Corvayne's hoverbike gave a little whine of protest as he guided it to a parking spot. He had accrued four other passengers. Bell rode at his back, obviously, but Shaelle and Kirae had attached a cart so that they and Growl-Whine could hitch a ride. Of course, Hylal had demanded to take a half day at school, and was riding Growl-Whine like a horse, to which the giant spider assassin seemed totally fine with.

Speaking of horses, there was one tied up inside the gate, nibbling at the dried grass growing up through the concrete. Corvayne guessed that that meant someone had told Undine where to find them. Likely her (former?) pupil Hari.

The spider busied herself with helping Hylal off her back, with the villagers from near the source in turn helping the spider down, even though she probably did not need human help to do anything aside from possibly hitting orbit. He had earmarked raising his pact of [[Understanding]] to help actually talk to the Spider. Maybe [[Unity]] would also aid him as well.

Kirae, the merchant, looked frustrated. From her grumbling, it was because she was back to square one with the reset. Some of her annoyance was offset by gawking at Cascadia. Her fellow villager, Shaelle, was unsurprisingly more quiet, only asking once if Corvayne knew were Gary was. Both had a few moments of culture shock as they flew into a city vastly larger then anything they had seen before, but aside from that it seemed they had assembled most of their team.

Lady Blood Claw and Mister I met with him in the gymnasium. Bell insisted that she had to inspect where he was staying, which Mister I gave her a key to poke around in. The other girls also asked about renting rooms and the monk tossed a few more room keys out. Corvayne had some questions about how many rooms they had just sitting around, but Mister I moved on to the main business he had on hand.

"Wick hasn't woken up yet. We will need to figure out what's wrong with her. Dawn-After-Night doesn't know."

Corvayne thought about their options. "There's a woman under the library in Ko-ban. She might have an idea."

Lady Blood Claw frowned. "Or we trade a question with the Dust man... I have reservations about both."

"We also have to make time for the nukes at the mines." Corvayne guessed they had about a week to handle that.

Mister I lit a cigarette. "I think your focus should be on getting Spears and Diamond, then working on your curse. Curses, many apologies Miss Blood Claw."

"None taken, though I've not forgotten that I have a mess of quills inside me that are affecting my name."

The monk walked over to an ashtray that had been shoved by the water fountains at the side of the gym and tapped his cigarette on it. "It is unfortunate that my eyes cannot pierce whatever obscures them. It would bring me joy to learn how the affliction works and see if I could harvest the plant matter that manifests."

Corvayne thought about that. "I don't think they are made of anything, just shadow-stuff. They fall apart whenever I touch them, of course after hurting me intensely."

Lady Blood Claw nudged Corvayne. "Library? I want to see if I can go in."

Taking LBC as his second and Mister I's card to pick up a pizza at a place the monk liked in Ko-Ban, Corvayne hopped on his bike and broke a few rules by just riding right over the water then through the park along the inlet's water to the entrance he and Wick had used. As he sort of guessed, there were additional old buildings and the park was larger, being nearly two blocks and having some overgrown gardens that were not there before.

Of course, with everything bigger, Corvayne and Lady Blood Claw took a few wrong turns navigating to the library. The extra subway tunnels had three stories, and there were several false starts where passages would lead to sections that didn't feel right. His compass power also wasn't much help, as something about the Library made it slippery.

"Are you sure pulling in a new curse didn't screw with your head?"

"There's a lot more tunnel and buried city then last time. Don't ask me how you have buildings that are sunk into the ground in just 200 years."

He felt his compass pointing at the entrance to the Librarian's lair moving. So they spent about twenty minutes clearing out a section of the monster infested Library until the entrance came close, then moved fast for a set of double doors that looked suspiciously new.

Corvayne was able to enter, but LBC seemed unable to breach the doorway or didn't follow him into the same space, as he waited a minute next to and made his way around the stacks of books. BOOK-BINDER, as her name suggested, laired in something like an extra dimentional library. Everything in the space was lit by a blue glow that showed off towering stacks of books, extending up into the haze above, and plumetting into darkness where the ledge he was on ended.

The large masked woman sorting through books waved. "Welcome back. Or is this the first time? The flow of time is convoluted these days. I remember speaking to you."

Corvayne would have to try to find people who didn't remember him, just to track if everyone retained their memories. "It's the second meeting we've had if you remember it, though time reset. I had a question about a friend."

The figure thought about it. "The one who won't wake, correct?"

Corvayne nodded.

"Well, the condition will not worsen. I want to use your talents to find me a book."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"The 10,000 Paths?" Corvayne asked, recalling she had brought that title up last time.

"Oh yes!" BOOK-BINDER clapped. "Well, that one too, but I would be happy to trade for a copy of 'The Last Symphony of Amerhost.'

"I can handle that, but I want to be sure I don't have a deadline with Wick."

The binder raised a hand. "Her condition will not worsen. It's also likely she won't expire even if you leave her to sleep."

"Right. I'll do what I can to get you the book." Corvayne stopped. “I might ask for you to give me those books again when I have a storage ring.” He should have spent more time finishing both books, but he set a pace that kept running him into deadlines.

“Since I'm going to be out, is there anything else you want?” Corvayne felt like he owed BOOK-BINDER for free information.

“Chocolate Milkshake.”

“And that won't turn your insides into chocolate?”

“Don't worry about me dear. A little real chocolate is worth some pain.”

Corvayne nodded and stepped out. Lady Blood Claw was waiting, arms folded. He thought that she was probably one of the most reliable people he worked with.

“Did she have the info?”

“Wants to trade it for a book. The Last Symphony of Amerhost. We are not on a time table according to her. Whatever's wrong with Wick, it won't progress.”

Lady Blood Claw nodded. “That's good, I need a vacation. After we are sure the moon isn't falling.”

Corvayne thought about that. “Where would you go?”

She thought about it, and gave Corvayne a side-eye as she responded. “Somewhere with culture, but sadly I think the best place is out of my budget.”

“I have to admit, I don't know how much money you make working for Nyx.”

The tall woman's skin changed colors a few times, orange only flashing a moment before she went to gray. “Less then I'd like. I think this time we risk selling some of our more expensive or desired items and we spend some time living.”

Corvayne stopped. “Lady Blood Claw, that's the first time you haven't been pushing to figure out where the Watchers and the Magus is.”

“While you were dead, I was working hard to try to get levels AND try to pick up the slack. I went through the portal under the Imperial Palace. One of the steps of the pilgrimage. The next world has toxic air, is falling apart to zombie attacks, and the infrastructure is a mess. I didn't make much progress at all and I. Hated. Every. Minute. On. That. World.”

Corvayne held up a hand and they took a moment to fight some large horror that was shambling after them through the library. Lady Blood Claw now was moving faster then he had seen her go before. She was hampered because she had to use a steel beam instead of an actual sword, but she plowed through the large monster like it was made of gravy. She wiggled a finger and a white light swept away the gore from her.

“You've learned new spells.”

“Yes.” Was her only response, but Corvayne saw her skin turn gold and silver, reflecting the light she had summoned, and [[Unity]] told him there was more then a little pride.

“Vacation aside, I had a fight where we teamed up with someone who was Tier 8.”

Lady Blood Claw stopped. “Why did they help you?”

“I don't know, but I think she was an evolution of how Nyx fought. She seemed to create emotion auras like he does, but they were powerful buffs and absorbed magic.”

He let Lady Blood Claw think about it, as they had plenty of walking to do. Especially since one of the last tunnels they were going to use was gushing water from a downpour.

“You are thinking about goals for our builds?”

Corvayne nodded. “I wanted to bring up that I died to a 'Bride' who seemed to be talking about her master. I assume the Magus.”

Lady Blood Claw stopped. “They didn't mention it to me, I guess I was upset when they told me you died.”

That made him feel a little better, he had to admit. “It was a 12 foot tall woman with four arms and who used a Scythe and could turn invisible.”

“Sheolbeth. Maybe. Could have been Beoreth or Oria.”

“Didn't get her name. Any of them run around naked except a wedding veil?”

Lady Blood Claw shrugged. “There were a lot of them through the years, and more then a few I could see doing that. If she took you out, I expect they are inner circle.”

“I think she was lost in the Towers... I was thinking about that too. It seems like on April 9th a lot more of them opened, and it might be the connections that let us move between them were closed before hand.”

Lady Blood Claw nodded. “I didn't know if that was just the Luck that Hari constantly complained about, but the places we were exploring did seem more open.”

“Well, I brought her up because even with more levels then us, she had trouble once we had the right people fighting her. I feel if we had a full group that wasn't injured, we could have defeated her.”

LBC rolled her eyes, then started kicking at a rusted steel door until it fell off it's hinges. She shone her magical light up and down the stairwell it revealed. “You are definitely going to get yourself killed again if you assume that.”

The stairway didn't take them to the right parking garage, but it did take them to an abandoned auto shop. There was a steady percussion of rain on the roof, the sound of a leak somewhere, and outside Corvayne could see through a window that it was pouring. They broke a lock from the inside and took one look at the torrential downpour.

“Wanna give it five minutes?” Lady Blood Claw took a deep breath. “Unless you have an umbrella.”

Corvayne for a moment really wondered if Lady Blood Claw was interested in him, as he found the setting sort of intimate, at least until she turned the light onto the floor and Corvayne saw all the garbage and broken furniture mixed with more then a few dead bugs. The faint smell of mildew also helped him back to reality.

Still, it was quiet, and she was quiet, and Corvayne thought about builds and vacations and what sort of things they'd need to do with the time before another crisis came up. It sounded like the group got unlucky with Wick's death.

“I wanted to ask you... what did you say to Spears before she started dating me?”

Lady Blood Claw waved her hand. “I don't wanna get into it. Ask her when you wake her up.” She turned deep blue which Corvayne figured was embarrassment.

“Sorry, if it's personal, I won't pry.”

Lady Blood Claw took a deep breath and walked into the rain, instantly getting soaked. Corvayne followed and offered his cloak to cover both them.

“That thing is better then a rain coat! I forgot it was water proof.”

“Sorry.” Corvayne said, as she lifted a corner and they moved as fast as they could out of the alley and into one of the Market streets. There were awnings covering parts of the road. It took some maneuvering to get closer to where their bike was parked, then some more moving together under the cloak. Being close to Lady Blood Claw, now and then he felt embarrassment through [[Unity]] but pretended he didn't notice.

He also pretended he didn't notice how close they were. They reached the bike and Lady Blood Claw blinked.

“I just realized we will have to ride this through the rain.”

“Sorry, I don't know how to make shields.” Corvayne offered up his cloak to LBC, and put on googles.

It didn't actually matter that much, because they both got blasted with cold rain. It turns out a cloak doesn't do all that much for flying through a downpour. By the time Corvayne got back to the community center he was shivering and he was pretty sure he heard LBC's teeth clattering. Part of him thought about inviting her to shower together, but he stopped himself. There was a hint of something through [[Unity]] that was an emotion that felt like perhaps she was scared of something, or nervous, and while he generally thought of her as solid, he thought now she might be like him, where she might doubt herself and cover over it by moving forward.

He took his cloak back and nodded at her. “We'll go into the dungeon and get ourselves set up tomorrow.”

Lady Blood Claw nodded and closed her door a little too hard. Corvayne rubbed his face and walked into the faded tile bathroom to start the shower.

“Two girlfriends is enough.” He said aloud before his mind went to how exactly one would court a moon.