Miscellaneous Buildings

[azmoham]

He thought for a moment, stroking his mustache.
"I'll need to consult my books, firstly, before we go hounding after any ingredients for my spell. And I should expect you'll find me here, well, in the church. Whenabouts do we meet, daybreak or so?"
The sooner they could start in on this conundrum, the sooner they could fix it and the sooner that happened, the happier he would be.

[Vanitypirate]

"Daybreak sounds about right, yeah..."
Tilly made a mental note to remind Lekalis to wake her up.

She rested her chin on her hand, curled-up.

"Do you have your books here?"

[azmoham]

"Enough, I would wager, those combined with Florence's notes and the church archives should be more than sufficient to put a little meat on the bones of your specter, Tilly."
He had agonized over which tomes to bring and which to leave behind, at the time he'd not idea what sort of magick troubles he'd be tasked with combating, and so had decided to make his collection broad rather than deep, although his typically preference for those books focusing on rather more obscure and ancient beings remained, and thus the majority of the works he'd taken with him were of that nature. There were four or five of them, the smaller and lighter ones that he still found worthwhile, offering guidance and information on a myriad of spirits, gods, arcane forces, spellwork, rune-crafting and potion-making. Along with those, he'd brought a notebook of his own, bound in dark leather and containing perhaps a hundred or so pages of parchment, it had cost him dearly and yet, he would never consider beginning a project such as this without sufficient place to take notes. 

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly stood, brushing herself off, as though she were off to go hunt for the books at that very moment.

"Where are they? In your bag?"
She scanned the room, eager to begin as soon as possible; there was a new wind in her sails at the prospect of starting the solution so soon.
Usually, it was much more complicated than this.

She tapped the pads of her fingers together. "We could go flip through them right now."

[azmoham]

He pursed his lips, considering whether to tell her where the books were stashed. Eager as he was to begin, he would rather not touch the books with damp hands such as these and he was uncertain he was quite so ready to allow Tilly to page through such valuable artifacts. But, was there another choice? Besides, these volumes, strange and unknown as they were, were nowhere near as dangerous as some of the things still in his collection, which still resided in a chest buried a few inches below the floor of his own modest home. 
"In my bag, the largest pocket thereof, I'd ask you be careful with them, along with the garments you find inside, I intend to where those to the wedding...When is that, by the way? Perhaps I can convince my sister to make an appearance given sufficient time."

[Vanitypirate]

"A fortnight!" Tilly answered, already making to trot over to the bag set neatly beside the door.
She couldn't deny that it was an exciting privilege to handle the books-- especially without (relative) risk to her own sanity.

Tilly couldn't remember the last time she'd been excited over books.

"It'll be in the yard of our house we've got-- we're hiring workers to clean the place up a bit before then." She continued on, kneeling, and then sitting with her legs folded under her, to sort as carefully as she could manage through the bag, as though the contents were made of glass.

Locating one book, she stacked it on her lap and made to find the others...

[azmoham]

He moved to the other side of the tub, closest to Tilly, and watched with trepidation as she searched through his bag. He'd never let anyone touch his books, hardly even Florence or Lavinia, and he couldn't help but grimace with anxiety as she began to remove the writings from their place in his bag.
"Careful! Careful, please, some of those are slightly...fragile."
he warned her, his tone uncharacteristically worried for a man who typically seemed so collected and confident. 
"Not that I think you don't what you're doing, it's just that, they would be rather difficult to replace, and costly..."

[Vanitypirate]

"Oh, I just thought I'd give 'em a quick wash in one of the baths is all!" Tilly jested, locating the last of the books that she could find, although she wouldn't doubt that there was one or two more stashed in a hidden pocket or the like.
She rose carefully, minding the books carefully in spite of what she had threatened.

"Which one should I read out?"

She asked, making to approach the bench again with short steps.
While they were no doubt interesting, Tilly had admittedly little patience for books... she'd much like to cut to the good bits.

[azmoham]

He squinted at the covers, trying to discern which was which from across the room.
"Hmm, find the one called 'Spirits: Those which Dwell Unseen, Or, A Treatise 'Pon the Nature of That Which Dwells in Hidden Places.' It's by Thomas Bartley, should be a short red one with the picture of a man sitting cross-legged on the inside cover."
He pointed to a smallish, dark-red book with gold embossing on the cover, though no evident title. The pages were thin and slightly yellowed with time.
"And I don't think dear old Thomas would appreciate a bath as much as I do, your concern is duly noted however."

[Vanitypirate]

"What a name." Tilly whistled appreciatively, sitting on one edge of the bench and distributing them equally on the seat next to her (after confirming that it was completely clean, of course). "You'd think a good writer would find some way to shorten it a tad, wouldn't you?"

She reached for the aforementioned red book and held it in her lap, opening to the first page in search of a table of contents or anything similar..

"D'you know what page?"

[azmoham]

"No, not really, considering I'm still not quite sure exactly what to look for. I would recommend attempting to skim and find some reference to this...red man of yours, see if there's anything in there that may resemble what you know."
He resisted the extreme urge to climb from the tub and begin reading himself, accustomed as he was to sifting through mounds of dry and ancient text. 
"These sorts of things don't really lend themselves to abbreviation I'm afraid."
As she paged through it, she would occasionally see Jacques' own neat, flowing hand taking up the margins of various pages, certain passages being underlined with scribbled notes beside them, sometimes questions, and here and there even small drawings.

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly resigned to her fate of having to read, of all things, and began to slowly flip through the pages detailing Otherworldly Knowledge.
It was quaint, at least, to see Jacques's own notes. She looked them over with little interest.

"Could use some more pictures, I think...--"

The image of the man she'd seen countless times suddenly stared back at her from one of the pages, carefully sketches in Jacques's scholarly hand.
She felt her blood go cold.

"Oh..." She frowned, following the text with a finger, but mindful enough not to brush the pages.
"...There he is. Right here. 'The Red Man.'"

[azmoham]

He brought his finger to his chin once more, lip lower lip protruding ever so slightly in thought. 
"The 'Red Man' eh? Suppose its an appropriate given the circumstances. What does it say about him?"
He was rather surprised she'd found something so quickly, and tried to summon the passage in question, but wading through countless half-recollected pages and scraps of information was difficult to say the least. 

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly held a breath for a moment, to steel herself, as she read through the passage: a rather dated writing, not uncommon, but... different.
Fitting for the nature of the book.

"There... is tell of a being that which is named by those who have spoken to it: 'The Red Mann', and he is said to aid those who find themselves in peril, as well as those who are..."
Tilly narrowed her eyes at the more insulting words, but persevered.
"...embroiled in the most vicious sin and... lechery."

She sighed and continued, "He is said to come onto them, give unto them aid in drink and say to them 'Come, brother, rise and be made whole'..."
Quirking a frown, she attempted and failed to recall the skeletal figure offering her any kind of drink.

"...and give them gifts of that which same color he bears."

She didn't want it to be true; her eyes flitted back from the passage and towards the drawing. It was a tell-tale replica of what she'd seen, absolutely unmistakable.

"There is no tell of his face save thus: it is pale and covered all about in red, which is his mark, and those who speak to him say this: that it is a mark and his face cannot be seen, save for a jewel of sorts..."

----
The OG Text:

SPOILER: Click to show

Ther ys tell of a being that wich is named by those who haf spokyn to et: The Red Mann, and he ys sed to aide they who fynd themselfs in peril aswell as them who art embroiled in most vicious sin and lechery. He is sed to come onto them, give unto them aid in drynk and say to them 'come brother, ryse and be made whole' and give to them gifts of that whych same colour he bares.

There is no tell of hys face save thus: it is pale and covered all about in red, which is his mark, and those who speek to hym say this: that it is a mask and his face cannot be seen, save for a juewel of sorts.

[azmoham]

He lifted his eyebrows at the passage, leaning forward.
"Ahh! That one! Why yes I rather do recall reading about him, I thought it nonsense, or some minor thing that sought mere pleasures of the flesh. Hmmm, can't say that reveals overmuch, I'm afraid..."
A poorly known thing to be sure, and it conflicted mightily with what he'd been told so far, perhaps they were not the same being after all, and she was mistaken.
"Are you quite sure you're looking at the right thing? Maybe you're simply misreading the passage, those books can be confusing in their language to those unaccustomed to it."