audio | username: raven master

[pulvisetumbra]

( Some might recognise the calm, glacial voice. Others might despise it. ) Good afternoon. For those whose acquaintance I have failed to make already: I am the Merchant.

It seems several of you have misunderstood your remit. You were sent to the ruins of Ellethia to grasp the stakes of our enterprise, and why your role in ensuring there is no repetition of this catastrophe is critical. You were assigned in hopes that next you are told those who willingly inflict the dead upon innocents deserve retaliation, you will heed your instruction.

Instead, you have opted to meddle. It is in your natures. I have come to accept it. But there are lines that should not be crossed — ones you have trampled with impunity.

( A pause, while he collects himself. ) Our associate Enam informs me that you have taken it upon yourselves to terminate the lives of the... sleeping tower dwellers. without cause, remit or invitation. Perhaps slaughter is commonplace in your homelands. I have clearly miscalculated your appetite for bloodshed.

No matter. You have killed good men and women. Ensure that you dispose of their bodies at sea, before the cycles of the land inevitably wake them. I trust, seeing as you had no qualms in ending their lives, you will be equal to the task of disposing them.

I expect our friend Zenobius will now have to seek out an alternative to his life's work. A pity.

( Silence, as if the Merchant might have neglected to end his communication. When he speaks, it's deeper, forcibly collected: ) Should that happen, seek out stored supplies, forage and maintain the wells. Your ship arrives within days. I bid you well on the next leg of your journey.


( ooc: in response to Moiraine, Eleven and Yennefer's decision to euthanise the Sleepers: on 11 February, characters may notice Zenobius is no where to be found. Characters can find him in a deep sleep akin to that of the Sleepers, at the bottom of one of the semi-dried wells previously inspected by Kaneki and John Connor.

Over 11-13 February, characters may notice the garden legumes and food supplies stop replenishing. They may have to leave the lighthouse to hunt for their sustenance. Water can still be procured from wells.

The voices and echoes that haunt the lighthouse become even more vocal, if not yet more violent.

The ship arrives to collect to group on 14 February. )

Comments

un : deft hand of little deaths (voice)

[scrapgege]

... What? Who's dead? What happened?

[So, yes, he might not have paid too much attention to that.]

[pulvisetumbra]

Seek the tower, sir.

un: lady love of a thousand poets

[thehoneybadger]

Don't look at me, it's not my fault for once.

[It's clear from her tone that she's at least mildly amused by the Merchant's anger. Really, dude, what did you expect with this crowd?]

[pulvisetumbra]

Perhaps. But it is that of someone in your ranks.

un: samsa | audio

[enucleation]

[ Kaneki was reprimanded for eating the undead, and after for taking a cursed doll. And yet here they are, with murders happening. ]

"No matter"? [ it should matter. ]

Perhaps is best to keep us on a straight path. [ rather than making pit stops where they decide to take matters into their own hands ]

[pulvisetumbra]

I apologise for my poor approximation of how you might introduce chaos into this particular equation. To my defence, there were less than a dozen human beings remining in this outpost. Foolishly, I thought you might refrain from slaughtering nearly all of them.

un: sprite bulb; audio

[bearshermark]

[The words are shaken, though heated]

Fuck you.

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

Language.

[pulvisetumbra]

No, thank you.

un: lady love of a thousand poets (voice)

[thehoneybadger]

Get his ass, haha.

action going off the assumption that she's nearby

[lancifolium]

[ Lily leans out from behind her notebook, locks eyes with El and gives him a silent, but undoubtedly approving nod. ]

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

Good sir, I really at times wonder... What did you really think would happen?

[pulvisetumbra]

You were situated on a barren island. Explicitly, to behold and to study.

Forgive me for not assuming murder.

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

[ Things Yennefer said slowly come into focus. ]

Perhaps a greater understanding of this place might have avoided your disappointment. Will you answer a question? What grants the wishes made here?

perma-audio

[pulvisetumbra]

Why do you all assume I am the omniscient architect of all your misfortunes, withholding answers, instead that I might simply not have them?

un: daozhang | audio

[binghua]

Were those sleeping in the lighthouse truly alive anymore? Do you frown upon mercy?

[pulvisetumbra]

They lived. For all we know, one day they might have woken. Was it your place to decide otherwise?

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ He clearly should have followed that network chatter more than he did. Not that he's very upset to hear about murders, but he could have offered some advice. ]

The work he was doing here depended on them?

[pulvisetumbra]

I believe they were his responsibility. Or his pleasure. The difference is indistinct.

un: daerienn; video

[violetchaos]

You say meddling as if it was our choice to be here. Perhaps our definitions of the word run opposite. Zenobius sought help with them, and that is what we did. What happened after was not in our power.

[pulvisetumbra]

Were you the murderer?

[not here, for the moment, but totally here iykwim, troywithpizza.gif, etc.]

[northerndragon]

[SEVEN HELLS.]

un: white pawn; voice -- oops anduin can't help himself

[chosenbylight]

[Anduin supposes he really should not be adding in his two cents on the matter, All Things Considered.

...and yet, he has never really been all that good at keeping his emotions at bay. And the Merchant is really starting to get under his skin.]

Without cause, remit, or invitation. Your own, perhaps? Murder only deemed permissible when given by your command?

It could not have been an easy decision on anybody's part. And you would have those people suffer still? To what end?

[pulvisetumbra]

How do you know they suffered? Explain. Concretely. With evidence. How do you know they would never have woken?

How dare you compare their innocent sleep with the action of a woman who willingly condemned countless citadels to the kind of ruin you behold in Ellethia? Are you a fool? Truly a fool, past your seeming natural incompetence?

Have you no ethical boundaries, sir?

un: wei laozu

[weifinder]

They what.

( if it sounds like he might be speaking through his hands with his palms pressed firmly to his face: he is. )

[pulvisetumbra]

On review, I did not stutter.

UN: Senth; Video

[sergeant_slick]

[Okay first of all--]

We don't have a remit, because we're not an army, and you're not anybody's CO.

You want people to help this planet. Fine. Y'know what would make that happen? Getting us off-world. There's been a general or two floating around here. You get people back in contact with their forces, and they can call in the cavalry.

[pulvisetumbra]

I have made every conceivable attempt to transport you where you need to go. The Taravast beacon prevailed to send some of you 'off world.'

We are in the process of attempting with a new beacon at your upcoming destination.

That is the point of this operation.

voice. private. un: a civil serpent

[inferus]

( Wrath has little interest in being lectured for action he had no part in. He can understand the outrage over deaths of people who are innocent, who were asleep, who were the last of a city lost, but the Lighthouse itself has strange compulsion magic. It's difficult to say how much control those in their group had over their actions - a point Wrath is incredibly angry about. Choice is something he values over all. Still he's yet to speak to the Merchant myself, and it seems a valuable course of action especially if Wrath aims to go after the Huntress, which he does. )

Bonaccorso found your chosen title amusing enough to laugh about it as he awaited execution.

[pulvisetumbra]

This is your concern, now. Today?

un:joker ; video

[joker_wild]

[Akira... doesn't know what to do with the fact that some of them killed people here, considering what his group did to stop people from being killed. His immediate reaction is anger, because who just kills people?, but he also knows he doesn't have enough information.]

[The information he's curious about now is who those people were.]

Did you know them?

[pulvisetumbra]

I was acquainted with some, yes. I am a merchant of Ellethia, born and bred.