Not quite done

JP with Winteroak and Bandorchu

Friar Balvaris stood up. He walked through the door Tar had pointed to Alexis earlier returning a few minutes later with a small wooden veneered box.
He placed it on the table an opened it.

Inside there was a small tusk intricately carved and painted in ochre tones. The artifact was obviously incomplete, a large crack ran down its length as if it had been split in half. A small blue stone that seemed to sparkle like Tar's Hammer head was mounted at its base.

Tar looked at it for a few seconds stopping himself short of touching it with trembling hands.

"Where is the other half?" He asked looking at the Friar.

"At the Keep." Came the reply. "I gifted the other half to the Duke on his arrival at Ostiarium."

Alexis sighed, pushing some wayward strands of hair out of her face.

The freaking Duke. Sure, why not. Nevermind she really would rather face off with another Naylmo than deal with that man. Probably would have a higher chance of success, too.

Even if she was still with the army and had any kind of cordial relations to Stoneshade, - which obviously she had not - she had nothing to offer that could entice the man to part with any of his trinkets. He didn’t really seem to be the charitable kind.

And even if, IF she would consider to try and steal that thing, Pillars damn it all, it would hardly just lie out in the open. Most likely it would be kept somewhere in the Duke’s private area.
Burglary wasn’t really part of her skill set.

Tar finally reached out to grab the artifact feeling it's rough edges against the tip of its fingers.

He didn't know who this Duke was, he had not arrived in Arcadia with them that first year. He quickly wondered why the Hammer had pulled him here and not the Keep and quickly realised it was likely to do with the blue stone.

"I need some paper and some charcoal." He said knowing that Alexis carried some.

"What kind of map is it?" The Friar asked.

“Leading to yet another artefact from what I understand.”
Alexis shrugged to the Friar’s question. Anything more was not her’s to share.

She did however hand over the requested items to Tar.

The man nodded his thanks and set himself the task to copy the gravings on the tusk.
"Not another artifact." Tar replied to Alexis. "The other half of this..." He explained as he started drawing. Not long after he was totally immersed in his work and seemed to have forgotten the others presence.

The Friar beckoned at Alexis to follow him into his study.

The mercenary did follow, anticipating the Friar to have a lot of questions she really didn’t know wether she could answer, let alone should.

The Friar looked at Alexis. Last time her intervention in matters had led to a great evil being eradicated from the city.

"Greyriver, what is this truly about? He is not the same man o remember." The Friar said.

Alexis leaned at the wall and looked at the priest plainly.

“He is not exactly forthcoming with information towards me, either, Friar. There is an artefact that has been divided into at least two parts that he seeks to assemble again. To what end, I don’t think he himself truly knows.”

The Friar listened to her words nodding but Alexis could tell his mind was somewhere else. Maybe if she wanted to know what really happened this was her chance...