Rialto and Karl moved carefully over to the pit, watching the golem. Karl stepped to the edge and reached out to grasp Vernon’s body. There was no indication of trouble from the golem so the men proceeded to pull the body out and take useful items from it. When there still was no reaction, they started searching the other bodies in the pit. Rialto cast his Detect Magic cantrip to gather any objects of power that could be found. There were a fair number of such and after a significant pile had been made they called me over to place the equipment in my pack. Once that was complete I asked Rialto about the book that we were here for. Was it strictly information or was there magic in the book? If the latter, we could find the book using simple magic. Rialto agreed and also indicated that we might find other magical writings on the shelves. We separated and started searching, Rialto and I using Detect Magic but Karl and Ferd using conventional means.
The search didn’t actually take very long. The book that we were searching for and a number of magical scrolls were all in the main sanctuary. The book was open on a stand. Glancing at it I was able to discern that the writing on it was magical and to properly read it would take a long time or a number of castings of Read Magic. Fortunately, while Rialto and I had prepared Detect Magic, Karl had prepared the other magic. While he called out his prayer to his Deity I watched the magic and saw a strange thing. From my experience, magic is an aura of power. It can be a quick flash such as a combat spell that causes an effect. Or it can be a slow glow such as that of an enchanted item. Or it can be something similar but between the two descriptions. When I cast my Detect Magic and watched Karl examine the book I saw two differences from what I was used to seeing. First, the divine magic of the priest didn’t come from him, but rather it seemed to flow into the area from all over around the priest and into the book. Second, there was a visible thread of power connected to the book and flowing out of this room. I followed the thread and saw that it was connected to the golem. Also, as Karl was reading the book the line seemed to be pulsing and the places on the golem that showed damage seemed to be healing. I called to Karl to stop reading and explained to Rialto what I was seeing. He cast his spell and confirmed, and all verified that the golem’s physical condition seemed to be better than when we had entered.
Now we had quite the quandary. The guild wanted the book, but it seemed to be linked to the golem. If we tried to take the book would the golem follow? Since the book seemed to have healed the golem some the men were now concerned that they couldn’t hurt it enough to destroy it without having to suffer a number of attacks from it, and none of them was sure of surviving that attack! The other items, and quite a valuable trove of treasure that appeared to be, didn’t seem to be linked.
One of the items turned out to be quite the treasure for me. It was a small pot on four stout legs. There were several words scribed on the bottom of it. The power of its magic was transmutation and with my interest in alchemy I hoped that I was right. It was a cauldron of brewing, perfect for brewing alchemical formula or for cooking dinner! I didn’t know or care if anyone would object, I was claiming that item. I read the command words one at a time to see what they did, then pulled out rations and started dinner. Looking around the room then I was glad that the cauldron didn’t use fire to heat up. The magic of the wards in the room might have detected that as an attack and decided to eject us! The men were surprised both by my enthusiasm over the cauldron and by my crafting the meal, surprised and happy. And after the meal it fit conveniently into my pack!
We considered moving out of the library/chapel and camping for the night, but decided that we couldn’t possibly be safer than with the golem as a guard. We set up our equipment in the main chapel area back in the corner farthest away from the book. Since we still weren’t totally convinced we did set up a watch schedule. With my ring I was able to stay up most of the night searching for other information in the rest of the library. I could easily have spent months there exploring the information, but that wasn’t part of our mission.
The next morning we had a nice breakfast, also cooked in the cauldron. I was fairly certain that none of the men were going to contest my right to it now. I was right. After the meal and cleanup we discussed the book. Rialto still wanted to grab it and dash out the door. The rest of us were fairly certain that would be a death sentence for the person attempting the dash. Finally I suggested that Karl read some more of it while we watched the golem. This was to ‘heal’ it some more. Then we would return to Caer Maga to report to the guild. They could decide what, if anything, they wanted to do. I stated that this would be the safest option since the restored golem would be better able to continue guarding the place, and it would still be here in the couple of weeks that it might take for the guild to decide and act. Any party returning would now know the key for safe entry, even if it didn’t give them command of the powerful golem. Rialto wasn’t happy since I wasn’t siding with him, but after all, I am my own woman!
More later….