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

( 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.

This is your concern, now. Today?

Not a concern. Simply an observation. I cannot change the actions taken by others, but I can look toward what actions can be taken in the future.

And you have decided the tatters of my reputation between the fangs of a mad fool awaiting execution concern your actionable future. I see.

I thank your concern. Is there a question here? Or do you intend only to inform me?

Not at all. I take little stock in what he spoke about given his previous actions and the state he was in. I simply thought you might find it amusing that he should throw stones given his own actions.

As for questions... what do you know of the Huntress?

She is understood to have crossed Ellethia, sundering it in two: the area which is now known as Allayar, and the stretch of Hamsour. Previously, they were one citadel, united.

Anecdotally, it is believed the Huntress was allowed to linger in one place and exercise her... gift because the locals did not anticipate its nature and were otherwise occupied with surviving slaughter.

Thankfully, ample records were preserved of her likeness. They were critical to assist our scouts when they saw her advance towards Taravast.

I aim to find the means to destroy her and to nullify her powers if destruction is not immediately possible. A goal, which I believe, is shared given the destruction she wrought to your home and continues to pose to your world.

Any information you find about how or about her or paths to find out this information would be useful in the endeavor.

The warning before she arrived at Taravast was appreciated.

Despite the beliefs of your companions, I do not willingly withhold information, where it is critical. The despairing truth is that the Brotherhood hunted and destroyed many of the accounts that concern it.

We know they are — were four, and that the Huntress is adjacent. We know too that other, unaffiliated entities such as the warlord Anurr exist.

I did not believe you would ever withhold information when it comes to this- the destruction of your enemy. In other aspects of this world, it would be smart to withhold information that is not necessary to share, and I don't begrudge you for doing so. ( especially among this group, they're not exactly great at keeping secrets. within hell, within his own house, he is careful with who knows what. it is frustrating now to be in a position where he does not know as much as he once did. )

I merely meant if you were to uncover more information in the future, I would be glad to know it, and I would share in turn if I should learn anything. I wanted to make you aware of my own goal given it lines up with your own, and I doubt few within the group are as dedicated. ( his own motivation is... revenge to a certain extent. )

I appreciate your candour.

In its spirit, let agree here and now, that I shall make it one of my foremost purposes to satisfy your requirements — provided they do not damage the greater goal.

If I may be so bold: why does the Huntress intrigue you more than the Beastmaster?

The greater goal is one I share as well, and I agree.

( Wrath debates the worth of being honest in response to this particular question. It's a fair one, and he already knows why the Merchant would wish for the destruction of the Huntress. They can be more united in their goal if their motivations are clear to one another. Still. He does not like admitting to weakness. He checks to be certain this conversation is private before he replies. )

When the Huntress arrived in Taravast, she took something from me I had given up everything to gain a very long time ago- the power of choice. ( It took time for it to take hold of him. He's had mental protection built up over millennia, but it did grab hold of him. ) I refuse to be subjected to it again. The existence of all the undead goes against all I know to be true about life and death, but I will admit my interest in the Huntress is personal.

Where the Huntress goes, the Beastmaster follows. That much is known, if not the depth of their association.

You risk, in other words, that in pursuing one, you may have to combat both. Are you prepared for that?

I am.

If they are so related, information about the Beastmaster's weaknesses would be as welcome as her own. I am accustomed to war and strategy ( he was made for it by his maker- war and death, samael, the angel of death, the general of war), and I would not attack unless I was properly prepared to face them both.

The Beastmaster is a renown dog of the Brotherhood. A creature of ferocity and intensity. He has never been heard to speak. Whether he does so to his animals, in a language their own that escapes our understanding, or simply cannot is unclear.

I see. ( Wrath is aware too he will likely need to recruit help from others within the group especially given the army both can wield. ) I am far away from being able to launch any type of attack, but I will look into what information may be available as we head to our next location.

You will join a cluster of villages, possessed of human resource. Do as you will.

audio | username: raven master

voice. private. un: a civil serpent

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject