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[Furtuka]

Julius pulled the crown off his belt and gazed wistfully at it, before tossing it back behind him with a sigh.

"Ah well. If it truly is against the codes of conduct. I suppose I will have to make do with the tools we obtain." He  said, pushing a smile back onto his face.

[Blade Master Model 42]

Friedhelm inclined his head slightly toward Julius. "Thank you for understanding."

[Furtuka]

Julius nodded.

"Though if I may ask out of curiosity, what exactly is the danger you speak of that comes from crossing between worlds? I could understand there being issues with the movement of vital materials but can such minor objects truly be damaging?"

[Blade Master Model 42]

"It's not beyond the realm of possibility. The basis is that you are entering worlds that are not your own, and each world is what could be called a closed system. By travelling to them and... Removing things, we affect the natural progression of that world. Hopefully in ways small, imperceptible, and ultimately meaningless. But the more we alter and take, the greater the chance of large scale alteration. Large scale damage."

"We never made it a goal to police every realm. It would be impossible, of course. But before we resigned ourselves to only observation, the plundering of other worlds ended in the deaths of civilizations. Perhaps it would have been us if not them. But regardless of what might have been, my forefathers decided that we would not be the cause of such a thing ever again. And now here we are." Friedhelm sighed, and he seemed very frail in that moment. "The rings have some trouble with idioms. The more universal the concept, the better it works but, well, are you familiar with the idea of For Want of a Nail?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

Vahn, overhearing, chimed in.

"I'm familiar with it as an extremely useful strategy for clearing out large groups of... pests."

[Blade Master Model 42]

Friedhelm seemed very confused by the interjection. "I can't imagine how that must have translated. Well, the essential idea is that small differences are capable of creating great impact. For want of a nail, a horse goes unshoed. The unshoed horse is hurt and dies. For want of a horse, a messenger is late. The lateness of a messenger fails to prevent a battle. Because of that battle, a war begins. The kingdom is destroyed in the war, for want of a nail. Because it is impossible to know what the nail be needed for, we can not take it. You see?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"No, I understood it as you put it, and I used it the same way. Eliminate small necessities over time and eventually you can set an entire camp into chaos, and then... well, even one man can defeat a hundred if those hundred are starving, tired, paranoid, ill, and poorly equipped."

[Blade Master Model 42]

The silence extended out for a long moment. "Oh. Did you?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Yes."

The old warlock's reply was simple and deliberate; nothing more needed to be said. If nothing else, he was starting to remember how to speak, how to act. If this Guardian needed the Gahnawende Demon, then that was who Vahn would be, one last time.

[Blade Master Model 42]

"I see." Friedhelm did not seem to much care for the answer to his question.

[CrimsonEon]

Alec, looming nearby, stared at Vahn for a few moments, face quite flat as he seemed to assess the man. It was only a bit longer into the silence that he turns to Friedhelm.
: "Mister..." The bard hung on the word for a moment, "...Guardian. You know, I feel like I'd be calling you something different by now, but I'm a bit out of sorts."
: "I said I would be unloading a broadside of questions, and I'm certainly not dropping that promise anytime soon. But, first off, are you at liberty to discuss the artifact you just had us retrieve?"

[Blade Master Model 42]

Friedhelm relaxed a bit at the question. "Ah, yes, the book. What is it that you'd like to know?"

[CrimsonEon]

: "Well, for starters, just what it was you had us retrieve."
The bard idly twirls around the quill in his hands, other hand quite occupied with his open journal.
: "A grimoire, what presumably was in the possession of someone quite clearly dabbling in necromancy." He pauses, the understatement quite palpable, "Just what would something like that have to do with this 'method to bestow power' you were alluding to..?"
His gaze is quite sternly locked on Friedhelm, his expression turning severe, like the first embers of an inquisitor interrogating a suspect.

[Blade Master Model 42]

"Oh, of course. I hadn't actually mentioned that yet I suppose. Yes, the grimoire as it is, well, it isn't useful to our purposes. However, I have a device, just over this way, if you'd like to follow me..." Friedhelm walked away, beckoning behind him as we walked toward the western exit of the room. Across the hall was a small room, with a stone bench on one end.

The bench was made of simple shapes, and a light cream color with a smooth texture. The top was engraved with symbols, but nothing that Alec (or anyone else) recognized. Friedhelm gestured to the shape on the right.

"As we go, we will deposit the items in question on this converter here. Their magical energies will, over time, be converted. I don't doubt that it will take some time. Energy is energy, as they say, but the ways in which magic is tied up in its styles does need to be untangled before we can put it to more acceptable use. Particularly in this case."

[CrimsonEon]

: "That didn't quite answer my question. Let me rephrase:"
The bard makes a note in the journal, but continues.
: "Why this artifact? I suspect you must have done some sort of research to arrive at this one, in particular. Is there a quality you are searching for?"