Ragnar makes his way to Lepidstadt, in Lastwall, and arranges a teleport to Bhati. More accurately, to ex-Bhati, now a crater with attached ruin. Once there, he has some time to prepare before the Blood Lord arrives, teleporting in from nowhere.

The vampire is tall, pale, and exquisitely stereotypical in appearance, with black silk clothing set with rubies, black hair, dark eyes, and a gentle smile that doesn't reveal his teeth at all. He nods politely to Ragnar, from a distance, and calls out. "Good evening, Sir Ragnar, thank you for agreeing to this meeting. Shall we agree upon a truce for a time, so that we may speak without fear of betrayal?"

Ragnar settles a bolt into Greta's chamber by way of answer, though he keeps the weapon aimed slightly downward and off to the side.

"Sarkash, I presume. I will allow you speak your piece, whatever that may be. Our truce will last the duration of this conversation plus one minute, or until the next sunrise above this crater, and in either case it extends solely to yourself and I. Those are the terms I will give you."

It was always necessary to set strict boundaries when dealing with the enemy. Ragnar wouldn't even be here if he hadn't expected such a demand to come eventually, ever since his encounter with the Nexian sorceress. The only question was what Sarkash thought would suffice as leverage to gain the razor, and how badly he would be disappointed when it proved insufficient.

"And sworn. Now, may I approach so that we do not have to shout?" The vampire waits for an affirmation, then glides closer over the land.

"Good. Now, I want to make one thing very clear. I am here in no official capacity, and will deny that this meeting ever took place, should anyone ask. I have a spell that will ensure our words here are not overheard - several, actually - and a solid alibi for where I was during this time. This is as private as it could reasonably be."

Sarkash waits for that to sink in, then continues, pacing back and forth like an agitated housecat. "I know you have no reason to love me, nor I you. I fully expect we will try to kill each other shortly. But for right now, we have a common interest. Geb...the ghost, not the nation, though the nation will soon follow...has gone mad. Absolutely mad. Delusions of grandeur - he thinks he will displace Nethys, I think - and complete obsession. He's always been obsessive, but in the past, he allowed Arazni and the Blood Lords to govern in his stead, and remained shut away, harming no one with his fixation."

"No longer. He is bent on conquest - of Osirion, perhaps of the world. He won't say why. He is paranoid, as you might have inferred already, and shares nothing with anyone, not even his inner circle. None of us have been able to get through to him, not at all. He is too lost in the madness to listen to anything we say. But you. You have...a history, one might say, of laying ghosts to rest. It's rather your specialty."

He looks you dead in the eye. There's no weight of magic in his own, merely desperation. "Please, stranger. Lay Geb's spirit down. Let him take his long-delayed rest, before he throws the world into cataclysm."

In reply to GM (msg # 3):

Ragnar is silent for a time, then begins to laugh. It's a harsh sound, edged with bitter humor, and when it shakes him enough to begin flickering the displaced echoes harmonize into an otherworldly chorus.

"When you said we would be trying to kill each other, I did not expect you would be trying to convince me to kill myself. Geb is as far beyond me at this moment as I am beyond you, Sarkash. He holds the very top and foremost spot upon the list of beings I mean send to their rightful rest, but to challenge him in any capacity right now would be suicide. Without knowing the anchors that bind his spirit to this world, I can do nothing to him, and you have already admitted neither you nor any of his inner circle know them either."

"Though have you also considered what would come after? I'm sure you envision a new order, where you and your companions hold the reigns of power unimpeded. But you must also have realized that Geb's patronage, along with Arazni, are the only things preventing me from wiping the hideous parody of a nation you inhabit from the face of Golarion. You ask me to banish Geb the ghost, when all that would accomplish is stripping Geb the kingdom of its greatest defender. Without his protection you have only the lich, and she will be a poor shield against me alone, let alone the allies I might bring to my side."

He very pointedly does not look at the massive crater where Bhati once stood, a city as grand as Mechitar before its catastrophic redecoration.

"So find out," the vampire says, somewhat flippantly. "You must have some skill at such things. I know he is obsessed with two things - Nex, and perfection. Some combination must be at play to keep him bound here."

At the threat, though, he sighs, and suddenly looks very much older and very much more mortal than he did a moment ago. "I am aware of your intent, believe me. And yet. Geb turns his attentions to conquest, Ragnar, do you think he will stop with Osirion? I do not. And I do not like our odds against the whole of the world. Nor do I like the thought of what his current obsession will turn our nation into. Better an honest death than to exist under the rule of a tyrannical madman. Besides which, you may find yourself surprised at our resilience, or undone by your own struggles. This is an act of desperation verging on madness, don't mistake it for something else, but it is not an act I take lightly or without thought."

In reply to GM (msg # 5):

"I'm curious, Sarkash, how do you think Geb - either of them, I'm not picky - would fare against Tar-Baphon? I've been told he is awake and active once more, and being concerned about rule under tyrannical madmen might put the Whispering Tyrant on your list of things to worry about as well."

"I rather doubt the nation would pose a serious threat to the Tyrant," Sarkash says, continuing to pace restlessly. "The ghost...well, now, that's the big question, isn't it? Who really was the greatest necromancer of history, Geb or Tar-Baphon? Personally, my money is on Geb if it comes to that. But I doubt it would be a clean victory, or one won without great cost."

"Then you'd best hope I am not undone by my own struggles after all, because he is also on my list, and I can guarantee you and your...people...are on his. I will take your request under advisement, and see if I can fit it into my schedule between the destruction of world-ending behemoths from beyond the memories of time. Be on your way, our conversation is over."

Sarkash bows wordlessly, turns, flickers, and is gone.