The lads stacked up the Disk The Mick had brought up with books and various sorts of bric-a-brac that got soones attention, and we got out of there after thoroughly looking to see if there were any hidden chambers or trap doors or sothing... which I blew another Detect on making sure were non-existent.
Master Fred took the GPD, and as we walked back to where Bone Marrow was parked, he dialed up Gregorigori and handed the phone to .
Sum it up, lass, the gno told in anticipation.
Vylstrigroi plague-spreader, dead. Reclaid, anti-Div necklace, Einz-level Dagger. One Cursed Scroll designed to turn Powered into undead, the cause of his Vampirization. Sixty-two different Tos or equivalent sources of knowledge, several random objects of macabre inspiration, individually unreviewed, assud to be of dark knowledge. Destroyed, ten shingen gaki, I glanced at The Mick, who held up eight fingers, ten shikken gaki, two aswang, and two jiangshi, all under the control of the vylstrigoi. The Cursed scroll uses Daoist Feather Script, among its other languages, which include Aklo and Necrus. Assumption is the Chinese trade delegation sold it to him, anticipating on starting an undead eruption in this area.
Debts owed: local Ghoul Baron Gillcrukx, for providing the na of the probable vampire; The Mick, aid in killing the undead. I believe The Mick will be willing to assu the debt to the Baron, and move our debt to him.
The Mick once again looked startled, and gave a thumbs-up.
The Mick confirms. Also, a minor debt to a driver who gave us a ride at a key mont, but The Mick has subsud that debt, too.
You do not miss a damn trick, the gno on the other end hissed. Okay, what are the plans with the lore?
If you can get a forensic team to the mans house, there may be sothing that Master Fred overlooked, and then, considering what went on in the basent, it should be burned to the ground.
We need a fill team dispatched here to fill in this tomb. Master Fred baked the whole thing in wrathfire, so unless youve a need for a hidden cache point, it can be gotten rid of.
Ask The Mick if hes willing to misdirect where the tomb is.
Said person had exceptional hearing. Och, you know how Boxer gets, burning down everything of value in his zealous desire to purify the world from foul malefactors and other upstanding citizens, ya wee sprite!
We can use it as an ergency safe house. Take note, ya milk-wearing leech! Gregorigori riposted.
The Mick bead. Aye, and I will, knee-licker! he called back cheerfully.
Whats the proper dispensation on the lore items? I asked The Mick, who narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Well, realistically, the pyromantic tendencies ol Boxer and his self-righteous hardarses an that if they have to share the interesting bits with the vampires or the ghouls and contribute to our libraries, they prefer to be burning it all. Master Fred just nodded.
How wide is your personal knowledge, and do you get rits for recovering such tidbits for the clan, and do you care? I inquired calmly.
He was To-Tainted. He probably did not have the clans best interests at heart.
Hmm. His dark eyes wandered towards so of the other inspirational items we had recovered. If I could be to copying an unknown to or two, theyd mark up as a clever young lad who has more between his ears than at for killing. He stroked the dark beard hed grown in but a day thoughtfully. As for personal knowledge... Im a student of The Lore, so theres never enough.
Do you keep a blank book or journal or sothing for hastily copying proscribed information into?
He grinned again. Boxer, where DID you find this lass? I want one for self! His gloved hand went inside his coat, and erged with a book that would have done service as a telephone directory. Not personal Libram, he noted.
Naturally. I waved it away, and he put it back, where it did not cause the slightest bulge. Gregorigori, Ill need a quiet and reserved area I can do a rapid forensic read-through on these books, determining if they have magical value, lore value, collectors value, or are just a bunch of insane shit.
The local temple to Sylune has a nice chamber made for careful study and disposal of questionable materials, he inford promptly.
If you would be so polite as to make us an appointnt? Once Ive got them categorized, we can determine their final dispensation, right?
That sounds quite reasonable, the gno agreed.
If youve no urgent business, Lord Mick, we would be happy to have you join us.
He grin was big and white. Oh, I wouldnae miss such a fine opportunity to steal precious dark secrets and wondrous hidden truths of the universe from under the noses of the close-minded and uptight silver nuns! he agreed happily.
Do you need to stop by and see Gillcrukx personally? I asked. Because we were going to have to put all this stuff into Bone Marrows trunk.
Such delicate negotiations between upstanding citizens such as ourselves are best done in person, he agreed sagely.
And having the Silent Warlock waiting out in the parking lot might put so pressure on him, I reasoned.
Tch, would a wise and lofty Ghoul Sage possibly have anything to fear from a puritanized flaming ruin-leaver like Boxer? The Mick scoffed, and I just shook my head. Master Fred just smiled faintly.
----------
Our sidetrip to The Paupers End rest ho didnt take long. Master Fred parked in the driveway, The Mick pulled up, and as those inside were freaking out, he wandered inside sans Sword, and ca sauntering back out a few minutes later.
He has been thanked for his ti and civic duty, and I let him examine the Scroll. Given that dispensing it instantly turns a hapless fool into a rogue undead creature, and is grounds for imdiate termination by a great number of annoyed parties, he expressed great interest in disposing of such a threat to his livelihood... although for so reason, he didnt seem too sincere, and he definitely wanted to keep it for himself. He put the leaded box back onto the floor of the back seat. He was also very, very interested to hear that the rchants of Leng might be involved. For that reason alone, he was very happy to spread word of this item among the ghouls, and its source.
Debt discharged? I had to ask.
Aye. He almost dripped on the Scroll, he were salivating on it so hard. Then he saw Boxer there on the vid, and decided that keeping it might be counterproductive to his current existence, and he returned it most graciously, he did.
So, youre saying you should have brought your Sword.
h. He waved his gloved hand as he started Bone Marrow. A re ghoul shall not make envious of Boxers pyroclastic reputation. After all, I am well-known for my ability to leak secret information to the silent disaster and manipulate him into killing this or that ritorious citizen who is politically untouchable, all the while making it seem I am doing him a great favor! His smile was even wider, and the loudest snort this ti ca from Sleipner.
In other words, youve got an excellent idea of who wants who dead, can play them to advance your status, and have a Heavenbound knock off who you need to while keeping your hands pristine.
Everyone knows we have such a beautiful working relationship! he grinned, following after Sleipner and pulling out of the funeral parlors lot. They cannot understand how I can tolerate working with a Heavenbound, or a Heavenbound to work with ...
And the fuckers have no idea of how hard it is to be To-Tainted, either.
His broad grin evaporated instantly, and beca a lethally thin line. No, lassie. No, they dont at all. And there was a grim, grim humor in that reply...
----------
Pittsburgh wasnt exactly a city of higher magical education, so the church to Sylune wasnt all that impressive. The Mick gladly punched it up, and we found out it had once been a Lutheran church, Our Lady of Fatima, taken over, repurposed, decorated with lots of silver, crystal, and twinkling things, floating in air as often as not, and the grounds turned into a magical ditation garden.
Without a doubt, most of the female non-Divine Casters in the city probably called this place a second ho, and if the Uruthimi were disgruntled over it, they were also all smiles in the face of it. After all, won tended to be slightly better at cross-Class Theurgy than n were, and could certainly get just as powerful...
In the end, they got back by making more money, as they really didnt care about the ethics behind those they did business with as much. As far as trust went, however, in terms of magic, the Sylunar were as trusted as the Harsites... which really annoyed the followers of Uruth, but since they were hardly servants of Heaven, there wasnt much they could do about it.
There was a Moonsister waiting for us as we parked, leading us along the outside of the Church to a room in back, which she opened with a wave, and we and their Disk full of things that shouldnt even have been brought on the grounds were hauled within.
It was now ti to do so serious studying.
The Sylunar had even provided writing materials, assured by Heavenbound Hall that they would also have access to the materials after they were properly reviewed.
-------
The first thing was to identify the titles of all the works, who had authored them, and then determine if they were originals or copies.
Unsurprisingly, The Mick had quite an interest in necromancy, and a fairly extensive knowledge of the subject. He was able to rapidly identify many of the books, then confirm their validity, and offer guidelines on how to cross-reference them and check them.
The first pass identified the most common books, such as Van Sellings Danse Nacht Macabre, Chevoks Myashima TMas, and Sir Arthur Hoyles Interpretation of Cards. These were basically at the level of harmless collectors items, copies of tos widely distributed and impossible to do away with, and so were more collectors items and base references than anything. It was easy to allow The Mick to trade such things away for whatever they got him.
Things like Abu-Qihlars Whispers in the Sands, and likitottis Imprecations unto the Void were a bit dicier, as they had so really dangerous shit in there. OBannons I Call Unto Darkness was basically a recipe for damnation, and il-Contrusos Analects of the Mind was so perilously exposed poetic madness that could really take you down that insanity hole.
The Bibliophile spell ant I could touch a book and basically read it as if Id spent an hour on it. Comprehend Languages had no difficulty with the base, imperfect human languages of Earth, so reading Arabic, Sanskrit, Egyptian, and whatnot wasnt an issue, even that quickly. Combining the two spells with Aklo, however, was a good way to go barking mad if you didnt already know Aklo, as unwholeso connections would be made between word and proper thought...
Every day, I was using my Wisdom or Charisma Slots to download spells if I could, which I could then Write into my Ring. Minor divinatory spells like this were so of the basic ones that were really useful, as you didnt need them at all, until you really needed them. Fetching them when required was the way to go...
Gregorigori stayed up on Master Freds Vaccine. The Warlock was mostly watching stuff and probably taking ntal notes.
We ended up with twelve books by humans that werent known, mostly individual journals and basically rambling spellbooks who really had to learn a proper arcane nonclature. There were also four books by non-humans that werent known, none of which seed to be originals based on their construction, but which nevertheless held copies of so annoyingly bad stuff...
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