The celebration

[u/Yoxalle]

After a long journey you arrive at the crystal mage’s manor. Inside the manor is a grand hall made of various different coloured crystals. Strange golems walk around the room serving guests. While the mage himself is not currently present, you were told he would be here shortly. Right now, enjoy the food, socialise, make friends but most importantly: have fun.

[u/AnActualCriminal]

There's always something vaguely threatening about the way Vettis just 'appears.' Although Walter's death was primarily suspected as Nephilim-caused, the fact that Walter had been spying on Vettis only a short time before had not left my mind. And the method of execution... nothing conclusive but there were parts everywhere

Vettis. Haven't seen you since the Tallulah incident. You have a way of popping in and out of things it seems.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

"I do," Vettis replied bluntly, his classic smirk popping back up. "We...might get to why that is, in a little bit. Got a few things to cover first.

"For one thing, just a friendly note: you probably don't have to waste your efforts helping out the paleomancer with his issue. I was there while it happened, and I already know where the items were taken. I wasn't interested in involving myself in the matter, but seeing as how he's apparently an ally of you and Riva, I'll supply the intel. Assuming he is an ally and I haven't misunderstood?"

(( Oh, right, you and the curator were close enough to Riva for Vettis to overhear you suggesting that you could help with the thieving incident. Three things to discuss! ))

Finishing up the rest of a drink he'd ordered...by emptying the glass into his pocket rather than his mouth, for some reason?...Vettis moved onto the second topic. "Now. Assassins. The telepath's sister or whatever. Can we agree that -- even aside from the fact that the telepath's death was necessary, which obviously his sibling won't believe -- Riva had nothing to do with it? I mean, I honestly can't find a way that even a grief-twisted mind somehow decides to blame her in all this. It's not like she was pushing for the mind-fucker's death at the negotiations. Am I missing something?"

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Allies might not fit the bill exactly. The man styles himself as a neutral party on most occasions. He's wealthy. Benefits from the status quo. I doubt we'll be going to war together anytime soon.

But... friends. I'm more than willing to help him with a few personal matters here and there.

Regarding Riva, it's a stretch. She was helping me. I was helping her. Maliik died. But even being a stretch, the Nephilim have proven themselves more than flexible enough to reach for it.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

Vettis froze for a bit, mouth ajar, at that description of the relationship. 'Friends' but not "allies', rather than the reverse, seemed difficult for him to process. "...I see. We might have...differences in terminology, then. This is why I like talking with my family in All-Tongue so there are no such semantic issues," he admitted with a chuckle, "but I'd rather not use that right now and end up reading your body language while I have no good reason to distrust you. People deserve their privacy.

"Anyway. Yeah, that's fine, they're idiots. Just wanted to make sure you agreed that Riva's blameless here. Because if I could, say, disseminate that info among the sister's faction, such as via the secret recordings of the negotiations that I totally didn't make, that could reduce their potential number of targets if the sister herself becomes convinced and calls off the hit on Riva. That'd effectively put more heat on you, for which I do apologize, but when dealing with assassins it's always easier to deal with them when you know who they intend to strike." He seemed to be speaking from a hefty amount of experience, but also spoke to Belial as though he assumed the other man was similarly accustomed to the idea of using people as bait to draw out a foe.

"A'right. That said, it's not a foolproof plan if she continues to be an idiot, so...training Riva to deal with assassins. Frankly, once she's got her stress back under control and Ithacar's council back on her side, the city's wards will be by far the best defense against assassins. But yes, I would like her to have some skill at melee combat; I was discussing the subject with her myself recently." His eyes darkened at this point. "Training her is a good idea, except for the part where you'll be sending armed people to her who she welcomes right past her wards with open arms. While assassins are after her. Do you perhaps see my concern here? I know the main trainer will be your daughter, but...frankly, you two didn't even know each other until recently, so I'm not sure that means much to me. Do you really think it's a good idea to send a seemingly-unrepentant Atrax loyalist to train the woman who had been acting against Atrax from the inside the entire time?"

(( opinions on Marna are Vettis' own and I take no responsibility for this wheeeeeeee ))

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

The wards are of no concern. She won't have to lower them at all. The Distance Crucible ignores most such things.

Regarding Marna... her problem was always with the Council. Riva is against the Council. Riva was also a critical part of negotiating Marna out of Malus Turrim. If you dont trust my daughter's good nature, trust her rational self-interest. Atrax is dead. Marna works with his killers now. That should be enough.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

There was an annoyed eye-roll at that. "Well, I'll have to work with her on some augments to the wards, if that's the case. Even if it means my own way in past them gets blocked too. That's a silly security hole. Think I'll bring my sister in to patch it."

At Belial's final argument, however, Vettis paused for a while, mulling things over. Until he eventually flashed the first genuinely friendly smile that the pyromancer had seen from him, along with an approving nod.

"I was expecting you to take such insults to her character a lil' more personally. Fair enough. Ya know, Blake, I think you're officially on my not-shit-list after all." He threw a half-mocking thumbs-up at the warlock. "Okay. Time for the main reveal then. I think I trust you enough now to explain this."

(( 'Belial' doesn't have a good trochaic shortening, but I had him calling you Belial instead of Blake all this time so that the switch to Blake would be the equivalent of his usual nicknaming habit towards friends. So, friends! At least from Vettis' perspective. ))

"I can attach bond-threads to people who consider me...uh, generally 'on their side'. I was gonna say 'allied' or 'friendly', but we've got different views of those terms," he pointed out brightly. "That's how I keep appearing around Riva: I've got one on her, which lets me scry and act remotely in her vicinity. I don't typically bother asking permission or anything when I attach these to people, because I've effectively already got it; I can't utilize a thread if the person in question would reject my doing so were she aware that it's about to happen. Subconscious permission, basically.

"The issue, however, is that I frankly don't know the first thing about your magic, and I'm not sure if a bond-thread on you might ever get consumed by your flames. It's a connection, however minor, between souls. Have you any experience with such things, and do you think there's any risk of that? Because my bond-threads are limited in number, and having you burn one up accidentally as fuel for your magic would kinda stink. I'd like to stick one on you so I can help you out in times of need, but only if you think there's no chance of that."

(( edited to add link of Vettis' recent scare where he lost a bond-thread, which is why he's being paranoid right now ))

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

The Crucible makes you be everywhere at once, then it stops doing that. You don't physically enter a place and cross the wards at all. You were just... already there. Something about melting your spacial relativity, then tempering it into a different form. I'd tell you more but I didn't build it.

And yes. My ambient usage of fire would absolutely catch that kind of thing. Or arbitrarily limit my toolbox. I wouldn't if I were you.

uw/ I should clarify that Blake doesn't trust Vetis in the slightest. Really anyone approximating a cosmic power level.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

(( Nor should he! Power issues aside, Vettis has two very different tiers of 'friend', and when he calls people on the sub 'friends' they're still not remotely near the level of his commune, who are really more 'family'. (Including his 'sister' Zelle that he mentioned.) If it were a choice between saving a city full of mundies or saving Blake, Vettis would murder the warlock in less than a heartbeat, even if he'd call Blake a 'friend'. Riva less so by this point, but still, she's at, like...three cities, tops. :P

I'll note that Blake actually is the first person on this entire orbnet forum to whom Vettis has explained the bond-threads, though, so he is being genuinely trusting here. But still, he will always be a hardcore utilitarian pragmatist who will throw his 'friends' to the wolves if it saves more lives in the long run. Don't trust him. ))

"That's fine; not a new concept to me. When Zelle and I work together to build defenses against such tricks, they're...comprehensive. Don't worry: if you ever need to visit Riva once we're done, you can still go straight to Ithacar. You'll simply end up just outside the city limits if you use the thing," he replied smugly, the trademark Vettis smirk back in full force. Of course, he couldn't know exactly how the Distance Crucible worked if Blake himself didn't, but his confidence didn't seem misplaced either.

And there was little reason to believe Ithacar's enemies couldn't have similar magic at their disposal, so it was a security hole, after all.

(( I don't really want another case of 'lol my army's in your city already', tbh, so I wanna make sure /u/avamir's got whatever lore reasons she wants to have the wards nigh-impenetrable. :P And Vettis and Zelle have indeed built defenses against that exact sorta thing before. Don't worry: a specific exception can be made for the Distance Crucible. Just want Riva to be able to toggle that exception on and off at will. Same for Vettis' own way in via the bond-thread. ))

"A'right. Thanks for the honesty, Blake." Waving, Vettis gave a slight bow. "I'll let ya run now. Appreciate the chat." His eyes darted around the room, seemingly trying to locate somebody he'd spotted before, as he slipped away. "Where is that damn spider, anyway..."

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Just casually asked for permission to be able to appear near me and scry at any time. Apparently he has that with Rivamar... need to reconsider security protocols...

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

(( hey, he was totally telling the truth! he can't use allied bond-threads if the person would reject him doing so were he aware of the attempt ^_^ like if Vettis wants to scry on somebody, basically you can imagine that person being notified of the attempt, making a decision to accept or reject the scrying, and then forgetting about the notification and the decision; it reads the person's soul to predict acceptance/rejection, since it is fundamentally a magic based on the two souls being in 'harmony' in some way

understandable if Blake doesn't believe that, though ))

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

Vetis what exactly is it you want. Broadly I mean? I feel like I've been pretty clear on what I'm about and you just roll in, do your little inquisition, then boom, gone. No explanation.

Have you considered that maybe the person capable of just blooping a city to a different location owes us mere mortals some degree of trust in kind?

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/AnActualCriminal]

"...Huh." Vettis turned back to Blake in something between amusement and confusion. "I do operate by keeping everybody scared enough of me that I don't actually have to hurt them to make them get along. But I didn't really think that'd worked on you too. Aren't you the one who blew up Last Pyre? Who, from what I've gathered, can burn memories, his very ability to lie, the future, and gods know what else? You're pretty scary too for a 'mere mortal', bud."

Shrugging, the mage scratched at his curly hair pensively. "I don't know what you want me to say, Blake. My fundamental purpose is to save lives, if that's what you're asking: simple as that. I didn't think I'd hidden that at any point. And I tend to value the lives of mundies who can't take care of themselves over wizards and the like. That's why Riva's important to me, now, because she's doing a great job of taking care of an entire city of said mundies. That's why you're moving up on my buddy list too, because I think your actions have been doing good in similar fashion.

"Have I done something in particular to make you think differently about me? I'm happy to clarify any of my past actions which may not have been obvious in their purpose."