"Yes, I'm a retired Anvil-goer. Although it looks like that's going to be a temporary status, alas.

I was from Urizen originally; I moved to Navarr because I fell in love, although - she was murdered, at Anvil, just a few seasons later."

That admission does come with a visible emotion; those have otherwise been somewhat thin on the ground - but it's quickly covered over.

"Verys will likely draw up a detailed report for his family; you can probably pay him to not release it immediately, but if it looks like you're a threat to the Empire - or rather, to Navarr in particular - he won't hesitate to act on it then. Their main concern is the long term prosperity of Navarr, by way of securing that for themselves - Eternal is a chosen name, all Navarri surnames are, and a very bold choice at that. They're otherwise generally fairly secretive; if they think it's to their advantage to hoard the information to themselves, that's what they'll do.

I'd imagined we'd test Raise Dead in the field - I expect no shortage of potential subjects once we're exploring into the Vallorn. If you want to test it beforehand, Verys can probably set us up to fetch a terminal patient from one of Seren's medical facilities, someone who had bad luck out in the wilderness, but there might not be anyone today or tomorrow, whereas there's likely to be our pick of casualties in Broceliande - and ones that are much more likely to not have received detailed medical care and not be suspicious that we revived them with a new medical technique.

I'm not convinced we're going to get a better monetary offer than what Verys has offered, especially without making a very big and public show of your capabilities - it's actually quite hard to earn really considerable quantities of money, that tends to all be locked up in the bourse materials trade and so you'd need to find something that's useful to people in that sphere. It's often easier to earn favours from people who can get you what you want directly, instead, though."

...wow. Well, she shouldn't be surprised that assassinations occur at the capital. She largely mirrors Allegra's emotions: a polite frown, followed by neutrality.

"Do you think what we've shown Verys thus far constitutes a threat to the Empire? What sort of things should we refrain from showing to avoid that? I've been deliberately concealing the combat oriented spells and only showing the ones that could potentially have economic value.

Hm, yes, that makes more sense. Do you know how many people are at Broceliande already? It seems like a lot, but I don't have a sense of scale. Hundreds? Thousands?

What are bourse materials? You mentioned the bourse earlier, and again now. Are they like...magical resources? Like our spellsilver.

Another thing: Verys said that he'll come with a catalog of magic items for us to look at. Since you'll be working for us now, is there any item you might want? I'm willing to purchase it for you – or ask Verys to take it out of our budget – and let you borrow it for as long as you're with us, if it will help you. You don't need to pick now, but you should think about that so we know what to get you. It should be in the same price range as the items we'd get for ourselves, though – we won't buy you anything too expensive. I'm willing to go higher if it's something that might be useful to us after you've decided to stop working with us for one reason or another."

Elias makes a curious face when Felicia mentions she'd pay for a magic item for Allegra, but he doesn't say anything. He's currently in regular clothes – his plate armor and aketon neatly arranged on the floor beside the bed. He moves to the window and looks outside. He doesn't seem particularly interested in the current conversation.

"Not on its own, no; if you then went to an enemy of the Empire and offered them your services against the Empire, then it would be. Unless you're going to unveil an ability to summon an army to invade from your homeland, I don't think any individual capability that you're not putting at the service of someone else with an army is going to unduly alarm him. He'll be thinking more along the lines of, what does this do to the balance of power and how can it definitely stay in the Empire; his family is much more predisposed to see things as opportunities than threats on the individual level.

They wouldn't want to invite religious trouble, but as long as you seem relatively willing to be circumspect, they certainly won't cause the trouble themselves; that would be entirely counterproductive for them.

I'd expect thousands of people - mostly organised into small military units, maybe a hundred people with an individual leader, or fewer if they're elite units. The leaders will mostly be Anvil-goers, so there will be well over a hundred of them, maybe hundreds. And a lot of hangers on, logistics, people trying to sell people things, people hanging around the edges hoping to hear the news first without actually having to go into danger, that sort of thing.

Bourse materials - are kind of like anti-magic materials, actually? One of their major properties is that magic doesn't affect them as much, which is why you build fortifications out of them, use them to channel the flows of magic where mundane materials would wear out, that kind of thing. Weirwood's one of them - the beautiful trees you see out the window are weirwood trees, although it only retains its properties if it's harvested at the right time for the tree. Then you've got mithril, which I expect you'll see a lot of in Broceliande, it makes an excellent steel alloy that is much lighter and stronger so it's in high demand for weapons and armour; white granite, which is a light and strong building material; and ilium, which is a bit of the odd one out, it is highly attuned to magic and absorbs it very well, you need it to make permanent artefacts and rituals.

It doesn't look much like your description of spellsilver - it's a kind of electrum-coloured, very solid metal - but I suppose it does actually do very similar things, you might be able to use it?

Hmm. I've always wanted a Staff of Life - it might actually be quite useful, it'd let me act as a backup healer and mend limbs as well as do basic healing, and it comes with Purify too. If we're soaking Verys for it we might get a Staff of Imperial Mastery, but as that sounds it's definitely a very expensive item - it lets me cast any spell. I've still only got a fairly small amount of personal mana though - not much call for it out at Foundhome, so I'm out of practice. There are items for that, too."

She nods. That's good – Verys doesn't seem like he'd give them trouble even if she was to open up to him to the same degree as Allegra.

"Our summoning spells can only bring forth one or a few creatures at a time, and, well, my summoning spell failed when I tried it, so he has very little to worry about with regard to us summoning invasion armies. 

Do you know any of the leaders of the groups at Broceliande? Who do we talk to who will be useful to us and won't react badly? Do you have connections there too?

Interesting. We have none of those materials save mithril," Elias suddenly looks in their direction, "and perhaps ilium, as you say. Spellsilver is a silvery-gray soft metal, softer than pure gold. It tarnishes very quickly when exposed to air, and so has to be stored in oil. Even if it was equivalent to spellsilver, I wouldn't be able to use it anyway – I am no magic item crafter, and I am not nearly Intelligent enough to try to rederive our world's magic item crafting theory from scratch.

Staff of Life is good. I might have suggested you get one even if I didn't offer you a magic item, actually, since it's not good to only have one healer in a party. If Elias is injured, I can heal him, but if the reverse occurs, Elias can only do mundane healing on me. He's surprisingly good at it, despite his...aesthetic...but magical healing is instant and guaranteed to work. At least in this case, even if I'm hurt, you can patch me up. It will also save me from having to prepare mundane healing spells and use my slots for other things.

I think that's all the things I have for now. Is there anything else you want to discuss? If not, then we can take a break for late lunch, and then go to Verys in the afternoon, since he should have the catalog ready by then."

"I'm not sure who's going - it's all a bit chaotic. If any of Eleri's lot from Therunin are down there, I'd probably try to meet up with them - they're a bit on the religious side, but generally fairly pragmatic. Otherwise, we might run into some Brackensongs or Splitroots that I recognise? I wouldn't trust them with too much, but I'd expect most Navarr to be more interested in receiving assistance than worrying about the implications.

Part of this is just going to be talking carefully to as many as possible and seeing who might be useful, especially in Conclave or when it comes to securing more of the things you might want to take through the Gate. And getting to retrieve things from Broceliande itself - if we can get our hands on anything of interesting historical value, we can take it to the Printers' Guild and that opens up a lot of possibilities in the League, which is where you'll find most of the finest luxury goods in the Empire, and most of the money.

I might want to see if we can get Verys to cough up something that gives me more personal mana as well - if I'm going to be backup healer, possibly repelling things, and also detecting magic to get a sense of how interesting things are that we might carry back, I'm going to run out pretty quickly."

She briefly wonders whether all Navarri surnames are two words put together, before realizing that 'Eternal' is just one word.

"I might ask him to get two of that, then, to see if it might work for my magic too. There are magic items in my world called pearls of power, which let you cast a spell you already cast in the day. They can only refill one spell per day, and they're rated based on the highest circle of spell they can power. First-circle pearls are relatively cheap, but the price rises quickly as you go up in circle. Is it possible for you to use two of them? If so, then it would be worth getting two to try, and then lending you the second one in case it doesn't work for me.

I don't think I have anything else to ask. Is there some other matter you want to bring up? Otherwise, we can adjourn for now."

"Pearls sound more like mageblood - that's a potion for replenishing personal mana. Something like an apprentice's wand - I know they come in mage armour too, I just can't remember the names - increases the size of your personal mana pool, rather than refilling it. I guess if it did work on you, it'd give you more spell slots? I expect Verys will have a pile of things for you to try on, just in case of interesting interactions like that.

I think that's all we can do for now, unless you want to ask anything else about what we might find in the Broc and what might be useful to you - but Verys will probably answer the latter better than me, I've never dealt heavily in magic items."

"I'll definitely ask Verys about that. And I'll ask my Broc questions when Verys is around, so that the both of you can answer and I only have to ask once." She laughs slightly.

Felicia will get lunch for the Elias and herself, which they'll eat in the bedroom. Then, they'll get dressed to get ready to meet with Verys in the afternoon, waiting at the corridor for Allegra.

Allegra's listening for the sound of them coming out of their room, and joins them quickly; they head off towards Verys' place, Allegra knocks at the door for them again, and they're led carefully by the attendant (who has clearly been briefed not to let anyone get too close to Elias, although not necessarily why) to the nice sitting room to wait for Verys to get back - apparently he'll be a few minutes, as he's still out talking to the last few potential suppliers.

Felicia will sit, but Elias will continue not using the sitting room for its intended purpose and remain standing – sitting in armor isn't that restful. He's going to stand at a far corner of the sitting room to cause the least disruption. Hopefully.

She hopes the suppliers talk only to Verys and not them. She doesn't know any of the magic items available without having seen the catalog yet, and the suppliers might have other questions she'll have to awkwardly deflect.

The attendant offers tea and biscuits, and asks if there's anything else they might like while they're waiting, it shouldn't be long.

Tea! She will accept the tea happily. No, there's nothing else they want while waiting. 

Elias refuses both the tea and the biscuits and instead will start getting antsy, shifting his weight from side to side every couple of rounds. Not quite antsy enough to pace, though – that might cause Aura Drama as well as make clinking noises.

Why is it taking so long?

They're still waiting a few minutes later when the attendant comes back with a tray with two pots of tea - one sweet chestnut and one rooibos - an array of cups and a little pot of sugar cubes.

"I've sent someone to fetch him, but if he's mid negotiation it might be a little while," he apologises.

She glances at Elias for a moment before turning to the attendant.

"I don't mind waiting if it means getting more of this tea," she says with a smile, and adds a sugar cube before drinking.

"Allegra, Verys mentioned earlier that he wouldn't be able to get us any artifacts. We have a concept of 'artifact' back home, but it seems to be a technical term. What distinguishes artifacts from regular magic items?"

"Artefacts last forever. Generally they also do something else weird, although usually it's just that they make you feel a certain way, like hallowed items. Magic items only last a year. To make an artefact you have to use ilium in the construction, which is incredibly expensive - a ring of ilium generally goes for a few thrones, and you need at least ten, and up to, like, fifty or more for the best items."

"Wow, that's really expensive. Our entire thirty throne payout would only be able to purchase a single artifact, then? And one of only middling quality." She looks saddened, then sips the tea, which restores her polite and mildly cheerful expression.

She puts her hand to stomach, then says, "Mm, I just realized I forgot to use the restroom at the hotel. Do you know the way to the restroom here?" She asks the question both to Allegra and the attendant, if they haven't left yet.

"Yes, most people will never even see an artefact; they tend to be bought by whole nations to commemorate specific events, and handed down through the generations. One of the reasons so many people are down in Broceliande is because the area hasn't been accessible for a long time, there might be artefacts there from people who died trying to explore it previously, or even right back from Teruneal before the Vallorn took over the area.

Uh, I have no idea where Verys keeps his toilet, I expect if you start wandering around the corridors someone will very politely intercept you and point you in the right direction."

The attendant, alas, has bustled off somewhere after leaving the tea tray.

She kind of doesn't pay that much attention to Allegra's answer, because she really needs to go to the restroom now. She walks briskly away into the corridors.

Elias was totally listening, though! Looting artifacts from dead bodies – he feels like a real adventurer already.

"We'd definitely be interested in seeing whether we could acquire some artifacts during our expedition. What sort of artifacts are there, and what are their effects? Does your polity, the Navarr, have any artifacts?"

He walks over nearer to Allegra, but deliberately refrains from getting too close.

He adds offhandedly, "Felicia and you have been talking a lot, I notice."

"Anything you can get in a magic item, you can also get in an artefact. Older ones tend to be stranger - Highguard has a quill that can cast Winged Messenger, for instance, which we have no idea how to make any more.

Navarr has at least one - there's a spear, Gerallt's Barb, that gets awarded to someone who wins a contest of fighting and storytelling every year, that was made in honour of the Pride exemplar Gerralt Brackensong - he founded an important cultural event that takes place at Anvil. I think it's the one-handed spear that's good at tripping people over, but I really don't know much about martial magic items - I've always been a magician.

She does seem to talk more than you, yes - I'd be interested to hear what you're looking to get out of all this, I know she's always interested in where she can find the best luxury items to experience or take back with her."

Allegra has taken a seat in a nice armchair; she looks up at Elias politely, but entirely refuses to be intimidated by his obvious attempt at looming.

"Oh, like a shortspear. Very few people in our organization use that weapon.

Yes, talking is her specialty, not mine. I'm not very good at talking, and besides, Felicia is more Wise and Intelligent than I am.

I'm interested in getting magic items. A wizard from my organization would love to learn your spells and rituals, but I have little facility with that. You mentioned that it was possible to use music to spellcast. I'm no good at playing instruments, but I used to sing when I was young. Apparently, I was quite good at it, but I never really practiced since then. 

You must have had quite a storied history to end up as the leader of Foundhome. The founders of our organization likewise went through many trials before they ended up creating our group, and we study it when we enter. We fight demons where we live, but here you fight the Vallorn – you are oathbound to do so, no? Have you fought the Vallorn before?"

Elias remains still and neither moves back nor moves closer. His voice has a muffled quality, since he doesn't have his visor pulled up.

If he's good at spotting reactions, he'll see her eyes narrow slightly at the mention of music and childhood singing, before she catches herself.

"Yes, although through the Gate, rather than overland. As a ritualist I'm often kept at the back for specific investigations and rituals, but I did once save the egregore-host's life from some Arhallogen heralds while we were trying to retrieve a Singing Stone; usually I've been fighting with politics and resourcing and so on rather than direct physical violence, though.

I did a lot more direct fighting when I was younger, but that was in Urizen's army, not with the Navarr."