From the corner of her eye she could see the stranger from earlier approach. The H person. Just as she was about to great him, the sound of a pleasant woman's voice ran a shiver down her spine. The woman from earlier had followed them. Trusting her new friend could cover them and be a decent distraction, she placed the palm of her left hand on Sylvain's shoulder. Both their appearances would fade away from view, becoming invisible from the eyes of strangers. They could easily walk away from the situation and leave Hermennia to deal with the woman but she decided to stay. She was surprised that his little trick actually worked. It was the type of thing that children would use to make their mothers think they ate something with spinach. Perhaps stupidity was a side affect of the lotus flowers? Once the woman was out of sight, Caroline lifted her hand from Sylvain's shoulder and they both reappeared. They had to stick to alleyways and work carefully, else they get caught. One thing was bothering her in the back of her mind. 

"Can we get a name from you? I'd rather not be calling you the H person for the rest of this trip." Caroline asked Hermennia,

Her suspicion of Hermennia was steadily growing. But she decided to focus on something else, the flowers. Places like the palace or any other location of power would be heavily guarded by locals and their ambrosia. They wouldn't be able to get much information from the mind controlled tourist or the crazy locals. Since they were in the wealthier side of town, she suspected they would have more public buildings. Public parks, museums, but most importantly libraries. If they could get their hands on a couple of history records they might be able to figure out how the lotus flowers came around. She knew the lotus flowers weren't the main cause. It was the symptom of a bigger problem. But it was the only clue they had. 

"Lets try to find a library. A historical record might give us more information." Caroline suggested, "And keep an eye out for any alchemy kits. If we come across one I'll be able to study these plants, find out how they are doing this to people."

Then there was the issue if any of the locals found them again. 

"Sylvain do you have any stealth-based weapons?" She asked him. 

Both herself and Hermennia seemed to be more magic users than fighters. If they ran into individuals, they could have Sylvain take them down instead of wasting their time doing a little disappearing act. And if they were going to the library or any other building, they would need someone with personal experience in lockpicking and staying out of sight. Caroline secretly wished they had a larger group but she would have to work with what they had. 

At last they met the elusive informant, but the presence of one of the Kavalans made Sylvain think it soon would be their turn. The masked individual reassured them that there was nothing to fear–this situation could be handled quite easily. The masked figure deceived the affected woman with little difficulty, pretending to accept her offered food, and she turned to leave. It was the most prudent course of action in their current condition, however. As long as they could successfully fool the citizens, they wouldn't be hounded and overpowered like the armed knight. As they left the scene to move to a more secure location, the scholar requested 'H' give a proper alias for convenience's sake. Having moved upward into the aristocratic portion of the city, the layout of the city was broken down between grand villas, manors, public buildings, and even more grandiose open spaces. There were fewer roads and less alleys to navigate, which gave fewer places for the Kavalans to come from as well as fewer routes of escape from them. Caroline suggested that they find any places where they could find records and information about the kingdom. Her intent was to analyze Kavala's history and perhaps see if an antidote to the intoxicating effects of the flowers could be synthesized. The golden lotuses native to the island possessed strange properties that other varieties of lotus appeared to lack. Simply avoiding the flowers wouldn't be enough.

"All of the weapons in my possession are designed for direct martial combat." The vampire lord explained succinctly. "They were crafted for their lethality than for concealment." From his past experience, there had been no need for stealth when one could easily overtake a victim that wasn't a lycanthrope or another vampire. There was no need to concern oneself with witnesses when there were none. But with the way things were now, Sylvain found that approach placed him at an unwelcome disadvantage. He had no qualms with cutting down hordes of Kavalans, but unrelenting assault was only effective when your enemies knew fear or if their numbers were finite. "Should we find ourselves backed into a corner, I am capable of transforming into a raven of great size to fly us out." But such a tactic would be useless if they were trapped within the confines of a building or underground. There was strength in numbers, that was clear. They would have to make do with what they had at their disposal and make their choices wisely. While their lives could be lost, they absolutely could not allow themselves to become part of the problem. It would be far better to perish than to join the ranks of the Kavalans…

“I guess it’s time to properly introduce myself then. My colleagues call me Hermennia, you may call me Herme for the time being. It’s quite a pleasure to meet you both”

He turned to observe the surrounding area. Opposite to the area they were, a library, humble in size and its walls built in a gorgeous white brick. The problem presented itself when he realized that between them and the library, a plaza, swarming with locals and oblivious tourists being offered food and drink. Hermennia’s act wouldn’t work here, not by a long shot. The library was the least of their concerns at the moment, as they need to move around freely to even get to it. He threw ideas around in his head, but none of them seemed they would work. While brainstorming, he noticed that the blue morning glory in his coat pocket had fallen onto the ground. It had grown larger. A plan slowly formed in his head. He took the flower into his hands, and turned to his companions.

“Hm, if we are planning to move past this crowd, perhaps we could use more of these.”

He held out the flower toward them. It had grown considerably larger and the hue of blue had darkened.

“My plan is to throw these around the area, distracting enough people, enough that we can slip into the library relatively unnoticed, however, we do need quite a bit more of these flowers. It shouldn't be too difficult to find around these alleyways, come, we must make haste.”

Hermennia had doubts in his own plan, but considering their situation, it was their best bet.

"I see." Caroline said to Sylvain, "Knowing that you can fight at all is still good information in case we get stuck."

It seemed that they had a lack of stealth based weapons but it was good to know that Sylvain could transform into a giant raven and fly away if they ended up in trouble. They would have to be outside to do that but it was still a useful tool. She had her invisibility spells at hand but they were short term spells, meant to help the person escape out of particularly dangerous situation. Getting to the library was important, unless they wanted to wander around unaware of what was going on. They knew nothing at the moment. A few details about the strangeness of the island but in the end there wasn't a connection between all the strange occurrences, yet. All that was needed was a thread. A thread to make sense of the series of unfortunate events. 

"Then lets gather some flowers." She said before turning to Sylvain, "While we focus on gathering flowers, keep an eye out for any locals. I don't want them sneaking up on us again." 

Caroline was trying to increase their odds of success. With the entire town against them they're chances for survival were small at best. She was relieved to have somebody like Sylvain by their side. Hermennia had his teleportation magics and a decent idea developing skill and she had her magic and scientific knowledge but neither of them seemed to be much in the way of fighting. Caroline began scouring through the alleyway, searching for the vines. She found one and began to clip the flowers and parts of the vine. Using the vine part, she managed to make a plant bundle that would be harder to tear at. It would give the locals more of a challenge then just ripping it off the wall. She managed to gather a couple of them but stuck half of it in her satchel for when they wanted to leave the library. Turning back to Sylvain and Hermennia, she decided to check on them. 

"Everything alright?" She asked. 

He gave a nod in agreement, and allowed Hermennia and Caroline to go on ahead with their plans. Sylvain still had many questions surrounding how they knew the morning glories would prove sufficient for a distraction, but once they were away from the crowds proper there would be time. Finding the vines weren't difficult, though he noticed that were were a few blemishes in the otherwise pristine city. There were areas in the pavement and corners of buildings which were slightly cracked and broken. Seeing how the Kavalans prided themselves in living within the very picture of perfection, the vampire lord assumed the damage was not the cause of neglect. The damage was minimal, but there was a shallow hole that didn't appear to be big enough for a mouse or insect to burrow its way through.

As they were gathering their resources to make their 'decoy', he caught sight of one of the Kavalans out of the corner of his eye. The silk-clothed youth hadn't noticed them, but instead was fixated on something that drew him towards the base of an exquisitely carved dragon-shaped font that was set into the wall. It was one of many parts of an ornamental aqueduct system, designed in a way that was not unlike the gargoyles on the corners of a cathedral. Fortunately Hermennia and Caroline were out of sight, but Sylvain stayed to see what the man was doing. The man went over towards the decorative spout as if in a trance, and reached under the stone fixture. With a swift motion, he tore out something and began pulling the thing into pieces. It was an abnormally violent act from someone who seemed to be in a state of perpetual bliss. The lord saw the man's face contort in spite for a fleeting moment before it returned to its usual placid demeanor. The man left without knowing he had been watched, but he had given Sylvain an answer to one of his questions. First and foremost, this island wasn't as idyllic as it claimed to be. And second, the strange holes and cracks he had seen were spots that once had morning glories growing from them.

Returning to the others, he shared what he had just witnessed. "This may not be news to you both, but it appears the Kavalans hold an unfathomable hatred for the morning glories. We should gather as much as we can before they destroy them all. If that is the attitude which they have towards it, then we only have a limited number of these plants within the city walls. Fortunately for us, this city is quite large and the citizens become single-mindedly compelled to destroy the morning glories when they see them." 

Hermennia quickly got to work, “blinking” out of reality once more. A shadow fell over the backstreet, blanketing a small section of the alleyway in darkness. Green vines dotted with the blue morning glories marring the pristine white walls around the surrounding area were swiftly and delicately picked clean, the vines appearing untouched. An surprising amount of morning glories were present around their general area, a lot more than even Hermennia expected. The darkness began to recede as Hermennia faded into view in front of his allies, in his hands, a large bouquet of flowers, a bit more than enough to serve what they intended to do with them. He turned to them, and spotted several bundles of the blue flower in Caroline's hands.

"If I may have those.." He pointed to the flower bundle, "I can get to work on that distraction, it shan't take no more than a few seconds if you walk at a brisk pace. And remember to peek through the windows first and observe whether or not the coast is clear before entering the library."

He turned to Sylvain, "And I am sure that you are more than capable of keeping yourselves safe while crossing over, yes? But if possible, do try to be subtle should a few.. obstacles block your path."

Hermennia took a deep breath and turned to the exit of the alleyway. He vanished, and the warm orange glow of the afternoon sun was overshadowed, as if a large cloud had blocked the sunlight. Locals and tourists alike looked up in confusion as blue morning glories began to fall seemingly out of thin air. A majority of the flowers landed on sides opposite to one another. The confusion quickly turned into blind rage, as all who were afflicted swarmed towards the flowers in an angry trance. The crowd split in half, clearing the path towards the library. This was their signal, the horde wouldn't be distracted for much longer. The sun's light returned and Hermennia, having entered the library through a window earlier, waited for his companions to reach him.

When Sylvain returned, he mentioned the information that the Kavalans held a hatred for the morning glories. She knew that the depressing aura would distract the locals for a moment but she hadn't known the extent of their hatred for the bloom. According to him, they were ripping it down which made her realize something. If the flowers and denial of the lotus' were the only thing that made the locals upset, then it was possible whoever or whatever created the morning glories was on their side. But they wouldn't be certain until they learned more. She handed off the flowers to Hermennia then turned to Sylvain. 

"The researchers I sent here beforehand mentioned something about vines in their letters. They stopped responding before they could explain more." Caroline explained, "I wonder if they were talking about the morning glories?"

There wasn't any real time to ponder on that little thought, Hermennia was ready to begin his distraction. He had enough flowers to distract the crowds and Sylvain's information about the flowers made her less uneasy with this plan. They obviously wouldn't have a lot of time but if they pretended to be among the group, they would have an easier time. That would mean smiling….great. Hermennia threw out some instructions then turned to Sylvain to speak. 

"If we were that incompetent then we deserve whatever fate the locals have in store. Whether that be death or torture." Caroline said with a matter of fact voice, "A group unable to complete a simple task is never going to be useful to anybody. Now lets stop with this unnecessary chatter and get to work." 

Her words rang true. If the two of them were so helpless and foolish that getting from point a to point b was a hard task, then they were useless to anybody they met in every situation. Or it meant that Hermennia's little plan failed. Either way, the only way to stop the corruption of the island was to discover the truth. They needed to be strong in order to do that. She waited for the signal and watched as the crowd swarmed towards the flowers. With a forced smile, she quickly walked over to the library. After peering through the windows checking for any people, she entered and began searching through the sections for the books they would be most interested in. History would be the first priority. The second would be any herbology books. Turning to Sylvain, she decided to have him help out. 

"Keep an eye out for any sections that say History or Herbology." She said, "Those will be the most useful. And if you see any locals, feel free to take care of them." 

Her heart cared little for the locals. Even if they were under some spell, they were still a threat to be destroyed. If the influence of the island was removed, then the locals might turned peaceful but right now they were nothing but the problem. The interior of the library was impressive, as the rest of the island. As for the shelves, there wasn't even a speck of dust, which seemed odd to her. 

With the rain of flowers proving to be more of an effective distraction then Sylvain had expected, the three quickly and discreetly made their way to the city's library while the Kavalans went into a frenzy. It certainly was a blessing that they were so simple-minded in their focus, and no one seemed to notice them in the chaos. For the vampire lord, closing the distance was no issue, and he too safely entered the great pearly stone building. There were thousands of books and scrolls filling the shelves, with symbols in what appeared to be Kavalan. However when one looked at them long enough, they would be able to make out words in whatever language the observer could comprehend. Another sign of magic at work. With Caroline's emphasis on focusing on the subjects that were most relevant to their current situation, he gave a nod. "Duly noted. I will return to you with what I uncover, and ensure we aren't met with any…surprise visitors." The less attention they drew towards them now, the better.

He began searching the shelves closest to the main door; that way he would notice if anyone came by. Searching through all the books and scrolls was like looking for a piece of straw in a pile of kindling–there was too much of what they didn't need with not much of a method to narrow things down. He skimmed the material and returned them to their places on the shelves when he failed to find anything useful, and progressed through several bookcases this way. There was an unusually large volume of poetry, folktales, and epics of past rulers and exploits. It would appear that even in their records the Kavalans had a penchant for the grandiose. At last, he managed to come across something of value, a genealogical record recalling the members of the Kavalan nobility and royal court. Taking it, he continued to flip through books until he had accumulated a small stack of information related to Kavalan culture and historical record. The latter took more time to sort through, as he had to spend a few minutes to ensure what he had was more fact than fiction.

Caroline and Hermennia would find that the sections on folk medicine, botany, and other more scholarly subjects were far smaller and more limited than the massive collections of art and literature. But the few resources they found would give in great detail how the Kavalans integrated food and medicine in holistic ways, whether to heal or harm. There was a book on the local flora and fauna that listed various plants that were common around the kingdom with their various uses. Oddly enough, the lotus plant and its many parts were used in their cuisine, however they failed to list any of the intoxicating effects of ambrosia. In fact, there was no such drink mentioned whatsoever. The recipes that used lotus were completely normal in description, and morning glories were not mentioned in the botanical records of native plants. 

As for what Sylvain had brought, he noted the historical records seemed to stop after a certain point. There was a distinct lack of contemporary discourse on past political or significant events, no criticisms or analyses of past rulers and their achievements. The one document that showed more recent information read as such near the end:
There was a clear omission of certain details from the record, which struck the vampire lord as something rather odd. After all the mention of such an intense period of political upheaval, it ended with an abrupt closing statement of it being resolved. And the name of the current ruling king was distorted to where he couldn't make out the whole thing. This was an important breakthrough into who or what they were facing, and the others would find this useful without a doubt.

The books lining the shelves lacked the information Hermennia required, although the number of reading material was astonishing, covering different topics like herbology, medicine, chemistry, and even cookbooks, however, not one of them shed light on the mysterious blue morning glories. He slid the book back into the shelf and spotted Sylvain approaching with new information, in his hands, he held a historical record. Hermennia allowed Caroline to read the document before him, as he intended to pocket the document and place it in the Void Gallery.

Hermennia read through the record before swiftly folding it up and placing it into his coat pocket. He turned to Sylvain, “Quite the find, but I do wonder: Could this unnamed king still be the monarch to this day? And could he be under the influence of this lotus flower, or could he be the very person who orchestrated it?” Hermennia pondered to his companions. There was truly only one way to find out, but would they be willing to risk capture or death? Hermennia elected to return to the task at hand: discovering how the lotus blooms and the blue morning glories affected the inhabitants of the island. He remained curious, however, to the current political situation of Kavala, as he feels that everything is all connected somehow, from the flowers, to the monarchy.

On any other day, this library would be a paradise. The rest of the city was unappetizing but the library was a diamond among stone in her eyes. As they began searching through the books nestled on their shelves, she was careful to take a book from each shelf and open it. Caroline didn't bother reading the books that weren't important but she did take the time to flip through them and read passages. There wasn't anything relevant to their work however she wanted to check that this entire island wasn't some mirage. If it was, then the books wouldn't be filled with knowledge. One mind couldn't make up all of this. In her eyes, it was proof that the city existed and wasn't some complicated illusion. The Kavalans seemed to be grand with their poetry, folktales, and epics.

She continued towards the folk medicine, botany, and medical areas. It was smaller and more limited which made the scholar inside her cross. If they had time for nonsense like folktales and art then they ought to have a bigger medicinal section. She found something odd, they neglected to mention the lotus flower's after effects. They were likely unaware of what had happened to them or this was before the golden lotus blooms became so addictive. Another thing she noticed was the morning glories weren't mentioned. Either they hated it too much to mention it or these flowers only appeared after the city was taken over. Her fingers ran across the pages as she flipped through them. After she was finished, she shut the book and placed it back on the shelf.

Eventually Sylvain had found something. She rushed over to him when she noticed that Hermennia was doing the same. Taking out a pair of blue glasses from her satchel, she began scanning the document. Just by looking at the page she could learn in an instant due to the glasses. Every detail of the rulers of the document was inside her mind in an instant and would remain there until she fell asleep. Which meant she couldn't fall asleep anytime soon. Or at least until she had the chance to copy the information down into her journal. Once she was done, Caroline handed the document over to Hermennia who pocketed it for himself.

"Lost knowledge harms both the victim and the hoarder." She said to Hermennia.

Turning back to Sylvain and Hermennia, she realized that they still didn't have all the answers. But the knowledge they had learned was valuable. First, the island was not just a powerful illusion. It was real. Second, there had been a rebellion in the past indicating people once weren't always like this. Third, the situation got resolved somehow in a way that prevented future rebellions which was almost impossible. Unless…

"I have a theory." Caroline said, "It's possible that the king of this land destroyed the rebellion and prevented future rebellions by making them all happy. They aren't really happy of course but that addictive influence might have once been a weapon against the rebellion. It would explain why there isn't current fights against the king and why there weren't more in recorded history. It would also explain the massive amounts of statues, poetry and arts while the sections about medicine are barely filled. A king like this wouldn't want his kingdom to become focused on knowledge. The excessive arts do nothing but help his glory filled appearance while real knowledge could tear it down. That dragon we've seen is possibly a representation of himself while the tiger is the destroyed rebellion."

Her theory had its holes but it still tied everything together.

"As for the morning glories, I feel that that is the spark of rebellion festering on. It's the one thing against the golden lotus blooms." She pointed out, "It reveals the island's true nature. That is what I have put together, though it could be wrong."