001 | Video

[skeletonenigma]

[To be honest, he would have preferred text, but this is a perfect opportunity to test out the console. The keyboard is self-explanatory. The video function isn't. One of the kedan had offered to show Skulduggery how it worked, but he’d politely declined. He didn’t particularly feel like being saddled with a guide for the entirety of his time here.]

Ah, there we go. Excellent.

[This does, of course, mean that he can now be seen. He was a little concerned about that when all of this was first being explained to him, but then he saw someone walking around in the city with blue skin and two heads. He’s rather less concerned now.

... He doesn't really have anything to ask, though, now that he’s thinking about it.]

Thank you. Carry on.

[Yes, that was a skull talking just then, Irish accent and moving jaw and all. Why do you ask?]

Comments

[wrathfulkhan]

If there is, it's no pattern we've been able to discern.

[He remembers what Costigan had said.] We did lose several people shortly after the Emperor was murdered. It's plausible that was related.

[skeletonenigma]

[His skull tilts to the side in surprise. Here's something no one's mentioned yet.] The Emperor was murdered? When?

[wrathfulkhan]

[Aha. So that wasn't information in the newbie pack. And why would it be?] The previous Emperor, Eshai. She was killed about three months ago by one of us. The culprit's since been found and executed. Evandau was her right-hand man, and it doesn't seem that he enjoys his new position.

[If you ask Gene, Eshai had done a piss-poor job of screening the people she'd brought in. Not him, of course. He was the obvious choice. But...really? That cannibal?]

[skeletonenigma]

No, it doesn't. [Even from the brief glimpse Skulduggery had when he woke up in that basin, it was already obvious the Emperor - Evandau - was struggling. Not in over his head, but definitely struggling.] They can't be too picky about the sorts of people they take in. Unless they're going for power over intelligence, in which case... well, they still wouldn't be too picky.

[wrathfulkhan]

[Gene smiles thinly. It is not a smile of amusement.]

Her killer worked as a therapist.

[Not to speak ill of the dead - okay, totally to speak ill of the dead - but what the hell, Eshai? If you're going to get yourself killed, at least go in proper battle, not murdered in your chambers like someone who'd gotten too comfortable with their life.]

He was also responsible for a string of serial murders around Keeliai. Just goes to show that even our gracious hosts aren't infallible.

[skeletonenigma]

Do you know what happened to him?

[The kedan weren't big on explaining consequences, but Skulduggery can't imagine an infraction like that going unpunished.]

[wrathfulkhan]

[Matter-of-factly:] They executed him.

I think they also worked something so he couldn't come back from it. If I didn't disapprove of the method of it, I'd call him a lucky bastard for getting himself out of here permanently.

[Does someone want to go home? Someone wants to go home.]

[skeletonenigma]

[Ah. Punished, indeed.]

You liked the previous Emperor, then? I was under the impression you would view her as more of a captor than anything else.

[wrathfulkhan]

I liked her well enough, but I didn't shed any tears for her.

[Even if she did remind him in some weird way of his mother.]

[skeletonenigma]

Was that the general opinion of everyone present?

[Mental powers and abilities don't have any effect on Skulduggery. It puts him in the unique position of being able to assess others from an objective viewpoint. It certainly wouldn't surprise him if there was a low-level magical field on the turtle urging everybody to trust the turtle's ruler, no matter what.]

[wrathfulkhan]

[Gene shrugs.]

Ask any ten people about the Emperor and you'll get twelve opinions. Some of us were more broken up than others. Some people were cracking jokes and openly expressing their contempt. Depended on the person, really.

[Sorry, Skul, no weird magic shit here. Good thinking, though.]

[skeletonenigma]

[Ah, well. It was worth a try.]

And the current Emperor?

[wrathfulkhan]

Don't mess with him. That seems to be the consensus, anyway.

[Of course Gene's planning on messing with him. Like duh.]

[skeletonenigma]

I imagine there's something in place to stop attacks from occurring. [If there weren't before, there certainly are now.]

[wrathfulkhan]

Yeah. The Palace isn't quite as friendly as it used to be. [Not that it ever really was.] I'm sure once the kedan get the hang of metal detectors, those will be added to the security detail.

[skeletonenigma]

The kedan have mastered inter-dimensional kidnapping and worldwide communication networks, but they haven't managed to work out metal detectors? [Wry and amused, all at once.]

[wrathfulkhan]

[Oh good, the skeleton undertstands metal detectors. That is...actually kind of weird. Gene sounds similarly amused:]

Not the kind that beep, anyway.

[skeletonenigma]

There's a very strange mixture of technology and magic on this turtle. [And the mixture is heavily unbalanced, too. In Skulduggery's experience, worlds that develop via magic usually don't think twice about non-magic means for doing the same things. Yet this world, obviously heavily saturated with magic, has consoles connected to a network?

He pauses, and looks down at the console he's speaking to. A mystery for another day; he doesn't particularly want to appear rude, after all.] Thank you for your help.

[wrathfulkhan]

You get used to it.

[Gene does his best to look indifferent, like he deals with talking Irish-accented skeletons every day.] You're welcome.

[skeletonenigma]

I'm sure you do. Skulduggery Pleasant, by the way.

[wrathfulkhan]

[Oh yeaaaah, introductions.]

Gene Khan. Nice to meet you.

[skeletonenigma]

[There's a pause and a tilt of his head. In Skulduggery's world, names usually have meaning, and he pays attention to them. He was led to believe it wasn't the case here, but there's something strange about an adolescent boy's last name being the title given to rulers in central Asia.]

You too. [And he reaches out to turn off the console.]