He placed it on the desk, sliding it over.
Rieker snatched it up, folding it open and holding it up so both he and Ro could read it quickly.
At first their expressions were focused, eyes flicking back and forth as they scanned the page. Then they quickly grew incredulous, shock spelled out in bold through wide eyes and open mouths.
“...This. Where did you get this.” Ro said, looking at them in open surprise. “The value in this is incalculable.”
“It was part of the bonus for being the first to found an Aspect.” Kaius said plainly, still feeling the sting over the likelihood that similar knowledge had been lost about Legacy skills.
Ro and Rieker seemed to catch on quickly, dissatisfaction marring their features as they looked between him and the page.
“You think there was one for Legacy skills.” Rieker’s words were not a question.
Kaius nodded stiffly, before Ianmus spoke up from his right.
“It would only make sense—the loss is…staggering if it is true, though.”
Rieker grunted, taking a last look at the page before he folded it up and placed it in his breast pocket.
“All of you have earned a great deal of good will with this—you can be sure that this will be spread widely. Though, much like the Honours, I’ll delay sharing it until you are strong enough to survive the acclaim and rewards that will come.” he said.
Kaius nodded, relieved that the guildmaster wasn’t going to rush the process.
“Setting up an information share on Honours won’t be too difficult, but Ro and I will have to start quickly. Thankfully, I’ve still got enough pull with a couple of higher ups that they’ll humour me in building out the infrastructure, as long as you don’t mind me telling them that I’ll be able to share something good in a year or two if they do.” Reiker continued.
Thinking it through, Kaius didn’t see the harm in that much at least. He could only imagine the kind of resources that would have to be mobilised to get such a program underway.
“Will it be shared with all?” Porkchop asked.
An important question, Kaius realised. He could definitely see the benefits of spreading it to every guild member—it would be a massive force multiplier for the growing chaos. On the other hand, that could be dangerous. If everyone pursued the sort of feats Honours required, many reckless delvers would die.
“Aspects, almost certainly—I doubt everyone will be able to ignite them, from the sounds of it it’s quite difficult and few have as much drive as you do. Honours, however, are dangerous. I’d be shocked if the higher ups didn’t make it conditional on guildmaster approval to share—especially for these unclassed Honours, they’d kill overconfident younglings by the thousands. I’m of the mind to keep them secret entirely, for more than one reason.”
Rieker’s words made Kaius confident that they had made the right decision. For him to realise immediately that in many ways Honours were a poison chalice was a credit to his intelligence.
On the other hand, he could easily see a couple of scenarios where a controlled delve might be beneficial. A team of four unclassed loaded to the gills with artefacts and consumables, spending their last year in the depths would have a good shot of acquiring a minor Honour, and perhaps a few Champion related ones—if they had the right Skills and skill, that is.
It was a dilemma though, some would invariably die—and while he didn’t regret his experiences in the slightest, it was a hard thing to stomach.
Rieker hummed, drawing Kaius back out of his thoughts.
“Those Unclassed Honours that you acquired. They point to something. Something large, obvious, and dire.”
Kaius’s stomach dropped.
Rieker gave him a hard look. “I will only say this. We will not discuss it. We will not reference it. I don’t want to know. As far as I'm concerned, the state of the world is due to divine intervention—not the actions of two ludicrously lucky children.”
Ro nodded, equally as severe. “In fact, half of these Honours will not leave this room. Rieker and I know how dangerous it would be for you if these got out—it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots when the pieces are all laid out. I can feel my oath tugging at the very mention of sharing them.”
Kaius sighed in relief, a palpable weight leaving his shoulders. Their role in the phase shift was their greatest risk, but they’d managed to navigate the high waters.
Rieker rapped his knuckles on the table, getting his attention.
“Now, with that out of the way, we can move to more enjoyable topics. Your reward for your missions.”
Kaius smiled, his heart racing at the thought that the next step towards upgrading his sword might just be within arms reach.
Rieker grinned back at him. “Oh yes, there’s plenty to be happy about. Officially, Ro never left Deadacre—so the reward for that whole boggart cull is yours, on top of the fee for the imbued stone seam.”
He reached down under his desk, pulling out a stack of three boxes. Two were made of simple pine, but one was a dark inscribed hardwood, held shut by a bronze latch.
A deep thunk echoed through the room as Rieker set them on the table.
“Who wants to go first?”