The corpse appears to be shielded by some form of magic resistance or be otherwise impossible to get an image of at this point.
Lares frowns.
Hm? Odd. It's not quite that the spell failed - but it didn't succeed, either.
He is puzzled by this, but dare not send anyone over, either, given that he does not understand what is going on.
Just in case, he dispels all of the Tunnels he has ongoing (including to Barshako, etc.) using his formulaic Unravelling the Fabric of Vim, so as to prevent anyone casting back at him over these.
Although he dispelled the Tunnels, he keeps all of the Arcane Connections he has, including to Argentius and the pebble he gave with him, as well as Barshako.
After this, he gets back to his labwork.
A couple of months later, shortly before summer, Argentius returns, looking much like he did lying in the desert though significantly less hydrated.
A figure walks slowly and deliberately along the southern approach to Al Kufra, pausing occasionally to look back toward the endless desert or to look upward toward the mountains. The desert traveler holds a walking stick of some sort in the right hand. The figure is covered in a hooded outer robe, typical of anyone journeying in the dry and desert region.
As the figure approaches what some might recognize as the perimeter of the Aegis surrounding Al Kufra, the figure stops and considers for a moment, a hand sliding into a pocket. The figure looks down at something in held in the hand, a token of some kind. The walker then clenches the sun-darkened fist around the token and slowly walks forward as if testing or sensing the wards of the Aegis of the Hearth.
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note: the magi would not have tokens for the aegis since they participated in the spell- and yes that does still include Argentius.
Once the figure is past the Aegis boundary, he walks toward whatever gate is nearest to Argentius's sanctum. Once there, the figure approaches the most senior guard.
"Send for Master Lares at once."
The figure then steps into the shadows at the gate.
The covenant is guarded as a pass rathr than with a gate, but the senior guard pauses and turns to the junior guard, telling him to go. Minutes later Lares hears a knock at his sanctum door.
In the interim, Lares has been keeping tabs on the murderers and their families by listening in on their conversations over the arcane connections every now and then. His main motive is to ensure that they are, indeed, moving on with their lives and not plotting revenge or similar.
Lares receives the guard's news of a visitor with a worried frown.
How did they find us? Was Barshako too loose-lipped with the Sudanese after all? Did I miss something?
He hurries to meet the visitor at the pass. He is wearing his usual loose-fitting robes - it seems he is still donning the clothes of his former self, not having gotten around to replacing them.
"Welcome, visitor. I am Lares. May I ask you how you located us? We are rather secluded, after all."
After Lares' words of greeting, the figure reaches up and slides back the hood of his cloak. It is Argentius. The artificer is thinner, his skin deeply sun-darkened, other-worldly, desiccated like a medjool date. His beauty remains, though it too has transformed, more like a storm in the desert than the promise of an oasis.
When he speaks, his words are low, his voice still smooth and controlled, but with an edge, a hit of menace, of anger.
"Lares. Where is Barshako?"
Lares recoils in surprise and blurts out:
"...Argentius? I... I don't know, she fled after your... death?"
He regains some of his composure.
"Wait. Before we continue, I must ask you something. A while back, I told you I woke up hugging something when my circle ward broke. What was it?"
(OOC The answer is here, in case you forgot: Investigations - #202 by Seon )
"The deer carcass?" answers Argentius quietly, the rasp of wind-driven sand.
"Hold on… How did you know I was … dead? Did the traitors return here?"
"Yes, that's right."
Lares cocks his head ad squints his eyes, examining Argentius' face.
"Amazing."
He gazes at the presumably-terrified guards from the corner of his eye.
"Let's continue this discussion somewhere more private. Put on that hood."
Lares leads Argentius to the kitchen adjacent to his laboratory and pulls out two seats, peeking out of the door to make sure there's no one else around.
"Yes, the grogs did return, though without Barshako. I had to make everyone accept what they had done, so I put an an honesty spell on one and had him recite the whole thing."
He examines Argentius again.
"They all thought you were dead, though. You were dead, I checked! What happened?"
Argentius sits down slowly before easing into the seat, some of the tension in his body melting away into the chair.
"They betrayed me. She betrayed me."
His voice is low again, angry tones still there. The artificer takes a deep breath, releasing it in a hiss before speaking.
"She set up my death and this rebellion against Al Kufra, Lares. Barshako. She fomented betrayal among the Berbers," says Argentius. "They stabbed me with spears, Lares. Spears!"
Argentius pulls up the sleeves of his robes, revealing an open, red, unhealed though not bleeding, wound along his upper arm.
"Did you execute the traitors who came back?"
Lares closes his eyes and rubs his forehead.
"She did - and I should have realized she would! She hated us for imprisoning her, and I knew it. But I hoped she was coming around. I thought she was starting to see why it was necessary."
He grunts in despair.
"I will never be so naive again. Trust must be complemented by control."
Lares looks Argentius' wounds over with an expression of disgust. He hesitates briefly before answering.
"I did not. I erased the location of the covenant from their memories, confiscated their property and banished them."
Argentius looks at Lares, tension in his jaw. "You banished them? They murdered me, Lares! Killed me!"
"Yes. Their actions remain inexcusable. And I accept your anger,"
He sighs, rubbing his forehead.
"but I simply tried looking at it from the perspective of the covenant.
Lares makes a wide circle with his arm, leaning in and speaking quietly to ensure no one overhears.
"Just consider the trouble that would have followed had I executed them. The Berbers, who were already rebellious, would have seen the punishment as excessive and a further grounds for casting away the yoke that is us. It would have fuelled their foolish barbarian dreams of a leisurely existence as independent warrior-kings taxing slavenly Cathar farmers."
He looks Argentius in the eye.
"What is worse, we would have had five families of warriors harboring literal blood feuds. Just imagine how the murderers' sons would have felt about us - would you want one of them for a shield grog, hmm? We would never have slept another night in peace. In the end, pitchforks sting just as bad as spells. You saw it yourself."
Lares sighs.
"And whatever plot the Berbers had tried next, it would have driven an even greater wedge between the Berbers and the rest of the covenant. Further resentment, further revenge, further chaos."
He raises a hand in anticiption of Argentius' counterarguments.
"In banishing them, we got rid of the problem forever. We did not further antagonize the Berbers. Many members of the murderers' families went with them voluntarily, probably ridding us of some of the more rebellious elements. Yet being cast out into the desert without a penny to your name is still punishment enough to deter most, and to somewhat sate others' hunger for justice or vengeance."
He looks down abashedly.
"And besides, you know me. I am no executioner. I admit to feeling a desire for revenge, like you, but I just could not kill for it."
Argentius listens to Lares, letting the man's words wash over him, through him, calm him. When Lares grows quiet again, the dark artificer nods slowly.
"Very true, Lares. The headsman's axe isn't your tool of choice." He looks off toward the south.
"I'll have my vengeance. Make no mistake."
Argentius looks back toward Lares. "You were wise in how you handled this. The balance here at Al Kufra is still too precarious, too fragile. We need to continue down the path that we're on to shore up where we are weak. Hopefully our sodales are making progress on finding one of these perfectii. That will stabilize the Cathars. The Berbers will need to be watched carefully. The Arabs… We need to understand their position better as well."
The artificer touches a ring on his finger. "My innocence is gone, Lares. My naivete died in that betrayal along with… What I was." Argentius twists the plain gold ring on his finger. "One doesn't go through that without being changed."
Lares seems relieved at Argentius' response.
"Far be it from me to stand in the way of your revenge."
Lares squints slightly.
"What are you now, then? Is that some kind of a Divine intervention or spell or what? Apologies for imposing, but I really need to know. And we need to think about what to tell the covenfolk. After all, the guards just saw walking the man whose murderers we punished."
Argentius considers Lares question for a few moments, looking intently at the other magus. He then speaks carefully, formally.
"Lares, I call upon your Oath of Covenant and our binding commitment to each other through that solemn and binding oath. I need you to trust me, and I need to trust you," says the dark artificer. "Can I continue to trust you with my life?"
"I need to know because I need your wisdom now more than ever, my friend."
Lares chuckles slightly.
"Well, if I ever had any doubts about whether it was really you, then that high-minded stuff about solemn and binding oaths has me convinced. So yes, you can. What happened? How can I help?"