Lysander
2006-02-22, 06:39 PM
There's no telling how long you've been walking through the library or how far underground you've come. The bookshelves tower over your head, going higher than the feeble illumination your phosphorescent lamp can cast. You gingerly step over manuscripts that have fallen from the crumbling shelves. At the next intersection of rows a pleasant sight greets you; an empty pint glass resting on the stone ground. You must be going the right way. You continue to the next glass, and then to the next, and in short time can ignore the glasses and follow the sounds of music and chatter. A light shines around the corner of the next shelf, you turn and see the famous inn. It's well constructed but rather ramshackle in appearance, entirely made of wood planks salvaged from collapsed shelves. You imagine it resembles what would happen if someone nailed barricades over a simple farmhouse and then somehow removed the farmhouse and left the barricades standing. Hanging from the roof by many coarse ropes is a fringe of books. They've been dipped in black ink, the writing on every page obscured in darkness. You push open door, getting a thin film of rotted sawdust on your fingers, and step inside.
The Scholar City of Alexandria is noted for its many famous libraries but one is known above the rest: The Requiem Library of Lysander.
Three-thousand years ago the conqueror Lysander captured Alexandria but to the joy of its residents chose to support their pursuit of knowledge, and founded many universities and libraries. He only named one after himself though, his philanthropic masterpiece.
The Library and the Inn
The Requiem Library is the largest collection of biographies ever assembled, attempting to record every life from the highest king to the lowest beggar. The number of volumes it currently has is incalculable.
It is customary that after a death the family of the deceased will hire a scribe to write a full account of the the person's life, and then they'll deliver it to the appropriate shelf deep within the recesses of the library. The wealthy may have volumes of illuminated manuscripts written for them, while the poor might only have a few sewn pages of simple writing to document their existence. Even for those that die without money or relations, a scholar will typically write a page or two without a payment.
The Library has grown over the millenia, layer after layer being built over the building before it. From outside it is now literally a mountain of a building, the lowest layers of the library deep within the ground and the highest visible from miles away. It dwarfs the city that surrounds it. New manuscripts cannot be placed near he upper layers, instead the library organizes volumes by relationship between the texts. There are shelves that document family lines, families from the same village are arranged close together, villages are arranged by region, enemies and friends are grouped close together. The books are organized by relevance, not date or alphabetical order. To place or read a book may require a long and dangerous journey through the library. To place a book typically takes a 4-day journey through the library, and another 4 days to return (although it may vary depending where the shelf is). Until just twenty years ago there was no rest or respite for those traveling the library, until William Sinfold established Lysander's Center.
Lysander's Center is built two day's walk down into the library in a large empty area between shelves that several hundred years ago used to be a reading area consisting of many tables. He used loose planks of shelving to construct the inn and furniture and even though the library is indoors chose to build a roof, entirely for reasons of ambiance. Because of the abundance of wood and generally poor quality of the bedding living in Lysander's Center has been compared to being in the hold of a ship. The clientele is mixed, consisting of scholars and adventurers out to find the book of the their choice, and of parties of bereaved and their bodyguards. Because of this the atmosphere in the inn's common room varies between heated academic debate, arguments about tactics, and the somber silence of mourning.
Food and drink is delivered once a month by a caravan of porters, who then depart bearing all the garbage and waste the inn generated in that time. Fire is forbidden in the entire library so the inn is lit by hundreds of small illusory white flames that rest on the floor and tables. The flames often move by themselves and can be picked up and carried back to people's individual rooms, and tossed into the hallway when they wish to sleep. Because the flames rest on the floor the entire inn is lit entirely with underlighting, giving a very odd appearance to the guests and casting many bizarre shadows. If a flames are taken outside the inn they immediately vanish. Due to the ban on fire no actual cooking is done on premises, although the chef has gotten quite talented at making dishes using smoked and salted meats.
Layout
The inn is an expansive one story structure with no foundations surrounded on all sides by at least 30 yards of empty stone floor to the closest book shelves. It has a lot of empty and unused space inside, since there was little constraint in terms of space or materials the innkeeper chose to build larger than he needed to. The true ceiling of this level of the library is around 100 ft off the ground in that area so there is a large amount of empty space around and above the inn.
The largest area of the inn is the common room, which is slightly rectangular. The front door faces roughly south and is on one of the two shorter walls. On the west wall is a long bar with over 30 stools and the large room is filled with twenty three wooden tables, some square and some round, that can each seat around 5 people. Behind the bar are several barrels of beer and ale that the bartender will eagerly pour a glass from, as well as many bottles of more expensive and rare liquors. In north end of the west wall behind the bar is a door leading to the kitchen, which is about quarter the size of the common room and in the southern wall of the kitchen is a door to the storeroom. The storeroom has a large double door in the west wall leading outside the inn so that provisions can be moved directly into the storeroom from the outside. The door is usally bolted shut except when the caravan arrives. In the northern wall of the common room is a door leading to a long straight hallway eight feet wide with doors to rooms every on both sides. The first door on the left side is William Sinfold's room, which has dimensions of 30 ft x 30 ft and and a second door that leads directly into the kitchens. The first door on the right side is also 30ft x 30ft and is the staff quarters although if there are unoccupied rooms (which there usually are) they'll choose privacy and rest in one of those instead. All the other rooms in the inn are off this hallway, it has 30 identical guest rooms 20ft x 20ft which each contain a simple queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk, and a chair. None of the rooms have windows as few guests would enjoy seeing the eerie depths of the library while they try to sleep.
At the far end of this hallway is a door leading to the bathhouse and laundry room: it's well stocked with metal tubs, large clay jugs of water, and soaps. There are several privacy curtains that can be moved around as necessary.
There are two seperate structures outside the inn entirely: the bathroom which consists of a five outhouses grouped together about 20 feet outside the inn (each of which has a single blacked out book hanging from it), and the waste shed, a large perfectly square building 50 feet north of the inn where all the garbage (and waste from the outhouses) is stored. The shed is permanently enchanted to prevent any smell from escaping it, although inside it smells even worse because of it.
The History of Lysander's Center
Lysander's Center was built twenty years ago to serve as a resting stop roughly in the center of the library. Some guests use it as a center of operations for months while they conduct exstensive research, others only as a waypoint as they continue on their way to deposit a book and leave.
It is a commonly accepted fact that the library is haunted, theorized to be spirits of the dead with unsatisfying lives that stay close to the only remaining evidence of their existence. A DC10 knowledge check will reveal that the spirits are rumored to be afraid of destroyed books, and that the books hanging from the inn exist to ward off any undead that might venture that way.
A DC15 knowledge check will reveal some information about the magical flames the inn uses for light: that the owner has some magical abilities and renews the spell that generates the flames daily.
A DC10 check will also reveal more information about the library, make a seperate check for each of these:
*That it is a rite of passage for young boys on their fifteenth birthday to venture alone into the library and deposit a one-page autobiography of their life so far on the shelf where their Requiem Book will eventually be placed. The only tools they are given are phosphorescent lamp, and a blacked out book to frighten away any spirits they might encounter.
*They should already know that fire is forbidden in the library as it is told to every person as they enter the library. However this check will reveal that people that use fire in the library often go missing, it is rumored that the dead attack any that might imperil the books by lighting a flame for any reason. A similar fate is rumored to befall those that deliberately damage the books or attempt to remove them from the library.
*There is a long running rumor of a living human that lurks amidst the bookshelves, repairing books and placing fallen books on shelves, supposedly for several hundred years. The legend calls him the Librarian and he is supposedly immortal.
A DC8 Gather Information check will reveal a new disturbing trend going on in the library. Apparently placing one's book in the lowest level of the library has become prestigious because of the cost in guards to safetly get the book there, and many rich merchants and nobles have been placing elaborate golden books set with jewels. To protect their books they've hired construction teams to new delve passages even deeper than the original library and placed various traps to stop any that would attempt to steal them. There's been reports of innocent scholars exploring the deep library being slain by traps constructed only a short time ago.
NPCs
William Sinfold: The Inkeeper
Bard Level 7
William stands around 6 feet tall, muscular but thin for his size. His hair is brown and shaggy and his face perpetually covered by a layer of stubble. His skin is very pale; after all he's only gone outside the subterranean depths of the library three times in the past twenty years. He has training as a bard and a few useful spells, one of those the spell that casts the illusionary flames.
Many people have wondered whether William built Lysander's Center to escape something in the outside world but those musing are unfounded. His true motivation was a pure thirst for knowledge, from his home inside the library he can easily access the tomes around him. At any given point he has 20-30 books borrowed from the library inside his room and commonly reads one each day, and then returns them to the shelves when finished. Sometimes the book he wants is far off in the library and he's gone for a few days while he searches for it. He usually tends the bar eager for conversation, glad to share knowledge and curious about the exploits and goals of his guests.
Kara Sinfold
Kara Sinfold is William's adopted daughter and handles most of the day to affairs of the inn, controlling booking and fees. William found her when she was an infant in the library 17 years ago, lying on the ground crying between dark bookshelves in one of the lowest levels of the library. She loves her life in the library and dotes on William though she desperately wishes to learn who her parents were. She fills in as bartender when William is away.
Pel Nombar
The middle aged gnomish chef of Lysander's Center does have talent when it comes to cuisine but his food will always be held back by the fact he cannot use fire to cook. He's there for much the same reasons Mr. Sinfold is, to read as many of the books as he can. He used to be a permanent guest at the inn, when he ran out of money William offered to hire him. He studied a book about the royal chef that lived six centuries ago to get his recipies, in fact he still has the book and consults it frequently.
Lim Bryant
Level 1 Bard
Lim is a youth of 16 years currently in training under William to learn the bardic art. He can be frequently heard singing in the common room, though he also handles the more unpleasant jobs such as transferring waste from the latrines to the refuse shed.
Cornash
Level 4 Rogue/Level 3 Barbarian
This half-orc has a hidden past: he used to be an enforcer for a crime syndicate in a nearby city. After double crossing his employers he was forced to flee for his life. "Cornash" is a false name he invented after hiding in the library. William doesn't know Cornash's true past although he suspects he has a shady background. He senses that Cornash is loyal to him though and he's deeply curious about his past, hoping that if he keeps him around he'll reveal what he was running from. Cornash makes up the rooms each day and uses his brute strength to break up any fights that (infrequently) occur between patrons.
Shalia Pelane
Level 5 Wizard
This elf is one of the permanent guests of the inn, and has rented a room for the past six years. Her goal in the library is to seek out the biographies of ancient wizards and attempt to glean long forgotten spells. She's had mixed success. Fortunately she's under no particular time constraints, the Elven wizard's guild that pays her expenses would be satisfied even if she sent them just one spell each decade and she's found at least eight so far, albeit all of them minor cantrips. She's quite friendly with the staff and both she and William have refused to acknowledge the romantic tension between them.
Ad'an Raffstick
Level 5 Fighter
This 38-year old noble is another permanent guest of the inn and has rented a room for two years now for him and his bodyguard. He keeps his business secret and is unsociable. The innstaff doesn't like him but he pays his bills.
Jerise Bookman
Level 8 Rogue
She's lord Raffstick's bodyguard, henchman, and courtesan. She's incredibly attractive but extremely bitter and cynical, and if anything dislikes Raffstick even more than the innstaff does. She simply works for him because he's willing to pay premium for her services. Lim has a huge crush on her although everyone else is smart enough to see her for what she is: a hired killer. Cornash knows her type from his past life and keeps a close eye on her.
PLOT HOOKS
There are many reasons why your players might venture into the library. If they were for instance searching for a magical item perhaps they would need to consult the Requiem book for the wizard that crafted it. Or if they were seeking some ancient castle or dungeon they might want to read on the life of the king who had it comissioned. Or perhaps they could be searching some treasured inside the library itself. Here however are some plot hooks more directly related to the inn:
1. Your players might encounter Lord Raffstick and Jerise in the main room. He might be willing to reveal his true goal there: to seek out the Librarian and discover once and for all who and what he is, though he might not reveal his reason for wanting this information: to discover the Librarian's secret of immortality. He needs additional warriors to protect him from the undead creatures that stalk the halls of the library (there are rumors of shuffling humanoid creatures made entirely out of the remains of rotted books).
2. Kara wants to learn more about her past by exploring where she was found but can't get anyone to escort her. William refuses to do it, he's a bit hurt by the prospect that she's interested in her biological parents, he mistakenly thinks it means she doesn't consider him a father and perhaps also knows something about Kara's origins he thinks is best kept secret. She promises to divulge the location of a treasure inside the library if someone will protect her there and back.
3. A family of wealthy mourners has had their gold plated, bejeweled manuscript stolen. William is certain no one left the premises with the book as he has magical alarms set up outside the inn to alert him if anyone enters or leaves. The book must still be somewhere in the inn but it can't be found. The family offers a substantial reward to anyone who can find the book and return it to them.
4. For the first time the spirits of the library begin to attack the inn. William desperately needs assistance defending it and to uncover who in the inn brought the wrath of the dead upon them.
5. Shalia recently discovered a very difficult spell that requires two wizards to cast it. She wants to test it out and discover what it does, and needs another arcane spellcaster to work with her. She tempts your party's wizard with the promise of learning this ancient spell although she warns it may be dangerous, after all there's no telling what it might do...
6. A wealthy young man at the inn is distressed. He wants to deliver his deceased father's book to their family's shelf but can't remember how to deactivate the traps his grandfather placed in front of it to safeguard the family collection of platinum-bound books. If only there was someone around to help that knew how to get around traps...
7. The food supply caravan is a day late which is odd considering how well they know the route to the inn. It's probably nothing but William offers free room and board to anyone who'll search for them. Just in case he offers a blacked out book to take with them. If they investigate they'll discover the caravan has been waylaid by a group of bandits that have entered the library to steal gems and precious metals off the covers of books.
8. Kara and Pel have a plot to finally get William and Shalia together but they need some strangers to help them with their matchmaking scheme. All they can offer is information, Pel promises to draw them a map to some books he guarantees will be worth their while.
9. A new guest is searching for Cornash, calls himself one of "Cornash's old friends". Unfortunately for him Cornash has gone missing, coincidentally around the same time he arrived. He's convinced the innstaff knows where Cornash is and would be willing to pay handsomely for any information as to his location.
10. Lim is depressed that he'll never attain the heart of the beautiful Jerise. He's temporarily taken leave of his position at the inn to accompany Lord Raffstick on his next expedition into the library, hoping they get attacked by the dead so he has a chance to impress Jerise with his self-imagined combat prowess. William asks your people to tag along and "Just make sure Lim doesn't do something stupid. No...that's a hopeless quest. Just make sure the stupid thing he does don't kill him."
Signature Items
1. The inns unique lighting is one.
2.Another are the black books William freely sells at cost to his patrons, out of concern for their safety. The books actually do work to a degree, with an effect equivalent to a very low level turn undead. It works against the weaker creatures of the library.
3. Pel Nombar's curry flavoured beef jerky and smoked pork stale biscuit sandwich served au jus (somehow) with mustard is a very unique dish that only Pel knows the secret of. Currently no one has asked for it a second time, except Kara after she lost a bet with Lim.
Bestiary
Just in case anyone is curious about the types of monsters in the library here are a few I'd suggest. They normally don't venture near the inn but anyone who strays far enough may encounter any of these
There could of course be many other types of creatures, including living monsters that has moved in and conventional undead.
Page Walkers:
Zombie like creatures composed entirely of tiny scraps of paper, some no bigger than a single letter. After their books rotted away the spirits that haunted the books unsuccessfully tried to animate their biography back into a body. They can vary in size because of this: a paper walker that had a small book might only be ankle high while someone with several volumes written for them could be twenty feet tall. They contain a lot of hollow space and aren't very strong but can be tricky opponents. Though they can be destroyed by scattering their pieces of paper apart all their body parts are animated seperately and if you cut them in half or even destroy their head the remaining parts will still attack.
Book Golem:
Animated creatures composed of several books. The head contains the book of a noble or plutocrat and the rest of the books in the body are comrpised of their slaves, serfs, and servants, who are forced to serve their master even in death. The more powerful the lord was in life and the more servants they had the bigger the golem will be. If you destroy the biography of the noble in the center of the golem's head the golem will instantly fall apart into ordinary books. The books of the wealthy typically contain jewels and gold on their covers so a party of adventurers that kills a book golem will typically a reward from the remains of the noble's book.
Grimoires
The books of wizards that foolishly had their biographies written into their spellbooks. It's distracting for a spirit to have so many magic runes interrupting the account of their life and it keeps them from their rest in the afterlife. These books can levitate at will and cast the spells contained in their pages in a manner similar to a sorceror (convert the spell level of the wizard when alive to sorceror to determine how many spells per day) but with the spell list of a wizard. As you can imagine this makes them quite dangerous.
Figments:
These ghosts can manifest into a form identical to the one they had when alive. They appear to be living people and typically believe they are still alive, either wondering why they are trapped in an endless library or delusional to the point they believe the library is where they lived in life. Thus it's possible to be attacked by figments of bandits that think they've still ambusing a mountain pass, or challenged to a duel by the figment of a knight who believes you are tresspassing on his land. You can kill them like you would any normal person, they even bleed. Similarly they can fight back like a normal person. They cannot leave the library and if their book is destroyed (wherever in the library it may be) they instantly vanish forever.
Note: One possible answer to Kara's past is that she is the figment of an infant that died being born that William found and raised. In this scenario the reason he doesn't want her to go to where she was found is that she'll discover her book and learn she is dead.
The Scholar City of Alexandria is noted for its many famous libraries but one is known above the rest: The Requiem Library of Lysander.
Three-thousand years ago the conqueror Lysander captured Alexandria but to the joy of its residents chose to support their pursuit of knowledge, and founded many universities and libraries. He only named one after himself though, his philanthropic masterpiece.
The Library and the Inn
The Requiem Library is the largest collection of biographies ever assembled, attempting to record every life from the highest king to the lowest beggar. The number of volumes it currently has is incalculable.
It is customary that after a death the family of the deceased will hire a scribe to write a full account of the the person's life, and then they'll deliver it to the appropriate shelf deep within the recesses of the library. The wealthy may have volumes of illuminated manuscripts written for them, while the poor might only have a few sewn pages of simple writing to document their existence. Even for those that die without money or relations, a scholar will typically write a page or two without a payment.
The Library has grown over the millenia, layer after layer being built over the building before it. From outside it is now literally a mountain of a building, the lowest layers of the library deep within the ground and the highest visible from miles away. It dwarfs the city that surrounds it. New manuscripts cannot be placed near he upper layers, instead the library organizes volumes by relationship between the texts. There are shelves that document family lines, families from the same village are arranged close together, villages are arranged by region, enemies and friends are grouped close together. The books are organized by relevance, not date or alphabetical order. To place or read a book may require a long and dangerous journey through the library. To place a book typically takes a 4-day journey through the library, and another 4 days to return (although it may vary depending where the shelf is). Until just twenty years ago there was no rest or respite for those traveling the library, until William Sinfold established Lysander's Center.
Lysander's Center is built two day's walk down into the library in a large empty area between shelves that several hundred years ago used to be a reading area consisting of many tables. He used loose planks of shelving to construct the inn and furniture and even though the library is indoors chose to build a roof, entirely for reasons of ambiance. Because of the abundance of wood and generally poor quality of the bedding living in Lysander's Center has been compared to being in the hold of a ship. The clientele is mixed, consisting of scholars and adventurers out to find the book of the their choice, and of parties of bereaved and their bodyguards. Because of this the atmosphere in the inn's common room varies between heated academic debate, arguments about tactics, and the somber silence of mourning.
Food and drink is delivered once a month by a caravan of porters, who then depart bearing all the garbage and waste the inn generated in that time. Fire is forbidden in the entire library so the inn is lit by hundreds of small illusory white flames that rest on the floor and tables. The flames often move by themselves and can be picked up and carried back to people's individual rooms, and tossed into the hallway when they wish to sleep. Because the flames rest on the floor the entire inn is lit entirely with underlighting, giving a very odd appearance to the guests and casting many bizarre shadows. If a flames are taken outside the inn they immediately vanish. Due to the ban on fire no actual cooking is done on premises, although the chef has gotten quite talented at making dishes using smoked and salted meats.
Layout
The inn is an expansive one story structure with no foundations surrounded on all sides by at least 30 yards of empty stone floor to the closest book shelves. It has a lot of empty and unused space inside, since there was little constraint in terms of space or materials the innkeeper chose to build larger than he needed to. The true ceiling of this level of the library is around 100 ft off the ground in that area so there is a large amount of empty space around and above the inn.
The largest area of the inn is the common room, which is slightly rectangular. The front door faces roughly south and is on one of the two shorter walls. On the west wall is a long bar with over 30 stools and the large room is filled with twenty three wooden tables, some square and some round, that can each seat around 5 people. Behind the bar are several barrels of beer and ale that the bartender will eagerly pour a glass from, as well as many bottles of more expensive and rare liquors. In north end of the west wall behind the bar is a door leading to the kitchen, which is about quarter the size of the common room and in the southern wall of the kitchen is a door to the storeroom. The storeroom has a large double door in the west wall leading outside the inn so that provisions can be moved directly into the storeroom from the outside. The door is usally bolted shut except when the caravan arrives. In the northern wall of the common room is a door leading to a long straight hallway eight feet wide with doors to rooms every on both sides. The first door on the left side is William Sinfold's room, which has dimensions of 30 ft x 30 ft and and a second door that leads directly into the kitchens. The first door on the right side is also 30ft x 30ft and is the staff quarters although if there are unoccupied rooms (which there usually are) they'll choose privacy and rest in one of those instead. All the other rooms in the inn are off this hallway, it has 30 identical guest rooms 20ft x 20ft which each contain a simple queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk, and a chair. None of the rooms have windows as few guests would enjoy seeing the eerie depths of the library while they try to sleep.
At the far end of this hallway is a door leading to the bathhouse and laundry room: it's well stocked with metal tubs, large clay jugs of water, and soaps. There are several privacy curtains that can be moved around as necessary.
There are two seperate structures outside the inn entirely: the bathroom which consists of a five outhouses grouped together about 20 feet outside the inn (each of which has a single blacked out book hanging from it), and the waste shed, a large perfectly square building 50 feet north of the inn where all the garbage (and waste from the outhouses) is stored. The shed is permanently enchanted to prevent any smell from escaping it, although inside it smells even worse because of it.
The History of Lysander's Center
Lysander's Center was built twenty years ago to serve as a resting stop roughly in the center of the library. Some guests use it as a center of operations for months while they conduct exstensive research, others only as a waypoint as they continue on their way to deposit a book and leave.
It is a commonly accepted fact that the library is haunted, theorized to be spirits of the dead with unsatisfying lives that stay close to the only remaining evidence of their existence. A DC10 knowledge check will reveal that the spirits are rumored to be afraid of destroyed books, and that the books hanging from the inn exist to ward off any undead that might venture that way.
A DC15 knowledge check will reveal some information about the magical flames the inn uses for light: that the owner has some magical abilities and renews the spell that generates the flames daily.
A DC10 check will also reveal more information about the library, make a seperate check for each of these:
*That it is a rite of passage for young boys on their fifteenth birthday to venture alone into the library and deposit a one-page autobiography of their life so far on the shelf where their Requiem Book will eventually be placed. The only tools they are given are phosphorescent lamp, and a blacked out book to frighten away any spirits they might encounter.
*They should already know that fire is forbidden in the library as it is told to every person as they enter the library. However this check will reveal that people that use fire in the library often go missing, it is rumored that the dead attack any that might imperil the books by lighting a flame for any reason. A similar fate is rumored to befall those that deliberately damage the books or attempt to remove them from the library.
*There is a long running rumor of a living human that lurks amidst the bookshelves, repairing books and placing fallen books on shelves, supposedly for several hundred years. The legend calls him the Librarian and he is supposedly immortal.
A DC8 Gather Information check will reveal a new disturbing trend going on in the library. Apparently placing one's book in the lowest level of the library has become prestigious because of the cost in guards to safetly get the book there, and many rich merchants and nobles have been placing elaborate golden books set with jewels. To protect their books they've hired construction teams to new delve passages even deeper than the original library and placed various traps to stop any that would attempt to steal them. There's been reports of innocent scholars exploring the deep library being slain by traps constructed only a short time ago.
NPCs
William Sinfold: The Inkeeper
Bard Level 7
William stands around 6 feet tall, muscular but thin for his size. His hair is brown and shaggy and his face perpetually covered by a layer of stubble. His skin is very pale; after all he's only gone outside the subterranean depths of the library three times in the past twenty years. He has training as a bard and a few useful spells, one of those the spell that casts the illusionary flames.
Many people have wondered whether William built Lysander's Center to escape something in the outside world but those musing are unfounded. His true motivation was a pure thirst for knowledge, from his home inside the library he can easily access the tomes around him. At any given point he has 20-30 books borrowed from the library inside his room and commonly reads one each day, and then returns them to the shelves when finished. Sometimes the book he wants is far off in the library and he's gone for a few days while he searches for it. He usually tends the bar eager for conversation, glad to share knowledge and curious about the exploits and goals of his guests.
Kara Sinfold
Kara Sinfold is William's adopted daughter and handles most of the day to affairs of the inn, controlling booking and fees. William found her when she was an infant in the library 17 years ago, lying on the ground crying between dark bookshelves in one of the lowest levels of the library. She loves her life in the library and dotes on William though she desperately wishes to learn who her parents were. She fills in as bartender when William is away.
Pel Nombar
The middle aged gnomish chef of Lysander's Center does have talent when it comes to cuisine but his food will always be held back by the fact he cannot use fire to cook. He's there for much the same reasons Mr. Sinfold is, to read as many of the books as he can. He used to be a permanent guest at the inn, when he ran out of money William offered to hire him. He studied a book about the royal chef that lived six centuries ago to get his recipies, in fact he still has the book and consults it frequently.
Lim Bryant
Level 1 Bard
Lim is a youth of 16 years currently in training under William to learn the bardic art. He can be frequently heard singing in the common room, though he also handles the more unpleasant jobs such as transferring waste from the latrines to the refuse shed.
Cornash
Level 4 Rogue/Level 3 Barbarian
This half-orc has a hidden past: he used to be an enforcer for a crime syndicate in a nearby city. After double crossing his employers he was forced to flee for his life. "Cornash" is a false name he invented after hiding in the library. William doesn't know Cornash's true past although he suspects he has a shady background. He senses that Cornash is loyal to him though and he's deeply curious about his past, hoping that if he keeps him around he'll reveal what he was running from. Cornash makes up the rooms each day and uses his brute strength to break up any fights that (infrequently) occur between patrons.
Shalia Pelane
Level 5 Wizard
This elf is one of the permanent guests of the inn, and has rented a room for the past six years. Her goal in the library is to seek out the biographies of ancient wizards and attempt to glean long forgotten spells. She's had mixed success. Fortunately she's under no particular time constraints, the Elven wizard's guild that pays her expenses would be satisfied even if she sent them just one spell each decade and she's found at least eight so far, albeit all of them minor cantrips. She's quite friendly with the staff and both she and William have refused to acknowledge the romantic tension between them.
Ad'an Raffstick
Level 5 Fighter
This 38-year old noble is another permanent guest of the inn and has rented a room for two years now for him and his bodyguard. He keeps his business secret and is unsociable. The innstaff doesn't like him but he pays his bills.
Jerise Bookman
Level 8 Rogue
She's lord Raffstick's bodyguard, henchman, and courtesan. She's incredibly attractive but extremely bitter and cynical, and if anything dislikes Raffstick even more than the innstaff does. She simply works for him because he's willing to pay premium for her services. Lim has a huge crush on her although everyone else is smart enough to see her for what she is: a hired killer. Cornash knows her type from his past life and keeps a close eye on her.
PLOT HOOKS
There are many reasons why your players might venture into the library. If they were for instance searching for a magical item perhaps they would need to consult the Requiem book for the wizard that crafted it. Or if they were seeking some ancient castle or dungeon they might want to read on the life of the king who had it comissioned. Or perhaps they could be searching some treasured inside the library itself. Here however are some plot hooks more directly related to the inn:
1. Your players might encounter Lord Raffstick and Jerise in the main room. He might be willing to reveal his true goal there: to seek out the Librarian and discover once and for all who and what he is, though he might not reveal his reason for wanting this information: to discover the Librarian's secret of immortality. He needs additional warriors to protect him from the undead creatures that stalk the halls of the library (there are rumors of shuffling humanoid creatures made entirely out of the remains of rotted books).
2. Kara wants to learn more about her past by exploring where she was found but can't get anyone to escort her. William refuses to do it, he's a bit hurt by the prospect that she's interested in her biological parents, he mistakenly thinks it means she doesn't consider him a father and perhaps also knows something about Kara's origins he thinks is best kept secret. She promises to divulge the location of a treasure inside the library if someone will protect her there and back.
3. A family of wealthy mourners has had their gold plated, bejeweled manuscript stolen. William is certain no one left the premises with the book as he has magical alarms set up outside the inn to alert him if anyone enters or leaves. The book must still be somewhere in the inn but it can't be found. The family offers a substantial reward to anyone who can find the book and return it to them.
4. For the first time the spirits of the library begin to attack the inn. William desperately needs assistance defending it and to uncover who in the inn brought the wrath of the dead upon them.
5. Shalia recently discovered a very difficult spell that requires two wizards to cast it. She wants to test it out and discover what it does, and needs another arcane spellcaster to work with her. She tempts your party's wizard with the promise of learning this ancient spell although she warns it may be dangerous, after all there's no telling what it might do...
6. A wealthy young man at the inn is distressed. He wants to deliver his deceased father's book to their family's shelf but can't remember how to deactivate the traps his grandfather placed in front of it to safeguard the family collection of platinum-bound books. If only there was someone around to help that knew how to get around traps...
7. The food supply caravan is a day late which is odd considering how well they know the route to the inn. It's probably nothing but William offers free room and board to anyone who'll search for them. Just in case he offers a blacked out book to take with them. If they investigate they'll discover the caravan has been waylaid by a group of bandits that have entered the library to steal gems and precious metals off the covers of books.
8. Kara and Pel have a plot to finally get William and Shalia together but they need some strangers to help them with their matchmaking scheme. All they can offer is information, Pel promises to draw them a map to some books he guarantees will be worth their while.
9. A new guest is searching for Cornash, calls himself one of "Cornash's old friends". Unfortunately for him Cornash has gone missing, coincidentally around the same time he arrived. He's convinced the innstaff knows where Cornash is and would be willing to pay handsomely for any information as to his location.
10. Lim is depressed that he'll never attain the heart of the beautiful Jerise. He's temporarily taken leave of his position at the inn to accompany Lord Raffstick on his next expedition into the library, hoping they get attacked by the dead so he has a chance to impress Jerise with his self-imagined combat prowess. William asks your people to tag along and "Just make sure Lim doesn't do something stupid. No...that's a hopeless quest. Just make sure the stupid thing he does don't kill him."
Signature Items
1. The inns unique lighting is one.
2.Another are the black books William freely sells at cost to his patrons, out of concern for their safety. The books actually do work to a degree, with an effect equivalent to a very low level turn undead. It works against the weaker creatures of the library.
3. Pel Nombar's curry flavoured beef jerky and smoked pork stale biscuit sandwich served au jus (somehow) with mustard is a very unique dish that only Pel knows the secret of. Currently no one has asked for it a second time, except Kara after she lost a bet with Lim.
Bestiary
Just in case anyone is curious about the types of monsters in the library here are a few I'd suggest. They normally don't venture near the inn but anyone who strays far enough may encounter any of these
There could of course be many other types of creatures, including living monsters that has moved in and conventional undead.
Page Walkers:
Zombie like creatures composed entirely of tiny scraps of paper, some no bigger than a single letter. After their books rotted away the spirits that haunted the books unsuccessfully tried to animate their biography back into a body. They can vary in size because of this: a paper walker that had a small book might only be ankle high while someone with several volumes written for them could be twenty feet tall. They contain a lot of hollow space and aren't very strong but can be tricky opponents. Though they can be destroyed by scattering their pieces of paper apart all their body parts are animated seperately and if you cut them in half or even destroy their head the remaining parts will still attack.
Book Golem:
Animated creatures composed of several books. The head contains the book of a noble or plutocrat and the rest of the books in the body are comrpised of their slaves, serfs, and servants, who are forced to serve their master even in death. The more powerful the lord was in life and the more servants they had the bigger the golem will be. If you destroy the biography of the noble in the center of the golem's head the golem will instantly fall apart into ordinary books. The books of the wealthy typically contain jewels and gold on their covers so a party of adventurers that kills a book golem will typically a reward from the remains of the noble's book.
Grimoires
The books of wizards that foolishly had their biographies written into their spellbooks. It's distracting for a spirit to have so many magic runes interrupting the account of their life and it keeps them from their rest in the afterlife. These books can levitate at will and cast the spells contained in their pages in a manner similar to a sorceror (convert the spell level of the wizard when alive to sorceror to determine how many spells per day) but with the spell list of a wizard. As you can imagine this makes them quite dangerous.
Figments:
These ghosts can manifest into a form identical to the one they had when alive. They appear to be living people and typically believe they are still alive, either wondering why they are trapped in an endless library or delusional to the point they believe the library is where they lived in life. Thus it's possible to be attacked by figments of bandits that think they've still ambusing a mountain pass, or challenged to a duel by the figment of a knight who believes you are tresspassing on his land. You can kill them like you would any normal person, they even bleed. Similarly they can fight back like a normal person. They cannot leave the library and if their book is destroyed (wherever in the library it may be) they instantly vanish forever.
Note: One possible answer to Kara's past is that she is the figment of an infant that died being born that William found and raised. In this scenario the reason he doesn't want her to go to where she was found is that she'll discover her book and learn she is dead.