proceed to new world (do not ask questions, do not collect delightful prizes)

[space_between]

Here is a young woman curled up on a bed, shivering, having thrown off her blankets when she woke earlier.

She is asleep. For now.

Comments

[space_between]

"What do the dead look like? --It's relevant to what defences I need, but very well."

[shadopolis]

"People, still bearing the wounds of whatever killed them."

[space_between]

Mm. Unpleasant, but she's seen worse.

"How precisely does the command work? --Are the dead sapient?"

[shadopolis]

"You may make pacts with the dead that last up to twelve hours. They are as sapient as they were when they were alive."

[space_between]

"What do the pacts do? Can I communicate with the dead without making them and using that once-per-day -- it was once per day, correct? -- charge? --Do non-sapients leave ghosts too? For that matter, do all sapient deaths leave ghosts?"

[shadopolis]

"They bind them to your service for the next twelve hours. Yes. No. No."

[space_between]

"So the only thing the pacts do better than mundanely getting the ghost's cooperation is to enforce it for that period?" Which is not totally useless but-- "Can they retaliate once that period is over? If so, does that frequently occur? Pacts frequently involve some kind of exchange; would the ghost get anything from me?"

[shadopolis]

"Yes, yes, no, possibly."

[space_between]

"Why do they not frequently retaliate? What do you mean by 'possibly', in more detail?"