Oblat was a man in Aren, Seven Cities to whom the Malazan 14th Army members Sergeant Gesler and Corporal Stormy owed a very large sum of money from losing badly at a game of knuckles that they had played with him. Paying off this gambling debt owed to Oblat was used as an incentive by Lostara Yil and the Claw Pearl to obtain information from the Malazan soldiers about what they knew of the movements and whereabouts of Felisin Paran - an offer they gladly accepted.