eastbound | [handmaiden of unsheathed swords] voice posted:

Regulus was already curious and looked on with a smirk. He'd also been taken with the books of this place and the strange language written in them. He spent his night by wand-light pouring over the star charts and trying to find the patterns to the characters the language was written in.

That this man liked the books and had (questionable) tea, these were two traits that charmed Regulus.

The armor was off-putting, but by now Regulus had encountered enough swords to not jump out of his skin over such things anymore. He just kept his nerves on the inside.

As for Regulus, well, he looked vaguely like he'd stepped out of the rich half of the late Victorian era. Mostly black, stiff collar, neatly tied tie. The trick to his impeccable cleanliness was magic.

"I don't know anything about a ship, but I've been here a few weeks he said." He walked into the room. "I woke up in a mine, and disoriented, the forest people claimed me for a while until the woman named Karsa noticed me. But I've been here since."

He claimed a seat opposite Darth Imperius.

"Regulus Black."

Imperius gave a sober nod in return, setting down his own tea and leaning over the nearby table to pour Regulus a cup. There wasn't exactly much around here to put in the local tea, particularly considering the limited funds their group was working with, so he simply slid it the other man's way and went to tidy up his stack of papers a bit.

"Well met, Regulus. You may call me Archeval," he introduced himself again. Perhaps the other thing was merely some sort of title -- 'Imperius' might have been an ominous name to adopt in some circles, but given Archeval was speaking some strange language clearly being filtered through the quartz translators, odds that he didn't come from any kind of wizarding background were probably high.

"The ship I speak of was a slaving vessel that came into port here in Sa-Hareth some weeks back." The young man's lip curled a little with a dark look of contempt as he plopped paper on top of paper. "If you weren't involved with that, you may count yourself lucky. We raided and sunk the thing, and some of the captives we rescued were fellow otherworldy refugees who've joined us here. They too were meant to go to Unhalad, as well as some of the cargo -- I expect the setback he suffered there has not helped his odds of holding this territory any, considering the offer he's just made us all today." The last words were delivered in a sardonically amused drawl as Arche nudged his papers to one side, setting down a half-used-up pencil next to them. It looked as though he'd collected quite a few Sa-Hareth writings which were now extensively marked up with arrows and scribbles of unfamiliar glyphs, presumably his own language.

Regulus filed away the information about the man's name and then preferred name to be called. It was interesting, but not what he'd come here to talk about.

And oh, was he curious about the unfamiliar glyphs on the paper that were presumably written by Archeval's own hand. Regulus really did enjoy different languages. And he let that curiosity show on his otherwise still expression as he leaned forward to grab the teacup and got a better glimpse at the symbols, though he didn't ask about them.

Again, not what Regulus was here for.

"Interesting. I, fortunately, missed all that." Not that dying just before arriving here had been a pleasurable walk through a garden path. But the forest people, upon reflection, were just better than showing up on a slaving ship.

"Where do you fall in this discussion about Unhalad's offer?" Offer - a strange way to phrase the threat, but Regulus was rolling with it.

"Mm, I'm of two minds about the whole affair." Archeval gave a thoughtful hum as he sat back in his seat a bit, wrapping his hands around his cup to sip some more tea, though not without a parting nudge of those papers over in Regulus's direction before making himself comfortable. It wasn't like they were private -- another set of eyes to figure out all this local-language material could only be helpful, if anything.

"Unhalad himself can take a nice long walk out a short airlock--" He gave a rude snort. "I would say if we reduce ourselves to parleying and currying favor with the one who dragged us all here in the first place, then we would just as well deserve the fate he had in store for us originally. Anurr, though. He at least seems to be a native of these lands, part of their traditions. If you lived among some of his people for a time, I suppose you've been able to familiarize yourself perhaps?" He quirked a brow in Regulus's direction.

"I don't necessarily relish involving ourselves with either side, but it might be worth considering whether we could use him. Assuming there is truly a need."

Oh boy, someone indulging Regulus' curiosity? He reached for the top sheet of paper and picked it up to review the notes Archeval had made. And Regulus' mind was all the more engaged upon seeing the notes written in different characters from the alphabet. He wanted to ask so many more questions about the notes.

And what was an airlock?

Who was this person? Regulus was now dying to know.

But, again, he was here for a purpose. So he tried to focus.

"I was able to learn a bit. The forest people revere Anurr. He was one of them and became a chieftain a long time ago, who earned his title following his trials. I believe that's the reason for the trials the forest people were engaged in this past week. They firmly believe he led fairly, and his defended them against invaders probably helps with that veneration. Later, he also held his ground against Unhalad, which, again, probably also helped his reputation."

But Regulus couldn't believe the man was wholly good.

"What have you, the group here, been able to learn about Anurr?"

It was probably hard to make out much of use from the paper in Regulus's brief glance, written as it was in two separate and unfamiliar languages. Many of the arrows that went along with Archeval's annotations appeared to be pointing out repeated patterns of letters or phrases in the Sa-Hareth writing, though; perhaps he was simply attempting to break down the grammar and logic of whatever the passage might be saying.

"Mm, sounds as though what you've already learned covers most of my own knowledge," mused Arche over the top of his teacup.

"A warlord who rules this area by tradition, who apparently refuses to stay wholly dead, who inspires... a certain frenzy in his followers. For any further details and local legends, I would say that if you have not already, you should seek out Chen Wang. Amongst our group he seems to have done the most scholarship on the subject." Or so Arche had gathered via hearing his voice around the network, anyway; but he moved right along after that with the only thing he himself had to offer.

"What I can personally say about the man is there are other things in this forest that seem affiliated with him, truly malicious things, and I don't trust them. I'm not one to dismiss a man doing good for his people simply because some can't stomach his methods or his allies--" A brief huff that's not quite a laugh escapes him; if that were the case the first person he'd have to condemn would be himself-- "But in this case... I have a bad feeling about him, and in my discipline we learn to trust such feelings, for they always provide insight."

He takes another sip of tea as he pauses thoughtfully for a moment, giving a little hmm.

"He might truly have the best interest of Sa-Hareth in mind, though I suspect his idea of what is 'best' for them likely does not resemble what our group would agree upon. But as for whether we can trust him farther than we can throw him, well, that seems up for debate. Still. Successful alliances have been made on less."

Regulus hadn't made it any further than Archeval had on cracking the language of Sa-Hareth. Regulus would enjoy asking him, another time, what patterns in the writings he'd discerned so far. Even if it was just for the sake of a puzzle to keep his mind occupied.

"So you'd support allying ourselves with Anurr?" Regulus asked, but not in judgment. If he was forced to choose Unhalad or Anurr, he'd go with the latter, even if he'd rather the option of neither, overall.

"What truly malicious things are affiliated with him?"

"You were apparently out in the forest for a while." Arche set down his teacup with a curious look.

"Did you encounter the voices in the night? I tried to make some investigation of them, and though I didn't turn up much of use... I have the sense that Anurr's forces are either allied with them or would like to be. I don't trust the motives of such beings, inasmuch as they even tend to have any."

Regulus noticed Archeval didn't say yes or no about who he thought they should align with. Which was interesting.

"The forest people are more afraid of the voices at night than it seems most people here at the farmhouse. I tried to ask them - the forest people - where the voices came from, and all I received for an answer was 'the wind'. Same answer for the wolves. But they were very confused by my asking who controls the wind."

"Hmm. I see." Arche took in this information with a thoughtful hum, pausing to consider for a moment.

"Well, that puts a new spin on the matter. I suppose it's no surprise that this harsh environment would produce further restless spirits beyond the control of either faction. Regardless, though -- if you ask me whether I'd support backing Anurr, I would say given our past dealings with him, it would be the better of two bad options." He gave a quiet snort.

"I've no doubt his undead would still slaughter us all if they could get away with it. But between remaining neutral, or backing one of the pair of nuisances, I do think Anurr could perhaps be of use. Though whether we can truly trust in his cooperation after the threat of Unhalad is removed..." A shrug from the Sith as he reached for his tea again.

"As I said before, though. All such alliances come with some risk. But I imagine, with such a uniquely knowledgeable perspective, you must surely have your own thoughts on the subject?" He raised a curious brow over the top of the cup.

Edited 2021-06-15 04:50 (UTC)

Regulus agreed with everything Archeval. Supporting Anurr over Unhalad did seem like the better option.

But Regulus didn’t like the idea of supporting Anurr either.

“I think we should avoid supporting either as much as possible, but I don’t mean to be neutral. I think we could successfully play one against the other.” No surprise there, he liked Winnie’s idea. “Nothing wrong with manipulating your enemies to do your work for you. But, if I had to pick one or the other, Anurr would be my choice.”

[handmaiden of unsheathed swords] voice posted:

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject