Belmarniss can now sorta muddle along in the local common thanks to aggressive use of comprehend languages to hand-translate books after roping a local into teaching her the alphabet. Also she hates teleport traps with every fiber of her being. Also she has figured out at this point that she somehow leveled in sorcerer instead of wizard during the business with the pirates and has no idea why that happened or whether it will happen again. And she has sold this stupid arrowhead to two different curio shops and given up as it seems to be cursed. And she just needs to keep doing what she does, she guesses, till she can teleport herself home. The Yawning Portal is a nicely ironic name.
When she wakes up, the Reaper has not moved. "I hope you slept well," he comments.
"This instance of myself, yes. I am also constantly sorting thousands of petitioners, however, with other strands of my attention. I occasionally read books, when they are recommended to me. I do not bore easily."
"Small mercies. Man, on my planet the person in charge of sorting the dead is like the biggest deal god, and like, I hate her, but it seems a status more commensurate with the office."
"I do pass special cases on to Kelemvor, the current god of death. I would not like to have too much authority unless it meant I could-"
He stops. "My apologies. I have once again run up against the ancient laws. I did not realize how inconvenient they would be when discussing my role, as few of the Relic's wielders have been so inquisitive."
"Seriously? They die and you grab them and they don't want to know what's what?"
He shrugs. "Most accept that I am bound to serve them and move on. Others grow frustrated with my half-answers. You are not the first to question me at length, but your questions are... insightful, and in answering I am inclined to test my chains."
"Huh. - we're in no hurry here, right, I'd just as soon avoid dying more times so I wanna ask you as much as I can this time."
He nods. "We are in a pocket of stopped time, yes. You can also use the Relic to come to my realm without dying, but it will consume the same amount of power as it would under normal circumstances, so you must be careful not to die for another twenty-four hours."
"Huh. Seems fairly unlikely to be worth the risk since my insurance company probably doesn't follow up in a case this extremely inconvenient and I like having a backup, but good to know, how's that work?"
"You merely need to touch the Relic and strongly intend to come here, as if you were concentrating on a spell."
"I am bound to it as it is bound to you," he says apologetically. "The relic is what it is, just as I am what I am."
"I believe so. It may have simply been a side effect of how I was created, but-" He snarls under his breath. "His name is forbidden to me. My creator was not a man who liked to leave things to chance."
"Are you not allowed to know it or not allowed to say it or not allowed to play alphabet guessing games?"
"Not allowed to say. If you wish to play an alphabet guessing game I can play along; my restrictions grow tiresome to me, and I am glad to circumvent them."
The Reaper was created by a man named Akachi.
"Thank you," he says when she's guessed.
"Hmmm... I just know I'll think of five things to ask as soon as I'm back and kill off that wizard..."