Silken touch

[Ebiris]

So this isn't merely demonic. Thus Alicia can speculate that 'she' is Shar, but she won't voice that speculation. There's no need, really.

"And so we are your swords against he who lies in 6, 6, 6?" she asks, picking up the uncut emerald in both hands.

[Anastasia]

"Many are," The Man of the Winds says, "All of you are the final and sharpest weapon. You are the ones I believe can win. Muirfinn could not. The absolute light would not avail him against it. It could dissolve it, but he would not triumph."

The world seems clearer as you hold the emerald. Facts seem self evident. Reality seems better. You notice you can even see Syala, as if her light wasn't there at all.

[Ebiris]

Alicia looks at Syala and Jessica, nonverbally prodding them to ask anything they feel ought to be asked before they finish here.

[Anastasia]

Syala considers him a few moments before she shakes her head. "I've heard enough."

Jessica, however, steps forward. "Will you trouble us in the future?"

"I am content," The Man of the Winds declares, hands on his stomach.

To this Jessica watches him with a sharp gaze until, "It would be best for you if we never met again," she says at last, "Justice can be held at bay, but not put aside forever."

Without a hint of fear at that, "We will meet if we must meet again." With a gaze into Jessica's own, "Not all wish your children well. Be prepared, Alicia-in-blood is not the only one targeted in Sylica. His name is Boulek."

Jessica's expression tightens further, but she does nothing more than slowly say. "You have my gratitude, if that is true."

"Then I am content again," Is the last thing he says, as he sits back down. He closes his eyes, as if to drift into the land of dreams.

Jessica turns to go, but lingers after three steps. She doesn't turn around, but she does linger to speak once more. "Your source of knowledge may not be safe forever, or even endure forever. Do you even know what it is?"

To this there is no answer.

"...know this much," Jessica finally says. "It is known as the Ordial. Goodbye, Man of the Winds."

[Ebiris]

Does the name Boulek mean anything to me?

[Anastasia]

Skipping the check since you can't fail.

Boulek is said to be an Astral Stalker. A nasty fellow who is quite good at his job, but mostly sticks to mortal targets and keeps his targets separated. In other words he's never done enough to truly get anyone's ire, though he's irritated plenty of targets on all sides of the spectrum. He claims to be professional about it and that holds up, as he even avoids killing anyone but his targets.  Between that and the fact that he's been useful to various powers before, he's mostly left alone.

[Ebiris]

"Goodbye," Alicia seconds, opening a gate to return them to Sylica.

Once through? "I'll get Antenora to have a look at this," she hefts the emerald, "And then see if Elle can refine it for us. Will you be taking care of the Boulek situation, Jessica?"

[Anastasia]

"Immediately," Jessica says, "I don't feel that he lied to me. I wouldn't be so foolish as to call him benevolent, but he works with a purpose, and his purpose seems to align with ours at the current time."

"I'll have an avatar go visit Roald and the kids," Syala offers as she stays with you, while Jessica vanishes elsewhere.

[Ebiris]

"She'll have it," Alicia says, giving Jessica the opportunity to protect her own family. "Lets make sure Antenora doesn't see anything suspicious about this that I might've missed, but if she gives it a clear we'll try improving it. It's uncut and has potential for more, I think."

[Anastasia]

Antenora's not hard to find. She is within one of the deep caverns of the Opal Mountain, where ice girds the walls and yet a steaming warm spring of water dominates ahead. You can see the steam quickly chill and become rills of ice that plummet back down into the waters before it reaches the ceiling.  In particular she kneels before the pool, one finger on the surface of the water.

[Ebiris]

"Hello Antenora, are you busy?" Alicia asks.

[Anastasia]

Antenora rises, "Nothing that can't wait," She comes over, "Did you go mining?"

[Ebiris]

"A gift from the Man of the Winds," Alicia says. "It reveals the truth, and will supposedly serve us well on 666, but I'm understandably leery. I wanted you to take a look at it," she holds out the emerald.

"It was an ill-fated trip. Talona threatened to destroy the town and when we challenged her she made good on that threat. She lost an avatar, so we can probably expect more troubles from her in the future," she adds since Antenora ought to know.

[Anastasia]

Antenora holds the emerald in both hands as she inspects it. "What happened?" Antenora asks as she is focused on the gemstone.

"It turns out that it was foolish to openly and publicly challenge Talona after she threatened to kill everyone in the city. She was prepared to do exactly that, and we couldn't stop it around ourselves, let alone save the city. We erred." Syala says, blunt. "We postured like peacocks and were punished for our stupidity. Our one blessing is that we avoided a confrontation with Talona herself. Had she the ability to repeat that, we may have lost entirely."

Antenora's gaze is on the emerald as she holds it up to the light, seemingly absorbed into its depths. "He's right. There's truth in this and great magic besides that."

[Ebiris]

"If nothing else, she might think twice about making similar ultimatums in case someone is unexpectedly present who can hurt her if not stop her," Alicia says, determined to salvage some sort of upside from the debacle.

"But we were full of ourselves," she adds a moment later, because it needs said.

After Antenora's appraisal she says, "I think it can become even stronger if properly cut? Elle and Latha  might be able to bring more out of it."