riverview | 3 [@necromantica: video] (WARNING: blood and gore)

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3 [@necromantica: video] (WARNING: blood and gore)

Hello everyone! I hate to bother, but I thought I might share some exciting news with you all.

[This is a blatant lie, as everyone who's met her knows - she loves to bother. But that's not the point.]

First of all - I took the time to talk to a doctor about my child, and everything seems to be fine with her. It's a girl! I haven't thought of a name for her yet, but perhaps some of you have suggestions. A family name didn't seem appropriate seeing as... I have no intention to see my family again, nor bring any of them here.

[With the obvious exceptions, she guesses.]

Second thing... Here, Walter, come in here.

[She pulls a dead body into the camera view with her - a certain zombie-killing sheriff might recognize him from a certain zombie-related misunderstanding. Since then his bones have been bleached clean (mostly), and his head glued back together to the best of her abilities (it's missing a few pieces), and she's even done her best to clean the clothes she found him in. They're torn and bloodstained but... she thinks it gives him character.

Those living on floor one may take issue with the smell that came from her amateur attempt at cleaning the corpse... the bathroom on their level may or may not have suffered a lot of damage from her efforts. Aside from the bathtub being dyed pink from her filling it with chemicals she has a very approximate knowledge of and a dead body, there are bloodstains that she didn't know how to clean up, as well as some leftover gore that she failed to throw away. (Exact levels are up to player comfort.)]

This is Walter! [She seems perfectly happy to refer to him as though he's a living person, and has propped him up so he can sit next to her while she continues to speak. She even picked his hand up to make him wave when she introduced him.] I found him outside of the perimeter while everyone was handling those monsters... and we ran into a bit of trouble, but I was able to get him back to the communal hall in one piece. Mostly.

Now, it's been brought to my attention that some people come from worlds where necromancers don't exist or are frowned upon. I'd like to assure everyone that while I am a necromancer, my magic is only used for good. It can be extremely dangerous, but I've become very attached to many people I met here so I'm taking extra precautions not to take any risks with it. And, well, I very much like to stay alive as well. So there is that.

For those of you from worlds that don't have necromancy, I suppose the easiest explanation is that I can speak to the dead. I can make them move too, but not both at the same time and I thought it might be better to talk to Walter rather than- yes yes, I'm getting to it. I told you I would.

[She's addressing Walter, who has not made a single noise as far as anyone else will be able to tell. She clears her throat.]

I made this.. video.. [still a weird word] to give people the chance to ask me anything they might need to know about necromancy and the dead and... Walter agreed to answer questions about himself as well - seeing as he is a native of the Quarantine, he can give us more information about it and what's outside of it. [She may or may not have bullied him into it, but Walter can't communicate with non-necromancers, so he can't exactly ask for help.]

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They're not people. The soul is gone. I should know, I was a dead body for a while. They're just earthly remains given, and I emphasize, a mockery of life. And it doesn't change the fact that there is absolutely no moral positivity to this.

[This gets an offended little huff out of her.]

He's still in that body, and need I remind you I have experience with being dead as well, I know what I'm talking about. If you don't want to hear it from me, ask him a question - I'm sure he can answer things I couldn't know the answer to.

...So you bound his soul to his corpse instead of allowing him to earn his peace in the afterlife?

That, Letha, is Evil.

I didn't do anything to him! The dead can speak through their corpses, they don't need to be bound to it. He can shut himself off and stay in the afterlife whenever he wants, but he was kind enough to come forward to help me educate people. Which you don't seem exceptionally interested in.

I thought you were more open-minded than this, Roy.

Good and Evil are questions greater than one individual, Letha, and that's setting aside the fact that you have no idea what his motivations are or what he might be intending. Or what you're pulling him away from.

Even used for good purposes, Animate Dead is an evil spell by definition. [Quite literally; the spell Roy is referring to has the 'Evil' descriptor.]

Guilting me isn't going to work, either, you know. I'm perfectly open-minded in that I'm not stopping you directly. That doesn't mean I'm going to approve or that I'm going to simply let a friend go down a dark path without doing my best to prevent that.

What could he possibly intend other than speaking to me? I have this under control, Roy, I've been training in this sort of art since before I could walk.

[In fact... it's considered a fun and childish prank in Thornwell to drag someone's soul out of their body when they're not expecting it. Her brothers did it all the time when she was seven or so.]

And animating the dead is in no way evil by its own right. What I do with his body doesn't affect him one bit, and I haven't killed anyone yet, have I? The worst I've done since I got him is clog the bathroom drains.

I'm not saying you're poorly trained or unaware of the mechanics of what you're doing. [Roy is patient enough to say this matter-of-factly, with no snip or snap in his voice.] But let's say, hypothetically, that you lost control over the body. What happens?

I'm not going to lose control.

[Her tone makes it very clear she doesn't want to discuss this, but... she'll relent if he insists on knowing. She just knows it won't help her case.]

That's an impossible absolute to argue. Suppose, purely for the sake of argument, you did lose control. What would happen?

[She's about to respond with 'it won't', but just enough time passes for her to realize that would get them in an endless loop and make her sound petty. So she grits her teeth, and indignantly explains.]

Right now I only have one corpse to work with. At most, I might animate two at once. Never more than that, because it's pointless. If I lost control, they'd turn into ruthless killing machines BUT! They won't. Because I'm not stupid and I can handle them.

[And she crosses her arms, and grumbles the last bit.] And you can't kill them once they get loose, I know that's what you're going to ask next. They just... keep going, until they get tired. A few days later. [There are ways to disanimate a zombie once it's gotten loose, but she only has a vague idea of how. It's never been something she had to worry about.]

I'm aware of how to deal with animated corpses if necessary. [A very, very mild statement at best.] That isn't the point. The point is that the fail state for this system is 'ruthless killing machine'. And without making any judgments whatsoever on your ability to maintain control in a vacuum -- what if you get dizzy, ill, or even pass out as a result of your pregnancy? What if monsters attack and wound you? What if, what if... there are so many potential what-ifs here.

That result in 'ruthless killing machine'.

Well I've been shot at, as you can see. [She points out her shoddy job of putting Walter's skull back together, with a moody little motion.] I've lived in my world for nearly 18 years, without ever seeing someone let a zombie loose. If your 'what-ifs' were so dangerous, I would have seen it before.

[Lucky that she came into Riverview before her husband's accidental destruction of half of their town over having to remarry. Or else she might have slightly less conviction about her point.]

Okay, Letha, question: After living in your world for 18 years almost, how many times did you get pulled into, or see others get pulled into, a bizarre advanced world that serves as a nexus for multiple planes of reality, for example?

That doesn't matter! I'm adapting just fine, and it wouldn't be a problem at all if I didn't keep getting the same stupid questions from stupid men who don't want to listen to my answers!

[And this is the point where normally her crow pin would start cawing and she'd calm down, but that crow is still in the afterlife back home. So instead she's sitting there shaking, because she has both nothing to control her temper and nothing to directly attack.]

I have a reason for asking, you know.

[Letha may not be paying enough attention to notice how quiet his voice gets in that moment, though not without losing conviction.]

[Give her a moment to cool down from glaring daggers at him... okay, she's calm. Not really, but enough to listen. Begrudgingly.]

Why?

Because I've been around wizards all my life. And I've seen what happens firsthand when something goes wrong. Really... really wrong.

I don't think you're quite on the level of annihilating a quarter of a species, but mistakes don't have to be huge to be tragedies.

Well, I have men like you and Ivar to trust they don't become tragedies. It's not my responsibility to clean up such messes.

[Letha... is past the point of wording things well.]

[That word, that statement, hits Roy right in the gut. And it's only through force of will and a LOT of grown over his lifetime that he manages to keep his voice calm and reasonable.]

Letha, this would be a tragedy you create. It is your responsibility to prevent it from happening. Right now, you are doing the equivalent of swinging a sharp sword in the middle of the street. You may have checked to make sure no one is around, you may be taking precautions and shouting, it may be very unlikely that you'll hit someone... but there's always a chance some naive kid will wander into the arc of your sword.

Is there a good reason to risk that?

If I'm taking so many precautions and someone still gets hurt, that's not my problem. It's their fault for not learning the way of the world.

[Naive kids don't really exist in her world... she equate the term to 'stupid kids'. Even children should know how to handle themselves around dangerous things like magic.]

Unless you have plans to give me a human servant, I'm making use of my ability to create lesser beings for my own comfort. It's the least I can do to keep a small part of my world with me.

[Through all of this, she's still waiting for Roy to concede and apologize... and starting to feel hurt that he insists on arguing.]

You're not taking every reasonable precaution though. You're taking SOME precautions... for the sake of having a servant. Not for some grand cause or out of great necessity... for having a servant. For placing a human soul in an animated corpse and calling it a 'lesser being'.

[Does she hear herself talking?]

Is that the 'way of the world'? Yes, probably. But as someone who's about to bring a life into that world, maybe you should start considering if you want her to live in the current world or a better one.

[She bristles visibly at the mention of her daughter.]

Let me make one thing very clear, Greenhilt, my magic is no mark of a lesser world. And when my daughter is born she will be taught the art, just as my parents taught me, and I will not accept her being told her culture and talents are evil by some close-minded, half-witted soldier who thinks he has right to decide what is right or wrong.

And if this is all I can expect from you, then this conversation is over.

[And yet she's lingering, in that way children do when they're checking if their tantrum has fixed their problems.]

Just to be absolutely clear: you'd be 100% fine if someone practicing your art lost control of a zombie and it killed your daughter?

[It's a low blow, but Roy also finds it a very valid question. She had, after all, just said 'they should have learned the way of the world'.]

[Oh that does it. Were this conversation happening in person she'd have drawn a weapon by now - possibly the zombie, which would no doubt immediately prove his point - but they're both lucky enough that that isn't the case. Instead, in her anger, she drops the tablet onto the floor, shoves the corpse to the floor beside it and grabs the chair she was sitting on to slam it against the wall. Roy will mostly get a few of the skeleton's skull taking up about half of the camera, but also Letha repeatedly hitting the chair against the wall, which does absolutely nothing except tire her out until she ends up dizzy and sick and crying on the floor.

So basically, she's taking his criticism well.]

[Either she'll get the point or not. Either way, he's made it as bluntly and effectively as he can. He regrets having to upset her so dramatically, but she couldn't hide from the reality that lurks behind her worldview. If she did...]

[Well, Roy's already seen one child torn apart by magic cast by a wizard who never for a second believed he could lose control. He'd prefer to avoid a second. Or anyone else for that matter.]

[He'll leave her to her tantrum.]

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3 [@necromantica: video] (WARNING: blood and gore)

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