The City of the Specter, Atem's Palace

[metagame]

The corpse sinks to the floor
Even the brightest gold, even the sharpest blade
Becomes sand, becomes dust

Comments

[beautifulknight]

[ Ah... ]

I appreciate the clarification, my new companion. Hopefully he will be understanding, considering the circumstances.

[ Argenti thinks it helps by a lot, so! Anyway. ]

The Fishermen were speaking about how they were having much trouble with the current state of things due to the Lord of the River being angry. Apparently it has been affecting how well their catches have been, and I have reason to believe that this is a main method to sustain their livelihoods...

Such as it is, they speak of Atem - the Pharaoh - as failing in his duties and having been insolent to this Lord. They stated that the Pharoah must make sure to travel to the Black River for daily offerings alongside praying for forgiveness to every temple's God in every single village...then, finally fasting to show his true dedication to the Gods.

If this is, perhaps, an indication of how his state of mind is, then it seems Atem may believe that he has been seen as sorely lacking, to start with.

[ Beyond of course other issues he is certain they must untangle alongside the messiness that may be Atem's past. ]

[prozaic]

He finds his responsibilities heavy. [Which is a light way of saying that he's really struggling with his shit. But Shalem doesn't want to encroach on Atem's personal business more, especially when he knows he told Shalem all of this in confidence. That's why he's tiptoeing through his words.]

And who could blame him? He is responsible for an entire nation, not just a single city.

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti frowns at hearing this...he does not ever envy a ruler's position nor how heavy their crown must feel. ]

...The burden of his responsibilities, and not being able to meet them.

Regardless, we shall let him know that he can have others to lean on if his troubles are heavy. While it is true he must have been alone in facing them before, the time has changed now, has it not?

[privatedomicile]

Damn...this is why I never went into politics.

[He has never thought of going into politics in his entire life.]

So maybe we gotta go kick the Lord of the River's ass?

[beautifulknight]

[ HELP

Argenti can't ever imagine going into politics either, to be fair. ]

Perhaps so.

Or other elements of Atem's psyche. We have just started out, so it may be that we have only just begun to scratch the surface...

[privatedomicile]

We ain't gettin' anywhere unless we can find the Pharaoh, then. Disguise ourselves as servants like in a heist?

[beautifulknight]

...I do not believe that impossible.

Though, I do wonder where we might get disguises.

[ And Argenti isn't so willing to abandon his ~*amazing armor*~ but he is certain he can make due somehow. Like maybe he is the servants' guard or something ridiculous like that. ]

[privatedomicile]

We could check by where Yoon said and then get somethin' from the merchants that looks kinda like the staff uniform. Maybe snatch a guard's hat.

[pointzeropercent]

I know of a place where we can get some.

[He is currently carrying a linen tunic.]

[beautifulknight]

[ Oh wait. He turns to look at Sou at this. ]

...Where?

[pointzeropercent]

There's a merchant named Shebsti, apparently even priests buy linens from them. I traded my coat for one, so they're not too difficult to get.

[privatedomicile]

Hell yeah, Sou-man! Infiltration mission is a go!

[Jesse will miss this particular jacket if he has to exchange something, but hey, it's for a good cause.]

[pointzeropercent]

[Maybe he can exchange his beanie instead.]

Glad to be of help.

[strawsandals]

I'll help! Let's try it.

[metagame]

The group has decided then! They'll find Shebsti tending to his stall and marveling at the fabric of Sou's former jacket. It's not wool, and it's not linen... What is it? How is it even this color?

When he notices everyone approaching along with Sou, he hails them with a large grin. Aren't you lucky that he has quite a lot of linen to trade?

"Hello and well met, travelers! The Great Lord Sutekh blesses me today to bring you all to my humble stall."

[townmusician]

Hi.

[He waves and bows, politely.]

I'm looking for some new clothes, since mine aren't good for the weather.

[He's just... trying to act natural...]

[moodwrecker]

I hear we can trade for clothes?

[Cutting right to the chase.]

[privatedomicile]

Yo, hear you like cool fabric, shop guy? Why don't we trade some swag? I gotta get more up on the culture of a brand new city so I don't look like a lame-ass tourist.

[Jesse holds up his patterned jacket.]

[strawsandals]

Hello, I'm here to trade...this.

[ He really doesn't want to give this up, but he gives the shopkeeper his blue shawl. It's got a lot of memories associated with it, and it's rather worn, so it may not work...but he'll do it. ]

[emptyself]

Hello sir.

[ he'll give the merchant a quick bow. taking into account what the others are doing and used to trading in the mountains, he'll unfurl his turtleneck that he took off earlier. ]

Is there anything that I could trade for this? You can repurpose this into something like a blanket with just a bit of work.

🧍‍♂️

[prozaic]

[Shalem is Thinking. He sees everyone struggle to negotiate with the merchant, and he thinks he may have to part with one of his precious gold jewelry-- the other Phidia at home must never know-- before he remembers, he may just have an advantage.

He's going to remove his shirt-- sorry to everyone who had trouble with him earlier, but he needs to do this-- because there are a collection of scales on his body. They're sporadic until they get lower on him... until the his tail begins. And then there's a lot of them, iridescent under the sun. Then he wraps the end of his tail around a wrist-- anyone looking may note that it's a little see-through?

And, what's that on his chest? Not scales, but a small collection of crystals. He's also quite scarred, is the thing. It's clear he hasn't had an easy life.

It's like this that he wanders off to the merchant, and then he flicks his tongue out to really drive home his serpentine nature. When he's managed to capture the merchant's attention, he gives a nod.]

How have your fortunes been, recently? [Even his voice has changed-- the tone and volume aren't any different, but the accent? Yes. He switched back to his old one, Bri'ish Victorian, just for this one ruse.]

[townmusician]

[personally, haruka thinks it's impossible. how are they supposed to sneak when they have jesse, argenti, and a birdlady???]

[finalmix]

[ haruka has clearly never been in a jrpg before but it's ok it will work out somehow?????

>mild doubt but ok ]

[ledbythewind]

[Man standing here with a scarf wrapped around his head like a turban--]

[beautifulknight]

[ I just want to let you know I saw this in my tags when I caught up and nearly choked. Bless ]