:Yes, it would have been. I would have just read him with Thoughtsensing, I think, in your place – nobody here shields, it is difficult to not read them if you are using your Othersenses at all – but, well, you are yourself: 

:I did a little bit, but just the thing he showed me:

She glances over at Elrond to see what his read on all this is.

I do not know if it's possible to use an oath like that, he says to her when she meets his eyes. If it is, though, we should expect that he would have tried to teach Sauron the magic of your world. Is there some way that could easily be employed to find a magic object somewhere here in Arda.

:Do you mean Velgarth's type of magic? Yes, I could set up a search-spell to target only Velgarth magic and not your kind, although it will be slow: 

No. There is an object - local magic - that it is extraordinarily dangerous for Sauron or us to have. I need to know if Maitimo could have taught him anything that'd help him get it.

:Oh, I see. Not knowing more detail - probably, and I suspect I could do it, with a week or two of research. Maitimo is not himself a mage, though: He turns to Vanyel. :How much does he actually know of Velgarth magic: 

:Er, not that much as of his capture, I don't think, but he was working with Iftel's mages a lot when he was helping Sauron, he might know more now: 

:What about the oath sounds potentially implausible - and how would it be dangerous for us to have the object?:

You can drag your heels, at most oaths, in a way that would've been noticeable. He was not acting like someone sworn to obey Sauron. He wasn't acting the way orcs do when in custody. I have never heard of oaths wound carefully enough to produce pursuit of a lost ally's priorities in another world and I would've guessed it didn't work but I wouldn't have guessed very confidently.

The thing Sauron has been trying to find, and will employ Velgarth magic in the pursuit of, is a powerful magic item that he created long ago. It give the bearer, approximately, the powers of a Vala - one of our gods. They have local control of magic, which they can refine, they can claim and expand territory that behaves according to their will, they can force anyone near them or near any of the other Rings to obey them, they can probably raise the dead and certainly heal anything short of death -

- and it mind controls the bearer, in proportion to how tempting that first paragraph sounded. Normal people end up obsessively fond of it and using it more than they endorse. I came within a hundred feet of it once and wanted to take a few steps closer, to get a better look, more badly than I have wanted anything in my several thousand years of life. ...I get the sense most people here will be on the latter end. Maybe worse.

Leareth glances at Belrun. :...That sounds very tempting: he sends privately, :and I should never, ever get within a mile of it, I think, if that is the risk: He turns back and includes Elrond as well. :Does it change people's goals, directly, as well as causing them to want it to an extreme degree?: 

Celebrimbor thought it would. The other Rings Sauron managed to corrupt the making of do. Or - they let you keep one value, and pursue it far enough you end up holding it, alone, far from everything else that would have accompanied it in the tapestry of your original priorities. I know it's tempting. Don't.

Belrun nods at Leareth's assessment about being within a mile of it.

Vanyel shivers slightly. :Knowing that makes it much less tempting, at least in the abstract: 

Leareth is, honestly, deeply alarmed about existing in the same world as said object. :Vanyel: he says. :Belrun. I think - if it looks like there is any risk I am going to be corrupted with it, I think you should try quite hard to kill me. I will come back. Anyway. We ought go compare notes: 

Vanyel nods. :Actually, if it's all right, I think you can get everything from Stef or Melody, or Telumë himself if it's not too complicated a question. I'm a bit antsy about whatever's going on and I want to see if I can make progress on finding him: 

:Yeah, go ahead, Van. Leareth - would you come back? We're in another universe, and apparently your soul doesn't normally hop between different universes or it would have gotten mixed up in another Velgarth before. How about if you look like you're going to grab it and I am still somehow capable of not myself trying to grab it I just knock you out or Fetch you away from it or something:

:That is a good point. I am - not sure. I think it ought to still work? The Void is accessible from here, since Gates are – I suppose there might be more than one Void, if there is more than one Velgarth. Anyway, when I next have a few candlemarks, I can check if my body is still linked magically to the spell, in which case it will still work and take me back to the right Velgarth: 

:Okay, I guess if that has the correct result it gets me at least as far as not trying to stop someone else from killing you if you're going after the thingamajig. Probably not all the way to personally murdering you:

:...Do you really want to end up in a world that has me in it, but with my values eaten by - that? I suppose it shows some hubris to say this, but I think I would be one of the most dangerous people in Velgarth to end up corrupted by it. I am already - not really a safe person:

Something in the back of his brain is still kind of screaming about the fact that this artifact exists and, just, why. (The answer is obviously 'Sauron'.) 

:What, do you think you could murder me if I were going for it? I suppose that's a slightly different question since I don't come back but supposing I did:

:It is a slightly different question and we really need to work on fixing it – actually, being here is fortunate in a way, at least assuming we are not a simulation, it would allow me to set something up for you without the Velgarth gods watching and stepping on us. Anyway. If the fate of the world or possibly several worlds were otherwise endangered, I think I could probably kill you? Although now I am noticing that I am less sure of it than I thought. Ideally we will avoid this problem by not going within several miles of it, and other precautions that makes sense here:

He shrugs. :I think Vanyel could and would incapacitate me if something were about to happen, and - would also find this artifact significantly less tempting than either of us, so that is a better idea to rely on: 

Possibly he's overreacting to the existence of this artifact, thought to be fair it's extremely scream-worthy. 

She nods. She leans on him.

:...Are you finding the concept as alarming as I do?: 

Stef does not seem very perturbed about the thingamajig. 

It's unclear if Melody is; it's general impossible to tell her level of perturbation by looking at her.