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Pisca left Bottled Solutions in a hurry, taking an immediate right and dashing back the way she had come up Raven Street.  When she reached the end of the road, she skirted around the south lawn of City Hall to Main Street, moving south to Rat Alley, where she ran down the small pathway to the House of Blue Stones.

As Pisca ran, she noted that the streets, especially Main Street, were much fuller than usual this evening; it seemed that word regarding Mayor Deverin’s speech had been well and truly spread, and that Sandpoint’s citizens were responding in a dutiful fashion.  The mass movement towards Northchurch Square also indicated that the gnome didn’t have a great deal of time before Mayor Deverin began her speech.

Pisca picked up her pace.

The House of Blue Stones was an impressive stone building located just north of the Glassworks on Glass Street, right across from Rat Alley, and which commanded a prime view of the Varisian Gulf.  It was widely known to be the center of Irori-worship in Sandpoint.  Everyone knew that the building’s owner, Sabyl Sorn, was a devout worshipper of the Perfect Man.

As Pisca arrived, a fit, severe-looking middle-aged woman of unremarkable height and appearance was locking the front door.  A black cord tied her graying brunette hair back into a serviceable bun; she wore a utilitarian grey jacket, loose tan trousers, and comfortable-looking brown moccasins.  The woman stepped back and looked at the building, sighed, and then turned to head for the very alley where Pisca stood observing her . . .

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This message was last edited by the GM at 07:15, Wed 12 Feb 2014.

"Sabyl Sorn, I presume."  Pisca approached the human woman from out of the evening shadows of Rat Alley.  This was not so much a conscious choice as it was one imposed upon the gnome by the nature of evening and its propensity for creating shadows in alleys.  "I'm Pisca Neep Freemish and I've been pointed in your direction by Mayor Deverin.  She says that you have a library."

"We probably don't have enough time to look at any books, but, as I'm headed for the mayor's speech too, maybe we can walk together and discuss our needs.  This actually has very much to do with what the mayor is going to say in her speech.  It's about goblin attacks and the safety of Sandpoint.  Shall we?" said the gnome, indicating the way back towards Town Hall.

"I'm with a small group including Kellan Storval, Cato Crispin, and Liseth Thoradin.  Just this afternoon we discovered a goblin plot to attack Sandpoint from ... well, from the Glassworks right next door to the House of Blue Stones.  The gobbies have tunnels leading into the basement of the Glassworks that we suspect may connect with ruins that may have been in place when Sandpoint was first founded.  We were hoping that you might have something in your collection that would describe any ruins explored by the Sandpoint founders.  Books, maybe.  Or, with Desna's luck, maps.  You see, we're going down there tomorrow to close off that avenue into town, and we could use any advantage we can find."

"But, that aside," said the gnome, nattering casually away as though she had not just described a violent assault upon the town by an unknown, but very horde-like, number of goblins, "I, my very gnomish self, am quite interested in libraries.  More specifically, in starting another one in Sandpoint.  Not so much a repository of rare books so much as a public lending library.  Something with fairly common entertaining stories.  Allegorical.  Maybe some basic books of knowledge of the natural world.  Cute and fantastical animals.  Maybe some books of practical crafts or basics of the magical disciplines."

"My library will be a place to raise the literacy of the general population.  A place where everyone might find an interest in learning.  A place where people can meet and talk.  Maybe have a nice cup of tea.  With this in mind, I'm interested in your library.  What do you see as its purpose?  How do you curate your library?  What are the challenges you face?  And do you think there might be a place for giants?  Kind and gentle ones."

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Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

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Sabyl Sorn looked askance at the gnome as she emerged from the shadows of Rat Alley, but nonetheless waited patiently for diminutive woman to finish her introduction.

“Good evening, Miss Freemish."  The brunette woman said with ineffable politeness.  "You presume correctly.  And Mayor Deverin is also correct, I do indeed have a library.  But unfortunately for your purposes that library is private, and generally reserved solely for the use of Irori’s own; those seeking knowledge so that they may further perfect themselves.  But you may walk with me nonetheless.”

“The safety of Sandpoint?”  One dark eyebrow rose fractionally as the two women walked back through the alley towards Main Street. “From the Glassworks?”  She coughed lightly.  “I’m sure Lonjiku will have something to say about that, don’t you think?”

The woman’s eyebrow raise became even more pronounced as Pisca went on.  “Ruins below Sandpoint?  Have you spoken to Brodert Quink?  That is much more his area.”  She shook her head slightly.  “I apologize, but I am afraid I cannot allow you access to my library.”  Her slightly-horrified look suggested she was imagining the kind of havoc a free-spirited gnome with reputed underworld connections might cause amongst her perfectly-maintained books and shelves of indexed scrolls.

Sabyl walked quietly down Tower Street as Pisca talked of her proposed library, her impassive face betraying no thoughts as her gnomish companion expounded upon a plan to make a wide variety of children’s books, educational tomes, and popular fiction available to the community at large.  When the gnome finished, the older woman continued in silence for a moment, perhaps to ensure the gnome was truly done speaking, before offering her own dispassionate thoughts.

“Your proposed library sounds like an excellent place for the public to improve themselves, Miss Freemish, and for that I compliment you.  But I think you are very misinformed about the nature of my library.  It is not open to the public.  It is curated by myself and other devotees of Irori who add rare volumes of knowledge whenever we are able to obtain them.  The major challenge I face, aside from hours of organizing when a shipment of new books arrives,” she said, looking askance at Pisca, “is staving off the importunate inquiries of curiosity-seekers.  The library’s purpose is sacred, not,” she said the word as if suddenly experiencing a bad taste in her mouth, “mundane.  And no,” she said with a gentle finality, “I am afraid it has no place for giants, gentle or otherwise.”

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"Yes.  Well, that's something of what I'd gathered after just looking at your house.  The House of Blues Stones, that is to say.  I wonder why it is that Mayor Deverin brought you up.  We were talking about the tunnels and she said, 'And I don't know if this is common knowledge,'" the gnome said in a pretty fair approximation of the Mayor's voice, "'but Sabyl Sorn has a fairly large private library in the House of Blue Stones that might help anyone looking for additional knowledge.'"

"Curious wouldn't you say?  And not in one of the sixteen interesting ways.  More like curious in a muddle headed sort of way.  Very squirrel-like in a way."  Pisca frowned herself a dissatisfied-gnome sort of frown and shook her head.  "But that doesn't seem much like the mayor at all.  Don't you think?"  And she turned her face up to the human curator of the House of Blue Stones for confirmation of this thought.

"Why would she send me to you?  I guess that what I'm saying is that are you certain that you don't have any books or scrolls that describe Sandpoint before there was a Sandpoint?  I understand your concern for your library.  Really.  I do.  I know a little bit about everything about everything, and I'm always looking for more.  Knowledge that's lost is a great tragedy for people throughout Golarion.  But knowledge kept locked up and unused is also a waste.  It's a waste of potential.  This is especially true when the cause is good and just, and I think that protecting the town from an invasion of goblins is as good and as just as it gets."

"Look, I'm not asking to explore your collection.  I don't really have time.  We're going into the tunnels tomorrow morning, and we have a lot of preparations to make before then.  It would probably take me weeks to even begin to get to know the titles of everything you have, let alone any of the details.  You, on the other hand, must have been going over it for years.  You know what's there and what might help.  Just show us.  Bring it to us so that we can commit it to memory, or make copies, something."

Pisca lapsed into silence, but only for the span of a few gnomish paces.  "By the by," she said, "Lord Kaijitsu isn't really going to have much to say about it.  Not anymore.  Not ever, really.  The goblins got him.  He's dead."

"We're trying not to start a panic.  That's part of what this meeting is about.  But I think you have to know that if the goblins overrun Sandpoint, your collection won't last long.  The gobbies ... they don't have much respect for that sort of thing.  In fact, from what I understand, for them, reading is a ... well, it's a perversion."  Pisca walked on, the weight of what might be coming finally catching up with her on the heels of her own words.

"You sound level headed.  And you obviously care a lot about your library.  So, I thought you should know."

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Knowledge Local Check for the House of Blue Stones and Sabyl Sorn, please.  Trying to gain insight into Sabyl's character and her relationship to the community.  Right now, she seems insular, and divorced from the community, more loyal to, maybe, a loose collection of wandering Irorites than anyone she lives with.  But that doesn't make much sense given that she lives pretty much in the center of town.  That sounds more like someone who has a monastery outside of town.

And, just for kicks, how about a Diplomacy check too?

Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

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Sabyl Sorn gave Pisca a slight shrug.  “I’m sure I don’t know why Mayor Deverin raised the subject of my library to you, my dear.  SHE has never browsed it, so she has no idea what knowledge the tomes within may or may not contain.  My library holds books of all kinds.  Many are best left unread by all but the strongest-willed and most-puissant of readers.”  She frowned.  “And I am afraid that small group of people does not include you.”

“If goblins threaten the town, then by all means carry on and defeat them.  But I have not heard a good reason why the books in my library must be viewed in order to conduct such a conflict.”  She huffed.  “I can assure you that they say little if anything on the subject of that pernicious race.”

The dark-haired woman’s face clouded.  “I don’t meant to be unkind, but you are certainly not the first adventurer who has attempted to gain access to my library.  And you will likely not be the last, more’s the pity.  Every last one of you says the same thing.  ‘Fate of the world hangs in the balance’ or some such nonsense.  Once I was naïve enough to believe such stories.”  She shook her head.  “But trust me when I say that neither the fate of the world nor of the town depends on whether Pisca Neep Freemish and her friends have access to my books.”

“And although it is really none of your business, I will venture to say that some of the knowledge my library holds is very dangerous.  It is precisely the type of information that needs to be ‘locked up and unused,’ except by the most trustworthy people.  And as we have just met,” the woman looked down her nose at the gnome, “I have no means by which to judge your trustworthiness.  Mayor Deverin may be working with you, but both her interests and judgment differ vastly from mine.”

“I am truly sorry to hear about Lord Kaijitsu,” Sabyl Sorn continued in a flat voice that contained very little in the way of sorrowfulness, “and that the goblins have advanced their plans so far is certainly a concern.  But this suggests to me that your time and energies are better served subverting their strategies than attempting to peruse tomes of forbidden knowledge.”

“Ah, look, we are here.”  The woman extended her hand to indicate Northchurch Square, which was now filled with most of Sandpoint’s citizens.  “And I believe you have someplace to be.”  She nodded towards the dais at the end of the square, where Alergast Barett was motioning for her to join him, Father Zantus, Mayor Deverin, and Cato.  “I should not keep you.  It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Freemish.”

And with that, Sabyl Sorn, owner of the House of Blue Stones, left Pisca standing alone in Northchurch Square.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 03:16, Fri 14 Feb 2014.