4D Foundation II – G7

“It’s going to be Bludgeoned if you don’t shut your little trap, she-elf, I swear I hear even a whine out of you and I’ll end this the best way I know how.” Evraset withdrew her scythe from her direction and turned to the guard leader. “As it is I don’t like or find myself interested in what I’m hearing, so you’d best answer me well: Why should I care to see your party back to Ashasia? The city bores me and gold is beneath the trouble; the lodging is replaceable at best. Why should I not just finish what you started and be on my merry way?”

[OOC] Sorry Cher See, please delete the previous comment because I edited a small bit! Thanks! “Okay, so now that we’ve got the niceties out of the way, tell me little miss, how much do you think you’re worth if we return you to daddy dearest in ‘mint’ condition? I’d say not much since daddy would’ve hired someone sooner to look for you. Heck, he seemed pretty fine when we walked in. You better convince me otherwise if you wanna return in one piece, sweetie,” Irma’s face split into a poisonous grin, a glint in his eyes. “Hmm? Tik tok tik tok, time is money and I don’t particularly enjoy losing money. So what’s your answer, little lady?”

(Evraset's reply) "But... but it is Nei..." Nei replied back angrily, but softer this time. Too soft for Evraset to hear. [OOC] hahaha, please don't beat her up, it is just her personality. One of the knight, the archer stared at Evraset with ferocity. " Because we are the only hope Ashania are left with." The Leader continued, bringing the conversation away from the heavy topic. "I understand you have no responsibility or the need to bring us back to Ashania, and we have no desire to go back to that hellhole anyway. The only reason for us to go back is to protect Nei and stop the absurdity that has been going on for far too long. The offerings to the lady and the racists ideology have been plaguing my beloved kingdom for centuries. It have transform Ashania into something that we don't recognize anymore..." The Leader stared at Evraset, sensing a hint of confusion in her eyes. "It is an Ashania tradition. For centuries, each town in Ashania would select a tribute and offer it to Lord Bornia annually. The Tributes, all 89 of them, would be exile from Ashania and be escorted to the Black Mountain in order to ease the anger of whatever 'demon' residing in it. This event is called the offerings of the lady." Another knight interrupted and continued," Most of the tribute were elves and dwarves. In fact, all of them were non-humans, and this year, we are the units to escort them to the black mountain." "And we could not bear the thoughts of it anymore. Escorting Ashanians to their death!!! That is not who we are!!!" The archer was shaking at that thought, clearly upset about the event.

[OOC]Alrite, noted! Anyway forgive Nei of her rudeness. (Ima's reply) Nei, clearly upset from Evraset's scolding, released all her built up anger at Ima. "MINT CONDITION?! What am I, a Mutaki?! Listen, you... zombie, you will bring me back to my father, like what you are supposed to do and I just might pay you..." Nei looked into her coin pouch, " 1 gold and 52 silver! I will pay you 1 gold and 52 silver if you do your job right, so wipe that grin off your face and start working!" She puffed out her chest proudly with both her hand tucked to her sides, thinking that she has turned the table around. "So do not ask anymore money from my father again!" "please don't ask anymore from my father." She repeated softly, but this time with a hint of sadness in her voices. "After all the things he went through, I do not wish to burden him anymore..." She whispered.

[OOC] Oh no, Ann Li! I tried to delete the first comment you made and now i can't see the second one too! anyway i will write down your previous comment here. [OOC] Sorry Cher See, please delete the previous comment because I edited a small bit! Thanks! “Okay, so now that we’ve got the niceties out of the way, tell me little miss, how much do you think you’re worth if we return you to daddy dearest in ‘mint’ condition? I’d say not much since daddy would’ve hired someone sooner to look for you. Heck, he seemed pretty fine when we walked in. You better convince me otherwise if you wanna return in one piece, sweetie,” Irma’s face split into a poisonous grin, a glint in his eyes. “Hmm? Tik tok tik tok, time is money and I don’t particularly enjoy losing money. So what’s your answer, little lady?”

[OOC] I won't hurt main characters XD "You wish to protect this brat from a kingdom out to kill her, yet to save her you would bring her back to it whilst trying to defeat a tradition older than yourselves, without any understanding as to what the practice entails or even whom or what it is meant to appease. . . Treasonous, foolish and confused city guards. . . and a bipolar she-elf." Evraset looked them over, stroking Relig's mane to calm him. The creature had begun to stretch open his jaws, exposing his fangs beneath his horse's mouth as his dead eyes stared as them. He had been getting bored, and consequently hungry, but these people seemed of value to Evraset yet; reconsidering, it occurred to her that even if they were not, they were certainly not up to standard to count as feed for her murderous companion. ". . . You give me little incentive to stand by this little party of yours. Then again, this demon of yours intrigues me. At the least I imagine it'll be more interesting than the lot of you. If I did agree to . . . get involved, what exactly is it that you have in mind? For Ashania, and for your demon mountains?"

"I'll be honest here: I'm no fortune teller and the whole thing about gaining otherworldly powers after fying was a total sham. But the point is, even I can tell that the market's going to shit at this rate so I'll just cut my losses and join ya on yer little escort mission," Ima concluded.

*dying

Evraset threw a glance at Ima. "If we're even going. . ." She paused, then sighed to herself, too soft to be heard, "By the will of Cherseea, where did this 'we' even come from?"

Ima began chanting under his breath. "Ouddacaracter... ouddacaracter... ouddacaracter..." He paused, drawing in a deep breath before turning to the skies. "Oh great Cherseea, has this chapter of our lives concluded? If so, give us a sign. Thank you ole' great one," Ima questioned, arms spread wide and head tilted back as he looked for an answer. He noticed the odd looks everyone shot him, to which he simply shrugged and explained, "What? I'm religious."

[OOC] Cherseea bless you The leader was pondering over his action. Indeed, Evraset was right! Was he foolish to bring Nei back to the kingdom, back to the hellhole? The archer noticed his leader’s troubled face and interrupted his thoughts. “Sir Derek, Illidan may seem like a simple innkeeper, but he has probably more influences than you can imagine. His connections with the members of the lady moonfall’s council and his network of spies would certainly make him more capable of protecting her daughter better than we could.” “Sadly, there isn’t any mercenaries or sellswords that are part of Illidan’s faction. Well technically, there is a group of ‘mercenaries’ that were made up of retired farmers and guards protecting Illidan’s establishment. But then, you could consider their standards to be subpar compared to those two.” The leader was glancing at the duet. “That why we are going back too. To protect Illidan and Nei! To protect Ashania from the corruption. To protect our future. Isn’t that the code for our unit?” “Thank you, Sam.” Sir Derek smiled and patted the archer on his shoulder. “You guys are more foolish then I have anticipated.” Evraset interrupted them. “Well, perhaps. We do not believe that we could defeat the tradition itself, but we can certainly mitigate some of the corruption that was spreading in Ashania. Sadly, we didn’t know much about the accursed mountain or the ‘demon’ residing in it, but we do know someone who does. We will find him once we are back in Ashania.” [OOC] HAHAHA, the chapter will concluded after the next event. Sorry about the long chapter.

[OOC]A bit of vulgarities and violents here. The party had arrived in Ashania, all of them wearing a cloak similar to Evraset’s, except for Ima, protecting them from the light drizzle and avoiding people from recognizing them. Walking down the streets, a low, constant chanting combined with the sound of crying was coming from the corner of the street. Unlike the usual reciting of the religious teachings of Gadreel, this one sounded more elvish and gentle, almost melodic-like. The party realised that the chanting came from an elvish woman at the side, sobbing as she was holding on to her deceased husband. Her child was at her side, comforting her mother. The people around ignored the family, and continued with their business. The husband was donned in a suit of leather armour with a few clean stabs on his neck and body. Evraset realised that she have seen the husband’s face before, but where did she saw him before? “Oh, I remembered. The guards at the gate.” Ima reminded Evraset. “HEY. HEY. Stop your chanting at once, she-elf. Come on, NO reciting of your religious teachings, remember?” One of the royal guard approached the family and reminded them of the Ashanian’s law. [OOC]One of the law in Ashania, more information is in the lore post. “Please, just leave us alone.” The mother cried, continuing with her chanting. “Shut up woman! You will get into trouble if you don’t stop right now.” The surrounding people froze and looked at the royal guard and the mother. However, broken by the grief of losing her husband, she continued her melodic chanting. As the royal guard continued to persuade the elf to stop her chanting, the crowds grew larger and larger. A priest passing-by couldn't stand the sight of it anymore and came forward. “Fucking STOP, ELF.” the priest warned her. “You don’t understand, I have to send my husband off. It’s….” Even before she could finish her sentence, the priest's fists flew at the mother’s face, knocking off a few teeth and blood spattering around. The child was shocked and stood there, dumbfounded with her mother's blood on his face. “STOP, PRIEST. You don’t have the right to….” The royal guard’s voice was drown by the shouting of the priest and the cheering of nearby Ashanians peasants and farmers. “This SHE-ELF here is a Heretic. Who gave her the rights to spread her religious teaching? The only teaching that can be spread here is the teaching of Gadreel. Those who broke the law should receive punishment. RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!” The priest shouted with much passion, instigating the rowdy crowds into a roar of anger and violent. Some were shouting Arilistic teaching while some threw rotten fruits at the mother. A few others pulled the elvish mother by her hair to the middle of the street. ~ “Oh no, oh no, it is happening again.” Sir Derek looked at Sam. “We gotta help.” The knights rushed towards the scene, however, was blocked by the crowded audiences, all shouting and jeering at the heretic mother. They tried to push the crowds away, but their effort went to waste as more and more Ashanian joined in. Sir Derek went on to draw his sword, but was stopped by Sam. “Sir Derek, We can’t attract any attention. We are exiled from this kingdom too.” “Then what do you think we should fucking do!” The leader was obviously agitated. “The boy! When they are done with the mother, they will go for the boy next!” ~ “Please… Please stop, I was just trying to…” The elvish mother was being beaten to a pulp by nearby Ashanians. “No more of your foul religion and your teachings, I warned you already, but you wouldn't listen, Heretic!” The priest ignored the mother’s plea and continued with his speech. "Tinu. Run. Tinu." The mother's swollen eye stared at her son while enduring the violent beating, pleading her son to run away, knowing full well what would happen to her next. However, the son stood frozen at there, too afraid to even move. He witnessed his mother's clothes being torn apart by violent men, her swollen face and naked body covered in blood. [OOC] Tinu can also be refer to children, not just daughter. “Fuck this Heretic! Let us cleanse her of her sin.” The priest motioned a nearby oil merchant to start preparing the whale oil. Nei look at Evraset and Ima with her teary eyes, then rushing into the crowds, pushing them away as she tried to help the elvish mother. (Player’s Response, Only one action is allowed) [OOC] Hey guys, just state any actions you will be making next, however, only one action will be made and the story will progress on.

[OOC] So no description of what we're going to do? Just a statement of what we're going to do?

Evraset sighed. "As good a time as any." It was a lie, but one she needed to tell herself in case she convinced herself to wait until the woman was set ablaze. Doing so would have heightened the effect of what she planned to do, but then. . . Raising a hand to the crowd, she released her will unto them and took the mother's pain from her. The excitement of the moment had already been welling within her, but now came full circle, and she grinned to herself and released it upon the mob, granting each a perfect copy of the still very fresh experience. The woman was probably not going to make it, but the opportunity had been too good to pass off. That, and if by chance the woman and boy did survive and get away under the cover of the distraction, no additional effort would be needed to save the little she-elf brat Nei. [OOC] Refresher on the special abilities thing: Ability to summon pain experienced by others from their past unto their present/transfer the experience to others within proximity.