The Kind-hearted young scholar Brother Egil's blue eyes light up as the two newcomers enter "Anton, Wilbur, thank you for coming!" He gestures to the fourth person who has not introduced himself, a tall swordsman whose furs and braided hair mark him as a barbarian, "And this is my friend Hinjo."
"Anton, Wilbur, let me explain my trouble.
A few days ago one of the librarians from the Athenaeum, a close friend of mine named Lucius who was reared by the Athenaeum as I was since our early youth, has gone missing.
When I went to the loremaster's assistant, Milos to request an excusal from my duties for a few days to search for Lucius he denied my request and added on to them with Lucius' duties. For reasons that are not entirely clear the high loremaster has declined to look into the matter and I have been ordered not to pursue it myself or bring it up again with any member of the Athenaeum. I am bound by my oaths of obedience, but I am worried, this is not the first time Lucius has gone missing.
"I have known Lucius for most of my life. We were both brought up in the Athenaeum and grew up together. He became a librarian and I, a scholar. Six years ago something strange happened to him. He seemed to change overnight. One day he was my friend of many years, and the next he was a complete stranger. He asked bizarre questions, seemed to remember nothing of our friendship, and treated the Athenaeum as his own personal library. Some months later he was caught violating the sanctum and was expelled. Shortly thereafter, he left Freeport entirely and was gone for four years.
"When Lucius reappeared, he was like his old self. He came to the chapterhouse and begged to be readmitted, saying that he had no memory of the previous five years. Thuron, the high loremaster, seemed adamant about refusing Lucius’s petition but changed his mind after a private meeting with him.
"Lucius returned to the Athenaeum, and it was just like old times for eight or nine months. Then he started to look haggard, and he told me he wasn’t sleeping well. Something was disturbing him, but he wouldn’t say what. He started asking a lot of questions about what he had been like right before his expulsion. The high loremaster talked to him about it, but Lucius wouldn’t let it go.
"I grew increasingly worried for my friend. He was constantly on edge and obviously exhausted, but pursued his researches with what appeared to be increasingly obsessive desperation. He seemed on the brink of insanity, as if one small thing could push him over the edge. Two days ago, he failed to come to the chapterhouse. I went to his home and found it empty. I searched all over but could not find him. The Athenaeum seems to deny it, but I know that something has happened to Lucius.
"I asked Arcata, Dogrynn, Hinjo, and some others to help me out and they agreed. We went to Lucius' home and it was dissheveled covered in books of travelogues of far off places and logbooks of various ships. Arcata found a to do list mentioning meeting with Captain Scarbelly, the infamous orc pirate captain whose ship is currently moored at the harbor. There was something about taking an Uraqi dagger. It also mentioned picking up turnips I think it was. We split up for the night and agreed to meet back here tonight. I am a little concerned that the others have not returned yet. I have made some inquiries that I think might soon please Aidan."
"Arcata, Hinjo, and Dogrynn found some taverns where Lucius had been asking after Scarbelly. And one where he met and had a discussion with an orc, though the barkeep denied it.
"I am bound by my oaths not to search for Lucius now or bring it up with members of the Athenaeum, but even as often as you study at the Athenaeum archives Wilbur, neither of you are members of the Athenaeum and therefore my oaths do not bind me from asking you for help. Will you be willing to help find out what happened to him?"
