[ un: black prince / ut malum pluvia | audio ]

[blackscales]

[ un: black prince | audio ]

[ It's been days since the kraken first appeared and half of them were forced to commandeer ships to escape. Some might have already figured out why the danger seems to be receding, however slowly, and so there really isn't any need for some big announcement. Certainly not a whole-ass debate over what to do with a magical object that summoned this mess and nearly dragged them down to the bottom of the ocean.

Some would disagree, and one such red-eyed prince insisted on hunting down an old man who thought they'd settled this already.

The feed that starts is audio only, but the clear sound of Wrathion's voice is easily recognisable. He appears to be talking to someone else, and although his tone is neutral enough anyone who has spoken to him at length can likely discern the faint note of irritation in his choice of wording. ]

This... artefact is alive, dangerous. The mermaids are drawn to it. The wards on the box I have secured it back inside contain it, to some degree, but not entirely. I would still have preferred it destroyed, but if you are so insistent on keeping it I must strongly recommend people are aware it travels with us. This party now has two mysteriously living body parts. You don't consider that a concern they deserve to be made aware of?

[ The voice that answers is, for those that recognise it, Five. He does not sound in the best of moods. ]

There's nothing to say. I told you already, we don't know what happens if we destroy it. We don’t need to make this any more complicated, so the best option is to keep it hidden until we figure this out. [ A pause and his tone gets sharper. ] Trust me, I've —

[ At this point, Five notices Wrathion is recording him when he starts to hear an echo. There's a muffled "really?" and a long silence when the device shuts off. When it turns back on several minutes later they seem to have reached an agreement, and Five's voice suddenly sounds clearer. ]

[ un: ut malum pluvia | audio ]

You might have noticed that we're all still alive. We called off Vane's mission, the magic tongue he used to unleash the undead armada is sealed away safely, and everything should be fine.

[ There. All the relevant details. Happy, Wrathion? ]

Congratulations, we won. Now can we get the hell out of here?

Comments

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Why does he ask questions he knows the answer to? Even if he isn't sure how long Wrathion was recording him. ]

It doesn't really matter now, does it?

[beitangmoran]

Oh, but it does. We need trust among ourselves, do we not?

[somebadnews]

I wouldn't talk to me about trust. I'd say you're all proving what I already suspected.

[beitangmoran]

But it is your suspicion that is causing ours. By being suspicious, you ended up acting suspicious as well, and earning mistrust that you may not have incurred if you had been open and transparent from the start.

Which of course you will never know, because you do not trust any of us.

[somebadnews]

[ Five knows where this is coming from with Moran, but really? They just turned on him on a dime, and he wants him to trust them. ]

Did it occur to you that I might have had a good reason for keeping it from you?

[beitangmoran]

Did it occur to you that you have no right to make that kind of decision for all of us?

Or do I need to remind you what happened the last time you did?

[somebadnews]

[ No right— he saved you all! If he's referring to the incident with mirror, telling them wouldn't have undone anything. ]

No, it didn't. [ He'll go over this one more time... ] Why is this hard to understand? The more people know, the more likely it is to get to our enemies, and the more trouble it causes us. Destroying it could lead to something even worse.

Is that good enough? You're still useful to me, and I'd prefer it if you weren't all dead.

[beitangmoran]

No, it's not good enough. My life goal is not to be useful to you, thank you very much.

Trust is earned. You have a lot of work to do before you get there, but you refuse to even start.

And I believe we have a lot of people way more qualified than you are to determine the danger of cursed artefact.

[somebadnews]

[ He didn't think he'd believe him if he put it any other way, but mutually beneficial arrangements are usually the easiest to understand. How many times has he fought beside them at this point? He should at least trust that he'll do what's best for their survival. ]

It stopped, didn't it? If you want to consult with the others, go ahead, but what we did worked.

You really should be thanking me.

[beitangmoran]

In the short term, yes. What becomes of the artefact in the long term is not for you alone to decide.

Again, need I remind you of what happened the last time you were in the possession of such an artefact? Why should we trust you with this one?

[somebadnews]

[ He's really harping on that. Five could keep pointing out that he's not opening it up for debate, but that might get him to spell out that 'last time' more publicly than he would like.

This is what he gets for helping. ]

Fine. We can reconvene once we're on land and away from everyone who might murder us for it.

[ That's as far as he's willing to budge. Just don't count on him to remind them that they need to take a vote. ]

[beitangmoran]

[Don't worry, Five, he will make sure to remind people frequently.]

Mark your words, Master Five.

[somebadnews]

Always a pleasure, Moran.