video - un; nightmoves

[ruinously]

[ This seems important enough to divulge immediately while he's on a Ziggy hunt; ]

Guys, got something that might be pretty useful. Check these out.

[ He holds up his stolen papers, stretching them out so everyone can see, doing it slowly so they're able to be read. It's as listed;

- An official-looking parchment, granting an audience with the king to a Lord Durwald

- Several letters, all of them short, discussing arranging a fast horse and safe passage through the Forests of Gha'har, towards South Naelor; none are signed

- Notes, written by the same hand as the one asking for the horse; some of them seem to be detailing council meetings and discussions, but there are some particular entries that are of interest:

I have cause to suspect the king is using something to affect our decision-making. Yet another decision has been overruled by the council, despite majority vote passing it in the parliament yesterday. Have enlisted the help of Y.V. to spy on him.

Two more notes detailing council proceedings follow, but after them, there is one more entry:

Y.V. found the king speaking to the heirloom. Said there was a strange glow in the room. Suspicions can only be confirmed by removing heirloom.

Y.V. found dead this morning. Will put the plan to action tomorrow. ]

Seems important. Dunno how it correlates to stuff everyone else has found, but definitely think it should be looked into.

[ a pause, then- ]

If anybody's seen Cas, let me know.

Comments

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

If the king has a bargain... Well, theft might not have broken it. So that's another complication.

People can offer anything that's 'theirs' as the price of a bargain. For a ruler, that price can include the land they rule- or parts of it. If Durwald, or someone in his employ took the orb- then perhaps we should follow their tracks, towards south Naelor.

[And looking at the map... The Silver Caverns, rumored to be overflowing with monsters, lies in that direction.]

[swordandshield]

According to Shortaxe via Finn [does Felix doubt some of the credibility here? probably. not entirely all the kid's fault though] the Brigade tracked it to the Silver Caverns. But the person who had it last died in the Forests of Gha'har. Either he left it in the caverns or it switched hands again at some point.

[Or it's all a lie from Shortaxe but Felix is keeping that one to himself.]

[bindsthedead]

The caverns are near the forest. So... Either of those are likely. But if you were trying to hide something, and powerful people were after it... Wouldn't you hide it in a place that was hard to get to?

And... well, in previous missions, the orb has attracted monsters- and in one case, mutated the local wildlife into being much more aggressive. So when I hear that the Silver Caverns are full of monsters, it makes me wonder.

[ruinously]

I stole these from a gnome in the Adamantine caverns if that gives you any more useful information.

[bindsthedead]

Not much- beyond that the caverns are a frequent bandit hideout.

But who was Y.V.? Someone on the council, or connected to them. Someone who was murdered.

[So the king is absolutely willing to kill to get the orb. Wonderful.]

[ruinously]

Easy place to hide.

But that, I'm not sure. The gnome didn't say, and I was invisible at the time and didn't ask. He just said to himself that they were the most valuable things they had, even over the gold and weapons they'd stolen. He was gonna make off with 'em, let their horses go.

Til I stole them, of course.

[ sure sounding like it. ]

[swordandshield]

Too bad we don't know where that gnome was going. He might have had more information about the papers he deemed worth so much more than gold or weapons.

[Two of Felix's favorite things. But he wondered if this bandit was going to blackmail the thief, or return with information to the king. Either way it would have been nice to know what the gnome knew.]

[ruinously]

[ truth. ]

I would've gone after him, but he had a horse and I didn't, and leaving my partner behind would've been kinda shitty.

There were also two others inside the cave, and three on one wasn't great odds.

[swordandshield]

[Sounds like nothing but lame excuses to Felix. He literally bites his tongue to keep from saying anything sarcastically degrading.

Instead,] Which direction did he go in?

[It might not amount to much, but it was worth a shot.]

[heroooic]

Jun mentioned that there was a dragonborn who had the orb in the caves, who was then found dead... could that be Y.V.?

[It's not much, but after Dante asked about the dragonborn's identity it's been on Finn's mind.]

Maybe someone could ask about any, like... big-wig dead dragonborns with those initials?

[bindsthedead]

But he didn't have the orb at the time. So... Whoever took the orb didn't return it to the king. That, or he hid it in the caverns before he died.

[heroooic]

Jun said they ran out in the middle of the fight after Ellia blasted him, would they even have had time to hide it?

... Then again, if they ran out quick, maybe they left some stuff behind? Gear or more correspondence or something?

[Sounds like this was shaping up to be a real dungeon crawl situation. See, Sabriel? Not all tombs!]

[swordandshield]

Sure, depending on what I wanted to do with it.

[He could leave the Key of Chorus anywhere he wanted and it wouldn't do anyone else any good, but he felt better with it at his hip. He couldn't imagine leaving something as powerful as the orb somewhere that chance could see it stolen. It wasn't a pistol sitting in a locker after all.

Perhaps someone else might be dumb enough to do something like that though. Someone without all the information about it. Someone...altruistic maybe. That wasn't Felix's strong point when it came to understanding. Predicting, yes; comprehending, no.]

So that last part makes sense then. I guess it's time to send a concentrated party into those caverns. They're supposed to be massive and dangerous though. Whoever goes will need to be prepared for more than just a day-hike.

[Could they all 60-ish of them go? That might be what they needed to do. Felix was used to working in smaller numbers but Central Command always sent more than one group into a fray if it was needed. Maybe time to think more strategically.]

[bindsthedead]

Say it was powerful, but you couldn't use it. All you could do is keep it out of the hands of someone that could.

[Assuming the king has a bargain with the orb that's still active. If not, all bets are off.]

Well, plenty of us are used to fighting. Sending in an advance party to scout things out might be helpful. If nothing else, we can understand what it is we'll be facing.

[swordandshield]

Ok. You play the world's most risky game of Keep Away with it and hope not to lose.

[...that sounds awfully familiar. He's been on the receiving end of something very similar.]

So I've heard. Hopefully everyone lives up to their reputation.

[bindsthedead]

We played that during the second mission, and I would not recommend it.

[swordandshield]

I wouldn't either.

[He'd gotten what he wanted in the end. Keep Away usually didn't work forever. Something had to break eventually.]

So let's get there first and get out of here before that happens.

[bindsthedead]

Just one issue- if someone has an ongoing deal with the orb? We could have it in our possession, and it wouldn't matter- we need to end whatever bargain someone's made with it before we're able to teleport out.

[Although if they're able to find it, they'll have an easier time sorting out who's made a bargain with it. Hopefully.]

[swordandshield]

[He hesitates at that information, considering.] Hence the game of Keep Away.

[In their past mission, the one Sabriel mentioned just a few seconds ago. It made sense now. He'd read some of the mission dossiers but it was always easier with context from a real source.]

How do you end a deal already instated? Is there a way to force the orb...?

[bindsthedead]

Not force the orb. In the one case it was an issue, the game of keep-away got too dangerous, and Cheruvia decided she'd rather give up the orb than risk her lover dying.

Mostly we've just persuaded people to hand them over, or concluded their bargains one way or another.

[swordandshield]

[Great. The hard way it was then. Felix wondered if it would work the way the Great Keys did: if the one who made the deal died, would the bargain be null and void.

He debated whether to ask or not.]

So force the people instead of the nearly all-powerful artifact. Safer bet.

...Any of them ever die while holding a deal with an orb?

[bindsthedead]

Well, So-Yeon... I'm not sure if her life was the price, or if the orb was keeping her alive, but when she gave it up, she just... faded.

And I'm not sure if the Highest One had a deal or not, but that stopped mattering when Angriel killed him.

[swordandshield]

Hmm.

[So not a very definitive answer. Probably best not to press that line of questioning further. If he needed to find out on his own one day, well, he wouldn't have any problems killing someone in his way. But the others didn't have to know that was one of Felix's preferred options.]

Sounds like the group has gotten lucky a few times. But so far, so good, yeah? I don't think I noticed a complete failure in any of the mission dossiers.

[Not so good endings didn't count in his book, he didn't care. Casualties and collateral damage was acceptable loses in his book so long as he came out on top. That was just the way war the world worked.]