“Hey Nehl! You totally dropped this when you got caught by that cave in and I stole it from Nathaniel because I wanted to see what you’d been distracted with. Just so you know, I have this nifty ritual I know called Comprehend Languages, so you might as well not bother with the code. [This sentence is followed by a crude drawing of a mocking face, done in excessively bright colors.]
I also know one called Explosive Runes! Don’t worry I didn’t cast that one here. This time. Probably. It may be enchanted to make you sparkle in the sunlight if you don’t figure out the code though.
Anyway I figured I’d tell you all about what happened while you were gone because I’m awesome like that.
So, you were there for the first part, but for the benefit of the people who will doubtless read this after we become legends, I’ll go over it again. We went back to the old underground temple so we could try and come at things from below, only we found the Filth King wasn’t there anymore – that’s really annoying, actually, I bet whoever took him got him all filthy AGAIN; why do I even bother. We spent an hour or so making our way towards the area under Telecanthus’ mansion thanks to my great sense of direction (…okay fine I’m lying, it was mostly Aelon. Guy is insufferable about that, I swear he knows something about EVERYTHING. I mean, sure, I kind of do too but he usually beats me to the punch. It’s been worse than ever since he got his new tattoo. “Oh it lets me draw passively upon the knowledge of my god,” he says. Bah. At least he’s got some awesome gadgets and I guess in fairness it’s good we have someone who knows this stuff but humbug anyway. I’d mess with his colors or something but I honestly don’t think he’d even notice. Maybe if I can turn him into a canary… but I’m off track. Woops.)
Anyway we finally found the right area and heard some digging not too far away on the other side of a wall so Nathaniel brought out his Dagger of Exile and we hid in the pocket dimension on the ceiling for a bit. Unfortunately, the digging stopped before they broke through so we had to drop out and go for a more conventional and less traditional ambush (I really wanted to yell out Death from Above, but gang aft agley). We managed to make a small hole without anyone hearing us and snuck through, only for disaster to strike – the part of the tunnel we were in began to collapse. Aelon got caught and you did too, Nehl, though you seem to have got caught pretty far back. Still, we made good anyway! We totally caught the bunch of Githyanki off guard when Nathaniel lit up his hammer and I lit up their table so we could actually see stuff. But then we blasted them around, and I was able to slide people around with ice and occasionally just straight up teleport them, and Mayim did stuff with lightning like she always does (it’s pretty awesome, not gonna lie). The really neat thing was what Nathaniel did though! He charged in and his spellscar did some crazy stuff and he kind of glowed red and spun around and smacked all of the dudes pretty hard, and then he put off some kind of creepy aura that kept them off balance – they were having a lot harder time aiming at anyone with him all up in their faces, it was pretty cool. Anyway we knocked out a bunch of them and then Mayim straight up glared the rest of them into submission – she’s the scariest one of us for a reason, after all, and I bet she’d be flattered by you saying so in here. Hmm, maybe I should try to set her up with you? She’s no longer got Diane to have weird tension with… Nah, that’s kinda dumb. Oh well. Anyway, we knocked the last couple out and dusted ourselves off. We actually got away from that fight completely unscathed – Nathaniel almost got hit once but I messed with reality a little bit and made it miss instead. I can do that a bit, though usually you guys can’t tell since it’s almost like a retcon but it’s pretty cool to watch on my end, trust me, space goes all octarine and makes these great patterns before it settles.
Anyway, with that done we managed to dig out Aelon but he was kind of tired from the cave in and needed to sit down for a bit. While he was resting I spent some idle time trying out new hairstyles on the various Githyanki – they have really nice long hair so I could get some pretty funny stuff going on. I think my favorite was the mindslicer, who I left with this crazy red, black and gold spiked pattern with crazy angular bangs that came to me out of nowhere. It looked pretty ridiculous. I gave it some eyeshadow for good measure because, screw Githyanki Mindslicers, they’re the worst things ever. Another one got this pretty funny forward pointing afro that extended about a foot in front of its head.
While that happened, Mayim heard some voices coming from the direction of this huge underground tower so Mayim and I snuck up on them and found another group of Githyanki. I conjured up some illusory sheep which made ‘em all sleepy and Mayim called up this pretty awesome pattern thingy that glowed and shifted and pulled the Githyanki toward it when they tried to do stuff. We blew through them pretty well again, no one ended up hurt at all (the Githyanki don’t count). One of them managed to get the door into the tower open though, which sucked, and another one managed to throw another one in through the door with its mind. It kind of got KO’d by Mayim as it flew through the door though so at least it didn’t get a chance to shout for help. Mayim’s pretty awesome like that.
Oh! You missed one other thing. Nathaniel totally did a whole vampiric thing and stole life force to heal himself with his spellscar. Aelon didn’t even freak out at all! Though in fairness I don’t know if he even noticed, he was kind of out of it from the cave-in still.
So now it’s time for you to try and guess the password! Your hint is that this is what the librarian who you should never call a monkey (he’s an orangutan) says. He’s a pretty awesome librarian actually, appreciates a good prank. Never could figure out where he actually worked, though, but he kept showing up in the library when Nathaniel and I were students, though I don’t know if Nathaniel ever actually saw him. I always did see things kind of oddly I guess but it’s more fun that way. S’how I knew you’d do fine in the group, actually, there’s a nebulous force behind you that’s kind of the same as the one behind Mo’Kaw and Garchomp (who you never met). And no that’s about as well as I can describe it. It’s pretty weird but it’s never been wrong yet, and the weird force behind me seems to give me lots of great ideas! Like apparently I have a naturally high metaphysics skill. Whatever that means.
Oh, right. So you’d better say the password pretty soon or be doomed to sparkling in the sunlight for a couple of days, pretty boy! [Another crude drawing of a face is found here, this one looking like it’s laughing maniacally.]
Oh and that goes for you too, whoever’s working on this in the future. I primed it so that this will only go off once per person but as far as I can tell it’s kind of got an indefinite duration. It might have mutated by whenever you get it, too, actually. I kind of did the modifications on the fly, so don’t be surprised if you spontaneously start vomiting miniature purple unicorns or something. Well, I guess that’d be a surprising mutation actually, so do be surprised, and if I happen to stop by to take notes on the effect don’t worry about it too much. Future me will probably be able to fix you if I’m still around by then. Though you might have to convince him to do it. Whoops, looks like there’s a bit of a commotion starting up. I’ll write more later unless you show up again, Nehl!”
Following this, it seems Nehl regained ownership of his book.
"I swear, Alin, if you lay your hands on my things again, you may yet learn why Aelon fears the undead. That said, you have my condolences for whatever it is that wracks your brain so. Thankfully, I have no desire to actually kill you at this time, as I am fortunate enough to have encountered tales of this Librarian you speak of. Your 'password' is 'Ook'. Perhaps I've passed through your hometown along my travels, or perhaps this particular vision is not yours alone..."
I had heard similar tales of this odd Orangutan who kept a Library, though I did not know about his particular language impediment. I learn much from reading about the adventurers of old and from other realms, but it is rare that I am so grateful of their exact knowledge!
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