“Anything interesting?” asked Winoa.
“Absolutely. It’s a part of a mission I received. I need to find a three part book series. Found the first at the start of the mission, and the second just now.”
“Sounds like you’re good at finding needles, Ram,” said Ico, closing the book she had in front of her.
“I am apparently quite lucky,” he replied.
“Well I believe I can pin down what we need to find, but I have to find journal two. Seven was the last journal of the series. That much I’m sure of, but the man makes mention of ‘the mark that made the town’ several times. The third journal seems to be after the town and college were set up, so we’re probably looking for book two of the series if we want to find what that entailed.”
“Well let’s get looking then,” Winoa said as she grabbed two books from the pile and flipped them both open. Maynard and Ico did the same, and the three of them began flicking through the pile as fast as possible. Almost in unison, Winoa and Ico declared, “I found a journal!”
“One,” said Ico.
“Two,” replied her sister.
“Well I found an introduction to summoning, third edition, and Tessig’s treatise on mandrakes and their uses. What do I win?” said Maynard with a grin.
“You win two pretty hens taking you to see the occultism professor like you need as long as you put all the books we didn’t need back.”
With a groan, Maynard began ferrying the books they had taken off the shelves back. He was quick, but still felt like he had wasted his time when he saw the twins waiting for him impatiently the moment he was done. He kept hold of one journal and as he made his way out of the building, he smiled at the librarian, raising the red book in his hands into the man’s view. The man rolled his eyes and nodded back as the trio left the building.
As they walked outside Maynard asked, “Alright, where’s next?”
“The occultists are usually in the east wing of the college, so if we want to meet the professor he’ll either be there or in the staff rooms of the north-west building.”
“Then let’s go to the east wing. Classes should be over within about five minutes, so we should be able to catch the professor in the break if he’s there,” said Ico as she organised the books in her bag and began walking, “And while you speak to the professor, we can keep looking for this stupid rune.”
“It’s not a stupid rune, sis,” interjected Winoa, “It’s potentially an incredibly helpful word of power if I understand its intent correctly.”
“Aye, I know. I’m just peeved at a man for wasting our time like this. We should be looking for secrets and hidden quests like Ram, but instead we’re trapped searching for a rune that may or may not be helpful, left by some esoteric tadger like three hunder years ago.”
“We can keep doing your things and mine at the same time,” replied Maynard, “It might take some of the sting out out of your hunt if you have something to break up the monotony of reading through every single day of the esoteric tadger’s life. What is a tadger, by the way?”
Winoa elbowed Maynard in the side and laughed, “You’re alright, Ram. You’re alright.” She made a reaching motion between her legs as if grasping invisible genitals before continuing, “If you’re a man then that’s a tadger, ye ken?”
“Ah…” said Maynard as they reached the steps into the main building. He moved inside with the girls and dodged through the crowd of students leaving the lecture halls. They ducked into the first room and approached the smartly dressed woman packing away paper at the lectern that stood at the far end of the room. As they approached her, she looked up and said, “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for a professor here,” said Winoa, “Something happened at the Durley mine and a practiced occultist is needed to help clear things up there.”
“Are you sure?” she said, her hands crunching the paper that she held in front of her.
“Absolutely,” said Ico, “Or at least he is.”
Maynard stepped forward, “I was part of an expedition into a pre-Celtic ruin they found in the Durley mine, and we let out something that should not have been let out. It’s dead, but there might be others like it, and it needs to be dealt with quickly else that mine could become a nesting ground for other creatures like it.”
“That’s a bit of a tall story. What was the creature?”
“Umm… A wraith of sorts, a creature made of shadow that was afraid of bright light but could change its form at will. It had a lot of eyes, and mouths, and there are two guys in the infirmary who were left pretty beaten up by it. I doubt the matron would have given either of them the all clear just yet, so you can check with her.”
“I’ll take you to see Dickens in a minute and then check your story. He should be finishing up two rooms over.” She roughly pushed the papers in her hands into her bag and led the trio into a room almost identical to the one they were just in. At the far end of the room a gaunt man with a large beard who looked like he was in his fifties was talking to a teenage boy in hushed tones. Hearing the doorway open, the two of them turned and looked at the group entering warily, but as the woman from the previous room entered they visibly relaxed. The woman took the lead, greeting the professor with a smile, “Bill, I’ve got some students here who need our help. Can you hear them out while I double check part of their story?”
“Alright, Agatha, tell me what your issue seems to be,” the man replied as the woman, Agatha, walked back out.
“Sir, I was hired with a few other students to help a man from Trinity college excavate what he claimed was a pre-Celtic ruin found in the Durley mine. We found the ruin relatively easily, as it was a straight shot down, but when we opened it, I think we let out something that we should have kept in, and now the professor who headed the mission is dead, as are two of the men I went with. Of the survivors, I am the only one who came out decently, with Philippe ending up deranged, and Tommy crippled.”
“That is a lot to take in,” Dickens replied as Maynard finished, sitting further back in his chair “Who was the professor?”
“A man who went by the name Lockley. He was rather dismissive of you all which was why I thought I should go see you when things went tits up.”
“Of course it was Lockley,” Dickens said derisively, “Man stuck his nose in everywhere it was unwanted, but I guess his skepticism finally caught up with him. What was the creature like?”
“A large creature made of shadow, with… no real form. It had a lot of eyes, I can’t tell you exactly how many, and mouths, several of them. With the help of the two guys who are in the infirmary I killed it, but I don’t know if it’s the only one, and it nearly killed all of us getting rid of one of them. I don’t know how much effort you’ll need to put in to get rid of more.”
The teenage boy that had been beside the professor the entire time finally chipped in and said, “Is this what you were talking about, professor? The thing in the area that the Serran cult has been looking for?”
