un: deimar | video

[jatharin]

( Ah, but did you miss King Deimar's jovial face? He appears well acquainted with a cup of wine, sunning as he speaks.)

Greetings! Your king speaks. Deimar. And how are you? You all look so much more resplendent than I remember you — which is to say, no longer drenched in my people's blood.

Master Strange, I'll beg you to refrain from ruining these ancestral halls. Yelena, I could yet do with a guard. ( More cutting: ) As for those of you who... witnessed my brother's... heroic sacrifice, as ever, I appreciate your discretion in this time of my people's mourning.

( But perky, once more: ) Now! As it happens, mistress Hermione returned from her jungle pilgrimage, intoxicated but bearing the wishes of a... runaway divine serpent. Sceptics might question the wisdom of heeding a hallucinating girl and an invisible snake, but she has retrieved some of the venom my uncles require for my coronation, so we object no further.

In exchange for his venom, Kharil-asuk has demanded the purity of the citadel's new residents. Delightful! It seems that, after bearing with child traffickers and nearby human sacrifices for centuries, the snake god has lost his appetite for blood. A troubling thing, since I find myself short-supplied of people who have not touched sword and bloodshed after years of siege. To cut things short: the new holy watering stations posted at Unkharil's entrances are here to stay. Bask in the brilliance of your new innocence. Do get more water! And don't unsheathe a sword where a snake can see you.

I remain grateful for any other anointment venom you procure from Kharil-asuk. He of questionable existence, but indubitable control of my fate.

( ooc: from this point onward, characters may find members of the Unkharil city watch randomly dumping buckets of holy water from the golden stream on them, near the citadel's entrance points. Bathe well and thank Hermione! )