“Yes, I can certainly take a more in-depth look,” D’rorah agreed. She was hardly bothered by the idea of what Hel might have done to anyone following her. If they were after this box, their intentions weren’t likely to be any good at all. All the better if she didn’t have to worry about them becoming a problem later, in D’rorah’s opinion.
“Though it occurs to me that some of the people following you, seeking this item out, may have a better idea exactly what it is meant to do. We might try keeping a wary eye out for them from this point forward and see whether we can safely corral one into a position where they might feel compelled to give us some information.”
She sat at a long wooden table and set the box in front of her, testing out the pieces to find the one that would open the box itself. A small gesture of the hand was enough to put a warding field around the object, just in case she pressed something she shouldn’t. “Can you tell me anything else about the man who sent you to get this? How did he seem? What did he look like? Anything might be helpful.”
Helena nodded and huffed in slight irritation at the disturbers: she’d already questioned those that had been following her, before dealing with them for good, yet they appeared to have been but simple minions, a hired help, if anything, tasked with one job -- tailing the woman, mostly. Only one attacked her directly and tried to take away the box, but even he appeared to have been incredibly clueless. If there was any concept in this world she strongly disliked - it was that of a foolish henchman. D’rorah was very much correct on the matter, however, there was no need to give up on the idea that one of them could eventually be useful and potentially lead to whomever was behind all of this.
‘Let’s see,’ she hummed, trying to recall every bit of information she’d had -- which to her own frustration was not nearly enough. ‘This man found me when I was getting my morning coffee, which means he knew my routine and very few people know it. He told me that we had a common witch acquaintance-- I checked with her and she claimed not to know this man-- something that I didn’t get to confront him over, when he didn’t make it to the meeting at the park. He promised me a rare magic book in exchange for a trivial find. I know many people who collect antiques, so I basically just had to make a couple of phone calls, call in a few favours, and make one easy travel. If I were honest, he was over-paying me and gave me more than enough time to find it, I guess. Suppose, he wasn’t in a rush and thought that his life was in no danger but since he didn’t make an appearance, he may have been wrong about that.’ She chuckled and scratched her nose. ‘He was tall, dark, mysterious. I’d say in his late 40s early 50s. He had a beard and was dressed... I want to say: okay, but he did have that mage vibe all mages give off. I can’t really explain, they never really dress enough to blend in with average people no matter how hard they try. Always trinkets on them, the fabric is way nicer, not your cheap knock-off. He had a ruby ring on his index finger and there was a silver chain hanging from his belt, attached to something that was in his pocket, I’m assuming a pocket watch but it could’ve been anything else.’
Carefully, she’d come up closer, but not too close to impose on D’rorah’s personal space as she was working on the little box. Hel fell silent looking over her shoulder and openly dying of curiosity: having spent a lot of time and effort on being careful, operating in the shadows, how was it that she was sought out by someone and dragged into this adventure? This was a whole new level of thrill for her.
