eastbound | audio | username: raven master

( 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. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.

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.

Yeah? Why are more offworlders showing up, then? I got told it was all due to these undead lords were capturing people, but some of the latest batch showed up in the water, miles away from anything. You got one of those rotting weirdos on retainer or something?

I do not know. This is an unusual circumstance for everyone.

You, though. What gives you the right and entitlement to speak to me or to anyone in this way? You have done nothing for this world but constantly benefitted from its and my resources. You, sir, are a parasite.

Kindly have the good will to be a diplomatic one.

[He doesn't entirely believe that statement. But he's not going to argue on it, because the next bit makes him mad.]

No. I'm not going to. I'm not going to justify my existence to make you happy. Nobody here should. [He fucking could, but that's not the point.] We didn't choose to be here. We got captured. We're stuck here with with zero background on the local conflict. We don't know the players, we don't know the history, we don't even know what's possible on this planet.

You want us to help? Don't just throw supplies at us and expect everyone to just figure this shit out. Share your intel. Keep it in a form we can circulate to new arrivals. Don't just take us on a fucking sightseeing tour and then get angry because people didn't keep their hands to themselves.

And did we choose to have you here? You speak as if I personally picked you from the skies, and now I am responsible for you. Must I say it again? I do not wish you here.

And do not presume to compare 'keeping one's hands to oneself' with murder. You should not have to be told, Do not murder people in their sleep.

Yeah, calling me a parasite made that pretty fucking clear.

You've been putting people in positions where they have to make life or death choices. Sometimes they're going to chose death. Because they feel they need to. Or their culture says it's the right thing to do. Or that's how they were trained.

If you don't want that to happen, you can't assume people from fifty different worlds are all going to think the way you think, or care about the things you care about. You have to tell people.

I must tell you not to murder innocents in their sleep, when they are defenceless and unable to so much as communicate, let alone incite your ire. Shall I also tell you to breathe through your noses? As I am hereby obliged to instruct the obvious and the plain.

No, sir. You will not put this at my feet. You did what you did and nothing will excuse it.

But we are not friends, only collaborators. My regard means nothing to you. All I have asked now, having murdered is to honourably dispose of the bodies in a way that would not besmirch the living.

Do I demand too much?

No, I fucking will. I know I wouldn't want to hang around if I was stuck in a coma. I'd want to go. And Yennefer said she spoke to them. With the stunts she's pulled, I trust her on that.

Can somebody here give them a send-off? Yeah. But don't pretend that you're some helpless bystander. You're the one presenting yourself as our way home. Which I want to get back to, before more of my brothers get murdered.

So as a collaborator who has every fucking reason to make this work--You won't get good results or respect with the way you're handling this. This time the consequences hurt you. Learn from it, or things will go wrong again.

You make it difficult to entertain any merits in further collaboration.

Perhaps that is the conclusion. That I should leave you all to your devices. Very well. You may choose not to embark on the ship I am sending, or to flee thereafter. I shall certainly not stop you.

You are a man grown. Make your choices.

Yeah? I'm one of the only ones here who's tried organizing this lot, and I prep defenses ahead of time. That's what I've been chosing to do since the start. [He barricaded the farmstead outside Sa Hareth, kept a headcount in Taravast so they could try and get everybody off-world. Because nobody else had.]

You want to keep the mermaids off that ship? Because I'm going to make sure they don't swarm it. [He's got bait stockpiled. He's told more people how to use it. He's put in the work.] And if I had more intel, I could work more efficiently on this stuff. Less effort, less heartache.

You have the pertinent information.

Have no worry. I shall hereon endeavour to remind each and over one of you not to kill innocent defenceless people in their sleep.

You still believe that we are simply on another planet that is still part of the world you are familiar with?

Doesn't matter. How much good are bunch of random kidnapping victims versus an actual army? We get this planet's transport tech stabilized, and we could take control here.

... Why would we want to?

Not take over, I mean not fighting on the back foot all the time. Most of our fights have been delaying actions rather than aiming to win against those rotting weirdos.

And, again, if we manage to go back to where we are from and contact our people, why would we want to come back?

audio | username: raven master

UN: Senth; Video

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un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

UN: Senth; Video

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