Parcel Post [Day 4, Midafternoon, Expecting]

[Ikkit the Bastard]

He snorted.

"Afraid? No. Fuck 'em."

[Akh Uur Hoon]

"If you say so. Either way, if seeking alternative to them comes up in a conversation, should I suggest contacting you?"

[Ikkit the Bastard]

"If y'would, it'd be appreciated..."

[Akh Uur Hoon]

"Then I will. Alright, I suppose it's time for me to take care of the cadaver. Forgive me, duty calls."

[Ikkit the Bastard]

"Oh, time waits for no one, not even th'dead."

He chuckled, and tipped his hat. Fekt croaked.

"Be seeing you, Akh Uur Hoon."

[/Exit Ikkit]

[Akh Uur Hoon]

She bade him kind farewell, then let the tenser pod float with her to the second floor, where most bodies were processed. There she would look at the cadaver with greater attention, preparing to investigate according to her own unique procedure, starting with arcane interventions in death, then more mundane medical assessment, any suspicious items or marks, and finally - a bite.

[Flession]

His name was Jonn. You can see that in his memory. Apprentice to Rhaunades. He was told to run by his master, so he did. He opened the book, despite his master telling him not to and...fought it. It was so tempting to use it, that feeling is so strong. Maybe do some good with it, unlike his master.

His next thoughts are to the edge, he was going to drop it, let no one else get it. Then a voice appeared in his mind that was not his own. Was it the book's? Do books talk? No....the warning came again, preaching of the balance or something. He ignored it. And once again he was warned for a final time. Rule of Three.

He was almost there. Then a person stepped in front of him holding his hands out with a hood on, but did not speak. The last thing he remembers were the volley of arrows coming at his chest.

It was quick, at least. Not as painful as other deaths you had experienced; the archer was surgical with his aim, as you can tell by the wounds on his torso and frame. Exactly where it needed to hit in end it fast.

[Akh Uur Hoon]

Akh sat back to digest it all.

So, Rhaunades had an apprentice. He had sent him away before he died, with a forbidden tome of power. Unlike Rhaunades, John was tempted into tapping into forbidden knowledge. And likely because of that he was faced by an executioner... with a protocol. The question was - who executed like that? The Harpers came into Akh's mind, but it was a Toril phenomenon, she thought. She searched her memory for any group or faction which executed like that and for these reasons.

[Flession]

((You can roll me a Arcana check on the Balance))

[Akh Uur Hoon]

Deeper pondering may have yielded some interesting options... and more questions. She also thought about the tome itself. Perhaps it carried a will or a procedure of its own, a fate, not being just a passive temptation for the corruptible? The Rule of Three also applied to a chain of misfortunes, Rhaunades, his apprentice, who has the tome now? Was the executioner merely another one in desire of it, just dressing it up in a doctrine, or had the tome slipped into some other hands? And how had it come into Rhaunades' posession in the first place?

MA4. On Balance. Arcana.: 1d20+11 24