Blai sees himself out and returns to showing clerics how to estimate thirty feet in a hurry and interpret Diagnose Disease results and read magic auras.

Next day, a messenger informs him that the King has opened negotiations with Germina. It will take some time to get results, though. Between three days and a month.

Well, Blai will still be here in a month. He's presently reading the Manual of City-Building in case it has anything Golarion-specific he needs to culturally translate.

On Lundas, Blai's secretary informs him that he has mail. Via Runner's Guild. From Izril. She can't pronounce the names; she's just going to hand him the letter.

He thanks her and accepts the letter!

Select Artigas,

Three Antinium received contact from three entities the evening of 32 Mouring, offering gifts and patronage. We have refrained from accepting. They were not in your proscribed list, and were unfamiliar with your homeland. Their names are not included for reasons of security. We would be grateful to discuss the matter further.

This letter is attached to a long-distance speaking device. To activate it, pull the mana stone from the silver socket and insert it in the gold socket. The device is colocating sound when socketed gold, and recharging the stone when socketed silver. Twenty-four hours of charge is the capacity and allows for two hours of operation. Any trained [Mage] can also diagnose the exact charge status of the stone, and whether it is discharging or charging correctly.

Klbkch, Xrn

An ornate mirror circumscribed by gold pins of varying length, which is mounted on a base of some kind of tough composite(?). The sockets and the stone described are embedded in the base. The whole thing is just big enough to not fit in the palm of Blai's hand.

what has he done

Can someone easily accessible explain how it's "twenty-four hours of charge" and how that translates into "two hours of operation", he's used to charge as the kind of thing that comes in integers.

They're not sure which part is the part he's not understanding, but:

There's a continuous amount of mana in the mana stone—as in non-discrete, not as in endless—and while in use ("discharging") the amount drops as it's consumed, and while recharging the amount increases. At zero mana the device ceases to function.

The charge rate is 12:1 to the discharge rate, and it takes 24 hours to go from zero charge to full charge (whereupon it cannot gain any more charge), and it takes 2 hours to go from full charge to zero charge. But he can also charge it for 12 hours and use it for 1 hour, or employ it in any other usage pattern, that's just the maximum capacity and charge/discharge ratio.

This device doesn't have a great user interface, because it has no way of indicating to a non-[Mage] what amount of charge is left in the stone, but if he keeps track of time he has a good idea of how much juice it's got left.

A [Mage] can also manually recharge the stone from their own mana, which will be faster than what looks like an ambient recharge system in the device. The instructions don't say, but given the stone is fully detachable it looks like a standard mana stone kind of set up, shouldn't be any issues. He can even keep a few stones of the right character and size on hand and swap them out as they run dry for longer continuous use.

Okay. He'll retreat into an office and call.

The mirror swims with vague shapes, as if trying to resolve an image, but... doesn't. There's sound, though, of feet and dirt and rustling. There's no response, though.

"Klbkch? Xrn?"

There's a louder rustle, then the background noises fade away. Xrn's voice, slightly... smudged, but still clear: "Select Artigas? I am glad to hear from you. How much time do you have to speak? I would prefer to convene with Klbkch before continuing."

"I am not likely to be needed elsewhere any time in the next hour or two."

"Allow me ten minutes, please."

Then the connection goes quiet. Only muffled sounds of feet and... explosions? follow. Seven minutes later, she's back.

"We are here. Did you receive the letter?"

"Yes. Is this device secure enough? ...how did you transport it to me?"

"By Courier order. You should have received it from the Runner's Guild, I believe. If not, it may have been tampered with, but I am unsure who would have motive or means. The sound is [Encoded], which is not foolproof, but it is difficult to do better."

"I did. I've been retained by a king on this continent to cultivate clerics of benign Golarion gods here, but there were some... non-Golarion-type clericings from some non-Golarion gods."

...

"Has this information been spread, where you are? Do people know their names?"

"Only a handful of people know the non-Golarion gods' names. Is that known to be important? I was only guessing."

The connection muffles for a few seconds. There's conversation on the other side, blurred and indistinguishable.

When it comes back, it's Klbkch's voice.

"Do you know if Golarion's gods are empowered by belief and worship?"

"I... don't know that I would know either way if that were the case but it is not commonly put about as fact."

There's a moment of silence. More muted conversation.

"I ask that you not repeat this to anyone else. But the Antinium have long known of one god which lives. Its known properties are becoming more powerful from, and being more capable of attacking through, knowledge of its existence. Its suspected properties—based on your description of practices of worship in your world, and our own more recet reevaluation of past observations and features of the common surface language and its idiom—is that it is strengthened by, and more capable of acting through worship and worshipers."

"...in what ways is it safe to act on this information? Can you tell me anything about its goals and properties?"

"I do not believe you to be significantly endangered if I tell you more, unless you directly seek out that god for an encounter, in which case you would be more vulnerable to it. If you wish, I can do so."