He keeps reading and trying to figure it out. Like, in-depth analytical reading.
He keeps reading, but gets nothing new out of it. He's neither naturally intelligent enough nor trained in scholarly matters enough to understand it fully, as it's a hardcore scholarly text.
Shoukichi manages to get some of the locals to talk to him after asking around for an hour.
Many don't want to talk to you, but one old biddy has something for you.
"Well I hear that Harrowstone’s executioner still guards the execution balcony on the western side of the prison, and that on some nights, his scythe can be seen patrolling the balcony on its own, as if carried by an invisible spirit. But don't quote me on that one."
"Do any of you know how to pick a lock?" Cassiel asks to whoever is still in the house, holding the Manual of the order of the Palatine Eye.
Then he notices Ezekiel struggling with On Verified Madness.
"Would you mind if I had a look at that? These books can be rather...daunting for the uninitiated."
Steef, who had been sitting sadly by the window, perks up a bit. "I do! I can pick a lock! The pretty lawyer lady with the hammer that got me out of jail had a weird lizard thing that could pick locks and when they got me out I watched real careful and I can do it now! Look, I even have these stick thingies that you can use to do it!"
Grinning broadly, he takes out his set of thieves' tools and displays them proudly. "Had to scrounge about the streets for about four months to get the money for these, but I got 'em!"
Cassiel looks skeptical for a moment, but hands Steef the book. "Have at it, then."
Steef does his level best to pick the lock, but is completely unable to do so.
"Right then, let's see what we've got here...
Steef fiddles with the lock for a few moments, growing increasingly agitated as he does so. Finally, he shakes his head and looks up.
"That there is one damn good lock. Better than anything I've seen...we're gonna have to just find the key for it. I dunno, maybe another day I can get it open, but we're just gonna have to wait. Don't think it'd be worth it to break the lock.
But if you want my honest opinion...if this book's locked, it's because the Prof wanted it locked. Could be that we're just not supposed to be reading it."
With that sage advice, Steef puts his tools away and stands up. As he walks away, he calls over his shoulder:
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find my very own bedroom. I haven't been able to say that in over a century. I'm...kinda excited."
Well, he may have a point. But the professor wouldn't have left this book for us at all if he didn't want us to read it eventually. I'll just hold on to it for the time being.
Cassiel puts the locked book away in his room, then resumes reading the others, starting with Madness
Cassiel, to his chagrin, is able to glean little more from Verifying Madness than Ezekiel could.
Despite his vast intelligence, aberrations are simply not his area of expertise and technical jargon bogs down the text.
Serving Your Hunger makes his skin crawl from the first words of reading them, detailing the horrific rites that servants of Urgathoa (Necromancers being the most savory worshipers) carry out in worship to their dread mother.
The Umbral Leaves likewise, containing graphic depictions and descriptions of torture, preserved lovingly within the pages, talked about in a passionate, almost erotic manner, describing flaying someone alive with the same flowery words as a romance novel might describe a lover's caress.
"What a bunch of nonsense" Cassiel grumbles as he closes the last book. "I sure hope those eggheads at Lepidstadt can get something out of these."
He returns all the books to the chest and locks it.
Two gossips on the side of the street give you this little tidbit.
"The food at the Laughing Demon isn’t all fun and games—and it’s no coincidence that Zokar serves more corpse chowder after unpopular merchants “leave town,” never to be seen again. If Zokar invites you into the Demon’s back room for a complimentary taste of that evening’s chowder, watch out!"
Ezekiel gets hungry and heads to the only place he remembers to get real food, the Laughing Demon.
Ezekiel heads to the Laughing Demon. He is greeted with an uncomfortable silence as the entire tavern look at him with loathing, disgust, and a bit of fear.
Even the usually jovial Zokar, proprietor of the tavern and restaurant looks uncomfortable, though he does his level best to greet you cheerfully.
"Welcome to the Laughing Demon, ehm, here, take a menu."
As you read the menu, you get where Shoukichi's gossip was coming from...and deduce it was likely in jest, a bit of an inside joke for the locals.
The menu contains such menu items as "Vampire Steaks" (which someone across the room is eating, and appear to be merely good cuts of beef on wooden skewers), "Wolf Balls" (which a group of people are snacking on currently. They're some kind of meat, usually lamb, on plates painted to look like a full moon), "Corpse Chowder" (the subject of the rumor, which appears to be a fairly standard stew, with a red broth and chunks of meat), and his famous "Liquid Ghosts" drink (which nearly everyone in the tavern is enjoying, a pale ale that glows with a faintly greenish tint, the same shade as most glow in the dark materials).
Ezekiel gets the feeling that without the bad blood, it would be a very comfortable and welcoming place.
Ezekiel pays for a large bowl of Corpse Chowder and two pints of Liquid Ghosts, before moving to the most isolated chair that's still near the fire.
Zokar takes your money and counts it out.
"Hey, you. You didn't give me enough. You owe me another silver."
You are completely certain you gave him enough money for the usual price of a meal.
Extending one long, massive arm, Ezekiel picks up the menu again and checks the prices.
"You sure?"
"Completely sure. Prices are on the rise around here."
"Oh, ok."
Ezekiel roots around in his pockets, and pulls out a platinum piece and six coppers.
"I'm done out of silvers. Six coppers good?"
He takes your Platinum and gives you some change back.
"We're square." he says.
Ezekiel finds the food to be quite tasty, though a bit overpriced. He notices as he eats that the other customers are not being asked to pay the increased price.
Tactlessly, Ezekiel asks why they don't have to pay as much.
"Because I don't like you." Zokar replies as he passes by.
"These people aren't troublemakers like you and your friends."
Steef, after the shock of not only having a roof over his head, but actual bedding for an entire month had subsided, decided to go for a walk. His ramblings had taken him to the Laughing Demon as well-he walks in the door now. Seeing Ezekiel, he goes up to the stool next to him and claps him on the back.
"Glad to see ya-what's good here?"
"Eh. All tastes like ash to me."
The tavern goes quiet again, though not as much so as before. Steef catches whispered conversations from various parts of the room.
"...like a freakshow moved into town...place is going to the dogs...ugliest midget I've ever seen..."
Despite the whispers though, two people, no matter how disturbing to the villagers, can't hold their attention forever if they're not doing anything.
So as people settle down and begin talking, the two actually manage to overhear something interesting.
"Harrowstone, haunted? Bah. That's just stories. The ruins are dangerous, true, but all the whispers about ghosts is just skittish youngsters hearin' all the damn vermin that live in there."
Steef sighs a bit. Just because you'd been hearing the same things all your life didn't mean that it was easier to hear them each time. Under his breath, he mutters to himself "I'm not a midget, I'm four feet tall. Perfect height for a dwarf." It was clear from the tone of his voice that he had said the mantra many times to himself in the past.
Straightening up a bit, he nods to the bartender. "Hey mate-pint of whatever's good, please. And if you've got any ready, those steaks look good. Cheers." After he pays (giving a little extra to cover a tip/any extraneous charges) he turns to Ezekiel, and looks at him concernedly. "You alright, Zeke?"
Zokar sees the extra money and smiles.
"You guys catch on quick. Might eventually fit in around here after all!" he guffaws.
Cassiel knows a couple of things about the Whispering Way.
At their core, they are a sinister society of Necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years. Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures, or are undead themselves. The Whispering Way's most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, also known as the Whispering Tyrant, but the organization long precedes even him.
Cassiel feels like he might remember a few more things that are just on the tip of his brain, but can't quite recall them.
"Thank you, Kendra. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of reading this month...
Tar-Baphon, also known the Wizard-King in his mortal life, was a powerful necromancer. Not much is known of his life before his rise to power almost 4000 years ago, but it is known he was an extraordinarily powerful Necromancer. So powerful, in fact, that he attracted the attention of the god Aroden (Last of the Azlanti, God of Humanity, first mortal to ascend to godhood by touching the Starstone), and they clashed.
It is not known exactly why they came into conflict (though the prevailing theory is that Tar-Baphon sought immortality, and looked down on Aroden for "cheating" and gaining such by the power of an artifact rather than achieving it by his own merits), but they did so, and Aroden eventually slew him in battle.
Over 2000 years later, he somehow used the power of the Whispering Way to arise as a Lich. Styling himself the Whispering Tyrant he amassed an enormous Orc army and conquered the nation of Ustalav (where you currently reside). This was mostly a ploy to once again attract the attention of Aroden, but the god did not deign to respond this time.
Frustrated, he ruled Ustalav with a bony fist for several hundred years, permitting no dissent to his rule. He threw his armies into battle on numerous occasions, each time wiping out his enemy to a man, with no thought to the casualties they could inflict...after all, he could simply raise them again in unlife to fight for him, along with teh enemy's corpses as well to swell his armies.
It took 500 years, an army of Paladins and other holy warriors, the death of Aroden's Herald (Arazni), and the destruction of a major artifact (the Shield of Aroden) to finally weaken him enough that he could be sealed beneath his capital, Gallowspire, where he remains to this day.
Once he's done with his meal, Ezekiel decides to go visit Harrowstone.
Jules arose from the chair he had been sitting in from within the library; he had no interest in reading any of the books they provided. Walking out the doorway, he began to make his way to the Laughing Demon's;
maybe he could get some reprieve from today's misfortune?
------------
Pushing forth on the front door, Jules entered the tavern, and made immediate note of the horror-themed decor. Walking past tables of silent people, he sat down at the bar beside Steef, and dug into his pocket for his coins.
After pulling out 2 platinum coins, Jules turned to Steef. "You okay, friend? You seem to be rather sorroweful." He put his hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "Do ye need to talk to me, brother?"
Ezekiel (and anyone who decides to come along) heads to Harrowstone.
The ruins are located on a barren hill south of Ravengro, the stark, sagging roof of its central structure visible through a large gap in the surrounding wall. A partially overgrown track leads from the southern edge of town, winding around the base of the hill and then back up along its southern slope to the prison itself.
It is fully dark by the time Ezekiel arrives.
Through the gate he can see the prison grounds, contained within a crumbling stone wall. The eastern side has collapsed into a giant sinkhole, formed when the east wing succumbed to the flames.
Steef smiles up at Jules. "Thanks kid, but I'm fine. When you get to be my age you realize that some things just don't change. Nothin you can really do about it. Zeke, wait up."
Nodding to Jules, he hurries after Ezekiel to Harrowstone.
"Wow. This place is a dump..."
Shoukichi goes to the Temple to research the topics that Cassiel encountered in the various books.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Yes, we are. Why are you?" a grumpy priest asks, looking up from a musty tome.
"Well, I've come to conduct some research. I've been directed here as a place of knowledge and enlightenment. I would just like to wish to access the books or tomes of this temple."
"You? Why would we let you in here?" he asks, going back to his books and waving Shoukichi away.
Ezekiel goes in, gesturing for Steef to follow.
Jules got up; he wasn't going to mope around without friends. As he approached the door, he turned to the people of the bar and spoke.
"I do not know what you said to them; I do not think I would even care. But if you did anything to hurt them, then I promise toil upon you all for a generation."
Jules departed, trailing after Steef's footsteps to Harrowstone.
The only response Jules gets are some "Bah."s and some wooden stakes thrown in his direction.
Steef goes along with Ezekiel. "Mate, just gonna say right now-this is a really dumb idea. I haven't done something like this since I was a kid...me and the guys used to run around at night in the nearby quarry. And that was nearly two bloody centuries ago...I'm getting way too old for this crap."
Ezekiel enters the gate.
He is stopped for a moment, locked in some sort of image ingrained into his brain. When it finally ends he is trembling in fear against his will.