audio | username: saviour of a hundred nights

[aprescoup]

Good day, good day. My friends, the friends of my friend, my travellers. We have journeyed together days and a nights, days! And nights.

And though many would say, Mazyar, how do you steal! Steal, like babes from the mother's teat, how do you take a convoy, dozens of men and women, beautiful, beautiful women, and the men are strapping, and the goats are good! They give us milk. And the horses are pleasing. And how do you thieve all this great offering, Mazyar, and you carry it on your feeble back, all through the customs, past the officers, past the paper-men, past the checks, past the dead! How do you do all this, Mazyar, how great is your wisdom, you, who are industrious like a god and cunning like a fox? Mazyar! Mazyar! You are a hero of stories, a thief of a thousand and one nights!

( He finally... remembers to breathe. ) But do not applaud me! Friends. Friends. I only do my duty. With greatness and ability and skill, but I only do my humble, humble duty. I take you to Taravast. But you must help me, yes? In this small thing, small, small thing, you will not notice. Just... a few guidelines, as we cross the Stairs of Sighs. For all our safety, yes? Small... small things. I ask so little! You will not notice.

A few rules — no, we are friends. A few... encouragements.

The first: you may have noticed, the... company. Of Lord Arha, who joins us in his... chivalry to escort us. Very kind! Very wonderful. Very... but you know already. Do not speak it, or else your tongue ties and your words fail a day and a night. And you upset him. There is talk... it is good, never make Lord Arha upset. Why? He is a prince, why upset princes. Royal blood, ah? Their tempers.

The second: do not make noise or sudden movement, if you can help it. There are snakes, and snakes here are vicious. And there are other creatures from the sky, and I know! I know. 'Mazyar, you! You cannot be afraid!' And I am not... but we have fowl, we have animals, and they steal. Disgusting things, they are. Careful with their claws and their beaks and their dark flesh-blood. It pools, and sometimes it burns the touch. In fact... if you are without work, and you want some coin... and I have it! I am a generous man.

Collect the tar from infected pools we pass by, in our great water barrels. We take it with us, and the schools of Taravast pay well after. The same for snakes, for exotics. The venom sells well. And if you capture a harpy... o-hoooo. My friends, gold as you cannot imagine. Not to mention, the many treasures they say lie buried in lost temple grounds.

The third ru — encouragement: mind the road down the old canyon. It is stone, yes? Only stone. But stone crumbles, the cliff-side erodes, you slip. And the walls... do not travel by them alone. Dozens of men disappeared inside the walls, never to be seen, and they say! They say. It is only a pathway to the realm of Death herself!

The fourth: our other companions. Some are from Sa-Hareth. Some... you do not ask. We are private people. I have a reputation, 'Mazyar the Humble,' 'Mazyar the Discreet.' We are not inconvenient. Some of them who left Sa-Hareth, besides... did it because Anurr was — an unfortunate development. And who helped depose their little friend, Unhalad? Aaaaaaahhhhhhh. Shhh, better we do not talk about politics, see?

The fifth: ...whoever shared the feeding before? The one that turned stomachs? You do not cook again. I! I, of course, being a man of great strength suffered nothing. But others... there were complaints. Even Lord Arha... as I said. Noble temperaments.

The sixth: the Lady Hatisse. I speak her name once, and that will be all. I do not want talk of witches in my caravan. No politics, no witches.

It is good to have you, all of you. And we will make such memories together. Please, do not thank me. I am humbled to have saved you.

( ooc: threadjack away! Feel free to take up any of the small quests Mazyar has mentioned: capturing snakes, harpies, or collecting tar from the various ponds infected with dark water. You can drop off any questions or handle OOC planning amongst yourselves here. As for temple treasure raiding... )

Comments

un: deft hand of little deaths [Voice]

[scrapgege]

I'm really sorry! I don't really know why people got so sick, it didn't do anything to me?

But if you don't want me to help with that, I won't. I can catch snakes instead.

audio

[aprescoup]

You! You... the skies had many plans for you. And mother Dirt gave you shape for some things. But it was not cook. All right?

[scrapgege]

Yes, yes! I understand! I won't do it again!

But what should I do for food then? I mean, I can cook only for myself if it's a problem for others.....

Or I guess I can just not eat if it's too much trouble.

[aprescoup]

No! No... you eat. You eat. I do not want a corpse.

[topoiran]

Master Mazyar, I would wish to ask - if the venom can be collected without the capturing of snakes itself, and they will for the most part stay out of our way, will the sale of the venom enough be profitable enough that the capture of snakes is ... unnecessary?

[ ... listen... he will heed the warnings, but the snakes didn't ask for people to go into their territory and capture them! ]

[aprescoup]

You understand, don't you? The venom, you only sell once. But the snake produces it again and again.

[topoiran]

Ah, but up to a point, only. People who keep a snake as a curiosity are not too likely to care for that snake properly, and that will severely limit the duration of renewed supply of venom.

Though I suppose I can ask if some of them are curious about going, since they will likely be kept warm at the very least.

un: lady love of a thousand poets; voice

[thehoneybadger]

Snake-handling, got it. How much coin're we talkin' about here?

Also, just how hard is it to catch a harpy? Asking for a friend.

[aprescoup]

For a snake, a good snake? Ooooh, a thousand coins?

The harpies... I do not advise you do it alone, although, a man like Mazyar, in his youth, he would have — I would have easily.

[thehoneybadger]

Oh yeah? You think I can't do it 'cause I'm a girl? Buddy, I've wrestled demons and zombies and a really nasty raccoon one time.

un: minstrel of precious purred trills

[plentystrong]

[ Sent from inside the creepy cave: ]

Oh, and you tell us that now?

[aprescoup]

Is it too late?

[plentystrong]

What do you think, idiot?

un: lady love of a thousand poets; voice

[thehoneybadger]

[rachel just spoke to mazyar and has an.......idea.]

Anyone wanna hunt some snakes and harpies with me? We can split the gold.

un: fishcious rumors; voice

[royal_venant]

Snakes or harpies, I can help with either. Or both.

un: azure stream

[jeoha]

It seems hunting has become my make shift profession. I will join you, if you so wish.

[scrapgege]

I can catch snakes!

[Since he's... not allowed to cook anymore, let him be helpful in other ways.]

[Voice]

[unswervingcompanion]

[This man reminds him of Prince Faris in a way and Sylvando (Norberto) at other times. Still he can't help but ask. And lucky for the knight, the Luminary helped him learn the technology here.]

You mention snakes and other creatures from the sky attacking the livestock. You also mention coin and then mention tar and snakes. Surely it would be easier to cut them down to save both the livestock and the people that are travelling?

[He's a knight, forgive the simple thinking here.]

[aprescoup]

Of course, of course! For the people, the travellers. But my great friend, my good mind of enlightenment, though I see you are far less experienced than Mazyar himself, the doctors use venoms, you see? And the schools of magic. It pleases them more to be resourced.

[unswervingcompanion]

[Doctors using venoms. Why was that making Jasper come to his mind now? He shook his head as if to shake it off and focused on the man in front of him.]

How does one use a snake's venom to cure anything or become useful?

[Medicine, snakes. These things were beyond him at the moment.]

un: sect leader jiang

[consignation]

Not 'Mazyar the Succinct', clearly.

Lan Wangji, if you're alive, speak up.

[aprescoup]

My friend, why would I hold from you the detail of my vast wisdom?

[consignation]

You lost me after the first self-fellating tangent.

username: absterge

[downswing]

Spoken.

[consignation]

[ WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS ]

Sounds like there's hunting to do. Same as usual?

[ 老规矩？He's just trying to sound cool, asking Wangji out for a night of fun like back during the war. And by fun we mean fun for these two, which means being dutiful and responsible while having really excellent hair. ]