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

"Aye, I did - and yeh'd have done the same if some scarred wreck came to
yeh an' asked where he could find your Da." She shrugged. "Yeh found him
anyway, so I don't want tae hear yeh carryin' on about it, I don't."
"All right, all right..." I put my hands up defensively. "Can you tell me
anything else about him?"
With a twist of her hips, Annah flicked her tail sharply so that it speared the
foramen along Morte's base. Caught trying to take a gander at her goods,
Morte attempted to stammer out an excuse of some sort when with
another twist Annah flung him squealing into an alley. There was a crash,
the squeal of a cranium rat or two, and a series of curses that I filed away for
later use.
Ah, it really was good to have him back.
"Been at the Village longer than I," Annah said without skipping a beat,
"Came there a stone's age ago, maybe even found the place, some o' the
villagers say." Annah frowned. "Pharod's a shrewd one, he is. Has a way of
squeezin' more outta copper than most, an' he never was at a lack for jink."
"Was he searching for that bronze sphere all that time?" I asked as Morte
bobbed over at my side, keeping me between him and Annah. He shot her a
sour look and flicked his tongue, as if he were lapping at certain
unmentionables of hers.
"I s'pose." Annah shrugged again. "I don't know why he was all a-fire tae get
it, I don't. I could smell it as soon as yeh brought it to him." She wrinkled her
nose. "Foul custard smell it had. Still... it must have been something right
valuable for him tae carry on about it like he did - almost a half-score o'
Collectors got penned in the dead-book tryin' tae fetch it."
"I think he was searching for it because he thought it would save his life."
She blinked. "What d'yeh mean?"
"Pharod didn't lead a good life, I gather," I said, repeating what I
remembered of Reekwind's tale, "He was once a 'Guvner' in one of the
Upper Wards. He apparently used his position to lie, cheat, and hurt others
in the process - so much so he was destined to go to the hells when he died.
He thought the bronze sphere would save him somehow - so much so he
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