Artificer, Necromancer, Wight

Yelrona is engaged in what might conceivably be a negotiation, or possibly a blood feud, with four goblins, one of whom has an artifice monocle set over her left eye. They are talking over each other in goblin-speech, and Rona is replying in Trade when they let her get a word in edgewise. "No, no, I'm not a necromancer," she explains, "I'm trying to _find_ a necromancer. Or records of one, anyway." She seems exhausted.

Up the street not terribly far away is Razen, his hands full of food from various venders in the district. He spots Yelrona and grins, making his way over to her with quick steps. He hardly notices that she's talking to someone until he's almost upon her and catches the last bit of the conversation. "What's this about necromancers?"

"No, I mean a _specific_ necromancer!" Rona expostulates. "His --" she is cut off by an even more acrimonious argument among the gobbers, and finally shakes her head in dismay. "Never mind. Thanks for your time," she says, and turns to Razen. "His name was Ilris, and he was active as part of the Kulthian Empire. Or she was, I suppose. For that matter, this was Kulthos, it might have been neither. Anyway, their gender doesn't matter, I'm just trying to find information about them."

Razen blinks in confusion. "So was their name Ilris or Kulthos?" He juggles his food for a moment, putting some of it away in a little bag he's holding. "It seems like you do not know very much about them either way if you do not know if it is a him or her... Maybe they are both?"

Yelrona chuckles. "Kulthos was the Empire... the gods destroyed it a thousand years ago. Ilris was a Dark Artificer, and a Necromancer, active around that time, as far as I can tell. And you're right, I don't know very much about them at all. She tilts her head to one side. "Aren't you going to eat that?"

The half-oruch looks mildly embarrassed. "I would, but I did not buy enough to share, and it would be rude to eat it now." He wipes his hand clean with a handkerchief that he tucks away into a pocket. "Why are you looking for this necromancer anyway?" Razen pauses and then scrubs his hand through his hair. "And what is a necromancer?"

"A necromancer is someone who traffics in black magics... mostly the term applies to those who create undead, like the ones attacking the city lately. And I'm not really looking for Ilris," she explains, "in that they are most likely dead. I'm looking for information about them, though... I'm hoping it will help me find my father."

Walery walks in on the most interesting conversations. He says nothing, though he does offer a nod to anyone who glances his way. He insinuates himself clumsily, but at least he doesn't spoil it with necromancer jokes.

Razen listens with interest and nods though it's clear he's still confused. "So you think a dead necromancer can lead you to where your father is?" The half-orc nods to Walery and offers the other man a quick grin.

A woman dressed in grey walks serenely past the group chattering together, but a few words reach her ears and she flashes the group a look. She slows, turning to glance at them more closely, and she adjusts her gi and skirt slightly. She eyes Yelrona carefully. "Your father moved in strange circles if finding a necromancer might help you find your father.", Henrie says.

Yelrona waves to Walery and the woman in grey, and chuckles at Razen. "In a manner of speaking. It's rather a long story, but the short form is that my father was looking for a magical item known as the Hand of Ildris when anyone last saw him. It's not that common a name, so I assume they're related. I'd always assumed Ildris was a wizard or a cleric, but it turns out he was a Kulthian artificer from before the Sundering... so I'm looking for information about him among the goblins and the artificers." To Walery she adds "Does the name ring a bell at all?"

GAME: Walery rolls knowledge/arcana: (13)+12: 25

Walery hrms, chin in hand. "Ildris, Ildris. No, never met anyone by that name. I knew a fellow called Ildevwyn, an elf if I remember correctly, but that's not very close, is it?" He thinks a bit further, "There was an old Kulthian with a name, it might have been Ildris, who did some business with augmenting undead with artifice enhancements. Very bad business, of course. But interesting in its use of power sources. Undead can't power artifice the way people do, you see, so there were some clever work-arounds in the power handling."

"That sounds horrifying.", Henrie says of Walery's comments. "Were they successful, as far as undead go? Or were they easy to defeat?"

"Artifice... enhancements?" Razen shakes his head. "I have never heard of Ildris, but I think I saw one of those Artifice things."

Yelrona blinks. "Right, right -- they were Kulthian!" she agrees excitedly. "And... huh. So, artifice undead... I didn't know that was even a thing." To Razen she adds "Yeah, there are lots of artificers over in the Sage Orum Plaza," pointing in that direction, "not to mention adventuring types like Walery here."

Walery shrugs to Henrie about the undead. "It's hard to say. Undead are fairly odd in any event. There's no ranking system for zombies and skeletons and vampires and such. They were a bit more dangerous than unaumented ones, I suppose, though ... how much so, that's all guesswork. This was all a thousand years ago, so no one really remembers. Maybe some elf's great grandfather, though?" He says to Yelrona, "Actually, I'm opening a shop, soon, so I will be working mainly from the Lower Market District."

Razen makes a motion with his hand. "Not like that. One that drew weird undead creatures to it." The half oruch looks at Yelrona. "Probably has nothing to do with your necromancer, but if they were an artificer perhaps it does."

"You could always check with the temples also.", the young woman in grey says to Yelrona. Henrie nods to Walery. "Might do to check into the library, or the temples, on that one. I think I shall, at some point."

"A thousand years is a long time, even among elves," Rona admits. "And... artifice attracting undead?" she echoes Razen. "That's interesting. Yeah, that's worth looking into."

Walery shrugs about artifice-enhanced undead. "I wonder what anyone was looking into that for, though. The power sources were interesting, but not really novel, not today. We've got better, I think, just fueling it with raw human gumption. Or goblin insanity, I suppose. That's a neverending source."

Henrie chuckles at Walery's suggestion. "Lots of human gumption... though, ample amounts of stupidity and insanity too. Effectively infinite, given enough time." She glances to Yelrona and nods. "Perhaps a long time, but likely, someone wrote it down somewhere."

The half-ourch shrugs, the conversation becoming to complicated for him to keep up with. So Razen slips into silence, trying to keep up with what he finds to be interesting even if it's a bit beyond him.

Yelrona laughs. "That's for sure," she agrees to Walery's comment about the goblins. "And, I don't know... maybe they just wanted to make their undead armies stronger, the way Rune would enchant its soldiers? I don't know." She shrugs.

"Weeeeelllllllllllllll," Walery says slowly, "You can make more powerful armies, sure. But it's like giving all your soldiers magic swords? It's a huge cost, and makes them marginally more effective. For the same gold, you could hire an army ten times the size, though."

Henrie hmms, and turns to go, offering a wave as she departs.

Razen shudders, imagining magic-enhanced warriors. "Magic to make your warriors stronger?" He mutters it under his breath and frowns heavily. "Maybe it is the only way they can make them stronger. Undead can not lift weights to gain strength."

Yelrona nods to Walery. "Makes sense. Though I get the impression that Kulthos had... very different incentives than we do." She waves to the departing Henrie. "And the thing about undead is, they're magic to begin with. So.." she shrugs again, repeating "I don't know. And this undead-attracting artifice thing you were talking about," she says to Razen, "that really makes me nervous."

Walery waves to Henrie and says to Yelrona, "Yeah, it sounds bad all around. Still, it sounds like an interesting concept. I'd be curious to see how it worked, if your father ever found out."

Razen nods. "It makes me nervous as well. There have been a lot of... what are they called again? Right... Wights! There have been a lot of them around lately. I think because of that thing."

Yelrona's eyes open wide. "That makes sense," she agrees. "I had been wondering what the wight attacks were all about. They don't make a lot of sense. But maybe you're right, maybe it's just that this thing, whatever it is, is attracting wight activity."

Walery yawns, looks around. "Anyhow, I'd better get back to the lab before it gets too late. Hope I was helpful." He smiles, waves, scoots off.

Razen looks pleased to have been at least a little helpful. "I should go too, before my meat pie gets cold. I hope you find your necromancer though." He pauses for a moment and looks at her. "If it has anything to do with the artifice thing I found, or wights, let me know! Maybe I can help."

Yelrona nods. "Very helpful! Thanks!" she says to Walery as he leaves, then "I absolutely will," to Razen.

The half-ourch grins and clasps Yelrona on the shoulder. "Thanks." With that he heads off.

-End-