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

[aprescoup]

Keep it! For the living. Right now, they are like chairs. Or tables.

[funnylittleclown]

Chairs and tables don't have feelings. They don't cry out in pain like those poor creatures we were made to entertain.

[ But what to do about it? There was the question he simply didn't have an answer for right now. Too much was unknown. ]

If only I understood more about the situation...

[aprescoup]

Then, what? No, what?

[funnylittleclown]

Then we could make a better informed decision. As it stands now... I wouldn't hand them over to simply anybody.

[downswing]

How do we shield them?

[funnylittleclown]

You mean to prevent them from using that mental control of theirs? There are methods to block telepathy. I can't say they would work with this species, I've not had the time to properly study them, but it if it did might give us the time to find out more about these people and if anything could be done to help them.

[downswing]

How do we shield them from their pursuers.

[funnylittleclown]

How are their pursuers locating them?

[downswing]

The look of them betrays them.

They cannot be masked. Too wild.

[funnylittleclown]

You don't think they would make a very rambunctious parade troupe?

[ Don't mind him, only being silly for a moment! ]

No, we couldn't have them wearing masks or in fact staying anywhere near living people. They would be too dangerous. Quite obviously we would have to find some where to hide them. There must be an abandoned building, old warehouse or some where in this city where no one goes. Then maybe we could find some way to help. If they weren't being driven mad by the pain they've been kept in maybe they would even be able to speak to us.

[downswing]

Wei Ying and Lily Evans have procured an abandoned home.

Haunted.

[funnylittleclown]

Haunted, really.

[ He ain't afraid of no ghosts. ]

Something like that would be ideal if they would be willing to go along with it.

[downswing]

We may prevail on them.

[funnylittleclown]

And the ones who have taken these prisoners, do you think they would go along with it as well?

[downswing]

Our swords can negotiate cooperation.

[funnylittleclown]

Or we could try talking to them.

[downswing]

You have found success in talk?

[funnylittleclown]

Why yes. People can be very receptive to a good well-reasoned argument.

[ Cut to five minutes later him yelling at some one who won't listen to his advice... ]