eastbound | un: Black Prince; text (pre-colosseum adventures)

Entry tags:

un: Black Prince; text (pre-colosseum adventures)

Do hope you're all settling in well. How are we finding our accommodations? I've a position that allows access to the senate. Let me know if I can assist.

The mood is largely in favour of conquest, of war to honour the Chained God. Worth noting that the aptitude of the army appears to be a new development, and Narula seems to be the reason that changed. Has anyone spoken to him? They describe him as a feral animal, and those who worked under him consider him a loose canon, risk prone with little regard for ethical combat and a drive to constantly improve at any cost. Since the senate lacks trust in Narula, and some favour Messalina leading because of that, I had put forward that a veteran might serve as Narula's replacement. Given how loyal soldiers of the Hand are, however, I suspect that would prove an uphill battle.

Equally, Jacob and I happened upon one of those target lists the news shouters received. All members of the Senate: Darius Alexandros, Julius Secundus, Drusilla Minora. Two curiosities: not all of them oppose Messalina, and parchment used was official senate paper. All senate paper is marked with a code, containing a date and unique number. The date here is five or so months past, which just so happens to be when Messalina entered Ephes.

Oh, and Caius Justus does appear to be alive for any concerned.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Yeah he's not used to typing yet... ]

what bithers me is thgat this is offfical senate paper, right? so is whoever wants these epoeple dead really sloppy and using paper fromn work, or theyt want people thinking that they work at the senatre?

Next step is findsing out who ordered these. Follwo the money.

[ Ah, well, he... tried... ]

You can use the voice function if you prefer.

But I don't disagree, it could well be attempting to frame someone.

[There's a grateful note in Jacob's voice when he speaks. You don't know how difficult that was.]

Could be. But they had to have moved quick if they wrote these up just when she arrived. And then waited all this time for the assassinations to be carried out? Seems fishy.

The delay is peculiar. Unless whoever wrote these stole the paper all those months past, and has not had access to the senate since?

[ That might explain the old date, and it only being used now. ]

Doesn't make a lick of sense to me to save the paper- plain would have been better, if they wanted to cover their tracks. Otherwise we're just going to look for people who had access then, and not since, and go straight to them.

[He makes a noise, unhappy with how all these puzzle pieces go together.]

We're missing something here, and I've got no bloody clue what it is.

We are.

[ Wrathion hums in thought, considering this. ]

Perhaps we should start with the time frame. The obvious clue us Messalina, but I wonder if anything else of note happened around that time?

She's the one that stands out, but in a city like this? There were undoubtedly things going on. I'll do some digging, see what I can find out.

[ It's always SO nice when mortals volunteer to do work. ]

Let me know if you need anything followed up internally.

[ He can wield his senate powers for good! And for nosiness. ]

I'm sure a handsome, fancy man like you can find things out I can't. How about we swap notes in a few days?

Alive, yet ignoring his people.

Immersed in prayer.

The Heavens do not heed the sinful.

Some gods encourage sin.

[ Just So You Know, Wangji. Not all gods are good! ]

Seek another religion.

Context only. I don't worship such gods, but I know some do.

Great to see you've landed on top, Wrathion. I am selling peanuts - you may have spotted me occasionally. It's a rather useful cover, since I am expected to be anywhere I want to be, and I haven't heard any form of scolding from people yet.

[ Aside from that one senator who nearly sank her fantasy business... ]

But more to the point, the three targets could have been chosen at random to set and example, not necessarily because they opposed helping her. It may have been one of those situations of allowing people to fill in the blanks themselves.

I always do.

[ Cats always land on their feet. ]

And you may be correct, it may have been deliberate to cause discord or paranoia. Or there may be some other connection we are missing.

Be more of a cat at heart, why don't you?

[ They do happen to be her favourite. ]

I wish there was a spell for this, it would save a lot of paper spent on conspiracy ideas. But here is a list, albeit chaotic:

- Five months or so in the past Messalina arrives in Ephes and asks for support to free her fellow undead from the Brotherhood
- A number of Senators are in opposition, some are in favour
- Brother Narula, who leads the Hand (of the Chained God) is one to watch out for, with Caius Justus being in his favour (?)
- Caius Justus does not show up in the Senate (which is bad for his reputation) - I assume something happened?
- Wei Wuxian spoke of the visions he got from the head of Narula's brother, doesn't seem like the Hand's been all that good - and maybe that it that Tavernus was talking about was the god?
- Whom, thanks to Jacob Frye, we know is a snake
- Is this the same snake god I spoke to for Deimar?!

Edited 2023-10-16 20:00 (UTC)

[ How dare you he isn't a cat! He's a Very Large, Menacing, Powerful Dragon!!

(Whose snout you can pet if you ask nicely). ]

I admit, I don't know how common snake gods are. Was the one you spoke to in any way restrained? It seems as if this one may have been 'chained' for some time.

No, I don't think that it was. Maybe a relation of the Chained one? Or maybe the chained part of the name is just a metaphor - restricted powers, or exiled from Ephes, or something of that sort.

Some of our number seemingly had visions of a snake in chains, although how literal those visions are I could not say. I recall mention of paper with writing on it too. Wards of some sort perhaps? Restricting power, as you suggest.

Paper wards? Have you spoken to Wei Wuxian about these? I've seen him use paper for protection - talismans, wards, what have you. Mine typically are quite invisible to the naked eye. Either way, Deimar was keener to send us into the jungle to find that snake god than go himself.

Second-hand information, I'd rather not play middleman when I couldn't describe it myself. Mine are not usually in paper format either, although I have seen Lan Wangji do the same.

But one of those two is easier to persuade towards experimenting.

Are you sure Caius Justus is still alive? It's awfully hard to confirm that when no one has seen him since he decided to pray about his current dilemma.

Has anyone seen him? [Like, certain people who went off to sneak into places they didn't belong. No judgement. He's done the same before. Just checking the facts.]

My companion can tell you more, but yes, he has been seen alive within the temple.

Ok, that's one mystery down.

The priestess, Valeria, requested to see me. The arena officials have been pressuring me to accept as soon as possible. [He sounds a bit put-out about it.]

Do you have a sense of what she wants from you?

[ Pressure is unpleasant. ]

I'm not sure, but the arena officials seem to think it's a good thing. Maybe some sort of deal? Gladiators get offers from individuals sometimes from what I hear.

Saw him, safe and sound, in the Temple everyone says he was in. Looked like he could do with a good meal once he comes out.

[And Jacob does sound pretty pleased about this successful mission, even if he didn't get to fight anyone during it.]

Isolation will do that to a person. So you guys confirmed he was still alive and actually doing what we've been told then... assuming, he was, in fact, praying for an answer from his god in there?

I assume he was praying because he was on his knees in a sanctuary. And there was no one else there, which negates the other reason you'd be on your knees in church.

I tend to avoid churches, [you would too if you had a demon in your head] but that seems about right.

Did you see anything else in there?

Can't say I frequent them often. But the rooftops are great vantage points.

A lot of other people - worshippers, priests, that sort of thing. A few guards too. But if you look the part and don't make trouble, you can get in.

Huh. [Interested.] I imagine they are. Do you- you climb them? ...Often?

[A slight pause, and then:]

Interesting. I thought it would be harder to get into the inner sanctum considering all the fuss. Or, I thought- that he was locked in there where the Chained God was kept, and that was locked down.

Back home it was pretty frequent but unfortunately here there's not so many churches with steeples. But they've still got some pretty tall buildings, so I make do.

[ He laughs.]

So did I mate. Got a little gang together ready to break in and break heads but as it turns out, you pull your hood up, don't bat an eyelid at the self-flagellation, and you're good.

I guess that makes sense. So, you like it up high then. For the view?

[He sighs.]

Well, good to know. If we ever need to get in there for serious reasons...we know it's possible.

The view? Something like that. But mostly it's jumping off them that I like. If you know what you're doing, it's a lot of fun.

[ Jacob makes a noise of agreement. ]

Easy as can be. I'll go with you, if we get a chance.

[Okay, climbing up for the view he could understand but--] Y-you like to jump off high places? Why? How... how are you still alive?

[Please still be a living person or else he would be surprised he missed that detail. Wow.]

All right. [He almost said he was curious to get a look at the Chained God, but he left it alone for now.]

[Jacob laughs]

Never met something, or someone, strong enough to kill me yet.

[He can tell there's an urge, an eagerness. But there's something stirring, and Jacob doesn't thing it's the Chained God he saw in his vision.]

I'm sure you'll get a chance soon enough.

[Well, at least this guy was confident about it! Benedict liked to run across rooftops if it served him, but he did not like it when he had to jump off high places that were as tall as church steeples. Some of those were ridiculously tall!

...his Companion could only shield him from so much. And he didn't think Jacob had any supernatural protections. Good grief. What a strange man.]

That's... that doesn't even make sense! It's the impact of the fall that'll kill you! Not some opponent or a thing you can fight against...

[He inhales a shaky breath and releases it with a shake of his head.]

Right. Maybe... but whether that's a good thing or not is debatable. I'm leaning towards not so much.

If it kills you, you're doing it wrong. Simple as that.

[Never mind that the Assassins have been doing this for hundreds of years and have got the secret technique worked out.]

I suppose we won't know till we go and meet him. But there's plenty that needs to be done before then.

That's...still a big risk!

[He just sighs though. It's not like he can "win" this "argument." It just seemed crazy to him... and he had a demon in his head.]

Yeah, I suppose so.

Want me to show you?

[Huh?]

Show me? [...] Show me how you jump off high places!? Am I supposed to encourage that crazy now??

[Yes, show him.]

Yeah, that's what I said.

How about... you meet me in the market, about midday? There's a pretty tall building not far from there that'll do in place of a church.

I- um.

[There's a moment of hesitation, and then a obvious auditory moment when Benedict essentially thinks 'fuck it' to himself and then returns with:]

All right. I'll meet you there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

un: Black Prince; text (pre-colosseum adventures)

un: of corpse not / text

no subject

un: of corpse not / audio

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

un: absterge

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

audio; un: a tentacute observation

audio; un: Black Prince

no subject

no subject

no subject

un: of corpse not / audio

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

no subject

no subject