[Suzerain of Sheol]

"Inheritances... must be earned," the wrinkled man intones. "And you are not ready for the Kingdom. Not yet."

Staring at Na'lsa for a long moment, Mithaias eventually continues, seeing that the creature will not be daunted. "What do you know of the realm you seek to restore? Can you touch the echo of its power? I think not, or you have forgotten how. Heed me, then. I have dreamed of Heaven High, walked their with my spirit, and I have seen. There are things living in the ruins of splendor, swimming the lakes of divine blood. Ever do the parasites come creeping out when the host expires." His eyes on Na'lsa are hard. "As you are now, you cannot but fail. And the same is true for me. Yes! here is the Key to the Kingdom," and he holds out the tome, opening it for them to see. "But Heaven has many, many doors."

And as they look upon his prize, the group realizes that it is no book at all -- it is a vessel, it's holy pages hollowed out, and in the hollow rests a weapon, an antique-looking pistol cast of some dull, nearly black metal. Inlaid in gold over every inch of the gun are devotions and prayers, carved in dead, ancient tongues.

*****

Inside the house, Michael sees little amiss after his capsule takes affect. It is drab, almost spartan in its austerity. If this is Mithaias' dwelling, then the man lives as much like the monk or prophet he affects. The only thing that catches the Artificer's eye is an angled doorway jutting from the floor near the rear, presumably leading into some sort of basement structure -- likely where the theurge keeps his supplies.