(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

Chapter 30
The recesses of Pharod's court were cooler still, the air cleaner. The musty
smell of incense was light in the air, the slight smokey scent was barely
detectable. Perhaps this place had been a temple once, or a library. But now
the chamber, far too great to serve one man, was empty and gutted by the
hands of looters. The slabs of stone that paved the floor thrummed with
each step, and a mystic violet light wept from the crevices between. Long
cracks had split straight fissures along the floor, and strange energies swirled
like lavender milk between the planks laid haphazardly over them forming
careless walkways.
There was greatness in this court once, and now it was a scarred shell of
what it once was, its memories, grand or cruel, had been eaten away by
time.
The throne at the opposite end of the room, perhaps once an altar, perhaps
once a sculpture, was a stone hand twice the height of a man. Cushions
padded its cold palm, and its fingers were curled forward gently like the
loose grip of a dead man. The archway curled over the palm were decked
with lanterns that gave off a lurid, orange glow.
"So I see you've returned, corpse." The voice was hoary and tired, but the
room was large and empty, and Pharod's greeting carried over well.
I turned to see an elderly man leaning heavily upon a crutch; his left leg was
twisted, as if he tried to walk two directions at once and paid the price. His
maggoty-colored skin was bunched heavily upon his skull and is flecked with
liver spots. He was mumbling and smacking his lips as his eyes made a circuit
of the room, but ultimately his gaze returned to a stone sundial set
carelessly beside a pile of broken stone draped in faded cloth.
"Pharod."
The man's eyes lit up as I walked over, standing before him with arms
crossed. "Tisn't my steady crop of jink come to Pharod's waiting arms again!
Greetings, corpse." He smiled a wicked grin. "Have you come to ask Pharod
for another jaunt into the Mortuary walls?"
I had been searching for him for so long that I had a tough time thinking
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