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[Shoruke]

Well then. I guess it's time to go. Hold here until I've led the guards out of view. Olan stands, unharnesses the chocobos from the wagon, ties one up to a tree, and mounts the other. Then he waits.

"...I always hate this part."

He walks the chocobo out of the trees and back onto the road, approaching the monastery. When he gets near to the entrance, one of the guards takes a step forward and holds up a hand; at this distance, you can't hear what's being said, but after a few seconds talking, one of the guards makes some exclamation; both guards make a dash towards Olan, and then promptly freeze perfectly still. You can hear Olan shouting some kind of taunt, but you can't make out the words properly. In response, three more guards burst through the doors, weapons drawn, and chase Olan as he turns his chocobo about and flees off the path and into the distance, straight towards Dorter. After a few moments, the two frozen guards return to normal, pause for a bit, and then run off to find their own chocobos.

Within four minutes of Olan's leaving, he and all five guards are out of sight.

Balmafula's spyglass evaporates, and she hastily grabs her enruned paper and stuffs it into one of her cloak's many pockets. "Move," she says, drawing her hood up far enough to obscure her face.

The group hustles over to the monastery, and carefully open the front doors with a loud creak. You can see the main temple area in front of you- pews and an altar, surrounded by stained glass windows and dominated by a statue of St. Ajora- but Balmafula leads you down a spiral staircase to the right. You pass a few doors as you descend, with labels and floor numbers on plaques next to them: the living quarters, the kitchen, a small custodial closet. The staircase ends at "B4 - Library". Balmafula opens the door silently, and leads you through.

The scenery is one of books and stone shelves, for a surprising distance; the underground library appears to be slightly larger than the temple. Light from nowhere in particular gives the room an even coating of illumination, making the entire place feel muted, if not dull. The entrance to the room is raised just above the bookshelves, and from there you can see that the shelves form some kind of labyrinth.

Balmafula waves to catch your attention, holds a finger to her lips to request silence, points two fingers at her eyes, and then points to the far left corner; that section of the room seems to be lowered compared to the rest of it. Balmufula waves in a "come this way" motion, hops through the door and onto one of the bookshelves, and quietly stalks her way along it. You follow her as quietly as you can, although as you move you note that even the sound of your own feet against worked stone seems to be duller than usual.

Partway through the room, still moving along the tops of the stone bookshelves, Balmafula stops suddenly, and holds up a fist to signal you should stop. You all do so, and listen.

"...Feh. This one's from two hundred years too late... Nothing about the man's life." You hear the *thump* of a heavy book landing on the ground. "And why doesn't this place have a book listing? It's impossible to find anything in here." The voices are coming from a small office room to your left; the door is open, but from atop the bookshelves, you can't see very far into the room. Light spills through the doorway; apparently the Templar has a lantern.

Balmafula holds a hand up to her mouth to choke back a giggle at the mention of a catalogue, but when she turns to look at you, worry shows on her face. She jerks her head towards the far side of the room, indicating she thinks you should press on.

[kj1225]

Kyle holds out his hand and makes a motion like writing. He probably wants something to write with and some paper.

[Shoruke]

Balmafula raises one hand to her face, and with the other hands Kyle a sheet of paper and a feather pen.

[kj1225]

Kyle writes a note on the paper and throws it to an area that it can be found later if you look for it.

Spoiler: What it says. (click to show/hide)

Be lucky I don't like killing people.

Then he starts off in the direction that was indicated.

[Tsuchigumo550]

Elizalotte motions to everyone else, pointing at the Library and holding an open palm, before pointing over to the place Balmafula indicated with a finger over her mouth. She silently moves over to the other place, hanging as far away from the Library as possible.

[scapheap]

Grace follow the party.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Gregory follows the others, quietly as he can.

[Alexandria]

Bring up the rear, keep a hand on my longsword.

[Fr0stByt3]

PTW.
Now, to find where I sign up!
ONWARDS, FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!

[The Fool]

Heath gripped the handle of his axe as he walked semi-crouched, not trusting that the Templar wouldn't hear their footsteps. If their employer wanted the man alive then it'd probably be for the best to keep it that way and move on.

[Shoruke]

"'Course some damn noble kid made off with the scriptures... And nothing else save the walls themselves is from the same era..." As Balmafula leads you away, the distance makes the Templar's expletives fade into the silence.

You reach the end of the room, climb down the bookshelves, and head through a door hidden in an alcove in the corner. Through it is a short staircase that heads leads downwards and turns you around, and another floor full of books on the same stone shelves.
And after that, another.
Halfway through the third floor, Balmafula stops crouching and walks normally.

"I rather doubt he can hear us from up there. Good thing, too, my back was getting stiff. This is the last floor before the rune."

You walk to the end of the room, and Balmafula throws the door open. It slams against the wall... and the sound echoes through the library, seemingly the only sound not muted by the very air. Following it, you hear a distant commotion start up behind you.

"WHERE ARE THEY? WHERE ARE THEY?!? I'M GONNA KILL 'EM!!"

"The time for subtlety has passed. MOVE!" Balmafula dashes into the room, throws her arms into the air, and floats two inches of the ground; her clothing ripples in a sudden wind, and a hole, slightly smaller than the frame of a grown man, opens in the barrier around the rune. "Remember... ugh... to stand... right in the middle-! And go through... one at a... at a time!" Her words come in exerted gasps. You dash through the hole in the barrier, and then it closes behind you. As you turn to look back at her before you teleport, you see the Templar throw the door open, but can't hear his shouting clearly. Balmafula whips around, points at him, and he stops moving, similar to the guards outside the monastery as they chased Olan. She runs past him, and you take the opportunity to recite the words on your sending scrolls.

You find yourself suddenly at the top of a staircase that winds its way around the inside of a tower; you can see some thirty feet down before the gloom hides the floor. You proceed down the narrow staircase single file, and wonder at the kind of person who would build a thirty foot staircase with no handrails.

At the bottom of the tower is a door, and nothing else. You open it and walk through, and find yourself looking at something that, as far as you know, nobody alive could have seen: a city spans in front of you, albeit in ruins. Some buildings are crumbled; some, built with thick stone walls, still stand and give silent testament to an age long gone. The entire place is tinted blue; if you look out over the buildings in front of you, the terrain slopes gradually downwards, and beyond the buildings you can see the ocean. Looking up, you see a cavern ceiling, but it seems to be a mile high. If you look at the buildings behind you, they are much poorer-illuminated than those in front of you. Apparently, the only light source is the ocean.

Nothing, save for you and your friends, moves in this place. There is not even a breeze here. The walls have all faded to the same dull gray, tinted blue by the ocean's light, and their insides are barren of aught but moss. On or two of the buildings have a pale white rectangle over the front, much like a signboard in Ivalice's modern towns, but made of a magick instead of wood, and faded near to nonexistence with time.

A thick layer of dust coats everything, but you notice a clear path leading out of the tower and towards the ocean, where the dust has been disturbed and thinned recently, as though a small legion of people had come this in the last few years, and the dust had not yet settled as thickly as elsewhere.

[Tsuchigumo550]

Silently look at the others, motioning to the trail.
It's safe to talk now, right? Elizalotte askes quietly.

[kj1225]

Kyle moves his mask away from his face.
"I would probably take someone on a date here. I think it's fairly pretty. Speaking of pretty things, how are you doing Eliza?"

[scapheap]

Grace looks around
:"Doesn't seem like a nice place. It too dead."

[GreatWyrmGold]

"Something tells me Eliza's not your type, Kyle. And, besides, this is hardly an appropriate time to be working on your love life...

"This place really is impressive, however. And it'll take a while to search. Good thing is, there's not likely to be much of anyone down here, not even animals bigger than rats. What would they eat?

"We should get started searching, it'll take a while."