audio | username: raven master

[pulvisetumbra]

( You might remember this voice: )

Good afternoon. To our newcomers, I introduce myself as the Merchant. You have heard of me. I have heard of you. To our elderly additions, I note you have prevailed against the odds to persist among us. A triumph.

( Dry laughter. ) Further pleasantries at a later, more forgiving time. For now, it will not surprise you that certain gestures have been entertained. Crude, direct and mercenary.

Absent a contact point, Unhalad’s lieutenants have left word with several port masters, who have conveyed his message. He believes you have been well positioned to access Anurr’s forces and woodland allies. He asks for any remnants of the mirror his brethren sent aboard the vessel Imperious and for assistance to cleanse the woods of Anurr’s supporters. In exchange, he offers free passage from Sa-Hareth once the storms clear and a letter of recommendation that will ease voyage across the eastern provinces commanded by his brothers. He threatens the full force of his allies, if you do not comply.

( A moment’s peace, to let that sink. ) I expect our forest visitors have kept Lord Anurr better informed of your whereabouts and affiliation. He has addressed my liaisons to request your assistance to shut in the salt mines and the source of Unhalad’s local force replenishments. He too offers to facilitate your departure from Sa-Hareth, once he gains the terminals, financial provisions and free return to the citadel, should you wish it done. He threatens nothing, but notes that you are alone, and have been alone for some time, and where has it brought you? ( Laughter, outright) To me.

( Second verse, same at the first. Silence is a strength. ) Quite. Given the limitations of these creatures, you will forgive me for excluding any physical evidence of these interactions.

If you want counsel: you have sustained neutrality for the better part of two months. Your position to do nothing has been self-serving, but clear. Do not stray course at the last hour. If you intend to proceed otherwise… alert me. I shall endeavour to broker the relevant agreement, so that you may at least benefit from your gumption.

You will otherwise be pleased to know I expect to receive the pertinent passport papers and two potential routes for your strategic departure within days. Until then, good day.


( ooc: feel free to use the Merchant’s or other character posts to debate the course of action! The Merchant will be scarce. If most/any characters plan to side with Unhalad, Anurr, either warlord or even both of them, designate a character to let the Merchant know. Address messages to the him this time! )

Comments

audio;

[soulsrob]

Master Raven! How have you been, dear? It's been too long since I've been able to hear your voice. I thought perhaps you'd grown tired of us.

If I'm to understand, does it really matter if we do anything or not? It seems better to not muddy our hands any further than we already have and try to make a clean break from them. On the other hand, having power at our backs would be nice for whatever lands we venture to next... Assuming Mr. Unhalad is on good relations with his brothers, it might better to side with him if we're thinking long-term.

Or we go to Mr. Anurr and let him know we need to pretend to wipe him out. If Mr. Unhalad thinks they're wiped out, we get free passage through him, plus he thinks Mr. Anurr's forces are lesser, giving them the element of surprise on their side. [She hums thoughtfully.]

Or something like that!

But when he mentions wanting all of to mirror remnants... [Does it include her own mirror?? Because no thank you. She's parting with that over her cold dead body.]

[beitangmoran]

You would side with the person who brought us there and actually used those mirror to steal memories from some of our companions, Young Lady? And someone whose power over his own citizenry is more than shaky?

[soulsrob]

I would pretend to be on the side of anyone who could make passage for everyone a little easier later on. This man has brothers that rule the other places we might go to, if I'm understanding correctly, yes?

I present to you a scenario: We help Mr. Anurr take down the mines and help us leave. They launch an attack on Mr. Unhalad and lose. Mr. Unhalad finds out we helped Mr. Anurr and sends word to his brothers in the other lands to look out for us and make our lives very, very difficult. At best, we become outlaws. At worst, we're enemies of the realm and they're told we're to be killed on sight.

Another scenario: We tell Mr. Anurr of Mr. Unhalad’s propsal and ask for him to relocate his troops or whatever elsewhere and bring back some sort of proof that we've "wiped them out," so to speak, thus giving them the element of surprise. Perhaps a small group of us secretly go and shut down the mine operations in the meantime, but in a way we can deny culpability. After all, we're helping Mr. Unhalad! We're on his side, are we not? Perhaps it's Mr. Anurr who did it, but worry not, for we have wiped out his people!

Mr. Unhalad thinks Mr. Anurr was the problem and that problem is gone. He sends word out to his brothers that we are friends and to be helped. We leave. Mr. Anurr can then launch an attack and, hopefully, take Mr. Unhalad down due to the element of surprise being ultimately on their side. We get to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. Unhalad’s brothers for quite some time before word gets out perhaps that oh dear, he's fallen, or very nearly! How dreadful, good luck Mr. Unhalad’s brother in this land, we shall continue our journey onward but will gladly carry the letter of Mr. Unhalad’s fall to the next brother for you, don't worry yourself!

[She smiles] And who knows what might happen to that letter? Lots of things could prevent it from ever getting out, delaying any help he might have hoped to gain.

[beitangmoran]

You would make a very good politician, Young Mistress.

I see a lot of merit in your second scenario, but I doubt some of our more.... value-minded cohort have the wherewithal to pull off the deception.

[soulsrob]

Well now, there's not need to be insulting. [but her tone is teasing and playful and she laughs in delight]

I've simply read far too many stories! There's a saying about 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer'!

The others are a bit of a problem, but I suppose we could always lie to them too and work very quickly to usher them onto a boat before they can figure things out...

[beitangmoran]

Any such plan would require days for completion. Could we even keep them otherwise occupied that long without suspecting anything?

[royal_venant]

I think your plan is brilliant. No need to lie to me.

[jeoha]

I have some small experience dealing with nobles who believe themselves to be the rightful rulers of a kingdom, and what kind of deals and bargains they will make for power, and I will tell you this:

I doubt very much that Unhalad would ever give a good word for us to his brethren, whatever we do for him. And in a world where messages travel faster than we can, any 'element of surprise' we offer will be lost by the time we reach the next citadel.

Our very existence as a seperate entity like we are is a threat to him and to his brethren, no matter how much we heel. So even if we were to entirely ignore the effects our actions would cause, we are unlikely to see any benefit from him that isn't inherently poisoned.

Men who raise the dead to do their bidding do not care about the living. They care about their power and how to keep it, and once we are gone from his lands, we are no benefit to Unhalad at all, and speaking on our behalf does even less for him.

[soulsrob]

You don't think he would look at it as getting something powerful on his side, what with all the quaint little abilities some in our group can do?

I, too, know something of powerful nobles who believe themselves better--they always believe themselves better. They believe others will fall in line beneath them, for that's where the powerful think the others belong. They don't believe that a dog that bears its teeth will truly bite them if they offer it scraps.

Unhalad is offering us scraps.

But frankly. [She sighs here, as if Much Put Upon] It's all a bit tedious to argue since any thing could go right or wrong and change the outcomes. Perhaps it's better to kill them both and let the civilians deal with the fallout themselves.

But even I know the power vacuum that creates could be devastating too and with no infrastructure to stop someone else from just invading in the chaos. [Siiigh. Having to care about the civilians in the aftermath is a pain]

[jeoha]

Mm.

I think this is a conversation best continued where vested interests can't pry. If you would care to take a small walk?

[pulvisetumbra]

Madam. You are lively, as ever. I trust you have been well?

[soulsrob]

I've been quite well! There's hardly a dull moment out here. How have you been? Has your health been well?

[You sound like an older gentleman, after all.... She's concerned.]

1/2

[pulvisetumbra]

Barring a persistent cough, exacerbated by travel, thank you. A draft.

[pulvisetumbra]

At this junction, you can achieve nothing without risk and exposure.

If you find sufficient benefit, you may make attempt.

[soulsrob]

Oh dear, have you tried honey in your tea? It works miracles. I do hope you recover well and can take a little break from travelling.

[She smiles] Do you approve then? I'm honored. It's getting everyone else on board that's the problem.

Oh, I've been very meticulous of my appearance, by the way. Nothing seems to have changed much at all, though. I've been taking good care of it! [Not like her having the mirror is any big secret, exactly, but it's kinda fun to be ~mysterious~ about it.]

1/2

[pulvisetumbra]

My physician has recommended honeycomb and mint drops.

[pulvisetumbra]

Do you understand what your... appearance holds, if the other housed dark memories?

audio;

[corvis]

Why would you ever trust either of them to be convinced that would work ?

[soulsrob]

Oh, I don't trust them.

But I do trust that they hate each other more than they're interested in screwing us over. And that they're both a little frightened of us and would rather we join a side.

There's a lot of power in fear.

[corvis]

I can agree on all that. If they were capable of exterminating us, they would have done so already, as we are an added problem should we join their enemy.

I think your plan should be held off for later once we need this method to stay ahead of them. Currently, our neutrality has them hesitating in what to make of us, exactly. The longer we can hold onto that , the better. Once we pick a side, even to undermine, the other side will drop their small courtesies.

... It won't make for anything easier on the journey, though. [ sacrifices have to be made in the form of ease. ]

[soulsrob]

That's why I suggested pulling Mr. Anurr into the alliance. I think having rebels on our side is also very beneficial. [She sighs a little.] I think if we wait too long, however, both sides might either decide we're more trouble than we're wroth, or become convinced we've already chosen the other side and attack us from both sides.

In a perfect world we could get both sides to give us as much aid as possible and coast along on the goodwill of both sides thinking we're working with them. It's just a very fine line to walk and would work better with a much smaller group.

Larger group means more variables to try and take account for. So many seem keen to let their emotions get in the way of whatever would be the most practical choice.

[somebadnews]

[ He's absolutely not surprised this came out of her. ]

You've been thinking about this for a while, haven't you?

[soulsrob]

Actually, not really. [She laughs a little] It all came to mind right now when the kind merchant gave us these options.

A lot of people want to stay out of it all together but I think that's an equally terrible option. If we take no side, both might decide to turn against us.

[somebadnews]

I'm not disagreeing with you. [ It's even likely. And if he cared more about the group as a whole, that would probably bother him more than it does. ]

I just don't see them pulling it off. [ But-- ] All the same, I'm surprised you got any of them to listen. Usually they struggle seeing the bigger picture.

[soulsrob]

I don't either, truthfully. [She sighs.] But it was worth a try. Far be it for me to assume this group was capable of grand subtly and intrigue.

[She laughs though, not sounding all too put-out by it.] But, I got a few to consider it, so I take it as a victory. I now have a better idea of who's incapable of deviating from the Only Good Path. A bit disappointing, but important to know anyway.