Turning, he scanned the crowd for the guard that he had gotten the quest from. Spotting him in the crowd, he walked over with Nychta following behind.
“Jorgen, I got myself some protection.” he said, “You can go now. But, first, can you direct me to the largest church in the city.”
“Sure,” Jorgen said, giving a long and rather detailed set of directions to follow to get to the church.
Two hours later, he finally arrived at the church. The extended amount of time was largely due to it being in the noble section of the city and was held up by the guards at the entrance.
Looking at the church, he was impressed with the size of the place, around 50,000 square feet, though it wasn’t in the greatest condition. Entering, he found that despite the condition of the exterior, the interior was extremely clean.
“Hey, Nychta, can you help me find the office?” he asked, walking along the wall.
Nychta followed him, and before long they found the office. As he went to open the door, Nychta stopped him.
“The door could be trapped,” he said, “As your protector, it is my job to take these risks.”
“Who traps their own door anyways?” he asked.
“Someone with something to hide. Or who didn’t anticipate a quick return. Or they could just be paranoid and have access to lots of power. I’d think that the local office of the High Priest would qualify for at least two of those conditions.”
“You’re probably right. I still don’t like it though.”
Nychta moved forward, and got in front of the door with his shield, “Move to the side of the door, about ten feet. Most traps will affect the area directly in front of and beside the trap.”
After he had moved, Nychta carefully turned the doorknob. When nothing happened, he quickly swung the door open, jumping back. A single fireball shot through the doorway at waist height and was easily blocked by the shield.
“That was rather melodramatic,” he said, moving forward to look through the door. There was a large array of wands pointed towards the doorway, but when he inspected them, they were all listed simply as [Wand (Uncharged)].
“None of them have any charges left.”
“Well, It has been a couple thousand years since the last high priest was here. It makes sense that some of the mana would leak and that would eventually result in them being unable to fire. It’s surprising that that one managed to last as long as it did.”
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They entered the office and found that, contrary to what he expected, there wasn’t a single speck of dust on any of the surfaces. The desk in the center of the room was completely clear of items with the single exception of a scroll with an intricate wax seal on it.
Approaching the desk, he used [Identify] on it.
Item: The Last Will and Testament of High Priest Vaylorn
Type: Unique, Legal Document
Quality: High
Durability: 243/250
Weight: 0.14 kg
Description: This document states the final wishes of the previous High Priest, Vaylorn, concerning what to do to his possessions if he is found to be dead or missing. It must be opened before a government official currently in good standing, else the contents are legally considered null and void. It is sealed with the seal of the gods, with the symbol of creation on top (a seven-pointed star), destruction on the bottom (an hourglass within a circle), light on the left (a prism with light flowing through it), and dark on the right (A waning crescent moon with a velvety black background). The seal is carried by the High Priest at all times and cannot be removed, even after death, by any but the next High Priest.
“Looks like we’ll need to find a trustworthy government official so that we can read the scroll,” he said.
“Will it even be valid after all this time?” Nychta asked, “It has been 5,000 years, after all.”
“Maybe,” Nox said, thinking, “This might not even be the same kingdom as that time. It may have been conquered or have seceded from a larger kingdom since then. However, the description indicated that it is still a valid legal document, so I think that we should obey the instructions.”
“So we need to find a government official. Who would qualify?”
“No idea. Is there a general information office somewhere around here?”
“Perhaps we could use the information building at the entrance to the city,” Nychta suggested, “if that doesn’t help, we can always search the forums for more information.”
“Yeah, that’ll work,” he said, storing the scroll in his inventory, “Let’s go.”
* * * * *
“The highest government official that you can meet without setting up an appointment weeks beforehand is the Minister of History, Korby,” the woman at the desk said in response to their question.
“What is his job?”
“Maintaining an accurate record of the city. He mainly just reads all of the weekly reports and cleans them up before filing them,” She responded, “No-one really ever has a need to see him unless they have questions considering the distant past.”
“Then thank you for your help, madam,” Nox said, glad that it was that easy to find the information they needed, “Could we trouble you to get directions or even a map to wherever he might be found?”
“That’s easy to tell you. If you were to head a couple blocks down the main street, you’d find a large library on the left side of the street. He can be found in the Archives, which is in the basement of the library. Simply ask one of the Librarians for directions once you get inside. He only ever leaves to eat, so you can find him there at almost any time of the day.”
“Thank you again,” he said, flipping her a silver coin, before leaving the building in search of the library.