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A few at the table were staring at him with wide-eyes, Hector noticed.

'You're covered in blood,' said Garovel privately.

Ah. That made more sense.

This new armor had certainly done its job better than Hector ever could have hoped for, but even so, if he hadn't been undead, he likely would've ended up no more than canned meat by the time that fight had concluded.

But he could worry about that later.

Hector held up the iron box holding the captured reaper. "This is Grigozo. He was the reaper to Banda Toro, whose empty husk is over there." He motioned toward the much larger box behind him. "Grigozo has surrendered and offered to tell us all he knows of Abolish or anything else. I was thinking of letting Hahl Saqqaf take the first crack at him, while I get some rest."

Raheem perked up on the other side of the table. "A generous offer, Lord. Thank you."

Something tickled the back of Hector's mind, though. A thought or feeling that he couldn't quite recall but that still prompted him to say something more. "He is still my prisoner, however. I will be upset if I find out later that he has been mistreated. Is that clear?"

Raheem settled back down a little, then looked toward Abbas.

"It is," said the Sunsmith, his expression unreadable beneath his armor.

"I'm sure Grigozo is still exhausted from the fight himself, so if he needs time to rest, then that's fine. I think we can afford to have some patience, now."

"Very well," said Abbas. "And why have you brought Banda's body back with you?"

"In case someone wanted to study it," said Hector. "Your hahl is free to take first crack at that, too. In fact, now may be your best chance while most of the Rainlords are away."

"Hmm." Abbas took a step toward Banda. "This fellow was like Bloodeye, yes?"

"Yeah. I figured that might interest you."

"Interest may be a strong word. But if nothing else, I suppose I should take a look at his remains so that we might be better prepared to fight more of their ilk."

Hector looked toward Raheem again. "Would you mind taking Grigozo off my hands?"

"Not at all, Lord." Raheem stood and came over to do exactly so. "Where am I to take him?"

"The West Hall in the Star Tower should be fine. You can introduce him to Ericoros, if you want, but have some other reapers present, please."

The man returned a firm nod. "As you say, Lord." And he was off.

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Raheem Saqqaf was Abbas' eldest son. His square jawline might've at first given the impression that he was a stern, no-nonsense type of man, but Hector had come to know that he was actually quite tender-hearted, which perhaps explained the softness in his eyes--and why he was the first one to approach and ask after Hector's well-being.

Hector was still struggling to learn all the other names. Abbas had so many sons and grandsons that it was hard to keep track. He was glad they were all here, though, because it meant that Warrenhold had ample protection while he'd been away.

When he finally met up with Abbas himself, the man of course had questions for him, but Hector just wanted to know that everyone was safe, first.

"They are, indeed," said the Sunsmith as they arrived in the East Hall, the largest chamber in the Entry Tower. The man was in his own armor, which was quite a bit bulkier than Hector's, making it more of a task to navigate these narrow staircases. He made do, though. "All have been accounted for. And it would seem you have already taken care of the battle for us. I feel a bit silly now for worrying so much."

Hector exhaled a heavy breath. "I'd say you were worried just the right amount. That fight was no picnic."

"Ah... in that case, I apologize for not arriving more swiftly." Abbas had been in turns eyeing the boxed-up husk and also Hector himself. "New armor? When and where did you come by this?"

"That's, uh... I'm not entirely sure how to answer that, actually..." Hector took a seat at a large table, and everyone else began following suit, save Abbas. He heard his poor chair groan under his sudden weight, then he decided he might be better off standing, after all.

Which apparently made everyone uncertain about whether they should sit or stand back up to, too.

Aw, shit. Uh. "Er, no, please sit, everyone." The awkwardness permeated the room, but they listened.

Hector removed his helmet. He had a little trouble getting it off at first, but it came free. He didn't want to just dematerialize it, in the hopefully off-chance that he wouldn't be able to rematerialize it again. He planned to have Abbas examine it later, but first things needed to come first. He looked toward Badat Saqqaf, the youngest of Abbas' great grandsons--or, probably the youngest, Hector thought. "Would you mind running to the Tower of Night and telling everyone it's safe to come out?"

The fully-robed boy gave a furious nod and bolted off, disappearing down the staircase on the far side of the room.

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Hector had to wonder if that was really true. Sure would've been nice if it was, but his natural pessimism made it all but impossible to believe it. And while he didn't know much about Bloodeye, the guy didn't seem like the type to let things go. "You really think he'll give up just like that? I was under the impression that he wants the Sunsmith's head really badly."

'Oh, he does,' said Grigozo. 'You are certainly not mistaken about that. But even with the victory at Uego, the situation in Sair is still tenuous. If that country slips away from Abolish's grasp, much of the blame will fall upon him. A loss here, to you, will not likely affect his reputation much, but a loss there would be devastating.'

Hmm. When he put it like that, Hector was abruptly tempted to march over there and start raising hell. If most of the Rainlords weren't still in Vantalay, then he would've been more than just tempted.

The conversation didn't last much longer from there, as Grigozo's tone began to quickly sound more haggard and less focused. Perhaps the reaper was just faking it in order to persuade them to let him rest, but judging by Grigozo's visibly trembling form, Hector doubted it. He didn't have trouble believing that the exhaustion was simply catching up to the reaper now that the question of his immediate survival had been answered.

And so, they headed back to Warrenhold.

Banda Toro's ashen husk was not left behind, either. Maybe it wasn't appropriate to take his body with them, but leaving him there in the middle of an open field seemed pretty weird, too. Whether or not they would grant him a proper burial was also a lingering question in Hector's mind, but at the very least, he figured that some of their people might want to study his remains in order to learn more about this mysterious "Chaos form," as Grigozo called it.

He expected Garovel to finally give him a piece of his mind on the way back, but the reaper merely remained quiet the whole time. Granted, it wasn't actually that far, so maybe Garovel was just waiting until they had more time and privacy.

But there was quite a bit to do before they would have that, it seemed.

Because Hahl Saqqaf had arrived in force while he was away. A couple of Abbas' sons met up with them before they even landed and began asking about the situation, as well as everyone's condition. Hector could sense Pauline lingering nearby, too.