The fair haired mage adjusts his quills and parchment into neat little rows in the office next to the bar, and waits for a customer.

[Trelaine wanders in after a visit to the library]

Ah...good morning...names Trelaine. Would you looking after this place in umbrals abscence?

He rubs his chin and thinks.. she is somewhere in the building...
"I guess I am, how may I assist you Sir?"

A small group of drab clothed people pass, each practicing their shushing skills before getting to the library. They look amenable and highly literate... and ready to assist in the communication of knowledge.... each has at least two pairs of spectacles about their person.

I've noted from my quick browse through your scrolls here that you only have part of the blood parasite scroll translation. I happen to have the section that follows the one you have here if you are interested in adding it to your collection. It is not complete but i do have notes I made from the final section if you wish those also. I do not know what happened to the full transcribe.

He looks flustered.
"Gosh, yes we certainly would be interested in anything to add to the collection! What payment do you require?
(OOC, if you could PM the addendum to Filmy Ref, she'll pop it in ASAP)

oh no payment...the whole prodigeen thing about spreading knowldge to defeat the t'cra and all that you know....If anyone turns up any scrolls related to creatures known as therians I'd be appreciative if you could let me know when i pop in...saves a lot of browsing and thumbing scrolls unneccesarily.

[Trelaine hands over scroll] *ooc will pm tomorrow got to run out to work in a sec*

"Ah if only more people were as altruistic as you, Sir. Are you certain we cannot offer you any payment to even cover your costs? Regarding the Therians, I believe the entry of "A Mysterious Note" may provide our only information from the library currently, but I can only state the article is about a lost race, and it seems there are plenty of those... I do not know the origin of this item, but our transcribers do still have some work pending at the moment."
The elf graciously accepts the scroll.

well you could always throw some work the way of my good friend the alchemist who runs the shop in town...a big place like this is going to take away a lot of people who do normally get potions from him and i'd hate to see him be shut down by this monsterous place.

"Um, as far as I know, we don't do alchemy here, so no trade would be removed... in fact I think as a centre of learning we attract people from all over the protected zone and a high percentage of them are going to want potions from your friend. Especially some of the students wanting to practice for longer who need the extra mana points....
I am assuming by the comment of "monstrous place" you mean it's size?"

Ah I had assumed in one of these rooms there would be a team of mages churning out potions by the dozen prehaps what i see here is making me imagine the worst.

I do apologise if I offended you but that is what i see here. While I understand the purpose of this place is learning and to do that efficiently the knowledge must be condesed into a single place, I find no beauty in it's construction. It's size, it's shape the very materials from which it is made are for want of a better phrase i see as a monsterous example of what people do to the land. In many ways like the great wall...ugly but a evil that may provide good at great cost.

but anyway while I am here, do you happen to know anything about the knowledge keepers, who they are? what they do? why they were originally formed and so on?

He staggers back slightly by this barrage of questions.... then scribbles a quick note on a scrap of parchment which disappears with a slight imploding pop sound. He looks slightly panicky still.

A slight puffing sound can be heard from one of the nearby stairwells, and Umbrial staggers down and arrives at Anthony's desk, wincing slightly at having to run for this important message... she rubs her lower back, not going out and adventuring is doing her waistline no favours either.....
"Yes dea... yes, Anthony." She wheezes, and looks at the taller elfs face then to the shorter elf/tree... thing. "Ah, Trelaine, good to see you again. I just got a message about Knowledge Keepers... do you mean us... Book, or the Elves mentioned in one of the scrolls regarding the Tree of Life if I recall correctly?"
She rests against the desk, and places her hand near Anthonys for support.

I was actually refering specifically to the elven knowledge keepers. I was unaware they had appeared in a scroll related to the Tree, the only records i saw during my brief look around related to the grand elves who i believe are another name for the spirit elves.

These knowledge keepers seem to of taken an interest in myself or at least a group I believe to be them and I feel it's only fair to return the favour. I'd be most interested in knowing if any of there founders still live I suspect a meeting with such a person would be..... enlightening.

Umbrial raises an eyebrow.
"I will have a look into this."

You have my thanks, and before I leave as I have your attention. I am planning to try and take a group to cleanse the tree of life of it's corruption, I would consider the chances of success to be much higher if one of your skill and knowledge were to be amung our number. Please I do not expect an answer straight away, but consider the possibilities for discovering important lore at the site of the tree especially related to the elven peoples before the time of the impossible war.

Vola enters the seeing Authony Trelaine and Umbrial heads over to them,

"This place is wear you find thing out yes, I wont to know wear to find moor trolls like me you can help me with wot i wont to know please"

Umbrial looks happy to see Vola.
"I'm afraid we don't have any information so far about trolls. However if you wish to browse our current stock, our team of librarians will be happy to help you. I need to get in touch with a few people and I'll ask them if they know anything else about trolls."
She stops and thinks a few moments.
"I do recall a troll that used to hang around a bit, I think his name was Ulthan... Ulthun, Ul... somethingorother. He really didn't like fire, but he did change colour once, to red, he started out green. There was another troll, one of my reports mentions in Sanctuary, a white one I think, who Ulthingy took a great interest in. Perhaps this one was a female? I wasn't on that trip...."
She grins.
"He really used to enjoy his food, he always looked better after a good feed. Not the sharpest tool in the box, but if you didn't do anything against him, he didn't do anything against you. A shame there aren't more people with that attitude about."

"Thank you but i no read can sumone read for me please Umbrial....he went red troll green not red? but i not see eney trolls but me so i not know if i chang colour"

"The librarians are happy to read to anyone who needs a bit of help..... yup, he started off green then went red, I don't know why."

Finishing his business amung the scrolls, Trelaine heads out of the library.

"Maybe i find moor out when i find out moor" Volas looks at Umbrial "I think i go now you have sumone how can read to me yes" <_<

Umbrial grins.
"That's what I hired them for."
A momentary darkness flits across her face.
"I sent a message to the heads of all the groups in the protected zone and a couple of others, but haven't received anything back yet. As soon as I find out anything, I will let you know."

"thank you Umbrial...wots wrong you look like you think sum think not right"

~ A short, rather plump elf with a pale face surrounded by fair hair peers uncomfortably through the doorway. She is obviously very excited at finding the library, but seems unsure as to whether or not she is really allowed to be there. On seeing the troll talking to someone familiar-looking, she takes a deep breath and tentatively steps inside ~

Upon seeing the cute little elf, Umbrial raises a welcoming wave.
She leans against the desk for support as she pales in one of the mage fits.
She frowns, and pops a couple of headache pills ;) and turns back to speak with the tall troll.
"It's a little concerning that I haven't received any notification yet, it could be a sign that the entire protected zone has fallen foul of this dis-ease that we elemental casters seem to be suffering from. It is not good for any of us in these wearing times, if I didn't know any better, I would hazard that the undead or the T'Cra might have done this to weaken us, but perhaps the cause lies closer to home."

~ The elf grins at the welcome, and politely waits for a suitable pause in the conversation between the Mage and the Troll before speaking ~

" I wasn't sure if I was allowed in here. I'm not from Prodigio and I've never seen a place as grand as this! But I was intrigued when I heard there was a library...

"Could you tell me please:
Can anyone use the library?
and do they have to pay for the privilge?
and why are the shelves so bare?
and what is the "Order of Sortileges"?
... and are you quite all right? You look terribly pale!"

~ The elf pauses for breath and blinks, expectantly ~

Umbrial looks amused and addresses the verbose little elf.
"Right."
"Yes. No. Not many people share knowledge so freely. This is."
She sighs.
"Us mages have had a bit of a shock to the system which comes and goes, our power returns to us more slowly than it used to, and we have headaches and multitude of other symptoms."
"Returning to a previous question. The Order of Sortileges is a guild, setup for the benefit of all spellcasters including Elemental, Soul, and most recently Psionics. The Order is setup to share knowledge, to teach anyone who wishes to learn spellcasting, towards the betterment of the population in general. By gathering together so many different casters we hope to regain knowledge lost to us through neglect. We also have a diplomatic side, to raise relations with the other planes. We have used our resources and abilities to fund larger projects such as the messaging service. The messaging service has generated funds which has provided this purpose built academy. Anyone is welcome here to learn, to teach, to research or contribute knowledge."
"The initial membership cost is 15 gems if I recall correctly, but continued membership fees will be waived should any member provide service to the guild."

"Oh!"

~ The elf's face shows a mixture of concern and disappointment ~

"Have the soulcasters been looking to produce a remedy to help relieve your ailments? I have a few acquaintances who use and study elemental magick, so I suppose they must be suffering too!

"I really would like to find out more about the order, and soul magick, and the Old Elves, but I don't have very many gems to spare at the moment...

"I can read though, and write too, so I could help by copying some of the scrolls, that is if you need help? or I could read to the troll if your other helpers are busy...

"And I have this..."

~ The elf disappears out of the doorway and returns with a rather large plant in a pot, much to Umbrial's astonishment. Looking at her blank expression, the elf grins, and by way of explanation, removes the hollow supporting cane from the pot, and extracts a wadge of rather damp papers, which she proudly shows to the mage. ~

"I wrote these myself; copied them from some loose pages I found. You can have them, if you think they might be useful! "

~ Umbrial looks through the papers and grins. ~

"I am happy to add some of these to the Library" she says. "Nice plant by the way, I've never really had much success with keeping things like plants alive...."

~ Alasse turns pink with pleasure at Umbrial's reaction. ~

"If you like, I can write you a scroll on how to look after plants?" she calls out over her shoulder, as she happily skips off with her plant to explore."

Vola heads in to the labrary

"That'd be useful."
She leans against the desk again.
"I think I need a drink and a sit down. I must get hold of more comfy chairs here." She muses, leaving the order for the inn.

A few hrs later Vola with a look of confusion oh his face heads out of the the library, and heads for the inn

Soot enters the great hall and makes his way to Anthony's desk.

*Loudly* "Anthony! Just the man. Umbrial has been arrested and taken in for questioning by the Guard on the Orders of Captain Brock Yates on charges of aiding the Undead."

He begins to laugh.
"Oh, it's that time of year isn't it, I wonder what other jolly japes Umbrial has planned..."
He notes from Soots expression that this is not the case.
"Ah. Um. Right....."
He purses his lips and thinks.
"Aiding the undead eh? Hmm, that's news to me. Do we need an angry mob? I suppose I had better tell someone.... I'm not really sure what to do about this as I've not had any dealings with the guard before."
He scribbles off a quick message which poofs quietly into the still air.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he looks at Soot for guidance.

"I have to admit I'm not sure what can be done either. But I thought it was important that the order should know. I'm fairly sure that dropping a baths worth of water over a guard does constitute aiding the undead, but these are the charges against her."

"I don't know if the Order has a legal advisor who could help. Or perhaps it would be worth contacting the Rag and Stone. Captain Brock, who ordered the arrest seems intent on keeping it quiet for some reason and it may be worth turning public attention towards him."

Soot Grins wickedly.

"What? how does dropping a bath of water aid the undead? I'm sure she had a good reason for doing so..... probably. I must admit, she has been under some stress recently what with the new building and all.
Perhaps this does to be bought to the public eye."
He winks at Soot and scrawls off another poffing note.

*Trelaine enters slightly better tailored and significantly better armoured than most*

Ah soot...I was hoping the avian might be here, but we'll need you anyway...

I'm assuming that Brock will be insisting on protocol and take umbrals prodigeen ring from her and all her other magic....that being so I think we need to get the rest of the prodigeen together ready for when whatever umbral turns into starts destroying this town.

*Trelaine doesnt look like he thinks this is a unlikely occurance*

"Do you seriously think Brock would be stupid eno.... ah... um..... from what she's said it would take some time, but I don't know how long. We may be lucky, as the ring itself does nothing except affect T'Cra?"