037.5 Aaeru, Janson and Wayland

[Corwin]

[21:22] <Kotono> Highwatch Fortress is as gand and vigilant as ever. On asking for the Crimson Guard you're taken inside, Captain Wedge meeting you. "You were asking for the Crimson Guard?" he asks, offering his hand out as the group enters.
[21:23] <Aaeru> "Yes," Aaeru says, shaking the offered hand. "It just came up after we got back from our rescue mission in Hell. Can you please tell us why it's illegal to have weapons like, umm... Brand of Bel, I think?"
[21:25] <Kotono> "Here I wondered why Captain Xavier asked about you," He shakes his head wryly, "I've learned some about magic in my years here, but I'm no magus. Still, I think I can answer your question. Goa head and sit down," He gestures to the chairs in his office.
[21:25] <Aaeru> "Thanks!" Aaeru makes use of a chair, once everyone's chosen one for themselves.
[21:26] * Janson gladly takes a seat. "It just feels kinda arbitrary is all," he mutters, feeling a bit embarrassed to have taken things so high up.
[21:26] <Aaeru> "I'm sure there's a really good reason but I can't read minds. So we came to ask."
[21:30] <Kotono> He nods, "When someone talks about evil, what do ou think of it as? Ill intent? Murderous blackguards? Cultists? Some flimsy but powerful ideal that drives men to depravity?"
[21:31] <Kotono> "A definition of something, a description," Josa answers, "I can daresay a devil is evil, a Sharran is evil."
[21:31] <Janson> "Well yeah, bad people do bad things. But a sword is just a thing - you can call it evil, but doesn't that depend on who's wielding it?" Janson puts forward his opinion.
[21:31] * Aaeru just listens for now.
[21:31] <Wayland> "I think of it as the willingness and desire to deprive others of their lives or liberty, in turn for personal gain."
[21:38] <Kotono> "All of those are true," Captain Wedge nods, "But!" He pauses a moment, "The Realms Beyond are where belief is made manifest. A devil is not just an evil creature, part of it's being is pure evil. You see, evil is a material force in those realms. It's presence in our world can cause catastrophic events. It perverts our world towards evil. An unholy glaive...a lesson we learned well," He goes
[21:38] <Kotono> on after a moment, "If left alone will eventually befoul the room if is in. Vermin will always find their way to it, the walls will crumble, misfortune will surround any who go there. This manifest evil is poison to everything good and pure in the world."
[21:39] <Aaeru> "What about good weapons? Or fiery ones?" Aaeru asks.
[21:41] <Kotono> "Good can do the same." Captain Wedge makes a vague gesture, "Elemental weapons don't work like that - they're natural forces and different from how belief works."
[21:42] <Aaeru> "Good weapons break the walls?" Aaeru tries to confirm.
[21:42] <Janson> "Okay, that I can accept," Janson is sold. "See, if they'd said 'this sword carries a horrible plague of rot and entropy' that'd be way easier to understand than something generic like 'oooh it's evil and spooky'."
[21:42] <Kotono> "You make it sound as if an evli weapon,"He goe son, "Is a naturally corruptive force."
[21:44] <Kotono> "No." Captain Wedge actually laughs at that, "Go visit holy temples, or holy shrines. A good example..." He thinks a moment, before snapping his fingers, "Alicia's old house is now a shrine. It's said visions appear there, and the entire house is blessed from her stay there. The entire city of Balmuria has benefited from the touch of good. Aasimar and half celestial walk amid us from the times
[21:44] <Kotono> that eladrin and celestials came to Balmuria."
[21:44] <Wayland> "I suppose I can understand that. I didn't know that objects could inherently be evil and corrupting."
[21:44] <Aaeru> "So what do we do if we find another one?" Aaeru asks. "You make it sound like we should break it right away, but then why is the Guard offering rewards for bringing them back?"
[21:45] <Janson> "So would one like rot your hand off if you used it a lot?" Janson then wonders.
[21:45] <Aaeru> "That's so creepy!"
[21:46] <Kotono> "Frankly, we'd prefer it if you destroy them. The rewards are to encourage less charitable types to turn them over," Captain Wedge explains.
[21:47] * Aaeru nods. "That makes a lot of sense!"
[21:47] <Aaeru> roll 1d20+2
[21:47] * Hatbot --> "Aaeru rolls 1d20+2 and gets 15." [1d20=13]
[21:48] <Janson> "It's like a bounty," Janson is sufficiently persuaded. "Well, I can go along with trashing them now, my coinpurse isn't worth spreading decay and misfortune everywhere."
[21:49] * Aaeru tilts her head slightly. "Then all the legends about converting this sort of stuff are just rumors?"
[21:49] <Kotono> "Indeed...we are not uncharitable, but a bottom line is an unavoidable fact of life," Josa says, with a distinct grimace on his face, "Yes, there was enough misfortune and corruption already, we need not more."
[21:52] <Kotono> At this Captain Wedge shakes his head, "I know the Crimson Guard has done so before. I don't know the details, it's apparently a religious matter as it requires the interdiction of the Gods. Our standing orders are to pass them onto the Crimson Guard for them to handle them."
[21:53] <Janson> "Good luck to them, I guess," Janson stands up, knowing well that he has no place in religious matters.
[21:54] * Aaeru thinks about what the Captain has said until now for a few moments. "Just so I understand," she says, sounding slightly apologetic, "is this about all weapons that are evil, or just the weapons that were made in like Hell? If a bad person makes a sword here that I think is evil, should I destroy it too?"
[21:54] <Kotono> Sylvie listens to all of this, nodding, "It makes sense with what I knew. Thanks!"
[21:54] <Kotono> "If it shines with evil through detection magic, destroy it," he clarifies.
[21:55] * Aaeru nods firmly. "Sounds like a plan! Thank you so much for explaining everything to us!"
[21:56] <Kotono> "This was most illuminating," Josa says, rising.
[21:56] <Aaeru> "No kidding!" Aaeru agrees. "My training never covered this!"
[21:57] <Wayland> "And it seems I owe you an apology, Aaeru. I did not know that these things truly were evil." Wayland says.
[21:58] <Aaeru> "It's... well... if you can't trust a good city's laws, it all just breaks down," Aaeru says in response.