Video

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel is carefully composed as she starts. She's wearing her bell bandolier over a deep blue sweater, and a robed, translucent figure-her Sending- can be seen in the background, sweeping the floor behind her.]

I know that the recent landfall has been very pleasant, despite the cold, but there are a few things I wanted to ask the network. [And Sabriel pulls out a sheet of paper, along with a metal bell, and sets them in front of her. The paper is covered with marks- a careful copy of the strange markings in the snow she found around the metal.]

Has anyone else discovered strange pieces of metal outside of Keeliai? It was in a sort of... snow circle- I made a copy of the symbols, and they look like what I saw in Sinbrilee.

And I also wanted to make an offer. I have a Paperwing- a flying device that can carry one other passenger. If anyone wants to fly to one of the cities in Bresylik, I'd be happy to take them for a small fee.

Finally, I want to ask if anyone else here is a necromancer, or has some training in the art? [Because she hasn't asked it in a while, and she wants to know if there's anyone else who could communicate with the dead- or bend them to their will.]

[Locked to ASS members]

I know Iorveth is no longer here, but I wanted to tell all of you that I may have another source of information- though I don't know how reliable it is.

When the Enemy was making Asti sick, I was part of a team sent out to investigate reports of ghosts attacking people in an old graveyard. Something- if might have been the enemy, began to appear there while we were investigating, but the ghosts drove it off. It turned out to have nothing to do with Asti's illness, and since I didn't have my magic I couldn't do much about the ghosts, but recently I went back to speak with them. [Without realizing it, Sabriel's fingers twitch toward the Dyrim bell in her bandolier.]

I don't entirely trust them, [Mostly because they're Dead.] and I think what they know is rather out of date even if they are being honest, but what I do know is that they aren't kedan, they were all soldiers, and they died fighting the Enemy.

Comments

[solo_patria]

Is that what your metal became then? [Enjolras squints a bit, and yes, upon closer examination...he's pulling the barrette his bit of metal formed into out of his hair, shaking it free as he pushes it closer to the camera.]

This was my finding. I have been wearing it though I am not certain if I ought to have been. It would be better to know what it means, certainly.

[Locked to ASS members as well.]

Are there more things you might ask them, such as the form of battle that was taken? Or the way to go about knowing the signs of an immediate attack? Or perhaps you have already asked this. I'm not certain and do not mean to presume or assume anything.

I do not believe we've met, actually. Enjolras though. I am a...I know Marius Pontmercy. I'm told you are his teacher.

Video; ASS members only

[bindsthedead]

Possibly. As I said, I think most of their information comes from before they died- they couldn't tell me anything about the walking corpses.

Yes. Marius is one of my students. Has he done something? [Like accidentally set something on fire?]

Video; ASS members only

[solo_patria]

No no I would not think so. Still, perhaps some sort of a historical account would help somehow. Though I do not know MUCH of that.

[And he can't help but laugh at the question, a little. It seems she knows Marius entirely too well.] Ah nothing like that. It was simply mentioned in a conversation.

Video; ASS members only

[bindsthedead]

It's something else I can ask them about next time. [Sabriel's going to need to start putting together a list of what she wants to ask them.]

Ah... well, good.

video; ASS members

[una_persson]

I don't suppose you have an approximate date on the graveyard and when the ghosts ... became ghosts?

video; ASS members

[bindsthedead]

No, I'm sorry. But I'm almost certain they predate the kedan.

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[una_persson]

Hm. Well, it's good information, in any case.

Oh—and I found some of that metal too, by the way. Same sort of symbols, too.

...Did yours change shape?

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[depicted]

If it was that bastard that showed up, I'd like to know how the ghosts were supposed to have driven him off.

[He's leaning, frowning a little as he thinks about this.]

Those ghosts—could you tell if they were the . . . the souls of the dead?

ASS video;

[bindsthedead]

We were underground, and it was above us- though they were armed with muskets.

They said that because they were truly dead, it couldn't hurt them- and they couldn't hurt it.

[Sabriel sighs, and rubs her forehead.]

Well they certainly weren't the bodies of the dead. I saw no reason not to believe that they aren't souls.

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[depicted]

I thought the dead were supposed to be his realm, more or less. [This is so very confusing. Dorian frowns, troubled by it too.] If she's supposedly using her souls to keep the enemy at bay, there may be something in it.

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[shorttempered]

I did. Find a piece of metal, I mean. I'm not a necromancer. Closest I've come to reanimated dead bodes is a zombie movie.

Anyway, mine now looks like this. [Disappears for a minute and comes back with a dinner plate sized emblem that looks like this.] I'm still not sure what this symbol is, but it's cool. [He actually does, he just hasn't realized it yet.]

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[bindsthedead]

If they're all turning into different things- I wonder why?

Has it done anything strange?

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[shorttempered]

Not since it turned into this thing. When I first picked it up it was super weird, though. I brought it back thinking to ask about it... then it became this and... I didn't have anything to show anymore.

locked to ASS members;

[fatedchaos]

Are they the group that was here before us, then?

locked to ASS members;

[bindsthedead]

I doubt it- they all called themselves soldiers, of various ranks, and they were wearing uniforms. Or the remains of them- their spirits looked like half-rotted skeletons.

locked to ASS members;

[fatedchaos]

[Vanessa tries to not make a face at that image, but she does anyway.]

So because they looked like their corpses, you couldn't tell if maybe they looked a little like the Emperor, maybe?

video; ASS members

[sophos]

So they could have been people the Emperor summoned in the past? We know it's happened more than once, right?

Or what about the people that were here before the kedan?

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[bindsthedead]

Yes, but- I think they're people from before the kedan arrived. They were wearing uniforms and had military ranks, which doesn't seem... at all like us. But it's not something I specifically asked them.

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[sophos]

What else did you ask? Or is what you've said just about everything?

[video]

[witchnotwarlock]

I haven't seen any metal like that before, are the symbols like the kind that were outside of those archways? The ones that really messed with people.

[He pauses, his voice dropping a little.] Necromancy is a really dangerous form of magic. Not to say people don't use it, because, yeah, lots of people make poor decisions sometimes. But... yeah.

[Video]

[bindsthedead]

Similar, but not the same inscription as on either sort of archway.

[Well, Sabriel agrees about necromancy, but her voice is a little subdued.] I know. I made a promise never to try to raise anything or bring anything back. I use it to force Dead things to truly die, or failing that, bind them to keep them from attacking the living.

[Video]

[witchnotwarlock]

So there're probably more letters in the alphabet. If it's in English, which I'm hoping, but you never know. I'd love to see them sometime, if that's cool with you? It's never dull here, right?

Yeah, bringing back people who've already died... I mean, look at time travel, if you go back and make sure someone is alive when you get back to your own time, you've messed with the whole thing. And it's just not natural, and... wait, how do you bind them? I've never seen that done before.

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[lookedtothestars]

[He inclines his head slightly before he begins to speak.]

Yes. It formed into this when I isolated it for several hours, due to its effects. [He holds it up; it's formed into the shape of his house's crest- an 'S' shaped shield.]

I have no experience with the art you mentioned. [It is something that did not exist in any way on Krypton.]

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[bindsthedead]

And what can you tell me about its properties before and after it changed?

And I'd say that you're fortunate that you have no experience with necromancy.

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[lookedtothestars]

[Due to testing it with what he had available, he can give an adequate run-down on it.]

In its original form, when in direct contact with skin, it proved to have a nauseating effect on at least Kryptonian physiology. [He cannot speak for other species, unfortunately.] Interference from magnetic equipment resulted in it reshaping erratically while remaining malleable. Struck with significant force resulted in it liquefying.

I was unable to test it further before other things required my attention. [Thus isolating it. Leaving an item of unknown properties inadequately secured was unwise at best, especially when it resulted in negative physiological effects.]

After taking this form, it showed none of these properties, becoming fully inert.

It does not appear to be a native substance, in its original form or in the form it has since taken.