-2- Greater Things

Clausius and Vaishu entered the main collection of the archives, which was a vast chamber filled with rows upon rows of shelves and cases. At the end of near every row were stacks of containers filled with overflow which made the aisles extremely difficult to navigate. Clausius and Vaishu meandered their way through to a large fireplace at the northern wall. In front of it was an equally large desk that sat in a small clearing that managed to remain uncluttered from the invading antiquities. With a smile, Vaishu placed his bag on the desk and pulled it open. "Two sets of crystal panes from Waterdeep," he said as he produced two wooden boxes. "The jeweler apologizes for being late with them." Clausius opened the boxes and examined the panes under the firelight. "I will settle with him next month when he visits. Did you manage to find the tools?" Vaishu smiled as he produced several leather bundles from the bags. "They were hard to find, but I managed to locate a trader from Heifong that acquired them for me." Clausius nodded as he produced a dwarven toolbox from under the desk. Taking the tools one by one, he began to sort them in the toolbox with the greatest of care and satisfaction. For several minutes, the two rooted through the bags, producing a sizable pile of seemingly unrelated items. Along with the crystal panes and tools, there were three bronze shields, two spools of binding leather, a tanner's kit, several small sheets of various metal, including copper, tin, and soft iron, a canister of metal polish, and several books related to manufacturing of small machines and other mechanical contraptions. All of these things Clausius sorted and piled next to more items which looked even stranger together. "I know you won't tell me what these things are for, but I ran into Bosch who was also in Waterdeep, and he seemed to know about the items I was looking for. I was just curious if you two were planning something." Vaishu asked as he stood up in front of the desk. "Well, it is a safe assumption that we are always planning something, but to answer your question: Yes, he has always known about the dreams and my interest in them." A spark of interest showed in the halfling as he looked up at Clausius, such that Clausius had to justify his statement. "Well, my intentions regarding these things you brought me are not related to the future of the faction. It is strictly a personal interest, but one that may prove beneficial to our cause. I think I will stop at that for fear of dragging you into my flights of fancy." He was adamant about keeping secrets. That is one thing Vaishu was certain about when it came to Clausius. While curiosity burned within him, he knew also that Clausius had his reasons for not letting on to certain things. It was an old observation that Vaishu had learned about and also learned to live with from the day he came to know the keepers now just half a year prior. And as expected, Clausius had another task to utilize the strider's abilities with. Tearing a strip of parchment from his stack of notes, Clausius penned several lines and handed it over to Vaishu. "I need you to locate these keepers for me and have them come to the archives." Taking the parchment, Vaishu folded it up and carefully placed it in his pocket. "And when do you need them here," he asked. "Within the next few weeks if possible. As we speak, Bosch is busy searching for a new place to store the archives and we will need all the help we can get for the move." Vaishu blinked slowly. "The move?" Clausius smiled at the reply, having purposely instigated it. "Yes, I would like to have everything moved within the month. There will be no problem finding them right?" The halfling grinned at the question which he couldn't possibly answer in any truthful capacity. He thought how ambitious such a proposal was when there wasn't even a place to move to as of then. Even with all of the keepers assembled to work on the move, it would be very difficult to have it all transported and reordered within the year, much less within the month. But then something had to be said about optimism and that is where he mustered the courage to reply that finding them would be no problem. "Good," replied Clausius. "Good luck?" asked Vaishu. "If any luck is with us in this endeavor, it will be good," was Clausius' reply as Vaishu exited the archives.