eastbound | audio | username: raven master

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audio | username: raven master

( 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! )

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Of course.

I know someone who forgot his name, and his magic didn't work for a while afterwards... I didn't pry too much, though. Was there anything particular? it didn't seem to discriminate much.

Although... that man they captured in the forest, he asked for a mirror. Like he wanted to forget. so I have to guess it takes away bad things?

.... But not all the things it took from me were bad, though, so I'm not sure.

And what do you imagine is bad for the people stirred from death?

... I don't think I'm the right person to answer that question, sir.

But I know there are many situations in which people would prefer to be dead than live a half, cursed life.

And therefore, what would they wish extirpated from them, if they are cursed?

If it's the curse, then they'll die.

... And the curse will move on to something or someone else.

Precisely. Namely in...?

Apparently, any reflective surface seems to do the trick. So it's never ending. Some of them probably amplify it while others weaken it, but... it never goes away. I don't know who started this or how, but it's very, very evil.

... Sir, do you always ask questions you have the answers to?

Some reflective surfaces.

I am attempting to help you think.

Water is very conducive to these things and magic in general. And people cannot live without it. They will always interact with bodies of water. If the curse is in the water, as well as circulating through mirrors, and destroying the mirrors just puts it back in the water... there's no way to stop it, is there?

... I don't suppose you have a Water Master here?

The mirror's power wasn't transferred to your water.

It was transferred... to something within.

The body? The dead but not decaying body? They carry the curse within themselves? But... aren't they from the other side?

The... other side?

Well, that body, he's the chief before Anurr, isn't he? So even though his people killed him, he was on their side. And Unhalad's people are not fans of Anurr, so they're not on the same side, aren't they? So why would Unhalad's mirror curse go to the body of someone who is linked to Anurr, unless there's a relation here...

... Or were they all the same people who just split along divided loyalties? The way you spoke about it, it felt like Unhalad came from another place. That he wasn't from here.

Forgive me a question of unkindness: if you were a man robbed of your arm through the trickery of your leader. Would you wish him well?

No, probably not.

I'm just trying to understand where this curse comes from and how i can jump from a mirror to a body, or vice versa.

Cursed objects can affect people. Curses will jump from bodies to bodies if they can. But it has to start somewhere. It sounds like you're saying the curse of being undead originated with Anurr. But now Unhalad has those mirrors and is using them to do the same thing. How did he build those mirrors? Ho do the mirrors get the curse in the first place?

.... And if all of these people have just been slinging the same curse back and forth to one another for hundreds of years, what does that have to do with us? Do they think they can use it to steal our powers and make themselves more powerful to fight the other side? Use their mirrors to suck them out, and then transfer them to someone else? By ... replicating them somehow, since we didn't lose them permanently?

No, that isn't what I'm saying. The mirrors create nothing.

But you have all become rather too used to being fed answers. It does you little good.

Well, we know nothing so we might as well ask...

But you know, you don't need to answer if you don't want to. A lot of people usually tell me to get lost long before it gets to this point, hahaha.

I see even less reason to be uncivil than unhelpful.

Oh, don't worry about it. People in general have a lot going on. I'm not going to be offended is someone thinks I'm just being a waste of their time.

You have given me a lot to think about. It's just that the magic here looks very... illogical compared to what I'm used to, so trying to make sense of it is hard, and, well, food is a bit of a priority.

Edited 2021-06-10 18:54 (UTC)

No, it isn't. You've... somehow jumped to every wrong conclusion. It is a skill. I expect you had to have one, to reach your age.

Well, my luck isn't very good...

But I was right about the weird mirror enchantment going to the body and not the lake, right? Then I just need to going where I went wrong, because I am working from my own assumptions of how things work, and obviously this isn't working here.

... Everything feels either too old or too new here. It's like you don't have anything inbetween.

Shall I apologise that we do not meet the standard for worlds your presence has invaded?

I didn't mean it in a bad way! It's just... it feels weird? There's old history, and new happenings, but the threads connecting them are... frayed.

I'm really sorry we invaded though. I'm sure you know most of us would prefer not to be here at all. We're definitely making a lot of things worse just by being there.

[Something he is unfortunately familiar with.]

AS a curiosity, you don't think anyone here could have.... prayed to make me appear here, right? That's not how it works here. I don't think that's how it works here. Do people pray? I don't remember seeing temples, but surely they believe in something....

Ha, I'm doing it again, sorry. I don't want to take up your time if I'm being frustrating with my musings.

Some of the natives pray, yes. Perhaps in little as organised as a temple, but there are institutions. It is unlikely you were all prayed into emergence, however.

(no subject)

scrapgege - 2021-06-11 20:55 (UTC) - Expand

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