible collect at his fingertips, he starts to read.

After coming to some silly conclusions (and being quickly set straight by Tarag), Tommy realizes the book is meant to be read backwards. Starting from the back of the book and working forwards, patterns begin to make sense, and before too long, you can make out some phrases. Using the book of maps in synergy with the books at hand, you match up some characters and it all starts coming together. The spell wears off, but the damage is done, and the book spills its secrets.

In the end, it's a few key words and phrases from the that unlock code the book, and the gist at least is clear. Urton, if that's who wrote this book, was up to no good, and has collected a stunning amount of secrets about the secret infrastructure of Fallon and other nearby cities. Passages from the Orussian sewers up into the library, caverns and crevices in the lower levels of Fallon leading beneath the bottom of the crater, and other convenient bits of information.

Most notable is the detailing of a passage leading from Urton's old house (Turket's place) into a tunnel system that spans the levels, extending upward to some of the highest places.

The librarian looks on in awe as Tommy's quick notes begin to make sense. And then, when the missing piece of a puzzling phrase falls into place revealing a bookshelf door on the third floor of the library, he gasps and excuses himself.

He comes back with other librarians who gather around Tommy, buzzing excitedly. All scorn towards an Academian gone from their voices, they ask Tommy questions and start assisting in compiling the book's information in a more organized way.

The rest of the book will take days to decipher completely, but the code is cracked.

Tommy, entirely within his element, laughs and chats with the librarians as they puzzle out the rest of the book, quite forgetting the silly helmet on his head. He makes sure to take the time to thank them for their help and assure them that he couldn't have done it without them. Might as well do what I can for intercollegiate relations, he thinks.

At length he excuses himself, handing the helmet to an excited young assistant librarian who happens to be next to him at the time, and escapes to an adjoining room to confer with Keldar, Tarag, and Fimble.

"So, a tunnel under Urton's house, leading to a maze of secret passages. Sounds like our next steps are clear."

"Does it? I don't think we've learned anything," says Keldar. He kicks surlily at the base of the wall. "We're no closer to finding Urton or anyone else. So we found a few more secret passages. We knew there were secret passages. This morning I said we should explore one, if nothing else came to mind. Now half of Fallon knows about them too. You know how much librarians can talk, after a day creeping about whispering at work? Tomorrow, all of Fallon will know it, including perhaps people we know we'd rather not have know we know, if you know-"

Keldar loses his train of thought.

"Not that you didn't do splendidly there, Tommy. A masterful display of intellectual prowess. I didn't even need to step in to lend a hand. But you could all learn to pay a bit more attention to the need for secrecy! Right! Let's pay them, impress upon them to the extent we can the importance of not getting it into their heads to go wandering off through passages hidden behind bookshelves or anywhere else, and... I think I'll buy you a present, Ginger, for a job done as well as we can expect."[sblock=OOC]The magic supplies store, on the 5th attempt.[/sblock]

Tarag grabs Keldar's arm - hard - and drags him aside. He speaks softly and tersely, then lets him go and returns to the celebration.

"Let him have his moment in the limelight, you miserable little sod! For once, let it be about someone other than you!"