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

[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.