The sylvan library

[Anastasia]

Thus the party descends into the forest. A path lies ahead of you, clear enough to walk through with a minimum of deadfall and debris. A light fog lies ahead, reducing visibility a good deal, cloaking everything in shadows as gentle as a mother's touch. Occasionally dots of light can be seen deeper in the fog, flares of illumination dancing amid the mists.

"This mist will be hell on the books unless they're enchanted," Jarem remarks, "Safe to assume they are, Princess?"

Emily replies quickly, "Of course! What good are books if you put them somewhere they'll fall apart?"

"Good." Jarem adds, "Idiots who piss away knowledge are the worst." His voice is gruff at that.

"Then listen to the world and learn from it, male," Ianvasah retorts, "You can learn all you need to know from the soil, the sky and the stars." Her voice is sharper now.

"Brilliant," Jarem rolls his eyes, ahead of Ianvasah and not seen by her. "I'll be sure to ask a flower the next time we need a strategy against enemy forces. Oh! Queen, does the soil tell us secrets of arcane lore? I think not, are you that dogmatic or are you trying to score points against me, Ianvasah?"

[spoiler]

Ianvasah's will come tonight. She'll be run provisionally until then.

Jarem
HP: 473/473
Negative Conditions:
Aura:
Bonuses: Attack+0, Damage+0 AC+0, Saves+0, Skills+0, Checks+0
Resources: Turn Deific Foes 8/8 Smite 6/6 Knight's Challenge 20/20 Law Devotion 1/1
Spells Used:
SLAs Used:
Spells Active:
Notes: Tripping: +12 CMB/CMD on it, free attack on trip, make a DC 32 Fort or be unable to rise for one round.

Emily
HP: 408/408
Negative Conditions:
Aura: Courage 10ft (+4 morale vs fear)
Bonuses: Attack+0, Damage+0 AC+0, Saves+0, Skills+0, Checks+0
Resources: Dragonfire Wrath 10/10 Channel Energy 13/13 Lay On Hands 30/30 Blinding Speed 25/25
Spells Used:
SLAs Used:
Spells Active:
Notes: Spell shield to reduce damage.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Well, soil could hold arcane secrets, after a fashion. Some spells require soil as components, and the soil could be of a certain type. Soil from the plane of Earth would have a different magical signature from soil in the Abyss, for example. That would tell you where and maybe who, and you could narrow down which spells called for it. The components are usually fully consumed by the spell, but the residue could retain some of the spell's magic, should would further help narrow it down. Then using the rements for divination using that information could result in a fairly clear answer..."

[Anastasia]

"Hey!" Emily calls, "Eyes up here. This is dangerous!"

To that Jarem turns from the argument and says, "You're right. Let's banter and argue later." He steps forward, "I'll take point. Alyssa, you take the middle along with Emily. Ianvasah, are you capable of holding up the rear?"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa raises an eyebrow. "Ianvasah is fully capable of taking care of your rear, from what I've seen so far."

Regardless of the teasing, she does move into place, a little off to the side, taking care to be as stealthy as possible."

[Anastasia]

Ahead is a small clearing. Amid the mists sits a sign in the center. There's a passage ahead, winding deeper in. There's also a passage to the right and and left. Each passage is into the forest, fog concealing the view from about 20ft in or so.

https://imgur.com/a/nyI0GSF

For your visual aid.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa reads the sign!

[Anastasia]

The sign reads as follows:

<- Professor Roundtree.
-> Animal Anatomy Library.
^
| Chandler's Study.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Any idea who Roundtree or Chandler is?"

Alyssa racks her mind for snippets referring to either.

[Anastasia]

Lore check real quick.

[Iron Dragoon]

> roll 1d20+11 Lore
<Penuche> Iddy invokes Penuche's magic: < 12 > [d20=1]

[Anastasia]

You draw a blank as you get headshakes all around.

"Not even I," Emily admits, "But let's remember why we're here. Do any of those help us answer that question?"

"She's right, Queen," Jarem says, "Even if it's not helpful here, that's the right approach. Otherwise, just choose whichever sounds best."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Mmmm.... Let's go to this Professor Roundtree."

Alyssa heads that way.

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d20+44 Jarem
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 60 > [d20=16]

You walk down the path, which hooks southernly and down. It leads to a clearing. Here a few books are nestled in between close trees, narrow gaps plugged with books of lore. The clearing continues towards the west, into thicker fog that you can't see past.

Jarem stops as you get close to the clearing, shield up. "Something's here," he murmurs, barely audible.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa searches out what he noticed, and prepares herself...

[Anastasia]

Ianvasah tenses immediately, fists balling up and at the ready.

Emily's blade is out, shield ready as well.

Silence for several moments as it emerges 10ft ahead and 5ft to your right. A thick book, flying along of its own power. Before you can react, it's coming at the party.

Init here.