Utterly Mad

One of the exceptions to her stymied exploration, was a stately old brick and wood faced building wrapping itself around what she believed to be one of the cities many circular garden cul de sacs. The other buildings, mostly small stores with living spaces above them by the looks, also seemed to be relatively in tact other than the broken glass which made their display windows look like jagged mouths screaming at the much larger building across the courtyard. The water was fairly shallow in the place, shallow enough that she could tell the large building was probably dry inside. The front door, an elegant carved oaken portal, took some pulling and prying to get open which was mostly due to corrosion in the hinges and severe warping of the wood and door frame. Once it was open enough for her to get though, Ferret squeezed herself into the front hall of a museum of some kind. The front of this old building had no windows at street level and no sign, at least not anymore, that should could see to identify it. In here though, she found a great deal of information. A short stone pedastel sat a few feet from the door, and bolted to its top was a brass plaque stating, in large simple letters "Welcome and enjoy to all those who wish to enlighten themselves as to the mysteries of the past and a warm welcome to those who would preserve it." Under this was engraved "Malory Maplesdottor - Director of the Historical College." Beyond the pedestal was a larger room, filled with broken display cases, old pedasels with more brass plaques, and a floor covered in broken glass. Light coming in through the windows high above showed Ferret that a great many of the displays and artifacts were either missing, or in some way damaged. She walked the aisles, stepping lightly among the broken glass, reading plaques and looking at what was still there to look at. The great skeleton of some large creature, a collection of pot shards, a slab of engraved stone whose runes seemed to swim before her eyes, a glass bead necklace, and even a ceramic hand still under glass. That last interested her greatly. The hand appeared to be very delicate and glazed in some kind of dark blue with red starbursts decorating it. The plaque on the case read, in small letters, "Hand of the Dancer - Piece of a Golem, recovered after the churches destruction of the original relic." Ferret shivered. There was something oddly dreadful about that small artifact, and so she moved on again. It didn't take long for Ferret to discover the main staircase, just off the main chamber, and another gallery on the second floor. Here and there, she would peek into a room in one of the many passages that was seperate from the main display rooms and was surprised to see a variaty of living quarters, meeting rooms, and offices. One pair of particularly decorative double doors led to an auditorium whose ceiling had begun to sag but had so far held under the weight of time and the abuses of nature. Moss has laid claim to the carpet in that room, while a tiny forest had begun to spring up through one corner of the stage. Sea water could not stop some of the plant life it seemed. In what appeared to be some kind of examination room back on the ground floor, she found something more interesting. The rooms tables had been pushed aside to make room for a large upright stele. It curved pleasingly, but otherwise was fairly amateurish in it's decoration. On the surface of the stelle was engraved an image of three large figures and many smaller figures. In the center was a man in simple, loose clothes. His face bore no detail save for an image which matched the sigil on her sword, wearing a wild headdress that looked like a mane of feathers, tufts of hair, hanging bone, and fur. Right of him was an imposing male figure in some kind of bird mask and wearing a feathered hat much like that worn by her tutor, and at his left was a ponytailed woman carrying a chisel, brush, and a deceptive grin. Below them was a rough image of a city and on either side of that city was an army of tall figures opposite a disorganized horde of skeletal beings and men. The two forces stared across the stelle at each other. Even the artists amateur hands had been able to express the open malice in the eyes of both sides. There were words on it, but she couldn't quiet make them out. She reached out to try and make sense of what she was seeing when someone spoke from behind her. "Excuse me, are you actually alive?"