text, un: silent | backdated to hours before jail

[callada]

Had a chance to talk with Angrial for a few minutes. She's a tough one to get information out of. But a few things might be useful to know:

• She has access to the orb. Or an orb, as it sounds like we might be dealing with more than one. Maybe one split in two. Not sure. It reached out to me near the war room when she opened one of the unseen doors in the hall. I think I can remember where, and which talismans she used, but it might be locked to her and her officers specifically. I'd be cautious trying it yourself.



• Either she doesn't take Sedorum seriously, or she's terrified of them. Depends on how honest she is. She said they're nothing, that the upcoming war will put them in place, all that sort of thing. Might have a specific grievance with Entr'i but didn't want to go into it. She claims Sedorum is the side responsible for the upcoming war, and that the Highest One will put an end to it. So if you take her at her word, she's not worried at all, but I don't normally see people act so defensive when they have nothing to worry about.



• She has a heightened sense for reading people. She saw through my initial act and only let up and listened, and gave real answers, once I pivoted toward sincerity. I don't know how much is just a general sense versus how much she can actually read minds or emotions, but be warned, if you try talking to her yourself. She'll know if you're lying.

((alkdghaf don't ask him why he didn't try the talismans before the search group tried to blow up the ceiling, timey wimey thread things didn't allow for it lmao, take it as a baton pass and go investigate!!))

Comments

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

What did the orb say? What was the impression you got as it reached out?

[callada]

I can't read them as well as some of you can, so it wasn't real words. I felt it, though, the way they always worm their way into your head and heartbeat. Only other thing with that was a general sense of power - maybe a demand, like we've seen before, but maybe that was what it was promising her, or whoever else was in there.

Vague, I know. I wasn't expecting it, and it only lasted a couple seconds.

[bindsthedead]

If they're planning on using the orb as a weapon, it could be either- it would explain Angriel's apparent confidence.

Although... if it's asking for that as payment, perhaps we could feed it, and use that to get it away from the Highest One?

[Except in Kilnan, they had Remi's blessing and assistance... here, Sabriel's not so sure.]

[callada]

Not a bad idea if one of us can get past that door, or if it gets taken out anywhere. If it can tell we can offer it more than they can, it might arrange something itself.

[Which is never good, allowing orbs to do what they want to do, but since sometimes they want to join the others, at least it can work in their favor. Just means a lot of people get hurt in the process. ... But that's also probably a given anyway, after all they've seen.]

[bindsthedead]

My only concern is that the orbs cannot end their contracts just because they want to- if they could, Scorpion's bend would have happened very differently. In Kilnan, we had Remi's blessing and cooperation. We will not have the Highest One's.

[Which doesn't mean it's impossible, or not their best option. Just that there are significant unknowns.]

[callada]

Good point. So, say the Highest One, or whoever, has an orb that they're planning to use to crush the other side in the upcoming war. What does a supposed god want with something like an orb? What can they gain that they didn't already have? That's what I want to know.

[bindsthedead]

Unless they're less of a god and more of a tyrant, with all of their supposed strength coming from the orb. 'He' wants the orbs too. I'd almost wonder if they weren't ordinary souls risen to positions of power, except they've both stuck around in Taeum and Giva, rather than moving on in the cycle.

[callada]

Could be. I wish we had a way to know this world's mythology better. I was wondering if maybe Angrial and others like her had been created to serve the Highest One, like they're something separate entirely. You know, this place's equivalent of angels.

You don't happen to know if anyone has tracked down a library, or historical logs from this place, do you?

[bindsthedead]

I... don't know what an angel is. But in Sedorum 'He' has a chief of staff named V'rizz- he looks rather like Entr'i, except he's got another eye on his forehead.

No written records, just oral accounts- and the oldest souls in Sedorum have only been around for about a hundred years, and those two were apparently in charge of their respective realms then- and Entr'i is younger than that.

[callada]

Uh, angels - well, from what I know they're magical beings that serve god, or gods, or whoever, and that live in heaven. Not souls, but something else. I didn't think they were real before, but I didn't really think heaven and hell were either. I'm no authority on the topic.

But Angrial is almost like a concept given a person's form. Where I'm from, justice is held up as an ideal, and one of the things about justice is it's supposed to make all people equal. It's blind to the things that don't matter. Angrial wears a blindfold, and as soon as I caught on and told her about my understanding of justice, and what that means to me, that's when she started taking me seriously.

So what's the opposite of that, that you'd need a third eye for? All-seeing knowledge? Subjectivity? My point is, Angrial might be something other than just a soul, and V'rizz might be her counterpart.

Not sure if that helps us at all if it's even true, but I find it easier to work out how to act when I really know who I'm up against.

[bindsthedead]

Magical spirits? Those are generally dangerous, but I know some spells meant to bind them. I'd have to find a glass or metal vessel, but I think I could handle either of them if they cause problems. Although they're generally more concerned with power than justice, in my experience.

[Sabriel. Sabriel no. You are not going to be able to shove Angrial into a bottle.]

V'rizz... didn't feel any different from the other souls in Sedorum though, and people only treated him differently because of his connection to the Highest One.

[callada]

[Whoa whoa hey there, he might not know anything about actual angels but that sounds... well, actually, it sounds like it might have potential, because what the hell does he know? Sabriel's the expert on magic, between the two of them.]

And I can't feel any of that, I'm just going on impressions. I could be completely wrong. I'm usually pretty good at working out what regular people want and what their strengths and weaknesses might be when I get to observe them for a while, but Angrial... she's the type who would probably take months. You know, she seemed kind of obsessed with reminding me to find my place. Like everything has to fit into some predestined category or it's all bound to come crumbling down when the war hits. She also seemed dead set against the idea of anyone following her out of blind obedience.

I dunno. I'm obviously not planning to fight for her or her side, and I don't think anyone else here in Taeum is either, from what I've seen. After what she said, they'd have to really mean it, or she'd sniff them out for insincerity eventually.

[bindsthedead]

She's hard to read, and yet the way you've described her doesn't make her sound secretive, just with a very particular perspective on things- perhaps one shared by the Highest One?

[callada]

Possibly, or possibly he's more inscrutable than that. But otherwise, I think you're right. I'm inclined to believe, if I had to pick one way or the other, that Angrial meant everything she said, including that she doesn't see Sedorum as a threat. The way she said it so sincerely and was so ready to dismiss them is the part that bothers me, but maybe she really, truly thinks they stand no chance in this war because they're meant to be in the place they're in, and nothing they think can change that.

Hell of an outlook.

[bindsthedead]

A believer in the natural order, and the power in that order. I wonder, what will she do when that order is destroyed?

[Support what's built in its place, or cling to the ruins of what was before?]

That, or she knows something about how the Highest One plans to use the orb, and thinks it will be enough to wipe out Sedorum's forces.

[callada]

Might be some of both. Faith in those plans to restore things to the status quo, because anything else wouldn't be the balance of justice that she's accustomed to.

She strikes me as the sort who will fight like hell to keep that order, rather than accepting a change. Whatever we end up doing to interfere, she won't like it. And with our track record so far, I suppose that means things won't turn out in her favor.

[bindsthedead]

Well, let's hope she's able to live with change, for her sake. Because despite what some of our number say about not wanting to interfere... once people have started using the orbs, recovering them will, by necessity, involve some amount of meddling in a world's affairs.

[callada]

I think they've begun to realize that by now. At least, I hope so. We can try to minimize our impact, but there's no leaving without a trace.

[bindsthedead]

Given that the orbs are being held by a ruler and a general, I don't think we can minimize it that much.