Video | UN: d.johnson & joric

[morethan084]

[Settling down in the room Daisy and Joric have rented, they start a transmission to the team.]

We managed to gather some info at the Golden Haven gambling parlor. This treasure we've all been sent to try and find? No one seems to know what it even looks like. It was left to show the way to the supposed hidden island, Dracness, and the only way to access said island. There are many theories of how the Queen managed to take all of her prized possessions to Dracness with her, one of which is that she possibly gained powers.

At least that's what I gathered they meant, as they talked about the possibility of her going through something called 'the trials'. Some of them dismissed this as a possibility as it would be seemingly impossible that the Queen would have powers without everyone knowing. Maybe 'the trials' are some kind of test, or an experiment that grants people powers.

[Daisy explains before passing it over to Joric.]

At my table there were rumors that once there had been a piece of parchment in the Kellir library containing clues as to the location of the artifact. One claimed their captain searched and couldn't find it, so it's assumed it's gone, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Maybe it's hidden well.

Comments

Video; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

From what I've overheard, and given how people reacted in Zefindam... I think the trials, whatever they are, are still ongoing. And they're how everyone who has magic, gets it.

[morethan084]

What have you overheard?

[Daisy asks, having not spent time there yet.]

[bindsthedead]

They're more casual about magic in Zefindam, but... When I used, it, people were congratulating me for 'surviving death' and 'coming out the other end'.

Which might explain why everywhere else, they're more reluctant to talk about it. But there are mages, in all three of the countries, from what I understand, so I don't think the trials take place at a single location- but that's just a guess.

[morethan084]

So it’s definitely experimental then. From the sounds of it.

[Which doesn’t sit right with Daisy, and she glances at Joric briefly because she can imagine how he’s taking the news.]

Are you still in Zefindam?

[bindsthedead]

Yes, I'm still there, and... It's not an experiment. The trials are a disease- one with a high fatality rate.

Which probably explains how and why... everyone acts the way they do about magic.

[morethan084]

You mean no one is doing this? It just spreads from person to person?

[That is not what she expected to hear at all.]

[bindsthedead]

I mean- only one in twenty develop symptoms, and it's not especially contagious.

But most who fall ill die, and those that don't... become mages.

[And Sabriel mentally tallies how many mages she's met in this world, and considers all the people that didn't survive.]

And... we've seen the orbs create illnesses before.

[morethan084]

[Shit.]

So the orb might be there. Spreading illness.

[Thanks, she hates it.]

[bindsthedead]

Even if it was the initial cause... Once the disease is spreading- and it's been spreading for centuries- it doesn't need the orb to keep going.

[morethan084]

Good point. Also a terrifying point.

[Daisy glances over to Joric again, as if trying to read his mind on the subject.]

At least we have a direction to go in now. Thanks, Sabriel.

voice ↪ un: gamora

[godslain]

Hidden, or taken.

If someone else got to it first, it sounds like it'd be in their best interest to keep quiet about it.

[drawsblood]

It's true. I wondered if perhaps they made it to Dracness and either couldn't leave, or found no reason to leave. We would never know.

[godslain]

Was there any information as to the identity of this Captain that searched the library?

[drawsblood]

No, we weren't given the ship name or anything. An oversight, perhaps, but we were trying to blend in and not be suspicious with our questions. I can say the person who told us made it sound like it was their current captain, so if the person actually found it they would have to have been holding onto it secretly without their crew knowing about it.

[godslain]

Keeping secrets is likely second nature to one who has styled themselves a 'pirate'.

（ she has known her share, after all. ）

Is there any way you might be able to determine which fleet this individual belonged to? If it is one of the captains whose ships we are aboard we may be able to coordinate a search.

[drawsblood]

I don't think it's any of our three ships. Daisy and I would have recognized if the crew member was from either of our crews and she specified her Captain, singular, which rules out The Hawking since it has two.

[ Joric might not think of himself as very smart, but there are times he can easily work through things like this. ]

[godslain]

（ she makes a thoughtful hum. ）

Then we should make a list of any other active captains apart from our four.

（ honestly, her life was so much easier when she could torture people for information... ）

[drawsblood]

Go right ahead. If this clue existed at all, we should follow all paths towards it.

[godslain]

Very well.

（ and she'll waste no time — as conversationalists go, she's not terribly good at it, so at first she just leaves it there.

but a short while after she will return to say: ）

Thank you for the information. Goodbye.

（ she is Learning. ）

[drawsblood]

[ He gets it, since he can be taciturn too. ]

You're welcome. Goodbye.

video, un: Ambus

[legalcy]

I found a drawing of Queen in a book - it's different from the stock images in the others.

[He shows a drawing from a book: it's a image of the queen, but the biggest differences is that her hair is done differently, and there is the tip of a creature's wing poking from behind her shoulder.]

See this? I wonder if this is related to her supposed powers. After the Uprising, she escaped, and it was rumored that she left her daughter the means to follow her. Perhaps we should look into the history of the uprisings, especially in Zefindam.

[morethan084]

[Daisy immediately notices the wings, and she glances to Joric before asking…]

Do you think the wings are hers?

[Maybe that’s how she escaped? She flew?]

From what Sabriel told me, it sounds like the way people are getting powers is through experiments.

[legalcy]

Perhaps. If her bloodline could replicate the experiments, it could have been passed onto all of her descendants.

Would it be possible to investigate the Queen's old residence?

[morethan084]

[It’s scary how similar that is to what happened to her and generations past.]

I’m not sure, but it’s worth a shot? You think you can do that?

[legalcy]

I'm still researching the ship library, as I promised the captains. We need someone with time to head down there.

[morethan084]

Hopefully this reaches that person then.

You’ll let us know if you find anything else at the library?

[legalcy]

I will. There are a lot of books to review.

[morethan084]

I can imagine. Thank you, for doing this. I know it’s a lot.

text | un: lion cub

[heyciri]

Wonder if talking to anyone with powers will give us more on the trials, and whatever else follows.

No one here has paper hunting special skills, do they? Super research skills. Super scholars?

[morethan084]

it definitely sounds like the right track, especially if the person talking to them also has powers. They might trust them more.

This would be a lot easier if computers were around, digging through hundreds of years of history will no doubt take longer.

[heyciri]

Maybe, it's worth trying.

See, this is why a scholar would be perfect! The kind used to doing exactly that. You'd still want to talk to someone who knows how things are organized there, but then maybe you could make it a scholar challenge. Somehow!

[morethan084]

Are you in Zefindam currently? Apparently that’s where the trials take place.

I don’t know any scholars, but maybe there are some who live here who might be willing to help?

[heyciri]

It's worth checking, yeah. Maybe someone here is good for challenges, or easy to rile into one?

[morethan084]

Sounds like you have some experience in that

[Riling people into doing something.]

[heyciri]

Don't most of us? We're a resourceful group.

[morethan084]

good point

hopefully we'll get some helpful answers soon but this sounds like it might be a solid lead

un: dante

[durante]

Do you think the parchment could have been moved for safekeeping? To a vault or the like?

[drawsblood]

It could've been. One pirate said the regent of Kellir might have hidden it, but her reasoning for thinking so is because the regent is trying to outlaw piracy. Though it's not a bad theory; the clue could be a bargaining chip.

[durante]

Something like "pirates, leave and never come back and you'll get this note"? None of us have the power to enforce something like that, even temporarily. There must be a way we can get her to trade - and that's assuming she has it.

[drawsblood]

I was thinking more along the lines of making the pirate crews turn on each other and last ship flying wins.

[ But maybe that's too pessimistic. ]

Right. Getting her to admit to that might prove difficult, and she could always lie and say she has it when she doesn't. There's really no way of knowing unless someone sneaks into her home and finds it.

[durante]

That's not as impossible as it might seem. I'm working on getting an invitation to her estate, if my luck holds out.

[drawsblood]

That's convenient.

Are you saying you'll do some searching if you end up there?

[durante]

Yes. I want to search what I can, and talk to her if I can get close enough. I don't yet know how I'll persuade her to give up any information, but if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

Or if someone can at least promise to break me out if I wind up arrested for snooping.

[drawsblood]

Well, good luck. Here's hoping the attempt is worth something.

And the way some people can make portals I'm sure you'll get out all right.

[durante]

If it turns out to be even slightly helpful, I'll let everyone know. If not, then we can see if the library has an underground to break into.

That's a joke.

[drawsblood]

[ Honestly, good on them for saying that because most jokes fly straight over Joric's head. ]

What would be even funnier is if that was true. There could be some secret door leading down to where the forbidden knowledge lies.

[durante]

If anyone's an expert on finding secret doors, then by all means, they can go check it out. I'm definitely not.

[drawsblood]

Neither am I.

[ But hey, heads up to any active listeners out there. ]