"Uncalled for," Blai tells Lann.

It's true, though.

"Look, we got the payout, do we have to stick around talking to him?"

"No. Good day, Lord Gwerm." And off they go to see what there is to buy scrollwise.

Fiducia Rathimus's collection is a bit eclectic, and as predicted he is not selling any scrolls of Breath of Life, but Blai could purchase a scroll of Lesser Restoration for 160 crowns, a scroll of Communal Delay Poison for 350, or a scroll of Remove Blindness/Deafness for 400. If Blai is looking for something a bit cheaper, he's offering scrolls of assorted first-circle spells for between 15 and 50 crowns apiece (though he doesn't have any scrolls of Abadar's Truthtelling). His price sign notes that he is willing to read divine scrolls for no additional cost with the purchase, and that purchasing scrolls of Protection from Good or Protection from Law requires authorization from Irabeth.

Also, he has a board set up displaying prices for... some form of complicated betting on people who might respond to a Sending and show up to help Kenabres? The leading candidate at the moment is a nobleman with a Mendevian name that Blai has never heard of.

"...Two questions, Fiducia. One, at what fraction of their sale price do you buy back unused scrolls, and two, do you know a Fiducia Boian?"

"It depends on the spell — I have a paper with my current rates, and am committed to honoring those rates until the current crisis is resolved. My apprentice" (he gestures at an Erastilian) "can read the chart if you aren't literate in Hallit." (Or at all, but some people take offense to that.)

The paper reports that he will purchase back scrolls of most spells at rates between 60% and 90% of the price he is currently selling for, or the purchase price if purchased directly from him, with rates varying depending on the spell. If they are selling scrolls acquired elsewhere, he is not committed to honoring these rates for scrolls in excess quantities, the definitions of such varying by scroll. If they are dissatisfied with the price he is offering, he also has an arrangement for selling scrolls on commission, though prospective users of this service should be aware that they may not be able to find a buyer if the price they are requesting is exorbitant.

"And I do know a Fiducia Boian, working as an insurance adjuster, but I don't know if he's the only one by that name." Every time Fiducia Boian raises insurance rates for organizations in Kenabres, people get mad at him about it, which is not Fiducia Boian's fault but nonetheless frustrating.

"That's the one I mean, thank you." Blai will pick up a Lesser Restoration scroll at this price and buyback policy, and then cast his Read Magic and scan through it.

"If you wish to contact him, the Church of Abadar offers letter-couriering services for a fee, but I'm afraid I don't know when they will next be available in Kenabres. Otherwise, he is next scheduled to be in Kenabres this Neth."

Blai knows how to get letters going the slow way by patrol but might owe Dyra a better guaranteed letter than that. ...though he might have to just talk to Boian in person because there being two Blai Artigases might be sensitive. "Thank you, Fiducia." He puts away the scrolls and they can set out to look for the Storyteller.

The only lead they have on the Storyteller's location is Staunton Vhane's suspicion that he might have taken refuge in the library. Under normal circumstances, the library would be a short walk from the tavern; enough of the city has been destroyed that it will be a somewhat longer walk, but with the help of Blai's Lay of the Land he can find a path that doesn't require them to detour halfway around the city.

The outside of the library itself is mostly intact, though the southwest corner has taken some serious damage. Still, the main entrance still stands, and the rest of the library doesn't look like it's in any danger of crumbling.

Then they can go right in without fear of the roof falling on their heads any more than the usual amount.

The library doesn't have any windows, unless the southwest corner counts. "Light."

Outside of the southwest corner, most of the bookshelves are mostly intact. The titles, if Blai stops to take a look, are heavily skewed in the direction of demonology and Mendevian history, with many fewer texts on arcane magic than any Chelish book shop.

As they approach the back of the library, they see torch-lights just around the corner of a particularly large bookcase. 

Well, then, that'll be the way to go.

Four people have been bound and gagged atop a pile of books! Three of them are human, and one of them looks more-or-less like an elf, albeit a bizarrely wrinkled one, as if he was somehow aging in the exact same way as humans do.

Two men wearing the uniforms of the Order of the Flaming Lance are adding books to the pile, while a third, wearing the uniform of the Order of the Sunrise Sword, directs them as to book placement. The three of them straighten up when Blai and his party get close.

"No one here detects as Evil," whispers Seelah.

"What seems to be going on here?" Blai inquires of the uniformed people.

"I am Captain Chaleb Sazomal, and these are my men!" says the one who was directing the others. He's speaking rapidly, and he keeps casting glances at the men on the pyre, and at Blai and Seelah's holy symbols. "We discovered these four cultists of Baphomet impersonating crusaders, and we're preparing for their execution. Putting them to the torch seems fitting, after what they did to our city!"

"It seems unlikely that you have conducted a trial here in this library, and it is my understanding that burning is no longer an execution method licitly practiced here."

"We're just following the example of the great Hulrun Shappok," says one of the book-stackers. "Do you think he gives everyone a full trial?"

Chaleb shoots that guy a glare. "Maybe in peacetime we could bother with all of those procedures, but this is war, Select. We can't afford to get squeamish about doing what needs to be done."

"Of course you can. Doing otherwise costs you credibility with your would-be allies at the time you can least afford it."

"All of them confessed," says Chaleb. "Some of them took a bit of convincing" (he mimes punching his fist into his palm), "but all of them—"

"They confessed under torture?"

"It's not torture just because we put our hands on them. In any case, if you'd be happier with a beheading, I'd be happy to borrow her sword for it."