Backing up into a corner near the stairs and Humphrey....
Lord, have mercy!
Father Malcolm crosses himself, looking anxious....
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Aye! agrees Father Malcolm of St Peter's Cathedral in London. The stink of the Evil One is enough to make a Christian want to wretch here! Father Malcolm goes about the chapel with an aspergillium, sprinkling everything liberally with holy water from St Peter's baptismal font.... He burns frankincense and begins to say a special mass of exorcism in Latin....
Be sure that much of (the gold) goes to feed and clothe the orphans at the orphanages o' London. Father Malcolm seems sincere enough....
Beaming with glee at the sight of actual gold pounds instead of copper pences or silver shillings going into the poor box, and in such generous amounts, Father Malcolm bows gratefully to The Lusty Fools and chuckles with unconcealable joy.... Ah! 'Tis a bonny fine sight to see such good and generous folk as yourselves giving so generously to the poor! Be sure that much of it goes to feed and clothe the orphans at the orphanages o' London, good sirs....and m'lady.... He bows extra deeply before Kiyu.... Yes, the wererats! Damn them all to Hell! .... Seems like ever since that damned fire dragon came to plague the lands o' Christendom a couple years back, every kind o' spawn o' The Devil has come crawlin' out o' the Underworld to trouble the countryside.... Wererats have appeared in greater numbers than e'er before these last couple years.... Though, to be sure, London's always had some degree o' trouble with them and their kind.... Rats as big as small dogs--they be the ones to look out for! Sure as St Peter's crook, those'll be the wererats! 'Tis said their den is somewhere down by London Bridge, maybe in one o' the many old abandoned warehouses along the river....
The priest leaves The Lusty Fools to wait in the nave for a moment while he retrieves antitoxin from a storeroom flanking the sanctuary. He returns a moment later with a small vial of liquid marked "antitoxin", and hands it over to Hisao. That vial is rather dear....normally 50 gold pounds at the apothecary.... If ye wouldn't mind making an appropriate donation to the poor box, sir, it would be much appreciated....
Aye, sir, it may.... How long ago were ye bitten? If it were longer than three days and nights, then this wolfsbane be the only cure known to man.... It be poisonous, but we have antitoxin ye can take with it to bolster your chances of surviving it....
Hmmmm.... There's been quite a bit of that about lately.... Lycanthropy, I suppose? Was he bitten by one of those miserable wererats down by the river, then? It's high time the city guards rooted that wretched pack out o' their holes and put the lot o' them to the silvered sword, it is!
Ah! May God bless you, kind sirs! Father Malcolm anoints Alphonse and Nacht (and whomever else puts coins in the coffer) with a dousing of holy water from a small vial he procures from a pouch at his waist, making the sign of the cross as he does so, and intoning a benediction in Latin....
I am Father Malcolm, humble servant of Our Lord, and of my patron, Saint Peter.... What brings you goodly folk to St Peter upon Cornhill at this hour?
Welcome to St Peter upon Cornhill! Ye missed evening mass, but I can give ye a blessing.... Perhaps ye wouldn't mind dropping a few coins in the box on yonder wall for the good works of Our Lord? The red-haired priest gestures to the coffer affixed to the wall next to the great door by which the party entered.... |