Silver Insanity

Luma hands the book over to you. It's a journal written by an archeologist, at least a few hundred years ago. The relevant passage was describing his exploration of a temple to the sun lion - a god that died at the end of the third age. The journal goes on to detail his party's death at the claws of a particularly nasty white dragon, and subsequent resurrection at a temple they had helped out some years before. Bereft of all their gear, though, the adventuring party collapsed, and the writer drifted off into retirement.

Stewart harumphs at Luma. "You cheated. Good work."

He flips through the book. "Obscure enough to not have much other info in this library. Detailed enough to be useful. Vague enough to be irritating. Not an actual location, but a location on where to find more. Gah. Well, that makes my need for the rest of the library less. Although I'll still try to get some of it. Can rarely go wrong with expanding a magical library." Stewart grins and drops the book into his bag.

"Well... We've still got some time before that appointment. Now what?"

"Lunch?"

Lunch goes quite well, today. No interruptions for fire raining from the sky, or dark gods opening rifts, or invading armies. No interruptions for more mundane reasons, either, aside from the waiter stopping by to ask if you want dessert.

The remainder of the three hours passes, and the three of you (Eenyrl, presumably, left back at the Sleeping Chimera Inn) reconvene at Mr. Sketton's office.

The secretary does not look pleased to see you again, but is none the less scrupulously polite. "Mr. Sketton is expecting you. Please, go on in."

"Greetings, Mr. Sketton. Sorry to force your schedule to be re-arranged, but I was hoping to discuss a couple things with you before I had to leave."

The first thing you notice about the room is the desk. It is plain, and worn, and very large, and very, very, full of paper. The thin, elderly man sitting behind it seems almost an after-thought.

"No, no, do not concern yourselves with it; it is no trouble at all, I assure you. However, if we could keep this brief, please? What can I do for you?"

"I had originally planned simply a quick stop here. But after a couple days of dealing with issues that have popped up, I had hoped to strike a deal. Not only have I already provided assistance, but I can easily aid any reconstruction that you need done."

Stewart holds out his hand and a small sculpture of the town appears in it. "Doing things like this on a larger scale takes more time, of course. But I can easily provide processed lumber from trees, finished stone from the ground, or speed assembly of buildings. In return, I had hoped to obtain at least some portion of your library. The Duke did not seem terribly fond of the arcane arts at any rate, and it may be difficult to find someone else interested in such a... diverse collection."

"I had actually begun to make arrangements to sell the library to our local mage guild - but those arrangements have not been completed. In light of your prior services, I see no reason why you could not have, say, as much of the collection as you can carry."

"As for rebuilding... That task is of no relevance to the city. Once we have salvaged what we can, and removed the wings that were built foolishly close to the castle walls, the property will be sold to the highest bidder. The seat of government should be a reminder of the responsibilities of rulership, not a decadent display of mis-used wealth. If you wished to offer your services to whichever noble or merchant purchases the area, you are, of course, welcome to do so."

"Is there anything else?"

Stewart seems taken aback for a moment, then rallies. "Perhaps I could aid in other ways. I can provide some tireless labor or aid finding things of worth. I had simply assumed the Duke's manor had some public purpose as well." He shrugs and continues, "in any case, I will take advantage of that offer."