Voshrelka now adds undead Awakened badger investigator to the long list of jobs she's juggling
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"I think I Would. Firstly, If Eriape Escapes, she would Not come back here, it would be Stupid. Secondly, I think that Man who Teleported Away might be the Person she promised to Share her spells with Anyway. Thirdly, she has a Spare, and Fourthly you would Find it Anyway."

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"Hm. Sound logic. And the nobility will be astonished and impressed if I manage it, which will be very entertaining, and if I die here to traps I expect to be resurrected. Very well. Lead on, Clarabella."

(She's going to use her healing spells on herself, first, though.)

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So Clarabella begins giving Voshrelka a tour of the Lair, the place where eriape the badgers made magic items to sell, the place where she stored urchins, the place where they copied-and-stamped the Badgers, the place where they sang, the place where they watched things happen when scrying. The lectern where eriape would teach them from, when they were just raised to sentience- and for each place she has a story- and in each place she shutters the lanterns that illuminate the room, making it darker and darker as she goes along.

And at the end they come back almost to where they started, next to a blank piece of wall.

"Can you close the shutter on your lanterns? It needs to be fully dark."

 

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Sure, she can persuade the various people present to please cover their lights for a little while. The druid is doing obscure druid things, don't mind her.

(This takes a little more persuasion than this narration implies, and is met with even more suspicion and careful preparation in case of traps, but. They are willing to, eventually, humor her and her temporary undead badger companion. It's to get the spellbook.)

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When it's dim enough, a part of the iron wall becomes grey and transparent, and inside the little pocket, there's a key.

Clarabella coughs, once, twice, and then a tiny round thing comes out of her mouth. 

"It's a [Secret Coffer]," she says. "Touch it with the key."

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Ah, so the spellbook was inside the badger all along. What a wizardly thing to do. Yes, they certainly would have found that eventually, though the key to it in the wall would have been a bit harder.

Anyway, she'll do so. Spellbook, or death explosion?

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The secret coffer returns from the astral plane with a Whoomph, and, indeed, inside, there's some papers. A tiny bit of spellsilver. The deed to the Mas Blanc Farm. Some letters from Eriape's sister. And a spellbook, clad in pale leather, and strangely soft to the touch.

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Clarabella looks at Voshrelka. 

"I hope your wizard likes it." 

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Spellbook! The wizards will be very impressed, probably. She sends a whispering wind to the nervous and dubious nobles who all think she's gone completely mad, and inform them that: yep, she has a spellbook. You can argue with her methods, sanity, and decency, but you cannot argue with her results.

"Thank you," she says sincerely to Clarabella. "I expect he will."

Everything gets carefully checked for traps, then handed off. She was tempted to try to figure out the arcane version of the druidic Awakening spell, but the spell itself is both beyond her, and she doesn't have the head for arcane magic anyway. Best to just hand it to the wizards and continue being a good pet druid. It would be extremely hostile to destroy the spellbook here and now in the hopes that it'd get rid of the possibly-botched-but-likely-not spell, here in front of all of these people. And it would upset Clarabella.

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Clarabella then walks back to where they started, and curls up at the foot of Eriape's Throne, on the iron plate worn smooth and bright with the passing of decades. 

She looks at Voshrelka.

"I'm ready whenever you are."

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Voshrelka sits nearby, but apart. Out of range of whatever traps are likely associated with the throne. It's unnecessary to ask what she's ready for.

"I'd like to wait for tomorrow's spells, to scry on Montserrat and be sure your soul is whole and will survive the journey. Until then, would you like to tell me about your existence?"

The undead don't sleep. There's no reason she should be bored while they wait for the world to catch up to their needs.

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"Okay! Let me tell you about the Time we went to Absalom! So Eriape was disguised as a Living Person, and this was just After we Awakened Haria, and both her and me were Disguised as little Yappy Dogs. I don't think you've Met Haria, but she's very Responsible, and she will be in Command after Today- anyway. We were in Absalom, and we were looking at the Old Ruined Golems-"

It's a long story, and it describes Eriape's Grand Tour across Golarion.

It turns into another story, and then another-

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and eventually, it's morning

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Voshrelka gets her spells, spends an hour scrying a badger's soul, and gets her answer. The long night of storytelling assuages her concerns of Clarabella's eternal fate.

Her time on the Material Plane ends here, though.

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And the little spark of arcane fire goes out in Clarabella's eyes.

She is not any way afraid of what come next. She was a good badger.

Here Ends This Thread
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