"Ah... but I did not say remove..." The elderly gnome smiles, and reaches into his pocket to pull out... a vial of stone dust? "No, there is a difference between removing and killing. And to answer my own question, you can't."<br/><br/>The gnome raises the little vial, for all to see.<br/><br/>"When  Shelyn the Eternal Rose's twin brother, Bau Thoa, left this world in search of power to make him greater than his sister, he met... some<em>thing</em>in the outer planes. Something twisted, and foul... something with powers so ancient that they were able to break and re-shape even a god."<br/><br/>Even if he is briefing you on a mission, Chairo seems to be taking his job as a teller of lore seriously, delivering his tale with a style that court bards everywhere would envy.<br/><br/>"He returned to our world as the Midnight Lord Zon-Kuthon, a god of blood and pain and torture- both of oneself and others. And with him, he brought a gift from his new masters... a mighty glaive, bearing the name "Flayer of Souls." He used this glaive to attack his own blood, slaying his father, and attempting to slay his sister... but eventually, the Eternal Rose managed to subdue him, and wrest the weapon away. As the gods banished Zon-Kuthon, she claimed the glaive as her own... and has wielded it to this day, repressing the dark energies and, by so doing, restraining her brother so that he might walk among the gods once more."<br/><br/>Without warning, the little gnome tosses the vial to Karamel, motioning for her to inspect it and pass it around.<br/><br/>"You'll notice the use of past-tense. Two weeks ago, I began receiving reports... statues of the Goddess began to crumble in strange ways. Her body remained untouched... but depictions of the glaive would crumble to dust overnight." The gnome looks around the room, his eyes meeting everyone else's solemnly. "I have reason to believe that the Goddess is attempting to get our- mortals, that is, not the society- attention... and that the Flayer of Souls is no longer under her guardianship."