Mikkel is delighted to receive Broomi and Brocken

"Ha ha ha ha... I'd say you came to the right place, Confessor Broomi. Please, come inside." The voice from inside sounded almost like an angel's, filled with mirth, intelligence, and a bit of whimsy. It seemed too pretty to be a man's...

As if acted upon by some unseen ****, the marble slab doors began to groan and part, opening inward. The sister and her adopted brother stepped inside with awe clear in their expressions... The workshop was almost as big of a revelation as Brocken's demonic affliction had been to Broomi earlier. The place was filled with all manner of creations. On one side, art: pencil sketches on wide, pinned paper, paintings on easels, magnificent sculptures of marble. On the other, inventions: odd contraptions, things from another century or a world beyond their own, and even a few things strangely familiar. "Look, Brocken!" Broomi urged her brother, shamelessly grabbing a trinket from a display case and holding it in front of her brother's face.

The boy wondered what could possibly be so exciting about a trinket that she'd focus on that rather than the strange statues all over the place, many modeled after odd subject choices like an especially portly woman reclining or a winged demon holding one finger into the air. He squinted for a moment... then adopted Broomi's same expression. "What the fuck, Broomi?! That's my pendant!" Indeed, it seemed that the amulet was very similar to the one he wore, depicting the knight's badge... only, on closer inspection, he realized that it wasn't quite the same. This one pictured the church's cross and heart. "Why does he have one here? I've had that thing since I was a little baby, to hear Mom talk about it..."

The man appeared, descending from the ceiling on a strange rope and pulley system and wearing a broad grin. "I'm sure you two kids have a lot of questions..." The guy's image didn't match a reclusive inventor's... he was startlingly handsome, with curling, light purple hair pulled away from his forehead in a ponytail, except for a single curling lock at his forehead. His eyes were a clear, blue color, smiling with some hint of his other-worldly intelligence. His features were so fair and delicate, they could belong on a woman... And also...

He was completely nude, all except for a gold-colored leaf over his manhood, tightly wrapped by two golden chains circling the circumference of his toned ass. The coverage was barely enough to hide his balls and shaft and surely wouldn't be if he were to become erect... it would simply lift out of place, chained down or not. It did nothing to hide the distinctly purple pubes above his groin. Well, he wasn't quite naked. There was also the harness he was wearing in order to tie himself up to the pulley.

While Broomi stared wide-eyed at the man's nudity, Brocken redirected his attention to the ceiling, marveling at an odd painting the man was working on... it seemed to depict a blond, robed angel dancing with one of the demon lord's stark naked imps. The eccentric creator grinned, repositioning himself to smile into the young man's face. "What do you think? I'm working on something to commemorate these exciting times in Merridan. I call it... 'Geod's Creatures.'"

"It's actually really good," Brocken answered. He didn't appear to be as affected by the guy's nakedness as Broomi was, perhaps because, as a demon, something as supernatural as this weird inventor didn't phase him. "If a little heretical. You're with the church, right? Is it okay to paint shit like this?"

The man's thin lips pulled into a tighter smile, then he shook his head. "No, no. I'm not with the church. Not exactly. You could say I'm with the church as much as I'm with the demon lord. Or the knights. All of the talk of factions is really very narrow-minded and I'd rather not entertain it. There are more exciting mysteries to address..." Mikkel reached out to grab Brocken's pendant, gently caressing it with his thumb. "This is one of my early creations, although I don't suspect I'm the one that gifted it to you, young Brocken. Do you have any recollection of who did?"

The confused young man shook his head with a flop of his matted black hair.

"Ha ha... Well, quite a few of those found their way out of my workshop and into the wild. Someone even started producing knockoffs. I've even heard of a few being sold at market. I shouldn't be surprised." The man patted one hand upon Brocken's shoulder, then crossed both hands behind his back and walked further into the shop. He nodded to some unseen ****, which then shut the door behind all of them. The two would have **** but to watch his uncovered, chain-wrapped bum as he continued to pontificate. "So... You're a demon, huh? Have to say, I've done a lot to help your people here in Merridan, but this is the first time one of you has approached me directly since the start of the knights..."

Brocken wanted to question that remark, but Broomi took the lead on asking the questions. Specifically...