video | unseelie locked

[benumbing]

[The locket doesn't reveal too much of where he is. What happens in Mair, stays in Mair. But it would be easy enough to guess by the sounds of coins, the laughter and shouts, that he's in some sort of gambling house. At least he's not broadcasting from the brothel, but Jack's eyes eyes are still bright and sharp from the wine that flows here, and he looks amused in a cheshire cat way. A single coin flips between his fingers.]

Well, I've certainly found a place that I like. Plenty of drink, plenty of entertainment, plenty of mystery meat. Almost dying always calls for just a little bit more living.

As for the rest of us who survived, I hope you're also settled. Recovering. War isn't game, but I doubt I have to tell anyone that now. It's more of a gamble. Higher stakes, more to lose. [He finishes his drink, waving off another before he looks back at the locket.] And I don't like to lose.

My name is Jack Benjamin. I'd like to speak to those who are familiar with the weapons of this land - swords and bows, maces. I was a soldier in my world too, but we've sort of left those things behind. And see, I want to be as effective as possible here, so that the next time they come I'll do more than just find a soft spot to poke.

[Jack lifts the coin to the lips of a lovely young woman, hoping that the kiss will bring him luck. All it brings is an imp between them, closing its mouth around the coin instead. Jack glares at it, commanding through gritted teeth.]

Spit it out.

[It does, and the coin can be heard bouncing across the table. By the way Jack looks (first surprised, then as pleased as the cat who got the cream) it landed on a prosperous spot.]

I believe I can reimburse you for a little of your time. I'd rather not owe anyone any favors.

video; unseelie locked.

[thebreakingwave]

Hello, for those of you I haven't yet met, I'm Harry.

[The video footage is of a young man with messy black hair, one bottle-green eye, and half his face silvered over with old scarring. On the damaged side, he has a red amber prosthetic in place of an eye. In the background, there's a crow that periodically peers over his shoulder.]

The queen has tasked me to talk to every one of the Unseelie and ask for a memory of solidarity, overcoming great odds, or defeating a foe. With these, she can use it to create a better, stronger defence for a rebuilt Caer Scima.

It's going to take time to do this — at the very least, a few months — so there's no hurry to meet and I've the ability to get to pretty much anywhere in the Drabwurld quickly.

[He looks down at a bit of paper that's just out of sight; seems like someone made notes before talking.]

Sharing a memory is done through magic, it doesn't hurt, I won't look at anything you don't want me to see and I'll swear to that.

How's that?

video | ota

[bird_brain]

[Aubri looks pensive: ear tufts flat against his head, gaze piercing, posture not quite relaxed. He speaks slowly, deliberately softening his accent for the sake of this message.]

Not so very long ago in my world, two great mages fell into war. Ma'ar grew to love power too much. Urtho was the only mage who could even think to stand against him.

[Aubri taps the ground next to the locket. The tap tap tap of his talons is dimly heard until he speaks again.] Ma'ar polluted magic. He poured every evil he possessed into his creations. Our troops were decimated. In the end, Urtho's only defense was to build a weapon as great and terrible as Ma'ar could conceive. I do not know if Urtho knew how great the consequences would be.

I helped deliver that weapon. [Okay, no. Not really, but he was there when Skandranon delivered it. But those are details and he'd rather not get into those... because then he'd have to talk about getting caught and abducted and that's just not fun talk.] It was a terrible price to pay for our lives.

[But he would do it again, if it meant saving the lives of so many people.] The magic corrupted the land and all the creatures in it. We could live there no longer. The storms would have killed us, if the creatures twisted by magic did not first.

[A pause.] Be careful out there, my friends.