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732129.jpg
Honey Night
732129
rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8
[First, a roll against your IQ]
>>230868
My health, Sherman muses. You catch the briefest sense of nostalgia before he thinks to you, Well, for a 70 year old man I'm in excellent shape. There are many 40 year olds who would have trouble keeping up with me. I don't mean to imply that age has left me untouched. Far from it. Still, I'm healthy enough to indulge in greasy food now and then.
He wanders off near the door to the stairs, and looks down them at Vince. As to the why of it, the where of you, that what your new form is- well, I used an ancient spell I spent many long, hard, years learning the basic techniques for, and almost as long inscribing.
He leans against the door frame. The ancient Assyrians had a theory about where people went when they died, and an epic about Ishtar descending into hell to save her lover. She negotiated with the gatekeeper to hell, who in turn reported to Ishtar's sister, Ereshkigal, the queen of hell. Ereshkigal had always been jealous of Ishtar, and took the opportunity to humiliate her. She ordered her servants to demand an item of clothing from Ishtar at each of the seven gates to hell. When Ishtar finally reached her sister's court she was naked, humiliated, and angry. In her foolishness she threatened or attacked Ereshkigal, depending on which version of the legend it is, and Ereshkigal responded by cursing Ishtar to 60 diseases and eternal imprisonment in hell.
Ishtar, being the goddess of love, was missed in the land of the living. A plan was contrived to bring her back, involving the waters of life. However, the majority of the verses in the legend related to bringing her back had nothing to do with the water of life, but instead with the way she was re-clothed.
He recites to you, “He sprinkled Ishtar with the water of life and
brought her forth.
Out of the first gate he let her go;
He returned her the girdle about her loins.
Out of the second gate he let her go;
He returned her the jewels for her hands and
feet.
Out of the third gate he let her go;
He returned her the cincture of precious stones
about her waist.
Out of the fourth gate he let her go;
He returned her the mantle for her back.
Out of the fifth gate he let her go;
He returned her the necklace of precious
stones.
Out of the sixth gate he let her go;
He returned her the rings for her ears.
Out of the seventh gate he let her go;
He returned her the great crown for her head.”
Sherman smugly thinks, There is an earlier corresponding verse about how she was disrobed, laden with symbolism: in death people are stripped of everything that represents their station and place. But I realized that this last verse, where she is dressed as she leaves, corresponded to an old occult spell I had read for making golems, translated from Yiddish to Latin some time in the 2nd century B.C. I had a flash of intuition that the spell was based on Ishtar's story, and thought nothing of it until much later when I found an almost complete manual in broken clay tablets which described the very same spell, but with different glyphs. The Yiddish spell had never worked, but I'd had experiences with examples of working Assyrian magic. All very minor, usually. Fertility charms, charms for improving grain yield, that kind of thing. I had even made a couple of "stop motion" charms, emergency things for making a pursuer stop in his tracks for a few moments (long gone, by the way, used for their intended purpose ages ago).
Tom quietly says to Penny, "Hey, what's up with him? He looks tired."
The golem spell was so complex and interesting that I decided to try it myself. I figured I could manage the first part of it, the "binding of the girdle." It's a communication-consciousness spell, very complex, but apparently successful. The second through fifth part of the spell were for creating, preserving, and animating a golem made of clay and dust. The sixth part of the spell was the binding part of the communication-consciousness portion, which I used when I summoned you. The last part, the crowning spell, marries the soul to the golem. That's the part I intend to use on a cloned body for you, some day.
Penny says, "Stabilizing Vince wasn't easy, but I don't think that exhausted him, I think he's talking to them."
Sherman ignores them, and continues thinking to you, So, in summary, you were snatched from hell, and are currently bound to me. Should I die you would likely remain bound to my corpse until it turned to dust. At that point you'd probably return to hell. If there were a body ready for you, and a crowning spell prepared, you could be moved from the temporary bind to your intended body.
Tom says, "Huh. Well, I'm going to get dinner."
>>230886
I don't see how you'll bond with him. He's not even conscious at the moment, much less up for casual conversation. Even if he were, I would be cautious about trying to have him talk to you; from his perspective it would be like talking to a very strange computer program. You've already alienated Tommy somewhat.
Still, I'll ask.
Sherman calls out, "Tom, before you go?"
Tommy, who literally had one foot out the door, stops mid-stride and asks, "Yeah?"
"They would like to talk to your associate and spend some time bonding with him."
Tommy frowns, his swarthy features turning concerned. He says, "Bonding with him? What are they, a buncha kids? This isn't an after-school mentor program, they aren't Vince's kids, and he's sick anyways. And they'd probably just insult him. Professor, promise me you won't set up that computer near Vince."
"That's an easy promise to make. Vince isn't even awake, there'd be no point."
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