Binders Keepers

SUMMARY: Yelrona's continued investigation of the Artificer's Binder she received leads to some troubling revelations.

"WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS?!?" The thundering voice belongs to a khazad artificer, whose office is on the main floor of the Hall behind a door marked 'Historical Artifacts: Professor Mason.'

"Such things," the man continues, a little quieter but still quite loud enough to be heard throughout much of the building, "do not belong in the hands of laymen!"

Yelrona is standing in his office, looking over a damaged-looking Binder on his desk, next to which is a fabric envelope that seems lined with something stiffer.

Explosions and yells are hardly uncommon here, though the details of this particular situation draw Aya's attention from one of the nearby offices. "That would explain why she brought it here, then, yes?" Aya inquires as she relocates from the exit of said office to Yelrona's immediate flank. The item(s) are somewhat familiar, though she is likely considered only slightly less a layperson than Yelrona.

Yelrona is surprised by Aya's appearance, but by now that's hardly noteworthy. The khazad seems utterly startled, however. "Where in the Seven Hells did YOU come from? Never mind, never mind. Are you involved with... with THIS?"

He gestures at the Binder -- or, well, the half-burned remnants of it -- the way one might a pile of worg-dung somehow deposited on one's desk that might at any moment explode.

"I am aware of its existence," Aya admits, "and that Yelrona sought aid from those skilled in Artifice in determining its meaning and purpose." She then looks to Yelrona as she interjects, "I did pass your request to Fazahd, though he has been a sparse sight here as of late." Her eyes return to the khazad. "Do you have any insight to offer on this?" A hand gestures to the partial binder.

"THIS?!? This... THING? Only that it ought to be destroyed!"

Rona, who has been silently amused thus far, leans forward to regard it carefully. "It rather looks like that's been tried," she observes drily. "So maybe someone agreed with you. I might agree with you as well, if you would stop performing outrage and tell me what's so wrong with it. It's not magical, nor evil, I can assure you of that much."

The khazad begins to pace, his arms waving in the air. "Not magical, she says. Not evil. As though she knew how to -- THIS, I'll have you know, young lady, is part of an evil so great the gods themselves had to expunge it from Ea!"

Rona sighs.

Aya arches a brow at the claim. "Could you be more specific? God-expunge-worthy evils seem to occur on a monthly basis in this city..."

Yelrona chuckles. "She does have a point," she observes as the Khazad sputters.

"Not like this," he replies darkly. "This is a pre-Sundering artifact, from the Empire of Kulthos before the Great Collapse." He takes a deep breath and makes a Reosian warding gesture. "Dark artifice."

"Ah," Rona says, nodding. "Necrotech? Like what Saluven brought against the city, before the Vanishing? That... huh." She thinks about that for a while.

Aya ahs, joining the expressions of epiphany. "I see. If it should be kept from circulation, then she brought it to the correct place, yes? There are vaults here for the safe-keeping of valued, or dangerous items, or so I was led to believe."

Yelrona puts a hand on the Binder. "Well, not so fast. Is this thing actually dangerous? Like... what does it _do_?"

Professor Mason fixes her with the 'you are an idiot' glare every academic masters during their early training. She seems unimpressed. Ultimately he relents. "It doesn't _do_ anything, precisely. It's a binder... like a spellbook," he explains condescendingly, "or a cookbook or technical manual. It gives instructions for how to construct necrotech Contraptions."

"I see," Rona replies. "So... it's the sort of thing only an Artificer can use, then?"

"Only a DARK Artificer," Mason corrects her. "Much as a spellbook of necromantic rituals to raise the dead can only be used by an evil wizard."

"Forbidden knowledge. Not dangerous by itself," Aya suggests, "but by the unprepared, undisciplined, or otherwise unsavory individuals who would make ill use of it. A blade isn't evil, but could murder thousands in vile hands?"

"EXACTLY!" cries Mason. "I'm glad at least ONE of you can see sense!"

"Well... hm. Except anyone can use a blade, pretty much. Artifice isn't like that, right? I mean, even with the Kulthian text translated -- what little is left of it -- I can't make head nor tail of anything in this binder. I just don't have the training. And the thing of it is... everyone who _does_ have that training, well, they're pretty much all working in this building, right? They're all artificers. So... explain to me why I should keep this thing _here_, surrounded by precisely the people who might know how to do something evil with it, rather than, well, pretty much _anywhere_ else?"

The Professor seems scandalized. "You READ it?"

Aya rolls one shoulder. "I presume they would be the most knowledgeable in its dangers, and have the best means to secure it?" She then arches a brow at Yelrona. "If there were dangerous relics of Tarien, would you entrust their safekeeping to others?"

"No," Rona admits, "probably not. But if there were dangerous relics that only a Tarienite could use, I can't think of any reasonable way that I could convince you that it's safer for you to give them to me. Can you?" She thinks a bit and adds "Though knowledgable security is a fair point. Would you do anything special with it beyond putting it in a safe place?" she asks the Khazad, who considers the question for a long moment before grumbling.

"No," he admits. "But!" he adds, as a new argument occurs to him, "by your own admission, the only people who would come after it are Artificers. And who better to protect against thievery by Artificers, than other Artificers?"

Rona considers that. She doesn't like it, but he _does_ have a point.

"You would know better than most of policing one's own," Aya looks to Yelrona, "would you not? I certainly trust them far more than the magi, no matter how unlikely it is that any of them could make use of the binder."

Walery has arrived.

Yelrona chuckles. "I suppose it would be unfair to ask you if you'd leave a necromantic spellbook in the care of mages," she muses. "Fine, fine. You make good points. All right, you can hold onto it for safe keeping," she agrees. "But there's a price."

The professor looks pleased. "We would of course provide you with a finder's fee consistent with --"

"No, not that kind of price," she clarifies.

"First: I get to inspect it whenever I choose. You can have whatever security you want on me when I do it, pick the spot, whatever, but it's mine, and I get to look at it." Not that she can imagine why she would ever need to... she's already tried everything she can think of to do with it. But it's the principle of the thing.

"Second, you tell me everything you find out about it, unless there's a SPECIFIC reason why telling me would be dangerous... in which case you tell her," Rona adds, gesturing to Aya. "Or if that's dangerous too, then you at least tell me that there IS something, and why it's dangerous. Deal?"

The professor is clearly not happy with this, and considers for a while.

Walery comes by pushing an apparatus on a cart. He looks curiously over at the unhappy professor. "Can I help with anything?" he asks.

"I expect that others of the Enclave will be interested in aiding us," Aya offers, as if that might appease the mason, "and that our interest in it is investigative. If there is one copy, there could be more. Where did it come from? Who possessed it and might hold other copies? These are all valid concerns."

"Well, as for where it came from, I _do_ have some clues... actually, you might be able to help with that," she says to Aya. "Does 'Black River Ford' mean anything to you? I--" she cuts off at Walery's arrival, wondering why she didn't close the door. "Well, I don't know," she replies to the young Artificer, grinning broadly. "Can you keep a secret?"

Walery hrms about keeping a secret. "I don't know," he says candidly. "What sort of secret?" Perhaps not the answer Yelrona is looking for. "If it's a trivial one, then probably so. If it's dire, it would depend on a lot of things, as you might guess."

Aya pauses as well, both at the question and Walery's arrival. After a moment, she dips her chin. "The name is familiar, yes." To Walery, she offers, "A secret that, it could be said, is tied to past sins of the trade this Hall represents."

Yelrona laughs at Walery's answer, not unkindly, and nods to Aya. "What she said. Also, the sort of secret that is safest when kept, and potentially dangerous when revealed. Anyway... so what's your answer?" she asks the professor, who scowls. He seems good at it.

"FINE. I accept your offer. You can inspect it whenever you choose, and we'll share our discoveries with you, PROVIDED you share yours with us!"

"That's fair," Rona nods. "Agreed. One last thing, though... have you lied to me since I walked in this door?" Her eyes are glowing faintly. "And professor? I'll know."

He glares at her again, and seems to wrestle with something before replying "Everything I've told you is true."

Rona laughs. "Excellent. I won't inquire as to whether it was true _before_ I asked. Anyway.... so what is it?" she asks Aya. "I only know the name because the man who delivered it to me delivered a few other packages around town at the same time, one of which came through Black River Ford."

Walery ohs at Aya's hint. "Something about the Kulthians, then?" he guesses. "They were right bastards, most of them." He nods. "Human sacrifice to fuel devices is just the beginning. Awful stuff," he agrees. "You found some old artifact?" he deduces from the conversation. "Some of what they did wasn't swful, but they really never drew the line between 'all right' and 'horribly evil'. So ancient artifacts tend to fall on either side."

"The Black River is a heavily travelled waterway in Charn," Aya shares, "and Black River Ford a key hub port as it was connected to many other cities by swift roads. Many, if not most, things shipped from or across Charn would travel through it."

Yelrona nods to Walery. "Yes. Not quite _that_ bad... not an artifact, but apparently blueprints. And... huh. Interesting. So... I think the answer to 'where did it come from?' is Charn. Which I am sure is no coincidence, seeing as how _I_ was in Charn not too long ago... although what my time there has to do with ancient necrotech, I have honestly no idea." She thinks. "Still... the Charneth do practice dark artifice, along with dark everything else. So... it's not altogether surprising. Just... unsatisfying. Why would _anyone_ in Charn want _me_ to have an ancient Artificer's Binder?" she asks the room, rhetorically.

Walery ohs to Yelrona, and hrms. "So you got some ancient Kulthian stuff from Charn? They're not generally opposed to the human sacrifice business, I'm told. Hopefully they draw the line at ripping apart the fabric of reality. That'd be bad for them also, I expect." He hrms about necrotech. "You're not dead, are you?"

Aya rolls a shoulder anew. "Perhaps someone learned of our actions there, and did not trust others with it for the same reasons you mentioned. Perhaps they wished it removed from the area and into a more secure setting?" She looks to Walery. "Thul is the god of trade and commerce in Charn. One can, quite literally, sell one's soul... or one's corpse. The concern is in the fine print, as there may be nothing detering the buyer from collecting whenever they wish..."

Yelrona nods to Walery. "Looks that way. And no... they are most assuredly _not_ opposed to human sacrifice. Or, come to that, ripping apart the fabric of reality, bad for them or not... they've destroyed rather a lot of their own territory over the centuries. And no, I'm sure Tarien would have mentioned it during my morning prayers if I were." She thinks about that and amends "Well, _fairly_ sure."

She nods to Aya. "That's possible. Which suggests I may have an unknown ally there. Which is... interesting. And reminds me: have you heard the news about your erstwhile suitor?"

Walery winces at Aya's description of Charnese commerce. "Remind me not to buy anything from their catalog." He ohs as Yelrona describes the Charnese self-destructive behavior. "Oh, I didn't know they'd go that far." He peers sidelong at Yelrona being alive, but she looks alive to him, so that's as much as he can work out.

"Which news is that?" Aya lifts a brow at Yelrona. "That he was more a servant than a Duke? That his ego was even more inflated that I imagined? That he was dragged from his stronghold unconscious by an ankle?" Both ends of her lips lift sharply with the final rhetorical question.

"So, that's a yes, then?" Rona replies, amused. "Excellent. I just hope if an old suitor drops into my life after years, it is nowhere near that complicated."

Walery looks puzzled at Aya's news, but then he works out what is meant, sort of. He says, "Is there trouble with him that we can help with?"

Aya shakes her head to Walery. "I don't think he's a problem to anyone anymore."

Yelrona nods. "From what I hear, it's unlikely that he's anything to anyone anymore." She thinks about that and adds "Though given what you were saying about Thulian post-morten contracts, that might not be entirely true."

Walery ohs to Aya, nods. "Well, that's fortunate, then. Except, perhaps, for him."

Aya smiles again. "Oh, I hope he has a long, painful wait for Thul. He was still alive when I was through with him."