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Peter and I have been talking with people at the gala. Right now he's following up on someone called the Lightbringer, and I'm sure he'll fill you all in once he knows more. But while I'm waiting to hear what he finds, thought I'd get some information out there for all of you.

1. The people with eye-motif necklaces are the Presto Hvalus, a religious order of some sort. They commune with the hvalus, which I'm guessing are the huge sea creatures with those bioluminescent patterns. According to them, those creatures were gone for a while, and now they've come back, and all that communing with them gets is a general sense of chaos. Not that they themselves are chaotic, but that's the thing that was on their minds.

I was told you can join the monks as an acolyte, and I'm still thinking about whether it's a good use of time here, but if anyone can already communicate telepathically like I know some of you can, you might reach out to those hvalus, see what they have to say. I have a feeling they've seen a lot.

2. The Lightbringer I mentioned is someone who turned up sometime in the last year and saved a lot of the people here from an illness they call gill fever through some kind of miracle. Any of you with medical or magical knowledge, maybe have a look at someone who was saved from the fever, see if you can work out what happened. Peter's trying to dig into more information about this Lightbringer, and we'll see if we can track down where he went.

[There's a break in the text, then a transmission a minute or so later, almost an afterthought:]

Can't keep up with all this and also keep an eye on the royal family. If someone's free and wants to watch them, I think we all know that orbs and political leaders have a tendency to get intertwined on these missions.

(This is mostly an IC version of their Baton Pass comment! Hopefully one or more of these leads will help someone out who's looking for search request ideas!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hello, everyone. Here's the extra info I discovered about the Lightbringer.

Going by his description - white hair, magic powers, good counselor- and the girl that accompanies him - younger and a redhead - I have reasons to believe that the xrisora I talked to was describing the Wizard Remi Arbes and princess Aureliah from Kilnan.

Do you remember that mission with the magic castle full of doors that led to another world? With the sleeping sickness and the vivid dreams? Nessie is also here. She's a creature that faintly resembles a plesiosaur. I first met her back in the castle, so that's another point in favor of this theory. (If you approach Nessie do not hurt her! She is harmless and also very shy. Please be nice to her, she likes pettings and eating fish. ).

The xrisora mentioned that the Lightbringer and the girl were here about a month ago and that they spent time in the castle assisting the royal family. It seems like he gave some help and advice to the Queen about something important, but he didn't know about what. Perhaps it was the orb? We should all keep an eye out in case they appear again, and we have the opportunity to speak with them.

That does sound like Remi and Aureliah.

My only question is whether he attempted to take the orb someplace else, or seal it away? And did he tell the Queen we might come looking for it eventually?

Although if he knew we'd come looking for it eventually- perhaps he left a clue, if he hid it?

[She doubts he'd take it with him. Although Remi's bargain ended far better than Welford Branson's. Saving ones niece at the cost of half your magic isn't as cautionary a tale as being forced to live with the memory of your family dying forever.]

It does, doesn't it? You should have seen my face when the xrisora told me about them. If Remi has been coming to this world to help people in the past, maybe they will come again soon.

We don't know for sure if it's the orb but if that's the case, he's well aware of the dangers. I don't think he would strike another deal with one.

[ Remi seemed like a smart man who only struck a deal with the orb out of love for his niece, he should know better now. ]

There's the whole Presto Hvalus thing Rosinante discovered, too. Perhaps Remi wasn't aiding the Queen in how to handle the orb, but about how to safely find it and dispose of it if she doesn't have it herself but the Hvalus do.

I do not think he would strike a fresh bargain. But if he told them about it, even if he warned them about how the orb spread a sleeping curse- his story is not the cautionary tale that Welford Branson's was. Remi knew what he was giving up, and got what he wanted. It would not surprise me if someone heard his story and decided making a deal with the orb would be worth it, even if he told them otherwise.

As far as Remi knows- and as far as we know- the orbs cannot be destroyed. At best, they could toss it into the deepest trench they could find, and hope the orb cannot move under its own power. But we should talk to the Presto Hvalus- and the royal family. This happened after our meeting with Remi, he might have told them about us.

I wasn't here for that one, what kind of person is this Remi Arbes exactly, and what abilities does he have? He doesn't still have an orb, does he? Or do you think he came here because of whatever orb is here? And he's trying to get back whatever he lost when the team recovered the orb on that mission?

Remi is a pacifist who is also a powerful and skilled mage- he's able to travel between worlds through a method of his own devising.

He doesn't have an orb, and I don't believe he wants one- he used the orb to save his niece, and handed it over willingly when we helped him complete his bargain.

You were actually able to work with an orb user before? I thought the payments were typically too steep to justify and that's why the orbs had to be recovered and destroyed.

Ah, Sabriel beat me to it but...yeah Remi only struck a deal with the orb to save Aureliah from her warmongering Queen mother, and he can be reasoned with. Alina knows more about the princess than I do, she talked to her back then. Remi was willing to part with the orb the first time and he was grateful that we helped them, so he doesn't have none as far as I know.

I highly doubt he would involve himself with another orb on purpose, but perhaps he realized that there was one in his world and is trying to help retrieve it or to being used for evil.

As for his abilities, he can use arcane magic and he's a powerful wizard but also a pacifist. He's a talented man, just a bit serious and not overly social.

[ Does the last bit sound familiar, Law? ]

Mostly accurate, but you got one detail wrong- Remi wasn't trying to save Aureliah from her mother, but from a curse cast on her at birth. Finding out that the curse was cast on orders from another country is what set off the Queen's warmongering, and Aureliah went to live with Remi so her mother wouldn't try to use her as a weapon in that war.

Oh, that was it? Got it. It's been months, the details are a bit fuzzy.

[LISTEN!!! SHUT UP!!!]

... I see. It's hard to believe since it sounds like it went much smoother than all the orb retrievals I've been on.

But if he is the one who healed the gill fever, it was probably through magic and not medicine, then.
[Why does he sound annoyed by this.]

[ /blows kiss. Love ya! ]

The missions have gotten progressively worse and harder as months went by. Obtaining that orb wasn't a walk in the park either, trust me. While we were in estimating its whereabouts, we fell prey to a deep sleep that made us revive past memories and traumas. We could also visit and see each other's dreamscapes.

Most likely. [ A pause and then Peter realizes something. ] Oh! We're you interested in meeting another doctor with special powers?

Ah. I heard a little bit about that, I think.
[Since it was the root of the mild beef between Newt and Rosinante.]

I'm only interested in it if they're an actual doctor and not another one of these magical healer situations, I'm not interested in that.
[HEALING FOR SOME REASON SEEMS TO IRRITATE HIM?]

It was awful and invasive. Thankfully no other orb or mission had messed up with us like that.

[ ...Oh. Now Peter notices. ]

Do you think that healing with magic is like...unqualified practice? Or meddling in the affairs of your profession?

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