The Search Resumes

Some days after the fall of the tower, the door to Mikilos' shop opens in a jangle of bells, the opening purposeful and allowing sunlight to spill into the room. Seldan wears full arms and armor, his stride similarly purposeful, bearing set and intent, although not precisely angry.

Mikilos sit near the open window, enjoying the warm spring weather. Hard to get enough of that. Of course, the wizard is focused on the book in his lap. Can take teh scholar out of the library, but not the library out of the scholar. At the jangel, the elf looks up, and places a small ribbon to mark his place before setting the book aside. "Good morning. How might I be of assistance?"

Seldan casts a glance at Belhan, then tilts his head towards the door that leads to more warded spaces within the building. "Have you a little time? I would speak on our recent journey."

Mikilos nods. "Certainly. I'd meant to do so, but other events took priority. There's another chair if you like, or can move somewhere more private."

"It concerns her, and the sword," Seldan says cryptically, nodding to Mikilos' hip. "Think you safe? Or would you move?" He nods politely to Belhan, but does not seem minded to pleasantries. Mikilos nods, and settles back in his chair again. "As safe as am likely to get. There's always yet another layer of security that could be added, but it gets redundant at some point. I'm not sure how long it takes the Tower to repair itself, but I can't imagine it's too swift."

Seldan nods, taking a breath to settle and relax himself. "I can confirm that she is not dead, and we have but wrested the tower from her, for a time. We must now find her, ere the tower is restored." His entire demeanor is deadly serious, focused, controlled. "Are you well, and need you aught of me? Will you still fight?" His tone makes it truly a question, a level one, and something of a gentle one.

Mikilos nods. "I'm ready, though would take time to prepare my spells, given the chance. May I ask how you've confirmed? I was suspicious at the time, but hadn;t means to verify."

"Eclavdran." Seldan's single-word answer is short, cagey, and does not invite further questions. He does, however, relax just a little at the acknowledgement, and even smiles. "That you can still fight is a relief, and good news. We need not move immediately, for many who fought with us fare not so well as you or I, and need time to recover. With the tower thrown down, we are afforded that much time, and we must yet find her. It is in my mind that we must do so by digging into her past."

"There is one other thing that I would ask of you," he adds.

Mikilos nods, accepting the explination. "There remains much we don't know. And while, as you say, we have some time, I don't think we have a great deal of it. What is it you need?"

"You had the right of it, in the tower, Mikilos." Seldan's use of the given name is accompanied by a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes, but does acknowledge his choice of appellation. "There simply was not time, in the heat of battle, to ensure that I spoke the vow aright. I know the consequences, do I speak it incorrectly, and I would not have your life pay for my error in haste. Now that we have time -" He pauses. "Will you permit me to make that vow, as you would have it, and take the wielding of Mortal Dread?"

Mikilos considers a few moments. "We are not in the Endless Lands, so a vow made would not be enforced in the same manner, but I trust your intentions to hold your vow. When the fight is joined again, I have no qualms in the blade being in your hand." He pauses. "Be in the time until then... I am wary. The blade was forged ages ago, by the gods of the fae, for the fae. I have been unable to learn of it's powers, save that it has some. What effect it would have on mortals over time, I don't know. I know even less what it might do to a human over time. I've been keeping it in a bag a holding, not quite in this dimension, just in case."

Seldan leans a shoulder circumspectly against the inside of the doorframe as he listens. "I would make the vow, that we are not hard pressed does the fight take us again to the fae realms. Time is enough is ours, that we need not take the risk." To the rest of it, though, he nods. "When the fight is joined again is time enough, I think, though I would have you place it such that I know its whereabouts, should something untoward happen to you. I trust not Salina, nor the demon. I shall not seek it unless the fight is joined again, and you cannot join it."

Mikilos nods. "The vow itself is simple enough. Weild the blade only against Salina or her minions. My pack in enchanted, think of the blade and it will be on top." He frowns mildly. "Though i do need to remember to get another scroll and some potions in the near future. I grew too accustom to having numerous clerics along."

"Did you not make provision for returning it when Salina was dead?" Seldan asks, eyes lowering and looking towards the floor of the shop to his left. The last draws him back though, and he chuckles. "It is in my mind to seek more of greater power, when next we hunt. Even now do I determine who may yet fight, and who must first heal. Still is it well for all to have such upon them. I myself would have scrolls scribed ere we travel again, though I must yet decide what is needed, and I shall not know the truth until I know where it is that we go."

Mikilos shakes his head. "Nothing overly specific. The blade is to be returned, but the how and when is not specified. I'm confidant can get the attention of the Queen of Night, though I doubt she'll come herself. More likely her champion, Doyle."

Something in the sudden complexity in Seldan's expression, there for a moment and then gone as he nods, suggests that he knows exactly to whom Mikilos refers. "Very well. What think you is required, to complete the vow?"

Mikilos shrugs. "State it simply. Full name is likely best, though not required. As I said it won't carry the weight of the Wild Hunt, so the exact phrasing shouldn't be as much a concern as the spirit and intention."

The -look- that Seldan levels at Mikilos fairly brims with skepticism, but he straightens anyway. "Then do I, Seldan Elandorn Padaryn, swear to you now, before all who may witness. I shall not seek the weapon Mortal Dread from you, before the fight against Salina be joined again, unless you are unable to continue the fight. I shall use it against none save Salina, named the Endless Winter, or her minions and servants, and if you are unable to see it returned as bound to you by the Queen of Air and Night, then I shall do so."

Mikilos nods. "Good enough for me, which I think is the point. I vowed to only weild the blade against Salina, and not to let any otehr use it, save those who have made a similar vow. You've made a similar vow, we should be covered."

"Then do I also vow to permit none other to use the blade Mortal Dread, save for those who have made a similar vow." Seldan smiles as he makes the add, and seems to relax a little further. "Very well, then. I shall heed your concerns regarding possession of the blade. In truth do I think it unnecessary for others save us to wield it, and I think your talents better focused on magic." Again his demeanor shifts to alertness, in the way of one to whom an idea has just come. "We should determine what spells we would have handy, to see her entrapped, and how we wish to do it."

Mikilos nods. "I think we had the right idea before, just missed one step. Dispell as much of her own spells as possible before layering on Dimensional Anchor. i've also learned a spell to graple specific targets, rather than everyone in an area. A grapeling force might not hurt her, but if she's busy dealing with it instead of attacking or casting spells, it's worth the effort."

"So ... we begin with a disjunction?" Seldan draws in a breath. "Are you capable of that level of magic?"

Mikilos grins and shakes his head. "Not quite that level of power. But a couple of more reasonable Greater Dispel Magic should clear out at least a couple of her enchantments. Even one layer of protection lost is a benefit."

Seldan nods slowly to that, one hand going to his chin as he thinks. "Was the antimagic field effective, do you think?"

Mikilos nods. "I think it helped. We were thwarted by the power of the Tower, which overcame the field. Without the moving walls, I doubt she would have been able to swap out for the decoy."

"Then I shall see to the purchase of another such scroll. She will dispel it if she can get out of range of the field, so I must close with her and prevent her leaving ere the field is cast." Seldan nods, seeming satisfied with that. "We must then act ere the tower is rebuilt. We know not how long we have ... although it may take time to rebuild. Know you the mechanism that rebuilds it?"

Mikilos shakes his head. "The repair of simple items I understand well, but the Tower is well beyond any of that. If I had oppertunity to study it, I'm confidant I could grash most of its workings. But to guess, no. It's shown many abilities a year ago i would have called impossible."

A slow nod from Seldan. "Then it is well for all of us that such a powerful tool has been wrested from her grasp, even if it means that we now must find her within the multiverse. Do you remember aught of what happened in the control room?"

Mikilos nods. "I recall what happned to me. What happened after I was teleported to the washroom, I'm not confidant about."

Seldan nods, considering that. "I have not asked Malik, but I shall do so." He looks towards the door, and the sunlight outside. "I would ask your forgiveness for a visit so brief, but I fear that I have temple duties to which I must attend. We shall speak at further length, when we all know more. Until then, Her light shine upon you." With that, he turns towards the door.

Mikilos nods. "Quite understand. Fare well, until we meet again." He considers. "And for quite a while after that as well."

"And the same to you as well." Seldan grins back at the wizard, the bells on the door jangling as he exits.