un: unlikely friend

[allforthecause]

[ Stealing a second pendant wasn’t easy, exactly, but not was it particularly difficult. As shrewd as merchants were, they were simultaneously arrogant when they thought they were going in for the kill - so using Kahl as a distraction (deliberately looking both well meaning and slow with too much coin weighing him down) made it easy to slip the device away and make his own exit long before the man noticed. He and Kahl met up again in a dank little corner, dark and damp, and crouched down over it as they changed the username and prepared their post.

They needed to get the word out - and quickly - but doing so as themselves would only paint a target on their back. So. Burner device, pretend to be a native from the city, get the word out, then ditch the device as soon as they were done.

Time to go. ]

To our foreign guests:

You’ve been promised to Rakkathu as bodies for his horde. Our King plays your host but has already cut a deal - your lives for ours. Or at least some of them.

A dozen plus a tax - this is what he has been promised.

My conscience won’t abide for it. You’ve done nothing but help where and when we’ve asked, only to get this in return. Don’t let him sacrifice you. Murder won’t buy us freedom, whatever our masters believe.

Please. If you’re anywhere near as strong as I think you are: help free us from him once and for all.

-L

[ ooc: comments with this icon and the un “unlikely friend” are from kahl and cass’s burner phone stolen pendant. Any replies from Kahl or from Cassian’s un “bee” are from their personal pendants. ]

Comments

text; un: owllady

[traaaaaash]

[ Well that sure is. News.

Not that it wasn't clear as day that something was off about this place, especially considering every other place they've visited here, but she supposes it's nice to have something concrete to go on.

However, she doesn't quite trust this anonymous good samaritan. ]

how nice of you to notify us of his nefarious schemes

and who might you be?

text | un: wooden sword

[vdovy]

How did you learn this?

voice; un: oil change

[nachocheese]

[ Yeah, this is not good, but it's also what Nacho suspected when he saw Wanda's post earlier.

He's not sure what he can actually do, when there are people with literal superpowers here. But he has one thing going for him as far as helping:

He makes good canon fodder. It's not self-depreciation to think so. He's basically a dead body that's been reanimated against his will. His life, his safety, means nothing. So if there's anything, anything at all, he can do to help the living people here return home, and not get murdered, then he wants to do that. ]

How do you want us to help you?

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

Well, that is disappointing but not altogether surprising. Distateful, though.

How many lives does he get in exchange for us?

un: a civil serpent | text.

[inferus]

( Wrath cannot blame the king for making such a deal if he truly did - it is one of the bloodier, more difficult parts of war, which few ever truly experience. People like to be noble. They like to make what they believe to be the most morally superior choice, ignoring the cost at times, ignoring the many more lives that can be lost in the name of trying to protect every single one.

War changes people, and now there is only the words of one missive which one of their own carried to Rakathu (which can be altered or changed) and the words of someone anonymous over the network to go by. Beyond all of that, there are many forces at play here. There is simply not nearly enough information yet for any decision to be made with this information beyond looking into it more closely. )

How did you come across this information?

It would be unwise to take it as absolute fact when there are many both within the castle and outside of the castle who would benefit from turning this group against this side, turning us against one another, including Rakkathu.

Regardless we should not jump to conclusions nor act impulsively. ( The group has a habit of doing so. )

un: absterge

[downswing]

Who are you?

text | un: off scarlet

[westviews]

As much sense as this might make given what I've posted, you'd have more credibility if you gave a name.

un: sling shot

[slippin]

Why tell us now?

un: qishan

[silverneedles]

And so goes the nature of war.
Free you from your king? From Rakkathu? From both?

@whitewolf

[northerndragon]

Anyone who thinks it ends there is a fool. If such a truce exists, I don't believe it would be honored for long. They were under siege long before we came.

un: yiling laozu

[weifinder]

Who are you? What gives you word weight we should pay heed to?

And why would any of you who've fought over a year here feel that anything which buys you time to seal your hell is anything but an excellent deal?

The king would be a fool to make that offer. Rathkeikaku has already shown he doesn't need a deal to influence our number.

So where, in all this, is the evidence in intention?

[inferus]

The one this information serves best is Rakkathu himself.

I would not doubt he had his influence in this.

[weifinder]

Likewise. He has no reason to try moving faster, he's not under a burden of supply chain needs for taking this place or its connection to hell. I know you feel it if you're in the Guts Bind, it breathes death when the seals are weaker versus stronger.

Rushing into any response based on emotion for what's convenient to what people already wish to believe is worse than foolish, it's reprehensible. It's playing into Raccatchu's hands. Not the people of this fortress in their last stage flight.

text | un: doubletap

[dog_eat_dog]

[Since other people have other questions covered...]

Which dozen?

[downswing]

( That moment when your spidey senses tingle because the death kings are colluding. )

[inferus]

I have felt it along with magical and demonic energies, which is expected with this version of Hell so close.

I agree. Being ruled by one's emotions is dangerous at any time but especially in the middle of a siege. The group must act cautiously. We do not have enough information yet and certainly not from a reliable source.

I am certain the king has made a deal of some kind, but we do not know the nature of it, and war requires such difficult choices.

[valeas]

( Okay, but hear us out for a sec: it's hot when they do it. )

[downswing]

( 'Rathkeikaku' )


Your memory is not so poor.

[downswing]

We would not suffice as payment.

un: slothbaby

[cosplayqueen]

That would make a weird amount of sense after Wanda's post. Officially scared for us which is pretty much my default here, I know.

But, everyone here is playing fighting for thrones so IDK. Uh... group meeting on the likelihood of us getting sacrificed to the 80s movie villain? Can we call those????

[northerndragon]

No. But if this tale has any truth, the creature seeks to prey on their desperation. He would strip them of what aid they have been given. I don't believe he would honor any truces that came of it. Or, if he did, would those saved lives be worth living?

[weifinder]

Considering the king has willingly enough taken us in and tasked us to help, it's inevitable he's made other plans and allowances. What we don't know are his intentions with them, or what they are, beyond one implied surface read offered here by Mister L.

This situation is unstable. The king has negotiated to keep his people fed for months. We can't know better than the people in power deciding how to keep things moving here when we act.

Harm the king prematurely, then what? Intuit who will keep this from falling into further chaos? Hope people all despise their king enough to celebrate his deposing in a crisis? Very unwise.

[weifinder]

Are we sure?

[downswing]

They name Alem holy.

Betrayal would torture its dignity. Feast despair.


( You do know something, Jon Snow. )

[northerndragon]

Make it easier to bring it down in the long run, one way or another. Make them think there's no real way to fight anymore — that they will always lose. That it's all that ever would have happened, all that could happen.

If this is a true deal, the king is a fool. But I know how men become so desperate, when they have fought so long.