Chapter 03 - Wally's Apartment
Tomes ‘R’ Us was right around the corner from the library, the top half of the front door comprised of delicate glass that cast colored images of books on the inside of the shop when the sunlight hit it just right. A small bell attached to the frame jingled as Vim opened the door.
Once inside it quickly became apparent that Tomes ‘R’ Us wasn’t simply a bookstore. It was a store for bibliophiles, for collectors, for those looking for the truly obscure. The left half of the room was raised one step above the right, and in the center of the left portion sat an ornately decorated wooden table large enough to seat six and surrounded by comfortable chairs of various sizes. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, each filled with tomes arranged with the finest precision, the spines all exactly the same distance from the shelf’s front edge. A glowing glass fixture hung above the table, providing adequate light for reading.
Directly across from the door, along the far wall, was a counter with two stacks of books upon it. Sitting between the stacks, perched on a raised chair, sat a well dressed gnome, the unruliness of his facial hair and long, gray beard contrasting with his immaculate clothing. He pulled a book from the left stack, flipped through it briefly, then went back to the first page and lightly wrote something on it in pencil before moving it to the right stack. A delicate, thin, undecorated ivory pipe dangled from his lips. When the party entered he looked up over the wire rims of his glasses then back down to the book he was examining.
“Can I help you?”
Vim strolled confidently to the counter, Paloma following. The others fanned out and scanned the books on the shelves.
“You can indeed, fine sir. Vim Shalen is the name, though you may know me better as one of the founding members, along with my friend Modi there, of Mikael’s Pence,” he said, turning to Modi as if by way of introduction.
Modi looked up from the book he held and smiled. “I am Modi.”
Vim turned back to the gnome. The bookseller looked to Modi, then back to Vim before taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Is there something you want?”
Paloma opened her mouth to speak, but Jahnas, now standing behind her, spoke first. “We seek the Codex Andlegt Skriðdýr, sir.”
“Seem to be a lot of people interested in that book all of a sudden,” Phil said.
“How so, sir?”
“Well Wally is always in here babbling about it. You have heard of Wally I assume?” Vim, Paloma, and Jahnas nodded. Across the room Modi was dangerously balanced on a chair trying to reach a book on a top shelf. “He’s the only one who really takes the thing seriously. He has a theory, you see, that the text of the original can change from reading to reading.” Phil shook his head. “Poor Wally, a bit of an obsessive I’m afraid.”
“We’d like to meet Wally. His theories on the Codex sound intriguing,” Paloma said.
“Normally I’d say wait around a few hours and he’d be bound to show up, but I haven’t seen him for a few days. The last time was right after the original was stolen.”
“So you know of the crime then?” Jahnas asked, a bit too bluntly.
The gnome regarded the triton. “Of course, boy. I run a bookstore, one devoted to rare and collectible editions, located literally across the street from the largest library in the world. It’s not like the news had to travel far.”
“Do you know anything about the crime?” Jahnas’ tone, while flat, implied he thought Phil knew something.
A look of frustration crossed Phil’s face. Before he could respond Paloma put her hand on the triton’s shoulder. “Please excuse my friend’s directness, Mr. Chapbook,” she said. “It is the way of his people and he means no offense.”
Phil regarded Paloma and his expression softened. “I’ve heard about you. The black puma tabaxi born during an aurora storm. Never expected to see you wander into my shop.”
Paloma bowed her head slightly. While she hated the attention of being known, she also was fully capable of using it to her advantage. “Phil, you said a lot of people have been interested in the Codex lately. Who else besides Wally?”
“Well, the constables of course. Judge Dredd and her men have been around, and the librarian Gilden came in and looked through all my shelves, as if I’d just have it just sitting about if I had it. He’s always making baseless allegations against me. Frankly he’s just jealous that I’m able to obtain rarities that he covets for the library.”
Vim interjected before Paloma could continue. “Say, do you ever get anything in that’s, you know, how shall I put it delicately… exotic, perhaps?”
Phil turned to Vim, a leering smile on his lips. “Oh, I think I catch your meaning boy.” Vim leaned closer, but before Phil could continue Paloma interjected.
“Before you boys continue what I’m sure will be a discussion about great literary works, I have just one more question if I may.”
Vim smiled and nodded.
“Thank you, Vim. Phil, has anyone else asked about the book?”
Phil sat back and held up the pinky on his right hand. A small flame appeared on the fingertip, which he used to relight the pipe still hanging from his lips. The gnome took a few puffs before taking one final long drag. He held the smoke in his mouth for a moment, and when he exhaled a smoky dragon emerged. Vim clapped with delight. “You need to come see our show tonight at the Silver Dragon, and make sure to do that while we’re playing!”
Phil chuckled then turned back to Paloma. “There was another. Human woman, perhaps a week ago. Simple looking but very high quality brown robe. Said she was a scholar and asked about the Codex. I told her about Wally and where to find him and she went on her way.”
“Do you remember what she looked like?” Paloma asked.
“No, not really.”
“Can you tell us where Wally lives?”
“Of course. He’s always happy to get visitors asking about the Codex.” It turned out Wally’s apartment was only a few blocks away, still within the city walls.
With that Vim and Phil quietly discussed whatever behind-the-counter types of books Vim was interested in. Once their arrangement was completed Vim seemed to get an idea. “Hey Phil, does this place have a back exit? We think we might have some folks following us.”
Phil nodded, hopped off his stool, and let them up a freestanding wrought iron spiral staircase behind his counter. On the second floor they walked down a hall that ended in a window opening directly onto the roof of the next building, which was only about ten feet above the street level. They thanked gnome and snuck out, making their way down the street toward Wally’s apartment.
The wizard Wally Seeker lived on the second floor of a well-maintained two-storey building just inside the city walls. Its proximity to the fortifications made it a less desirable address, but the fact that the eccentric scholar managed to maintain residency inside Unity proper meant that his skills must be at the very least marketable.
They entered the building and headed upstairs. Phil told them the entrance to Wally’s apartment was the first door on the left at the top of the stairs. The sturdy wooden door was wide open, which stopped them in their tracks, wondering if perhaps someone had beaten them here.
Vim with his typical nonchalance shrugged his shoulders, stepped into the doorway and knocked on the open door. “Hello? Anyone home?”
A voice from the other end of the room replied. “Ah, what, yes? Well hello there, young man. Please do come in.”
The others followed the bard into the apartment, which was much more spacious than they expected, a high-ceilinged thirty foot square foot room. The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covering all four walls made it feel a bit smaller though, especially the one covering most of the window on the exterior wall that allowed only a sliver of light inside. To the right sat a dilapidated table with mismatched chairs and remnants of a recent meal. To the left was a simple cot, a wood chest at its foot.
Wally sat behind a desk in the far corner of the room facing the door, and he stood in greeting as they entered. His light blue wizard’s robe had obviously been of the highest quality at one time, though now despite his best efforts it was on its last legs. Wally himself was human, roughly six feet tall and quite thin – Paloma guessed he was no more than 130 pounds, and that was with the robe. A fairly well maintained gray beard hung down to the middle of his chest. While his face looked a bit sunken, his blue eyes showed great intelligence and curiosity.
“One, two, three, four, five,” he counted them off as they entered. “It isn’t often I have so many visitors.”
“Our good buddy Phil over at Tomes ‘R’ Us told us where to find you,” Vim said. “We asked about the Codex Andlegt Skriðdýr, and Phil said, ‘if you want to know about the Codex than Wally Seeker is your man’, so here we are.”
Wally walked around to the front of the desk and smiled. “Ah yes, so exciting to see some young people interested in the Codex. Tell me my young friends, what questions do you have?”
“Do you know who stole the Codex, sir?”
Vim’s head dropped as he heard Jahnas’ voice from behind him. The monk certainly wasn’t one to beat about the bush.
Wally’s expression turned serious, but with a tinge of sadness. “The theft of the book was a dastardly crime. It is a work of incredible importance, though few recognize it as such.”
Paloma was leaning casually against the doorframe. Before Jahnas could blurt out his next question she inserted herself into the conversation. “Wally, tell us why the Codex is important.”
That seemed to put Wally a bit more at ease. “Everyone thinks the story in the Codex is a myth. But it’s not a myth. Much like the stories about the tabaxi Leopardius, what is written in the Codex is actual history. It’s the truth.”
The reference to Leopardius caught Paloma off-guard. The legendary leopard-spotted savior of the tabaxi people was believed to live across multiple eras, returning to his people when they needed him most. The other races considered him a mythological figure, though one possibly based on an actual individual. To the tabaxi, however, he was absolutely real. The quickest way to insult a tabaxi, other than scratching one behind the ears without asking permission, was to describe Leopardius as a myth.
As those thoughts raced through Paloma’s head, Wally continued. “Not only that, but the text changes subtly depending on who reads it. This is only true of the original, of course, because it has special properties. The translations you can buy today are all written from the perspective of a human reader. But if an elf reads it, she will come away with a slightly different version of events. It’s most fascinating.”
“Sounds like a great book,” Vim said cheerily. “Probably some great stories in there for a bard like myself. Any idea who might have felt like they just had to have the original?”
Wally became agitated again. “No, no, I can’t imagine why anyone would take it. I already told you that.”
“Wally, we found a note behind the shelf where the Codex is supposed to be located in the special collections room. Someone wrote that ‘it’ made them do it. Do you know what ‘it’ might refer to?” Paloma asked.
Wally begain to shudder, his head rapidly shaking back and forth. “No no no!” he shouted, his hands gripping the edge of the desk behind him. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this! The book is too important! She said nothing would happen to it!”
Everyone other than Gnomey took a slow step backwards. The gnome however, who had been looking at the bookshelves near Wally’s cot, began to creep along the wall toward the wizard.
Modi took a step forward and conjured an image of the Codex, or at least what he thought it might look like based on the descriptions, the book floating in front of Wally. The book was about 10” tall and 8” wide, its covers made of some kind of tanned lavender hide. The front cover had an embossing of a crossed elvish sword and a bardiche war axe. It was held together by four metal hinges along the spine, the opposite side held closed by a metal clasp. Paloma was impressed by the detail of Modi’s illusion, as well as the way he controlled it, spinning it slowly in front of Wally.
Wally let out an anguished yell, startling Modi and causing the image to disappear. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with!” the wizard bellowed at them. With that he seemed to immediately fall into a trance-like state for a few moments, everyone watching anxiously, none of them noticing the gnome slinking his way closer to the wizard.
A few seconds later the life returned to Wally’s eyes, but with it also came a look of sheer malice. The wizard’s hands came up and began making intricate patterns. Modi and Paloma, the two experienced spell casters in the group, knew they were in trouble.
A cone of multi-colored lights flashed from Wally’s hands. Vim, Modi, and Jahnas were blinded, reaching up to cover their eyes too late. Fortunately for Paloma she was able to pull the open door towards her, momentarily blocking her sightline to the wizard and saving her from the same fate. As options ran through her mind she heard a loud crack and a scream.
Paloma pushed the door back against the wall and looked into the room. Vim, Modi and Jahnas were still covering their faces, Vim shouting that he was blind. Wally, however, lay on is side holding his right leg, the knee bent the wrong way. Standing to his side was Gnomey, clutching his quarterstaff. It appeared the gnome had broken the wizard’s leg.
Modi threw a magic bolt of fire where he thought Wally was, but the streak of flame missed the now prone wizard, charring the books on the shelves behind the desk. Jahnas moved forward in a fighting stance, his eyes closed as he attempted to let his hearing guide him.
Wally extended his arms and three sparking darts of light flew forth, one each striking Vim, Modi, and Jahnas, staggering them. Magic missiles, Paloma thought. If he does that again, he may kill them.
Before the sorceress could launch her own magic attack against the wizard, Gnomey calmly stepped forward again, this time hitting Wally in the head and snapping his neck. The wizard’s body slumped the rest of the way to the floor. Over the next few seconds the blinded party members got their vision back.
“What the hell was that all about?” Vim asked incredulously, his hand covering his shoulder where the magic missile had struck. “We were just talking about the book.”
From the apartment next door came a voice, shouting out an open window and into the street. “Call the constables! Someone is killing Wally Seeker! Call the constables!”
Paloma turned to leave the apartment, hoping she could calm the neighbor, but as she did so she caught a glow out of the corner of her eye and looked back into the room. There was a globe of light surrounding Wally’s head, and as the others saw it they began backing away.
And that’s when things took a strange turn.
The light around Wally’s head flashed, a similar light also flashing on top of the desk. When it dissipated, what remained on the desk can only be described as a human brain perched on four stout, muscular legs, each ending in three clawed toes. The thing reared back on its hind legs.
“What the hell is that?!” Vim shouted, pointing at the thing and not even attempting to draw his mace or ready his shield. The panic in his voice was visceral.
The creature sprung forward, directly at Modi. In reflecting on the events later Paloma wasn’t sure if it was targeting Modi, or if it went toward the elf simply because he was between it and the door. Regardless, the creature began to glow as it flew through the air toward the wizard, with some kind of spectral beam extending forward toward him. But instead of the beam striking Modi in the face it was as if it hit an invisible shield surrounding him. The creature, sensing this, tried to redirect itself in the air to get away from Modi, like a cat realizing it was about to land in water. It was unsuccessful, bouncing off of him and hitting the floor.
Jahnas followed the path of the creature and reacted, his kick striking as it landed and sending it crashing into a bookshelf, missing a diving Gnomey by inches. A bolt of fire from Modi followed, this time striking true and momentarily bathing the thing in red flame.
The brain creature leapt out of the flames at Jahnas, landing a glancing blow with one of its front claws. As it continued to move forward it as struck by what looked like a glowing green whip that swatted it from the air, scorching its surface and leaving it a smoldering pile on the floor.
“What the hell is going on here?!” Vim looked to be frozen with shock. He hadn’t moved an inch.
Modi regarded Paloma, a questioning look on his face. He’d never seen anything like what she had just done. She shrugged sheepishly. The elf nodded and said nothing.
From outside someone shouted, “The constables are coming! They’ll be here any minute!” The woman next door implored them to hurry.
Modi went straight to Wally’s desk and began rapidly looking through the wizard’s papers. This seemed to shake Vim out of his stupor, and the bard did a quick search of the body.
“Look at this,” Modi said, laying open the book Wally had been writing in when they entered. The two pages were covered with strange drawings, something that looked like a featureless face with some kind of tentacle-like beard hanging from it. There were dozens on them of different sizes and orientations. As they flipped through the pages, every single one held similar drawings.
A folded over piece of paper fell from the book onto the desk. On one side was a drawing of a bardiche and a number of faces like those in the book. Written in frantic lettering was, Does the map show the way? The other side of the paper was what they all quickly recognized as a map of Töfraland. A red X marked a spot on the other side of the continent to the northwest of the city of Bounty. None of them knew of any settlements in that area.
Paloma went into the hall to intercept the authorities, emerging from the apartment just as the mace-wielding Judge Dredd reached the top of the stairs. Dredd’s face registered a momentary surprise, which quickly turned to anger. “Out of my way,” she said as she pushed past the tabaxi. Four more constables followed, their swords drawn.
The first thing Dredd saw upon entering the room was Wally’s body crumpled on the floor in front of his desk, his leg bent at an impossible angle. Modi, Jahnas, and Gnomey stood off to the right near the table.
“What have you done?!” Dredd strode across the room and took a knee beside Wally, checking his vital signs.
“We can explain, Judge,” Jahnas began before she cut him off.
“Explain? You’ve been in town for what, two hours? And there’s already a dead wizard, who died at your hands I might add, within the city walls. What part of ‘no killing’ did you not understand?”
As Dredd berated the group two more constables entered the room and began searching. “Um, boss,” one of them said, “you need to see this.”
“Not now, Thomas!” she shouted.
“No, Jane, really, you need to look at this.”
Judge Dredd spun around, ready to unleash a torrent of less-than-polite language at her underling. But the words didn’t come as she saw the thing on the floor he was prodding with the tip of his sword, some kind of charred brain with legs.
She turned back to the group. “As I said, we can explain,” Jahnas said. “We were asking Wally about the book. He became agitated and attacked us. After Gnomey felled him, that thing emerged from his head and it too attacked us.”
“That’s right!” A voice shouted from the back corner of the room. Everyone turned to see Vim’s arm reaching out from under the bed, his finger pointing as he gesticulated wildly, first jabbing toward Wally, then at the creature. He then pulled his arm back under the cot.
An investigation followed. Judge Dredd could see that they were dealing with something highly troubling, and while she was still angry with the party she wasn’t going to press any charges. Before they were allowed to leave she used magic on Vim, Modi, and Jahnas to heal the wounds inflicted by the magic missiles. It turned out that Dredd was a cleric, as were most judges. While they told her most of what occurred, they did not share the drawings or the map. At this point they simply didn’t know who they could trust.
The party returned to the Silver Dragon. It was almost dinnertime and it had been a rough day so far. Plus Vim and Modi had a show to play in a few hours. When they reached the top of the stairs they were surprised to see two doors open on the left side at the end of the hall. Doors to two of their rooms.
From the furthest room emerged a tabaxi. His eyes grew wide when he saw them.
“That’s the one from the library!” Paloma shouted.
The tabaxi opened the window at the end of the hall and leapt out. A human came out of the other room and looked at the open window. “Swifty?” he asked.
When he looked the other direction down the hall he saw Vim running at him full tilt, the bard’s shield held forward like a battering ram. His eyes grew wide with fear and shock, but before he could react Vim crashed into him and sent the pair sprawling on the floor.
The would-be thief had already given up struggling with Vim as the others arrived. “Is this the one you saw inside the library?” Vim asked Jahnas.
“Indeed, that is the scoundrel.”
Vim looked quizzically at the monk, then back to the young man pinned to the floor. “Who talks like that?” Vim asked him, as if they were friends and he genuinely expected an answer.
“Wha.. wha… I… I don’t…” the young man stammered.
“I know. No one, right?” Vim responded. “But enough about my blue friend here. Let’s talk about you. My name is Vim. You may know me as a performer and part of Mikael’s Pence.”
The thief stared at Vim, a look of utter confusion on his face. “I, um, no… what?”
Paloma leaned in, peering over Vim’s shoulder. “Perhaps we should start with your name. My friend here introduced himself. And you are?”
The thief seemed relieved to have a question he could answer. “Joey.”
“Thank you Joey. Now would you mind telling us what you and your tabaxi friend were doing in our rooms?”
Joey looked at them each in turn. “They’ll kill me if I say.”
“We might just kill you if you don’t,” Gnomey said, prodding the pinned Joey lightly with his scimitar.
“No Gnomey,” Paloma said gently. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary. Joey is going to tell us what he knows, aren’t you Joey?” Long ago Paloma learned that when she smiled a certain way that exposed her fangs it had an unnerving effect on humans, and she flashed that smile at Joey. His eyes widened, then he screwed them shut.
“A woman. She hired Swifty and me to follow you,” Joey was almost hyperventilating as he rushed the words out. “We didn’t steal anything from your rooms, we were just told to look and see if you had an old book or a map, and then report back.”
“Keep going.”
Joey sighed deeply. “That’s all I know. We’re meeting her at midnight over at the Drunken Lizard to report. That’s it.”
“Does this woman have a name?”
Joey looked at Paloma like she was stupid. He was getting bolder. “Name? We’re not big on names in this line of work, lady. She’s human. Average looking. Brown robe. That’s it.”
“Anything else we need to know about the Drunken Lizard?” Paloma asked.
“Yeah,” Joey replied. “Don’t piss off the doorman.”
Vim looked up at Paloma and she nodded. He turned back to Joey. “Now Joey, if we let you go, you won’t to tell anyone about this conversation, will you?”
Joey laughed sarcastically. “Trust me, if they know I told you about the woman, dying would be the least of my worries.”
Vim nodded and stood. A voice shouted from the top of the stairs. “What’s all this noise then?” The party turned to see Slovi, mace in hand. When he saw Joey his eyes squinted with anger. “Joey, damn you, I told you never to operate in my place!”
Slovi charged down the hall as the party members flattened themselves against the walls to allow the innkeeper to pass, but Joey was quicker and made it out the window before the dwarf could catch him. They told Slovi about their encounter and what Joy said. The dwarf told them that the Drunken Lizard was outside the city walls, down on the waterfront, and a notorious hangout for criminals. When asked if he had any words of advice about going there, he offered one suggestion. “Don’t piss off the doorman.”
Later that evening Mikael’s Pence made its Unity debut to a fairly full house. In fact everyone they invited showed up. Professor Balstrop sat right up front, her eyes locked on Vim and a grin on her face as she sipped at her wine. Gilden and Jimmy sat at a table in the back and Paloma could tell there was more than just a professional relationship between the two in the way they smiled at each other during the performance, and she was pretty sure they were holding hands under the table. Phil Chapbook came as well.
Paloma trained as a dancer when she was young, before her skills with magic became evident. Tabaxi were renowned for their dancing skills, their feline agility and long, lean frames lending themselves to impressive feats of athleticism, and she had also studied the styles of the other races. As Modi stepped to the front of the stage to begin his performance to the beat Vim created using his shield as a drum, her expectations were, to be honest, quite low. But as soon as the elf began to dance she was struck by the grace of his movements. Modi’s style was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Looking across the crowd the audience fell into one of two camps – those who were enthralled and couldn’t take their eyes off the elf, and those whose expressions were a mix of confusion and revulsion.
At the end of the show Slovi gave Vim a small handful of coins. The dwarf seemed pleased with the turnout, and while he didn’t understand what Modi was doing, he could see it resonated with some of the crowd. A few people approached Modi to compliment him, but as they got close it was as if they entered the sphere of social awkwardness that surrounded him. Two simply turned away uncomfortably before reaching him. Jimmy, the apprentice librarian, persevered, but only managed a clumsy handshake and uncertain smile. Modi took it all in stride. Paloma wondered if the elf understood that people felt strange in his presence, or if he was so used to it that he just assumed all social interactions were like that. Off to the other side of the stage Vim chatted with Phil Chapbook, who passed a thin book to the bard with a lecherous grin. Vim opened the book, his eyes growing wide before he quickly closed it, smiled, and passed some coins to the gnome.
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