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."But my family is part of its history too.And if we are lost, then what have you gained?"Lord Adarbrent sighed and patted her hand."You are a good girl," he stated, as he had throughout her childhood."No," Sophraea answered slowly, trying to put all her jumbled thoughts of the past few days into a declaration that the old man would understand."I am a woman grown and I know that no monument is worth more than a single life, even the life of Rampage Stunk.We show great respect to the dead in this family, but we hold the living dearer still."The expression on Lord Adarbrent's face was impossible to read.The angry flush along his cheekbones began to recede.He closed his eyes and heaved another deep sigh."I am sorry," Lord Adarbrent said finally."I let my temper rulemy judgment.You are right.It is time I ended this curse." "Can you do that?" asked Gustin."I can try," Lord Adarbrent replied with a thin smile."It's not simple.My cousin Algozata was an amazing woman in many ways.She wrote this ritual in her book so that it could be invoked at least once by anyone.It did not take a wizard to begin this curse.I think it will not take a wizard to end it.First, the object that you found, that shoe hanging off your belt, needs to be returned to the owner's tomb.""But?" said Gustin, in the voice of a wizard who just knew a "but" was coming."If the tomb is not sealed, the ghosts will continue to try to cross at the Dead End House's gate.And sealing the tomb," admitted Lord Adarbrent, "will destroy anyone who tries it.It was this part of the curse that killed my cousin Algozata.""Anything else?" asked Gustin.Two deep lines of worry in his forehead drew the wizard's dark eyebrows together."There's some doggerel in Algozata's spellbook that needs to be recited by someone watching," admitted Lord Adarbrent."It's quite short and can, like the earlier portion of the ritual, be said by anyone holding the spellbook.""So all you need is the shoe and the spellbook, and you can summon all the dead back to their graves?" asked Sophraea."Quite," said Lord Adarbrent."It will mean the sacrifice of one life, as I have said, to close the tomb's door.But once it is done, the dead will lie as peacefully in their graves as they ever do in Waterdeep."With some relief, Gustin observed they didn't have the spellbook."So nobody," he continued, staring hard at Sophraea, who was whispering another request info Volponia's ear, "need risk her neck by taking it into the City of the Dead.Which means"—he straightenedhis chin and Sophraea noticed that he actually looked quite heroic— "no wizard need die trying to close the tomb door for her.""But I have a plan," said Sophraea, with a quick smile of appreciation to Gustin for his oblique offer to help, "and getting the spellbook will be the easy part."It was the rest of her plan that she wasn't too sure about.But she didn't say that out loud.TWENTY-SEVENith a nod from Sophraea, Volponia rang her crystal bell."Algozata's spellbook," the old lady requested.A dusty and distinctly rank-smelling spellbook appeared immediately in the middle of her pale pink down comforter."That's all I can do for you today," Volponia told her visitors."Sophraea, I can't fetch anything more until after dawn tomorrow."Sophraea kissed the former pirate queen's cheek in thanks.She stored the spellbook in her wicker basket, paying no real heed to Volponia's grumbles about the marks left behind on the comforter."I can't change the bed until tomorrow either," Volponia said."I'll bring you another cover from my room," Sophraea promised her."You had better," said the old lady and then added, "so don't do anything foolish and come safely home again."Sophraea gave a brisk nod to the two astonished gentlemen staring at this domestic exchange and said, "Shall we go?""What are you going to do?" asked Gustin."I'm going back to the City of the Dead.You heard Lord Adarbrent.All we need to do is close the tomb door on this shoe.By the way, my lord, is it the Markarl tomb?""Yes," said the startled nobleman
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