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

[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.]