"The story goes that when someone turns into a vampire, an immaterial evil being from the vampire plane displaces their soul and wakes up in their body with all their memories, usually believing itself to be the same person they were in life. I haven't verified most of that, but turning into a vampire certainly does have psychological effects that would readily be explained by replacing one's human soul with an evil being."

"Does that mean that the souls themselves are... fine? Move on to the afterlife at whatever rate of fineness would otherwise be expected, anyway?"

"That is among my many unanswered questions about vampires!"

"I don't think Speak With Dead would work on an actively undead vampire, unfortunately."

"Hmm. And they disintegrate into dust after they're staked, or at least most of them do; I've seen a really old one leave an intact skeleton behind. Would that interfere with the spell?"

"If it still had a jaw it would be harder to understand but still be able to say some things."

"What are the other constraints? In case I ever find another skeletalized vampire."

"I'd be limited to asking a handful of questions and it might be cagey, especially if it doesn't care for - whatever information it is it gets about the caster, I'm not sure what precisely that is. Once a week limit per corpse."

"What's your guess about whether it would be likelier to access the original human soul or the incorporeal vampire part?"

"Because it doesn't work on actively undead undead I would guess the human soul - or, the human soul's knowledge. I'm not sure it contacts the actual soul; the standard use case is for questions like 'what kind of demon killed you and which way was it traveling', not 'how did you fare at your soul trial' or 'what is Hell like'."

"Hmm. In which case we probably couldn't ask a vampire skeleton what happens to the souls of people who become vampires."

"Unless it counted as not having died until the vampire did. Which it might; undead on Golarion are generally understood to contain the original soul even if it's not effectual in any way."

"Another one for my list of impractical but fascinating experiments to try if I ever get a chance, I guess."

"What is the state of scholarship on this kind of thing when it's so little known?"

"The state of scholarship is poor. Rupert is well connected among scholars of the supernatural and he hasn't been able to give me definitive answers on whether vampiric soul replacement is literal or metaphorical or somebody's unconfirmed guess that seemed plausible enough to repeat."

"...oh dear. Well. If I am routinely adventuring with you then perhaps eventually I will be able to do some useful divinations."

"I hope so! Do you plan to stick around adventuring with me, then? I could definitely use the help."

"Unless there is something substantial you aren't telling me it seems like the obvious place for me to be, at least until and unless the archmage collects me to be part of his constitutional convention should I be noticed missing."

"I can't promise I've thought of everything but I am doing my best to give you a reasonably accurate picture of what's going on. If you're concerned about double-checking what we're telling you, I'm sure Rupert would be happy to let you access his personal library as long as you can agree to safety rules about how to handle the books that need safety rules, and there's a town library with many more books than that about non-supernatural phenomena, and I can prioritize coaching you on how to avoid sounding crazy to normal people and - you wouldn't need to be taught the language in a hurry, right, there's a spell for that?"

"There is a spell for understanding the language, though even if I spend all my first circle slots on it it won't have the duration of a Share Language. The spell that would let me speak the local language is fourth circle for clerics."

"How far off is that, with minor vampire scuffles readily available and spicier adventures arriving rarely at unpredictable intervals?"

"I think I have the Wisdom to support fourth circle; I'm less sure about fifth. My growth may be slowed by Iomedae's budgetary limitations though I am not sure how much that actually enters into it because clerics do not normally advance any slower or faster than wizards. We can keep track of it by monitoring some spell durations that vary with power; when a Comprehend Languages lasts a full hour I'll be about halfway to fourth circle. It could be a couple of weeks if we are unpleasantly busy, and years if we are not or if I'm mistaken about something."

"Well, I always hope not to end up unpleasantly busy but it's good to know that there will be upsides if we do."

"Well, assuming we don't die. I can't fix that until fifth circle."

"If I die there will be another Slayer called and I can't promise anything about who or where she'll be, but Rupert is in contact with the organization in charge of finding newly called Slayers and explaining the situation and offering what training and resources are available, so if you want to consider yourself a resource available then that route is open. I will of course try very hard to ensure that neither of us dies."