Chapter 133: Fotten Knowledge

  After the scouts returhe men huddled he ter of the massive library. Konstantin and Mateo’s hat there were thousands more specters uhe city was not bei with much cheerfulness. Mateo’s new runic elven bde was being passed around, but I ighe i. I shifted my position to listen to Konstantin, Castile, Adrian, and Delmar talking. They were all circled around the Schor to pn an expedition further into the library.

  Konstantin expined what they had found through ragged, wheezing breaths: “The library has twe towers on the northern er of this structure. We only explored one of the towers. Each floor of the tower had its own library. We only entered a few specters of what I suspect were the elven librarians. Easily handed, and they reformed after half an hour like the others.” He the kettle of souls to indicate it would be required.

  The Scherly interrupted, “What books were in the smaller libraries?”

  Konstantin shrugged, “Unfortunately, not all were as well preserved as this room. Some weather mao get through damaged windows. The third and highest floor also has damage to the roof, and the books are just a pile of dirt from turies in the elements.” Schor Favian frow the news. “The first and sed floors had books ier dition as well as a number of offices. That is where Mateo found that,” he poi the elven bde. “It was mounted on a wall in one of the offices.”

  Delmar looked around, “We should move camp to one of the offices iower. It will be easier to heat and more defensible from the specters.”

  All eyes turo Castile, but she had yet to make a final decision, “What about the underground plex?”

  Konstantin tinued, “After we climbed the tower, we desded and thought we were headed into the sewers underh the tower like the Sentioned, but we entered a long hallway with a number of ste rooms. We only entered a single specter until we reached a rge room littered with hundreds of skeletons, all of them elven children. That is where we drew those specters that were chasing us. Mateo got anxious and swung his new bde even though they were ign us,” Konstantin shook his head. “Otherwise, I think the child specters would have tinued wandering the room.”

  Delmar was ied iher rooms, “Anything useful ie rooms?”

  “We didn’t explore them too thhly, but it is unlikely. I suspect they were full of food and other perishable supplies that have long since expired.” All eyes turo Castile to make the decision.

  “Any sign of vermin?” Castile finally asked.

  Konstanti introspective, “I see what you are asking. Rat meat is better than starving, but I suspect the specters keep the city clear of all living things. I saw no signs of rats.”

  He paused before delivering more unwele news, “We were able to see the city from the third floor of the tower. It is still snowing out there; all you see is white, Castile. Even the hearth tree of the elves is covered. We are trapped.”

  Adrian offered some optimism, “We have enough here to burn to keep warm and just o melt the snow for fresh water.”

  Delmar dissented, “We will run out of food, Adrian. Maybe we stretch it a st a month, but I doubt we are going to find anything iy that has not spoiled or turo dust long ago. Our only hope is we find the Schor’s dungeon and hunt there.”

  “Agreed,” Castile said tersely before an argumeed. “We will clear the two library towers of specters and see if their libraries offer any more clues to its whereabouts.”

  From his seat, Schor Favian was quick to add, “Elven libraries in the Esenhem Kingdom have special restricted ses fical study. Maybe one of the tower libraries is a study of the dungeon itself. It would make sense if the dungeon is indeed ihe city.”

  There was slight optimism as the leadership group separated and began to move our camp to the north end of the library, closer to the towers. The decision was made for Konstantin, Adrian, Bze, and I to go with Castile to secure one of the towers. The Schor would e with us. Brutus, Mateo, Delmar, Fvius, and Pascal would remain with the rger group, proteg them with their runic ons.

  There was not much fanfare as we ehe doors on the north end of the library. I somehow ended up in front with a glowstone in one hand and my bck bde iher. A shield would be useless in this situation as it wouldn’t stop the specters anyway. The wide corridor had footprints from Konstantin and Mateo in a thin yer of dust. The walls were painted with images, but the dust coating them was too thiake them out clearly.

  “Follow our prints,” Konstantin said impatiently from the left. “There will be a wide stairway to the left in about fifty feet.”

  I walked slowly as our footfalls were muffled by the thick dust yer. I paused at the steps Konstantin had informed me about. The stoeps were a rich beige stone and had much less dust. I started to climb the wide circur staircase. The extremely cold air had not reached freezing temperatures yet, and our ast’s eade me tense as I was a dozen steps ahead of the group.

  I reached the first nding, and twe double doors hung loosely from broken hihey were also covered in dust; whatever had ripped them out had done so a long time ago. I ehe room beyond, and a specter g a book on a shelf, oblivious to my presence.

  Castile hissed, “It is a peist. Watch out, as it affect the material pne.”

  Adrian was on my right, “Eryk, you and me, now.” We both advanced oranslut elf in robes. It turs head in curiosity at us before Konstantin’s bde stabbed forward from my left and took it in the chest, causing a fsh of sparks. It screamed in silence as Adrian hacked it from my right, and I fi off, bringing my bde down on its head.

  Konstantin chuckled, “Third time I have killed this one. Hopefully, this time it stays dead.” Konstantin must have rushed forward to attack the specter. I quickly g his runic bde, and it had a luster to it that I had not noticed before. Konstantin fidently sheathed the bde, “That was the only one on this floor when we explored.”

  Castile had the kettle out, and the violet death essence smoke was already being sucked into it. Castile was not happy, “Konstantin, you didn’t mention any peists?” He looked bnkly at Castile. “They are advanced forms of specters that manipute objects. They are usually only capable of throwing objects and not wielding them like ons. This one must have been immensely powerful to hahat deteriorating book so gently.”

  Konstantin nodded, accepting his failure, “I didn’t know that. There is another one ohird floor. When I struck it down, it was trying to repair the damaged books.”

  I took in the room as Schor Favian was itg to get at the shelves. There was only a siransparent stone window, helping lowstones light the room. The room was surprisingly and orderly. The peist must have maintaihis room through the turies. Six long double-sided shelves domihe room. Simple but elegant desks lihe walls, with five doorways dispersed between them.

  Those of us with runic ons walked the small library and searched the doors. Adrian found a specter in one of the rooms and quickly dispatched it for Castile to e with the urn, much to Konstantin’s chagrin from g there were no more specters on this floor. We were allowed a break wheire floor was secure, and Favian started to gh the shelves in ear. I went into one of the offices that had a firepd window. The view through the stone was foggy, and I ed the inside as best I could.

  Beyond that, it looked like the snow was slowing, as I could see a good distand see what looked like the shapes of buildings iy. The massive tree that domihe city was covered in snow, its massive branches sagging uhe weight. Blue lightning fshed in the sky high above as I watched. I heard Castile walk up behind me. “Storm elementals,” she pointed out to the blue fshes. “Looks like the summoner’s trol over them is waning at the moment.”

  “Are we getting out of this?” I asked softly. This felt like Macha all ain, trapped in a city.

  She tapped the kettle of souls in her arms, “Yes. With this, we stand a ce.”

  “Why hasn’t someone used that before to clear the city of the undead? There appears to be a lot in this city that be plundered,” I asked.

  Castile looked out the window with me at the sky, “The first kettle of souls was found in a dungeon about nine hundred years ago, acc to Schor Favian. There was not much use for it until they learhe death esse crystallized could be used te runic ons aain potions. The Telhian Empire has her powerful runic smiths nor powerful alchemists to make use of it. This kettle was sitting in the vault of a t, long fotten, but Schor Favian was aware of its existence. We were lucky the t was willing to part with it for a favor.”

  “Favor?” I asked.

  “That is Between the Duchess Veronid t Lorenzo. He did not know the true value of this artifaeither did I.” Castile left my side, walked the room, checked the firepce, and ornate bckwood desk.

  She searched the drawers and pulled out a small silvery khat looked like a letter opener. She talked while she searched the rest of the desk, “We are going to clear the upper two floors. You are to remain here and guard Schor Favian while he sorts the books.”

  Castile did not find anything else iing, so she secured the small knife on her person ahe room. I sat at the desk and ran my hands along it. It was a beautiful bckwood desk that had survived turies, but if the pany moved up to these floors, it was going to be smashed and burned in the firepce. I sighed ao the library area, “Schor Favian was excitedly reading the spines among the shelves. Castile, Adrian, Konstantin, and Bze were departing to head further up the tower.

  I went and stood o the Schor, “Any luck?”

  “Luck?” Schor Favian said absently. He repced a book, “Unfortunately, these appear to be all advanced reference manuals for professions. A lot of terminology used is even beyond my uanding.”

  “Iing, they sound valuable. rofessions are here?” I asked, trying to make versation while we waited.

  “Valuable if you read Elvish. Maybe if they were transted and transcribed, but my grasp of the finer points of the nguage is g. Let me see,” he started to walk the shelves looking at the spines, “This se here is for weaver’s, this se over here,” he paused to read a title, “appears to be for cooking—and brewing.” He spent some time on the shelf reading titles before announg, “It appears to be furniture making. It includes everything from cutting the tree to seasoning the wood to various teiques.”

  He had covered most of the ses and came to the st full row, “This appears to be the herbalism se and apothecary se.”

  “Alchemy? I have learned a little bit from Decimus,” I said excitedly.

  “Not alchemy,” he shook his head, “Just basic herbalism and noher infused brews for an apothecary.” I was still ied, and he indicated maybe three hundred rge tomes on the shelf. Of course, they were all in Elvish. I started paging through the first book on the shelf. It had a lot of pictures a.

  Seeihralled, Schor Faviauro his own task to find clues for the Shimmering Labyrinth. I aging through my fifth book when he said, “There might be an alchemy se in a different library, or wherever the Mage College is located. It took me fifteen years to learn the nuances of the written Elven nguage.”

  Schor Favian started to go into his diatribe about how he became an expert on the Elven nguage, and I half listened as I focused on slowly turning the pages. If I couldn’t move these books to my dimensional space, I would try adding as many as possible to my dreamscape. It was over four hours before the group returned from the upper floors. I had paged through about ohird of the books before my eyes started hurting.

  “How did it go,” I asked the group.

  Adrian answered tiredly, “Seveers and four peists. There is nothing useful ohird floor. Part of the roof colpsed ahered everything. All the books were mush. The sed floor just had a cra the window, but mold got to a portion the books.”

  Favian eagerly stood, ready to explore upstairs despite his bloodshot eyes. Castile stopped him. “Later, Schor. I want to get the paled up here first. What did you find in these books?”

  Schor Favian eagerly told Castile, “It appears to be a catalog for the elven master craftsmen. I assume the other smaller libraries are the same, fog on five or six professions on each floor. There is invaluable knowledge tained within. The Collegium S would be extremely excited to get this colle.”

  Castile took in all the books but shook her head. “Getting them all out of here will be too much of a task. What about the Shimmering Labyrinth?”

  Schor Favian had a smile split his face, “Three references so far. One is very promising.” He opened a book he had put aside and started reading, “The rock spider silk spis are viable for seven hours after harvest. Getting them to the weavers on Dawn’s Light Street directly from the Labyrinth is best to spin them into silk thread immediately.” His smile grew, “Dawn’s Light Street is iy.”

  “So, the dungeon is within seven hours of the city,” Adrian said unhappily. “It does not mean it is within the walls or accessible by the undergrouwork.”

  Castile gave him a harsh look. It was not like Adrian to voice his pessimism; it was not the first time since being trapped iy. Castile barked, “Adrian and Konstantin, with me, we will go and escort the rest of the pany up here.”

  As they were leaving, I heard Castile voig her displeasure at his attitude and how it would affect the rest of the pany. Bze went and sat by a window and looked out at the white expanse, slowly darkening with night. He seemed morose and was normally one of the cheerier men in the pany. I was beginning to think this undead city was affeg people. I remembered that st night I didn’t dream. Maveith had also beeremely quiet siering the city and didn’t want to py checkers. Yes, this city was definitely affeg us somehow.

  ? Chted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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