username: lady of the willow tree | audio

[aprescoup]

( She has long suffered, her great sigh speaks, every fool that's walked this world. ) ...you took more dead. Why are you like this? You want friends? I buy you friends. Three for five coin pieces, at the market. You are ugly, maybe I pay seven. And you are fools! No one likes you. I pay nine.

Pah! What is your luck? What is my luck? These other clapping seals in their little frills, with their little cakes and their little cups, they are playing their little games. And they come to me with messages. I I have the look of a saint now, who delivers word. How fortunate Karsa is. How grateful.

Look here. Pay attention. ( She spits out the words: ) First come the beggars, the Bessis. What is their puny fire worth now? I breathe hotter each morning. They ask for their captives, to hide their shame. Imagine! You kill, and you kill, and you kill, and then you keep your dead 'allies' like vermin, and it is not good, when you are found out. Who could have thought?

( And softer: ) The others. The Attaryl, for whom speaks the red woman, Vannozza. They want their dead. For burial. Ha! As if she will not use them to say, looooooooooooook! Look what my cousin's good friends! Look. But the witches... these are their dead.

So, talk, choose, and — ( The transmission seems to flicker, her voice first feeble, then doubled, then she shrieks: ) No. No. You do not dare, you do not presume, you do not, you fur-clad pink pig, you do not dare —

( But Karsa falls silent. To a quiet backdrop, broken only by a rhythmic drip, speaks undead Lord Anurr of Sa-Hareth — who has not been seen since arriving in Sa-Hareth. He seems to borrow the voices of multiple men, women and children, never settling on the one: )

H elLo   Li TtlE   FrIenD S. HoW   Ha VE   YoU   Be EN?   GoOD?   Yo U   ArE   Go OD   peOPlE.

Go oD   ThIn Gs   SHOUl D   HaPpE N   T o   GoOd   Peop Le.   And   GoO D   EnDing S   to   Th Ose   Who   HAV e   SuF f e Red   LoN G.

N o?   Y E s.

And   Th E y   havE SuFFer Ed,   ThEse   AtTa ryL.   An D   N oW   ThEY WoU l D   Be   Use D   aGA in?

No.   So   Man Y   BuRNs. So   ManY   WA I Ls.   I heAR   ThE M   FroM   HerE.

GiVE   Them   To   ME.   Th E Y   Will   Be   O U R   BrothER s   In   SA-HARE Th.   Fr E e.

( As quickly as Anurr interrupted, his voice disappears. A long heartbeat's silence. By the time Karsa recovers command of her own transmission sorcery, she is quieter for it, rattled. )

You... that. That disgusting creature. That... well. Well, you heard him, didn't you? You heard him. Tell me what you wish done. You cannot have it all ways. Only one answer.

( ooc: the floor is yours, threadjack away, debate the fate of the six undead claimed in the Bessis tower disaster, plus the three previously weaponised by Wei Wuxian. Characters with 'ownership' of the dead get final say — please state it! All the undead will go to the petitioner with the highest number of votes. Haltham Anurr will not be answering any comments. )

Comments

un: chenqing

[weifinder]

Anurr, who was friendlier when pretending to be Haltham some months back when a number of us first find ourselves in Sa-Hareth. He's an undead lord, just not one of the brothers of Unhalad's, taking over the other citadels across these regions.

[aprescoup]

Ah, look! It is the sty cleaner. He knows the pigs.

[weifinder]

If any of us here since Sa-Hareth don't, we've truly forgotten what shit we've been shoveling.

[un: sprite bulb] voice;

[bearshermark]

In short, no one worth listening to.

[aprescoup]

Here is a good, good boy.

voice;

[reparo]

A bit hard not to hear him, what with the screeching entrance.

voice;

[bearshermark]

A terrible wind, with ill-gotten voices. He's betrayed us once already and Sa-Hareth is by no means free.

voice;

[reparo]

So we ignore that message, then.

[aprescoup]

You always ignore him.

[reparo]

Alright.

[bearshermark]

Yes. Words worth far less than the voices he's borrowed to speak them.

[reparo]

Wait - he's speaking with voices of the undead?

:D :D :D yes

[reparo]

Oh, grand. And I suppose he didn't get that monicker because he's trying to establish a feudal village populated by the risen dead where he is lord, did he?

[weifinder]

Don't consider it trying. He already had, was briefly sidelined, and regained ascendency. It's little wonder he's stirred himself into finding more information and resources away from the cold that birthed him, but handing anything to him deliberately is madness.

[reparo]

I didn't come here to help an evil overlord get more power, to put it mildly. [Not that she knows why she came here, but you know.]

[weifinder]

We are, hah, we are brought here precisely for that purpose. Not for our willingness in this, but it remains the aim. It's on us to ensure that doesn't come to pass.

[reparo]

[a pause.]

So it shouldn't. Pass.

[weifinder]

Shouldn't is a nice sentiment.

Shouldn't isn't strong enough, but yes, it is nice. We do what we can do it does not pass.

[valeas]

You seem well-versed in matters of the spirits.

Do you know of a way to prevent Anurr, or any other for that matter, from being able to take control of someone?

( karsa may be ... karsa, but emilia worries about this happening to her again. and those who were caged in the tower of bessis, they were vulnerable to mind control. even if they come to an agreement on their recent captures, this will remain an issue. )

[weifinder]

It's a problem I could apply myself to, yes. Not to presume I'll find the, or a, solution, but it should... there should be ways that may be more sourced in the world I know to make it work here, joined with how things work here.

You're speaking of Anurr's... harm visited on Karsa?

[valeas]

I do speak of it.

I should've been clearer. I wasn't ... certain what to call it.

[weifinder]

Horrible, terrifying, immense. Karsa would have better words.

I will try. I just won't promise swift or sure results. Karsa, if you're listening, what degree of foolery will you tolerate, if our minds were to meet over this particular transgression?

[aprescoup]

We did not know to prepare. We prepare next time.

[weifinder]

What will that preparation involve?

[valeas]

I understand, and I hope you don't feel pressured to yield any results.

I also realize this is far from my area of expertise, but if may lend you assistance, know that I would offer it. ( it would no longer be the first time she dabbled in a darker pursuit, at least. )