Fun in The Vault of the Sages

The Vault of the Sages in Silverymoon is one of the most famous libraries in the North, and rightly so. It is the definitive source of knowledge, both mundane and arcane, in the region. As such it has been the focus of several party activities. Here are some additional notes:

Some Background Info

Libraries in the Forgotten Realms are usually not the government run lending organizations invented by Ben Franklin. They are frequently for-profit information brokerages where books may be viewed (for a fee) but never borrowed. The Vault of the Sages in Silverymoon is EXPENSIVE. They have the best collection around and they take full advantage of it. This means fees for research time & reading time based on subject and bigger fees for copying: 
                Normal      Nice        Copy    Copy    Let You
    Library     Room Fee    Room Fee    Page    Map     Copy Spell
    =======     ========    ========    ====    ====    ==========
    Vault of    1sp         1gp         2gp     50gp    20gp
    the Sages
A spellcaster working flat out can copy a spell level every 90 minutes. So a first level spell takes 1.5 hours to copy and a second level spell takes 3. This is a dedicated bunch, and the Vault of the Sages has pretty good hours, so I'm figuring 9 hours of copying per person per day. This means one spellcaster can copy 3 2nd level spells in a day for a total cost of 61gp (not counting the ice for your hand afterwards).

The Spells the Party Learned There

During the week of Flamerule 10, the party magic users copied the following spells at the Vault.

Darius copied these two spells himself, for 41gp: 


    Hornung's Baneful Deflector	    Nahal's Nonsensical Nullifier

Elizabeth Rose cannot cast Invocation/Evocation or Necromancy spells, so Darius and Steve split the 122gp cost of copying the following spells. 


    Death Recall    Flaming Sphere		Ghoul Touch
    Ice Knife	    Snilloc's Snowball Swarm	Spectral Hand

Everyone can use the remaining spells (assuming they make their roll to learn them) so Darius, Elizabeth Rose and Steve all split the effort and 345gp cost of copying the following spells. 


    Detect Disease	Divining Rod	 Light		 Mount
    Filter	        Knock		 Know Alignment  Maximilian's
							 Earthen Grasp
    Past Life	        Protection from  Quimby's	 Ray of
			Paralysis	 Enchanting	 Enfeeblement
					 Gourmet
    Ride the Wind	Tasha's		 Vocalize        Deeppockets
			Uncontrollable
			Hideous Laughter
    Ghost Pipes

For 4 days starting on Eleint 6, Darius returned to the Vault and copied the following 3rd level spells. 


    Dispel Silence      Fireball         Fireflow        Fool's Speech 
    Maxamilian's        Minor Malison    Ward Against    Watery Double
    Stony Grasp                          Undead

Starting on Alturiak 6, of the next year, Steve, Maanamere, Tristan and Darius made several trips to the Vault and copied the following spells. 


    Melf's Acid Arrow   Summon Swarm    Glitterdust


The Disappearing Wizard

The story of the Disappearing Wizard was something that first attracted the Party's notice after they emerged from the Dungeon of Radagashier, their first adventure. In examining the books from Radagashier's library, they found mention of the story in "The War of Nine Blizzards" - an historical account of a two year war between the city of Nesme (NW of Everlund) and an organized force of goblins and trolls (one of many). It mentions the assistance of the Mage Guidior - a one-time apprentice to Halaster, the Mad Mage of Undermountain - participating in some major battle. It mentions Guidior's apparent ability to carry messages & items from Nesme to Waterdeep "seemingly overnight". A separate first person account of the period recorded later in the book mentions seeing "some mage", roughly matching Guidior's appearance, at night casting spells at the bridge into the city. These spells made the railings of the bridge glow with an eerie light. Afterwards the mage stepped onto the bridge and vanished! Darius identified the spells in the description as standard faerie fire.

During their research on the subject, Steve and Darius learned of a spell, supposedly developed by Guidior, that is said to be on file in the library in Nesme:
Faerie Fire - 2nd level MU, as cleric except colors available are blue, violet or red and material components are powder mixture of sulpher, charcoal and copper (1sp for 5 uses) which must be poured from a special silver dipper (not consumed, 12gp) area of effect is doubled if powdered garnet (10gp) is added to mix.


The Hidden Compartment


Among the books recovered from the library of Radagashier was a history book with illuminations depicting the Vault of the Sages in Silverymoon. One illumination shows a man hiding something in a hidden compartment. Here is a list of what the party has found there.

On Eleasias 2, 1369 Darius and Steve found a note in a language neither of them recognized. They identified the language as a dialect of KægçñügK!gå - a language of the lower planes. They tried to learn what planes that dialect was common to and made the following notes:
Not Limbo Gehenna or Hells or Porphatys, Oinos or the Demonweb
Possibly Minethys, Colothys, Agathys, Niflheim, Farlendek (A4), Onutek (A6)
Probably Othrys, Cathrys, Pazunia (A1), Gortothen (A2), Albatek (A3)
Unknown Pluton & most layers of the Abyss

On Eleasias 5, 1369 Darius and Steve found a second note in the same dialect, which Steve translated with a Comprehend Languages spell. 
    My dear Vulture,

    We are fully aware of your desire for urgency and you may rest
    assured that we are moving with all possible haste.  However you
    must realize that the task you have set us is a monumentally
    complicated one and some parts of it simply cannot be rushed.
    Also please try to remember that it is not in your best interest
    or ours for our work to be detected.  Nevertheless, I do have the
    results of our initial survey of the five locations you proposed.

    The first and third locations we discarded immediately.  There is
    insufficient stone in either location to use as an anchor for the
    scale you require.  Likewise, we were forced to eliminate the
    fourth location because our initial examination showed that there
    was no nexus of sufficient magnitude within the useable range.

    The second location you proposed, is attractive, but poses some
    problems.  Of the nexi available, none are of particularly
    promising quality.  We are studying this site further to see if we
    can make it useable.

    The last site you proposed also lacks sufficient stone in a
    cohesive configuration to work at this scale, but there may be an
    alternative.  100 yards from your proposed site, on a side street
    is a location where an enclosed bridge, with a stone base,
    connects the first floors of two stone buildings on opposite sides
    of the street.  The street itself is well paved at this location,
    thus potentially forming a complete stone loop, one of the most
    ideal configurations.  If this location is sufficient for your
    needs, it should be the better of the two choices we now have.
    Let us know and we will examine it in greater detail.

    I'm afraid it really wouldn't be practical for Hawk to depart
    until we have worked out the details of this end.  His
    preparations there will necessarily depend on the specific methods
    we will have to use here, which we can't tell him until the site
    is chosen and the implementation details worked out.

    I remain your obedient servant,
    Owl

On Eleasias 9, 1369 Darius and Steve found a third note, which Steve also translated. 
    Owl,

    We were able to examine the side street location and Roc feels it
    is strategically acceptable.  Make your final study of both sites
    immediately and provide me with a list of those materials you will
    need me to supply for either.  You have already fallen behind
    schedule.

    We can arrange any needed message passing between you and Hawk,
    possibly even direct communication where needed.  I can not allow
    this project to wait while he is travelling at your convenience.
    Make him ready to leave at once!  Will he be travelling alone or
    must I make arrangements for others as well?  Also how much
    equipment must I accomodate?

    - Vulture

On Alturiak 6, 1370 Darius, Maanamere and Steve found another note, this one in common and bearing no obvious relation to the ones from the previous year aside from location. 
    Andrek,

    Have received word that the demons have left the Dungeon of
    Death as a result of the loss of support from the Blue Bear
    tribe.  No information as to where they've all gone, just to
    "greener pastures".  This means the Dungeon is less defended
    than it has been in centuries.  Suggest you consider going
    there after you finish your current campaign.

    Ormec

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