voice; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen; shortly after the bandit attack

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel's voice sounds alarmed and exhausted, like she's just run a marathon.]

I'm not sure what's going on in this town, but we need to figure out what it is, because right now it feels like I'm either going in circles or running into a wall.

As far as I can tell, the people here are alive- and so were the bandits that attacked, I felt some of them die, and their corpses felt like corpses- right up until they just... vanished a few hours later.

[Which is... disturbing, but between the tasteless food and the apparently mindless locals, it's not that surprising. Except for...]

And it wasn't just the bodies. When people die, it leaves an... imprint. Something any necromancer could sense. Except when the bodies vanished, so did that imprint. And even before then... when I went into Death to speak with them, there were no spirits around, and I don't think they'd have passed that quickly.

Also, before then, when I visited the graveyard... well, it felt like I'd expect a graveyard to feel like, except- the most recent death happened a bit over a year ago, a man named Glen McGuire. And everyone, with absolute sincerity, gave me wildly varying accounts of his death, with only a few similarities between them.

I don't think the people here are going to be a helpful source of information.

[And Sabriel takes a deep breath, because this is the most alarming part.]

I also tried to feel if there were any recent deaths in this town that no one told us about. At first- it was like something was blocking me. Then as I kept pushing- it was like the Kilnan mission, when the orb tried to feed on us. I had to stop trying before it drained me dry, but- I believe the orb is within the town somewhere, rather than outside of it or hidden in the mines.

[And Sabriel takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself.]

I'm not sure what sort of bargain was struck with the orb here or what the price was, but I'm not sure how much of what's happening in this town is truly real. I suspect that the orb started feeding on me because I got too close to the truth- but I'm not sure what that truth is.

Also... The goal I got from the orb is to seriously injure one of the crew. I'll heal you afterwards, of course.

[ooc: Feel free to use this as an information sharing post, if you'd like.]

Comments

thought-to-text | un: blue

[firstroar]

Don't reach out like that again. It isn't safe.

[bindsthedead]

I know. But I had to try, and I learned more than I did talking to anyone.

They feel alive, but those corpses felt dead, before they didn't feel like anything at all.

I don't know if the people here are real.

[firstroar]

I understand. The need to try. I understand. I'm glad you tried.
I don't...know if they're real, either.
And if they are...they're in trouble.

[bindsthedead]

If they're real... it's like they're trapped in an extremely dull dream.

[firstroar]

If they're dreaming, I can't feel it.

audio (un: major.yzak.jule)

[coordination]

And the bodies that that weird undertaker carted out of town probably can't be tracked, either. I tried following close behind him to see where he went, but I just ended up back here again.

[bindsthedead]

It's odd- supposedly, some people leave town for work, and the occasional rider stops at the saloon before going on their way, but we can't seem to manage it.

[coordination]

Not yet, anyway. I intend to keep trying.

But admittedly, it'd be nice if we came up with other ways of trying.

[bindsthedead]

It's.... it's almost like a dream, the way it all seems normal at first glance, but then gets odder the more you pay attention to it.

All their stories about how Glen McGuire died, they all sound plausible enough, but none of them match up. The food tastes better the less you think about it, and even if the years are shorter here, forty thousand is still an absurd age for a town this size- none of the buildings look remotely that old.

[coordination]

A dream, huh. I wonder if that's the case.

Illusions, simulations. Those could be at play, too. And if the orb is directly involved in whatever's happening - which I bet it is - it might be something so intricate that it can't be attributed to any of those things specifically.

audio; un: navigator

[droide]

Out of curiosity, what path did the undertaker take out of town? I wonder if his point of exit is the same as those bandits'.

[coordination]

He left north-west of town - that was the direction I followed him in.

[ So NOPE not anywhere near the bandits. ]

[droide]

Not the same, then. The bandits left in a different direction, past the mines.

action ↪ pre-post?

[blackfire]

（ neither of them are spectacularly rattled by the attack. even if shikamaru had not stepped in, it isn't as if he lacks in unobtrusive methods to stave off attacks — and even in allowing themselves to be held at gunpoint, there would have been something to gain in terms of knowledge there.

no, it's what's come after that seems to have sabriel somewhat unsettled.

he is feeling out his ribs carefully where he took a blow from the butt of a long rifle. it isn't broken or at all debilitating, so he sees no reason to waste chakra on it, but the skin is dappling the purple of a new bruise in a swath across his ribcage. he's sitting on the bed while he does this, and sabriel is changing out of her fancy — and now dirtied — clothes behind a privacy screen. ​ ）

Are you all right?

（ it's asked neutrally. he is not exactly concerned — that is an older emotion that holds little sway over him now. ）

Action!

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel has changed into a knitted sweater and a pair of sturdy denim pants- not clothes that would be entirely out of place in this town, though they would be on the woman she's pretending to be. But they're comfortable, and Sabriel isn't in the mood to accept visitors. She doesn't think she will be for another day or so.

It's been a few hours since the attack. The body that wound up in an alleyway beside the tea parlor, unnoticed by the locals, has vanished- along with the imprint of a death Sabriel was sure she felt.]

I felt those bandits die. Except- I don't feel anything now. It's like it never happened.

[Sabriel emerges from behind the screen, somehow even paler than usual, her dark hair bedraggled, but she's at least washed off the makeup that had gotten smeared over her face in the attack.]

There were no spirits for me to talk to, either. And people who die of sudden violence don't pass that quickly. No one does.

[blackfire]

（ what she says is certainly troubling, all the more-so because of the fact that her past efforts have often yielded better results than these.

sometimes, he remembers that she seems so very young. that her experience is condensed into a short window of unspeakable horror, and that her regret is still a raw, blistering thing for her. loss is a fresh wound, not yet a blighted infection, bone-deep and poisoning the blood.

he is a poor man to offer sympathy, but his tone is gentled when he tries: ）

There is a reason. We will learn it.

（ it is all he can say. they cannot rest of the laurels of past conquests, but they have many bright minds with a broad spectrum of skills. they will prevail. ）

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel sighs, nodding in acknowledgement as she makes her way to the bed, fishing her bell-bandolier out from the satchel she's been keeping it in. She doesn't make a move to draw any bells, simply running her fingers over the handles instead.

She hasn't used much magic here- not out of lack of ability, but simply because the mission hasn't called for it. At most, she's meditated, reaching out the the Charter and maintaining her connection to it. Her cover story hasn't even involved any injuries she's needed to cover up.]

Someone made a bargain with the orb, and I think it was to hide something. When I tried to get a sense of the general balance of life and death, and see if there'd been any large number of people dying before our arrival- except I was blocked. It was like a door slamming shut- and the more I tried, the stronger it got... Until the orb started to feed on me, like the one in Kilnan did.

[Sabriel looks up at Itachi, hoping he'll be able to make more sense of it beyond 'The orb is hiding something for the sake of a bargain.'

He... well, Itachi seems to have more experience in the areas of deception and subterfuge. More than Sabriel, whose primary experience in that area is letting people keep believing lies they've already told themselves repeatedly about things like magic not being real.]

text. un: 10-54.

[construing]

Wait, wait. Pause. The orbs drain people?

[bindsthedead]

Some of them. The one in Kilnan was absolutely ravenous. This one... I'm not sure if it was hungry, or just trying to stop me from looking at something it didn't want me to.

[construing]

Okay, filing that information in the "What the Fuck" drawer for later.
What about that seriously injuring a crew member thing? Scale of one to ten, how sure are you that's the vibe you got?

[bindsthedead]

I'm sure that's what it wants me to do- the orb has always been very clear on its requests to the crew.

I'm just... not sure how to do it without any lingering injury. And I'm not going to just attack people.

voice | un: andy

[oiorpata]

I was wondering what happened to the bandit corpses. I'm starting to think the orb is the only thing keeping this town alive, however alive you can consider it.

Did anyone take you up on the injury thing?

[bindsthedead]

It's an odd sort of life, from what I've seen.

And- no, no one has yet.

[oiorpata]

Not one that seems sustainable.

Is a good stabbing severe enough, do you think? I don't know what you had in mind.

[bindsthedead]

The orb didn't specify. I assume it wants something that will either kill or cripple if not treated... but I have some skill at healing, so that won't be a problem.