[2] The Library & The Lighthouse

Fallowcrest nods to the boat driver. "We're okay here. Go back and wait for the other one. She's running late." Fallowcrest lets everyone get a brief look around. There's not much on this island other than the old lighthouse cum library, and even it looks too small for a library that would need much work. But then he strides over to the doors - not the ones that lead up into the lighthouse, but to the storm cellar doors, angled into the ground. They're made, not of the normal wood or iron, but of some sort of dark stone. He produces a key from his pocket and holds it up in front of the doors and utters a strange growling phrase.

"បើកទ្វារដោយពាក្យគន្លឹះនៃព្រលឹងអ្នក។"

A magical seal shines bright white above the door and begins to move, pieces sliding and twisting past one another, lifting out of place one at a time until there are only three left. Fallowcrest studies them for a moment, looks up at the sky with narrowed eyes, and then presses one of them. The magical puzzle pieces vanish and the doors open, revealing a staircase that leads down underground. It's about fifty feet long, placing the bottom end well below the waves, and you realize that at that point the island is probably much wider, giving room for a far bigger library.

"Many of the older scrolls predate even the original founding of Stormreach. My grandfather never would tell me how he got ahold of them. Or why he refused to part with them. Some would have made a pretty penny. I'd like to figure out which ones I should keep and which ones could be sent to other scholars who they would benefit more."

He strikes a flint against the wall next to a torch and it flares to life, revealing a large room filled with shelves that holding an innumerable - for now - number of books, tomes, parchments, scrolls and tapestries, all sort of stacked in what seems to be more or less the order of acquisition. There's certainly no discernable categorization happening here.

Astrid deftly slips a book off the shelves. Big Religion - Ancient Giant Practices and Rituals: Volume I. The other books on the shelf are the other volumes. Easily dealt with.

Verin's enthusiasm gets the better of her and she accidentally knocks an cylinder sealed with wax off the shelf. It hits the ground and the seal breaks. What happens next, she can't really say, although everyone else gets a good look at it. The ground shakes violently and all the other books fall off of that shelf.

The shelf Turchuk checks is full of geographical maps and a few explorer's journals. Nothing too major, but probably historically significant.

S'sylin, that's a bookshelf. You use it for books. It holds them. Hope this helps.