The Land of Encyclopedias and Elitists [Finished]

[The Jenn]

"Yes, I don't have an especially pointed line of research just yet. That's what this is for, actually. I'm looking for hints as to some of the magics used, ones that may have been forgotten or died with their casters, and that will help me focus my studies." Parzifal moved forward to offer the Esterberry more light, glancing over the foreign script as the scholar leafed through it.

He dutifully set the lantern down and copied when his guide read aloud to him, but all of them seemed vague and insubstantiated by further passages in the text. Thankfully, he and the Esterberry both seemed used to the tedious nature of researched based on nothing more than hunches. The man was ridiculously good at scanning a page and pulling out relevant information in a matter of seconds. An advantage of being native to this region, he supposed.

"That sounds reasonable. This seems more an account of the history and politics than what we're looking for." He moved away with the lantern to carefully take hold of the two texts the librarian had pointed out before, setting them down on the table and waiting for the other man to join him.

[Kari Muffin]

Harold didn't dawdle. He quickly grabbed two more books off the shelf and followed Parzifel to the table. Taking the first book that the librarian had pointed out, the Esterberry sat down and made himself comfortable.

This seemed a bit better than the last one. He traced his finger down the page, the thin paper almost wrinkled under his finger. This book was well taken care of, but showed obvious signs of being worn. There were some patches as he continued to flip through the beginning pages that had obviously been patched from some sort of fire damage. He made a sound as he read the index.

"Not all of this book is written in Esterberry.... it seems someone put notes in some of the margins that I can't read." Harold flipped the book around and pointed to something lightly scribbled in the margin. "The title it's pointing to is a section on the Morganberry Queen who was involved in War."

For Parzi the words would be easy to read, it was clearly written in Tulgey, implying that this large book was acquired through less than legal means. The note read very simply: "Impossible to piece together curses. Good job recording."

[The Jenn]

Such delicate things, these books. All of the ones that the woman referred them to had to be quite old, and he winced a little to see the mended fire damage in one of them. He leaned forward as the man found script in a hand other than Esterberry and his eyes widened slightly. "That's Tulgey," he murmured, leaning forward further. "I wonder who owned this book before the library. It would be hard to pry the text out of someone in the Wood."

He studied the note for a moment, wondering. "It's talking about piecing together curses. I wonder if the Morganberry Queen had a talent for them? Although I'm not quite sure what the 'Good job recording' is supposed to mean, whether they were impressed at how difficult it was to get information out of the book or how deeply hints were hidden. My bet is that they've left notes elsewhere, if they went so far as to bother with the table of contents. Could you flip to that chapter? They may have done a little bit of our work for us..."

[Kari Muffin]

Harold raised an eyebrow. Well, most libraries prided themselves in getting their books legally, but then again this one had been around for a while. And there were other reasons why some of these books where back here. "It was probably taken by force. I would like to say not many Esterberries are violent but... we're all grown ups and know better."

The man turned the book back to him and started flipping through the pages, to the proper place. It was a delicate process, since some of the pages were thoroughly stuck together. After what seemed like infinity, he came to the proper chapter.

And then Harold turned the page, only to find that several of them had been cut from the book. The Esterberry made a horrible sound as he flipped back to the previous page. Wordlessly he pointed to the notes in the margins.

The largest note read: "Truly her spells were terrifying! And yet someone has clearly written down unwittingly the bits and pieces that they heard. Like the phrase here is clearly an actual phrase from her spell... the tone isn't like any other in this awful book!"

A smaller one in the bottom corner read "Page 500, left margin."

The rest were all too worn and faded to read.

[The Jenn]

Oh, and if those words didn't pique Parzifal's interest, nothing would. His eyes widened and he leaned in a little closer, holding the lantern directly over the book. The torn out pages were... quite distressing to the bibliophile in him. Had something like that happened to one of his master's books, there would have been hell to pay.

He read the note aloud and then considered. "I can understand the sentiment in the note if the writer was a Tulgey. This seems almost like it was written by someone outside of the Wood, acquired by a member of the realm, and then re-acquired by someone outside again. If it could talk, I'd bet you anything that it would have quite a story to tell."

His fingers itched to touch one of the pages, but the Esterberry seemed much better able to handle the damaged paper and he didn't dare cause it any further damage. "Is page five hundred one of the missing sheets, or are we in luck?"

[Kari Muffin]

Harold snorted. Well that made perfect sense. The book had clearly been through an adventure and then some. It didn't explain why someone would cut the pages clean out of it.

He reached out, and pulled the book towards him. He carefully turned to page five hundred, only to find that it was there, but stuck to the previous page. He let out a rather long sigh as he picked up one of the writing utensils, and did his best to slip the point between the pages.

It was frustrating, but he did manage to crack the pages open a bit. He had to stop however, because the paper started to tear. It took all of the Esterberry's willpower not to cry out.

His hands were hardly steady enough to accomplish the rest of the separation. He could see the very tip of a note as well, though it was unreadable to him, he could tell that it was at least a similar script to the other notes, if not the same handwriting.

"I... can't do this. Think you can manage?" He offered the man the book, a frown on his face.

[The Jenn]

Parzifal couldn't hide his involuntary wince when he heard the tiniest sound of tearing paper. Oh, that was painful. Someone had really abused this book a while back, whether it was the fire or perhaps the water used to douse it that had caused the majority of the damage. "I'll do my best," he said with a small sigh, accepting the volume and the writing utensil along with it.

He turned the book slowly, looking for another opening in the area between the pages besides the one Harold had used. Maybe he could coax it from several different angles until only a tiny, difficult spot remained stuck together. He would, as he'd said, do the best that he could for the poor book.

It wasn't a matter of if, now. He needed to know the notes contained in his book. It was a real shame that they didn't know the author of the notes.

[Kari Muffin]

The book put up a great deal of protest under Parzi's poking and pulling, but all of the effort didn't go to waste. He did manage to pull the pages apart, though it did tear ever so slightly, pulling some words from the pages.

The note that was revealed was in completely different penmanship from the previous ones. The writing was thin and slanted in a delicate and smooth hand. Some of the words were faded from the water damage, so part of the note was missing.

But it did leave Parzi with something interesting. "All the spells detailed here are missing.... however .... Book X of the .... War... Chronicles supplements some of the missing pieces."

There was another note in right corner in the handwriting of the previous commenter, "Everett's Diary supplements several of the spells on this page."

Harold was glancing at the book upside down, reading what he could on the parts of the page that couldn't be damaged. It was mostly spells that looked terribly simple, along with some of the effects. What did the notes say though? He gave the bird a curious look.

[The Jenn]

Parzifal examined the notes for a long moment, flicking crimson eyes back and forth between them before looking up at Harold. "How many different sets of chronicles for the war ever reached ten or more volumes?" he asked in a low voice, looking back down again after a moment. Maybe the man would know, or maybe that was merely another clue for research into the area. His hand gently caressed the note.

Two different people, both most likely Tulgeys. Who had owned this thing? "I'm feeling like I should be familiar with the name Everett in relation to the war, but my mind isn't making the connection. Apparently, the spells of the Morganberry Queen are all removed from this book, but supplemented in Book Ten of an undecipherable set of chronicles, as well as in Everett's Diary. Does it give any clues on the page, or have you run across the name before, either on your own or in one of these volumes?"

It would be interesting to possibly return to this library someday with someone who could assess the age of the comments. They may have been written by someone historically significant and he would never know.

[Kari Muffin]

"One," Harold replied almost immediately. There was only one series that he knew of that ever went beyond one volume about any of the wars. They were written by a family that took pride in being part of history. They were dry and boring books that were forced upon most college students who specialized in history. He had heard some pretty awful stories about them.

"Everett?" Harold said suddenly wide eyed. "You very well should know about that Diary. Everett is a great deal of debate among scholars. Most people think he didn't exist to way he spoke of himself in his diary. But it does have accurate stories about a variety of very strange things... it could easily have information about Tugley spells. But the problem is finding a copy of it. A good copy of it that is. The original is under lock and key in someone's private collection. People have been able to copy bits and pieces but that's about it."

But at least the other books were easier to find. They were in this library archive somewhere.