With nothing around to watch except the blazing sun and the baking dunes, Warren continued to observe his surroundings in case of surprises. Everything was just so brown and boring in the Sagoli. Victory's spirits seemed uplifted, if the pace of his trot was anything to go by. The bird had served nearly all of its time as part of the Immortal Flames' presence in the southern reaches of Thanalan before being retired officially as he got on in years, and Warren was thankful for the policy that mandated former service animals be moved on after so many years. The Grand Company has surely saved the lives of its men and women by being certain that fresh stock was always readily available but they had lost a stalwart mount in Victory. Warren didn't mind, and from the looks of it neither did the bird.
If anyone managed to piece together the questions he had asked in private, they would paint a most curious puzzle. A scholar in Ishgard and the nature of dragons and Shiva. A library in Dravania, secrets long pillaged and yet still hidden. The corners of the Ossuary, and the nature of things that persist despite death. The contents of his growing personal library back at Duskbreak would have been enough to have no less than three different protective circles looking to know what he was looking for, but it he didn't expect trouble. Not from them anyway. Not yet.
A journal on the nature of death, the void and the Lifestream presented an interesting possibility. Unconfirmed rumors and whispered myths of forbidden techniques practiced by the indigenous tribes of the Sagoli that could trap someone's essence past the brink of death. Not quite necromancy, so not quite forbidden and outlawed, but curious enough. And only ever whispers. Nothing confirmed, or spoken about. Like all things lately in Warren's life, the thread lead through the Grindstone. More hushed questions; clarification of a rumor he'd heard, casual conversation of course - and one of the regulars had mentioned hearing something of the like in their own upbringing. Not their tribe, no, never anything of the sort, but a sect of the Vipers? Stories about elders with knowledge of that sort of thing. Dust and echoes, but better than phantoms and ravens.
The Nature of Draconic Influence on Mortals; Forty-Second edition, 1572
Life After Death: A study on aether in the wake of mortal cessation; Originally published 1560
The Geological Phenomena of Crystals, Revised 7AE 02
If anyone managed to piece together the questions he had asked in private, they would paint a most curious puzzle. A scholar in Ishgard and the nature of dragons and Shiva. A library in Dravania, secrets long pillaged and yet still hidden. The corners of the Ossuary, and the nature of things that persist despite death. The contents of his growing personal library back at Duskbreak would have been enough to have no less than three different protective circles looking to know what he was looking for, but it he didn't expect trouble. Not from them anyway. Not yet.
A journal on the nature of death, the void and the Lifestream presented an interesting possibility. Unconfirmed rumors and whispered myths of forbidden techniques practiced by the indigenous tribes of the Sagoli that could trap someone's essence past the brink of death. Not quite necromancy, so not quite forbidden and outlawed, but curious enough. And only ever whispers. Nothing confirmed, or spoken about. Like all things lately in Warren's life, the thread lead through the Grindstone. More hushed questions; clarification of a rumor he'd heard, casual conversation of course - and one of the regulars had mentioned hearing something of the like in their own upbringing. Not their tribe, no, never anything of the sort, but a sect of the Vipers? Stories about elders with knowledge of that sort of thing. Dust and echoes, but better than phantoms and ravens.
The Nature of Draconic Influence on Mortals; Forty-Second edition, 1572
Life After Death: A study on aether in the wake of mortal cessation; Originally published 1560
The Geological Phenomena of Crystals, Revised 7AE 02
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
