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Kasimir

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  1. Kasimir
    Fair cop, guv. More checking to make sure your policy hasn't changed
  2. Kasimir
    Probably because a chatty hunter is an unsuccessful one. Then again, all you really need is good job-social life separation; chat in the taverns, shut up in the wild IDK, roll up a chatty hunter next time, then! Hey Almighty GM Meta! I have two questions, more pertaining to your GMing preferences. 1. Would you like us to include you in all PMs sent? 2. Would you like us to green out votes in the original post as well (i.e. you're counting first red vote, rather than last?) Thanks!
  3. Kasimir
    Got back my grades for penultimate semester. Straight A+s, and my GPA moved up by 0.01. (...Not proportionate -.-''') Still, I'm pretty happy as this pushes me past this barrier I've been trying to break for a while, and one of those classes was giving me a lot of trouble. Now the next big problem: how to maintain this for one last semester o.O
  4. Kasimir
    I guess that's where we differ. I neither enjoyed the Lost Tribe, nor Ben Skywalker's behaviour to Vestara, nor Abeloth. I liked the premise of a Force-based psychosis, but the rest just lost me. I did, I admit, enjoyed Daala's ascendance and alliance with Boba Fett, even though they're more or less mouthpieces for Karen Traviss's well-known biases, so there was that was well.
  5. Kasimir
    Am I the only one who reads a Planescape: Torment vibe to this, Chief? I'm not gonna dignify that with a response as you do science, and presumably know how this works I believe the complete prion disease resistance tested out in mice; in the actual Fore population, it manifested as kuru resistance, and the investigators did claim/think that if the Fore hadn't been stopped from consuming the flesh of the deceased, they might have wound up with an entire kuru-resistant population, yes.
  6. Kasimir
    This is somewhat true. Kuru is a subacute spongiform encephalopathy prevalent (used to be, anyway) among the South Fore of Papua New Guinea, and has been shown to be similar to dementia and Alzheimer's. Crucially, the symptoms of Kuru include uncontrolled trembling and progress to the point of total loss of motor control. (Rather than memory loss as the primary symptom.) Now, the really interesting thing is that the general consensus point is that Kuru spread because of cannibalistic funerary practices among the Fore. So, side effects of cannibalism, you say? (Note: even more interesting is recent research which suggests that those cannibalistic practices might've been responsible for accentuating evolutionary pressures that led to mutations either: A. resistant to Kuru, or B. resistant to prion diseases in general.) Edit: Don't judge me, I learn weird things in History of Medicine
  7. Kasimir
    Cycle Four: The Night of the Hunter With her mismatched eyes, Starri unnerved most of those within the stone confines of Urithiru. She was no darkeyes, for sure, and so the darkeyes deferred to her and generally ignored her. The lighteyes, on the other hand, considered her dark eye to be a sign of her inferiority. And so it was that she ended up having free passage through most of Urithiru, if only because the darkeyes and the lighteyes both found it a better option to simply ignore her. She sighed and carefully held up her lantern. With nothing to do, exploring Urithiru seemed like a way to deal with her boredom. She’d checked the latest drop but there was no message from the rest of the faction. It was almost as if they’d decided to take the latest attacks lying down, but...she chewed on her lip. No, that couldn’t be it. Perhaps they were still deciding what the best course of action was. A man pushed past her in the corridor. “Excuse me,” he called back, after him, distractedly. He was one-eyed, with burn scars on his grave features, but, Starri thought, even a one-eyed man had better status in Alethi society, as long as his single eye was light. She realised she’d forgotten to leave a chalk mark on the walls, and paused, shifting her lantern to her other arm as she reached into her kit to produce the chalk. Without the chalk markings, she might very well never find her way back. Urithiru was a maze, and even now, the exploration parties hadn’t made much progress in mapping out the various hallways and passageways in Urithiru. She cursed herself for her carelessness. When she retraced her steps, she was going to have some difficulty after this juncture. How long had it been since she’d remembered to mark explored passageways? One thing at a time, Starri told herself firmly. First, she was going to have to turn back and marked the missed passageways. And then, she would worry if she couldn’t find a matching marking. Thus resolved, she pulled out a flask of mulled wine--fresh from the kitchens, or at least, it had been when she’d taken it this morning--and drank. The spices seemed extraordinarily strong this time around. She wondered if a different cook was on duty. Fifteen minutes later, the passageways seemed to blur into each other. Starri was panicking, ready to admit defeat. She couldn’t seem to locate any of her chalk markings at all; as far as she was concerned, none of the passages even seemed remotely familiar. The lantern tumbled from her limp hand and shattered against the ground, spilling out the gem chip within it. It glinted, leaking a tiny wisp of Stormlight. And then all was dark. - Lorna was disappointed. That was putting it mildly. She stripped down her crossbow, carefully oiling the parts to proof them against rust. Since the last major bounty, she’d acquired poisoned bolts, and even bolts that exploded on contact, burning their target with a strong acid. Baheal Edr was reputed to be a crafty man: commensurate with the bounty on his head, and she had carefully mapped out the parts of Urithiru he frequented, stalking him with a hunter’s patience, deciding on quick escape routes and places where she could ambush him and kill him with sufficient time to remove his head as evidence of the deed. Instead, the Diagrammists hidden within Urithiru had murdered Baheal. He’d been discovered the other day in a deserted corridor, his eyes gouged out, his skin the lifeless pallour of the dead. They’d beaten her to her quarry, defaced him, and left the most valuable part of Baheal Edr ruined for all who would come. If that wasn’t a major waste, she didn’t know what it was. Next, she ground the steel of her hunting knife against the whetstone, taking comfort in the familiar sound, careful to remove nicks. For that insult alone, she was tempted to exact some measure of repayment on the Diagrammists. Except that there were still five other names on her list, even though Baheal Edr had been the prize: the one she’d most determined to kill and return to claim as bounty. The door to her chambers crashed open. Lorna was up in an instant; she grabbed her crossbow, placed the stirrup against the ground, and cocked it in a series of swift, mechanical motions. At the same time, she grabbed one of the exploding bolts and nocked it to the crossbow; and then a second bolt, designed to pierce flesh and armour alike, carrying a deadly poison. Crossbows took a longer time to load than a normal hunter’s bow, but they required less skill and were, altogether, more reliable. Especially one as heavily modified as Lorna’s crossbow. She fired at the first person who entered the room. The exploding bolt smashed through his flesh, and she heard someone behind, in the thick press of the mob, cry out, as the delicate glass embedded in the bolt shattered, spilling corrosive acid onto them. Lorna smiled grimly. It was not a pleasant experience, to say the least, and she didn’t like using such weapons unless she didn’t have to bring back her quarry relatively intact. The poisoned bolt slid home, now. She fired again. This bolt punctured the arm of a woman with biceps like a blacksmith. Too late now, Lorna thought. All that muscle wasn’t going to do her any good. She cocked the crossbow again, quickly, and reloaded. At the same time, she cast about for an exit. It was no use; her room was high up in Urithiru, but all she could see was the open window. It was that, or fighting her way through the mob that was pressing into her room, crying out for her blood. And why was that? They hadn’t seen her at dinner for several days. Ridiculous. She fired again, but several members of the mob broke free and charged, carrying swords and knives and--in some cases--cooking implements. Lorna’s second crossbow bolt hit the man in the lead, dropping him like a rock. Reluctantly, she grabbed her hunting knife and threw the crossbow at the face of the second man, giving herself some space in which to flee. Luckily, she’d left a rope tied outside the open window. Lorna, after all, always left herself an escape route, just in case. A hunter that was too focused on the hunt to the exclusion of all else was a hunter who didn’t survive very long. She deftly side-stepped the on-rushing slash of the third swordsman and counter-attacked, hamstringing him with a swipe of her bloodied hunting knife. Then, she made for the window and half-threw herself out, gracefully grabbing at the rope and making as swift a descent as she dared, hunting knife gripped between her clenched teeth. If she didn’t move fast enough, she would die here. It was a long way to the ground. She slid down as fast as she dared, feeling the friction of the rope burn her hands. She pushed past the pain. Time for that later; survival was what mattered now. And then the rope jerked and gave; she glanced up, to see the smug faces of the mob, and the rope--cleanly-severed--beginning to fall. There was the whistle of wind in her ears; a flash of pain. Then, the long hunt ended. - Kaddar didn’t bother to hide his sigh of exasperation. So much for that lead, he thought. Kol didn’t seem to be in Urithiru, and Kaddar was beginning to doubt that he even was on Roshar. If events in Urithiru hadn’t been as interesting as it seemed, he might’ve even thought of leaving Roshar entirely, so much for whatever Sebarial had asked him to do. He had, however, given his word. That was another point. “Bother,” he said, aloud. Sebarial, of course, was clever: he had to give him that. Sebarial knew who could be entrusted with what task, and he was a good judge of men, all things considered. He’d interested Kaddar by talking about the various organisations at work within Urithiru, and now that Kaddar was beginning to infiltrate the Sons of Honour, he had the feeling he was only scratching the surface. There were wheels within wheels here; it was all part of a gigantic puzzle Kaddar could just barely perceive. He would tease it apart eventually, of course. He moved through dark passageways, cutting through the forgotten heart of Urithiru before he reached the chamber that Sebarial had secured. He nodded to the guardsmen; they recognised him by now--if not by eye, then by scars--and stepped into the room. Sebarial wasn’t the only one present. There was a woman there; Kaddar glanced questioningly at Sebarial. “An associate of yours?” he wanted to know. “She’s my eye in the Ghostbloods,” Sebarial replied. “Ah,” Kaddar nodded, knowingly. “I had wondered why you’d made no comment about the Ghostbloods. I still have a contact with a...history with them, you might say.” “I didn’t know,” Sebarial said, with faint surprise. “You’d never mentioned it.” “That makes two of us, then,” Kaddar said. “Of course,” Sebarial inclined his head. “In any case, I’m sure you’re distracted enough with your own objectives: there was no need to further impose upon you the need to infiltrate the Ghostbloods as well.” “True. So, I take it you want to know what I’ve learned?” “Anytime before next Weeping would be good.” Kaddar drew himself up and began, “Honour of sons gather, in Urithiru gather Sons of Honour Conceal many secrets, secrets many conceal All is confusion, confusion is all, Many the movers, move the many, Whispers, only, of an enemy, only whispers Amongst them Restares, Restares amongst them Hidden in plain sight, in sight plainly hidden.” Sebarial clapped, loudly and slowly. He was the only one; the agent who had infiltrated the Ghostbloods was staring at Kaddar, her irritation plain. “Well,” Sebarial said, “It’s clear that time hasn’t improved your ketek skills, at least. But I’ll give you points for the effort.” Kaddar beamed broadly and offered him a florid bow. “I aim to please, Brightlord.” Wilson rolled her eyes. “Good thing it’s just to please. If you aimed any higher, there’d be true disappointment by how much you’d failed.” She turned to Sebarial. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m not going to report like the flounces of this fool,” she gestured towards Kaddar. “The Ghostbloods aren’t much better. They’re slightly more organized, but very confused. Paranoid, mostly. It’s….difficult….figuring out who is a true Ghostblood and who is a Diagrammist.” Kaddar smirked. He said, “There’s a story, you know. Of a dog who looks at the distant moon reflected in a pond and howls at it, thinking the moon has fallen to the earth and is within his grasp.” “Let me guess. You’re the dog. You do look rather mangy.” Kaddar replied, "Brightness wounding, wounding Brightness Sharp tongue strikes true, true strikes the tongue sharply, Wit has fallen, fallen has Wit Fled is Wisdom, Wisdom is fled All's left are fools and men." “What does that even mean? It makes no sense.” “The question,” said Kaddar, “Is not whether it does not make sense, but about whether something that makes no-sense is, in fact, what we would term ‘non-sense’, or ‘nonsense’, if you will. I could attempt an interpretive dance, if you prefer. My skills are varied and multitudinous.” “I’d rather kill myself than watch you dance,” Wilson said flatly. “Same results, I think.” Sebarial grinned. “As wonderful as it is to watch the two of you getting along, I must be calling a halt to this, shall we say, most stimulating line of conversation. Is there anything else?” “‘Get along’? Is that what ‘cremlings in a Highstorm’ meant? No matter what he says about nonsense, your senses are failing you.” Sebarial smiled mysteriously, as he rose to his feet and nodded to each of them. The guards swept over to follow him out. “Bah, you sound like Palona. I’m old, my senses are failing me, but I did grasp what he meant, Wilson. You might want to think about that.” “Brightlord,” Kaddar said, by way of farewell. He picked up the spear leaning against the table, and nodded briefly at Wilson before making his own exit. Wilson watched the two leave, confused. She was certain Kaddar had won that one. She was just as certain she would win the next. If she could just figure out what he’d meant…. “All’s left are fools and men,” she muttered. The cycle will end in 48 hours, once again, at 9AM MST/12AM SGT. Stay tuned for the next update on 'Who's A Diagrammist Anyway?' Lorna (4) : Agrigar Leiken, Alycia Kavdar, Krippe, Cla Malarn (2) : Inor Haze, Lorna Maximilianos Sebarial (2) : Malarn, Sheon Idris Lorna (Alvron) was lynched! Starri was poisoned! Countdown: Player List
  8. Kasimir
    I was big on the EU but my general attitude is that it went downhill during LotF (with redeeming aspects like Ben Skywalker's arc--but seriously, they got very lazy and sloppy on Jacen Solo, as well as that Deus Ex Mandalorian) and FotJ became even worse. KOTOR was awesome. I did wish you could get Light Side and Dark Side points in ways other than being a saint or an utter walking monster though...
  9. Kasimir
    The bell he'd carefully hung over the door of the shop tinkled. "Be right there with you in a moment," Kassien called out, and returned to sorting out the piles of freshly-arrived ingredients in the correct drawers. Cressroot went in that drawer...and laceleaf into a second, and... He sighed and stood up, stretched out for a moment, and then went to the front of the shop to see who had come in. "Oh! Can I help you, Captain? Something for a cough? Someone died again?" Teys, the Captain of the Watch, shook his head and said, gruffly, "That's all right." "Well, then, what can I do for you?" Kassien slipped behind the counter, and began tidying up. The mortar and pestle went to one side of the table, the weighing scales to another, the calipers and clippers and all sorts of other instruments of the apothecary's trade went to their alotted spaces or into drawers. He really should've closed the store during stocktaking, Kassien thought with a sigh. But there was no point crying over spilled wine, now. "Heard anything of the rumours?" Kassien said, "I've been busy." He gestured vaguely at the shelves of ingredients, each cabinet and ceramic jar labelled in such a fashion that only he could've made sense of it all. "It's that time of year again." "So it is," Teys said, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, we've gotten word from one of the outposts downriver. A band of koloss are coming our way." Kassien froze. "That's not good," he said, eventually. He reached for the next instrument, if only to steady himself, to force himself to account with one of the tools of his trade rather than the thought of a horde of koloss descending upon Tyrian Falls. "So, what are we going to do?" Teys said, "We're going to defend Tyrian Falls, of course." "They're koloss," Kassien said. "They're not unbeatable," Teys replied. "I've got men building barricades, and as long's everyone does their parts, we'll be safe. We just have to harden up the town and make sure we can fend them off." "And I'm guessing you need an apothecary." Teys nodded. "People are going to get hurt," he said, simply. "And I've heard that in sufficient doses--" "--That which heals can also kill," Kassien finished. "Yes. It can." "I wouldn't like to have to close off the town," Teys continued. "I've already had to conscript a traveller into the City Watch, just to get him to stay. We need every person we can get, Kassien." Tyrian Falls wasn't even his home. He'd grown up in the Western Dominance, but had drifted slowly down towards Tyrian Falls, where he'd found a place that needed his apothecary training. But it had become a home, of sorts, and he didn't want to think of friends and fellow townsfolk falling to the koloss as he ran away and lived. "Sure," Kassien said. He even managed to smile as he did so. Teys clapped him on the back. "Good man. Start stockpiling what you've got." "That's the plan," Kassien replied. While Karnad will not be returning, Kassien Estvaril, an ex-noble and the town apothecary, will be signing up. You might, however, find a familiar face or two in this RP...
  10. Kasimir
    I can answer that; Twei is indeed Twelfthrootoftwo. Apologies for the shortforms: if anything in doubt, just ask! Also, just a PSA--Twei is female.
  11. Kasimir
    Was going to say more, but I guess I'll just stay bitter and disappointed.
  12. Kasimir
    Seriously, don't wish that trauma on them, you old sadist! They would've had much sads. You're a true credit to the Paranoid, young Padawan Skaa Bro
  13. Kasimir
    Everybody lives. No one gets killed by the lynch.
  14. Kasimir
    Hi guys: mildly embarrassing, but both Wilson and myself missed that we forgot about the votes, so I'm putting a provisional tally here. Wilson will add it into the main post once she's on a computer. John Doe (2): Locke Tekiel, Elba Agrigar Leiken (2): Moros, Edurams Malarn (2): Aleral, Alycia Kavdar Inor Haze (2): Arina, Cla Edurams (2): Malarn, Slalassalas Hellscythe (1): Seixa Slalassalas (1): Agrigar Leiken Maximilianos Sebarial (1): Sheon Idris Happy paranoia...
  15. Kasimir
    This is a reminder to all players: As we have previously clarified, if you are changing your vote, please remember to green votes you have placed in your original post. It does not suffice to just put someone's name in green in a later post. This is because we will be counting the first red vote from you that we see. Thank you for your cooperation.
  16. Kasimir
    Why, thanks, Bort, I'm so touched you care about the state of my brain Considering I swore I'd castrate myself if I ever ran a Faction game again, I'm not sure if that's what you should be worried about, nevertheless... Suffice to say that Wilson and myself are fairly confident there will be no repeat of MR7 and we have taken precautions to account for that. (And if there is, I will cry, and it will be ugly, and you will all be responsible for making Kas cry. Feel ashamed of yourselves! ) To once more clarify, this is what things would look like if you were a... 1. Regular: "Your rank is Regular, and as such, you report to Wyrm." 2. Captain: "Your rank is Captain, and as such, you report to Wyrm. In addition, Gamma, Meta, Awes, Jerric, 18thShard and Ostrich report to you." 3. Commander: "Your rank is Commander, and as such, you report to Wyrm. In addition, you know this of your faction's command structure: Captains: Boromir, Faramir, Thorongil Regulars: Gamma, Meta, Awes, Jerric, 18thShard and Ostrich." 4. Thaidakar/Restares "Your rank is Thaidakar/Restares. Hence, you know this of your faction's command structure: Commanders: [Everyone who is a Commander] Captains: [Everyone who is a Captain] Regulars: [Everyone who is a Regular]" Thaidakar and Restares know everyone, but they don't know who reports to whom. Commander knows the Captains who report to them and the Regulars who report to these Captains, but don't know the breakdown (so in this example, our Commander doesn't know if Gamma reports to Thorongil, Boromir, or Faramir.) They also don't know who the other Commanders and their subordinates are. Captains know who their immediate commanding officer is, and who their subordinates are. And if you're a Regular, you're pretty lucky because things are uncomplicated: you just know who you report to. That's all. Very much like a mushroom Lopen: It just means that both Factions have an equal number of Radiants. We can neither confirm nor deny exactly how equitable the distribution of Radiant-Types within Factions are.
  17. Kasimir
    1. Can Progression/Surgeon protect from all attacks or only one? They protect from one attack (or kill attempt), as stated in The Rules 2. Can the Explorer/Elsecaller protect from the lynch? This has come up Elsewhere (pun not entirely intended.) Wilson's ruling is that the rules are mistaken: Elsecallers/Explorers are protected from everything except the lynch. To quote Word of Wilson: 3. Does Friction affect PMs sent to the GM? What about messages in the Eliminator doc? Lol, nice try, but no. 4. What happens if a vote manipulator targets someone affected by Adhesion? Wilson took this one: 5. Do we need to green out our previous votes in the original post? I'm just going to rule that you should do so (read this as a strong 'should'), in order to A. make life easier for us (see: faster rollovers), and B. to reduce the chances that we make a mistake and someone who wasn't supposed to get lynched gets lynched. So everyone wins. Edit: I will also clarify something that should've been done from the start. While I'm co-GMing this game with Wilson, think of me more as her back-up: so if there is a clash between Word of Wilson and Word of Kas, go with Word of Wilson. As Wilson created this game, our operating procedure for interpreting rules is to go for the spirit of what she intended with the rules from the beginning.
  18. Kasimir
    One last clarification before I sign off for the night, and this is on my policy with regard to clarifications (Wilson may have a different policy). I am not going to give priority to questions with answers that are already known. Frankly, I have better things to do than to babysit 36 odd PMs, each with questions that could be easily answered if one just clicked on the very first post of MR10. This is especially egregious in the case of things like what the order of actions is. So I'm not going to refuse to answer them, but they're going to be right at the bottom of my to-do list. My yardstick is more or less: 'Can you answer this question with a click and a bit of scrolling?" If so, then I'm not going to rush to answer it. I'll prioritise genuinely unanswered questions such as whether Cook and Diagrammist kills are differentiated. Thank you and have fun slaughtering.
  19. Kasimir
    Just to repeat and to be more clear: ranks do not give you 1337 communication powers. If you're Restares and not a Runner/Bondsmith, then you still can't communicate with anyone. Life's unfair that way El's correct. Scholars cannot target the living and if hit with a redirect, will simply not get a result back. This would function effectively as if you were role-blocked. Note that the only exception is if you targeted an Explorer/Elsecaller; if they were using their ability, then you would be informed you couldn't locate your target. With regard to write-up informativeness, Wilson and I have spoken and decided that we are going to differentiate Cook kills from Diagrammist kills. Cook kills will always involve poison. (Where unclear, please ask us and we will clarify, since we have decided that this is information you should be having.) While we're on that note, I will also add that while protections thwarting attacks will be reflected in the write-up, this is not the case for Transporation/Explorer. This is just because these do not so much save from attacks as prevent them from occurring in the first place. So, to recap: if an Explorer using their ability is attacked, this will not be in the write-up. And about the command structure? Way to push for a promotion, eh? No, you do not get free promotions that way. So if you kill a Restares/Thaidakar by accident, we're not replacing them. You break 'em, your problem. We do not have an insurance or returns policy for them. Thank you and have a nice day
  20. Kasimir
    If the commander is a Runner? Sure. Otherwise, no. PMs can only be created by Runners or Bondsmiths. Rank has nothing to do with this. Think of rank as something that determines how much of your faction's command structure you know. It only affects knowledge. Your role, on the other hand, affects what you can do.
  21. Kasimir
    Thalia Heron #7: Give Nothing Back Thalia Heron #8: Full Fathom Five
  22. Kasimir
    Rule Clarifications: 1. So, can I open PMs? No. You cannot and may not. No players should be opening any PMs other than your GM PM for the first cycle. Runners, please recall that you have to submit an action to do so. Please refrain from creating PMs on your own. Thank you. 2. What is the structure of the cycles? Day and night have been collapsed together into a single 48 hour cycle. So the Diagrammist kill and the lynch will both go off in the same cycle. 3. Can Runners/Tension set up a message between other players or between more than one player at a time? No. Runners/Tension always set up one-on-one PMs and this PM must include the Runner/Bondsmith themselves. 4. Can Progression/Surgeon protect from all attacks or only one? They protect from one attack (or kill attempt), as stated in The Rules 5. Can the Explorer/Elsecaller protect from the lynch? This has come up Elsewhere (pun not entirely intended.) Wilson's ruling is that the rules are mistaken: Elsecallers/Explorers are protected from everything except the lynch. (This rule change for the Explorers will go into effect Cycle 2. To quote Word of Wilson: 6. Does Friction affect PMs sent to the GM? What about messages in the Eliminator doc? Lol, nice try, but no. 7. What happens if a vote manipulator targets someone affected by Adhesion? Wilson took this one: 8. Do we need to green out our previous votes in the original post? I'm just going to rule that you should do so (read this as a strong 'should'), in order to A. make life easier for us (see: faster rollovers), and B. to reduce the chances that we make a mistake and someone who wasn't supposed to get lynched gets lynched. So everyone wins. 9. Does the Elsecaller have to change both role and alignment? No. They can choose one or the other if they want. 10. Can the Artifabrian take effects happening to the dead? No.
  23. Kasimir
    MR10- Cycle 1: Dead Men Tell No Tales It was an otherwise unremarkable day in Urithiru, when Dalinar went to see a corpse. The messenger from Sebarial had been rather brief and unhelpful, and so when Dalinar made his way; fumbling, at some points, in the dark hallways of the city to the secluded chamber where the corpse had been found, he couldn’t help glancing over his shoulder. They didn’t have enough Stormlight, at this point. Everything had to be carefully rationed to permit more crossings through the Oathgate. He stepped into the chamber, nodding to Sebarial and his guards. By the corpse stood a man that Dalinar guessed was a surgeon. He was no warrior, for certain. It was clear in his bearing. He turned his attention, after hurried greetings, to the corpse he had come to see. The Makabaki man was almost certainly dead; his dark skin gone ashen. Dalinar knelt by the body and flipped it over with a grunt of effort. On the other side, he could see the entry wound more clearly, the edges ragged. The lighteyed surgeon beside him holding a lamp cleared his throat, quietly. His hands were steady; the bright blue-white light of the spheres illuminating the corpse that Dalinar had come to see. Sound carried, in this chamber. Dalinar glanced over his shoulder. “Well?” he said. Brightlord Sebarial waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t ask me, ask the surgeon,” he said. “Isn’t that what I’m paying him for?” “Brightlord,” the surgeon said, “The wound didn’t kill him.” He gestured to the ragged flaps that had been the man’s eyelids with the stoic calm of a man who dealt with brutality on a daily basis. “His eyes were cut out.” “Shardblade,” Dalinar said, his voice strangely hushed. “You think?” Sebarial snorted. “Why cut out the eyes otherwise? You’re getting long in the tooth, Dalinar.” “The wound was made by a sword,” the surgeon said. “But notice that there was little bleeding. This strongly suggests that the man was already dead before a sword was stuck into him and twisted about.” A coarse laugh from Sebarial. “Well, well. At least he doesn’t mince his words.” Dalinar studied the corpse for a few long moments. “What then, Sebarial?” he asked. “Why this secrecy? Why this meeting? This is hardly the first corpse to turn up in Urithiru.” “Because,” Sebarial said, moving over to the corpse, “There’s this.” He knelt by the body and worked the stiff limbs until he had moved the corpse’s left arm up. “Look.” There, on the underside of the arm, were three interlocked diamonds, tattooed. “He was carrying enough weapons for an army,” Sebarial said, bluntly. “Seems to be a problem in Urithiru.” He shook his head and laughed. “You wanted Alethkar to pack their things and come to Urithiru. You got that, and more. You got a whole nest of bickering whitespines, Dalinar. And it’s about to become everyone’s problem. Well, except Hatham’s. That man wouldn’t know a problem if it hit him in the face.” “An assassin?” Dalinar wondered, aloud. “Someone else killed him,” Sebarial said. “Someone who went to some trouble of trying to hide how he died.” He smiled crookedly. “Something stinks here, and it isn’t the both of us, even though Palona thoroughly assures me that we could both use more frequent baths.” Dalinar folded his arms across his chest. “I assume you have a reason for bringing this to my attention, then. Besides the obvious danger, with Elhokar coming to Urithiru.” The crease between his eyebrows deepened as he frowned. “We’ll need to settle this before the arrival of the king.” Sebarial laughed. “We?” he mocked, rising to his feet. “You seem to be adding excitement to my life lately, Dalinar old man. I might begin to wonder why I bother talking to you.” Dalinar said nothing. Sebarial scratched at the back of his neck. “I might have some people,” he conceded. “Don’t get your hopes up.” The cycle has begun a bit late but will still end on time in 48 hours! This will be 0000hrs SGT and 0900hrs MST respectively. Player List:
  24. Kasimir
    I have no allegiances that would require me to act in this situation. A lover's quarrel is, after all, strictly their affair. And, brightlords and ladies, we are closing the sign-ups now. Please hang in there and keep those engines warm; we'll be ready to commence boarding in Urithiru at 1200. Kas out.
  25. Kasimir
    Wow. Talk about a lover's quarrel...
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