Tough As Dirt #23

The group awoke the next day and left Babbitt, Yella, and Lillium on the ship involved in various tasks as they made their way back to the Library

Along the way, a short man stopped them and asked about news from beyond the city. Apparently he'd been stuck in the city for two years trying to gain entry to the School of Silence, but had repeatedly failed his exam on necromancy

• He left the group reinvigorated to try again

At the Library, they found a stark elven woman named Louieaa where Cobalt sat the day before

• She informed them that Cobalt hadn't shown up at the front desk that morning and that she was filling

Tough As Dirt descended to the fifth level in search of both Cobalt and a book about solar eclipses, which Brother Moor thought may have something to do with this Ordnung character based on the children's poem they found

They soon learned the tracks in the dust they'd followed the day before were magically hidden, and knowing so, were able to follow them to a hidden alcove, which lead to a secret passage to the Parliament building

• The passage was guarded by a whirling monster of torn pages, which was the source of the exhaling and inhaling noises they'd heard the day before

At Parliament, they found a courtyard where it seemed political enemies were kept and tortured, and Cobalt was among them, tied to a pillar

• The torture involved scattering seeds on a person and allowing the crows that lined the rooftops to feed on their flesh

Winslow blocked off the doors to the courtyard and the group freed Cobalt and the only other surviving victim, whose mind seemed to be lost to the bird-torture

Gideon managed to grab a glowing books from a corpse, locked in arcane chains, before the group re-entered the secret passage back to the Library.