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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 4052044" data-attributes="member: 9546">“This library is worth a fortune,” Marius mused as he casually perused the assortment of books stacked haphazardly around Ahazu’s well, most of which focused on the mysteries of the Abyss, with a particular focus on dead and forgotten demon lords.  “I suppose,” Mandi said, boredom in her voice as she flipped open a couple of the tomes.  “There’s really nothing new here, though.”“Easy for you to say,” Marius sneered.  “Most of us haven’t lived several hundred years, studying the minutiae of the multiverse.”“Is that jealousy I hear, my little…”  The sorceress’s voice trailed off.  Marius glanced up to see her standing in front of a lectern which bore a thick libram bound in brass with a cover of deep purple leather.  A clasp shaped like a three-fingered demonic hand held the covers tightly shut.  Slowly, almost reverently, Mandi unlatched it and opened the book.  A moment later she gasped, her hands covering her mouth.“What?”  Marius asked sharply.  “What is it?”“It…it’s a copy of the Demonomicon…”  Mandi said quietly.“You mean Iggwilv’s Demonomicon?”  Marius asked, suspicion in his voice.“Do you know of another?”  Mandi snapped.“That’s not possible,” the gnome said dismissively.  “The Seekers have accounted for all six copies.”“Which means this is a seventh,” Mandi said, letting the implications of the statement sink in.  “But…,”  This time it was Marius who was at a loss for words.  “…if that’s true, do you realize what this means?  Do you realize how valuable it would be?”“Of course I do,” Mandi replied, wrapping the book up in her cloak.  “To the right people, its value could very well be immeasurable.  Now, let’s pack up the rest of these and get moving.”When the company retraced their flight up the well’s shaft, they found the opening had parted once more.  As soon as they exited, it resealed itself again, leaving the mosaic just as they had found it.  It didn’t take long for Mandi to identify Shami-Amourae’s sigil on one of the wells, and she estimated it to be no more than a half-mile from Overlook.  The group took their leave of the fortress and Mandi transported them once again to the marble path between the wells.  Following her directions, they soon reached the large clearing which held the Well of Debased Eros.As they neared the shaft, they could hear howls and shrieks of anger and hunger echoing up from the well’s depths.  As they peered over the edge, they saw a canopy of trees some forty feet below which blocked sight of the well’s bottom.  The trees were strangely verdant, heavy with bright red and purple fruits and colorful flowers.  An intoxicating scent of exotic perfume rose up from the hole, but underlying the pleasant odor was the smell of animal droppings and rotted flesh.“Sepoto, you and Cleaver come with me,” Mandi instructed.  “Marius, you, Daelric and Octurus wait here.  When we find out what’s down there, and whether or not it’s dangerous, I’ll contact you telepathically and tell you where to unleash Hell.”The trio drifted down through the top third of the shaft until they reached the upper branches of the canopy.  The dense foliage required them to abandon their flight and climb from that point.  They had descended a dozen or so more feet, when the branches and leaves below them began to shake violently, and a shiver went through the tree trunks.  Suddenly, four massive creatures, easily fifteen-feet tall each, brachiated up from the darkness below.  They resembled nothing-so-much as oversized, black-furred girallons, and Tower Cleaver’s hackles rose when he saw them, remembering the months he had spent trapped in the Temple of the Celestial Winds.  Strangely, they did not immediately attack.  Instead, all four of them pointed at Mandi, making gestures, punctuated with grunts and hoots that made it all too clear what it was they desired.  Mandi’s face wrinkled in disgust.“Pigs,” she spat, and then waved her hand.  Instantly the air around them was filled with a maddening cacophony of hissing and whispering.  The demonic apes clapped all four of their hands to their ears, struggling vainly to drown them out.  Then, one-by-one, each of them curled into itself, collapsing among the branches into fetal positions.“They’re all yours, boys,”  Mandi said.  “I’m going on to the bottom.  Meet me there when you’re finished.”‘Marius,’ she called through their telepathic link, ‘you may fire at will.’</blockquote>

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