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"You [I]are[/I] reckless," Gerald felt the need to reiterate when Jillian suggested that she did not appear as much so in comparison to this stunt of Crone's. "But I think I've seen enough to tell that you aren't stupid. Don't make me change my mind now; being stupid around this one will cost you much more than just your life."
He had barely even moved a muscle during the conjuration of whatever sort of aspect of the Grand Master this was supposed to be, simply allowing his companion to maneuver behind him and for her to take his arm, and he remained physically inert as the witch released him and came forward anew. Even when he spoke to her he only moved as much as was strictly required of him to do so; he did not even turn his head to look at her as he did so, or shift his gaze in her direction, but simply kept staring stiffly at the apparition on the water. His mouth was dry, and he was afraid that if he ceased to lock his joints into place and freeze his muscles, he would tremble.
Over the course of his life Gerald had had access to a wide variety of literature and research material, and had learned a great deal about many things; science, history, culture and, more than anything, magic. It did not take someone as learned as him to know that the use of Crone's artifact - this so-called "sigil stone" - was not ordinary summoning magic, or in fact summoning magic as technically defined by the authorities at all. Summoning magic required a great deal of sacrifice from the caster, with the price of performing a summoning increasing massively as the entity one desired to conjure came to possess more power. The Grand Master, who was likely the second most powerful being in existence except the Spirits of Union themselves, would take a sacrifice so huge that it would be practically impossible to completely summon him, and even a partial summoning would be enough to kill even someone with magical reserves as vast as those of Crone. It was because of this, the necromancer had read, that the Grand Master had devised several alternative ways to commune with him, all of which dated back to the glory days of the Infernal Empire, before his imprisonment. One particular method of communication, he had read, were some rare enchanted mirrors that allowed the demon to project the reflection of his own nexus-mirror to them, and show the reflection of the recipient mirror on his end, as well as allow sound to pass through the image. Supposedly the Grand Master could even move objects through the mirrors, send lesser servants through them and even manifest small parts of himself through their surface.
The mirrors were ultimately only conduits, however, and while they were doubtlessly useful to the Crimson Dawn, Gerald could not imagine them holding any real power. The Grand Master was still stuck on one side, and his agent on the other. This sigil stone, however... once activated, it had become a conduit of the Grand Master's actual power. It was not just an image being projected here; that artifact was actually channeling part of the deity's sealed-away power here and was using it to manifest this spectral image. He could feel the power even now, emanating from the stone rather than the image produced by it, but frighteningly immense in its scope.
Addressing a demon lord was rarely a good idea at all, but unsealing part of their power was downright foolish. What was Crone thinking?

"He knows who we are already," the warlock pointed out dryly, finally undoing the petrifaction that had gripped him to follow Jillian as she approached the fiend. "And considering that he apparently knows Crone -" [I]Better than we do,[/I] he added mentally, having noted the use of a different name when the demon addressed her, "- he probably also know why he is here, too."
"I do, mostly," the Grand Master confirmed with a shrug, his fiery eyes in the darkness of his hood shifting from Jillian to Gerald, then back again. "I know that you, Jillian, knew wealth before you became a fugitive, and that you were the apprentice of Vincent the witch, who taught you the black magic that cost you your old life, and with which you killed him." His gaze moved back to Gerald. "And I know that you, Gerald, are inflicted with the Withering, but are withstanding it through the application of necromancy, which you learned by feigning intention of joining the Black Tribunal and then betraying them once you'd learned their craft. And I know," he added, his voice assuming a hint of amusement, "the irony of that, considering that if you had become the way you are now much earlier, you could have saved the wife and unborn child that the plague stole from you." He chuckled. "In fact I know a lot more about you two than you do yourselves. Quite interesting things, I might add. About your father, Gerald... and your past, Jillian."
Gerald gritted his teeth and clenched his fists around the firmness of his staff, staring daggers at the demon. The Grand Master had had nothing to gain by revealing these things; he must have done it simply to spite them.
"I also know that since Eliza used my sigil stone to call me here, what you require from me must be very important and difficult to obtain," he continued after several seconds of simply observing the two magi. "And since the sigil stone binds me for as long as it is active, I have no choice but to indulge in conversation with you, lest I have to stay here all day. So what do you want? A cure for the Withering? Because people have asked me for such many times already, and I do not have it."
"We know what the Withering is," Gerald hissed, and he would have sworn that the Ancient One's eyes widened in surprise at this. "We need to know where the demon causing it is so we can stop it."
"Oh my." The visage on the water slowly raised its arms in front of it, then started clapping its slender glove-clad hands. "And you have determined the identity of the culprit behind the Withering too, then?"
"No, merely eliminated you and your servants as a possible source. We suspect Himyth."
The Grand Master chuckled gleefully. "I do know who is causing the Withering and where this entity is," he confirmed, which actually surprised Gerald a little. "So tell me: what will you give in return for this information?"