Fantasy Are you tired of sipping Crab Coladas? (Pirate RP) (Always Open)

[Kylesar1]

Elaina Melora
On top of Stoneroses HQ​

"Mariah?" Looking out over the city, Elaina took in the sights as if this were her domain. Jack, Steven, and Bogrum were the heroes to the people of Kraiven. For her, it was a thankless job. To the masses, she was a foot soldier. Of course, she was the commander of the whole effort, but it was fine. Notoriety wasn't her goal. Knowledge was, and while she ate her fill, it wasn't nearly enough. Kraiven was a puzzle she hadn't fully pieced together. Accolades and praise from an unknown known people engaging in what could only be willful ignorance in her eyes meant nothing.
"I'm here, Lady Elaina," the Angel responded from behind her. Such a beautiful Angel. Elaina had a soft spot for Mariah that she only ever held towards children. It was an extreme breath of fresh air to the Witch. The same power that gave her immense command power almost cost her her life. It also jaded her to no end. All of the secrets and corruption she showed extended into relationships. Loyalty to a lover is fickle. Keeping her eyes in everyone else's business made her never want a romantic partner. Well, not made her never want one. Made her unable to generate romantic attraction.........or so she thought. Then Mariah comes in with a purity and genuineness that surprised even Elaina. A complete sweetheart that even Elaina didn't want to corrupt. For fuck's sake, the naughtiest thing the former nun did was accompany Elaina while she picked the locks of Eden's Door, housing the Blighted kids. She was such a stickler for the rules that even after seeing the bad shit she saw, she still felt guilty on breaking the rules of the Church to discover it. Luckily her ability

What does she see in me? Elaina thought. Is she just attracted to domineering and strong people? Hmmmm......... But she also seemed attracted to Steven

Spoiler: Library at All Cost

"Mariah, I want to trust in you to make my library a reality." Elaina said, turning around to face her. Hands behind her back, Elaina was all business
"Are you sure it will bring glory to Orivae?"
"It is a library," Elaina responded simply, "It is an objective existence." Libraries served no purpose outside of what an information-seeker sought. "How the information is used is not up to me." That was the difference between her and Gods. Elaina wanted to inform. Gods, whether Holy or Daedric, expected some form of reporting of that information.
"...........I want to do whatever I can for you, Lady Elaina. The Goddess hates you though."
"The Goddess hates me because she has to admit that I am an asset despite me being undesirable as an asset," Elaina came close to Mariah. She saved BOTH of Mariana's children. There was no denying that fact. Only the emotion behind that fact. That was fine. "I want a mutually beneficial relationship. Goddess and the people of her new divine neutral city get an archive of knowledge. I get a travel location and the ability to unravel this mystery." Frankly, the witch was operating at a financial loss in this case specifically, but it's not like she wouldn't pay for that information anyways. "Not every existence in this realm exists for the Gods, least of all a human serving a Piscean God of a domain inhospitable to us." Mariana's pride was reaching unfounded arrogance. That arrogance would deprive her people of arguably the most important thing they needed, knowledge of a world 200 years advanced. Knowledge of how to operate on Blighted land until it is cleaned. Knowledge of how to treat Blighted land. "The seas are no longer hers. Until our ships reach the Deeps, she is not worth my reverence or my penance." Elaina was always willing to pay respects to a God, especially those whose followers served a use. The Goddess Mariana, however, was a God she'd spit on. Orivae would be a location that both her Holy and Daedric followers could be together instead of eternal separation. THAT, Elaina found respectable. However, that's where it ended. The Goddess was willing to cowtow to the Divine Court instead of fight for her followers. What happened to Nancy shouldn't have happened period, but he DAMN sure shouldn't be getting exiled. He should be getting pardoned and taking her punishment without remorse. The crazy part is that she didn't even like Nancy, and wouldn't have thought twice about putting an anti-magic bullet in Nellie's head before she finished uttering her threat. Yet here she was, pissed at the Goddess about them. She had little regard for the lives of the people of Kraiven, but needless loss was always reprehensible to her

Mariah sighed. "Lady Elaina, due to the events here, I can only trust our party......." The "party" to mean everyone they worked with. Elaina, Steven, Nellie, Vlad, Jack, Vespera, Nancy. "........I understand why you cannot trust the Goddess." Elaina noticed an intriguing lack of mentioning the Goddess. It was on Mariah to clean up this mess. "I will convince the Goddess to allow the library. I would rather not subvert the rules. Nellie needs to focus on rebuilding." As honest as always. Elaina knew it would be impossible to pull the shroud over the Goddess. It's a library done before being done with clearing debris
"Where is Vespera?"
"She is at her manor packing to leave."
"Use her manor," Elaina decided. "Clear out the manor and we can have the library in 3 days." A manor would make for a killer library due to its sheer size. "This knowledge is important for the rebuild." It wasn't just clearing debris and rebuilding. They had to literally make the land sustainable WHILE rebuilding

Mariah thought for a minute. "Why are you so insistent on helping the people of Orivae?"
"I'm helping myself," Elaina corrected her, "If my archive benefits others, it's a win-win." Elaina would NEVER do this unless she had to gain from it. In truth, whether or not they derived benefit from her library was irrelevant to her. Merchants want money, not some grandiose vision of benefitting the world. Elaina wants to unravel this place, not some grandiose vision of bringing glory to the new city of Orivae.



--------------------------------------------

Vespera Marine Seyres
Seyres Manor​

Ves had finished cleaning out her manor of what she would take. Clothes. Money in hopes that it would be worth something. Her diaries and books in case Elaina needed to be bought for a service. Her crest. Her heirlooms. It was a solemn occasion, bittersweet and Ves was debating on the ratio of bitter to sweet. Short of some catastrophe, her family should be alive. She would ask Demi first, then Elaina if Demi didn't know. Regardless, Elaina knew more than Demi hence the books. A knowledge whore like her was easily bought.

A sigh. Packed. She dreamed of this day, but the joy of such was robbed because of the conditions of how she was leaving. It is time to focus on yourself, Ves reminded herself, only death will keep you from your family. She looked at herself in the mirror and found her eyes pouring tears. Then found herself on her knees looking at the pathetic image of a vampire bawling her eyes out. She......... she wanted so so badly to leave. But WHY LIKE THIS?!? The force making her want to leave wasn't giving her the mercy of a guilt-free conscience.

"Nancy to Vespera."
The words snapped her back to reality and like an actual snap from the Astral God Himself, Ves dispelled the inner strife that plagued her for the past over century. As usual, a master of the facade. There was zero trace of what just happened in her voice. "Yes, Nancy? Wait....you sound.........weird. Are you OK?" If they were in person, Ves could always tell if Nancy were not himself. The slightest fluctuation in his blood pressure was made obvious to the vampire. While that would never apply here regardless, he sounded literally different from his usual................ his 2 century usual to which his best Vampire friend was extremely sensitive to. "I'm packing to join the Pirates, so I'm at home."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi
Nancy's Room​

The excited wave of Nancy's tail stilled at the response. Ves wasn't the least bit surprised at him speaking, despite being Null? She saw him only using sign before, so she had to know his crystal was unusable then. Did she forget already...?
This isn't about you, he scolded that slight prick of hurt. Ves had to be barely holding herself together, after everything. Why would she be thinking of him? "I'm fine. I mean-- you know." He cut off the joke about bawling his eyes out, not wanting to shift the focus off of her. "I just wanted to check up on you." Maybe she just didn't understand the full extent of Nullification. Regardless, he'll get to see her reaction in person when she sees the words coming out of his mouth.

"And to let you know..." He unraveled the note from its folded presentation. "Open if Confirmed Deceased", it read. He had almost died four times over, so close enough. "You'll have some accompaniment." There wasn't much to change, he supposed. He would still be gone, the room unoccupied, the lab untended. There was no sense in letting it all collect dust, so he had planned to return it all to the guild. He'd take a paltry wardrobe, some books, some money, some samples from the lab to use or sell. Personal diaries and sentimental items were to be given to whomever wanted to retain a piece of his life. Centuries worth of creative writing he'd donate to the library archives, if nowhere else. The rest was to be scavenged, clothes for the needy, a living space for refugees. The lab, all its assets and research, would be for the next alchemist in line. Though perhaps, he shouldn't delegate it all to one place...

Finding his ink and quill, he edited the will while he explained, "I spoke to my Goddess, and She mandated that I go search for a cure for Nullification. I can't serve Her like this, but there's active research being conducted right now, so there's a good chance I can get this taken care of." And surely that was because of the invention of anti-magic, and the consequences of its use. Back in their time, Nullification was known as a rare curse, or a form of Divine Punishment. Not a more common ailment to be cured. "But I can't do that from here."

It was all horrid. He was being punished for saving his sister, sent away from the only people he'd known for most of his life, with the only apology and thanks being the Goddess's remorse and a few bones tossed his way so he didn't end up thrown overboard as dead weight. Meatier bones, to be fair, but-- No, none of this was fair. Goddess endangering Nellie's life was just an infraction? Nancy saving her life was a full blown crime?! He KNEW that, he knew the Law, but was it really so severe that Goddess couldn't grant him the same grace she granted Nellie? It was just one crime... one mistake...
Nancy supposed a lifetime of faithful service meant nothing if the Council was ever challenged. Maybe she was right all along. Was this even good for Nellie? Would she really be okay?

Realizing his hand was stalling, he caught himself from spiraling. It was horrid, but there was one silver lining. One grace that he never would have gotten had he stayed in Orivae. "So you and I will have a little more time together," he said with a smile. It was odd. His head felt so much clearer now, not hanging in the cloud of despair he anticpiated the moment the Trial kicked into effect. Maybe becaue it was impossible to fall into despair when he knew Vespera would be okay.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
Vespera's Manor​

When Nancy mentioned Nullification, Ves remembered that fact. Nancy was Null, so how was he speaking through a communication crystal?! This wasn't Elaina using some weird voice changing magic, was it? No, Elaina wasn't that type of cruel. Condescending as hell, but not the type to do something that..... Petty. She decided to set that aside. She would get that question answered in person, and that was to be very very VERY soon because her second question was why he was speaking if he was Null

But in hearing his explanation of the circumstance, instead of some sense of relief, Ves felt an emotion she hadn't felt since she was a child struggling to control her emotions and her Vampiric hunger had begun to sprout along with the rest of her body in puberty: Bloodlust Rage. Her breath began to labor and heave, a fire lit in her belly. Not a fire, an inferno. Nancy was not being honest. He wasn't being "mandated" by his Goddess to find it. He was being EXILED. She knew about the oh so heinous crime of saving Nellie. She knew the details. The GODDESS CAUSED THIS!! AND NOW SHE WAS EXILING NANCY FOR IT!? What in the hell was this?! Nancy bowed his head to this Goddess, served her more faithfully than even Mariah did her duties, and this is what she did?!

While Nancy talked, Ves was busy chugging down her bottomless Everquench Canteen full of blood. She was thirsty, thirsty for a blood she couldn't have. Did Gods bleed? Ves didn't even want to drink it and defile her body both figuratively and literally (it would kill her). She...... Ves wanted the Goddess dead. This feeling scared her but never was she more sure of an emotion in her life. He never got a break, he worked himself into unhealth, the word of the Goddess guided his steps through the Null Realm. Now, Nellie had the Favor while Nancy got Exiled. Nellie ALWAYS had the favor. To Vespera, Mariana was throwing Nancy away. There was no other way to look at it. No amount of crying and hurricanes would change that. They were false tears. As the Canteen poured, Ves began to get frantic with drinking it, spilling it all over herself. Blinded by it, not a single feeling of bloat, the rage being insatiable. Cup after cup, a free flowing fountain of blood, tapping into a vampirism only described as feral.


"So you and I will have a little more time together."

The Everquench Canteen hit the floor. Right...... Right, he was right. She was leaving too! He could come with her. Afterall, they had to figure out this world together. Like a waterfall poured over a bonfire, the rage dissipated immediately. All that remained was an ember, warm to the touch permanently. That ember was an eternal disdain for the Goddess emblazoned in her soul. "Sorry Nancy, I got immensely immensely thirsty just then," Ves said with a bit of a laugh, "I guess I'm more tired than I thought." Not exactly a lie, but the prompt for her drinking didn't exactly match the scenario. At least not from his side of the call. Nancy could probably hear some of it. Not the anger, but the spilling of the blood and Ves's frantic drinking. "If she's sending you away, I can bring you with ME instead," Ves said, finally responding to the subject. "You don't have to go off in this unfamiliar world on your own."

When Ves looked in the mirror, the sight was not pretty. Feral indeed. Bathed in blood, a sight she could only describe as gluttonous, vulgar, and disgusting. From head to toe. Not an inch of her porcelain mocha skin visible. Not a centimeter of her clothing their original color, not even the back which meant that she damn near stood directly under the downpour. Her eyes glowed the brightest and most piercing evil red they'd ever been. Blood Empowerment was kicked up to 11. What terrified her though wasn't just her appearance, but her calmness around seeing herself like this. Whatever just came over her, she hated that she didn't hate it, and she knew one thing for certain: She had just gone berserk.......... and she never wanted that force to come over her again. "When it's time, let's meet outside Stoneroses HQ so we can go to the Gates together. I'm more than happy that you can get away from all this." To Ves, Kraiven wasn't liberated. It was under new management. The more people leave, the better. "I'll see you soon. Hopefully the Pirates are accommodating." With that, the connection severed.

Now...... Her inner strife about leaving was silenced. Completely and utterly. It was a calm disdain. "Goddess," Ves said as she picked up her Canteen still pouring blood. Not even bothering to cease the pour. Didn't matter, she was leaving this house. Ves was in a trance, her eyes hypnotized by the thought of the Goddess. "I will NEVER join your rule. If a path back to you is made clear, I hope Nancy tells the world to turn back. You are not good for him." Ves made her way to her bathroom, the blood still pouring all the way until she put it on her sink and began running a bath. "His loyalty is wasted on you, his love misplaced. I will FOREVER curse the day he became visible to you again." The silver lining of his Nullification is that he is away from you, she thought.

Spoiler: Cont.

Speak of the Devil.......well, the Witch

"Having a bit of a monologue, Vessy?"

The voice made Vespera's eyes widen. A voice she was NOT pleased to be hearing right now. Standing at the door of her bathroom looking at her bare blood-soaked ass, the witch held a grin on her face. Beside her, Mariah gasped as she saw the vampire look like she just burst out of someone's body. "It would pass for an amazing Dissention if you were a follower." My habit of talking to myself..... Ves thought
"Ves! What happened to you!?!?" Mariah said urgently and rushed over to her.
Ves held her hands out to rebuff her. "I spilled my Everquench Canteen, so I'm bathing." Then to address the one who spoke first. Elaina was never anywhere for no reason. "Here to condescend to me again, Elaina?" Ves asked bitterly.
"I'm here to bring you a change of clothes," Elaina said in mock offense but sure enough having a duplicate pair of Ves's signature courier clothes. "That and to talk to you about a few things."
Ves was gonna cut to the chase. "Tell me, why is Nancy speaking if he is Null?" Ves asked, eyes narrowed and mood less than tolerant as usual. "I thought it was you using some voice changing magic, but it's undeniably him."
"I'd rather deafen you to my voice than alter it. I like my voice," Elaina said, seeming HONESTLY offended at the insinuation. "Nancy was gifted vocal chords for saving his sister. The Gods can alter DNA from the soul," Elaina said, pacing a bit. As unbothered as usual "I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself. But it begs the question: Why couldn't she give Nancy a new non-Nullified body? Answer: She isn't allowed to make Lungborne anymore."
"Blah, blah, blah," Ves said, about to get into the tub, "She broke the rules for Nellie. Why is she so willing to bend the rules for Nellie but not Nancy?"
"STOP......" Elaina said suddenly, almost yelling to Ves. The louder sudden tone stopped the vampire girl. "Wash the blood off THEN take a bath." A snap of Elaina's fingers and a magic circle appeared over Ves's head, pouring out water. It would flood the floor, but obviously she didn't care. Ves sighed and stepped under it. Turns out Elaina already had an answer to potential floor flooding

• OOC: They don't have showers in the Kraiven time period. Only baths

"Why do you even care?"
"You reek of blood," Elaina said, suddenly serious. Of all the things she was pressed about, it was something like this? "If you want to act like a bottom-feeder who soaks in their own filth, I can start treating you like it."
"Ugh, whatever," Ves said, though she couldn't help but feel grateful for the convenience of not drawing 2 baths. If she weren't so damn condescending, Ves would be a little more grateful. Guess the convenience was paid for by having to shower right in front of them. Not like clothes would keep Elaina's eyes away anyways if she wanted them there
"Anyways," Elaina continued as Ves showered, "I am investigating that mystery of Nancy being the have-not and I will require your help to that end."
"No thanks. I don't want to help you," the vampire says without hesitation.
Elaina shrugged, "Then live in ignorance. Live your life with your family, looking at Nancy and beating down the nagging thought of why all of this happens to him despite his loyal and faithful servitude," she taunted. She was offering to help answer the very questions on the mind of pretty much everyone who knew of the situation
"..........." What a bitch, Ves thought. The words cut deep, and she knew exactly what to say. "What are you trying to make me do?"
"Courier. Top Secret. Exclusive to me and whatever company you work for as your future day job. I get a courier. You get answers, money, and set up in this world 200 years advanced."
As vomit-inducing as working for Elaina as a subordinate sounded, Ves was simply not in a place to be choosy. She couldn't even guarantee what would happen when she returned home. "........Don't get your hopes up."
"Excellent," Elaina said with a smirk, knowing that a lack of a no may as well be a yes given their dynamic. "If you'll excuse us, we're turning your manor into a library."

With that, Ves focused on her bath, soaking into it and feeling the soothing sensation take a little bit of the edge off. However, her underneath her relaxed exhale was a woman apprehensive about the future ahead.

-----------------------------------------


Time Passes........... 1 Hour until Dustoff

With the question of staying or leaving being answered by the people, the Basenjis cleaned themselves and the ships to prepare for dustoff. The people leaving would be split between the Canine and the Caboose. No way in hell were they about to fill up the main ship with unknowns. The people of course would be under immense scrutiny. There would be no qualms about striking them down should they overstep. That being said, the rules regarding this fresh meat was strict. They were not prisoners. They were refugees. Therefore, they would be treated with some baseline dignity and respect, not people to be plundered, raped, or beaten. Granted, if the disrespect started then it was an entirely different story. In exchange for room and board, they were gonna be doing the menial tasks. Those handpicked by some form of leadership would be put to work in whatever other ways. Those who wanted to join the crew were given the usual: An interview, a wish to be granted and, if the wish were taken, the provisional term of service to the crew.

The number of people leaving? 207. This number was small in the grand scheme of Kraiven, but it was still a sizeable chunk. These weren't just small fry Villager-A type people either. Some of them were actual warriors, a decent amount of them having Holy and Daedric Divine Favor, a few of them having Draconian Favor. Some of them from the devastated Sacrament of the Arcane and a lot from Crimson Embers who seem to be trying to duck under the radar after hearing the fates of the well known negligent, as they were as guilty as others of negligence.

Demi had warned Ves about taking the wish before. "If you take the wish, or favor, you're not leaving the crew anytime soon," she had told her. "Make it plain and clear that if you are joining the crew, you are either working under someone or that you will keep your freedom to leave the crew." Of course, even the freedom to leave the crew was subject to provision. For example, once they had set sail, the only way you were leaving the crew is through an overboard body, whether you threw yourself over or the crew threw your corpse over. Setting sail was like going out on the battlefield. All traitors and cowards will be shot. You can leave when the crew hits the port
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi​

Spoiler: More Thoughts

Too engrossed in his words and writing, Nancy said nothing of the sounds over the line. His fins did turn in acknowledgement, a twitch of concern on his brow. Did she drop something? Why was she breathing so heavy? But Ves gave an easy explanation, the poor girl was probably still staving off hunger from that taxing ordeal. When's the last time Nancy had even eaten? ... He didn't like the answer to that.

So it was settled, then. They'd go together, not one without the other. Even through his shivering anxiety, relief soothed at least some small part of it. Nancy wouldn't be left with only a woman he hadn't seen in two centuries, and three strangers, one of whom he was sure lost what little respect he'd garnered of him. Some "support circle" that was... though that probably wasn't fair to say of Demi. He expected that she was the very same sweetheart he knew way back then. Selfless as ever too, as he knew from Goddess's knowledge that the pixie had given up something very important for her crew. To protect crew AND kingdom?

She has so much on her plate. Nancy couldn't bear to think of unloading his weighty problems on her. And on Ves, certainly not. Not after what she went through. But their presence would be enough, and hopefully, his would be the same for them. They would keep each other safe. Heal each other. Just like he and Nellie had.

He was getting another fresh start in a strange, new world. But remembering why drove a hard stake into tight muscle every time.


----

Top of the hour, and Nancy was ready. Bags packed, room organized, lab checked from top to bottom, and a rewritten will as instructions for what would be left behind. After a few meticulous rounds walking those worn paths in each, he had come to terms with the fact that he was honest to gods leaving, likely to never see these rooms again even if he made it back. Could he regain the position of Stonerose alchemist after it all? Would he even want to?
Maybe they'd be better--

Nancy shook the thought away, heaving a breath as he took in one final look over his lab. Not a tool out of place, alembics without a smudge, specimens and reagents orderly, it was ready for the next in line. He expected it would get very busy here, tending to all the wounded and fatigued. Rest would not come to Orivae any time soon, and he felt so guilty that he couldn't be here to aid the effort. Couldn't the punishment have waited just a bit longer, so they weren't down another alchemist while people were injured and dying?

Sacrilegious it felt, he knew the answer was simple: rashness was just a part of the Goddess now. No longer calm and patient like a gentle current, she was reckless and violent like a storm on the sea. Unpredictable in that a single word would quell her winds or whip them into a torrent. Knowing that, the last sight of the lab was with a gratitude that he could still recognize the names and uses of everything inside.

Main Lobby...

Shutting that door behind him, Nancy made way to the lobby where he found Vlad and Nellie. Emotion welled up in their eyes to see him carrying travel gear, Nellie's especially. She was as red-faced and puffy-eyed as an hour ago, as if her crying hadn't ceased for a moment. The others were gathered here as well, his found family, and he felt a lump form in his throat behind his new vocal chords. Here goes...

But only dry breath left his mouth. That lump stiffened to a choke-hold, muscles tightening until they trembled. I can't-- Their gazes were on him, and he felt like he was back in that court hearing, where his Goddess glared ice into his soul. Arnold's stout visage grew blurry as his eyes began to sting. Please don't be mad at me.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Arnold Asella
Stoneroses HQ- Lobby​

The day of true reckoning. He could take on any amount of undead and nonsense. Hell, It was the most activity he'd gotten in CENTURIES and he missed the feeling, but now he was faced with the leaving of his 2 most prominent members: Ves and Nancy. His success would not be possible if not for the efforts of these two, and these exact two were leaving the guild.
Arnold sighed. They wouldn't leave without a reason. He put a hand on their shoulder. "2 centuries. Over 2 centuries I have worked with you. I cannot thank you enough for your service to the guild and............I would say to the Empire, but that's a bust." The man's guilt towards how he treated Ves came back to him. She didn't deserve guilt for leaving. Her family had a chance at being alive. He couldn't blame her for wanting to find them. A blessing of immortality was never losing family to age. He himself was blessed with his daughter and ex wife. Ves could be blessed with her family as well. Shame he took it for granted to become a human instead of a Pixie. His daughter and ex-wife would live on while he died a pathetic death. In a world of time, his was finite again. "Ves, I am sorry about my response earlier. I was......shellshocked."
"It's fine, sir," Ves said with a nod.
"I love you both," Arnold's voice began to crack, "I can't........" A deep breath and an inhale to regain his composure. "..........It will be harder without the both of you around. I am apprehensive of a future without you two, who built this guild up." He looked to Nancy first. "Nancy, I watched you crawl, then walk, then run. We all relied on your work to keep healthy and strong. There will never be a moment you are not welcome among the Stoneroses. You're a master at your craft. Regardless of your craft though, you as a person I love like a son."

By his blade, he would never do something that dumb again. "I can only hope for your success, and that you will remember us when you achieve such," he said, continuing his monologue. "Ves, you are the cornerstone of this guild. I can only apologize 10 times over."
"It's fine," she said with no emotion, "I love you too. Really and truly. If you need me, I will be here. I just want to be with my family."
The words stung him, a reminder of his failure as a person. He could sense Ves's brushing it off. "Yes, and I am sorry if I made you feel otherwise."
"I've known you for longer than my actual family," she said, "My loyalty to the guild is absolute."
"Find your family and love them. You don't need me to tell you that, but..........this is an order, my last to you as guildmaster."

Vespera Marine Seyres
Stoneroses HQ- Lobby​

It was those final words that shook her. Oh she was sad to be saying goodbye to him. "No," she said to him, standing firm. "I am still a Stonerose, now and forever. NEVER forget that, Arnold. Never. Again. I love you and I love every member of this guild." She then hugged him. Probably the closest to a father figure that she's had since her actual father. "I will never forgive you for questioning my loyalty, but........I can't stay mad at you."
"I was a fool, Vessy. I hope I didn't burn a bridge with that foolishness."
"I was kidding. It's water under the bridge," came the response. Of course she couldn't hate him. It made her angry, but when faced with the possibility of never seeing him again, that was a petty squabble.
"How will you even get back?"
"Trade secret." She wouldn't blast Elaina's intentions over the land. The Goddess definitely hated Elaina, but she hated the Goddess more than she hated Elaina. She didn't even hate Elaina. She was just a major bitch. She was a means to an end. "But know that I will be back."

Arnold nodded and Efi stepped forth. "I am heartbroken to say goodbye," she said. Efi, the maternal figure of the guild. No one was more nurturing than her. A motherly love that exposed a Daedric strength that showed that her position was chosen. Stronger than most in the guild, she put that strength to task in keeping her adventurers alive and healthy. She loved them like they were her own. "But I am happy to have loved you. Go be great for me. Your accomplishment is my pride." It was Efilisa's motto as a receptionist. She made her adventurers stronger, the top of her game. Efi was lovely and Ves was attracted to her but alas, Ves doesn't date coworkers.

• OOC: I've decided that Efi is a MILF, and Ves likes MILFs. This is inconsequential

"I will miss you, Efi," Ves said tearfully at this point. "Please make our recruits great."
"It's my life afterall," Efi said with a smile, "They'll be great so you can retire in peace."
"I'm not retiring. I'm just looking for my family," Ves said to her.


An urge no longer ignored.

Ves turned to Nancy. "Your Goddess abandoned you," she said, hardened and jaded with a huff, not willing to let him go a moment further not knowing the truth. At least, not the truth from her perspective. "and I won't. I despise her for it." The woman was uncharacteristic, not like herself but confident indeed. Ves didn't know where Nellie stood, nor Vlad. She knew only where she herself stood and her loyalty stood only with those from Kraiven. She never trusted those from the Sacrament. Then again, with the discrimination she faced, her trust was hard earned and since the crown was rotten, she would sooner trust the pirates than people from Kraiven. "I don't know what the future holds for us, but I know I want you in mine, Favored or not." That was all she said, as there was an aura of anger around her as she said it, but it was undoubtedly the Ves that Nancy knew. Just...............different. "but I won't tell you how to live your life. I love you regardless." The demeanor of the vampire was done, reserved from conversation about it. She understood it and based her opinions off that. Her eyes were dead set and determined, not the evil red it was before, but still more piercing than normal. She was usually good at hiding her emotions but this one was new to her, and hard to cover. "You're my brother, and no amount of Law or Favor will change that."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi
Stoneroses HQ - Lobby​

Once he was met with teary-eyed gratitude rather than virulent disapproval, Nancy resolved himself not to cry. They weren't angry, but nor were they happy, barely holding themselves together when faced with the fact that they was leaving. He didn't want to make it harder for them by succumbing to the tremors in his breath, though he knew he would. They all knew; he cried over broken pots and spilled milk, after all. Why would he not over his worst nightmare lived?

So tears flowed on, spilling over his cheeks and splashing onto the floor one last time. Muffled by a lip held under teeth, sobs climbed their way out of his clenched throat when Arnold declared him like a son. And Efilisa...
"My pride you already have since my pride you already are."
Why did the repeated mantra of his coworker shake him more than the declaration of his own Goddess??


Words to Pierce Deafened Ears

Then Vespera gave Nancy her piece. Shock gave pause to his grief. How...? He looked Nellie and Vlad's way, but they seemed just as surprised as himself. Who told Ves about this? Elaina? The Goddess herself? She did seem to have an interest in Ves, since She tapped into her memories to show Nancy. Though it was clear that the sentiment was NOT requited.

"Ves..." Whatever she did know, it couldn't have been the full truth. Abandoned? No... no, Goddess did everything she could to help! She gave him a voice, new skills, a place among the pirates so he wouldn't be alone. If she'd abandoned him, she wouldn't have even started the commune with him, and let him go on believing she thought he was shameful. She loved him. She wept all night over him, and continued weeping in the Abyss even now. How could she possibly... let him die in there thinking he was a heretic? Blame him for wanting to protect his sister after Her failure to? Discredit his faithfulness in front of the Council, when he had followed her word for centuries?! And then almost take his life's work away, his reason for living, when he already had lost so much! She did everything she could to help, only after doing everything she could to tear him down.
What sort of loving Goddess...?
Their son, their pride, their brother. The only people who still made him feel as such were standing here now.

Heart cracked open, everything came spilling out. Resolve crumbled to nothing as he wept behind his hands in front of everyone in the room. "I don't-- I don't want this!" he wailed, feeling himself shrink against a corner. "I don't want to leave you! I wouldn't if I had a choice!" There was no reason to explain. Surely Ves had already, and maybe that was why everyone was taking their leave better. Both would die if they stayed. "You've all been so good to me..." Why was this happening to him?! Why did he have to leave the only people who loved him, out into a cruel world that didn't care if he died?
A frigid hand touched his back, his sister standing by to soothe him. A presence that had remained with him longer than anyone else was about to be gone. But that presence wasn't drowned in the same despair he had breathed in before. A determined look was sent towards the gathering as if to demand, "What will you do about this?" It was a look Vlad wouldn't meet, his head kept down, and a look that honed in on Vespera with decisive percision.

"I..." Nancy took a step forward, slipping away from Nellie's hold. "I don't know where to begin. There's no words... no words to convey how grateful I am for everything." It was so much harder to speak evenly without his crystal, but that was fine. They needed to see how much he cared. "I owe everything to you. Arnold, Efi... you are the reason I'm anything. You took me in when I had nothing, and gave me confidence that I could never find on my own. I'd repay it over and over if I could." And he would. This wasn't over. Even if he couldn't do so here, he'd find a way to bring glory to the Stoneroses.
Shuffling over to hug the two, he said between quiet sobs, "I love you both. So, so much." Even within his crying, he held a steeled tone. "I will come back. I swear I will. Only death can keep me from you." Was it to protect him from Her mistakes? A grieved mother not wanting her child out of her sight a second more? Regardless, he would find a cure and earn back his place for them, if no one else. "And when I do, I'll continue nurturing this guild as much as you've nurtured me.

"And Vespera." His gaze swept over the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "All of you. Every single person here has earned my eternal devotion." Huge words, from their enduringly religious Locathah.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
Stoneroses HQ​

• New Character Trait: Ves hates the Goddess Mariana
• New Character Trait: Ves can only ever be positive-aligned neutral AT BEST with followers of the Goddess
  • Nancy is the sole exception to this rule

"We will await your return with bated breath, Nancy," Arnold said. Then to Ves, "and you are welcome back at any time, Vessy. Once and always."
Ves gave a resolute nod. "I will come back from time to time, and with it, I will keep you all updated on Nancy's well-being. I will bridge the gap She is trying to build." Her eyes flickered as she looked for Mariah. Probably still with Elaina and that was a good thing for once. If Ves bad-mouthed the Goddess, Mariah would have no choice but to reprimand her. As much as she loved Mariah as well, the angel was a servant of her enemy. While she would never hold a grudge against the sweet nun-turned-angel, serving that Goddess put her at a permanent arm's reach from the Vampire. At most, business henceforth since physical touch burned her, the holiness in her overpowering Ves's own Daedric (since Ves didn't have much as she didn't serve a God). The same was the case for Nellie, though that was always the case anyways. No, Nellie's touch wouldn't harm her but she still served the Goddess so..........no need to get any closer. Whatever the Goddess ordered, they were Law-bound to do.

Still, she wouldn't disparage Nancy's own love for the two. Hell, it wasn't like she herself didn't like them. She shook the thoughts away though. They still loved Nancy, so she would keep them informed of his doings.
".......eternal devotion."
Wow. Strong words from Nancy. These were words that he only ever reserved for the Goddess. Maybe that meant his faith was shaking. Or maybe that was her spite speaking. Regardless, it elated the vampire's heart to hear it. "You're too pure for this world, Nancy," she responded with a genuine smile. "Never change."

Ves sighed. "I guess it's time to go." she flicked her crystal. "Demi?"

Demestral Asella
Stoneroses HQ​

Demi had been there at the meeting, letting them say their peace. She chose to stay quiet through most of it since they were losing people. The Stoneroses were losing even more people on top of those who died in the figthing. "It's bittersweet that I leave you all with this task to rebuild," she said when she was finally called upon. "but you can bet that I'll be coming back often." She didn't want to leave, but settling down wasn't in her nature. No way was she making a home out of that ruin. She can come visit and help where she could, but her homeland was decimated. She would wallow in her failure for every minute she stayed there longer than she needed to, at least until it was rebuilt. She wanted to look at faces, but didn't want to look at this place. "I love all of you. Egregious circumstances aside, it was good to see all of you again" Now it was on to business. "Nancy, you'll be under Sebas. Ves will be under me. This is important because it shows you're tapped by leadership directly." The crew were not going to take in useless people. If you brought nothing to the ship, you'd be rejected. If you weren't joining the crew, you had to show how you could be useful. It was a bar-to-the-floor standard, but a standard nonetheless. With what happened with Ghauznud and the rats aboard the ship, they had to show a little more scrutiny to impending newcomers. "Stick with us and your life among the crew will be smooth sailing until it's time to take you home to the Seyres family."

"This is not goodbye. Not from me."
"Not from me either. When I make it back to my family, I will eventually return and help with the rebuild. I can't leave you here to rebuild without me," Ves said with a nod, wanting to leave on a positive.
"Who's going to take your place, Vessy? As Deputy Guildmaster."
"That's me," Efi said with a bright grin, limbs tapping the floor happily. "While I am still primarily a receptionist, Arnold tapped me as Deputy Guildmaster."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi
Stoneroses HQ​

Flicking away tears, Nancy returned Ves a smile far more sad. "Too pure"?... I'm not nearly as faultless as you think. Did she not understand Law? Did she not know the full situation? Would she still want him around if she did? Not even the most important person in his life wanted him around because of it. Well, She did, but...
It would be fine. The worst was almost over. Once painful goodbyes were finished, Nancy could move on to focus on his new life. Demestral would defend her friends to the end, new or old. And Captain Sebas seemed alright. Nancy wouldn't cause trouble for him, but it was a comfort to know someone with higher authority was at his aid.

"No one is better suited," he told Efi, in response to her promotion. Nancy didn't care who took his place, as he knew Arnold and her would be very choosy about who worked the lab. He wasn't sure of who was even left, or who died in the battle. "I know you'll take good care of everyone. I wish I could stay and help directly." Glancing Ves's way, he said, "But I'll find a way." Maybe he could send over the research he'll accrue, or his experiences of the new world as a citizen. It was something to ponder, but mostly once he figured out what the hell he'd be doing.

Vlad neared his side. "We'll escort you to the gates." "We" to mean he and Nellie, the latter of whom certainly wanting to spend every last minute with Nancy possible. Then he looked at Arnold, bringing up another concern since he was there. "And Arnold, we'll have to arrange a meeting between the Guilds promptly." With both leaders executed, the Sacrament's dissolving was imminent, and the Crimson Embers' sooner than later. Nellie was primed to take the helm, which left the other remaining Elite to take an authoritative approach with what remained of the broken guilds. "I'll represent the Sacrament, and appoint someone to represent the Crimson Embers. We must discuss what's to come of them during the investigation."

Nellie followed behind him. "I'll ensure that the Stoneroses are recognized and rewarded for their efforts in defending the city." She pulled Nancy close to her, who leaned into her hold, mourning the loss of her familiar lifeforce as much as a future together. "And for what you've done for Nancy, I consider you all family. All friends of his are friends of mine." Surprised by her unguarded words, he looked up at a face that was again wincing back tears. "I'll ensure no harm befalls you under my authority." Demestral wouldn't be left out, as she was told, "I know you did everything you could to spare us from a worse fate. You have my gratitude, Demestral. I've already told your captain this, but your crew are always welcome here. They've done more than enough to earn it."

Breathing in deep, she took control of her stuttering breaths, addressing their two soon-to-be travelers. "Nancy. Vespera. I have words for you on the way out." More personal words, given that they weren't being spoken here.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Guildmaster Arnold Asella
Stoneroses HQ​

Nellie spoke officially and the guildmaster could sense his own mistake manifesting within the woman. Being too official at a time like this. Either that, or he was misreading it. "You have the throne, Nellie," Arnold said, "Not only are you a follower of the Goddess, but in the line of succession, you're next as the current top member of the 100 Elite." The line of succession: the basic hierarchy for who takes the throne in the event of mass death of leadership....... Like if a Goddess sends a woman to assassinate them. After the king and his family in order of age, it was the council. Then the 100 Elite. Unless Vlad was stronger than her, she was next to the throne. The only person who could top them was Mariah the Angel herself, the direct delegate to the Goddess. That wasn't gonna happen though because Angels had Angelic duties, and Mariah was a brand new angel. She had to learn her bounds as an Angel

"You're not a queen until you're coronated, so the Goddess can wait," he said in a low breath, then turned away. If the Goddess hated him for saying this, She was a terrible god. Nellie's brother was leaving them. Arnold gave less fucks these days after the betrayal of Hemhart. That, and it seemed like Ves hated the Goddess.........and she was a VERY good judge of character.

Efilisa the Receptionist
Stoneroses HQ​

Oh, how sad she was that Nancy and Vespera were taking their leave from from the guild. The arachne was sorrowful more than ever. 200 years of no new members, and she was bonding the current members moreso than she would honestly would in a normal time-flowing day, and now the leaving of her nest was a reality confronting her. Her spiderlings were spreading their wings and flying away. "Be great for me. Just.........." Efi couldn't finish her sentence. "Just come back alive!" she exclaimed as she charged upstairs sobbing. She loved them so much. They were her underlings!! It's different than sending an adventurer out on an adventure. Not that others were less, but this was sending personal loved ones out on a mission they might not come back from, where the best case scenario was not returning due to happy life and the worst was not returning due to terrible life or dying. Until she saw them again, it was functionally the same as them dying. On top of her already high grief, they were losing more.


Arnold sighed. "I'll go comfort her."

That left the rest of them to get the travelling duo to the Gate.


WayfaringWaaksian


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Character: Josephine Warren
The Canine- Library​

Spoiler: Josephine's Diary Entry

Dear Diary

Lady Elaina dumped SO many books on me. She had me working all night sorting out what's original and what's a duplicate. Scrolls, diaries, manuscripts, novellas, dictionaries, encyclopedias. Between those and drying them all out, it might take all week. I never believed that she would go out and loot every book in the city. It took me from breakfast to bedtime just to sort out new from originals, and even then I could only thank Lady Elaina's genius system to finding out what's new.

On one hand, I'm happy to have more books to read. On the other, it's a constant reminder that it's a new book to read to reach my endgoal. On some weird third hand, I have already made peace that I will never read every book she owns. I may be immortal, but I can't read books I don't understand. Like THESE books that are written in an Ancient language. I hope Lady Elaina will get around to teaching me a new language at some point like she promised.

Jo sighed as she wrote these words. Another language that she doesn't see herself learning anytime soon. Trace wouldn't help her here since it didn't affect anything written, not that she knew Trace anyways. Looking at the extreme stack of books sorted by original or new and then further stacked by the ones that have been dried out, this looked to be about a week of work. If she worked nonstop. Jo's stomach was already growling, but she wasn't allowed to take breaks while Lady Elaina was out. Someone had to be in the library until closing time.

She has too many, but among the stacks of bound paper, I actually quite like being in the library. I also got to see the ever-so-pleasant Little Miss Orabelle, who has only the most convenient of water magic. Apparently it can be used to dry things by taking the water straight out of the soaked page. Since she's little though, she can only do a few pages at once. More than what I can do, that for sure. The little belle is such a sweetheart. I get to see her often, but we actually got a bit of face time to sit and talk while working. Lady Elaina hired her.........wish she payed ME worth a damn, but this slave collar says I ain't worth a damn, so she pays me like it

She told me that she might just be sending me to Orivae after she sets up a library there. I'll be there as a manager. A glorified proxy, I know. And I know it means I'll be laying out the arrangement of the books. The plus side is that Lady Elaina doesn't give a damn how it's set up as long as it looks good. So........in a way it'll be my own little project. I run those shelves

Jo yawned. The words she wrote were the most English words she'd seen all day. Most of these books were written in that ancient language. May as well be hieroglyphs. Hell, at least with hieroglyphs, she knew WHAT she was looking at even if she couldn't decipher what it actually meant. Such is the life of a woman like her. Her life was in these books. Eyes open to eyes closed, she would be here working. If Lady Elaina was in a good mood or just generally stuck around the library, her breaks were normal. Hell, she might even be paid to get food that wasn't the slop given on the ship.

Elaina wasn't all bad. In a good mood, she was actually quite pleasant. Even a bit forgiving...........unless she fucked up with one of the books. Burned it in trying to dry them, ripped a page even slightly, faded the words. Elaina would beat the hell out of her for doing that, so the woman learned a high level of dexterity. Even dropping a book and it getting a dent or something on the cover could send her off. Oh, and there's the actual slavery thing she was under. Apparently she stole something from Elaina and that was why she was turned into a slave. Elaina shared with her a memory via magic that seemed to line up. Jo guessed it was important and priceless, and worth enslaving her for the rest of her life.

She got back to writing

The crows tell me quite a bit about what's been going on outside. We'll be getting lots of new visitors soon. I wonder if I'll have to rack the shotgun for someone trying to steal one of the books looted from their city. Stealing the stolen merch. I'm no fighter, but if they're owned by Lady Elaina, I can't let 'em walk out with a book not intended to be returned. I'd rather take on a book thief than take on Lady Elaina for letting them get away. Plus, I put a lot of effort into book upkeep...........oh who am I kidding, as powerful as I'd feel putting a shotgun to someone's face, I can't bring myself to kill someone over a damn book.

But all in all, I can't call it a bad day. Orabelle reminds me of me when I was bright-eyed talking about the books I read. Lady Elaina can ironically get me like that, on those days where I read a damn good book and she actually asks me about it. I know she's read them because our conversations are actually deep. On a ship where a lot of these people can't read, at least the owner of this library is the most well-read person I know. But little Ora is currently the apple of my eye. Hope she comes back to visit again. She's always delightful.

Can't head to bed until Lady Elaina comes back, but I'll end the entry here

Josephine

Josephine shut her diary, a massive yawn escaping her mouth making her vision slightly dizzy. She couldn't go eat either, since Elaina wasn't back. It was one of those days where she may have to use her lunch money. Their free slop had a time window. Once closed, it was paid food only. Elaina didn't PAY her as much as she gave the woman lunch money. Either she eats slop and saves money, or she goes broke for the day to not get sick, where she would either lose her lunch money for being in the Medical Bay, or she would have the spend the money getting a potion to purge her body of it.........but that left her no different than she was yesterday. Take another roll of the die that the free slop was done in a more safely edible way today. After the last time she rolled a snake-eye and got sick, she decided to stack 3 days of lunch money for emergency, to keep the freedom of choice

No one was in the library, because who had time to read when the crew were licking their wounds and packing to leave. Being awakened in the dead of night to start sorting books, the librarian was working on like 5 hours of sleep the past almost 60 hours. Jo dreamed of her bed. It was actually VERY comfortable. Elaina's mattress was crafted and their beds were just failed attempts at that, or hand-me-downs of mattresses she's since changed out. It was LUXURIOUS compared to most of the pirates, specifically those who had to live in the bay and didn't have their own room. Jo was given her own room. Granted, it was in the corner of a storage room, but that storage room was just a repurposed bedroom, so it had a window. Worst case, it got crowded, but since Jo herself was in charge of putting stuff where it belonged, she obviously avoided putting it in her way

Josephine's life was not glamorous, but on a pirate ship like this, that fought ancient demons like Mozreliun, the safest place to be was in this library. God forbid she ever have to actually rack a shotgun. Dear heavens, when she was given the shotgun and told to defend the library, she nigh had a heart attack.

Spoiler: Elaina's Return

"Josephine, dear. I've returned." The voice of her master, always speaking to her with a rich socialite tone of voice, and NEVER addressing her as Jo. Only ever Josephine, and the fact that she calls her "dear" could only be seen as a condescension
"Welcome back," she said with another yawn.
Elaina's eyes narrowed. "Are you bored already, Josephine?" Such a socialite way to react. From what Rook told her, Josephine was a country girl, born and raised in a small village. She knew nothing about nobles and social faux pas like..........like involuntary displays of fatigue apparently
"Apologies, Lady Elaina," she responded formally, "I'm a bit sleep deprived is all."
"You're being reassigned now."
"......... To library manger? Of a library that doesn't exist yet." She JUST wrote about this. She was just told that she would be the manager AFTER it was established.
"Yup. You'll be my proxy in Orivae. The manor we'll be turning into a library will also be your home."
OK, I guess I'm doing this, she thought. Not like she should bother trying to resist. "Any chance that this promotion brings with it a loosened slave collar?"
"Yup."
"Figures you wou-" Her brain finished processing the response. "Wait, you're letting me go!?"
"I didn't say that," Elaina corrected flatly, "What you destroyed is worth more than your life, so your life is mine. I'm just removing the redundant symbol of it." So she had been wearing this slave collar this whole time and it wasn't even needed?
"I'll take what I can get. Thank you."
"You'll be the architect designing everything about the library without destroying the house entirely. That's also where you'll be drying all the wet books."
Not the wet books again, Jo thought. Just kill me now. It also meant that Little Miss Orabelle was someone she'd never see again. She took a deep sigh. "I have 3 days of lunch money to my name. Can I hire help at least?"
"So needy," Elaina brushed her off infuriatingly, "Just pack your stuff and get ready to go. Now." Without waiting, Elaina exited at warp speed.

That left Jo standing there. A library in a ruined city?! Who the HELL had time to read in their circumstances?! Aaarrgghhh!! Josephine wanted to scream right now. She was losing the library and would have to spend her time drying books and then creating a library while serving as a proxy for Elaina. In a place full of people she doesn't know. She found a little light in this bleak life of hers and the woman who masterminded it was altering it again. She was attached to this library and to the people who would come in. Now to get that kind of life back, she had to create it from scratch. The issue wasn't doing it. The issue was Elaina moving the timeline forward to NOW instead of after the library was established. She didn't want to BUILD a library, damnit!

Jo went to her room and opened her window. Guess she should alert the flock here. She then began to caw and coo in perfect Corvus, sounding EXACTLY like a crow. Was there a flock of crows here? Apparently there were because a crow came to her, landing on her arm. "Hello, my pretty," she said, looking him over. "Impeccably groomed gentleman, I see. I need you to tell the flock here that I will be residing here soon. I know a bit about healing injured birds."
The crow looked at her. "I see King Corvidae is still alive and well, and he favors you," the crow cooed, "We will arrange a flock meeting at midnight, and send an escort."
"You don't need to stay up late for lil ol' me," Josephine responded. Crows are day birds, not nocturnal. "But I do appreciate the meeting nonetheless. I'm Josephine Warren."
"We look forward to the meeting. Nice to meet you," he cooed, then flew off.

Time to pack. An exasperated, sleep deprived librarian, about to be thrown into a ruined city to build a damn library. Everything Josephine has done in her life has led up to this moment. Where did I go wrong? Oh right, I DON'T KNOW. She wiped my memory!

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Spoiler: A Reluctant Ruler

Nellie Noi
Stoneroses HQ​

"I--" Wait, her?! Queen?! But she thought-- No! This couldn't be! "I'm-- I'm hardly qualified." After the mistakes she made? After killing her own? She was wholly unfit, woefully unprepared. "I'm a warrior. A killer. I was tasked to sow destruction, not-- not..." It would be an insult to the people of Kraiven-- Orivae to be placed under her unworthy rule.
"Well, I didn't want to burst your bubble," Vlad said with a smile, endeared by her stammering. "If Justicar is the title you seek, perhaps you can acquire it another time. But right now, Orivae needs a figurehead first and foremost. Someone to lead the charge, and prevent us from falling into chaos."

Nellie knew what he meant. A leader's priority was to protect their underlings, and was to choose a warrior's death before abandoning the people who depended on them. That was the price to pay for absolute authority... and a price she would pay with a gracious heart, if it meant keeping another Hemhart off the throne.
"Without king and council, that leaves us Elites. I do not qualify, since I serve another God. Even if I did... I'm not the one who destroyed a castle overnight with nary a scratch." His smile broadened, pleased to say, "Your rule is uncontested. If the Goddess wills it, let it be so."
"The Goddess is the only reason it is." Nellie the Ice Mage would have been eviscerated after a brief altercation with the Elites. Nellie the Daedric Scion owed that title to the one she borrowed that power from. Power alone didn't make a ruler, let alone power that wasn't even hers. "You're far more fit to be king. But we are Law-bound."
"You flatter me. Truly." The strain on his face didn't suggest as such. "But after that display during the execution, the people are looking towards you to be their protector. Embrace it; you've earned their trust."

Nellie huffed. What did I just tell you? She was a only pawn, the Goddess the hand playing Her pieces as She pleased. She wouldn't congratulate Her either. The Stoneroses were greatly displeased to know the reason behind Nancy's leaving. Good. Goddess deserved their scorn. Nellie didn't care if the rest of Orivae sang Her praises. That was also deserved, since Goddess did right by them. But Nancy's family? They were losing yet another loved one.

Further cemented by Efilisa's sobbing before she fled, anger was all that kept Nellie's coaxed tears from falling. Looking at Nancy, she expected to see even more anguish. But although he let his tears fall freely, his face was hardened. Determined.
Please keep staying strong, she thought, squeezing her brother closer. Please. Nellie knew she couldn't much longer.

Nellie Noi
Stoneroses HQ ---> Gates of Orivae​

Desolation lined the path to the city gates, their towering structure the only unharmed thing in sight. The magnitude of destruction lessened the closer they got, a solace that she could only thank the pirates' defensive effort for, aside from the naturally lower population of the outskirts. But crumbling walls, splintered wood, shattered glass, all long since dried under the beating sun from last night's gale, were a constant no matter where one went. And the lingering scent of terror, the stench of death and sun-blanched blood, permeated the dusty air. Distant weeping where piles of bodies grew in height kept eyes on the worst of it all. Widows and widowers in agony, as many children dead in those piles as there were gazing upon them with horror their young minds couldn't comprehend.

And it was preventable. All of it. Every single life that wasn't an Elite or guard, or that wasn't near the graveyards. None of this should have happened! There shouldn't have been a massacre, there shouldn't have been total destruction, and Nancy shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of someone else's folly!

The hand that held hers squeezed, drawing Nellie out from her spiraling rage. Her adrenaline surely was potent in Nancy's nose, especially when they neared the looming walls. It served as an unsightly reminder that once Nancy exited those gates, she wouldn't be seeing him again for a very long time.
If ever again. No, he would be back. She had to trust him. He went through hell and back in the most literal fashion. This... this was manageable, in comparison. He could do it. But she wouldn't let him face it alone, Goddess's demands be damned.

"I can take you no further," she said once they were well under the shadow of the walls, ending the silence of their solemn trek. It wasn't technically true. So long as she didn't pass the gates after him, she could stay at his side up to that point. She just didn't trust herself to not go chasing after him at the edge of that threshold.
Even Elaina wouldn't make me choose between them. Who was the one acting like a witch, really? Nellie could only hope that thought wouldn't be considered heretical. She also didn't care. Let the Goddess's fractured ego crack more.

A watchful gaze checked the walls and the skies. No sign of Mariah yet. Good, didn't need any scolding over what she was about to say. Though, she couldn't hold it against the angel; she was a vassal now, forced to spew whatever nonsense Law required her to say. According to Law, Nancy deserved condemnation. Did Mariah even believe that herself? If she did, then the poor girl hardly had a will of her own from the start.
"Nancy..." A deep breath loosened her tightened chest. "I can't... I can't begin to apologize for all of this."
"Nellie--"
"NO." She pushed his hand away firmly. "Listen to me. You were failed. You were failed by me, and the Goddess. Your protection was to be our top priority, but now, YOU are taking the fall for us."
"But..." his gaze fell as he breathed, "but I wanted to..."
"You shouldn't have HAD to, is the point." Not that he ever had to, but it was unreasonable to expect him to leave his sister to die. It was unreasonable to scold him for doing what a good brother ought to. And it was unreasonable of her to take personal offense at his sacrifice, even if it had been a poor decision in the end. "I should have never been angry at you for doing what I would have done. You saw a threat. You saw only one way out. Regardless of whether there was or not, I'm only alive thanks to your effort. I don't care what Law, Mariah, or Goddess says. You were justified in trying, especially when no one else bothered to." That last part filled her with such wrath that everyone felt the air chill around her. Nellie's emotional outburst was unforgivable, but even more-so was that they put Nancy in the way of it. Where was Vlad? Where was Mariah? Where the hell was the Goddess while she was falling apart? No, they sent Nancy in the way of danger, and condemned him for not fixing things the "correct" way.

He was ready to argue, emotions welling in his eyes, but his mouth remained slightly agape. She grabbed his shoulders, the sudden pressure jolting him upright. "You said it was worth it. So you SHOULD NOT be apologizing for saving my life. Just like I shouldn't for saving yours." Then she smiled, tiling her head. "If it helps, you can consider us even."
"I... I can." He managed a sad smile back. "When you put it that way."
"But since you're losing so much more than me, I could never consider us even." She stepped back, looking over him and Vespera. "I'd go with you, but I know you'd hate me for throwing away my Favor. Especially when you denied the Gambit just for me to keep it. So... I won't let this be in vain." Nancy proved he could drag himself out from the lowest depths. He didn't need her as much as the ruined people of Orivae did. "I'll be the mediator between mortal and Goddess. I'll give my life for these people. At least until someone better suited is ready." It wasn't like there were better options. And someone needed to keep the Goddess in check, if Mariah wasn't willing.
When Nancy's smile grew, only genuine gratitude shone through, his sorrow dampening. "Even if you're not happy with the Goddess, I know you'll be happy keeping everyone safe." And that was all she could want from him: to know that she'll be okay in the end.

Spoiler: Nellie's Gift

"Vespera." She ushered her over. "The Exile makes it impossible for me to aid him directly. So I'll help you help him." Nellie didn't pretend to know Vespera better than anyone else here. But she knew that kind of anger was uncharacteristic of the sweet vampire girl. A Daedric hunger brewed under her pretty porcelain face, a hunger Nellie so desired to act upon herself. Alas, Nancy's assailants weren't something corporeal to sink her teeth into. But whoever came against Nancy, she had full confidence in Vespera to give them a new respect for vampires.

"Wherever you go, know that you'll always retain your citizenship. As such, I have the authority, and responsibility, to ensure you safe passage." Lifting her sleeve, Nellie scanned the lines of silvery lilac scales. Finding one a good size and without any trace of injury, she took it between her teeth, steeling herself against the sharp pain and incoming throbs when she ripped it out.
"Nellie...!"
"Hush." She wiped the blood off with her sleeve, saying, "I bestow upon you my first boon," The cleaned scale resting in Vespera's palm, its Daedric energy dancing over her skin was undeniable. "It is a power catalyst. It won't grant you Divine Protection, as I don't have that authority." Not that Ves would want the help from Goddess's acolytes anyway. "But it will amplify the Daedric potential in your body. Break it in half to unleash all of it at once, but only in emergencies. It's very potent."

Spoiler: Relic

Shield of the Scion
"No one comes to the Trench but through me."​

Description: A pale scale with a malevolent purple sheen, its namesake is somewhat misleading. As a power catalyst, it takes a defense-by-offense approach, amplifying the user's Daedric potential to give an edge to their combat spells. Since Locathah scales never shed naturally, they're embued with the giver's essence, their mana and emotions compounded over many years. It makes them coveted alchemical raegents, and powerful tools for enchantments. When linked with an Ancient Sanctified region such as the Abyss, these traits are magnified to an extreme.

Pros

• Daedric Amplification
  • Passive - Doubles the potency of the holder's preexisting Daedric mana
  • Active - Quadruples potency for 60 seconds; activated by snapping the scale; EXTREMELY potent when paired with Blood Empowerment

Cons

• Single-Use - Once the Active effect is expended, the fragments are disenchanted entirely
• Wrath - The Scion's vice lingers. A passive increased chance of triggering Berserker Rage

"Use this to protect each other. You'll find MANY people who'll want to take advantage of you. Show them what happens when they try." Vespera wasn't a fighter. Not in the conventional sense, that is. She had full faith in the determination Vespera had shown that she'd fight for Nancy in her own way. "And you can consider this personal thanks for all that you've done for Nancy. After all, you have his eternal devotion for a reason."
Nellie passed a look Nancy's way. A look that made color bloom under his scales.
~She called me brother,~ was his silent protest.
~That means nothing.~ Vlad claiming he loved Nellie like a sister was the biggest lie he ever told her.

Speaking of whom, she checked over her shoulder to see what kind of look she was getting from him. To her surprise, he nodded in approval. "That should be fine."

Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
Gates of Orivae​

Bestowing a boom?! That's Angelic level power! Ripping that off her own arm made Ves wince, but it was overthrown by the smell of Nellie's blood. Fishy and Daedric-touched, Nellie smelled completely different than she did literally a day ago. Her blood would taste awful, but would power Ves to new heights. "She must've really promoted you," Ves said, then sighed. "No offense, but Nancy should be in your position..... So after what happened with Nancy, I apologize if I'm a bit jaded at the Goddess." Jaded wasn't the word. It was an extreme downplay of how Ves was really feeling. Then again, being in the presence of a Scion was just as good as being in the presence of an angel

When the scale touched her hands, Ves's eyes widened as the Daedric poured into her. Her anger at the Goddess amplified. What was anger became bloodlust again. Oh, this isn't good, Ves thought as the Abyss poured into her. As much as the vampire hated the Piscean queen, it drove home that Ves would NEVER be able to defeat the Goddess. Divinity begets divinity. If this was her Scion, Mariah had to be at least as powerful. And they served Her, so who knows how strong She was? The evil red glow in her eyes came back, and with piercing brightness. She had to take a deep breath to calm the depths of her anger as she put the scale in her pocket. "That is potent." There was no avoiding going berserk if she broke that scale. If she broke that scale, it was very highly likely that she black out and wake up after slaughtering a district

"We didn't speak all that much, but my hope is that you and Mariah lead these people to prosperity," Ves responded, "This is our 3rd time rebuilding. My hope is that under you and Mariah, that happens. Keywords YOU and MARIAH." I'm more than willing to go after the Goddess through any hell it takes, she thought. I don't want you and her failing to act under the Goddess. "I have no faith in her [the Goddess], so I'll put my faith in you, just as you put your faith in me to protect Nancy. I've never killed anyone, but my value isn't coming at the cost of his life." She was always envious of their relationship, but she never hated Nellie. Hell, she was envious of everyone who still had access to their family. If anything though, now that she thought about it, Arnold probably suffered heavily from uncertainty regarding Demi's well-being.

"Call me any time for an update. You can rest assured that he's safe," she said with a sigh, "But I'm gonna tell you upfront that while he makes his own decisions, I am not going to support his continued discipleship of the Goddess. That is unless she can justify why this is how it is." She had very healthy doubts of Nellie that could be felt. Still, Ves wanted to believe that Nellie wasn't the Goddess. Same with Mariah. She didn't have negative doubt. It was educated skepticism. "I love him too much to support his self-harm." As things stood, Ves couldn't possibly view it as anything besides self-harm. "I won't steer him away, but I DEFINITELY won't push him back towards her. I will help him start a new life. A GOOD life that he will be reluctant to give up." If Nancy lived his life for the purpose of going back to Orivae, if he made it to the point where he would give up his established life in a heartbeat upon curing his Nullification, it means Ves failed.


--------------------------------------------------------

Josephine Warren
Mess Hall​

After packing, Jo went over to the Mess Hall to use one of her 3 day's worth of lunch money. She forgot to pay me my day, Jo thought, exasperated. This is why I ask her to pay me at the beginning of the day. This was ELAINA, the all seeing witch. She didn't forget as much as her brain barely even processed the thought of whether or not Jo eats.

The woman bought her dinner and took a seat. Beef tips and rice, with choice of drink including alcoholic since it was happy hour (the crew also looted alcohol). That, a beer and then a side of water, because that was actually free. Ahhh. Bliss. It even came with bread! Jo was excited. "Corvus, give me 1, the one who came earlier." As requested, the crow came in from a shadow in the floor. "What did I tell you earlier?" Jo asked, to verify that this was the crow.
"To arrange the flock meeting. You also said I was impeccably groomed, remember?"
"Yup, you're the one," Jo said with a smile. She dropped a bit of the beef on a small plate before her out of her own meal. "Just had to verify. Eat your fill for your service, then take the rest to the flock. Gesture of good will." she said softly. It wasn't necessarily a requirement, but since the crow appreciated it, may as well feed them. It got her in better with them
The crow took his time to eat. Then grabbed the bread. "Our thanks, C.Q.," The crow squawked before taking the bread and flying back into the shadow.

Digging into the food slowly gave her a bit of energy, but Jo knew she wouldn't be sleeping in her own bed tonight. Ugh, I ain't staying up again without Reset, Jo thought. She could only hope that the manor had a big comfortable bed. At least being free of Elaina's daily presence meant that she could set her own schedule. She was taught to not stop until the job is done, so it wasn't like she would slack. She was taught that, right? Jo didn't have memory of it, but it sounded like something a country girl would be taught. She had to get her work ethic from something other than the crack of Elaina's whip. She liked what she did, just not the literal slavery attached to it


A Sweet Little Blueberry

A bump against her table. "Sorry! SORRY!" exclaimed a voice, acting as if that bump broke her prized vase or something. Jo couldn't see the culprit though, so she stood up to get a good look. Ah, this wasn't human. It was...... What the hell was it? A weird little dragon thing with a mermaid tail, looking like it rolled around in a reef. "You're fine, honey," Jo said, brow raised as she inspected the thing.
The thing must've caught on to her inspection. "I get that a lot. I'm of the Draconian race," she responded, "I'm Lattice Stoneburn, maid to Lady Demestral. I'm.... new here. I was so busy trying to stay out of the way that I bumped your table." Demestral, a pleasant girl who constantly got books on Dragons, draconians, and reptiles. She was infectiously peppy and optimistic. However, Jo saw her unleash that giant bomb (the UV Nova) and knew then that THAT cup of sweet tea came laced with a double shot of crazy. With this weird thing being a maid, maybe that double shot was a triple. This Lattice seemed nice though, so Jo would humor her.

The dishes Lattice had were floating, meaning that she was levitating them with glowing beautiful baby blue eyes. Made sense given that she was a quadruped. The numerous dishes were some of the most expensive things on the menu. Steak. A platter of large pork chops. Half a ham. It's all my lunch money for just that steak. Lucky ass, Jo thought enviously. Either she got paid or she was spending noble money. Either way...... "That's a lot of food. You eating for 3?"
Lattice laughed in embarrassment. "I use telekinesis for pretty much everything, so I end up pretty hungry," she said, face flushed. "Plus, I-"
A wave from Jo cut her off "No need to justify yourself, honey. Eat what ya like. I'm just a touch green at the cost." Jo teased in amusement. "Unless you're with someone, take a seat. Stay a while."
"I couldn't possibly. I'm just a maid."
Jo flicked her slave collar twice, letting that explain itself. In terms of hierarchy, she [Jo] was property. "I'm leaving soon to be Lady Elaina's library manager while they rebuild that pile of rubble. I'd rather my last conversation be with a sweet little blueberry like yourself."
Lattice smiled. "I..... I suppose I'll take your offer then. Thank you for having me"
Cupcake. With a ton of sugar. "Come on, Blueberry. Don't be shy." With that, Lattice placed her dishes on the table and jumped into a chair.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dustoff Imminent​

Over time, the denizens of the ruined land who desired to leave were loaded up. Unless tapped by leadership, ALL of them having to justify their presence. Some of them were cooks, some of them idolized the crew. Some of them had magic to use. Some of them had magic to teach. Some of them had a blade that belonged in skulls, as tapped by Ash. Some of them were sneaky beastkin as tapped by Avery. Sebas didn't care so long as they were useful. Damond tapped those who had potential physically. Fatimah tapped those who had potential magically. Adonis tapped the well-rounders. Demi looked to the Vampire/Locathah duo as they walked up to Sebas. "Nancy is under you, Vespera is under me."
"Yup. I'll assign Nancy a room. Beast Wing. Same with Vespera."
"Thank you," Demi said with a nod as she guided the duo aboard. Short and sweet, Sebas moved on to the next one

The trio made their way to the Command Wing and to Sebas's quarters, in which the girls were there to greet them with enthusiasm. "Hello Nancy," Ora said with enthusiasm upon seeing them. Nancy gets his own room, most likely courtesy of the grump himself.
"Hey Star," Lostro said casually, as if greeting a longtime friend
"Huh?" Ora said in confusion, "No, it's NANCY. We JUST met him."
"Hmmmmmm I don't know. I was told his name was Star," Lostro shrugged, "Seems weird to name a boy Nancy."
"Yeah, and STAR is such a better name. He's not a pet." Ora countered with a roll of her eyes, "Who told you that was his name?"
"Mmmmmm...." Lostro's eyes shifted up, the symbol of her deliberating with her snakes. "Was it one of you?" Some hissing later. "One of them." she confirmed
"So you don't know his name," Ora responded flatly. "If you don't know his name, it's Nancy."
"Nah, Star sounds right to me." The girls began to bicker more and Demi had to calm them down. "Let's go, girls," Demi told them. "This is Vespera."
"Ooohh," Lostro said, eyes wide. Her interest is piqued, and she held out her hand to shake. "We've decided that we like you, Vespera. I'm Lostrogret."
"Uhhhh. Thanks?" Ves said confused, taking her hand. "I hope we can get along."
"If you have questions about what the Abyss tells you, let me know!" Lostro chirped. "It speaks to us as well."
Vespera had no idea how to respond, and Demi had to crush the resulting impending awkwardness, by hurrying up to the next destination.


Next destination was the Beast Wing. Ves was given her own room as well, right beside Avery's Room. "Since the Stables are here, not many people take a room here." Shame, since it wasn't like the Stables gave off a smell in the rooms. Still, Ves got her own room to drop her stuff. She'd spruce it up just a bit for her short stay. Nancy's room was right across from Avery. "I'm glad he kept us together," Ves said, "It'll be hard to get comfortable otherwise."
"I half-expected him to put Nancy near him. Glad he acknowledges our history, though he probably views it as pawning off Nancy on me." Demi said with a laugh, "But put your stuff down and settle in a bit. I will come get you when it's about time for dustoff."
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nellie Noi
Gates of Orivae​

"A bit" jaded? Cute. She couldn't blame the girl for sugar-coating, but Nellie wasn't about to get up in arms against something she agreed with. "No. You're right, and you should say it," she said, full of hardened conviction. "I had no business accepting this kind of power. Power I didn't even earn." The disgust was evident in the way she spat, lips drawing back. "Nancy was unwavering in his faith, unshakable in his convictions. And now..."
THIS was his reward. To be cast aside and scorned by the Goddess he dedicated his life to, the Goddess he mourned over for 200 years! All because Nellie wanted... This was all her fault. Infraction didn't matter. She was a fool to ever think--!

A soft gasp at a touch to her back, clarity pierced the static haze brewing in her mind. She turned to see a look full of concern. But since this was Vlad, there was also a solemn reminder. I can't fall apart again. The air was chilled, her hands numb. Nellie wasn't the threat she was when under Empowerment, but there was a new threat now. One to herself, but by proxy, all else. If I'm to be Queen...

With a huff, Nellie began decisively, "Nancy risked his second life to protect the church. He gave up that second life, and his good standing with the Law, to keep me alive. He... he is a hero." Law was Law. By Nancy and Vlad's words, it dictated Order, not morality. "And I will NOT wait until he's cleared of all charges to celebrate his accomplishments. The people will know what he's done for them." Glancing over at Nancy and being met with his wet, teary eyes made her heart ache. "I won't let anything we've lost be in vain. Or anything we worked for amount to nothing. Orivae WILL prosper again. You heard me swear it." During the execution, she made her oath. She would fulfill it, or her soul was forfeit. She couldn't live with herself if she failed these people. "I will not be like Hemhart. I will not be like Duion. And I will not..." she again swallowed her anger, "make the same mistakes as the Goddess." Mariana wasn't an evil leader. The comparison wasn't justified. Nevertheless...

"And Nancy... wherever you go, I'll follow." In faith, and in death. "If you deem the Goddess still worth serving, I'll... I can try..." Clenching fists ended that attempt. No. She would not lie to herself. "I can never forgive Her. Never. But perhaps... I can learn to love Her as much as you do." With more assertion, she added, "But if not, I'll be right there with you."

Spoiler: Final Goodbyes

Nancy Noi
Gates of Orivae​

The distress in the air was pungent and ever growing, almost all of it radiating off his sister. Nancy knew the inverse was true for her. If they waited much longer, he'd crumble to pieces, then she would follow simply for witnessing it.
"I love you." He pressed into her, squeezing her tightly to make up for all the hugs they would never share. "I love you more than anything. More than life. More than paradise." He swallowed the sobs that wanted to simmer upwards. "There isn't a paradise without you."
"Nancy. You're..." Her crystal spoke evenly, but he could feel her breaths stutter. "You're worth more than to be a sacrifice. Far more. But... thank you, for deeming me worth one. Thank you for-- for-- " She trembled, arms tight around him. "For not leaving me to face this alone!"

The words jabbed a barbed spike into his chest, a stinging poison spreading outwards. He had begged tearfully for her not to leave him, only to die in her arms minutes later. He was ready to embrace the Abyss TWICE, where surely Nellie would feel his agony forever. I am a terrible brother.
"I don't want you to die for me, Nancy," she wept, pulling away so she could look him in the eyes. Tears streamed down as she pleaded, "You have to live for me. Go have an adventure. See the world. Find love. Find happiness, for gods' sake! I know it feels impossible most of the time, I KNOW. But please... don't give up again." Her forehead against his was cool to the touch. He burned the feeling into his memory. "Please..."
"I won't!" Hands held hers with the same vigor that had propelled him down the Abyss. "I won't. Never again. Promise."
"You swear?" When she looked at him again, that same Abyss clouded her eyes. "You swear?"
"I do swear. I made an oath to the Goddess, too. That I'd put as much good in the world as harm was done in that church." He smiled up at her. "Can't exactly do that if I'm dead."
"Then put that good towards yourself," she demanded. "After all you've been through, gods know you deserve it more than anyone."

His face fell. "I..." wanted to. And didn't.
"Nancy." Another arm held him close. "The progress you've made, and the successes you've achieved, are nothing short of incredible." The words shook Nancy on the spot, and tears pushed their way through as Vlad went on, "With the kind of struggles you've gone through, many would have given up long ago. I understand them more than I've probably let on... forgive me if I treated them too brusquely." He knew... a little bit. Vlad never liked talking about it, and neither did Nancy. "So when I say that I believe you're the strongest person standing here, I mean that. Wholeheartedly."
Nancy felt his haws widen. Impossible. With people like Nellie and Vespera around?
"You have a brave soul, and a brilliant mind. If Zeltzin were here, they'd be proud of who you've become. Though I'm sure their Lady has close eyes on everything." Smiling at that note, he then said more somberly, "It pains me more than most of my griefs here to see you leave, but I have a good feeling we'll be seeing each other again much sooner than we expect. If anyone can discover a cure for this ailment, it's you.

"And another thing... don't lie," he said, brows furrowing in terse lines. "Don't mask your convictions to please us. Even though I can't approve of your actions, I would never think less of you for doing what you felt was right. And anyone who would... well, I would find their opinion unworthy."
Shame from that moment in the church made a bittersweet concoction when another memory surfaced. "You sound just like her." Zeltzin never tolerated ingenuity, which wasn't uncommon for a follower of the Clandestine. Though she did seem mostly angry at his audacity to think he could get away with it. "I wish I wasn't losing you too."
"You're not. Think of it as an extended leave." Vlad tapped his crystal. "There's nothing keeping you from contacting me. Please do. Same for you, Vespera. We'll keep each other updated."


The upcoming inevitable was weighing heavily on the three. "I... I have faith," Nellie mustered, "in both of you. Protect each other. And return safely. Whether to stay or visit." If Nancy found a life that surpassed Orivae, she supposed that would be fine. She could follow after a more suitable heir for the throne was found. "Let that be my first decree as a Queen-to-be."
Seizing the chance, Nancy took a bow, wearing a smile too rascally for his sweet face. "Let it be so, your Highness."
Her barbels curled. "Don't do that."
"Get used to it," Vlad warned her, managing a small chortle.
Nancy's humor couldn't last long. "My faith in you two is boundless," he told them, voice breaking but managing a smile through it. "I don't even need it. Orivae recovering under you is an inevitability. I know that." Were they starting out with less than they had before? It was hard to say. Nearly all were dead, but that included the perpetrators of Kraiven's constant falling. Now, they were under the protection of a God rather than the shielding Spirit Sea. "You've both done so much for me, I couldn't begin to repay. But I'll try. I'll live for you, Nellie, just like you have for me." You did everything for me... and I almost threw it all away. It was the last time he'd ever make that mistake.
~Now that we're under the skies again, every time the sun comes up will remind me why I'm alive.~
Her anguish was unbearable, body trembling in trying to contain it. ~And every night, I'll look up at the stars and be reminded of why I'm fighting,~ she recited, kissing his forehead.
~I'll miss you, Sunny.~

-------------------------------------

Fergie
Outside the Gates​

As the last hour neared, the crew's efforts in cycling through potential recruits ramped up. Aside from assuring they were actually useful, it was a first come, first serve basis for the citizens. If they didn't arrive in time to get screened, tough. They could take the next ship that flew over, and given the worldly marvel this rock was to become, there would be plenty in due time. Though she sympathized with their need to escape, Fergie wouldn't let that sympathy muddle her judgement. The crew was too thinned out to justify saddling them with dead weight.
"Orderly fashion, folks! Don't ye make me kick ye's back in line!" The next one to step forward was under her scowling scrutiny. "Name an' occupation."
"Garret Clifton." The man stood at attention, a weapon at his side that she just learned was some old-age spear. "Guardsman."
"Hmph." Good, someone competent. She eyed him over. Fit. Sturdy. Dutiful type. Not quite the Vanguard type, as they most desperately needed, but he'd do. "Oi! Bogrum!" she called. "What about this one?!"

"He'll do." Fergie couldn't trust the orc's bleeding heart not to take in everyone under the sun. His soft spot for these people was evident, so she took it upon herself to weed out the weak links for him. "Can't help but notice you haven't vouched for a single person yet."
"Bogrum." She sighed. Did he really forget, or did he just not want to acknowledge it? "There's a good chance I ain't comin' back next port, remember? Not about to take 'em in, only to fuck off."
"You don't have to train them yourself," he said. "You've got a good sense for people. If you say someone's right for the crew, they'll trust you."
"Eh." Fergie didn't know why. She was judgey as hell. "I got loose ends to tie up, anyway. An' wranglin' these maniacs take up enough of my time." "These maniacs", of course, being the crew bold enough to take on a demon and fucking win. She was still mind-boggled at that shit!

"Quit distractin' me!" she suddenly barked. "Runnin' outta time, an' I'm tired of freezin' me arse off in this fuck-ass weather." First hail, then a godsdamned monsoon, and now yet another dark cloud was billowing over the city. Only this time, dainty little snow flurries danced down, waved away by an irritable hand. She didn't trust it to not turn into another ice-fest. Her bony butt-cheeks couldn't handle this. "Next!"

Nancy Noi
Canine - Beast Wing​

"... Ves."
It was the first word Nancy had spoken since passing the Gates. Vespera could see the haze clearing from his eyes some, but a daze still hung over him. It was broken only briefly during the two girls' bickering, but again lowered its heavy blanket. It wasn't quite despair, but his blood pressure was through the roof. It was NOT his typical anxiety, not that it could be expected in these circumstances.
"I..." He shook his head, trying to jog back into place whatever thought that had wandered off. "This... isn't so bad." Their own rooms? Nancy had prepared to settle with the communal sleeping quarters expected of vessels, but perhaps things had changed. Perhaps this was just a higher-class crew. He... couldn't really remember what was said. Either way, he was grateful. He could cry himself to sleep in peace tonight.

"I'll... I'll put my stuff down," he murmured, trudging inside and closing the door before she could say a word. The room... was a room. There was a mattress. A little dresser. What looked to be supplies of some sort tossed in the corner as if it had served as storage, but it was clear the place hadn't been touched in a while.
That almost shook him out of his stupor. Amazing that he could tell. Dust collected and wear accumulated even in the Null Realm, but this was different. There was neglect. There were signs of age. There was sun-bleaching on the boards from that little window, which even had specks of grime on the outside from constant travel-- wait, moving specks??

Careful not to trip over tarps and buckets, Nancy neared the window, feeling a chilled draft once he could peer outside. Not specks... snow! It was snowing in summer.
He laughed the first honest-to-gods laugh in what felt like forever. "Nellie." Then sorrow settled in. His poor sister surely sent herself into a magic coma with that last spell. "You never quit."

Spoiler: A Cumulus Culmination

From the outer districts to the fleet of ships readying takeoff, the harsh chill continued to settle. Gentle in comparison to the mayfly ice age that had laid waste to the castle, but still biting bare skin with frigid teeth. It melted on contact with Vlad's fur, but accumulated on Nellie's scales like white powder.
"Nellie, why...?"
But he knew he'd be unanswered, her eyes vacant as they gazed up at the clouds she'd cast. Sighing, he closed her lids with a gentle touch, shifting into full form to move her from his arms onto his back.

It was a moot question also because he knew. Once he sensed that massive magic output and caught her mid-collapse, no harm could befall her from that point on. This was the only manifestation of grief that was safe. Besides, after a strenuous night of anguished destruction, at least she'd get her rest uninterrupted.
But for Vlad, that left him alone.

Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Josephine Warren
The Canine- Deck -------------> Gates​

Jo went up to the deck, belongings in hand and her new friend behind her. They had to meet Elaina here. "I enjoyed my conversation with ya, Blueberry," Jo said, smiling at her short-term friend as they came to a stop. She was actually pretty weirdly cute as Jo laid her eyes on Lattice more and more. She had a ton of stories Then the nip in the air hit her "It's FREEZING! Why is it so damn cold all of a sudden? First a hurricane and now this? WE'RE ABOVE THE CLOUDS!" Josephine was happy to get away from this. The demon and this ship of crazies were too much for her.
Lattice laughed. "This is common in Avalon," she teased with a giggle, apparently not feeling a lick of chill. "Oh, and more extreme as well. Maybe you can visit sometime as a +1?" Either Lattice was asking her on a date, or suggesting she get acquainted with Demi and get invited to Avalon. Either way, absolutely the hell not! She would end up like that girl on the yellow brick road....... then get her head cut off on a whim. Or die in a fiery explosion as Demi comes to her protection.
"You've lost your mind," Jo said decisively, though this sent Lattice into a giggling fit. From the fact that Jo kept going with a smile meant that she caught on, though her words were still true. "Crazies. Lady Elaina has robbed me of enough peace."

"Of course I did, Josephine." The devil herself appeared to ruin the jovial mood between the two. "Criminals give up their peace. Speaking of which, let's go."
What a buzzkill. Killjoy. Wrecker of joy. Alas, Jo couldn't exactly resist. No, criminals give up their FREEDOM, not their peace, Jo thought. Jail is quite peaceful. This was a moot point though because she was a slave, not a prisoner. "This is where we part, Blueberry," Jo said with a sorrowful reserved smile. This was where she lost her blueberry to go live on a floating rock with a bunch of crazies. "You got my signature. Call me sometime. I enjoy our talks."
"I enjoyed it as well," Lattice said softly, visibly saddened. How easy was it to meet people on a pirate ship full of savages? Not very. "I wish we'd have spoken more, but I hope to speak with you again."
"You will, Lattice. I am not revoking her ability to call." Elaina said as the duo walked off
They won't be revoked regardless, Jo said with a secret smirk. Elaina wanted to keep track of what was going on in Orivae. It required a communication crystal, and so long as the woman had one, if her Blueberry called, she would answer.


Sans Lattice this time, Josephine went with Elaina to meet the trio right outside the ships, and it was seeing them that made Jo realize that she was going from one group of crazies to another. A walking fish lying on the back of a walking lion, and a chunky man that might just be the normal one. Fat people back then meant they were probably noble or wealthy. In nobility though meant that they'd treat her like shit as she was a slave.

"Arnold. Vladimir," Elaina called to them, "This is my proxy. Josephine Warren. She will be around to make my library a reality." Elaina's eyes narrowed, "As you can see, this is my slave. Do not mistreat my property." Elaina brandished a key and unlocked the slave collar, which dropped to the ground. "Josephine, behave yourself and call me if you need something. Food, money, clothes, medicine. Whatever. I have already given you the crystals. This is as free as you are ever going to get. You have served me well, so use it well."
Wow, Elaina was being a bit generous. A sort of psuedo-freedom where the proxy can operate semi-autonomously. It was definitely preferable to being on that ship, though Josephine has eaten a lot of crow in her life. Metaphorically, not literally. "I will do my best, Lady Elaina."
"This is a position of trust," Elaina said sternly. "Should my trust be violated, my results disappointing, or my books damaged by your hand, punishment starts."

Just go away already, Jo thought. Listening to her speak was emotionally draining, and the woman was nigh sleepwalking already. Nevertheless....... "My name is Josephine Warren," she said with a bow. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I will be residing in Lady Vespera's Manor and turning it into a library for Lady Elaina."
"Her manor is in prime condition, and Vespera already knows." Elaina explained, "Josephine's knowledge of this is limited, so if you have questions, you may ask me or ask Mariah."
WayfaringWaaksian


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asmund Adonis, Captain of the Black Sea Basenjis
Basenji Main Ship​

What would become of this land and its people? Would they be able to survive this? How would the world react to this land? Or would Mariana keep it in the sky, hidden?
Adonis didn't know
Adonis didn't care
Adonis has his own problems, that being the fact that while they definitely got the Spirit Tome he was looking for, the demon attracted Divine attention he didn't need. The breach of the Null Realm, while the crew didn't understand it, was a Divine issue. Realm breaching in general was breaking and entering. Now Divine eyes would be on the crew. On HIM who leads the crew. It wouldn't surprise him if he got some kind of Divine visitation. Or a God marking him for punishment in his afterlife.
"Another plan foiled," Semira, his weapon, told him. Always bitchy, this cursed gun was strong but damn was she annoying.
"Why can't you shut up?" Adonis told his weapon sharply. "I'm sure Shivarath doesn't bitch at Avery this much."
"Because the boy actively rejects connections to the Divine," Semira said smugly, "He's smarter than the Blood Moth," Avery's lack of connection to Daedric keeps him from being driven mad by his trusted butterfly knife by now. Still......... there's something about that catboy that keeps Shivarath by his side despite never being able to drive Avery insane. Adonis got a taste of why, both when he masterminded this entire raid, and when he threatened the captain's life. The knife was bloodthirsty and Avery was a mastermind monster hunter. That knife drank very well during that battle.

"Anyways, my plan was foiled because of that damn demon. Breaching the Null Realm was supposed to be covert." And it was, but he forgot to calculate Lostro in all this. A mass killing of the people of Kraiven would've made Mozreliun an unbeatable threat. He should've gotten rid of that girl a long time ago.......but then he'd have to face down Ash. Sebas, at least how he was before submitting to the Goddess, was no Ash. Ash could probably give Damond a run for his money, and if she stood a legit chance against Damond, he couldn't hope to beat her. Now though, Sebas was formidable and got a large following of the crew.

Hmmmmmmm, Sebas was a weapon with those girls. Lostro was a weapon in herself, with or without that demon. Orabelle was actually normal. However, now that he's officially given himself to the Goddess, there was nothing keeping Sebas in the crew. If the Goddess told him to leave the crew, he was taking those girls with him...........and a TON of Basenji morale as Avery would be going with him. Doubtless Demi probably would as well. Ash was his sister in arms so she's out too. Elaina was.........well Elaina was a wild card. Sebas cultivated a neat little circle around him, and that circle had a lot of powerhouses and a ton of troops
"Elaina said she'll copy the Spirit Tome and pass it to me," Adonis said. One of the conditions of her presence was any original text goes to her and she gets first dibs on all knowledge. "I got what I came for. It's on to the next one."
"This time don't get cocky."
"It wasn't cockiness. It was a forgotten wild card."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DUSTOFF!! THE CREW SETS SAIL BACK TO ANDOUPHE!​

Everyone had finally loaded up. The mages used magic to draw the line for a safe takeoff, lest people below get too close and then get destroyed by the ship as they lifted off. The alarms blared, signaling imminent takeoff, and Demi was there to grab the duo. The vast majority of the now former Kraiven residents waved their goodbyes, but any and all screams of goodbye were drowned out by the absolutely thunderously loud engine as they blasted to life. The pirates undoubtedly left the place worse than they came in. While their blame for what happened within the walls of the city was limited, everything that happened outside the Gates were definitely the fault of the Pirates, namely Evangeline utterly decimating the land with her powerful Sword in the Stone move, and Demi with her literal nuke turning the forest into an ashen wasteland with a still hot crater in the center. The amount of terraforming that happened in that battle was never something that could happen without Divine Intervention.

Then there's the litter of a million cannonballs, grenade shrapnel, and bullet casings. If not for the Oppressive Hurricane the Goddess inflicted the land with, the land would have the added stench of gunpowder to go along with the stench of death. Luckily with how cold the area was, the stench of death didn't turn into the stench of mass rotting bodies. The pirates absolutely destroyed the land. However, they prevented Adonis's childish-level selfish decision from becoming literally apocalyptic and needing a God to step in and fight it directly. The decisions of that captain ended up costing a LOT of lives............but those lives would've been lost anyways. Those lives WERE lost anyways. They shouldn't even exist. It was a case that the Gods and the Daedric Lords would be talking about for quite a while

KRAIVEN ARC CONCLUDED

Time Skip
Day 1​

The first day after the Basenjis lifted off from the ruined land was a drunken celebration, both of victory and and of the lives from those lost. The teleporters on all 3 ships were opened for free roam across the 3 ships. Sebas actually drank a fairly heavy amount this time. Lattice was around to take care of the girls, and she herself was generally prohibited from drinking so she was the perfect watch-eye for the evening while Sebas had a drinking competition with Ash. He lost, but it was fun nonetheless. Ora was more worried about the health risks of overthinking, but Lostro was cheering them both on

It was in general a very jovial day, at least for the pirates. With the Kraiven people mingled in, it should dampen the mood right? Wrong! After enough riling up, even the most depressed people were finding themselves getting along with the pirates, of course infected with Ash's general enthusiasm, which only increased the more she drank, being protected by Mama Bear who took on some of that alcohol to keep her baby bear owner from literally drinking herself to death. Ash knew how to hold her alcohol with the best of them.

Avery was.............actually more open now, and people opened to him. Courtesy of his planning and position as Raid Captain, people were opening up to Avery now. The catboy was actually quite popular at the moment. Avery wasn't used to this though, so while he did his best to converse and talk about his experience as a monster hunter, he ultimately got overloaded and turned into a cat to sit in Sebas's lap for the rest of the night. Sebas had had plenty experience with a drunk cat courtesy of Avery himself so he took good care of the catboy.



Midnight

Orivae began to descend to the earth. Slowly and surely, the land made its way down, invisibly to prevent literal worldwide panic. This entire battle was a world-changing event on multiple levels, and this was the most tangible: a huge landmass. Orivae would be placed not all that far from other lands. It meant the Goddess was considering how they would sustain themselves, and it would be an economy dependent on trade. How would this land affect the world? Well that remained to be seen

Josephine was losing her mind when it happened, and she was in her new manor when it happened, so she got the flock to comfort her as it happened until it was finally complete. The woman was not the one for this kind of stuff. Slowly yeah, but not slowly enough apparently. The librarian was TERRIFIED. This shit doesn't just happen.

Day 2​

This day, after recovering from their night of drinking, was an administrative day. The crew had a complete roster call. Everyone was gathered in the training grounds and a roster of who was left was generated by the leadership, as well as a roster of who planned on staying and who planned on going. Then the pirates had to clean their weaponry and armor to the satisfaction of their Mama Bear Mama Ash herself. At least from the people in the Canine. They couldn't be walking around with bloody armor and dull blades

Orabelle got to upgrade her staff's crystal. Avery put in a call to upgrade his blade to one forged from the scales of the demon Mozreliun, once they get to Andouphe. Impersonated or not, Dragon Scales are Dragon Scales. His dependable bowie knife that made up 1/3 of his actual weapon arsenal got a much-needed upgrade. Sebas was offered this blade upgrade as well, courtesy of Avery. Same with Ash for her sickles, though she rejected this for her axe. This was her late husband's axe, so unless the man himself descended from Valhalla to approve it, no way that axe was changing.

Midnight

Spoiler: Mariana's Tribunal

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Daedric Court​

Mariana appeared in court. Her Holiness was always suppressed in these areas. Sanctified Daedric held no place. The Goddess was reporting for her tribunal. She sighed as she stood in front of the door. The Daedric can be very harsh when it comes to punishment. Holy upheld the Law as strictly as possible at all costs. The Daedric was more flexible. Holy was very lawful in their operations. Daedric was more chaotic. One could describe Daedric as more free range of motion than Holy. This meant that they were far more considerate of circumstance than Holy..........but that infractions like hers could lend itself to felony level punishment. Daedric being chaotic in nature also meant that punishments were unstable. There were guidelines, but as long as Divinity Law was upheld, they could do what they wanted with it, and did with it the Daedric Lords tended to do.

But the Goddess would work herself up. Her anxiety was righteous, but............. I'm sure Nancy felt the same way, she thought before pushing the door open and entering the court

It was a glorious courtroom to behold. The extravagance was magnificent. It was flashy in the darkest way possible, a gothic dream. Like a billionaire embraced the inner darkness and wanted his home to reflect that as much as possible while keeping it very very clean. Mariana never got tired of seeing how the Daedric Lords lived their lives of extravagance, as opposed to the Holy which tended to frown on such displays as a product of overt pride. Then again, Holy displays were prevalent in God's private domains The Holy, to a degree, required a sense of humility. The Daedric Lords went all out, very prideful and happy to display it.

"Mariana, Lady of the Daedric Abyss. Reporting as ordered."
The tribunal assembled when she spoke those words. From there, Mariana began to feel a TON of Daedric pressure. That meant one thing and one thing only: There was a God higher than her present. Peers didn't feel pressure from each other. Only from a higher rank. A Daedric Monarch was running this tribunal. "Rise for the honorable Diederick, the Deadly Sin of Pride." The 7 Deadly Sins were all Daedric Monarchs. While Diederick was his real name, it was very common to call him Pride.............when not in an official sense like this. Calling him anything but Your Honor would get her a kick in the face as, when under Formality, it was a spite in his face. The most haughty human noble on the planet still didn't hold a candle to this man's haughtiness. Hell, if anything it's his influence that gave them their own haughtiness.
Mariana rose and the man entered in glorious fashion, an artful flourish. His robes were probably made of the best fabric found in multiple realms. "Take seats. Let us begin."

It was well known that if you're on a tribunal with Diederick, he's the one speaking. Unless you're an equal or higher rank, everyone else is effectively silent. "You are here to answer for your infraction of granting your daughter Sunning Stone our glorious gift despite being estranged from her," Diederick said, "I'll skip your pathetic explanation. I was watching everything. See........MY issue isn't that you gave it to Sunning Stone despite being estranged. In fact, she is well capable of handling that power. MY issue is that you mishandled our glorious gift, which ended in it being SUCKED OUT OF HER BODY WHICH ALMOST KILLED THE MORE FAITHFUL ONE!!!" Oh hell, he was pissed. Of course, he personally didn't care that it was given like that. If anything, it was the convenient law that allowed him to put her ass in this courtroom. "While his death was incoming for daring think he can take on our gift in his pathetically weak body,
"Don't in-" A sharp pain in her gut as the King's boot slammed into it, sending her flying through the benches behind her. The Pride incarnate wasted no time in correcting anyone who dare interrupt him.

Shink! No sooner than when he kicked her did Diederick drew his blade. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" he yelled at her. "I'M SPEAKING! YOU DON'T DARE INTERRUPT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING, YOU WASHED UP FISH WENCH!!" Diederick was easy to piss off by insulting. It was just a matter of what pissed him off. When a woman a rank below him refusing to curtsy was something he took as a personal insult. "I'LL SPLAY YOUR GUTS IN FRONT OF THIS COURT!!"
Mariana wanted to say something back, but all she offered was submission. His Oppression was stronger than hers. "My apologies, Your Honor," she said with gritted teeth.
"Hmph," he turned away. "Anyways, while his death was incoming for daring think he can take on our gift in his pathetically weak body, he was aiming to save the life of his sister. He put her above the will of a stupid God. He gets my applause. Most Gods would feel pride to have such a follower in their ranks............ and that pisses me off moreover knowing that HE'S BEEN LOYAL TO A WASHED UP HOLY HAS-BEEN WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK SHE'S DOING!!!!" Diederick was an intense man. He either came on strong or he didn't come on at all. That intense pride meant one of the harshest Daedric Kings wearing a crown. "Should he be loyal to me, I would treat him well........." It wasn't just an extremely high expectation of the followers he was to be prideful of, but himself being a King THEY could be prideful and boastful ABOUT.

"Sunning Stone will go unpunished. Pardoned. So let it be written, so let it be done," Diederick decided. "I could strip her, as she is guilty of sloth. I pardon that crime since her master is so fucking stupid." The scribes scribbled furiously on their pad. "Now, let's throw her away. I don't care about her. I'm pissed about Star Under Stars. If you were going to break the Law, you could've at least broken it twice to give the poor fucker a new body." Mariana wanted to respond and Diederick sensed it. "Speak."
"That.......... would've been under the jurisdiction of the Holy Court," Mariana responded. That meant she would've been punished for it. In that case, it was more than likely that Nancy would've been put in a weak body with a high chance disposition for sickness and disease. "I couldn't allow him into Cordelia without addressing his actions, regardless of his intention."
"That's where you Holy folk are even more oppressive than us at times. But you showed him the fear from an Oppressive Lord. WRONG!!" Diederick roared, "Violating Law or not, he saved your daughter, you goddamn bitch, from YOUR actions that almost got her shot. You hate that witch because she speaks the truth.......Ahhhh, Shame she rejected my greatness." It was news to Mariana that the witch Elaina got a direct offer from someone more powerful than even herself. Her intellect could bring pride to someone like Diederick, and that was crow the Goddess didn't want shoved into her mouth to eat.

"So here it is, Mariana. Your sentence. Your days of Holy Influence are numbered. You acted like a Daedric Lord to a 200 year Holy follower who needed his Holy tits to suckle on." He grinned at her. "That is a level of Oppression that I am impressed by, YET there's too much Holy in your brain." That's where they got down to the bottom of this. No matter Diederick's insults to Nancy, he was ticked off about 2 things:

• Nellie's sloth, caused by Mariana giving her the gift too early. He couldn't care less that it was given to her prematurely
• Nancy's treatment overall. As a King who prides himself on treating his loyal followers VERY well, this was personal

It was her inconsideration he was punishing, her Oppressing her Holy follower. Diederick was a dick of the highest order, but he was a benevolent man overall, even if his influence is particularly malevolent.

"So the sentence is this: You will keep on developing your Neutral Zone Orivae, and you will unveil it to the satisfaction of me Diederick, King of Pride. When this happens, you will then DESTROY Cordelia. Completely and utterly." Those were words she didn't expect to hear, and for the first time in a long time, even after that kick, the Goddess's stomach dropped.
"NO!" Mariana exclaimed in fear, but couldn't say more as her body was struck was some of the most powerful [Arc Lightning] she had ever had the displeasure of taking. It rattled her body and turned her brain to static. Some of the greatest pain she had ever felt. Her brain couldn't conjure the signals to move, nor the signals to generate a thought. Every piece of her body was just trying to protect itself completely involuntarily
When the short ordeal ended, the woman hit the floor, then was lifted by her hair by a calmly enraged Diederick. "Strike 2," he said darkly, "Next time, I'll deprive your followers of a master. How kind of me, right?"

He looked into her eyes and no matter how deep her Abyss was, his "Abyss" was apparently deeper. And far scarier. Her own Abyss was frightening enough, but this.........How far did the void go? "You will rebuild that city. Full steam ahead," Diederick commanded, and slowly, "When the rebuild is complete, then you will destroy Cordelia with your own hand. If you have a problem with that, challenge me and win." He pulled closer, almost mouth to ear. "Try me please, so I can teach you the place you seem so adamant on forgetting. This is what you deserve for mistreating your followers. And your lack of respect for your superiors."

He lifted her up painfully by her hair. "So let it be written, so let it be done," he commanded and, with a whirl, threw Mariana out of the court. As the Goddess hit the ground, she was teleported....................

.......................back to Elmar in her Throne Room. Splayed across the middle of her glorious throne room, the Goddess lay on the floor, sobbing and processing what had happened. She had Oppressed her own follower, and it coming from Pride himself was a knife in her heart. That's what she did, and she was getting her due comeuppance. Now, she had to turn her hand to her own people and, with it, go full Daedric. It made sense. If she couldn't act like a Holy Goddess with her Holy followers, she couldn't be dual-hatting

What a mess. What a mess indeed. Never did the Goddess think that something like this was a possibility. Now a syphon or sanction sounded AMAZING in comparison.
At least she could cry peacefully from here. Her schedule was cleared for this

She had to Oppress her own people. To feel what Nancy felt. My karma is a cruel one indeed. "I can't apologize enough, Nancy," Mariana wailed as she curled up in her Throne Room. The home he sought would cease to exist.

Day 3​

SHIP DESTROYED IN ACT OF TERRORISM

​

Reports indicate an act of terrorism destroying the merchant ship, the Bluetide. Upon investigation, authorities have indicated a mass murder of the crew onboard followed by a systemic destruction of the ship itself. The perpetrator of this heinous attack has not been identified, but the Royal Navy of Padtoles is on the lookout for perpetrators.

​

The Royal Navy is taking this attack very seriously. "While we cannot conclude anything directly, we do currently believe that it is the work of pirates. In that case, the King of this great country takes it very seriously, and thus we will not stop until they are brought to justice. We neither negotiate with terrorists, nor do we keep prisoners those that seek to kill the good people of this good city and this good country."

​

​

Andouphe Location: South eastern coast of Tacrof Specialty: Air and Sea port ​ Spoiler: Andouphe Description Description: Andouphe is a major port city in the South Eastern coast of Tacrof. It serves as one of the biggest merchant cities in the country. From here is where the most lucrative commerce enter and exit. Andouphe is guarded on both sides by 2 more seaport military cities to deter from external naval attacks. That opens up Andouphe itself to focus on trading effectively and safely. Attacking merchant ships is an easy way to end up sunk as trying to fight Merchant ships in Andouphe waters will result in flanking alongside torrential superior firepower from both sides. With an airport, Andouphe is also known for exotic and imported goods from even further countries than its closest coastal neighbors. It allows them to receive goods from the internal land-bound countries, and with both country taxes and tariffs at the receiving country, it is ultimately at a lower cost overall than shipping it to the coast to then sea-ship it to Tacrof. The airport also serves as an aristocrat's playground. Air Travel is expensive. Pirates who can sail the skies are prestigious. Since this makes air-travel safer than sea travel due to not having to deal with dangerous waves and deal with less pirates and even less ghost ships, air-travel brings in the rich and/or famous. Tourism in Andouphe is a booming industry If you want to get rare and exotic goods from more obscure, land-bound foreign countries, Andouphe is a place to find it

The morning was normal. No celebration, no administrative nonsense. Blades sharpened, wounds licked, rollcall taken, it was honestly back to normal overall.
"LAND HO!!" Elaina called out over the intercom to announce the presence of what they were looking for. They were over Andouphe. It had been a peaceful few days. Beautiful in fact. The ones in Laylah's Medical Bay had made a full recovery, all their blades sharpened, ready for the next. After the fortune they amassed from the Mozreliun fight, some of them were feeling more Plunderlusty than Bloodlusty, not understanding that it was looted from the city by AVERY in order to pay the people. Otherwise, they would get no loot whatsoever. What? Did they think that an ancient demon would be raining random loot? Absolutely not!

Date: September 5
Time: 1700 (5:00pm)
Temperature: 61 degrees
​

But the journey of the Pirate Crew came to an end when they finally landed in Andouphe again, the aristocrat port town. The ship touched down and Sebas was one of the leaders who were the first to get off to lower the gate. "We've done a lot!," Sebas exclaimed, "Go wild. You got 2 days. 48 HOURS! Bring your ass back to this ship in 48 hours so we can set sail!!" It was an encouraging message to take the load off for the 3rd time in this amount of time, only this time, it was in a city with a red light district and everything. They could put to use the amount of gold they got from the Mozreliun raid and the Golden Gun Raid

"Not my problem if you're late," Sebas called. "The 6th at 1600, get your asses here. Until then, LET'S RECHARGE!!"


With a cheer of approval, the soldiers streamed off the ship to go enjoy themselves with the pleasures of Andouphe for the next couple of days.
They would be setting off at Sept 6 at 1700. Until then, they were free to do what they wanted.

The Basenji crew are currently in Andouphe again. They're set to go back on their sea-ship. The crew has 48 hours to upgrade their gear before they set off again.

WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Spoiler: Day 1

Bogrum Mazoga
Basenji Fleet - Canine Deck​

What better memorial was there to honor the dead, than to live in their stead? Once the ships were underway, the party kept going, fresh loot awaiting its eager plunderers. Drinks were had, coin gambled, and relics and weapons grandstanded by those lucky first pickers. It was a celebration that brought smiles on the faces of all, even the Kraiven residents as they were given a welcome as warm as the boozy afterglow of yet another failed drinking contest. To bask in such a jovial mood despite the horrors that had occurred made Bogrum as happy as he could be in times like these. Even with the jeers and cheers piercing his ears to combat it, the approaching inevitable still hung over his head.

Right behind Ash and her Mama Bear, Fergie brought a life to the party that could've resurrected the fallen. Hardly the wallflower he knew during his days as a new recruit, she was sure to congratulate every shipmate for their efforts during the raid, and the newcomers for making it out off "that floating hellhole" to make a new life for themselves. She even joined the drinking games... and lost every time. Responsibly, that is! She made no effort to bury her woes, as they already were.

It's like she's saying goodbye, he had realized. There was no doubt that she cared about this crew. How much her departure might pain her would not be for him to know, but he knew she would be okay. She wasn't withdrawing and leaving words unspoken, so there was no need to tail her around anymore. She'd be okay. She'd be fine.

But would he be?

You told her you'd respect her wishes, he scolded. Don't go back on that. Leave her be. But if he did follow, would it be for her sake at that point?
... No. Not at all.
She's just like her. Her vim, her fury, her gall to charge into danger with no regard to herself even to save strangers. It's like... well, it was impossible anyway, but it was almost as if her soul had been reincarnated into this woman. It was as eerie as it was comforting. And Bogrum would take any comfort that came his way.


Tears Were Shed, Regardless

A noise pulled his inward thoughts outward, to his stance alone on the top deck. Aside from the sentries keeping their quiet vigil, another figure laid slumped against the taffrail. Muffled sobs were a siren's song, calling Bogrum to their side in an instant. "Excuse me," he began in a muted tone. "Are you alright?"
The sobs ceased, but only because the fellow's breathing had. Under folded arms, their earnest "no" was unmistakable. Figures. It was a dumb question to ask.
"Can I help?"
"... No." Their arms tightened over their head. "Nothing can..."

Under the starlight, Bogrum could make out the glint of scales on their neck and flowing tail. There had been so many new recruits, he couldn't keep up with them. But this one was easy to remember: a literal fish out of water. This one had taken the role of wallflower in Fergie's stead, as the one time Bogrum had seen him was in a corner tucked away from the tomfoolery. Disengaged with the activities, Bogrum only recalled him because, again. Fish out of water. Not impossible given what he'd seen in the Pockets, but walking around without a tank? Breathing, apparently?

But none of that was important. If he couldn't even muster happiness during the celebration, now he had to be as enshrouded in misery as he looked.
"Please." His body shivered. "Leave me be."
Bogrum proceeded to not, leaning against the taffrail next to him. "Forgive me, but I think being alone is the last thing you need."
"I don't want to make you miserable too," he pleaded, head lifting from its nest. Bogrum couldn't have hoped to read it before, but even he could see the depression lowering that fishy face. Tears only made him certain of it. "You all seemed so happy."
"Not as happy as you'd think," Bogrum said. "We celebrate the lives lost, but the grief always remains."
"Then don't let me shatter the illusion." As the fishman pulled away, a heavy scent of alcohol tainted the crisp night air. He trudged across the deck, almost stumbling over the tail that dragged lifelessly behind him.

"Nancy, was it?" The name halted him. Bogrum had heard it from two other pirates, Jack and his comrade Steven. They'd been looking for him, but when Bogrum pointed the fishman out, he was already gone from his hiding spot. If it hadn't been for their masculine reference, he would've though him a fishwoman with that name. Maybe the gender use had changed over the centuries. "At least let me walk you to your quarters?"
Nancy didn't respond, his attention turned upwards at the sky. Maybe he was considering it.
"We don't have to talk about anything. I just want to make sure you're stable." Mentally, and physically.
"... Okay."

The trip down into the bowels was silent, though to Bogrum's surprise, he followed Nancy past the barracks and into the Beast Wing. "Your own room?" he couldn't help but comment. "You must be of interest to leadership." Not for being a fighter, Bogrum could guess. He looked like the soft, scholarly type. Perhaps he possessed some ancient knowledge to share?
A guilty glance downwards made him regret bringing it up. "I'm no one important."
"Folks were asking about you," he countered. "Jack and his friend. They seemed keen to see you."
Was that a scowl? "I don't want to talk anymore. Sorry."
"Let me say one last thing." He took the renewed eye contact as an invitation to continue. "It's alright to need time alone, but don't suffer in silence. We help each other here." Though given his reaction, "At the very least, talk to a neutral party, like the doctor. She tends to all kinds of health. Not just physical."

Aside from his crying, this got the strongest reaction Bogrum had seen from him. "The angel?! She wouldn't want to help me. She wanted us dead!"
What? Oh... "I think you're mistaking her for the other angel," Bogrum said with a nervous chuckle.
"Dr. Laylah," Nancy said with assertion, "was the one who asked to be released from her pacifism. She wanted to kill." His eyes narrowed-- eyelids too?-- in what looked to be consideration. "Since she's an angel of Prince Qeien's, she probably wanted to cull the Blighted. And if it hadn't been for our Watcher not being fully-fledged... it would have been approved."

... No. That didn't make sense. Laylah? Cull? No. She would never--
"Don't believe me?" he challenged, sensing his doubt. "Ask Elaina. She made sure we knew."
Elaina? Their sharp-tongued scout was many things, but one of them was NOT a liar.
"But... it's fine." A sigh released the anger in his voice. "I do have people who care about me. I... I just need time to myself." Nancy unlocked his door, but didn't enter before giving Bogrum a sweet smile. "You're very kind. There's not much you can do, but I appreciate you trying. I won't forget it." He managed a small laugh. "I'm not that drunk. Still... thanks for checking."

Bogrum stood at the door long after it had shut. It couldn't be. Surely there was some sort of misunderstanding. She had promised to preserve life, not destroy it. She gave him his word. And angels couldn't lie.

Spoiler: Day 2

Fergie
The Canine - Bogrum's Room​

With pleasure over, that left a heaping, day-long pile of business to do. Clean-up from the partying, clean-up from the raid, administrative bullshit for all the new folks and roles to fill. All with a head-splitting hangover. Even still?

"Bloody worth it."
"I'm just glad you didn't send yourself to the sickbay this time," Bogrum chided, as he so often loved to do. Clicking and scraping filled the gaps between his sentences, tools fine-tuned and metal sharpened. "You had me worried there, with that last game."
"I was takin' it easy!" Fergie was at his side, hovering over the planks on his workbench as she took measurements. Her old, burnt prosthetic was laid aside for reference. "Fuckin' hell, always on me arse."
"You were," he did admit, looking away from his tools to pass her an annoying look. "I thought you were going easy on them. But I should've known it's just your tolerance."
That got him a smack from an angle ruler like an admonishing teacher. "Dickass."
"Love you too."

Too long of silence lingered. "Sorry. Too much?"
"Aye," she admitted more readily than she liked.
"I'll tone it down." Then he motioned at a broken half of the prosthetic. Passing it over, she felt his calloused fingers brush against hers. She had a right mind to bite them. "I am glad you finally let me talk you into getting help," he said as he held the half close to inspect it. This is pretty well-crafted for someone not a woodworker or a physician, but there's a lot that could be better. We should run the design by Dr. Laylah before finalizing it."
"Stop."
He did, humming as he looked her way.
Fuck me... She felt his eyes on her, heart throbbing all the more for it. "I can't keep doin' this, Bogrum."
"Doing what?"
Gods, what did he want from her?! "Don't make me say it out loud."
He frowned. "Say what?"
"Agh!" Damn coy idiot! "Bogrum, just--" She tossed the ruler, letting it clatter on the bench.
"Careful with my--"
"Quit with the games!" She whirled on him, teeth gritting. "Just ask! Tell me! What is it yer wantin'?! Don't try to fuckin' solicit an answer from me!"
"I... what?"

Her fires cooled when she registered the brows screwed in confusion. No, he would have dropped the act by now, if it made her this upset. Did he genuinely not... was she reading too much into it? "Bogrum... you..." Her face burned, but she didn't dare turn away. She was in this now. "What am I to ye?"
"Well, right now," he said, no hesitation, "I consider you my best friend."
"Right now"? As in, subject to change? "What would ye... like us to be?"
Now a strain lined his face. "I'm fine with what we have."
Shit, so she was... "I thought ye's flirtin' with me."
"Oh!" He recoiled?! "Gods, no!"
Fergie stood there agape, until she found wherever the fuck her bearing were flung to. "Jesus fuck, let me down a lil' easy?!"
"No, no!" His hands raised, shielding himself under apology. "I don't mean-- Sorry, that came across badly. It's not that..." He lapsed into quiet, which made her more anxious with each ticking second. "I've said you reminded me of someone, but I never said who. She was my sister, and we were very close before... well." He smiled, head shaking away those thoughts. "I guess you could say I consider you like a sister."

"... Damn." Relief and disappointment slewed into an odd mix. She felt... flattered? "Never had siblings, so can't say I understand. But I'll take best friend."
"Sorry," he again said. "I didn't mean to lead you on, if that's how it seemed. People have said I can come across--"
"I'm just stupid, Bogrum," she interrupted, not letting him think he was in any way at fault for this. Or just seein' what I want to see... "Don't apologize. We're good... aye?"
"All good. Though," he gestured at their work. "I hope things aren't too awkward to finish this?"
"Nah. Forget I said anythin'." In actuality, all Fergie wanted to do was run to her room, hide in a pillow, and never come out while she screamed, but this shit needed to be done now. When she stepped foot off this ship, she might not be coming back.

So there was a blessing hidden under this steaming shitpile of embarrassment. At least this would make it easier to leave.

Spoiler: Day 3 (After Midnight)

Coprini the Clandestine, Daedric Lady of Taboos
Qalta, the City of Remembrance - Throne Room​

A forgotten kingdom, uncovered alive from the realm of the dead? An ancient demon, long since a wrecker of havoc, at last put to an end by another agent of chaos? Debauchery of church and crown unearthed, and subsequently inhumed under penalizing ice? A Gift given in love, destroyed in love, both giver and taker punished to the extreme for their audacity?
What tragedy! What revelry! Like an old star breathing its last in a manner of moments, so much had happened in a matter of days when so little had happened for eons. It might take her just as long to finally sort through all the details.
An exaggeration, of course. Her best spies were being sent to the roosted landmass as she spoke. A shame that Mariana decided to destroy that entire castle in a fit of anguished wrath, perfectly encapsulated by her own wayward scion. But secrets revealed never remained buried for long. The Clandestine Lady made sure of that.

The cool breeze of her underground oasis felt like a hot breath after that chilling display she had been treated to. Literal chills! Not of fear, though. Fear of the self-preservative or sympathetic sort were emotions Coprini had long since forgotten. She had almost forgotten what excitement felt like as well, before walking into that court. It wasn't often a God held Holy prowess in her left, and Daedric in her right. Even less so to see her stripped of one, a dishonor that equated to losing God status. No, not equitable; that was EXACTLY what it was. Goddess Mariana was to be a Goddess no more.

"A shame," she at last admitted. "I was ever so eager to see how her experiments played out." Nor was it often that Holy and Daedric followers were permitted to intermingle. While she largely doubted the King of Pride had any personal interest in a Neutral Realm, likely to pass it over to another the moment he deemed it satisfactory, "It's a good thing Diederick decided to take Orivae off her hands." For more than Coprini's personal interest, as well. A Daedric Lord stripping another of their Holy status was an absolute scandal. The Holy Council would be sore, but they couldn't do a damn thing about it. So long as Mariana's Holy followers had the choice to convert or stay and embrace Daedric, he was in the clear to punish her as he saw fit.
"... I mean no disrespect, my Lady." Her prized disciple, dutifully silent as Coprini told her story, released their restless tongue to say, "But I don't give a shit what Diederick does. Only that Mariana gets Her due comeuppance."

Zeltzin-- the name they had come to adopt, and one Coprini deemed quite fitting-- was the first to know from the Lady's mouth what had transpired. The breach of the Null Realm, the battle, and the destruction of Kraiven and its slow rebirth as Orivae. They had died protecting that city in the first war, after all. It was their right to know what had become of their beloved home in life. But more important was the fate of their protege, who they had been so unfortunately ripped away from before completion of his apprenticeship.
Toron's ruination was distressing enough. But for what had become of their dear Nancy Noi?
"It serves Her right-- damn right!-- that she be stripped. If she wants to act like a Daedric Lord, she can do so without Her Holy followers!"
An echo of the Goddess's words served as a proponent to the source of Zeltzin's virulent anger. Their horror upon learning why they could no longer see Nancy in the vision pool turned into rage unprecedented when details of his trial were made known. Condensed into slitting pupils and a shivering tail during Coprini's broking, it was was now in full display. Forked tongue lashing, hissing consonants, and a whipping body as they paced the sandstone floor accompanied their furious words.

"The nerve of her-- the nerve of her to wail and bawl over him, causing even more casualties with her fit-- only to punish him in EVERY WAY SHE CAN?!?" If they had a shoe to fling, they surely would have by now. "Threaten to take everything I taught him away over her PETTY EGO!!"
"Perhaps it was to prove she could punish justly, after favoring her child enough to commit her own infraction." Ever the devil's advocate, but never in agreement. There was always a reason for something, and not often was it pure malice.
"Justly?!" Zeltzin turned her way. "JUSTLY?!"
"In her mind," she was quick to correct.
"There was no justice that day!" Nagas couldn't cry with tears, but it showed in the cracks of their voice. "All she had to do was send him away for a few years, let him do his time! So why?! Why take him away from his loved ones forever?!" A sentence served with the curing of an incurable ailment? It might as well be life. "How can she love someone, only to use him like that?! She didn't prove herself just! She proved herself a MONSTER!!"

Zeltin's own little fit was amusing at first, but Coprini couldn't let their dismay go ignored. They didn't notice her rise from her throne, so the startle at her approach was anticipated.
"F-- Forgive me, my Lady--"
"Be calm," she commanded, a touch between their eyes. "There is nothing to atone for."
As the Daedric poured into them, the rage subsided, but their breaths stuttered all the more as they croaked, "My boy... how could she treat my boy like this...?"
"Because mostly fools think they can hold diametric forces without splitting apart themselves." Only the Goddess and Lord of the Moon managed wielding Daedric and Holy to any long-term success, and they were literally two different people. "I don't believe she's a monster... but she is sick. Greatly so. Such a sickness is common among those who attempt to dual-hat both." Fae and Draconic managed their differences well, because they had been doing so for time immemorial. Coprini could commend Mariana's attempt to create a new status quo for Daedric and Holy, but now they were witnessing yet another failure. "Diederick has taken it upon himself to cure her."
"I don't--" Sighing with the realization that they did care, they said, "Whatever prevents this from happening again." Their entire city was now under the care of Mariana, and it was their hope she didn't treat the rest of her followers like she treated Nancy.

"I must say." It couldn't be seen under her wrappings, but Zeltzin could sense her smile. "It's refreshing to see you so animated." Taken before their time, away from their daughters, and unable to see their apprentice for what they'd assumed to be eternity? Depression wasn't quite the word, but Zeltzin's paradise was only as such in technicality.
"I wish it didn't have to be because of this." Nevertheless, their fires were fanned, billowing in want of bodies they couldn't burn. "I just want him to be okay. Both of them." Zeltzin had never gotten close to his sister, but by proxy she mattered.
"Do you want to make certain of it?"
Zeltzin gave her one of their unreadable stares, but she could read their running thoughts. "If you'll permit me, my Lady."
"After serving me in death as faithfully as in life?" She lifted the Naga's head from their bow. "Far be it from me to forestall family matters."

Spoiler: TL; DR

Day 1 - Bogrum learns from Nancy that Laylah wanted to be released from her pacifism to kill Kraiven civilians.

Day 2 - Fergie makes a pass at Bogrum, and gets turned down. RIP.

Day 3 - Zeltzin seeks to assist Nancy. How remains to be seen.

Arc Start:
"Did This Gift of Life Come with a Receipt?"

----------------------------------------------


Fergie
Canine Deck​

Ah, Andouphe. The big froo-froo. Hardly a welcome sight, but a sight nonetheless.
"Missed it?"
"Egh." Could he not read her bitchy expression? Or was it usually that bitchy?
"Likewise," Bogrum said with an indifferent shrug. "It's not my sort of crowd. Although, it will be nice to relax without time hanging over us." Two days was quite a while for this crew, Adonis being eager as he often was to move on to the next relic of interest. Good for the crew, since they'd have their first choice of food, bed, drink, and wench. Good for weapons in need of upgrade, and old crap from Kraiven in need of pawning. And good for Fergie to figure out what the hell she was going to do.

Triton's Tridents. Allegedly by Kersact's words, the weapons shop was ran by an old Bronze Ballast member, none other than Saige the Cannoneer. If those fine crafted weapons were of Cassandra's make, then she certainly would know. The two women were joined at the hip back in their heyday, but was it still so? Even if, it wouldn't be information Saige would part with easily, let alone to an enemy.
Whatever the truth, Fergie had her lead. She'd be scoping the place today. But firstly...

"So..."
"Save it." Marching the opposite direction of the gangplank, she told Bogrum, "Ain't sayin' goodbye yet. I'll figure shit out, then I'll be back. Either to stay, or say I'm fuckin' off." She heard his footsteps behind her, but didn't turn to look at whatever sad face he was making. "First, I got some unfinished business."
"Demestral," he remembered, voice solemn. "Be careful."
"Didn't I say--"
"With her." Surprise unbidden, now Fergie turned to face him. Worry was etched all over his features. "When she said she needs reeling back, she means it. I saw how fiery her father could get. I imagine the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
A Wyvern Tamer? Yeah, that checked out. If you tamed literal dragons, you sort of had to speak on their level. "No one dyin' today, Bogrum. Swear it."

Nancy Noi
Canine Deck​

Heat of the sun on his back. Salty air in his nose. Land that stretched on and on, no edge in sight when it melded into the sea in a blue haze. Ears full of the cheers of a journey finally ended. It was all as overwhelming as the first three days aboard the Basenjis, flooded with sights he'd never seen, smells he hadn't smelled in centuries, sounds that were constant and refused him respite. Blaze powder, body odor, blood and sweat and salt, gunshots and clattering blades, the ever whistling wind that took the warmth from his scales.
Every one of them were welcome, no matter how unpleasant. Because despite everything, despite resigning himself to an eternity in the Godless Realm, and to deaths undeserving, he was on Earth. He was here to smell the smoke of modern contraptions, feel the rays of the ancient sun, see sights laid out that were not for Lungborne eyes.
For gods' sake, Nancy was alive. And hopefully these reminders would fill the void of death he felt within.

"Vespera. Look." There wasn't much else to look at. A brilliant city, climbing up the steep hills to ensure that every building faced its white walls to the East. It had to be spectacular during the sunrise, a beautiful beacon to weary sailors. "Can you imagine every city looking like this?" It couldn't compare to Toron in its entirety, at least the Toron before the first fall. But it was like the Noble District had disjointed and plopped itself onto the coast here. The architecture was nothing like he'd ever seen, but it held the same grandeur and boast of wealth. And this wasn't even the capital of this country.

"I've said this before." It had been a long time ago, but he remembered it as if it had been last season's trip. There had been many times Vespera packed up to visit the surrounding villages, a slow trek that avoided any use of a portal. To take a break from city life, he'd known at the time, but now he he knew more than he should have. Still, that didn't taint the memory of when he suggested he come with, and she accepted. Lugging a Locathah on a courier trip was bad for business, but in a timeless realm, there was no hurry. Life on the road wasn't for Nancy, but that trip had made him wonder. "I'd love to travel the world with you. See things I've only seen in books. I would've slowed you down, though."

Spoiler: OOC Note: CW

As the arc name suggests, there will be underlying themes relating to suicide/self-loathing. They won't take the front seat for the most part, but they'll be A Thing.

Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Vespera Marine Seyres
The Canine- Deck​

As Andouphe came into view, Ves took in the sights herself and with the city grew Ves's eyes along with it. The city here was HUGE yet compact. SO many more people. As they landed, smoke and oil filled her nose as much as the overwhelming smell of blood from the incredibly big populace of Andouphe. The tooting of horns, the sounds of horses, the screeching of whistles, the general conversation as people moved to and fro. Things were far more spread out in Toron than here. This all dissolved her brooding over Nancy and the Goddess, and snapped her back into her punky adventurer mode. This was what she wanted to see! The force second only to her actual family right now, it was seeing sights like this. The force that drew her away from home anyways, and the force that would ultimately lead her to set out and travel again to see it all. The Oppressive Hopeless that set root in her heart and corrupted her entire being was purged out, because the location that planted it was behind her. Ves actually started tearing up. Reality had set in. "We're gone," Ves said, her voice cracking, "It's all behind us. I'm so happy......" This was the dawn of a new era for the Vampire, and Andouphe was the first step for her.

"You definitely would have slowed me down," Ves said with a laugh. Except in the water. As fast as she was, unless she ran on water, Nancy was outspeeding her in the water. "But I've had enough of speed for a while. When I get restless again, and I WILL get restless again.........." She was a woman who only ever wanted to stop moving when she wanted to die. "........I want to bring you along with me." This also went back to the Goddess, and getting Nancy to get over her. It would be a long journey for him, as it would for her to get over her own trauma. Hopefully this world was more accepting of her kind. Or at least her skin color if not her red eyes. If not, then she would find where they did accept her. No longer was she going to provide a service for those who hate her. It took a lot of soul-searching to come to that conclusion, but on the other hand, if she wanted to keep Nancy from going back to the Goddess, she herself couldn't go back to doing stuff for people who hated her. If they couldn't give her the gift of baseline respect all because she had black skin and/or her red eyes and fangs, then she would use her speed to get the hell away from them post-haste
"Plus, I think it'd do you good to do some travel alchemy," Ves said, looking around at the city as she said this. "It'll do you no good if I take you back to my family and set you up in a room to hole yourself in. We have 200 years to catch up on."

Demestral Asella
The Canine- Stables​

Demi sighed. It was time. "Quincy, you will listen in on this," she said to him, standing from her desk, "I'm going to confront Adonis FIRST, not last."
"Will you be taking the Vampire and Locathah with you afterwards?" Quincy asked her
"Only if they want to go right then," Demi said in response, "200 years in the future. They may want to stay in Andouphe for a while longer. Regardless though, none of us are getting back on the ship before they set sail."
"So you're done with the crew?"
"Of course not!" Demi said sharply, "Unless I'm taken for a rat, in which case it's on to the next crew." Demi wasn't worried in the least about her status in the crew. She just needed to assert herself and let it be known that his actions wouldn't be tolerated again. Elewynn was very accommodating. The Dragon Supreme gave her a task and by now, any follower would be deemed slothful. However, Demi's standing was so good that she could be trusted to handle this without destroying the crew.
"What if the Dragon Supreme tells you to kill him?"
"Then his head rolls and the ships of this crew destroyed," Demi said without hesitation, looking up at her Wyvern "That's why I chose to do this in Andouphe. So I can spare the lives of as many crewmates as possible if it ever comes to this."
"You're a kind naive child, Demi........." Quincy decided. "You trust Fergie?"
"Of course. She said she would back me up and I trust that she does. Now........." Demi nodded resolutely, opening a portal above him so he can fly directly out of the ship from the Stables. "Go hunt. Be back before we leave."
"GLADLY!!" He roared, and with a jump, Quincy took off to the skies. "Keep me updated!"

That left her to spread her wings and jump into the portal and out to the Deck, where she saw her duo of now former Kraiven residents. "Hey hey," she said, floating up to them happily. "I'm going to go handle some unfinished business," she said. "It's........serious business, so I want to handle it NOW. I can show you two around later, so.........call me if you need me!" Without waiting for a response, Demi rushed off, anxiety rising slowly by the minute as the confrontation was nigh

Demi slid over to the front of the deck to see Fergie and Bogrum. "Glad I caught you," Demi greeted them quickly with a bow. As formal as always. "If you'll accompany me, Fergie, I want to get this done quickly," she said, suddenly serious. "Best to do it now, before Adonis leaves the ship."

WayfaringWaaksian

-------------------------------------------------------

Ashlynn Thormdottir
Commerce District- The Sharpening Stone​

Ash had already charged through half of the Commerce District Baby Bear at her heels. Normally it would be Mama Bear, but while people would bat an eye at Baby Bear, Mama Bear would cause a panic. Ash's first order of business? Upgrading her weaponry. Since she wasn't going to change the metal of her axe, it needed to be repaired and then fortified for resilience. As for her sickles? She could upgrade them with those Dragon Scales then further sharpen them to unprecedented sharpness. Normally this would cost a fortune and it DOES, but Ash has the cash and Avery offered the scales.
"Allow me to come along, Ash." On the back of Baby Bear sat a cat grooming himself calmly
"Don't ask if ya gonna come anyway," Ash said with a laugh as she charged through the city to the weapons shop. Right across from the Triton's Tridents, near the Noble District lay a shop called the Sharpening Stone. The Triton's Tridents and Sharpening Stone complimented each other perfectly. One got guns and ammo from TT and blades from SS
Their goal was the Sharpening Stone

Spoiler: The Triton's Trident

Location: Shop- The Triton's Trident

"The Trident: Guns, Explosives, Cannons."
-Aegis, Owner of Triton's Tridents
Shop Type: Gun Store
Location: Andouphe, in Commerce District near Noble District​

Run by a woman named Aegis, The Triton's Tridents specializes in all manner of armaments, from pistols to rifles to cannons to ship weaponry to all types of ammunitions. The Triton's Trident, being located near the Noble District is known to acquire very powerful or rare weaponry, selling them at a VERY expensive price. High quality gunpowder, dwarven innovations, gun alterations and upgrades, rare ammo. You can even put in an order for delivery or inquire about rare or relic projectile armaments. Aegis is the general repairman for the shop. She has a passion for weapons craft and is extremely knowledgeable about firearms from the smallest pistol to the biggest cannon

For weapon upgrades, one can talk to her assistant, the right prong of the Trident, Lucas the Lamna (Shark-Man). Lucas stands at a very intimidating 7'2". However, don't let his monstrous frame fool you. While he is always ready to bounce unruly customers if not just straight up eat them for disrespect, he is generally a gentle giant. He is the heavy weapons mechanic, being the most suitable to move and carry big things. Lucas specializes in repairs and upgrading heavy weapons and ship weapons

The left and final prong of the Trident is Cale, a Ceratoph (Frog-man). Cale offers special ammunition and works with both small arms and armaments to those with special needs. Whether it's weapons that fire magic, integrating weaponry into prosthetics, creating weaponry that is fired by alternative means (like voice command), if there is a gap keeping someone from using a firearm, Cale is the man for the job. Want homing rounds? Armor-piercing bullets? Cale is the man for the job. Given his stature, he also works with weapons too small for the bigger fingers of Lucas, so he is more fit for things like pistols.

However, there will be an ever-changing cast of people around the shop, because unless you speak to one of these 3 directly, one will almost never see at the desk the same person serving as clerk. It is unknown WHY that is the case, but there seems to be no consistency whatsoever on who is there to assist customers, yet all of them seem to insist on working there.

Overall though, the Triton's Trident is the best ordinance shop in the city. There just seems to be a tad bit of shade in the underbelly of it.

*Note: On top of what a Trident is and how it applies to a port city, the store name is a triple entendre in reference to:

1. Guns, Explosives, and Cannons
2. Aegis, Lucas, and Cale, the main 3 who run the shop
3. Aegis's signature spell, Trident, which summons 3 heavy cannons for her to control on top of her own

The interior of the store, right behind the main desk at the top of the wall is the weapon commonly carried by Aegis in her days as Saige from the Bronze Ballasts (pictured in her profile)

Spoiler: Saige

Saige
​

Name: Saige
Age: 33
Occupation: Owner of the Triton's Trident

Saige is a hardcore chick who uses a cannon. No skill with a blade, but powerful with heavy armaments. Cannons, explosives, grenade launchers, grenades, etc. Saige's only magic is magic to summon heavy armaments or enhance them. As an ace in the hole for the late Bronze Ballasts, her strategic placement is decisive in terms of success or failure in a raid. Saige has a history in richer circles, as she grew up in an aristocratic family, though she chose to discard her family name. For this reason, Saige's last name is unknown. The woman is known to be a tough love kind of gal, caring about her crew's lives moreso than the delivery of her words

Saige currently resides in Andouphe under the anagram name Aegis. She runs a weapons shop called Tritons Tridents with a team that seems to constantly change their appearance. Either they have some shape-shifting abilities or they are big on disguises. The shop keeps itself lowbrow. We believe it's due to the rep of the Bronze Ballasts

Spoiler: Cale

Cale the Ceratoph
​

Name: Cale
Age: 24
Occupation: Small Arms maintainer; Armorer

Description: Cale is a very shy person, so he tends to be incredibly formal all the time and is known to stutter. That along with his small stature makes Saige look after him like a little brother. However, Cale is good at what he does. As the only of the Trident able to use practical magic (Saige summoning cannons isn't exactly useful on a day to day) and the smallest of the 3, Cale's job is a special one. Making magic ammo, maintaining the smaller weapons, and making weapons with accommodations for those that need it is Cale's job and he's happy to do it.

Cale is an expert with smaller lighter weapons like pistols. He is also the secondary behind Aegis to run the store in her absence

Spoiler: Lucas the Lamna

Lucas the Lamna
​

Name: Lucas
Age: 37
Occupation: Big Weapons mechanic

Lucas stands at a monstrous 7'2". He is also an extreme fitness fanatic. This culminates in this huge buffed out Lamna (shark-man) who can strike fear into anyone. While ever trying to rob a gunstore is asking to die, Lucas alone provides enough reason to stay polite in the store and not give Aegis a bad time. Lucas is a heavy weapons mechanic, serving as the main source of manual labor in and around the shop.

Spoiler: The Sharpening Stone

Location: Shop- The Sharpening Stone

"Words are complicated. Sword is simple."
-Noram, Owner of The Sharpening Stone
Shop Type: Blacksmith; Weapon/Armor Enchanting​

Run by renowned Blacksmith Noram, The Sharpening Stone is the sword and bow equivalent of the Triton's Trident. It offers a host of physical weapons, from blades of all sorts to hammers, and arrows/bolts for bows and crossbows, as well as armor of all types. The blacksmith Noram is well known as a master blacksmith so his quality is always high. He offers new weapons, weapon repair, and orders to create new weaponry, as well as creating weapons from materials given to him. Noram is a busy busy man and is known to turn away offers that utilize low-grade material or low pay, though it's not uncommon for even high priority orders to get bumped down a place if someone comes in with an exceptionally high grade material, exceptionally high pay, or exceptionally creative ideas. Noram is a craftsman through and through, and creating means more to him than money. Even if it's landed him in hot water with royalty or the nobility in the past

The shop also offers weapon enchantment courtesy of his wife, a master enchantress goblin. Weapon enhancement, cursed weapon dispelling, dangerous weapon disposal. You give her the parameters you desire and she makes it happen, the stronger the enchant, the higher the price. Don't let her intimidating look fool you. While she is a tomboy through and through, she is one of the best in the city at what she does. Chances are, if you come into The Sharpening Stone, it is she or their daughter who you'll be talking to, as Noram is always down in his forge

Note: This logo is completely original, along with the The Trident's Trident Logo. I made this logo

Spoiler: Thrizsee

Thrizsee (Trixie)
​

Name: Thrizsee (Trixie) Greybrew
Age: 31
Occupation: Weapon Enchanter; Co-owner of The Sharpening Stone

​

Description: Thrizsee (Common Name Trixie) is a master Enchantress and veteran pirate. She decided to hang up the cutlass after she met Noram, fell in love and married, and got pregnant with their daughter Briamoq Abrenella Greybrew. Trixie is a tomboy through and through, having amassed quite the body count while sailing. It is thought that Trixie gets an addon to her tattoos for every person she kills. Makes sense, given that she hasn't added on to her tattoo collection since she left the pirate life. Trixie is very good at spellblade (enchanting her weapons to use in battle) and

These days, Trixie is either chasing her daughter around the city or she's working as the co-owner of The Sharpening Stone, where she puts her spellblade experience to use by enchanting weapons for pay. The more the pay, the better the enchant. No one in the city of Andouphe can do it better. Trixie is foul-mouthed, blunt, and has the mannerisms of the pirate she used to be. But she's a damn good mother and damn protective over what's hers. Her child, her husband, her business

• OOC: Trixie fights at about the same level of Fatimah

Spoiler: Noram Greybrew

Noram Greybrew​

Name: Noram Greybrew
Age: 39
Occupation: Blacksmith; Owner of The Sharpening Stone

Noram is one of the best blacksmiths in the kingdom. People travel far and wide to have weapons made by the patriarch of the Greybrew Family. The man's seal of approval almost guarantees the weapon sells. Noram is an artist through and through, and puts his all into creating weapons or armor. However, the man being a very busy man makes him selective. Low quality material, bad weapon designs, not enough money for the design you're going for? Noram will reject it.

He's a nice man for a former military commander who's seen combat. He's blunt and can be grouch given is constant workflow but he's a man who looks after his own. He's a powerful friend to have, with loads of connections in high places (up to the Tacrof Throne Room) and a loyalty to his allies that cannot be understated. 9 times out of 10, when you enter his shop, you will be speaking to either his wife, the Master Enchantress Goblin Trixie, or their daughter, the 8 year old Briamoq Abrenella Greybrew (Nickname Bri)

Note: They named her Briamoq as it's a Goblin name and Abrenella which is a Dwarven name. Since she's a Greybrew (her father's last name) Trixie got to choose the first name

The duo entered the Sharpening Stone, Baby Bear being taken into the woman's arms. "Yo, Trixie! We got upgrades!" Ash called as she walked to the front desk.
"Hey Ash, back again eh?" Thriszee (Trixie) called back with just as much enthusiasm.
"Yup! Fire up those enchants. I need the strongest reinforce and the strongest sharpen you can muster. Finally got the cash for it." Ash said. With the amount of cash she was about to spend on Reinforce and Sharpen enchants, that Reinforce better make her axe nigh impervious to damage
"And the sickles?"
"Those I need to be reforged with Dragon Scales."
"Dragon scales?" Trixie grinned with this, showing her sharp teeth. "Oooh, Noram will expedite your shit if it's Dragon Scales. Let me get the axe." Ash pulled off her axe and tried to hand it to her, but Trixie hesitated. "On second thought, bring it to the back with me. Only your gorilla-strength ass can carry that," which caused a hearty laugh from the viking woman. Ash's axe was extremely heavy, courtesy of her late husband who wielded the thing first. She is essentially swinging around a sledgehammer like some people swing rapiers
Ah, I'm just reminded. "How's Bri?"
"The little shit can't stay still. Glad she's at school." While the woman's words seemed annoying, there was a level of love behind the tone Trixie spoke in. Briamoq Abrenella Greybrew is the daughter of Noram and Trixie. Half-Goblin and Half-Dwarf, the little daughter is a sunflower who takes her intellect from her mother and strength from her father, making her an eternally curious girl who likes to do anything and everything. Ash is her godmother, just as she was for Lostro and Ora. They were great, but it was Bri and the Greybrew family that represented to Ash what she wanted in life. To be done living by the blade, to hang it up and focus on making sure her son didn't live the life they had to. That was while her she was robbed of that life........... Noram the retired commander and Trixie the retired pirate hung it all up when they met and Trixie fell pregnant, and here they are making a killing so that Bri may run around getting an education trying all the things and not having a care in the world.

• OOC: School isn't free. It's a middle-class thing. This is an upper-middle class family

If the world was falling apart around them, it would never trickle down to their daughter, and Ash had about as much respect for them as she did envy, knowing that this very existence was within her grasp, then yanked away by cruel fate. What always tore Ash apart was knowing that she would probably never have it. If she couldn't be with her husband, she was leaving this plane of existence as a widow
"I will ask Noram to upgrade my knife with these Dragon Scales," Avery said, turning back into human form to plop down a large sack of gold and the sack of Dragon Scales.
"Cha-Ching!! I'll expedite the enchants." Trixie said, conjuring a scroll containing the work order. "It's on Noram how much to expedite the upgrades."

Dr. Laylah Halliet
Andouphe- Red Light District​

Meanwhile, the revered medic made her way to the place of brothels and debauchery. After spending 3 days treating the blight among the people, she was done. Now she had to distance herself from the ship for a while, while she had the luxury of having no patients. This was her time to find new patients. aka, potential new staff. Maybe some new converts to Prince Qeien. She invoked the [Angelic Order: Diagnose] spell on the people she saw as she walked the streets, allowing her to see health information on everyone she saw. Drunks lying in the streets, more full of drugs. Prostitutes with STDs. Drugged out slaves with eyes glazed over, children trying to pickpocket repelled by her barrier, other children offering.........services. While some of them were just "products" to be made use of, some of these were a trick, as some of their slave collars were made invisible. You take a child up on this offer and that's how you end up robbed by that child to take back to the slavemaster. If not ambushed and killed in the night. Humans are frightening creatures, Laylah thought. She couldn't help everyone, and had to prioritize the ones worse off than the others. As Qeien's pacifist, she couldn't go killing the traffickers. Ridding the people of slave collars were a useless endeavor if they couldn't be whisked away from that life. They would just end up enslaved again.

This entire area just smelled awful. Not of just blood, sweat, sex, and regret. The smell of debauchery and degeneracy in general just filled the air. It was a Daedric touch. Was it the Daedric Queen of Lust's influence? Was it the Daedric Emperor of Indulgence's influence? Maybe the Daedric Prince of the Market's influence funding a black market and human trafficking ring in these parts? Disgusting, Laylah thought. Then she found someone down an alley. Broken and bleeding. Drunk and drugged, but also beaten horribly. Laylah ran over to him. Herpes. System full of Opioids. Signs of overdose. Cracked skull. Death hanging over him

Laylah invoked a spell silently. [Angelic Order: Emergency Transport]. The man's body rose into the air and disappeared. Guess I will check into a room early. Laylah could easily go into a clinic and, using her Angelic status, take over the entire bay to treat the people. However, she was looking for staff. She can't fix everyone's problems for them. Plus, for an incurable like Herpes, she would need permission or the person would need to convert to followership of Qeien. The Basenjis are an exception. As the crew she's attached to, not curing their contagious diseases would make the crew ground zero for an epidemic given how much they travel

There is no guarantee that he will convert, Laylah thought. Oh well. She didn't need him to convert. She needed a new staff member, but picking from the red light district probably wasn't a good choice. It was a risk, but taking someone and getting them out of a bad situation was something she wanted to do. She would save him regardless, but stay anonymous in case his current state was more deserved than it seemed to her at the moment. Maybe I should find a child, Laylah thought. One with potential for healing magic. A boy this time preferably since I already have Orabelle. She would treat the man first though, so from there, Laylah started looking for an inn to stay at for the night. One NOT in the Red Light District of course

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Nancy Noi
The Canine - Deck​

"We're gone. It's all behind us."
Yes. Yes, it was. Though it would follow them, grief that always remained and despair that forever crept at their backs, it was behind them. A trauma once lived, now only in painful memory. For Nancy, it would be relived. In nightmares of sick and tarry children, bloodied bodies under rubble, and a wrathful Daedric gaze piercing him with hatred. So long as he was Null and Exiled, Nancy could never stop seeing that gaze. But Vespera?

Tears welled in her eyes, and they glimmered with giddy life. It was the same life he knew from the first day he met her, and the same life that had waned as timelessness grew into time immemorial. It was only now, her dark porcelain skin aglow under the sun and snowy locks tussling in the wind, that Nancy noticed how dead she had looked in the Void Sea. Under wispy spirit clouds and stale air, this life had long since sapped out of Vespera. How had he not noticed before? The difference was so stark, stunning. A caged bird was spreading her sore wings, embracing the blue skies she was destined for, more beautiful now than she ever could have been behind those ragged bars.

Nancy vowed that she would never be chained to a perch again. "I'd love that," he answered, smiling at her comments. "Heavens know I've spent enough of my life holed up." There was an entire world, one unlike anything that had existed back in their time, awaiting them. The last thing Nancy wanted was to be lost to time again, days whittling away as he hid from that world. Books would only do so much to distract his mind from reaching backwards for those awful memories.

Demi came, and went just as quickly. That girl really hadn't changed a bit. "Why wait?" he suggested to Ves. "There's still daylight left." Demi, being Demi, would make it finished business in a timely matter. But surely the city was safe so long as the two stuck together. A plucky Vampire and a Locathah with a few tricks up his sleeve? They weren't helpless damsels.

Bogrum Mazoga
Canine Deck ---> Andouphe Docks​

Ah, there was their "Dragon Lass". "Aye." A search cut short, Fergie gave a nod and a grin. "Let's catch him."
"Give him what for," Bogrum encouraged. "Responsibly."
"Yeah, yeah." Fergie waved him away. "Go make sure the crew have fun. Responsibly."
"I'm not sure if I can promise that." These were pirates, after all. "You'll come find me?"
"Always." The lichen piece in his pocket would make sure of that.

And so, Bogrum remained one of the few on a quiet deck. He didn't plan to be one of them for long. It was too nice of an evening to spend it moping up there, waiting for Fergie to be done with her task. He had full faith in them, and yet...
No point in dwelling on it, he told himself, making way to follow the celebratory crew down onto the docks. Leisure was about his only option. That psych eval wasn't happening until Dr. Laylah took some relief from her hard work. Armor repaired and weapons sharpened, there was no need to get them looked at, and he had no intentions of upgrading this time. That money was for savings, which meant no big spending on recreation either. Bogrum was easy to please. Good conversation was all he needed to keep in good spirits.

So, who to pester? Whoever he came into contact with and was willing, he supposed. Would it be Sebas and his two girls? The newly reputable Avery? The rowdy Ash and her Bear Familiar? Not likely the taciturn Nakaos, as lovely as she was. Or perhaps he should better get to know the crew lower on the ladder, like comrades Steven and Jack. He could ensure the woebegone Nancy wasn't seeping into another depression, but seeing his smiling face above deck with his Vampire friend assured Bogrum that there was no need. So that left...

... Basically everyone else. Had he really been that distant to the rest of the crew, to where he didn't have another go-to? Well, it was time to change that. The crew was dispersing into their own small groups, which was a good time to begin his people watching. See who stayed together, who was a lone wolf, and what grabbed their attention in the big city.

Fergie
The Canine ---> Mothership​

Looking down and seeing the tension written all over their beast rider's face made Fergie privy to her own clenched breath. Yeah, she could hold Demi back, no sweat. But whatever Draconic force she desperately refused to release? How the fuck do you stop a dragon? Simple: you DON'T.
"Lass." Before they faced the captain's doors, Fergie made sure to let her know. "I know ye's can pull it off. Got full trust in ye." Her brows met in the middle. "What I don't got trust in is Adonis. The man's gotten too big for 'is britches." For all his connections On High, Low, and wherever the fuck else, he was still as mortal as the rest of them. This would be a test of how well he remembered that. "If he eggs ye on, and I see the dragon come outta ya, I'm bookin' it. Ain't comin' between a dragon an' her prey." Divinity 101: NEVER get in a dragon's way. Even Fergie knew this.

• Fergie's Boundary: "Handle it like a Fae."
  • On the first sign of Draconic Transformation, Fergie will abort her task.

"It won't happen," she again assured her. But contingency was a must always. "But if it do, I'm savin' as many folks as I can while ye take care of business." The only reason Demi waited so long was for this very moment, with most of the crew out in the city. It was obvious that she wanted to spare as many crewmates as possible, despite being under the command of a God. Fergie would mitigate Demi's remorse where she could, but more importantly, take care of the crew. Crew came first, always. And given Adonis's actions as of late, she barely considered him as such.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Demestral Asella
Deck- The Canins -----------> The Basenji Main Ship Command Wing, Adonis's Office​

"Understood. NEVER risk taking my Lance." Demi told Fergie with a smile. She knew herself well enough to know that getting between her was almost always a no-go. It was better to hold her back than to stand in front. Draconians didn't care for collateral when they got riled up. "He'll get a warning, one he won't be able to ignore, then I'm going to go see my friends." It was obvious Demi didn't want to deal with this, but it was now or answer to the Dragon Supreme for Sloth. As a woman with a 200 year impeccable record, THAT was far worse than any outcome of this coming encounter. Demi took deep breaths as they walked up the gangplank of the Basenji Main Ship and over to the Command Wing. Demi flicked her crystal. "Demi to Quincy, we're beginning. You WILL remain silent throughout," she ordered, not even awaiting a response. "If you egg me on, Quincy, the lance I would take to Adonis is being taken to YOU instead. Am I clear?"
"...........I will hold my tongue." came the response from the Dragon. Fergie could hear this. "Unle-"
"Quincy, not the time or mood to listen to your arguments," Demestral said, it spiking her mood already. She spoke slowly as she explained. "I'm following my word to the Dragon Supreme. If your words make me go too far, you will be asking Her for a new set of wings when I rip yours off." Her voice was steeled. Quincy was extremely stubborn, but he also knew he stood no chance against Demi. The girl didn't bluff.
".........My apologies. I will mute my end to prevent a slip."
"Smart. If all goes well, I'll see you in 2 days." Demi was actually glad it spiked her mood because it got rid of her anxiety as she reaffirmed why she was doing this. It was replaced with confidence. Of course under that confidence was a simmering anger, but all she needed to do was keep a lid on it. She unleashed her anger in a UV Nova. Let it not bubble up again. If it does, don't take it out on his head, Demi thought to herself
Showtime

Knock Knock. Demi did a double tap on the wooden door. No answer. Knock Knock. This time harder
"Enter!"
Demi entered the room to see Adonis there alone. None of his ring of leaders were there. Good, no chance I'll be made to be a rat, Demi thought. The only one of concern to her would be Damond. Fatimah would just protect Adonis with a shield or something. Damond would take it to her and then Quincy would have charred wolf for dinner......... but that would start a coup Demi didn't want.
"Demestral. Fergie." Adonis sat at his desk doing paperwork. "Why aren't you off doing........whatever it is women do in a place like Andouphe?" He was nonchalant, judging as to how he leaned back in his chair. Either he didn't read the mood or he just didn't care
Demi gave a salute, retaining her typical formality. "Apologies for interrupting your work, Sir," Demi said as she dropped her salute, "There's something I needed to discuss with you."
"And you Fergie? You have something you need to discuss as well?"

Jack the Shotgunner and Steven the Deacon
Andouphe- Streets​

It felt good to be back on land. The brothers in arms had some free time before they set sail again, and with a very large wallet. Elaina paid the duo extra too for being the leaders in taking on things at the Church. "Whatta ya got going on this evening?" Steven asked Jack.
"Shit," Jack pulled out his cigarettes. Almost empty. "Restock on smokes. Whore or 2."
"You got enough to get an Everquench Canteen. Keeps ya full on booze, yea?"
"Nah." Jack responded, "I'll save m'cash. Gambled fo' kegs an' won. Takin' space in m'room." (I'll save my cash. I Gambled for kegs and won. They're taking up space in my room)
Made sense. Everquench Canteens were expensive. With Jack having multiple kegs, he wouldn't need an Everquench. "An' you?"
"Gotta get my Charity in while here," Steven said. He earned enough to make this easy. Buy a bunch of food and donate it to the Church or Orphanage here. Orphanages were funded by the city, but were typically very underfunded overall. The Church here was actually one of the good ones. Not like the one in Kraiven. The issue? It was located in the Noble District, and Church-going Nobles kept it VERY well-funded. With that, Steven decided on the Orphanage which was in a less good part of the city.
"When ya done wi' charity?" (When are you done with Charity?)
"Shouldn't take long," came the response from Steven, who then passed some coins over to Jack. "Go get a room and get me a room too. Do it FIRST so we ain't fightin' for rooms tonight."
"Meet where?"
"Commerce, but I'll call."
With a thumbs up, Jack trudged off towards the Commerce District while Steven moved towards the slums, which was right outside the Red Light District. The Orphanage was somewhere between the 2 places.

---------------------------------------------

THE GODDESS MARIANA HAS DESCENDED!! AS A RESULT, ANDOUPHE IS FLOODED WITH PISCEAN PEOPLE AS THEY MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE CHURCHES!

Sebas/Orabelle/Lostrogret Deadeye and Lattice Stoneburn
The Bronze Fish​

The quartet were eating in a tavern close to the ships. There weren't that many that served raw fish whole to sate Ora's tastes. Did they not get Piscean people at a port city? They did. In fact, there were a FUCK TON of Pisceans walking around and sitting in this place with them. Sirens, Gill-borne Locathah with Landwalker Talismans, and Tritons alike. At the Descendence of the Goddess, they had been lingering around the last few days. Then Sebas felt the feeling of the Goddess Descending again. Oh god.

"PAPA! THE GODDESS DESCENDED AGAIN!!" She wasted no time whatsoever
"So?"
"Sooooo.... I WANNA GO TO THE CHAPEL!!"
Lostro held up a hand. "Yeah, I'm not going to the Chapel," she said bluntly. Since the Goddess Descended, the church wouldn't burn her despite being Daedric, but Lostro was bored of the Holy Goddess so she wasn't about to go pray to Her.
"WHAT?!" Orabelle was indignant at her sister. "This is the GODDESS!! and she's DESCENDED!"
"Didn't we see her a few days ago?" Lostro shrugged, "No thanks."
I agree Lostro, Sebas thought. However, the more religious of the duo took every chance she could. Even if Sebas told her everything concerning Nancy, Ora would believe it was all for a reason. From what Sebas understood of Nancy, Ora is alot like he was. The difference? Sebas would denounce that bitch in a second if she hurt Ora. He would've liked to believe that Nellie was the same way. Benefit of the doubt say she has her hands tied, but Vespera was the one who really hated the Goddess. While the vampire is definitely wary of him, she eased up a bit when he told her how he ended up with her Divine Favor
The vampire woman had scoffed. "Makes sense. Pulling people in against their will seems her M.O. at this point," she responded. "Don't be surprised if she screws over Orabelle for Lostro."
Back to reality

"Lattice, you will stay with Lostro," Sebas commanded, "Where she goes, you go."
"Understood, Sir Sebas." No hesitation, no anything. Just pure order. Oh, did Sebas love the Fae-cursed maid
"If you're hit with an emergency," he said to her, while turning to Lostro. "Lostro you will go with Lattice. No objections, yes?"
"Yes."
"Alright, let's go Ora." Fucking hell, Sebas thought. I don't want to spend my evening doing this shit. The duo made their way to the Church in Andouphe while Lostro finished their meal in the Bronze Fish.

Elaina Melora
Noble District- The Leafy Bean Cafe​

Spoiler: Leafy Bean Cafe

Leafy Bean Cafe


"Nice and fresh, always clean. Come have a cup of the Leafy Bean!"
-Eleanor Ragnaill, Owner
Shop Type: Cafe
Location: Andouphe- Noble District
​

The premier Cafe in the city. All the rage with female socialites, it offers the highest quality tea and coffee in the city, as well as freshly baked bread, pastries, and cakes. Run by Eleanor Ragnaill, who hails from a family of herbologists, her and her staff handpicks only the best to use in their beverages. For customers looking for additional effects, the staff may magically enhance beverages for additional effects such as muscle relaxing, staving off fatigue, additional energy, detox, or nutrient enhancement (enhancing the nutrients already present). They also offer glasses of wine and a lounge for one to sit, socialize, sip and read in a leisurely environment.

As high quality as what they have to offer is, it is pricey as is everything in the Noble District, on par with actual restaurants for some items. This place, frequented by female socialites, aristocrats, and nobility is not for the poor. While Eleanor Ragnaill herself has nothing against the less well-off, the patronage isn't exactly welcoming for those who don't seem to look the part. Then again, as long as you buy something, Eleanor Ragnaill is more than happy to have you in her shop, even at the chagrin of those who feel like appearances should mean more than the money some pirate could give her. As a business owner, Eleanor does NOT care and has a highly trained knight on staff to bounce anyone who causes problems for customers, regardless of status.

A familiar feeling hit Elaina as she sat at her table sipping a cup of Chamomile. The Goddess has Descended again, eh? Just as Mariah told her. There to rapture the dead bodies in Kraiven and then interview Josephine. The Witch was allowed to listen in but unless she was asked something directly, she had to stay silent. She watched everything through Josephine's eyes from her crystal ball sitting in the center of her table, an assortment of pastries between the ball and its owner. "Calm down, Josephine. You're about to have a panic attack." Josephine bore witness upfront to what the Goddess was doing. As a generally meekish woman who wanted to stay away from all that, it was obvious why Jo was terrified. Hell, the witch could smell her slave's fear when Mariana came into her library.
"I can't calm down in the presence of this, Lady Elaina." Jo almost hissed back. "She lifted tens of thousands of bodies and are BURNING them! How is that possible?!"
You know what? That's actually a damn good point, Elaina thought almost in laughter. She could feel Josephine's trembling from her seat at this cafe! But she needed to calm the woman down. "Hmmmmm. Let me cut off your senses." With a snap of her fingers, Josephine was deprived of all her senses except sight and hearing unless directly spoken to. The Goddess's power was potent so she could understand why her Corvian Benefactor was being made sick in its presence. "I didn't know you were Theophobic."
"Well I am," Josephine responded. "Why do you think I ducked into the farthest bookshelf I could find?!
"I will remain briefly, so let your prayers be known post haste, so that they may be heard directly and answered in kind......." Elaina heard the Goddess drone on, not really saying anything of interest. Typical God-speak really. Elaina just sipped her Chamomile and spoke with Josephine until something interesting was said among the people who actually mattered in this whole charade.
"Because you were slacking off like a bad slave."

"For once, working for you kept me from that demon and I wanted it to keep me from this one!" Josephine hissed. It seemed like Josephine's desire to be away from all this superseded her place as a slave, acting more like a disgruntled employee than a slave bound to her will.
"Eh, your luck ran out," Elaina said with a chuckle, but she did need to keep her proxy safe. "How did depriving you of your senses work? No more Holy influence?"
A pause, presumably Josephine inspecting herself. "...........No more, thank you. I'm not nauseous beyond belief. Why can't you come back and deal with this?" she finally asked
"Well for one I'm having tea and sweets," Elaina responded as she bit into her cake, "Secondly, my teleport crystal is too far. The Teleport Gate in Andouphe is too expensive for me to justify going back." Plus, it's not guaranteed that the Teleport Crystal in Kraiven resonates for a return trip. The city offered a Teleport Gate, but it was INCREDIBLY expensive. Afterall, those gates have to be maintained and heavily guarded at all times. The gates on the ships were too low to teleport that distance back. They left that radius 2 days ago.

• OOC: Think of an extremely old phone being unable to connect to the Bluetooth of today

"We will salvage what wood we can gather. Nellie......" Mariana said, looking over to her scion. "Does the Sacrament have an idea on how they managed to survive in the Null Realm?"

"The only way we knew how to, my Goddess." Her closed haws tightened. "Allegedly." Nothing the Sacrament told her was trustworthy. "All of the highest rank were taught Spirit Magic."

Now it was getting interesting. It was Spirit Magic and she knew the Goddess knew it was Spirit Magic. Seemed like a pointless formality

"Witch? I know you're listening in. Care to explain why Spirit Magic is taboo?" The Goddess decided to address her directly, as if her proxy wasn't there. Guess Mariah told the Goddess that she would be listening, as the witch suppressed her presence when Josephine called her. Or perhaps the Goddess heard when Josephine called her.
"I'll leave it to you, Goddess, " Elaina said as she sipped her tea. Her tea was bordering on lukewarm, so she poured more into her cup. "Since there are no formalities, be prepared for me to interject if you're wrong."
Thus a lengthy explanation of Spirit Magic to the people inside the Church. Elaina had to enclose herself in a [mute bubble] because her admitting aloud to being a witch who uses Spirit Magic could get the inquisition on her ass. The woman ended her part of this be informing the crew as to Vespera and Nancy's well-being, hoping someone would press the Goddess about Nancy in the first place.
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Fergie
Basenji Main Ship - Adonis's Office​

Though she kept the role of silent bailiff, Fergie took in every word of their brief spat. Well, not a spat. If it involved dragons, that was probably on par with a nice tea party conversation to them. Quincy was riling up for a fight, and rightly so, from what Fergie had been told. Honestly, she sort of wished Demi would just have him eat the idiot, but that would be disastrous on multiple fronts. Eh, the kind of authority Demi spoke with to keep her Wyvern in line, Adonis should get the picture.

So there he was, the Captain Ass himself. Being infuriating as ever. She wondered if "whatever women do" simply excluded getting in bed with him. But clueless dumbassery wasn't close to the reason why Fergie hated him. Godsdamnned traitor. That's what I think. He fucked with his own crew, manipulating Demi and Co. and causing needless deaths with his bullshit apathy. If Demi went dragon and started a mutiny, Fergie would be right behind her.

"Aye." She tilted her head Demi's way. "But she's got first dibs." Depending on how this went, it might not even be necessary to chew Adonis out. He needed to know if she was leaving. But again, she couldn't tell that to a head rolling on the floor.

Nancy Noi
Andouphe - Streets​

It felt like a dream. Stepping off the ships and walking past the airdocks took the two into yet another new world. The bustling busyness of the ships had been overwhelming enough, and that was multiplied a hundred fold in the city so full of sounds, smells, and people. So, so many people. The streets were overflowing with them, pungent with oily smoke and something not quite iron weaving in the air. Salt from the sea overpowered it all, and at first Nancy had thought it due to the westbound breeze. But it was accompanied by another scent, one that hadn't touched his nose since youth but was written into instinct.

There were Pisceans everywhere.

"Vespera... are you seeing this? Am I going crazy?" The first tell had been the breached Locathah, walking among them as if they were just as built for land as Nancy. But they were all wearing some sort of charm, presumably a relic that permitted them to leave the water. He couldn't tell if they were magic, but they had to be. Then, that scent that lingered around his distant kin so too followed others. Blue and green humanoids that bore resemblance to the little girl Orabelle, but also people who looked as human (or otherwise) as the other residents.

It had been so long. He thought he'd never see another of his kind again. Though he never would see another of his kin in life, there were still Locathah. He and his sister weren't so alone as long as...

Spoiler: Mirror Image

Nancy stopped dead in his tracks, stomach dropping to his halted feet. The sight struck him first, and he thought he really had gone crazy. But the scent that followed was undeniable. It was impossible, yet there was no mistaking it. Touched with brine, but no different than the aroma that had filled the waters of the Springs.

~Are you Lungborne?~
The young Locathah in front of him gave a stunned stare of his own, nostrils twitching. Nancy could smell his confusion, but it couldn't have been a lack of understanding. Their language was innate, built into their bodies and minds upon hatching. And this boy's body was Lungborne. It couldn't not be. The robust build, the lobed fins, the lizard-like face. From his lips, across his scales, down to the tip of his paddle tail. That angel was wrong, he HAD to be--

Nancy blinked, a gesture the boy couldn't return. No, now the differences were standing out. His body was too sleek, his barbels were too long. The lobed fins on his head were deceptively so, hints of rays peering from their tips. Limbs that had looked sturdy only seemed so under clothes, because now that he held his arms close to his chest, Nancy could see pointed elbows through his sleeves. And the most telltale of them all: the talisman around his neck, similar to all the others Locathah were wearing.

"I... I can't..." Fear began to emanate from the boy as he took steps back. "You're Marked. I'm sorry..." Then he fled, weaving between bodies until he was out of sight.

Nancy stood there, staring at the space that took up other passersby now. Words still couldn't reach his mouth, the realization settling in. The direction the boy went, and the direction all other Pisceans were walking? It was all uniform, all deeper into the city away from the waters. They were heading somewhere.
"She's Descended again, hasn't She?" His words were low, and numb on his tongue. The buildings and bodies grew blurry as his eyes began to sting. But any tears that would have fallen were quickly blinked away, Nancy resuming his pace. "Let's just go this way." Away from wherever his fellow Pisceans were. Surely he wasn't welcome there.


Andouphe - Commerce District

Breathing in the airs of these streets deeply, Nancy let out a relieved sigh. This was much better. Sunning leather, cooked food, wood smoke and other sharp metallic smells. The only whiff of salt actually was from the sea. There were a few Pisceans here, but within the throngs of humans and other races, it was easy to disregard. Nancy felt a flicker of confidence within that he could still enjoy this evening.
"Looks like we found the shops. You make the first pick if you want--"

Yet another familiar scent hit his nose. This one a human musk made pungent with cigarette smoke. Oh NO...
Jack was here?! If Jack was here, Steven had to be here too. The two apparently had been looking for him before, and that was not a conversation he wanted to have. Ever, let alone when he was fighting another damn anxiety attack. This was supposed to be fun, to feel something other than the constant misery he'd been under!

Nancy stopped his frantic search for the man to glance down at Vespera, remembering her eager face from the first time she saw the city. I don't want to ruin this for her.
It would be fine. Jack might not even see him. He was a big-ass fish man, but they were accompanied by other big-ass fish men. If Nancy kept his hood up, maybe he could sneak his way out of this one.
So that's what he did, nestling under the shadow of his cloak. "Sorry. I'm still not used to the sun. Can we find some shade?"


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Demestral Asella
The Basenji Main Ship- Adonis's Office​

"Guess we're starting with our Wyvern Rider. Great job by the way, no one contributed more to the destruction of that demon than you."
It was her egg that gave the Angels the power, then her UV Nova that caused the most destruction. Still......."Thank you, sir. I lended my power for the defense of my homeland," Demi said with a nod, accepting the praise, though not with a smile given the circumstance. "While the results of that defense are not satisfactory, I am grateful for the success of the offense."
"So what would you like to discuss."
"As I was flying over and scouting the land, I realized that I was laying out my own homeland. As a Fae with a Wyvern, there is no way we would've just forgotten my homeland," Demi explained, "So I suspected tampering with my memories. More importantly, tampering with Quincy's memories."
Then came a pause. "Why would you suspect me of tampering with your and Quincy's memories?" The man seemed offended, but that offence could just as easily be annoyance at being exposed.
"We got the brief from the leadership," Demi said calmly, "See, the issue is that key words were interfered with. Words like Kraiven, King Hemhart, and details of why the invasion happened. It wasn't a full memory wipe, meaning it was high level." The more precise the memory wipe, the harder it was. The more subtle ones allowed for effective gaslighting, which is what Demi went through as she racked her brain for things that she knows she should know yet doesn't know because maybe it was tampered with. Or was it? This caused a huge collapse in her self-perception, and the only reason she was bolstered right here and now is because she is fulfilling what is tasked of her by the Dragon Supreme

• OOC: This is a form of mental torture. Josephine is literally better off than Demi because of this. Josephine knows

Spoiler: The Interrogation Continues

The interrogation continued with Adonis. "And what does that have to do with me? There are plenty of leaders within this crew."
"Captain.........." Demi sighed deeply, her exasperation was starting to grow at this insult to intelligence. HE WAS ONE OF THE LEADERS GIVING THE BRIEF!! Adonis was playing dumb. Fergie warned her that Adonis could taunt her to rage. The issue wasn't taunting, it was this attempt at plausible deniability. Plausible deniability assumed she needed beyond a reasonable doubt to take his head though. She already got the go-ahead to remove his head. "The point is, someone in this crew tampered with the memories of Quincy and I. My memories are one thing, but Quincy is a Drake, the Draconian equivalent to an Angel. When the memories of Angels or Angel equivalents are tampered with, Gods get involved. I'm telling YOU because as the captain of this crew, if the Dragon Supreme tells me to destroy the crew, the crew is to be destroyed.........So I would like to know if you know anything about the tampering of Quincy's memories."
"Let's say someone did tamper with it. Why would they?"

Very easy answer that he was already aware of. "The only person in this crew who stands a chance against Quincy and I in a fight to the death is Dr. Laylah," Demi said without hesitation, "I am beholdened to the will of the Dragon Supreme, not any form of control by someone of this crew. I am here because I want to be, and I would turn the lance to this crew if they were to take the blade to my homeland." As honest as always, and one could only conclude that Demi was always this honest because she was VERY confident in who she was and her abilities. Ash had a similar level of confidence. The difference Demi was more humble, while Ash was pretty cocky and reckless. Both of them able to back up their word. "That's motivation enough."
"Maybe you're looking at this all wrong," the captain said, "I don't even have the ability to do that kind of stuff. Maybe someone else?"
"Someone in your ring of leaders. Those are my suspects. You or them." Demi said, eyes narrowing. Someone like Demi couldn't be manipulated. The Dragon Supreme has spoken, so there's no point trying to reason her out of doing what she was tasked to do. "There are not many people who know of my history with Kraiven. You know, and you also knew we were pulling Kraiven out of the Null Realm. From before this mission began, someone has been tampering with my memories so that by the time we got the brief, key words and names were suppressed. Then by the time we pulled the place out, it took me immersing myself in the skies I've flown thousands of times in my life to realize that I knew this place. A mass memory wipe would've been too easy to spot for an immortal." And I would've taken your head by order of the Fae Counsel, Demi thought. "So an incredibly precise spell was used. See, I don't care who the literal culprit was, because I believe it was done under your order."
"I see. I guess I cannot sit idly on mere accusations," Adonis sighed. "You will have to gather evidence of this Demi," he finally said, "If you want to kill me, at least convict me of a crime."
"OK................" Those were the incriminating words she was looking for. Almost always when someone plays this little mind game and then tries to shut it down by saying "Where's your proof" it means they believe a lack of evidence will set them free..........but the Dragon Supreme has spoken so the gavel was pounded days ago

Demi's Conclusion: Speak Blade to Those who Live by the Blade

Guilty. Even Duradel would cease this game at this point

Demi's wings began to fluctuate and grow a few scales as she began to breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. The girl paced the room, her angry aura slight but obvious that Demi was struggling to control it. Her hands opening and clenching symbolized wanting to hold her lance. She then stopped, her wings fully back to normal and not a shred of that angry aura. However, as Demi looked to her partner in this confrontation, Fergie could see something alarming. Demi's eyes had changed completely. They were no longer the infectious determined eyes of their Wyvern Rider. They were Reptilian, the eyes of a Dragon showing in hers. Within them, a primal inferno blazed. It was a calm before the storm type anger, a peace of one who knows what to do and has resolved themselves to do it. "Fergie, I need to leave, so I'll fulfill my task right now," Demi said to her, "Is there anything you'd like to add before I say my peace?" Demi was starting to lose control and was self-aware of it. She needed to get out of here, but also knew the Dragon Supreme was watching, and Demi was feeling Quincy's anger as he listened in and it was feeding into her, no different than Ash with Mama Bear's anger. If Lattice were listening, she would be ready to [Emergency Teleport] to hold the woman back.


Fergie's Options

• Talk Demi down- Remind her of your boundaries
  • Advantage- Forces her down
  • Disadvantage- ???
• Snap at Adonis- Adonis knows what he is doing. Stay silent no longer. Rip his ass a new one now
  • Advantage- A direct backup for Demi that may serve to calm her a bit as well
  • Disadvantage- Adonis will very likely not entertain a meeting with Fergie after Demi concludes hers
• Trust in her- She said she wasn't going to lose it. Demi isn't known for backing down on her word. Let her know that you're standing fast
  • Advantage- The right words of support and faith will do her a lot of good right now
  • Disadvantage- ???
• Rile her up- She's already on the cusp and got fucked with by this man. Take it all the way
  • Advantage- The problematic man gets his comeuppance for Sebas, Avery, Demi, and herself right here and right now.
  • Disadvantage- Almost guarantees the start of a mutiny; Demi came to achieve her word, not go overboard. It'll be treated as a betrayal
• Abort- Fergie gave Demi the parameters. It's time to bail
  • Advantage- Ensures Fergie's safety
  • Disadvantage- An aspect of distrust that Demi will take personally regardless of if she understands why Fergie bailed

WayfaringWaaksian

Sebas Deadeye
Andouphe- Streets -----------> Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

Orabelle was not the only one to notice when the Goddess Descended. Fucking hell. Guess the Goddess parted the Red Sea or some shit! Sebas thought as he maneuvered through the various Sirens, Tritons, and Locathah walking about, the vast majority heading to the same destination they were currently headed. While Ora weaved through them quickly, Sebas didn't exactly have the small stature of a 9 year old girl to match her speed. He just let her go and would catch up later. She could take care of herself to the Church

It reeked and the man's own Piscean blood granted by the Goddess made him understand what the people were saying. At least the ones who were audibly speaking. He couldn't understand the Locathah language dictated by smell or pheromones or whatever, but the Tritons and Sirens speaking Piscean could be understood perfectly. They weren't interesting in the least, mostly about the Goddess Descending or how crowded it was

Someone bumped into him from behind harder than really anyone else did. Sebas, being at his wit's end with all this, whipped around with a death glare at the culprit.
The culprit, thoroughly intimidated, fell back and clawed back away from him. However, what Sebas saw dispelled his irritation almost immediately: FULL CLOTHES!! Most of the Piscean people were NOT wearing clothes because why the hell would they if they lived in the sea? The ones that were wearing clothes were wearing armor and also had spears or tridents and looked very fit, meaning they were warriors/hunters/guards. This man however, was wearing normal human clothes and........ wearing glasses? He was human assimilated! Scrawny and trembling, Triton males were a lot similar to elves in their body composition, so for this guy to catch the wrath of the burly and built looking Sebas must've scared the shit out of him
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, sir!" The man pleaded with him immediately. Looking nearby, the man's Trace Relic was trampled on and broken underfoot.
"It's fine. Get your Trace Relic to the repair store," Sebas gruffly commanded him in Piscean. Sebas couldn't be mad at what seemed to be some semblance of normal.
"Right away, sir ri-" A confused look in his face. "A human understands Piscean?"
"I guess so," Sebas responded with a shrug and kept trudging to his daughter
"WAIT, SIR!" Oh God, Sebas thought as the man caught up to him again. "You're heading to the Church with us! I didn't know humans would ever believe in the Goddess Mariana!"
"The Goddess Ordained me blood father of a Triton girl," Sebas said, coming clean. "That is why I am affiliated with Her. Then upon saving the life of a Gorgon girl under my Guardianship, which was shy she Descended the first time, I gave her my servitude when she Ordained me her blood father as well."
The man was writing all of this down furiously in a notebook, to which Sebas snatched it from him forcefully, making the man struggle to get it back. "Give it back," the man pleaded, "You're her VISIONARY!" he exclaimed
"Shove it, scaly," Sebas said to him. What a fucking nerd, he thought. He looked at it. A fucking POEM about him?! This motherfucker was a BARD. "You're gonna scrap this nonsense and leave my ass alone."
"I refuse!" he said defiantly, "Let me tell your story!"
Sebas ripped out the page with the poem and then, closing the notebook, tossed it into an alley. The man scrambled furiously after it as Sebas kept moving to the Church.

Lattice Stoneburn
The Bronze Fish​

The duo finished eating their food, Lostro finishing off her dessert and Lattice eating a steak. It was delicious! "OK Lattice, let's go," Lostro then said out of nowhere
"Wait, where are we going, Lady Lostrogret?"
"Ew, not my full name," Lostro responded quickly. "Just Lostro.........or Lady Lostro, I guess," she said, "We're going to the magic shop." Lostro was the first in a long time to make her shorten their name. Most nobles were fine being called their whole name. She would rationalize it that it made sense given that Lostro
As for the magic shop she wanted to go to, it made sense that there was a magic shop in Andouphe if there was other stuff. It also made sense that Lostro wanted to go. "So why are we going?" Lattice asked, "Is there something you are looking for?"
"A book of curses."
"A book on curses?" Lattice sighed. Of course it was curses. "That is so li-"
"A book OF curses, not a book ON curses." Lostro interrupted. She wanted to know more about inflicting them than curing them. "I want to find out what curse you have and test curing it by working backwards."

THAT surprised Lattice for some reason. The curse fanatic wanted to dispel her curse? "But wait! You can't dispel my curse!" Lattice then pleaded
"Why not? If I know how to dispel it, I know how to inflict it," Lostro countered with a shrug
That was.........the Lostro she knew better. Still. "Because it was Ordained by the Fae Council. I will be punished if I willingly accept an attempt to dispel it!"
"Do any of you know about this Fae Council?" Small hisses and a disappointed face means that it must be a no
Lattice explained it briefly. They were a set of Gods that rule over the Fae. "So these Gods can play with their subjects by inflicting them with curses?! That's amazing!" Lostro concluded, awe-struck again. "Now I want to learn about Fae curses! Let's go to the Magic Shop!"
"Lady Lostro........" Lattice was serious now. "It's one thing to experiment with curses, even if you make me a guinea pig along with Duradel," she said. "However, I cannot accept an attempt to dispel my curse." It could get me killed for one, Lattice thought, but Lady Demestral would be notified as well. I don't want strain her friendship with Sir Sebas. "I cannot and I will not."
"That's fine," Lostro said immediately, "There is more to Fae Curses than what is imposed on you. There is more to learn."
It is not just a curse. It is an Ordination, Lattice thought, Unless you attempt Defiance, my curse is not going anywhere. "But I appreciate the sentiment in wanting to dispel my curse."
"Yes, the fun in playing is being able to play again," Lostro said. "A 'permanent' curse is fun to unravel. But if you insist, Lattice, I won't do anything with your curse."
"Thank you Lady Lostro."

"Now let's GO!" Lattice barely had time to put the money on the table before she was dragged out by Lostro's somehow stronger [Telekinesis]. Since each snake held the same glowing eyes as Lostro herself, did this mean she was using a full [Telekinesis] 9 times?! No wonder she couldn't fight it 200 years gave her a very strong version of it, but it couldn't compete with someone enchanted by an Ancient Demon using it 9 times at the same time!
"I'll follloooow!!!!!" Lattice wailed as Lostro charged though the city to the Commerce District. "Pleeaase let me go Lady Lostro. I'll follooowwww......" 18 sets of ears total and they were all deaf to Lattice's pleading.

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Fergie
The Basenji Main Ship - Adonis's Office​

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!! Gods, what an annoying fucking twat! Adonis knew what he did, and knew that Demi knew. Even her Dragon God knew, and that was what Fergie couldn't get over. The idiot knew he was playing with fire-- Dragon's Fire!-- and still had the nerve to think he could worm his way out of consequences?! At least with Duradel, she could understand why he was a weaselly little shit: trust issues out the asshole, to the point of fucking over his crew. Adonis was just a dumbass, a self-important clueless idiot who thought the world revolved around him and that nothing could touch him. Not even the Commodore was this frustrating.

We could end this. Nails dug into the sleeves of her folded arms in want of a neck to wring. End it here, and put someone who actually gives a damn about this crew at the helm! It would be so easy, with so little casualties. It might actually WORK this time--

"It won't dissolve into a fight. If it does........well it won't. It CAN'T, Fergie."

"I implore you, Fergie. Do not egg me on."

Remembering Demi's desperation took the fire out from under Fergie's boiling pot. Adonis was terrible, but was he evil? Maybe, but that wasn't the issue. He wasn't a monster to be put down, just a fool who needed to be put in his place. Getting the crew fucked wasn't worth his ass. Getting Demi fucked wasn't worth her own satisfaction.

Fergie saw those scales begin to form onto Demi's wings, and the serpent-like eyes that flicked her way. She could have left then. She should have. Never get in between a dragon and her prey. However, Demi wasn't just a dragon. Even now, she was still in a weird in-between state if she could still talk to her calmly. Dragons were nonnegotiable, but Fae could be reasoned with...

Alright. Time to move the goalposts. You'll hate yourself if you give up this soon, lass.


3. Trust in her

"I ain't goin' nowhere 'till I see horns or some shit," she let Demi know, scruff settling back against her neck. The display of bottled rage unfazed Fergie now that she recalled Demi's own reassurances. "Ain't gonna be a fight, aye? Just tell 'im the business and be on yer way. You know yer in the right... don't let this bullshittery get to ya." Was Adonis actually this dense, or was he just petty trying rile Demi up and get her branded as a rat? Fergie wouldn't allow it. "The crew likes ye too much for this."

Bogrum Mazoga
Andouphe- Streets ---> Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

"Forgive my presumptuousness, Captain." A familiar deep voice made itself known, the big Orc man finding his way to Sebas's side through the crowd. "But it looks like you'd rather be anywhere else right now."
It seemed like Sebas was always pulled towards religious matters, when he wasn't being a captain or parent. Of course he wouldn't want to spend one of his two evenings of free time doing this. But Bogrum was here of his own accord.

Sebas wasn't the nosy type, but Bogrum would indulge the question that had to come to mind. Why the hell was he here of his own accord? "I want to be more informed before making any decisions. And what better way to learn than from the source?" Bogrum was being vague here, but by now Sebas had heard of the Request the Goddess bestowed him. He had seen that amusing altercation with the Triton Bard, but wasn't interested in becoming the new object of fascination.

"Perhaps accompanying you would make this less drudgery?" he offered. "If not, feel free to shoo me away." It was neither here nor there for Bogrum, but personally he hoped he wouldn't be rebuffed. The streets were flooded with strange, unfamiliar people, only to grow more crowded once they reached the Sanctum. Being with someone he actually knew would make this less overwhelming.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Demestral Asella
Adonis's Office​

The words were a catharsis to Demi, and it snapped her eyes straight back to normal as Demi gave Fergie a smile. "You're right. This crew is beloved to me. Let me say my peace." At breakneck speed, Demi twirled, summoned and threw her lance right at Adonis's head, unleashing an explosion of dust, wood, and splinters. Fergie's very fast reflexes allowed her to track these motions, but Adonis was not. The lance was offset by INCHES

In the blink of an eye, Demi had another spear in hand and pointed very close to his throat, free hand grasping Adonis's table hard enough to crush it in her grip. She was in full anger mode. "IF YOU EVER FUCK WITH ME OR MY WYVERN AGAIN, I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD!!" She yelled in his face, teeth clenched and body trembling. "MY MIND, BODY, AND SOUL ARE NOT FOR YOU TO VIOLATE AT YOUR WILL LIKE SOME WHORE!!" Demi's mind was static, her vision almost completely red, all head-wiring dedicated to keeping her hand from inching even closer. "The embarrassment I feel for both of my Lords to bring this to my attention is WELL worth the death penalty! I trusted you and you PULL THIS BULLSHIT!?!?! I WANT TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" she screamed those last words, letting her feelings be known. The pixie was hurt. Like feeling actually betrayed here, as evidenced by her tear-stained face literally trembling with emotion. That was another aspect of this. She was in charge of Quincy's well-being, so for her to sit upon his back ignorant of this filled her with immense shame. Then was her GODS who brought her ignorance to attention. "Consider this mercy not of Quincy, not the Dragon Supreme, and not my Lord Aennan of the Flame. This is mercy of Demestral Asella." She had to make clear that the ONLY reason he was alive right now was because she decided to counter the points made by her Wyvern and BOTH her Lords. The fact that she decided to question HER LORDS to do this was not a decision to process lightly. This shit happened right before the battle, so it would've been easy to double Empower and destroy the demon (and with it, the forces attacking Toron) and the crew to be the last woman standing with her homeland intact. It was a decision she would live with for the rest of her life........ and that would be a long time given her lifespan. "I want you to know that I hate you," she said simply. "I. HATE. YOU. Fuck with us again, and your head rolls," she said simply, no longer even with a raised voice. She could back up her word, so why outpour any more anger. It was a calm contempt "This I promise as witnessed by Lord Aennan and Dragon Supreme Elewynn. Am I clear?"

Finally, oh finally the pixie smelled it. A waft in the air, caught in passing but caught nonetheless. Fear. Wide-eyed and surprised as the lance intentionally a few inches away from his head drilled into the wall, Demi having used [Giga Drill] when she threw it, Adonis went from smug to staring at the business end of Redcap Demestral in about a second or two. "............I hear you. "


The woman relented, withdrawing from the table, and stretched. How draining all of this was. "Ahhhh," she sighed happily, "What a weight off my shoulder! Warning delivered, no deaths. It's all thanks to you, Fergie." She was so incredibly correct to trust in her. Demi: 1 Quincy: 0. "I will take my leave," she said to her partner. Then she began walking out. After she crossed the threshold to the hallway, she turned around to face him from right outside his office. "Know this, Adonis. Fergie has earned my respect. Bullshit her at your own risk going forward," Her voice was still calm, but there was a confident smile across her face. Fergie just earned a powerful asset. "Oh, and I waited this long so the crew ISN'T involved. They know my strength " A clear word of warning to Captain Ass. Demi was NOT a woman to be fucked with. Out of all the women, Demi was NOT one you wanted the bad side of. She had the means to destroy this entire crew. "COME QUINCY!! LET'S FLY!!" Demi exclaimed as she ran off towards the deck of the Basenji main ship

Demestral Asella is now MAXIMIZED Negative-Aligned with Captain Asmund Adonis. She will stop you from killing him just so she can kill him with her own hands Demestral Asella is now Positive-aligned with Fergie. She respects Fergie for accompanying her, practicing restraint and making her remember to practice restraint Quincy is MAXIMIZED Negative-aligned with Captain Asmund Adonis. Demi has to stop Quincy from eating Adonis

Sebas Deadeye
Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

The voice of Bogrum was an oasis in a Piscean desert. He would wonder where Fergie was if not for Demi telling him of her situation. Finally, someone familiar in this nonsense. "Your presumption is spot on," he said with a scoff, "Goddess Descends, Ora wants to pray, Lostro says hell no, so she's with Lattice. Wish I was with them, but here I am." HE wouldn't even be as annoyed as he was if they didn't just see the Goddess in person a few days ago.

The man could question Bogrum's absence of Fergie, but he already knew what was going on. Demi was confronting Adonis about fucking with her and Quincy's memories. If she took Adonis's head, it would be called for. He already committed the grave offense by possessing Lostro with that Demon in the first place and then feeding her souls, Blighting the girl. Lostro had permanent soul damage, and consuming souls had other side-effects she would suffer from for the rest of her life. The Goddess cleansed her of the Blight, but not the damage already done. For that, Sebas would never forgive Adonis. The day he gets his comeuppance, Sebas would get a few punches in himself. "Your Request, right? If you got questions, I got answers. Goddess gave me full knowledge of her script because she knows I ain't reading that shit." Sebas was probably the LEAST faithful of the Goddess's followers. Lostro didn't care about the Goddess, but at least the Daedric Abyss fascinated her enough to engage.
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Fergie
Adonis's Office​

And with that, Demi was added to the ever-growing list of people not to piss off.

Christ on a stick... Watching that girl eagerly frolic away after nearly driving a lance through her captain's face came with whiplash that could have snapped Fergie's neck. Whimsical or not, the pixie was a killer through and through. You didn't fuck with Dragons OR the Fae. This encounter asserted to Fergie that you especially didn't fuck with both.

Facing Adonis again, Fergie saw that he was just as tense as she was. Both were trying to mask it, but his formerly relaxed lean into his chair had since shot up into a rigid seat. Point driven as deep as the spear lodged into the wall, now he might actually give a damn about what Fergie had to say.

"That," she said. "That is what I wanted to talk about." Her arms were still folded, hands still wanting to grip them with the strength to wring a rat's spine. "That's the second crewmate I had to stop from killin' yer idiot ass." If he took issue with the insult, she didn't give a shit. If he didn't want to be called an idiot, he shouldn't have been acting like an idiot. "The hell did you think would happen? Fuckin' with the crew? YOUR crew?! Do you forget what we are?!"

For all his wiles and manipulation, Adonis kept making the same fatal error. He forgot that people were people, and would do as they pleased regardless of his say-so. "Ain't mindless thralls or soldiers to order 'round, Captain. We're bloody pirates. And pirates decide who calls the shots. Not the other way around." Adonis didn't want a democracy? He should have considered that before hiring folks of her ilk. "And I decide you live 'cause a mutiny's the last thing this crew needs." He knew. She knew he knew. It was not something she'd ever allow to happen again. "But my vote ain't worth more than the others. I can only convince so many folks to put them arms down. It's YOUR job to stay in favor." If Adonis couldn't bother to keep in good favor with his own damn crew, he was too stupid to live.

"Come two days, you'll either see me on board, or never again. Got me own unfinished business. But IF ye see me again, it ain't to save your ass. I'm doin' this for the crew."

Bogrum Mazoga
Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

"It's good of you to take her, still." It probably wasn't much solace to Sebas, but Bogrum was pleased that he would go out of his way for his daughter. As a father should, especially as one who adopted the girl. "She'll appreciate this."

That didn't change the fact that Sebas had to deal with things he didn't care for. "Oh no, I won't bother you with questions." He was sure Sebas would rather talk about anything else. "Anything I'd ask would be too vague, anyway. I don't have the slightest idea of what I'd use it for." Where would he even begin? Bogrum never wanted much. Or anything, really. Nothing tangible that even a God could conjure. Though perhaps he was thinking in too narrow of scopes.

"For now, I'll just observe. Sate my curiosity." Glancing across the crowds of Piscean folk, he surprised himself at a realization. "I don't really care for the city. I'll take this buzz over the other." After being enslaved by them, he would be rightfully traumatized being among so many Pisceans. Why was he so unbothered, then? They were just people... but so were the rest of the city folk. Maybe it was something about this place.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Captain Asmund Adonis
Adonis's Office​

"You might be right. First Avery and now Demi, not that I didn't fathom this........." Adonis said thoughtfully. He was so busy playing that he was burning the important figures here. The man was planning something with his long thought. "Avery and Demi are..........Hmmmm." DEADLY. They were DEADLY. Avery had the planning skills to destroy a city with minimal casualties and Demi had the strength to destroy said city alone. More important than that were that Ashlynn the well beloved Troop Commander, Sebas the beloved captain of the past expedition with his powerful daughters and blessing of a Goddess, who had the whole Canine Crew behind him........ if not Fergie and Bogrum themselves. Fergie had obviously improved her standing enough in the crew to be a strangely relatable viable voice of reason, while Bogrum was full-fledged on his way to becoming a warlord type. With now both those formidable people under her belt, If Fergie told them to cut loose, Bogrum would utilize them to their fullest.......

"Ain't mindless thralls or soldiers to order 'round, Captain. We're bloody pirates. And pirates decide who calls the shots. Not the other way around."

She was correct if not only for the fact that Adonis knew he would love quite a bit of both physical and intellectual firepower. An undead couldn't have Divine Favor. A thrall couldn't generate effective thought to be a commander. Adonis thought he had the ratio. Why else would they go on a suicide march through to take out a demon? They also couldn't follow commands to the effectiveness that was needed. That was, an effectiveness dictated with a balance between quickness, risk management, and reason. Adonis didn't get this far by managing fools or thralls


But Fergie made a good point. "We all play a dangerous game. I hope you don't think I do what I do while lacking self-awareness." he leaned forward, "I took the risk because she'd have turned her lance to the crew had we gone about destroying her homeland." That was an undeniable fact. Demi was undoubtedly a risk to the crew, so Adonis made a move to mitigate it. They would not be alive if he didn't mess with Demi's mind. "How much of a coincidence do you think all of this was? That Lostro was going out of control, that there happened to be a Dragon Egg, that we had a denizen aboard the ship. That I fed Lostro souls." Even the thing he didn't foresee actually happening didn't change too. "This conversation was inevitable. It is but a move in a bigger game." Adonis was notoriously vague about what it is he wanted. If he was clear that he wanted something, he was damn sure about the full intention. The Gods ran the play. Adonis absolutely set the stage. Now the question was WHY? Why did he do what he did with this? Even if he set the stage, what was he trying to accomplish in fucking up Fergie during the fight? If the stupid things he does have a purpose, what was THAT one? Is he purposefully garnering ire?

"Be careful poking around Ballast business. It WILL involve the crew if you attract their attention." The Ballasts were one of the baddest crews to sail those seas. This was no Mozreliun, but the Ballasts were no mere crew. They were bigger than that. Adonis knew that, Fergie knew that. "If there's nothing else, I have to repair my office wall."

Sebas Deadeye
Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

"Oh, she'll owe me for this," Sebas said with a chuckle, "Usually for a child that'll be paid off with some peace and quiet. In her case, it might get me out of reading the script with her." He wouldn't even entertain the idea of taking money from that girl. Laylah paid her for her work and Ora worked HARD when with Laylah. It was the same with Lostro working with Elaina in her library. Let them get some pocket change. Sebas was sitting on a TON of coin after this whole Mozreliun. He had enough money at this point to leave the crew and take on a house near a lake for Ora to swim in, with enough space for a library for Lostro. Sebas had been considering leaving the crew more often since he finally got his Lostro back. She was the biggest reason he stayed with the crew. Only through the crew would he be able to resolve the issue, and he was in no way loyal to Adonis nor did he NEED to be here. He was under the Goddess now. "Yea, it's worth observing these people. I didn't think somewhat similar species would be so chaotically different." Among humans, orcs, goblins, elves, and dwarves........there were universally agreeable social norms in specific situations. Going into a Church was one such situation where they would agree that, unless congregated to hear a sermon, prayers were mostly silent and kept to themselves. However..........

........The church was packed to the nines with people. Some of them wobbling clumsily on their fins or webbed feet. Some of them vocal. Some of them unable to be vocal, but facing like they were talking. Some of them praying with their head down. Others on their knees. Some of them screaming out to the Goddess. Small groups singing fucking HYMNS. Some of them talking like it was the end-times since the Goddess has Descended for the 2nd time in a few days. It was audible CHAOS. "Oh my god, I want to call Elaina to silence this shit." One spell from her would silence everyone in the area. Or contain the sound to the Church grounds. "Glad to know that they like flexing their vocal chords outside the Pockets......." Because they don't really speak all that loud under the waves. They damn sure don't speak like as the Pockets go into the Deepest Deeps, lest they cause disturbances for the people in the Abyss. He could detect Ora's voice and she was silently singing.

"The Goddess Descending again makes me want to live in some remote village" he said with a laugh. Andouphe was a circus, and this was evidence of it. Either he were living by a lake or he were

Ora herself eventually came out. It took far longer than Sebas thought, and the girl had to squeeze and was almost crawling through the legs of these people, which prompted Sebas to action. He moved forward and shoved people aside roughly, pushing these packed sardines to make space for his little sardine of a daughter. Taking her hand, he roughly yanked her out of there. Holding her up in the air by her hand, he looked into her face. "How did your prayer go?"
"I hope the Goddess heard my prayer," she said, more relieved than happy, dangling her legs as Sebas held her up, not acknowledging that she was being held up like this. Maybe it didn't go as she maybe originally believed it would. "Maybe there was too much clamor though." It was something that was feasible. Too many prayers like this may not reach.........or so that may be believed.
"What matters is that you got the opportunity. She'll hear it." Sebas said. It wasn't just hers. Knowing how the system worked to a degree meant that the prayer would eventually reach the desk of, if not Her, then Her staff of Angels. Maybe indirectly, but she would hear it, he thought as he placed her on the ground. Her dress had a tear in it and she was soaked in slime and mucus. "You stink." he commented, earning her offense
"I do not STINK," she said indignantly. She was Piscean. She was nose-blind to her own people. At least nose-blind in the same way that most people were of their own people.
"Everyone else does, and they literally rubbed off on you," he clarified, "You're taking a shower and changing clothes before we go find your sister," he said

She grumbled, but then noticed Bogrum and, as if Sebas never told her that, she was back to her normal demeanor. "Oh, hello Bogrum," she said politely with a little bit of a formal bow. "Have you come to pray as well?"

Vespera Marine Seyres
Andouphe- Commerce District​

Nancy wanted shade, and it made sense. This seemed so heavily like a Piscean city! Then when he pointed out that the Goddess probably Descended, it made perfect sense to her. Then his anxiety spiked and Ves could smell it in his blood. "Don't worry about anyone," she pressed him, "We knew they would shun you. I won't." She knew nothing about Jack and Steven, but her stance wouldn't change. They could join the list of people who could get in the trash if they shunned Nancy. "Let's explore this city as much as we can while we're here!" Nancy may want a bit of peace though. "Let's go to a bookstore! I'm eager to see the books created 200 years later." They were already in the commerce district. "NOT a library. It's most likely in the Noble District......"

Where they were coming from. Ves could piece together that the Pisceans who came from the waters were going to a Church if the Goddess Descended. The Commerce District should have proportionately less as they move away. It could also be where they may find information on her family, or at least books written by her family. "I can get you a parasol though, for the sunlight." Pisceans were easily dehydrated in sunlight. It was very easy to circumvent that with magic, but Nancy didn't have that luxury anymore. "You're not hiding from someone, are you?" That spike in anxiety was not from the sun

Ves had to remember that she was a noble. Unless her family changed her crest and remained relevant, which they definitely did according to Elaina, it should carry some weight. She was currently in no place to throw her noble weight around........ Oh, right! "Elaina had IDs made for us. We need to go pick those up." It was an access that came at a price. In this case, Elaina probed and recorded a few of her memories. They would need an ID to get around. According to Elaina, any sort of hired transport, access into some gated cities, registering for pretty much anything required an ID, and their 200 year old Kraiven IDs were useless. She pulled out a note. It was.........an entire map of the city, with their places glowing on it just like she used in Kraiven, and then a trail leading to a red x on the map. That witch went above and beyond. Maybe she really found something decent in Ves's memories and paid change for the value. "Guard HQ first." It was a blessing Ves could actually count. The witch was a really good supplier. It was why Ves had no problems keeping her in her back pocket
WayfaringWaaksian

 

[WayfaringWaaksian]

Fergie
Adonis's Office​

Wow. She "might" be right? Hell, she would take it.

Though her stern stance never loosened, Fergie's buzzing anger eased its way into the back of her mind. Adonis did make a very good point about Demestral; even if they had just targeted the castle as planned, that wasn't going to fly with her. No one knew it was full of bum-ass cowards until after the fact, so as far as Demi would have been concerned, it would have still been the same attack against her homeland. In Adonis's case, it was either fuck Demi over or back out on his plans.

"So whatever yer after 's worth pissin' off the gods." He played a dangerous game indeed. Playing with angels, demons, breaching forbidden realms and angering the gods of the crewmates he burned to get there. "Got beef with 'em?" Fergie didn't expect him to answer in any depth, figuring it was simply another result of his apathy. "So did the Commodore," she said, leaning in. Given the isolated title, she could only be speaking of THAT commodore. "But that ain't what did her fleet in."

Setting her hands on the desk so she could meet Adonis eye-level, she began, "This is a warning. Ain't a threat. If ye don't switch things 'round soon, this crew's fixin' to collapse under ye. Commodore didn't go into hiding 'cause of the gods. It's 'cause she pissed off her crew one too many times. Saw it happen in real time, an' I'm seein' it happen now." There was no way Adonis didn't know where she had come from. Maybe he even took her in because of her history, though she doubted it. She was just another lost soul fished up from Dead Man's Isle. "After the mutiny, she had to start from scratch. Decades of work lost. So if ye want whatever yer lookin' for any time soon, turn this shit around 'fore it's too late."

Maybe she didn't give the man enough credit. He certainly came across like a clueless idiot, but again, it was his apathy. The apathy that allowed him to carry forward without remorse was also what made him forget how to keep his crew behind him. If he didn't give a shit about them personally, then a warning of lost progress might get his ass into gear.

Pulling away now, she promised him, "I won't let the Ballasts get involved. If I feel like me next lead might, I'm gone. So..." She turned towards the doors, signaling that her business was indeed finished. Before she headed out, she added over her shoulder, "For what it's worth, thanks for savin' me ass from Dead Man's. Consider this a favor returned."

Bogrum Mazoga
Noble District - Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

As Sebas spoke, it was getting harder and harder to make out his words over the cacophony of Piscean speech. Endless chatter he couldn't discern filled the walls, and song wove in between prayers as low as whispers and as high as wailed cries. The church was loud to the eyes as well. Ornate pillars and stained glass kept in very good shape thanks to the Noble District's funding were made inferior by the glimmering of rainbow scales in every corner. But in contrast to that beauty was the scent in the air. It was not at all the putrid scent of rot that people seemed to associate with fish, but it had to be just as strong. What on earth did Bogrum smell like to Pisceans, he feared to wonder?

Goodness, goodness. Maybe this was a mistake. There wasn't much he could isolate from the chaos. If he had wanted to observe these religious people, circumstances like these wasn't the time. Then again, the odd looks he was being given by those squeezing past his large frame would have likely been more numerous otherwise. Because why would an Orc be in a church anyways? They weren't exactly known for their reverence to the gods.
But if they didn't have his reverence, they at least had his respect. To hear and answer every single prayer in this building? And this couldn't have even been a fraction of the people who served the Goddess, as numerous as they were here! Seeing such a massive gathering opened his mind to what might be a God's world. Bogrum didn't envy the responsibility.

Watching Sebas quite literally fish Orabelle out of this sea of people brought Bogrum back to their world. "Pray? No, not this time, little one," he answered with a smile. "That's not a decision I can make lightly." He didn't understand why, but apparently choosing a God to serve other than your first required stringent justifications. Perhaps for the same reasons why other Orc tribes wouldn't just let him in willy-nilly in regards to his previous Scorchclaw service. "I didn't realize your Goddess's followers extended out onto land as well. I'm surprised she's not a High Goddess." Wait, maybe that wasn't appropriate to say. Was it more of a compliment to suggest a God should be higher ranking, or more of an insult to point out that they weren't? He supposed he'd find out.

Nancy Noi
Andouphe - Commerce District​

Nancy appeared as pleasant as the now ever-present exhaustion wearing down his face could. Meanwhile, his mind was shrieking. Don't worry?! Do you forget who you're talking to?!
Centuries of isolation from his own people was now extended to however long! At least the boy had been nice about it. Maybe it would be okay. Nancy had done some poking around in the ship's library to find out what had happened to make Mariana the Goddess of the Deepest Deep rather than the Sea. Seeing her name mentioned anywhere shot a painful barb inside him, but he at least had to know why his clade of Locathah were gone. The answer, thankfully, had been simple enough to keep him from having to dwell on it. A new God shared the waters with Her, and shared her people as well. Surely he would meet some Locathah who served this Kaimana eventually. It was more likely than finding one who served a landwalker God, or no God at all.
But no, maybe Vespera was right. He shouldn't worry about mingling with people who he wouldn't understand as well regardless of shared kindred. He had to worry about learning how to exist in this world right now.

"The... the cowl works for now. Thank you." Nancy knew he would rock that parasol, but his coinpurse told him now wasn't the time to be fashionable. To answer the more pressing question, "I'm not hiding from..." Well, he kind of was. He sighed. "I'm not in any danger. It's just... there's some people I really don't want to talk to." He couldn't imagine why Steven would suddenly want to talk to him. Hadn't he been berated enough? Did his position not speak for itself? Maybe it was only Jack who wanted to speak...

Vespera brought up something very important, and something Nancy had wondered about before. Getting new IDs sounded like a hassle for people with their very unique circumstances, but apparently that had been taken care of by... Elaina. For some reason. What did she make you do for that? was his skeptical thought, but he would inquire Ves about it later.
"Ves, can... I have to do something first." Despite his hesitation, he spoke with certainty. "They'll find me eventually. Might as well get it over with." No point in delaying the inevitable. At least now, he could mentally prepare himself instead of being jumped on. "Can you come with me? In case things get heated?" He couldn't handle getting yelled at anymore. With Vespera there, at least someone could and would stand up for him.


Kylesar1

 

[Kylesar1]

Jack the Shotgunner
Andouphe- Commerce District​

Jack chose the cheapest Inn that wasn't just bad. Luckily, the ones in Andouphe were pretty good overall, but there was always an element of getting what you pay for in places like Andouphe. Their ship had better amenities than some of these inns though, and Jack wasn't looking for a worse experience than having to sleep in a bay full of sweaty sea-salty men. He chose a good one, a belief backed up by the nice sack of coin from the battle weighing his pockets down. Jack had just taken a shower, put on clean clothes, and even had time to wash his dirty clothes, waiting for whatever the hell Steven was doing. Was he building the Orphanage?!
"Steven to Jack." Finally the voice he was waiting for
"M'here," Jack responded, "Sea Dreams Inn."
"Heading there."
"Right........" The connection severed and Jack lit up a smoke outside the inn. He had taken notice of all the Fish that were moving about, most of them heading towards the same direction. Yeah, he would stay away from them. They reeked. Fish didn't exactly smell pleasant in comparison, but he smelled like he was cognizant of his smell towards humans and controlled it best he could. In other words, Nancy didn't smell like a walking fish market

Ooh boy. Lots of options for food. No goddamn seafood though. He wanted a STEAK. For some reason, maybe due to a stock transfer between sea-ship and airship, they still mostly ate seafood. Or at least it was by far the cheaper things on the menu. Where did he want to go? Something with pasta? It is more rare on the ship, preferring bread instead. Something with good beer. A tavern for sure. Maybe one of those places with dinner and a show, but it had to a decent show, like a travelling troupe. Some of these places with drunk locals and disrespectful wise guys trying to be comedians often had problems with brawling. He loved a bar brawl, but he wanted to relax, not fight.

The shotgunner trudged down the road, pistol on his hip under his shirt, brass knuckles in his cargo pockets. Firearms are concealed carry only, and Jack ain't concealing his big-ass boomstick or his even bigger thumper (grenade launcher). He also isn't so naive to be completely unarmed in any of these places. Commerce was better than most, but it was a place with a lot of thieves, and the only thing from Jack giving chase would be a bullet. He didn't fuck up his eardrums with grenades and damn near bleed-out fighting an endless army of skulls just to get his loot stolen.

Vespera Marine Seyres
Andouphe- Commerce District​

"So you ARE hiding," Ves confirmed with a sigh. There was so much to hide from for him. First his own people whose Goddess shunned him so they shunned him by that Mark, than whoever it was he didn't want to talk with, who had to be another Pirate since there wasn't really any reason Nancy wouldn't want to speak to a Resident, unless it had something to do with Nellie. "If they're looking for you and things might get heated, of course I'll accompany you!" The thought at any conversation with Nancy could get heated was alarming. That cupcake was not in the business of provoking people, so any sort of conflict was likely one-sided The IDs could wait......for now at least. If something weighed on Nancy's mind enough to put an overall damper on his mood in the form of feeling the need to hide, that was more important than those IDs

"You lead the way. It seems you know their scent so you'd know where to go before I do." There was nary a worry in her voice. The one frightened under Elaina's boot was no more. After fighting 2 invasions and desiring nothing more than to burn her tongue with the Goddess's divine blood, Ves was really one smack to Nancy away from driving her baton not through their gut, but through their ribcage. She wouldn't coddle Nancy by any means, but she would absolutely not let him flounder

Sebas Deadeye
Noble District- Andouphe Holy Sanctum​

"Yeah, don't pressure him," Sebas told her sternly. There have been plenty of times where Ora tried to convert people. That was fine and all, but the first prayer was very important. The first actual genuine prayer, not the joke "prayer" that most people did. You know, the cross gesture and "lord give me strength" type prayer. "He'll pray when he feels like it. To WHO he feels. Or to no one." No one can pray in this bullshit symphony of a congregation, he thought. HE could barely hear himself think. Hell, Lostro probably couldn't hear herself think in this
"Is she not a High God though?" Ora proposed to Bogrum. "She's both the Goddess of the Deepest Deep and the Daedric Lady of the Abyss. People from both sides are here praying to her now. Is that not the power of a Goddess who wields High God power?" Ora's sharp-toothed smile would speak to her faith. While she served the Goddess of the Deepest Deep, it showed at minimum a respect for the Daedric Lady of the Abyss.
"It's because she's supposed to be more Daedric than Holy. Crazy, right?" Sebas answered the question for Bogrum instead of Ora's outlook, which Sebas actually agreed with. Overall, she had that High God amounts of power. Just split between both wells of power. "I think it's because us on land aren't exactly versed to be praying to deep-sea Daedric Lords, over Gods who can grant fair winds and calm seas." Most of them never made it that deep and lived to tell of it, of course to Landwalkers, the Daedric Lord Mariana is obscure in comparison to the Goddess of the Deepest Deep

"What a sharp one this girl is," Sebas said with a smile. "Too bad Lostro could rob her of her shoes."
"You make her sound like a thug."
"She's scatter-brained and apathetic. If she focuses on getting your shoes though, she's getting those shoes," Sebas corrected. It was actually kind of grim, because it also dawned on him that if Lostro ever grew obsessive about something, that obsession would be bred 9x over. It made him wonder about why the Goddess allowed her to drink from the Abyss. Did She take on the same mindset to Lostro that she did to Nellie? The circumstances in their feelings towards the Goddess is the same. Or at least WAS the same until Nellie's brother got his shit rocked with that verdict.
"I won't let her steal my shoes!" Ora insisted with misguided determination.
"Yeah. You're not wearing shoes," Sebas told her jokingly. "Maybe she already took them." While he broke up this little interaction, it really did get him thinking about Lostro in the eyes of others, the powers that gave Bogrum a literal divine gift. "Let's go find her though before she casts some weird spell on Lattice." Oh well, as long as I can keep her in check. He had the power to nerf both his girls into oblivion, but only one of them tried to use people for magical science

Spoiler: Demi Calls In

"Demestral to Sebas."
"Sebas Speaking."
".........What the hell are you doing over there? Why is there so much screaming!?"
"Oh yeah. The Goddess Descended and the Locathah are praying en masse," Sebas responded, starting to move away from the area with both Ora and Bogrum in tow. He could hear the wind blaring from Demi's side, so she must be flying "Ora got her prayers off, so we're about to go meet up with Lostro and Lattice."
"Ok! Let me know when you meet up, so I can recall Lattice. I don't want to do it if she's out with Lostro." Geez, you sound way too happy for someone who just did what you did, Sebas thought. He could only imagine what it was, but he did know the Demi's actual feelings about Adonis, and Sebas was kind of scared FOR Adonis. Yet here she was, cheery as ever. It was contagious, but it also made her seem a tad insane. Then again, ever since this ordeal, he'd been talking to her more..........and answering one too many questions about his gradually fading humanity

"Can do." It wasn't that he didn't trust Lostro to handle herself. He just didn't trust her to not kill people in her own defense. Lostro was a Draconian sure, but Lostro lacked both the regard for life and restraint to hold back to preserve life, something not helped by the Abyss. "How'd the confrontation go? Fergie's alive, right?"
"Yup yup!" she chirped, "It's all thanks to Fergie. My lance was a few inches from turning this into a mutiny."
"You for damn sure would've had my support." Sebas said without hesitation. He owed her as much as he owed both the Goddess and Avery. If they wanted someone dead, Sebas's bullets were on their side. "Anyways, let me get back to you with your maid in tow."
"Alright, Demi out!"

Sebas looked to his orc companion. "Looks like the confrontation ended well," he told Bogrum, in case he didn't hear enough of the conversation with all the racket. "Gotta be honest, I thought Demi would end up killing him. Guess Fergie did her job well. Now." He began to step off towards Commerce, Ora shortly in front of him. "You joining us? We're about to go grab Lostro and figure out the rest of the night." They already ate, so now it was a matter of finding something entertaining to do, which Andouphe never had a shortage of.

WayfaringWaaksian