faderift | book quest part 2: the bookening

WHO: Waver; Kirk; The Medicine Seller; anyon else who'd like to join
WHAT: Part two of this
WHEN: A few days after the Crystal post
WHERE: Various points in the Gallows
NOTES: Mention of blood magic

Waver had been pleasantly surprised by the response he got to his initial question regarding where one might consider hiding missing books, and equally surprise that the contents were not as big a turn off as he had anticipated. Far more important than either one of those things though was that there were several people willing and ready to help explore the highs and lows of the Gallows itself.

A. The Old Templar Tower
Towers had come up time and again, and the idea of going and mucking around in all of them seemed to be an exhausting task. It had to be done though, and there were a number of old chests found in the tower itself.

It was a total crapshoot if any of the old, rotting chests would have anything. Moreover, how easy they were to break would define the whole experience. Looking at the chests, doubting their contents, Waver sighed.

"Did anyone think to bring a hammer or something?"

B. Exploring
There were books. Lots of them. But not all, and to that end Waver had been unhappy with what were otherwise stellar results. The only clue as to where the others might be had been in a little note found on a far older inventory list in handwriting that he didn't recognize.

On the note had been speculation that some of the mages had hidden a number of books, but the question of where was yet to be determined. Waver was quick to pass the note around, and hope that someone might have an idea of where to go.

C. Wildcard
Mix and match, and tag around. Part D/finding the books will be posted later on after some of A and B have been done.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kirk did not particularly like the Gallows, but he could stomach them. At least he wasn't having to live their anymore, which made it easier. Something about the place always made his stomach clench and his hair stand on end. But he could stand it for a search, and for lost knowledge. He didn't like the thought of those books ending up in bad hands.

"Don't necessarily need a hammer," Kirk said. "If we can find a bit of loose stone and use it, when we can crack these things open. Decrepit as they are, if we hit the weak points, they should come apart pretty easy."

"Good idea," Waver agreed. The truth was, hitting things with stone was probably going to take less time than running all over the Gallows looking for a hammer. Which he should have thought to bring.

"Hm. See any good candidates?"

His eyes went around the room, looking for crumbling points in the walls.

Kirk looked around the shambled room and finally went over to pitched in corner. He managed to pry a bit of brick away that had some heft and nodded.

"This should work. If not, I'm sure we can find something equally heavy," he encouraged as he went back to the box. He lifted the brick back and forth a few times to get his line before bringing it down hard against the sharp blunt corner.

The first hit managed to get the lock loose, but fall off it did not. That came from attempt number two, and the metal fell onto the ground with a heavy clang.

"Yeah, I'd say that worked," Waver said, crouching down beside the chest and carefully lifting the lid.

Inside the chest were two upturned spines, caked with thick dust. Waver ran his finger along them, revealing the titles. Well, what was there of them, the lettering had also worn off, and he needed to all but press his nose to them.

Pulling away, dust on his nose, Waver grinned over at Kirk. "That's two down."

"Really?" Kirk asked, honestly surprised by that. He had thought it would take much longer to find them, because if you stole rare and valuable books surely you would put them somewhere better and less obvious than a suspiciously locked trunk. Or maybe that had been the ego of the thief.

Honestly, he needed to stop questioning their good luck quite so much. It would bite him in the ass soon enough.

"How many more are we still missing?"

"Let me see."

Waver pulled the list that he had left aside on the floor back over to himself, consulting the titles. He mentally crossed out the two they had just found, and gave a little approving huff. This was good luck.

"Just six. It could be a little needle in the haystack from here on out, but even if they don't turn up, that's a lot better than what the original list was."

He nodded as he glanced around the room again and then back out into the hall.

"Well, do you think we should keep checking around here, or do you have a lead that the other volumes might be elsewhere?" Kirk asked, though if it were up to him he would choose to explore here a bit longer. They might not find books, but there could be something of other value.

Waver gave the question a long consideration, turning it over and over again in his mind. Finally, he settled on an option.

"Maybe one more sweep of this area, and then we can move on to the next."

"No stone unturned, right?" Kirk said, though his smile suggested he was more than happy to give that last sweep and make sure they didn't miss anything interesting.

"How are you settling in Kirkwall?" he asked him as they made to move up the stairs, his fingers brushing the tired brick.

No stone literally. Waver crouched down and began to trace his fingers over the floor itself, wiggling at stones to see if they might yield secrets.

"Good enough, I guess. It helps that I got here earlier than most. Yourself?"

"Well enough," he gave a shrug, but his lips were pulled into a soft smile. "I'm rooming with Sam, still, so there's a plus. I'm hoping we can get somewhere bigger soon though. And less... shivery."

A shudder passed through him as he thought of the Gallows. The place never sat right with him, not once.

"Are you and Iskandar going to room together?" he asked. He knew the two were close, being from the same world and such. "I can't imagine he fits well in the Gallows," he said a with a wry little smile.

For his part, Kirk was taking careful steps, titling his head to listen for a shift of loose stone - be it one or a patch.

"Mmm, although I think he wants to stay dockside. That man and the ocean." Waver shook his head, fond and endeared. Nothing about Iskandar's desire for real estate there surprised him. "And that man doesn't fit anywhere. He tried to find trousers in Japan, and that was an adventure."

Waver's confident that Kirk can fill in the usual everything's more compact in Japan thing. There's more stones to touch and--

--one moved!

"Over here!"

"Oh, that story I have to hear," Kirk laughed, trying to imagine it. Iskandar was huge by any measure of normal men, so he could only imagine the difficulties considering the average stature of a Japanese man...

He jerked up when Waver called out, turning and hurrying over, shifting to crouch down beside him.

"Careful now," he cautioned. "I don't think there would be any traps here since the trunk was clear, but let's not risk it if we can help it."

"Hang on. Has he ever elaborated on how he and I met?"

Waver had actually never asked that of anyone. Not that he was keen to re-hash all matter of Grail War related nonsense, but he didn't know what Iskandar had and had not shared. Everyone just went with the two knowing each other from home.

"I'm going to move to one side then, if you wouldn't mind doing the same on the other."

Which Waver did promptly, bracing his side against the wall.

"No, not particularly," he admitted. Which he supposed was something he should have asked by now, but it had just never come up. Usually, he had to admit, because he started fooling around with Iskandar. "I know he's not entirely human, though."

He shifted his weight just as Waver did, looking to the magician and nodding to show he was ready.

"Spirit, technically. If he hasn't told you and you're curious, I will share, but I'd prefer it be over a drink." Not because meeting Iskandar wasn't the best moment of Waver's life - it was. But the Grail War had too much other fucked up nonsense in it that drinks were needed. Caster's murder spree sprang to mind.

With that nod, Waver tugged the rock out from it's spot with slow, careful movements. Nothing too fast. Nothing too slow. And--

Volia. Two more, and a crumbled up list.

"It isn't a jackpot, but it isn't anything to scoff at either."

book quest part 2: the bookening

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