”I expected you to outright object to the plan. I even prepared two alternatives,” Casus admitted.
“I am an Inquisitor, even if my direct combat capabilities are on the lower end. If I could not stand against odds like these, I would not qualify for my title. I must admit that I am curious - what were these alternatives of yours?”
“The first one… I shan’t say, it is neither relevant nor interesting. As for the second, I intended to enlist the aid of a particular independent contractor by leveraging personal connections as well as dipping into mine and my sister’s money.”
“Who?”
“An… Unpleasant individual, one I would rather not deal with if I can help it. He recently purged a Hazard Zone and lost the entire payout on collateral damage, including any claims on Archonforged items. His combat capabilities are some of the best out of anyone within my reach, but the strings are wrought of razorwire dipped in corrosive venom…” Casus trailed off for a moment as the mental image of that madman floated up from memory. He banished it, and refocused on Yazata: “Fortunately, you didn’t veto my plan. Thus, there is no need to involve him.”
The part he didn’t mention was that he was afraid of that man. Trying to rope in the man known as "The Cleaner Krait" was about as extreme as trying to get official help from the public-facing church, while posing far greater personal danger for Casus. The one upside was that doing so would allow him to bypass the church bureaucracy. In short, an absolute last resort.
“Speaking of combat capabilities…” Yazata looked sidelong at Casus while zooming in the clay model. “Are you certain this ‘Lady Blackhand’ is qualified? I admit that her track record, assuming it is accurate, would be impressive for a low-ranker, but this is not a matter that can be resolved by a handful of low-rankers, even if you yourself are borderline. Semzar Hashem alone is known to possess a near-cap archetype and a high Third-order voidkey, and we do not know who will be with him. His father’s presence would all but guarantee the failure of this endeavor.”
“Semzar is a fool who lacks the skill to properly make use of the power he has stolen from his hosts. He is no different from some grafted-to-the-gills Kartier brat,” Casus responded, also shifting the clay model. “...Moreover, he fears his father as much as he hates him, doubly so given the current circumstances - you yourself confirmed the truthfulness of Seer’s testimony regarding the Hashem Mafia’s internal political state. Between us and Semzar, Semzar has the greatest personal investment in staying apart from Damrus.”
After a shallow nod of acknowledgement, Yazata interrupted: “But he is likely to be accompanied by individuals who could be a real threat. A threat to you or I, let alone a relatively unknown low-ranker. Make no mistake; I trust your judgment, Aristedes, but I would prefer more than a single man’s testimony.”
Casus didn’t like deception. It went against his nature. But nonetheless, he opened his mouth and spoke: “With all due respect, Inquisitor, I would not bet against Blackhand even if she were stripped of all wards and surrounded by gunmen.”
And Yazata didn’t sense a lie, because there wasn’t one. The feat of deception which took place was not one of spoken words, but of mind; Casus wrenched his own consciousness away from everything Yazata didn’t know that she had a right to know. He forced himself to not think about Blackhand’s status as an unlettered apostle, from the fact he had leveraged his status to secure the option of access to a voidkey beyond her qualifications should she require it. Casus did not have the power or the guile to keep such a requisition quiet should it go through, so he kept it to a possibility rooted in the truth of his recent training. His plan, at this moment, was to bring it up with Blackhand and let her decide, hoping she would make the wise choice. Some part of him genuinely believed that she would somehow manage to secure a Third-order voidkey before then, just to avoid having to put her trust in the church.
They separated after going over the details, with Casus loading the map and the plan of approach onto a memslate before leaving to join up with Blackhand. Yazata would, in the meanwhile, continue interrogating Seer until the time came to rendezvous at the staging point: A randomly-selected safehouse that was close enough to be practical but not the single closest, on the off-chance it was being watched.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city…
The first thing Krahe did, once she was a safe distance from the ferry, was to check that there was in fact a voidkey in the box, and to ping it with an appraisal attempt. The key was in there, but her appraisal washed off it in a manner that suggested her glasses couldn’t appraise it properly for reasons other than anti-appraisal measures, meaning it was most likely Third-order.
Rather than heading straight back to Gashward 94 or any other place she normally frequented, Krahe stopped by a small Zaveshian shrine which she had scoped out beforehand without visiting. It was really more of a church-owned gymnasium with a small shrine as part of the front end. After paying for an hour of use and receiving a disposable timer-talisman, she ducked into one of the showers, taking the time to store the voidkey-sarcophagus in her Kenoma Sack. The container seemed to be designed for such storage, as it came alive when she brought it into the storage rift’s vicinity with the intent to put it in. Some of the symbols lit up with purple light, and the lid shifted slightly, becoming firmly fixed. It even took up far less capacity than it rightly should have, just based on knowing the key was Third-order.
With that out of the way, Krahe did actually make use of the gymnasium, showering once she was done. Only then did she make her way to Garvesh’s, taking a detour to a food cart that she liked on the way there. She wished to let him know that all had gone well, and to confirm that the voidkey was of a standard he had expected from his contact.
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