Scene 2: The Grand Library
You push through the heavy double doors into a cavernous, two-story room lined floor-to-ceiling with thousands of leather-bound volumes. The air is dry and thick with the scent of old paper, binding glue, and faint pipe tobacco.
Rain taps rhythmically against an enormous arched stained-glass window high on the eastern wall. In the center of the room stands Alistair Vance's heavy oak reading desk under an unlit green banker's lamp. A wrought-iron spiral staircase leads up to the mezzanine catwalk.
Examine the Library
Click any item below to inspect it:
Inspect the Reading Desk & Ledger
Resting beside an empty inkwell is Alistair's personal acquisitions catalog, bound in worn black calfskin. A brass bookmark keeps it open to a specific entries page:
Catalog Ref Title / Description Location Shelf Status Note #1688-AAtlas of the Northern Seas East Bay - Shelf IV Verified Original #1692-CThe Cartography of Shadows (Replica) Central Glass Plinth Decoy / Auction Display #1699-XThe Cartography of Shadows (True Folio) Vault Chamber - Safe 3 "Keyed to the hour of my departure." A handwritten note is scribbled in the margin next to entry
#1699-X:
"The display copy in the glass case is fool's gold for the auctioneers. The real folio rests behind three tumblers."
Examine the Central Glass Display Plinth
Under a heavy glass dome rests an ornate manuscript titled The Cartography of Shadows. The binding is pristine and the gold leaf glistens, but based on Vance's ledger, this is merely the decoy copy intended to satisfy collectors and auctioneers.
Taking this now would likely end your search prematurely with a forgery in hand.
Look Up at the Stained-Glass Window
The tall window depicts an allegorical scene of Father Time holding an hourglass and a key. An inscription cut into the stone sill beneath it reads:
"Look to the frozen hands in the foyer to align the first two turns; add the number of cardinal virtues to seal the lock."