This time, the Civic Minister decided that the group’s news was worth alerting Ioun about directly, and so she dispatched a manservant to summon him. Thus, Velendo, Nolin, and Agar have settled down to wait in the comfortable meeting chamber. Three times in this magical iron tower, all through the same door, and they hadn’t ever been in the same room twice! In the three years since the Defenders had saved him from time stasis and effectively brought him back to life, Archmage Congenio Ioun has built himself a small empire in the war-torn western plains, but he doesn’t seem to be a very hands-on leader; otherwise, it’s more likely that he would be inspecting armies or surrounding himself with flouncing sycophants instead of isolating himself in a hard-to-reach tower.
Most emperors would demand that visitors enter their throne room in the midst of much pomp and circumstance. Not Ioun. He silently
teleports into the meeting chamber, suddenly appearing in his throne-like chair as if he had been sitting there all along. “It’s pleasurable to see you again after these three years,” he remarks dryly. He’s aged a bit; there are more wrinkles around his colorless eyes, and his pale hair seems a bit thinner. More than a dozen
ioun stones orbit his head, and to Agar’s magically enhanced vision, the Archmage is surrounded with crawling enchantments that shimmer around his body.
Velendo starts things off. “Thank you for seeing us. I know how busy you must be.”
“Indeed. But I owe you a debt that has not yet been repaid.” He coughs dryly, politely. “What concerns you?”
Velendo and Nolin explain what they’ve learned about Sir Aleax, using the politest of diplomatic language: that there seems to be a divination block, that
communes from several churches have pointed to inconsistencies, that the army led by Aleax may be misguided or more vulnerable than it at first appears. They do not share any of the conclusions that they have drawn from this, just the bare facts.
Ioun leans back in his throne and eyes them. “And what would you have me do with this information?”
The Defenders exchange worried glances before Velendo answers. “We make no recommendations and have no suggestions, Sir. We merely thought that you would wish to see for yourself the results of our
communes, and draw your own opinions.”
The Emperor raises one eyebrow. “But surely…. Smoketallow, Benholm. Your opinions, please. What would you do if you were in my throne and were presented this information?”
More worried glances. “No opinions, Sir. You know the state of the church of Aeos, and the state of the armies, better than we do. We simply wished you to have this for planning purposes.”
Ioun steeples his fingers in front of them and regards them drily. “I see. This information is appreciated. At worst, I have a double agent in charge of my armies who is leading them into ruin. At best, someone appears to be trying to play me for a fool, confounding my own divinations on the matter.” He taps his fingers together, a minor gesture which Nolin senses is hiding his extreme irritation. “Irksome.”
Suddenly, Ioun is on his feet with his purple robes billowing, although no one really saw him stand up. “We had promised you aid if we could spare it. We can't, but you deserve it nevertheless. I have several items – an ioun stone that increases your wisdom, one that creates a deflective force around your body, a few other tactical aids – which you are welcome to. They were crafted by me, and with luck they should serve you well.
“Now, I will bid you good day, as you have introduced an added level of complexity into my strategies that I need to account for. Please help yourself to food and drink," he gestures at a sideboard that instantly becomes laden with a seven course meal, "and take rest if you need it before you depart.” And with one last look at the group, he smiles slightly, nods, and disappears.
An hour later, full of ancient wine and delicious fruits and freshly roasted meat, the group sets off in
wind walk form back to their rendezvous point. One major power group formed… two to go. Nolin voices what everyone is thinking.
“I wonder how the others are doing?”
- Note: as far as I know, Sagiro went into this meeting with Ioun expecting to ask him to contact the church of Aeos and personally ask for them to perform divinations about both Aleax and a “Aeosian historical figure currently active in the church,” in the hopes that the church would also get contradictory results. I believe that he was also going to ask Ioun to push for an Aeosian miracle to dispel the divination block. However, this didn’t happen! I’m still not sure why.
As far as I know, something very interesting happened when I left the game for ten minutes to talk to my sister on the phone. No one will tell me what their conversation was about, but they all looked horrified when I came back to the game. They all shut up, too, afraid of making a gratuitous Rule One violation. Nevertheless, I think their chain of logic went like this:
a. A spell that could block divine divinations is more powerful than any we’ve ever heard of.
b. As far as we know, Ioun is the most powerful spellcaster alive today. He might be able to craft such a spell, if he had a reason to.
b-1. He has a reason to. If the Aeosian army went to attack the ghouls instead of the Necromancer Kings, that would leave Ioun’s new empire without a trained and capable force that is both willing and able to wipe out the threat to his borders once and for all.
c. Ioun has a history of making short-sighted choices that seem to be a great idea at the time, but which may create new problems.
Conclusion. It isn’t inconceivable that Ioun engineered the divination block for his own purposes, either purposefully or inadvertently aiding the ghouls in the process. We ought to be very, very careful.
That’s what I think they discussed, but no one will tell me. This is just guess-work on my part, which may or may not be accurate (and which may or may not be correct.) Interesting theory, eh?
To be continued!
Works for me!
