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

Kylesar1 · Nov 15, 2023

Elaina Melora
Stoneroses HQ

"In all honesty, I was here to inquire about my previous offer to Gambit back Nancy's magic but........." From Nellie's admittance and gratitude, it dawned on Elaina that her job here was done. Her point was made and the most stubborn of them, Nellie, finally got it. Slowest on the uptake but strongest in convictions. "I'm glad I was able to shatter the illusion that was placed over you," Elaina responded with a nod. This was multi-faceted, but Elain was just referring to the most obvious later. "Realize that the majority of the people still have no clue about the goings on in the kingdom. All most of the people know is that Hemhart and his warriors abandoned the people when they needed him. They know nothing of the Blight. They know nothing of the goings on in the Church. NONE of us know the depth of the corruption of the crown." Elaina knew one thing for certain: Kraiven was NOT the socially progressive place it was touted to be. Not by ANY degree. "With the King's head destroyed and the heads of the 100 Elite destroyed, we can't access their memories anymore to probe for information." Probing people's brain for memories was ferociously taboo in the Kraiven Era. It was immensely painful and highly highly illegal, and it wasn't possible to do to dead bodies. It was something only done to war prisoners and criminal networks. Here, Elaina was talking about it as something routine. It was yet another innovation.

"I'll say this: I had my own illusion shattered." This was a thing that dawned on Elaina quite recently. During the Goddess's speech actually. "The Sacrament is the entire foundation of my research, the reason I made myself the All-Sensing Witch." Nellie knew that Elaina was a fan, she wasn't exactly hiding it. "To know that the guild whose work I idolized was part of this foolishness is.........well unsurprising given what I know now, but also disheartening. Nellie........" Elaina's eyes took on a dead serious look to it. "What they were doing in the Church? There is no doubt in my mind that the Sacrament has something to do with it." It was a given with the type of magic that had to be at play. The Witch would be looking through the notes she did have from the kingdom.

When Nellie mentioned a request, Elaina thought for a moment. It only took a moment. "I would like to house some of my archive on Orivae," was her conclusion. "The benefit? You get a fully stocked library and as a leader, you'd get access to the REST of my archive of knowledge that's housed outside of Orivae. I get an archival expansion and access to Orivae." That wasn't even to mention that if she had an archive in Orivae that she could teleport to, it meant that she essentially had teleport spots set up wherever one of her sponsored libraries lie. It meant that allies also had that kind of access. A library that had everything the Kitsune Twins/Parents did PLUS an extensive list of stuff from the modern day? It is undoubtedly an immensely powerful asset to Orivae. With how the remains of the kingdom were, having it established by a 3rd party like Elaina definitely beat trying to recreate one from the ground up in an entirely new world. "It'll be important as you search through the Sacrament gathering documents." To Elaina, while King and Counsel have the planning and intent, it is most likely the Sacrament that has the notes on the actual experimentation and hypothesis, as well as any experimental magic they may have came up with. "Plus, for Nancy, there are books on ongoing research and theories about how to cure Nullification."

Elaina wouldn't make her answer just yet though. "Just something to consider when all the more pressing matters are finished. When you're ready to bridge the knowledge gap between the Kraiven Era and present day."

"But for my original goal: The Gambit. I have my personal opinions, but I want to know your final decision."

OOC: After this is the actual meeting with the Goddess

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Avery Valencia
The Canine- Back Deck

Avery was found with Naka and Ash at the back of the ship, dividing up the spoils with Ash giving out the bags and Mama Bear preventing any trickery with the Butterfly Knife Shivarath flittering about overhead. Naka crunched the numbers to ensure an even distribution and Avery set aside the coins for a few of Naka's lizardmen to put in small bags. Avery himself forfeited most of his profit in favor of the Dragon Scales and Mozreliun's Heart. Elaina forfeited most of her profit to get all of the ancient text and books. The relics and weaponry were set aside. Those would come later for those who wanted to exchange their profit for one of those instead...........but this was AFTER leadership got their choice of the loot.

The catboy still wasn't sleeping. He was fatigued to the core, but still he pressed on to see things through until they dusted off under Sebas's command and the title of Raid Captain was dissolved until the next raid. Then could he hibernate. His constant yawns were unavoidable.
"Raid Captain, Naka can employ crew to take over dividing rewards."
"I'm fine, Naka. There isn't much left until we leave here so I may as well see it through." The man's fur was frazzled and his eyes had bags. A master of the facade, even the best in disguises couldn't shield him from look of fatigue. Someone had to divide this up and if it wasn't him, it would be Sebas. He couldn't skirt one of his duties as Raid Captain. "It's my last duty as Raid Captain." Even though Avery had effectively proven himself
".................Commanders Fergie and Bogrum are here."
Ash was first to greet them. "Yo, Fergie. Bogrum." Ash called over to them. "We got loot here. Would you rather weapon, relic, or cold hard cash?" Ancient weapons and relics had in them a fortune's worth of value in gold. However, that was only if they were sold to a keen appraising eye, a historian, or a collector. Cold hard cash was straight forward. Weapons maintenance, buying new weapons from Duradel, upgrading weaponry. Avery preferred the items. Ash preferred the gold. Naka gave hers to her Lizardmen.
"We watched the ceremony," Avery told them, "I made an exception for Mozreliun, but I'm not one for bloodsport.........." Not that watching the ceremony made him disgusted, but Avery simply wasn't interested.
"I am! Evangeline puts a mean axe to the skull," Ash said with a loud laugh. It was evident at this point that "axes to skulls" was just a motto, not a requirement to gain the woman's favor.
"No mercy for leaders who betray allies......." Naka said. Despite her usual monotonous demeanor, there was a powerful aura of contempt radiating from her even as she kept tending to the business of sorting coins with her lizardmen. "........Naka would sooner show mercy to demon for hurting Lizardmen." These words struck Avery, not only because the blunt sincerity, but the general fact that Naka rarely talked, so to pipe up to say just that meant that Naka took the betrayal personally

WayfaringWaaksian

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Vespera Marine Seyres
Vespera's Manor

Ves's manor was located near one of the side Gates of the city in the edge of the Noble District. She walked about her manor, a massive mansion abandoned and lonely. As she walked around it, the only thing she felt was closure. As if her memories were ghosts manifest, her nights of crying, sorrow drinking, holding a blade to her throat, walking about aimlessly across the many many many rooms played around the house. The parties she threw here never wanting them to end since it left her alone with her thoughts. The vampire replayed it all in her mind, but as she made it to her room and shut her numerous diaries, it felt as if they dissipated. She was leaving. She was FINALLY leaving.

"Vespera to Stefania." Stefania was her mother.
No answer
Ves expected as much. In 200 years, who knew how communication worked.
"Vespera to Elaina."
No answer. Must be busy. Elaina would absolutely jump at the chance to prod her otherwise
"Vespera to Demestral."
"Yes? Hey Vessy." Her dear friend's voice was always welcome in her ear.
"I have a question," Ves said. "Can you give me my mother's magic signature?"
"It won't matter, Vessy." came the response. "The magic crystals they use now don't resonate at the same level, so you can't call her from yours."
So she needed a new crystal. "Where can I get one of those modern crystals?"
"I'll just give you one. What are you doing?"
"I'm packing my belongings."
"Just focus on that. We're all leaving soon, so pack quickly."
"I guess I will. Thank you again, Demi. For being willing to take me to my family." It was likely to be a very long trip for them, a trip Demi didn't have to take especially after the deaths of so many of her crewmates. She wouldn't give herself any time to mourn. As selfless as always.
"It's the least I can do for my best friend. I know you're as ready to see them again as I was to see all of you after this long. Demi out."

That left Ves alone to her packing. She began to assess what she would be taking. Just enough clothing to make it, her courier badge, her Stoneroses badge, her courier bag, her money. Family heirlooms. There was nothing else she really wanted. The vampire wanted to leave as much of this behind as she could. She would even discard the clothing she typically wore once she bought a new wardrobe when she was reunited with her family. The fact that she was leaving welled up into a calm sense of overwhelming closure. A 200 year trial followed by the devastation on par with the first war, followed by the claiming of another Goddess. Even though this city was neutral now instead of Holy, the only force on earth that could keep her in this city was if her family moved here, and that was something she would be vehemently against with her entire life. The amount of trauma she experienced here? It was like a prisoner being set free and choosing to walk back to their cell. The city would be different, but the people would remain.

No way was she staying here

WayfaringWaaksian · Nov 18, 2023

Vladimir and the Noi Twins
Stoneroses HQ - Lobby

"Illusion"? Nellie tried to keep her whiskers from twitching, with little success. I've always known it was terrible here. She supposed it was a question of HOW terrible, and the pirates' invasion had uprooted that tangle of nettles. There wasn't much point in making pedantic arguments about exacts. Elaina was being gracious, which was more than Nellie could have expected.
Instead, Nellie made a strong point to say, "They WILL find out. I won't permit any ignorance of what we do know. All of us share the burden of atoning for those atrocities." The perpetrators were receiving Judgement in their respective hells, but that only stopped more damage from being done. Reversing the damage and preventing history from repeating was up to them. "I regret not having the chance to interrogate those traitors myself. So much is lost under the ruins now." Which told Elaina that she absolutely would've had their memories scoured had the opportunity arose, completely undaunted by the taboo nature of it. More of note, Nellie actually wanted to know the "why" behind the corruption, something nearly impossible now that everything in that castle was under rubble. Could this explain Nellie's original reluctance to fulfill the Goddess's Will?

Elaina's admittance of disillusionment, let down by lofty expectations, coaxed something unguarded from Nellie. "I'm truly sorry. Knowing my guild was involved... it's one of the worst parts of all this. I'm disgusted to call myself a member." It was Elaina's inspiration, but Nellie's LIFE. Her education, her mentors, her craft, EVERYTHING. It all was owed to the Sacrament, who she was finding out only cared about her life so long as it benefited them. The rotten cherry on top? Zero hesitance in using helpless children to further their goals. Nellie had found herself back at square one once again. The most powerful mage in the city wasn't immune to feeling defeated.
"You and I are much more than pawns," Vlad said. "We've always strove to exhibit the best qualities the Sacrament supposedly stood for. So with their failure..." he smirked, "we at least have the bragging rights."
Nellie wasn't close to being convinced. "If only 'qualities' actually meant anything."

Vlad looked ready to protest, but let it lie. They had an offer to see to, one that he personally was ecstatic to hear about. Even Nellie's interest was piqued, though especially Nancy's. "We'd be more than happy to accommodate, should that be your final decision. But there's no rush, as you said." Elaina was keen to highlight the benefits to them, but what about herself? Clearly there was something she still wanted from Orivae, or else she wouldn't want access. Business wasn't quite yet finished with their enigmatic witch.

As for the other offer, that was up to the twins.

Had Nellie vocal chords, the words "I accept" would be on her lips. Since there was an even thinner barrier between brain and crystal, they should have been said already. Something was holding her back, long enough for Nancy's motioning to grow more fervent.
"He's denying."

She knew damn well he would, so she didn't know why she acted surprised. "Why?! This could fix everything!"
<<It would fix MY part. Not yours.>>
"I don't have a part to fix! I was never meant to carry Her Favor, that was YOUR reward! YOU were faithful! I..." Her voice crackled, lips prying away a grimace. "I didn't earn anything."
<<Goddess gave me a reward. But She gave you a gift.>>
Silence replaced exclamation, her jaws clenching.
<<And I think you know that.>>
"... She already gave me one." Cracks in the floorboards were under scrutiny, just as the cracks in her poise certainly were. "One I wasn't even grateful for."
<<You weren't ungrateful.>> The suggestion made Nancy frown. <<You were just scared, and rightfully so.>>
"That's not--" Nellie whipped her gaze up to him. "You have so much more to lose than I do!"
<<No. Nullification has no KNOWN cure. I might have a chance to fix this. But there's no coming back from a Gambit. EVER. You will be permanently scorned from Her ranks, even if it's for my sake. It's no different than me being punished for Defiance, even if it was to save you.>>
Nellie was shaking her head, still bewailing the insanity of it all. "Then I'd be returning the favor."
<>

They were simple words, all that were needed to make her breath stutter, her eyes glaze over. A plea met his nose. ~Don't make me cry in front of everyone.~
Nancy was tasked to model the Goddess's Mercy, but that's not why he showed it to Nellie. <> Regret turned his gaze downwards. <<This isn't nearly as much your fault as you think. I disregarded your wishes. You were ready to leave the city, and I stopped you. I could have prevented all-->>
"You WHAT?!" Vlad's angry bellowing snapped that tension between them, both Locathah jolting. "YOU HAD AN OUT?!?" Padded palms raised, the beastman turned around and took a few steps away, an audible breath heaving his chest. When he returned, hands laced at his sternum, he was awash in a calm only genuine in its apology. "Why?"
It all came flooding out before the tears could. <<I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was just scared! She'd never forgive herself if she-->>
"I'd never forgive myself if I killed you and sent you straight to the Council! Damn if I left!"
"You mean to tell me," Vlad seethed through grit fangs, "that you sent yourself to your death to spare her FEELINGS?!"
<> He couldn't bring himself to repeat it.
"... That I wished I'd died in that war?" Evading the look of fright on Vlad's face, Nellie shook her head in disbelief now. "I didn't mean that! I never do! And even if I did... why in the HELL would I want to die over protecting the city from myself, more than over killing you?!"
<> Nancy's hands squeezed into fists, covering his eyes as he stifled sobs. Retrieving some form of composure, he signed with shaking hands, <>
"I actually WOULD want to kill myself if I killed you!" Hot breaths came and went rapidly. "But you didn't think of that, did you? When do you ever?" Nancy recoiled from her lumbering approach, shrinking at the fangs brandishing between her lips. "When do you-- EVER?!?-- think about how this effects me?!"

"Nellie!" A single outstretched arm ended it there. "Not right now. Not when the Goddess is about to arrive." Vlad couldn't hope to keep this at bay much longer, nor did he want to. But this wasn't the place. "Elaina, my apologies. We've gotten off track. Nancy, Nellie, time to decide."
"... We politely refuse the Gambit," she answered. Eyes that scoured Nancy now glowered at nothing.

Bogrum and Fergie
Canine - Back Deck

Fellowship and loot awaiting, the gathered leadership was a sight for sore eyes. Only Sebas and Elaina were missing, but no doubt their captain was tending to the now double of kids he was saddled with. Elaina, who knew, which was a given for her.
"Hit me with the coin, lassies!" Fergie chose a relic last raid, so her coffers were thirsting from the lack of proper pay. "I'm eatin' steak tonight. Bogrum, what're ye thinkin'?"
"Mm." Looking over the spoils yielded little interest one way or another. All that brainpower, of course, was put into being an ass. "I'm thinking you should make it a double. You've had to have sweat off half your body weight yesterday."
"Make one more comment 'bout me body, HR's knowin'."
"Do they know you skipped breakfast?"

Leaving that duly to the imagination, Fergie gave her own opinion on the display. "Evangeline's got flair." She wanted to be fair, but formal beheadings didn't strike her as particularly vicious. Brutal, but not in the way of pirate savagery. Though this was coming from a woman who'd watched bloody floggings and keelhaulings. "But Ave, mate! Carvin' the heart out of that demon? What a way to send it off! THAT I won't be forgettin'." The crew would be absolutely braindead to fuck with Avery anymore, knowing what he was capable of.
"I'm satisfied that there's two less terrible people in this world." Bogrum knew he wouldn't show mercy to Mozza before Hemhart, but he agreed with Naka's sentiment. Being an enemy was different than being a traitor.
"Aye. Like it, hate it. Things 'r only up from here." The Basenjis were free of an evil demon, and Kraiven their backstabbing king. Win-win.

"What'll it be, Bogrum? I spy ye eyein' that war axe."
"I'll be forfeiting my share."
"Eh?!" Entirely? No trade-off? "Why?"
"Like I said, I'm satisfied. I don't need payment."
"Bogrum..." Having a hunch, she murmured to him, "Look, I think the folks in that city would be happy to repay you for what ye did."
"It's not that." Well, it sort of was. It didn't sit well with him to be taking even more from people who had almost nothing left. Though he also didn't mind the rest of the crew receiving payment, so he wasn't sure what line was being drawn in his mind. But he had an idea. "Not to be ostentatious, but I have something that's likely prized over everything here." Referring to the Request, an ultimate ace up his sleeve. "That's more than enough payment for me. For what the crew went through, I'd give them more gold if I could." Well, he could. Again, Request. But he had greater ambitions for that.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Nov 21, 2023

Elaina Melora
Stoneroses HQ

Elaina said nothing as this display played out. Just stood aside arms crossed taking it all in. Elaina had no idea what the hell Nancy was signing. No amount of Trace can help her understand sign language, let alone a sign language for an era 200 years pass. Clearly they still had issues to deal with. Elaina had many a quip to interject from what she could understand with missing 1/3 of the dialog, but taking it all in would be better. Plus, if she drew attention to herself, she could end up cutting the conversation short. "I will respect your choice. Good luck in your meeting." Elaina pulled out a Teleport Crystal and disappeared upon snapping it in her fingers.

Mariah appeared right after Elaina disappeared, a planned thing on part of the Witch. Mariah couldn't waste anymore time. "Time for the meeting," she said quickly, ignoring the mood created with the trio's conversation

Sebas Deadeye
Stoneroses HQ- Guildmaster's Office

The rest of the meeting group walked in and Sebas recognized absolutely none of them. 2 Locathah, a beastman, and then Mariah the Watcher who he didn't recognize but could safely assume as he knew the name of the Angel and this was the only Angel here. "Oi, I'm Sebas Deadeye," he said, introducing himself, then turned to his left and right. "Introduce yourselves."
"I am Orabelle Deadeye," Ora said with a polite curtsy. "I'm a Triton blessed with Goddess Mariana's Holy Favor."
"I am Lostrogret Deadeye," Lostro said with a small wave, eyes widening as she laid eyes on Nancy. "Dad, is that Locathah cursed? He feels hollow."
"Hell if I know," Sebas said with a shrug, "This one is blessed with the Goddess's Daedric Divine Favor. I am blessed with both Her Divine Favors and I keep these two in check."

Lattice didn't speak until the other 3 finished their greeting. "Hello Sir Nancy, Sir Vladimir, Lady Nellie, Holy Angel Mariah," Lattice said with a bow. "It's been literal centuries. I am Lattice Stoneburn, the maid to Lady Demestral Asella." Maybe they recognized her. Maybe they forgot about her. Lattice never made her appearance known unless ordered to and they likely NEVER saw her unless they were in the Asella manor.
"I couldn't tell you the first thing about why we're all here."

The Goddess Appears

Anything that was to be said further was cut off by a blue sigil appearing on the ground and a blob of water rising from it, that then popped to reveal the Goddess. Everyone except Sebas and Vlad hit the floor (or should have). "Sebas, why aren't you bowing?"
"You wanted me here. I'm here," Sebas responded nonchalantly, "I gotta make sure the girls and Lattice stay in line." The reason was a legitimate one, but that being THE reason was a fat lie and he knew the Goddess knew.
"Sebas, you will NO-" Mariah was cut off by the Goddess. "Leave it, Mariah." She said with a smile, "He does need to ensure that the girls stay in line." The real reason is that she never expected Sebas to just bow, especially if it took as much as it did to make him bow in the first place. "All rise." Everyone who hit the floor should've gotten up.

Mariana took a seat in the Guildmaster's chair. "Visitors......." she began, "Lattice, Girls, I ask that you wait outside with the Witch that I know is listening in."
Without a word but with a bow, Lattice took her leave with the girls leading the way, shutting the door with her tail.
"Is it possible to get the Witch to leave, Sebas?"
"It IS," Sebas responded with a shrug, "But her location isn't exactly the problem here, is it?" If ever Elaina didn't hear you, either she was listening to something else or she was actively ignoring you. How far away that radius went was for Elaina to know and everyone else to speculate. "So no point in moving her."
"I figured," the Goddess concluded, "Then we'll proceed. Witch, this conversation is classified. If word leaks, I will come and kill you personally, on my right as Goddess. Answer!"
"Get to the good stuff, Goddess," came Elaina's dismissive voice. A witch wouldn't feel threatened by a God, but then again, they didn't need to FEEL threatened for that God to make good on the warning. Knowing Elaina, she knew all of this full well.
"Sebas, move to my left behind me. You will serve as Baliff. Mariah, my Watcher, you will serve as Witness. Establish formalities."

Hearing in Session

"ORDER!!!!" As usual, the wave of power passed over everyone as Mariah laid down the ground rules. "The Goddess will speak now," Mariah said, moving to the Goddess's right with Sebas shuffling behind the Goddess to her left side. "All will remain silent as the Goddess speaks. You will speak ONLY when spoken to by the Goddess. Violators will be subject to immediate harsh punishment at the blade of the appointed Enforcer present." Mariah paused to let the words sink in. "For Vladimir, you will be punished in accordance to Goddess Mariana's rules. We take no responsibility for punishment inflicted by your own God for violating the rules of the Goddess." When you're under a God's rules as a formality, if you violate the rules, you'll be punished by that God, then you may be punished by your OWN God for being punished by another God

OOC: Think of it like getting detention in school. You might get punished by your parents for getting detention, which is a punishment for getting punished

"Before we begin: Vladimir you will serve as translator. Know that this is a formality, a gratitude granted for your efforts in defending this city." Nellie was fully capable of translating Kraiven Sign. Vlad had no practical reason for being here and the Goddess knew that they wanted him there for a reason.

"Now," Mariana said, "The subject is one my Kraiven residents speculated: Nancy..........I must punish you for defying my Will and destroying my Gift to Nellie. I gave Nellie the task of punishing those in the castle gave her my Gift to do so. Nellie accepted the task. Her slothful inaction regarding that task will be addressed, but you chose to sacrifice yourself and my Gift to you in order to destroy my Gift to her. Those actions are in line with something that Witch would do. It can effectively be called a Gambit." That is quite literally what it was. It wasn't JUST defying her Will, but trying to destroy her Gift, which was another offense entirely that no one had talked about. At least not talked about as an offense in itself.

"Furthermore, it was that Witch's actions that both saved your life AND preserved my Gift to Nellie. When the actions of a faithful well-studied follower are in line with a Witch, and that Witch's actions are in line with a well-studied faithful follower, it brings with it immense shame. We will all have to answer for our violations, but you will go first. Do you have anything to say for yourself Nancy?" Now Nancy had to speak directly to the Goddess about his actions, his complete OFFICIAL statement to Her. Nellie just found out that her sloth would have to be answered for as well. Would it be something to answer for in terms of Vlad (a follower of a different God) having to be the force to get her to actually do the task? Would it be answering to the fact that her inaction ended up causing Elaina to preserve the Gift? Would it be an official offense? Would it be tried under Mariana's rules, or a higher offense........a Divinity Law violation like Nancy?

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

Avery Valencia
The Canine- Deck

"Thank you," Avery replied with a smile. "It was a long time coming, that's for sure."
"I knew you had it in you," Ash prodded on, "but not to THAT degree."
"I try to not do that." But he DID need the heart of that demon, and it was either do that or forever hold his peace as Laylah destroyed the demon's whole body. "But exceptions are made for exceptional situations." Avery was purring at this point.

Ash passed Fergie a large bag of coins. "Here ya go, Ferg. With Bogrum forfeiting his coin, we passed on 10% of his pay to you." Bogrum and Fergie both were getting leadership pay since they led their respective forces. For Fergie to get to% of Bogrum's pay on top of her own, she was getting a WILD amount of money. Easily the highest pay in the Basenjis since Avery was forfeiting his own pay for the scales.

"Since Bogrum's pay is going to the Defense Troops, the pay I'm forfeiting for the scales are going to the Vanguard." As Raid Captain, Avery's pay was IMMENSE, so those in the vanguard were getting quite the pretty penny
"Naka's pay will go to Naka's shop," the cyclops woman said. Naka had little need for money beyond food. As a leader who piloted The Canine and one who unleashed an onslaught of wrath on the demon, her pay was about even with Bogrum
"How magnanimous of you both, since Bogrum likes using big words," Ash teased with a laugh. "I want every coin I can get. The glory is free. The hazard ain't."
"Should Naka know meaning of such words?"
"Ostentatious," Avery responded. "Means showing off. Bogrum doesn't want to show off. Magnanimous means highly moral or just. She's calling you a good person."
"Naka appreciates praise," Naka nodded. If not for Naka's demeanor, one would question whether or not she was sincere. "Naka doesn't understand why human have such big word for such."
"Maybe so the smart people can keep themselves higher than us dum-dums," Ash finished with a shrug

The Wyvern Rider Appears

The roar of Quincy filled the skies around the ship as master and beast descended, and the pixie woman herself jumped off to land safely by summoning her wings. "Hello hello," Demi said, in a better mood. She cheered VERY loud at the beheading so it was obvious that she was looking forward to it. "Dividing the loot, I see."
"Bogrum is giving up his for what the Goddess gave him," Avery commented, "I'm giving up mine for the Scales and Demon Heart. Naka is giving up hers to pay her group much much more. Fergie is taking the gold. Ash is taking the gold. So are you taking gold, weapon, or relic, Demi?"
"Hmmmmmm. I'll take a relic." Demi picked up a ring. It was a black ring decorated with rubies. It was a pair of rings actually, somehow wrapped together. It was as if the loop of the second ring was closed inside the first ring, making the 2 effectively inseparable. "How much gold does this cost?"
"We can get Duradel to appraise it," Avery said, "But from the looks of it, it looks like some kind of ring of bonding." Avery had no idea. It was just part of the rampant looting from the Goblins.
"I'll hold off on choosing something," Demi decided after a bit of deliberation. "I'm going to be taking my friend back to her family. 200 years she was lost to time in this place. After all this, I need a bit of time away, and taking her back gives me the perfect excuse." It was at this point that Avery realized Demi's mood was not as jovial as the rest of them. As usual though, Demi was "Plus, what I wanted I.........." Demi shook her head quickly. What you wanted, you gave up only to feel like you failed in that, Avery finished in his own thought. "Anyways, that's why. Move me to the end of the line in choosing."

Demi looked to Bogrum and Fergie. "I have a favor to ask one of you. I have to break this to Adonis, but I'm not entirely sure he'll approve. I have to tell him that I'm not asking him to go, I'm TELLING him that I am going. I just want a witness. Just in case." It seemed a bit ominous that such a simple task required a witness. Then again, Adonis wasn't exactly a forthcoming person, and with 1/4 of his crew lost, ANYONE requesting absence would be rejected, let alone someone as important as Demi the leader of the Rider Squad. "I don't care which one of you. I just need one of you."

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Nov 21, 2023

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ - Guildmaster's Office

Now, this was curious. A human man with a Piscean and a Gorgon child? How on Earth did that happen? Vlad supposed such odd cases of adoption were more common among pirates. Far more common was it for pirates to be involved with child slavery, at least so the stories went. But these two young girls looked happy and healthy, wide-eyed curiosity at his own ragtag group.

"Vladimir," he greeted, followed by the God he served.
"Nelson Noi. Daedric Scion of the Goddess, and Justiciar of Orivae. We're... still working on the title."
"And this is Nancy Noi, Scion of the Goddess." Vlad disregarded the protest that came from Nancy for tacking that on. Nancy was severed in body and by Law, not spirit.

What Nancy signed after that, however, intrigued Vlad greatly. "We're pleased to meet the man responsible for keeping good relations between Kraiven and Basenji." He was still deciding how he felt about the fact that in slightly different circumstances, the city would be in ruins from the pirates instead of the demon. All he could really do was be grateful they were allies in this case.
Nancy was signing eagerly, a smile present under his cowl. "And Miss Lattice, Nancy says he's happy to see you. Demestral has always spoken well of you."

Nellie Noi
Guildmaster's Office

With that conversation cut short, both Locathah dropped to a bow. Nellie felt the watery wave Goddess's presence instantly. Nancy saw Her sigil appear, and fell his face before he was met with Her visage. They heard every bit of that exchange, though.
She lets him get away without bowing? Like a true pirate, Nellie thought. Answer to no one. Wonder if She would have let them get away with slaughtering this city. Considering that it was this man specifically who altered fate, perhaps not. Then again, Goddess was Holy AND Daedric, possessing a terrible power to oppress... Well. So long as She didn't oppress her people.

Even in the midst of her Goddess beating down her senses, a strong scent stung in her nose. Fear, icy and dreadful, wormed its way well through the fabric of Nancy's clothes. No... this was more akin to what the nobles in the castle emanated with. Where he stood, Nancy was shivering, arms held around him tight. She's not going to hurt you! But he was as terrified as if She would. What servant of a benevolent God...?
But that wasn't all. Anger. POTENT anger, the moment he heard Elaina's voice through the door. But something before she made it clear she was still butting into their business.

The hearing began. Captain Sebas looking like he didn't want to be there. Mariah looking like she didn't want to be there, but for an entirely different reason. Vlad was uneasy, more stiff than a cat ought to be. Nellie was preferring Elaina's assassin bullet in her head to this, jolting from her nerves when she felt Vlad's comforting hand brush against hers. Nancy...

Nancy Noi

I can't do this. Oh gods, I can't do this! His stomach tightened like rope, his head swimming in muck. Was he going to hurl or pass out first? No "hello"? No "I miss you"? No "I still love you"? Was She just trying to get this horrible ordeal over with, or--
She hates me. She hates me, I ruined everything! I finally had something good! I-- "GAMBIT"?! Feeling drained from his limbs like blood from a cut artery. After he had just told Nellie there was no coming back from a Gambit, he finds out this?! I'm getting excommunicated! She despises me! She can't stand the sight of me! I'm-- I'm as good as dead!

"Immense shame".
I'm...
"Shameful".
I'm shameful...?

It burned. Everything burned.
I...
It hurt.
I can't do this.

Sobs bubbled up from him, tears trickling like from a cracking dam. Pressure on his knees told him that he'd collapsed from a stand. Goddess, please let the punishment be death, because I CAN'T DO THIS!! If he had nails, they'd be digging deep trenches between his scales. If he had a shell, he'd crawl inside and never come out until the buzzards came to pull out his withered corpse. CAN'T I JUST DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE?!?

But he did have teeth. So he used them.

When pain erupted from his lip, copper welling up under his tongue, clarity pierced through the static haze as true as his fangs. Everywhere stung, from tingling extremities to smoldering entrails. But now he knew that the anger burning inward wasn't... just inward. I have to salvage this! I have to-- I worked so hard for it! I deserve to be loved!

<<My Goddess,>> he began with trembling hands, Vlad translating after his motions. <<It's true that I went against my word. But I didn't lie when I promised to keep us both alive, or neither of us.>> Nancy's head turned Mariah's way for that, telling her it was partially for her to know. The Angel could attest, as it would explain why she didn't detect a lie when he initially told them his plan. <<Nothing was premeditated. Everything I did was the result of panic and passion. Any pain, and any shame I brought to You, was purely accidental. And... I am so, so sorry.>> His breaths choked in his throat. <<There's no excuse for my rash behavior. There's no excuse for worrying my friends and my family. There's no excuse for dishonoring You. I've violated Your trust in me as a faithful follower.>>

His tail coiled tightly around where he sat, a shield between him and the world that had turned against him. <<But when I accepted You into my heart, and swore myself to Your servitude, it was because You had given us love and protection when we hadn't known the meaning of the words. I accepted You with the expectation that You would continue loving and protecting us. And You have, even after we left Your sight for time too long. Thank You... thank You so much for not abandoning us in our time of need.>>

This was the hard part. <<You granting my sister a Gift was a loving thing. But... it was not protecting!>> Nancy lowered his cowl, exposing a face that had not seen peace in days. Red eyes nestled over tired bags, parched skin drinking tears as they fell. <<You put my sister in danger, Goddess! You gave a volatile Gift to a volatile woman, and while I commend You for giving her a power that celebrates this... why when she was emotionally vulnerable?!>> He didn't know what exactly had happened, as he never had the chance to hear that from Nellie. But her issues pervaded deep, too deep to not notice. Goddess remembered that Nellie was a woman who's great strength was her temper, but seemingly forgot the toils it took her for it to BE a strength instead of a cataclysmic, self-destructive weakness. <>

<<When mortals don't have a deity they can trust, they turn to Spirit Magic. They turn to Witches. They turn to Chaos before Law. And then the Blight, the corruption, and everything follows.>> He winced as he said this, but he was in too deep now. <<I went astray because You violated my trust in You as a protecting Goddess. If I acted more like a Witch than a Follower, then I suppose it's only fair. I didn't act like a Follower, because You didn't act like a Goddess.>>

Bogrum and Fergie
Canine - Back Deck

The extra haul was received very well by Fergie. "Ohohohoh! Hell yes!" She tested the bag's weight in her hands. "Could kill a man with this load!"
"Fergie, I wouldn't be surprised if you found a way to kill a man with just one coin."
After twirling the thing a few times with all the carelessness of a woman who played with guns, she settled it over her shoulder like a Christmas sack. "Well, ain't ye a flatterer today?"
"I just called you scrawny, so I have to even it out."
"Fuck you."

To Bogrum's joy, he wasn't the only jokester today. "Words with fifteen syllables don't have much of a place where survival depends on quick orders." Didn't stop him from using them. Call it habit. "So during the next diplomacy mission, we can impress the aristocracy with our verbose vernacular. Would make it last ten times longer."
"Plenty of time to rob 'em blind while yer at it."
"Exactly why I mentioned it."
Fergie grinned like a maniac at that, like he knew she would. "That's what I like to hear!" Clap to shoulder #106. "Now yer startin' to sound like a pirate!"
"Hopefully not too much. Who else will take the place of resident awkward neophyte?"
The words "awkward" or "neophyte" didn't fit Bogrum, let alone at the same time. He was definitely a sore thumb amongst itchy trigger fingers, though. "I think we're fixin' to get a few newbies aft' this." Fergie knew for damn sure she wouldn't want to live here anymore after that shit. Not just the corrupt royalty, the whole stuck in limbo for 200 years thing. She'd go insane having no way to see something other than that same rock.

The Beastmaster's Request

Bogrum's jovial demeanor toned down a little when Demestral made her arrival, immediately keen to her current composure. He wouldn't say she was well, but she was stable from whatever was happening during the Goddess's visit. Watching that cowardly king's head roll certainly helped. It even quelled Bogrum's wrath, and he wasn't one for bloodsport himself. Still, an execution couldn't be enough. Demi needed her own head cleared, and he could agree that time to herself would do more to heal. If only Adonis allowed it.

"A witness?" Bogrum echoed, a tilt to his head. It did strike him as odd, but he explained it away, saying, "That Adonis is a stubborn one. I'd be happy to--"
"I'll spot ya, lass." Fergie raised her palm at Bogrum to deter any protests. "I got a few words to share with the big man, meself."
That was very ominous, and Bogrum didn't like it. "Please be sane about it."
"I'll be sane! Jesus, ain't gonna insult the angel again, or anythin'." she said, a flippant flick of her hand.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Nov 24, 2023

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Stoneroses HQ

The words traveled through the Goddess's head where it bounced around as she processed them. "Hmmmm. You counted on me to protect you from harm......" The Goddess let the words hang for a bit. "Who is 'you', Nancy? Is 'you' supposed to be yourself? My holy was present in the Church after it was claimed....." The waves that destroyed the invading skeletons. "The Holy sites....." The same as the Church to protect the people. ".......the gates as the Pirates sanctified the grounds along with Arnold Asella......" Which explains why the gates weren't penetrated in the least. ".......In Orabelle as she unleashed her attacks against the demon. And in Sebas's blade as he ultimately destroyed the demon basilisk......" These were the direct events that brought the fight to an end, even though it was ultimately Avery carving out the heart that killed Mozreliun himself. "........And in the Coin given to you, Nancy." The Coin which, when taken out of the bag, shined a light strong enough to prevent any Undead/Daedric being from getting close to Nancy.

"Is 'you' supposed to be your sister? The most talented mage in the city, who never struggled against them no matter their number?" Save for when Demi unleashed her UV Nova, Nellie didn't struggle to stay alive. If she struggled with anything, it was mana conservation. "What words did Nellie impart upon the people? 'Oppression awaits those who seek to oppress us.' Are those words the words of someone looking to protect? Or kill?" It was a rhetorical, because the answer is both. "Did Nellie ever seek to be a shield? Or did she seek to be the blade against the threat?" Nellie was no shield. Nellie was a ferocious offensive mage. The only time she casted a spell in defense was the spell to protect against heat that didn't work.

"Is 'You' supposed to be the people of Kraiven as a whole? When I gave the people you two? YOU were the Shield to protect, and Nellie the Sword to strike those who seek to Oppress. When my shield blocks my sword, who is protected then? The answer is the Oppressor." The only cure for corruption is the guillotine, and their crown was corrupt.

"You acted in little faith, Nancy." It was undeniable. He just confessed to it. "Was it little faith in Me? Was it little faith in your sister? Was it too much faith in the Witch and her word?" Between Elaina and the Goddess, the city survived. Not one more than the other, BOTH of them. The sites never would've been claimed without Elaina's planning, but no one would've claimed it if not the Goddess. On the other, was Elaina correct in that Nellie was headed to a meltdown? Was Nellie so unreliable that she couldn't handle it, or did she need to process it? Nancy had either too little faith in the Goddess despite Her being the waves which took down the skeletons, too little faith in Nellie despite her proving her ability nonstop, or too much faith in Elaina despite seeing first hand that without the Goddess, the church would've been destroyed and them inevitably overrun.

WayfaringWaaksian said:
<<I went astray because You violated my trust in You as a protecting Goddess. If I acted more like a Witch than a Follower, then I suppose it's only fair. I didn't act like a Follower, because You didn't act like a Goddess.>>

The Goddess displayed the words for all to read. This was something she had decided to double back to, because these words were a massive offense. The Goddess started to get worked up. "To these words here..... So that's how it works. You pray to a God, receive that God's blessing, then turn that blessing against that God if that God doesn't do exactly what that single follower wants them to......."

It is at this point that Nancy would begin to recall Steven's words. "We don't borrow a God's power to do our own thing." The Goddess sighed and kept her eyes closed as she counted out things as she spoke. "Purging Blight, getting approval from another God to instruct his follower on how to purge Blight." Referring to Steven and his ultimate curing of those kids. That shit required approval. "Blessing a follower to take down a corrupt crown, purging another God's influence from a city, getting approval to take over a city, blessing followers to take out a demon, protecting 6 different locations around a city........ All of this done for 1 location over the course of a few hours and having to remember to follow Divinity Law throughout all of this." Her eyes narrowed, boring deep into Nancy's soul. "You think you know what's like to be a God? Manage a crew, manage a guild, manage a company, manage a village, a town, a city...... Manage a kingdom, a country. That's nothing! I have to manage a WORLD of followers. Just imagine then, Nancy....... That all of them acted like you did. The God you pray to must act how YOU would've acted, lest you take matters in your own hands. All of it then to be proven worthless in the hands of a Witch who reversed your decision and left you destitute and Null to save your life." In other words, Nancy was in no way qualified to be telling her how she SHOULD'VE acted. He ruined his life for a useless act

"Goddess, forgive him for he knows not what he says." Mariah said. There was desperation in her voice, despite her poker face and rigid official form that never changed. "I plead with everything in me as your faithful Watcher to not have me judge him for Heresy." It meant that Nancy was guilty of it just then.

"WHO was I supposed to protect? Would it have been good to allow you to die for the salvation of the people or your sister? Let HER die for your salvation and that of the people? Let the PEOPLE die for both of your salvation?!" The Goddess was getting worked up more. "Or am I expected to protect everyone and everything, all at once? Fine! In answer to WHOSE PRAYER?! Think beyond yourself! How many followers of any God are praying to their God at any point in time? Or was I to be like Duion, protecting myself at the expense of ALL of you!!" Nancy had absolutely no idea what this was like from her perspective. She wasn't sitting On High drinking the finest Ambrosia every day. She had a domain, that domain consisted of the entirety of the ocean under a certain depth, and then every single dwelling from the household of her followers to entire kingdoms who looked to her for protection. The Ocean was vast enough that its expanse had to be split between 2 Gods and even then, with the life found in it, the only thing keeping Mariana from being deemed a High God was SUCH domain split. Had the split never happened, she would be High God Mariana of the Sea and each of the 7 seas (or the 5 Oceans) under her serving as her subordinates.

"Goddess, the pressure is getting too high." The voice of Sebas reeled her back in like a hook. She was about to start harming everyone in the room if the pressure got any higher. "You're not here to counter him. You told him to explain himself and he did." He was right. She asked him if he had anything to say for himself and he said it. Nancy wasn't here to plead his case. He was here to take judgement. His reason was his reason, and such reason couldn't change the outcome. Only make it worse, which it did by his words

Anything said can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Judgement: Guilty of Defiance, Subversion, and Heresy

Mariana didn't want to do it. In fact, it pained her to do this. Part of her wanted to think that Nancy made himself look worse not only as a sort of self-defense, but as a way for Her herself to save face. Punishing bad actors was a must for a God to be taken seriously in both the eyes of followers and in the eyes of other Gods. That's how she would look at this. Maybe it was a delusion. "Nancy, for your crimes of defiance and subversion, you are hereby marked Undesirable. You are banished from this land and banished from any land, village, city, territory, kingdom, or dwelling otherwise that hoist me as the Ocean Trench or me as the Daedric Abyss, be that territory on land, sea, or air." In other words, if Mariana was worshipped, Nancy was not allowed there, from an adventurer's party to an entire continent. It also meant that Nancy was banned from anywhere in the Ocean below the Depths. "From the time this meeting is adjourned or you are dismissed otherwise, you have 24 hours to leave this city, lest you be turned into algae doomed to the darkness of the Abyss for eternity." The Goddess's eyes began to take on more of that as a Daedric Lord. "If you trespass within any of my domains, you will be struck down as a traitor. Do NOT test those waters."

"I gave you a mind for alchemy, knowing that you could take your comrades to new heights. For Heresy, you will be stripped of your alchemical knowledge, your memories of all of it SEALED. You will be forced to learn it all again. If you want to act like a witch, do it without my Gifts." Nancy's bread and butter, his claim to fame in the Stoneroses was on the chopping block. "Your punishment for all 3 of these offenses will be served when you find the cure for your Nullification. When I can see you again from On High or from the Deepest Deeps, I will wipe this transgression clean and you will be welcomed again."

"Thus sayeth I," The Goddess said, then turned her head to the right. "Mariah, so it is said, so let it be written." Then to the left, "Sebas, so it is written, so let it be done." The Goddess commanded with a snap of her fingers. "When you return home, Nancy, you will be welcomed into Orivae with celebration by me personally. Until then........." The Goddess turned watery then popped like a bubble, disappearing. "Nellie, we will speak later.........."

"From the Highest High to the Deepest Deep.........This meeting sleeps........." Mariah said softly, before she conjured up a piece of paper. "The Ordination of Punishment, to be enforced by the Baliff." Mariah passed it over to Sebas, where it turned into a shotgun shell.

Sebas Deadeye
Stoneroses HQ

Sebas took the shell and loaded it into his shotgun. Sebas's gun began flashing in a low light, turning a pearl color and giving off a definite vibe from the Goddess that all but Nancy could feel. The Ordination was loaded up and ready to blast into Nancy. "On orders from the Goddess," he said, eyeing the gun in his arms. It was "This will apparently seal those memories of yours. Non-lethal, not painful. You'll fall unconscious for like an hour while your memory is rearranged." Rearranged to mean sealed back to when he was learning the basics of alchemy. "This round quite literally has your name on it. Say goodnight."

Sebas pulled the trigger and blasted Nancy. There was no knockback. Nancy's eyes dilated and darkness began to overtake him. He staggered forward and then back before falling forward once his vision was consumed by the Abyss.

Sebas looked to Nellie and Vlad, whether they caught Nancy or not. "We leave in 3 hours and I don't know how Nancy is getting off this rock in time if he doesn't leave with us." 3 Hours? That meant 2 hours when Nancy awakened again. "We don't keep prisoners. Anyone who wants to leave this place we will let either join us or leave us at the next location we stop at. They just have to work in the meantime."

"By the way, I'm an exception to the Goddess's follower rule." That meant that when Nancy woke up, his options aboard the ship were Elaina, Demi, Steven, or now Sebas and his girls. Sebas was neutral throughout this. He was initially against Nancy, but hearing Nancy's case, Sebas was for certain he would've defected if he were ever put in a position to choose between the Goddess or one of his Girls. For the Canine Captain especially, if Mariana ever made Sebas choose between the girls or Her, he'd renounce the Goddess in a heartbeat. He couldn't blame Nancy for it.

"I take the side of Nancy," Sebas said simply, "I ain't a mindless drone. Glad Nancy ain't either."

A Final Commune

At this point, Nancy would find himself falling from the sky. He could FEEL HOLINESS as he plunged from the heights towards the waters below him! Nancy could surmise what was going on here. Anytime he fell asleep and dreamed of himself plunging into an ocean of Holy Water, it was a commune with the Goddess. Every single time without fail. When they went into the Null Realm, Nancy NEVER had this dream. It was a feeling of familiarity that felt like home again after 200 years without it. How was this possible?

Generated by Divine Decree, the Ordination of Divine Punishment hit his soul. Communes are with the soul anyways.

"Welcome to your final commune with me, Nancy. For a long time anyways." He could hear the voice of the Goddess in his head again. "Divinity Law is harsh and unforgiving. Here, it is just you and me. No one else, not even that Witch." As if the Goddess would let that be the end of things. She wouldn't weep for what happened with him and then abandon him. "I can only express gratitude and apologies to you within my own domain. That, and I couldn't bring myself to strip you of my Divine Favor." It was stripped by the Nullification so it meant that when he cured it, he'd be back in Favor

In typical commune fashion, once he hit the water, he needed to swim down to the Depths. Unlike the other times though, he couldn't stop at the Depths. He needed to go down to the Deeps and then the Deepest Deeps

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

Demestral Asella
The Canine- Deck

Demi nodded. Guess I'll be taking the aggressive approach, Demi thought when Fergie volunteered to be the one to accompany her. "Thank you, Fergie. I will come and get you when it's time. It won't dissolve into a fight." If it does, then the Dragon Supreme will have me use UV Nova and destroy this entire crew, she thought. If it does........well it won't. It CAN'T, Fergie." Demi decided out with it. She was unable to keep her feelings a secret for long. Her heart may as well be her insignia with how much she wore it on her sleeve.
Demi threw her hand in the air and dust came out of it, then a box formed around them, encapsulating Demi and all of the leadership here save for Naka. A common box that negated sound entering or leaving. With the exception of Elaina because..........Elaina, this was a private conversation zone.

"Adonis or someone in his circle messed with Quincy and I's memories. I must confront him for that, on orders from the Dragon Supreme. She is the being who gave me the power to unleash the UV Nova. My GOD." Demi's eyes narrowed and one could see the spark of Draconian flame within them. It angered her every time she thought about it. "MY memories are one thing. Quincy's are a no-go both for me and for the Dragon Supreme. The Draconians KILL for stuff like this. I had to PLEAD with the Dragon Supreme to handle this like a Fae before I'm forced to handle it like a Dragon" Demi's eyes as angry as they were, concealed a level of fear. "I implore you, Fergie. Do not egg me on. Knowing one of you are there with me is what will keep me from taking Adonis's head. It's why I asked one of you. No offense Avery, Ash." Avery had to be stopped as well so he was a massive no-go. Ash was the most aggressive in the crew so she was a massive no-go. The last 2 of reason were Fergie and Bogrum. Demi was fully capable of doing exactly what she said she could and potentially would do.

So there is was. They weren't needed as just a witness, but a presence to keep her level-headed. Knowing that taking Adonis's head meant destroying the crew as well, Demi hoped that the reasonable side of Fergie would come through.

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Nov 25, 2023

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ - Guildmaster's Office

Why, why, WHY?!

Vlad almost didn't hear Sebas over his growing head static, let alone over Nellie's hysterical weeping as she clutched the unconscious Nancy. His tongue was numb, still burning from those horrible words he had to repeat despite his every fiber recoiling. Your fate was already sealed! There was so little to salvage! Why did you make it WORSE?! Vlad's thoughts were racing, unable to reason if that unseemly behavior had been a result of self-punishment or just plain stupidity. None of it made sense!
"I..." Didn't know what to say. Didn't know what to do. God, what should he DO?!

"I CAAAAN'T!!" Her wailing cut his ears like shards, snapping him out of his stupor. "I CAN'T DO THIS!! GODDESS, SHOW MERCY!!"
"Nellie!" Vlad crouched down, holding her trembling body tight in a one armed embrace. "Nellie, please! This is mercy!"
"HOW?!" When Nellie turned her head, he saw all the white of her teeth. This was no display of rage, but a silent, agonized scream. "She took everything from him, Vlad! EVERYTHING!!"
"And he can get it all back!" Nellie couldn't possibly understand, so he couldn't blame her. It was an incredibly harsh thing to witness for anyone, let alone for the family of the Judged. "Nellie. For him to have a chance at returning, his transgressions fully forgiven... most would have cast him out permanently! It was a terrible ordeal, but it was the very best She could have afforded!"
"Is it?!" Now those were fangs of rage. "IS IT, VLAD?!" She pointed the captain's way. "Even Her own follower--"
"Nellie." He grew gravely serious. As if being gravely serious ever got these two fools to listen to him! "I beg of you, do NOT challenge the Goddess's decree! We cannot afford to lose you too, and She cannot bear to punish two of Her children!"
"I have to worry about HER?!" Nellie held her brother tighter. "Nancy's DOOMED! No voice, no alchemy, no friends or family! He will die before he ever gets the chance to fix things!"
"Do you really have so--"
"HE'LL KILL HIMSELF, VLAD!!"

The rest of the words caught in his throat. Nellie had valid worry. The man ran towards his death as if it were his lifeline. The Defiance, the attempt to leave outside the Church during the Torrent, the Heresy-- Gods, WHY?! Why does he keep doing this?!
"I know why he did it, Vlad! He HATES himself! He always has!" She was sobbing so heavily, if she had vocal chords rather than a crystal she couldn't say a word. "Nothing was ever good enough for him! He'd always put himself down, say he's terrible, say he's WORTHLESS!" An eerie echo of words. "Without anything to his name, anything to give him worth?! He'll die! Goddess sent him to his death!"
"The Goddess would never!" There was no way She wasn't communing with him as they spoke. Not after She nearly tore up the rest of the city in Her grief over him. The Gods had to put on a tough act when laying down the Law. That was just how things worked. "You're suggesting that She's setting him up for failure. Why would She, when she can just banish him forever and be done with it? And Nancy..." Vlad had never seen such an impossible case of resilience. The man broke like glass, yet put himself back together every time. He wouldn't pretend Nancy wasn't about to have the greatest struggle of his life, but he couldn't believe he'd just give up like that. Even after... "You have so little faith in your brother, Nellie!"
"I DON'T HAVE FAITH IN ANYONE!!"

Solid words in his throat turned into a hard lump in his chest. This was dire. She's shattering. Not just in Faith, but in mind, in spirit. Fracturing completely, liable to fall into pieces at the slightest of touches. He had to be gentle... but gentle never worked with Nellie! She's too strong, too strong for him, too stubborn to see REASON! My God, I implore You, hear my prayer. This city is doomed without Nellie. What do I do? How do I salvage this?

"Nellie, help me take him to his room." They couldn't discuss this in front of everyone. Nellie was too grieved to care right now, but she was going to regret revealing these deeply personal things after the fact. "Captain, we can discuss this more soon. I'll give you my signature." He had no doubt that the Goddess had a plan that involved the man, if he was an exception to Nancy's exile. "Mariah..." Vlad couldn't demand more of her, after being Witness to that. He had to help Nellie first before she Faith Shattered, but he wouldn't leave Mariah in the dust. "What do you need right now?"

Nancy Noi
Spirit Waters

No, no, NO!!

Holy waters cascaded all around him, enveloping his body in warmth he hadn't known for time immeasurable. The presence was undeniable. Nancy felt Her power, undulating waves surrounding him. He felt Her love! She still loved him, despite-- despite--
Why did it feel wrong? Why did it feel like a lie?!

"Goddess!!"
He ruined everything! EVERYTHING!! How could he be so STUPID!?
"I'm so sorry, Goddess! I didn't mean-- I didn't want to hurt you!" But he had. He demeaned his beloved Goddess in front of the whole Council, and for what? A bit of indignation? None of that mattered. Nothing he felt mattered! "You're right, Goddess. I could never understand what You deal with! I couldn't begin to appreciate what You do, it's so beyond me!"

Down, down he went, the water colder, the light dimmer, the pressure stronger with each flick of his tail. "So much thankless work! We were lost without You! I never intended to put anything You did down, I just--" No, it did matter! It mattered that they were hurt in all this! They trusted Her, and She put them in the way of a witch's bullet! Was he just supposed to be okay with that? Was wanting to protect her some vain, selfish desire?! She sure was acting like it!! "I just wanted to save my sister, Goddess! That's all I wanted!"

Save her from what? His own paranoid delusions?! I didn't save her. I destroyed her! She'll never forgive herself! "Oh no, NO! She had to have Faith Shattered for sure! I-- This is all my fault!" Who was he to think he knew better than a Goddess? He was just some pathetic, useless whelp! "I have no right to ask this, but please-- I beg of You-- don't take away my life's work! Without You, without Kraiven, without alchemy, I'm nothing! I have nothing left, Goddess!" No voice, no talent, no anything! He was completely useless outside of these walls! 200 years of living without Her, piecing together his mentor's work after she was lost in the war, was all for nothing! He might as well have died in that war instead, died before he could reach Kraiven, or never been born in the first place! The soothsayer should have seen how miserable my life would be and told them to smash my egg! This isn't worth it-- I'm not worth it!

The Deepest Deeps called. He longed for Her, nothing more than to be embraced in Her arms, to be told he was still loved. But everything else told him to swim the opposite way, rid this Holy place of his wretched, heretical presence.
"Undesirable".
He didn't deserve love. He deserved nothing but to rot at the bottom of the Abyss forever. "I can't do this, Goddess!" Salty tears stung his eyes. Everything stung. The darkness was absolute as he spiraled down. He only need go deeper. "I CAN'T DO THIS! GODDESS, I'M BEGGING YOU, TURN ME TO ALGAE NOW AND END IT!!"

Bogrum and Fergie
Canine - Deck

The moment they were all encased in Demi's privacy box, it clicked for Bogrum. Yeah, the whole thing with Adonis was his second guess. But he was taken aback, growing very alarmed when she explained how dire this could be. Getting this Dragon Supreme she spoke of involved simply sounded scary, without it being spelled out so clearly.

"Ah. Yes, we certainly don't want that," Bogrum said, needlessly.
"Easy, easy!" Fergie was waving at both of them, at this point. "Yer in good hands, Dragon Lass. I'll keep them fires quelled." Geez, she didn't know whether to feel honored or offended. Did she really have THAT much of a reputation for being batshit rabid? "As a fire-starter meself, I know how an' when to put 'em out." It was really a matter of... wanting to. And one generally didn't want to not be angry when angry. Fergie was ready to put Assmund's ego on a pike, at the very least, but she was also ready to reel her own in. Crew comes first.
"For your temporary leave, though, be sure to let them know I vouch for you," Bogrum added, giving his signature smile. "You worked too damn hard out there to not deserve a break." It absolutely would hurt the crew to not have their Rider Captain, but it would hurt Demi more to not have time to grieve in the way she needed to. "Think of it as bereavement leave." If pirates cared about that sort of thing, when they got picked off on the regular. Let's try not to think of that, please.
"Bereavement leave? On a pirate ship?" Fergie said, heedless of his private pleas.
"I'd consider these special circumstances."

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Nov 30, 2023

Goddess Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deeps
Spirit Waters

2 children in distress, a mother having to punish one harshly and the other having a meltdown ready to renounce her for it....... a terrible scenario. Nevertheless, this wasn't about Nellie. This was about Nancy. If Nellie renounced Her due to her brother's violation of Divinity Law, there was nothing she as Goddess could do about that. Mariana sighed as she pulled Nancy into Her waters. "Nancy, I cannot accept you back among my ranks so long as you see yourself unworthy of life." It gave her another idea. He had to answer for heresy, but she couldn't keep him among her rank if he couldn't accept his life as his own and worth living. Perhaps inverting my twins will give them a new outlook on life.......

Make Nancy live Nellie's life. Make Nellie live Nancy's life

"Due to your actions, Nancy, THERE IS NO EASY LIFE ahead for you. There is no easy life for your sister either, nor the people of Kraiven as they turn the kingdom into Orivae. You have all suffered horribly in this situation, not helped by my own hastiness. Perhaps the heretical words spoken were not intended as such............" That was the self-reflection she needed to do. It seems horribly out of character for Nancy to act like a heretic. Then again, it's not like she knew him for 200 years. In that time, she became a completely different Goddess. Who's to say that he hadn't had a true change of heart from his actions.

.........Then Nancy started begging for death. Nancy flip-flopped between begging to keep his achievements to live on and then begging to death. If there was one God good at flip-flopping, it was the Goddess who was flip-flop incarnate. Her considering mercy and re-evaluating Nancy's words was that of the Holy Goddess. "You ask for mercy for Heresy, then beg for death?! IN DEATH, A PARDON UNAFFORDED TO HERETICS!!" These words unleashed a powerful crack of thunder from everywhere all at once. This was the Daedric Lord coming out. Then Mariana sighed. There were only a few times where Mariana actually had to punish Nancy for an offense, all of them when he was still a relative beginner in terms of knowing/following her script. "Are you heretic or worshipper? Follower or witch? Do you seek atonement or do you seek death? This is not the time for indecisiveness, Nancy. You chose your actions in Defiance and Subversion. Now you either said heretical words worth punishing, or you have said words that you seek to clarify."

The issue Nancy presented was the flip-flopping, which made it seem like he was both accepting the label and asking for death, and rejecting the label trying to clarify. In the eyes of a system where a judgement was absolute, such indecisiveness couldn't fly. Mercy was unafforded to heretics, so if Nancy was taking the label, him asking was an outrage

She was calming down now, and spoke clearly yet decisively. "Swim to the Abyss. From there, you will either submit to the Oppression of the Abyss, or you will keep swimming until you reach the Trench in which I reside." Back when Mariana was the Goddess of the sea, there was no Abyss and no Trench. All of this water was holy and stopped at a certain depth. Here and now? It took more effort. "You can clarify your statements to me in person once you reach my Trench. Then I may change my outlook on Heresy. Should you choose to not, then when you wake up my ruling will stand as is."

Nancy's options

Submit to the Abyss- This is too much to bear. My presence is filthy, heretical, and unwanted. Better to submit to the Abyss
- Disadvantage: This is literal death
Tread Water as a Null- The Abyss is too frightening, the Trench too far down. Maybe living like this and taking her punishment as is is what I must reserve myself to. If the Abyss can make the Goddess like this, what will it do to me?
- Disadvantage: A manifestation of Nancy's indecisiveness, this keeps Nancy's alchemy knowledge sealed
Swim to the Trench- If she is offering mercy, this is my one and only time to take it. It's now or never. Do I let her go on thinking that I'm a heretic?
- Disadvantage: Face the worst of the Goddess to see again the Goddess he knew, served, and loved

Sebas Deadeye
Stoneroses HQ

Sebas wasn't going to be gentle. He was going to be honest. Sebas received a flood of knowledge when he was given the bullet to shoot. He wasn't about to just put a lethal bullet in Nancy's head. He wanted to lowdown on WHY.

"The Goddess kills me with this faith shit," Sebas said to them, utilizing the communication crystal instead of speaking aloud. This was not for naught. If other Gods were watching, him speaking aloud would betray any planning to them. He shouldn't even be telling them this, but if the Goddess wanted to be cryptic, she wouldn't be doing it while keeping him in on the loop. "The bullet I shot him with put him to sleep, and the Goddess initiated a commune. There are Gods both above and below who were looking in on that trial, so she can't just grant the dude a full pardon. It'll be a bad look enough to move Nancy to trial under a different God." A Goddess over the last 2 lung-borne? She would be deemed too biased if she just granted a pardon. Gods couldn't just let rule-breaking followers go. Even if she COULD, she can only pardon crimes against HER, not against Divinity Law. In other words, she could let the Heresy go but couldn't let Subversion go.

"She's communing with him so he can plead his case in person WITHOUT the eavesdropping of the Gods above and below, and without Elaina." Sebas explained, trying to keep Nellie from Faith-Shattering. "The Goddess fucked up and she's trying to correct herself without making herself look worse to those who have more power than her."
"The Goddess would never misstep!" It was Ora, who found herself back in the room when the Goddess disappeared.
"The Goddess ain't infallible, Ora," Sebas said simply and bluntly. "If She puts you in danger, I'm renouncing her ass in a second. Damn if she soul-bound us and made you my daughter."
Ora looked at him defiantly. "Then you'd be dead to me."
Sebas rolled his eyes, unfazed. "I ain't risking myself or your sister so you can be stupid, Orabelle," he told her darkly, not backing down. "I only did this shit for Lostro because this was beyond her control."
"What was beyond my control?" Lostro had entered the room when Ora did, yet said nothing on the subject of the Goddess. Made sense, since Lostro was still confused and a bit weirded out about anything related to the Goddess.
Sebas would let the thing about Mozza sit with Lostro for a while. "Curing your sickness," Sebas told her, "It took a lot to do."
"What all did you do?"
"Later," Sebas said told them finally, brushing them off. "I gotta deal with this."

He looked back to Vlad. The look of a tired father done with this situation. "That exile is gonna stand," Sebas said bluntly, "Best case? He reverses the Heresy charge and not have to spend his time cleaning toilets to eat. He'll be with either me or Demi until it's time for him to leave." Or Steven, but Sebas knew nothing about the interactions between the two.

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

Demestral Asella
The Canine- Deck

These were indeed special circumstances. She didn't JUST loose crewmates. She also lost close friends and her entire home city. Bereavement Leave was a good way to think about it. "I'm counting on you, Fergie," Demi told her, perking up as a sign of being reassured. Yes, Fergie did have the reputation of mouthing off at the wrong people at the wrong time. "I'll try to be cordial to a degree, but........." Demi shook her head. She was in a precarious position of asking for leave while having to warn Adonis. "..........."
"But you have to warn him about fucking with Quincy?" Ash asked in Demi's loss for words, "Don't mince words." she advised, "He threatened Baby Bear once and I made it clear that his head was coming off if he so much as plucked a strand of fur off his body without my permission. Him being captain ain't changing that."
"Same, recently with what he did to the Reinforcements during that fight with the demon," Avery added. "I don't do well with saboteurs." Demi tended to stay away from the rumor mill, but she had no idea that Adonis had messed around DURING the fight with the demon!! It made sense then that they both perked up their own grievances within the box. The crew couldn't be knowing about this kind of stuff. Demi was loyal to the crew with fought with more than Adonis himself, but she was loyal to the Dragon Supreme over quite literally everything not named Quincy

Knowing that Demi wasn't the only one who held these sentiments steeled her resolve. Not that she was intimidated by ANY means, but the danger was in it devolving into violence. "I thank all of you for your support," she said, sounding incredibly formal throughout all of this. "I hope you guys rest well in my absence and don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone." Demi dispelled the box. "I'm going to go pick up my friend." Demi ran off. "Quincy! Let's fly!" With a jump and a roar from Quincy, the pixie was gone again

Ashlynn Thormdottir
The Canine- Deck

Ash looked after her as she left. "That girl never slows down," she quipped. She just got here and then was off again. She'd come back, confront Adonis, then fly right off again
"A child of the skies through and through," MB grumbled
"I think this is gonna fuck with her for a long while," she said. Hell, it'll fuck with the entire crew for the foreseeable future. Even Ash herself. She was incredibly hard on her crew but not a single derogatory she spouted at them came from a place of hatred. "We gotta shuffle the crew. Hadn't done that in YEARS." A crew shuffle........such a thing only happened when there was a mass exodus. 25% of the crew gone meant that they could expect to see some new faces in the Canine and hope to not lose any familiar faces. This would coincide with the usual Adonis offer to let any newcomers join the crew or leave to get dropped off at the next stop in exchange for labor while aboard the ship

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 3, 2023

Nancy Noi
Spirit Waters

"STOP! PLEASE!" A frigid spike of panic pierced Nancy, body trembling as he curled up on himself. "Please, stop yelling at me! I'm so sorry," he sobbed. Couldn't She see he was breaking apart, the pieces too fractured to salvage? It hurt so badly to know She was mad at him. But it hurt worse knowing he had hurt Her enough to make her mad.
She's just angry! he desperately reasoned with himself. He couldn't bear to think that the Goddess wanted to hurt him, after weeping for him all night. And She's right to be! You moved Her hand! You did this to Her! You did this to yourself!!

She was asking if HE knew what he was?! "AAAAAGH!!" The scream was buried in his hands, but still reverberated throughout this barren void. "I don't know anymore, Goddess! I feel like I've been wronged! I feel like I deserve this! I don't know which is true! I'm hurting You! I'm hurting myself! And I don't know how to stop!!" He wished that angel had just killed him. He'd get to be with his Goddess, having committed no sin against Her, and this nightmare would have never occurred. But then... Nellie would have been faced with the war. She would have STARTED that war, simply over her brother's death. No different than how Nancy destroyed his life over fear of losing his sister.

Then the Goddess did something Nellie never afforded him. "You're..." He glimpsed down at that black, sprawling Abyss. "You're... giving me a choice?" Not only was She extending the mercy of hearing him out...
This is what you wanted, isn't it? It opened up under him like an infinite maw, hungry and beckoning his anguished soul. You wanted to be with Her forever. He had wanted the ice to encase him, free his burden as he rid Nellie of hers. This frozen hell below had seemed preferable to the hell of living. But now that said frozen hell bit at his toes, he felt the entirety of what was only a fraction in Nellie's arctic hands.

Above was the love and protection of his Goddess. Below was only malice, wrath so Oppressive that it corroded any light that touched. Was it at him? Did She hate him as much as She loved him, after this? His throat clenched, choking him if he weren't using his gills. I can't... I can't...

I can't go on like this. There was no going back. He couldn't face an unfamiliar world with nothing to his name. He'd either die out there alone, or die trying to correct his words.

Every fiber of his soul screamed as he plunged into the darkness.

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ

Vlad breathed a sigh, heavy and ragged. Sebas was easily sounding like one of the few reasonable people here. Now is NOT the time to test your newly converted follower's faith. Especially after punishing a loved one so harshly! He couldn't agree with Sebas more. Nellie's faith needed bolstering, not to be challenged again and again. The information Sebas shared with them could have easily been relayed to her. Did the Goddess not trust her to keep it under wraps? Or was Nellie too distressed to hear Her words even if imparted?

Nellie did calm down. Marginally. The cold nip in the air subsided, but sobs still caught in her throat, tears still running down. They could only be stifled when she realized that the two children had reentered the room, her eyes widening when she realized she was falling apart in front of them. Though her efforts at wiping away sorrow may not have been necessary, with how unfazed they seemed.

Following Sebas's lead, Vlad spoke with his crystal. "Do you see, Nellie? A powerful pirate fleet, with a captain who serves the Goddess. A place to stay where someone She trusts can oversee him." If the Basenjis could kill a demon, and only because they didn't level the city themselves, there wasn't another band of criminals he'd trust more to not fall prey to other rivals. "A chance to retract his words. A chance to atone, with the promise of celebration at his return. She's not abandoning him. She's taking every opportunity to help him, WHERE SHE CAN." He shook his head at it all. "I cannot stress enough how important it is that She not compromise Her good standing. This will impact Her ability to rule and protect Her followers." She couldn't compromise Justice just for the sake of one follower who kept digging himself deeper. Gods got stripped of their rank over things like this. There was no slap on the wrist awaiting the Goddess for setting the stage for this disaster.

Nellie's sleeve was making up for the lack of a handkerchief. Too bad his was full of his own tears. "I want to trust Her," she admitted in a broken voice. "I truly do. She's proven Herself over and over again." That he could agree with. One grievous mistake didn't erase all the good She'd done. "I know Nancy played a part in this but... but did She have to ruin his life more?! Take everything else away from him?!"
Her crying renewed, which he soothed with a paw running over her back. "She must believe it necessary for a complete life change, in order for him to overcome his struggles." Though personally, he saw it as more of a show. The Council was seeing a heretic mouthing off at the Goddess punishing him. Vlad was seeing a fool say some emotional words he didn't mean, and like hell the Goddess didn't. Hence the attempts to get a reversal on the charge. "She has immense faith in him to make it through this."
"I want to have faith! But how can I have faith after he--" Nellie stopped herself, but he knew what was unsaid. That regret was likely settling in now.

Vlad had words for this, but too much had already been said before they had the assurance of privacy. Plus, Sebas looked like he wanted to be done with this. "Captain, thank you for the clarification. We'll inform him and get him ready after he's woken up."
"What's happening to him?"
The low tone alerted him immediately, and Vlad recoiled at what she pointed out. A heavy scent of salt hung in the air around Nancy, his scales darkening from a dusky blue to a murky teal. He could almost see the floor under him, his body turning translucent.
"Vlad? What's happening?!" When Nellie pulled a hand away, Nancy's skin clung to her like congealed mush. "What is this?!"
"He's... he's turning." Vlad had never seen anything like this before, so there could only be one culprit.
A flash of color turned her crystal white eyes violet, and she jolted upright. "Mariah! Goddess!" Nellie's breaths grew heavy, panic renewed. "The Abyss is taking him!"

Bogrum and Fergie
The Canine - Deck

Seeing Demi reassured, especially after the others chipped in with their own grievances, gave Bogrum a little more confidence. He had heard about Adonis's foolishness with the Reinforcements, and couldn't imagine Fergie would let it slide. HE wouldn't let it slide. Fergie would be gearing up for a brawl, if not for her insistence on keeping things civil. Maybe I should have more faith in her.

"Don't ye worry. We'll get in just enough trouble," Fergie said with a wink, giving Demi an a-okay sign. Not ten seconds later, the Pixie and Wyvern duo were skybound. She took in a subtle sigh. "Shit's fucked," she agreed with Ash. That was just politics, wasn't it? Captain or King does some dumb shit, people die for it. Too bad they couldn't just lop Adonis's head off and be done with it, but they already had that conversation with their esteemed Raid Captain.
"A crew shuffle, though. Should we expect to find ourselves in a new station?"
Fergie looked up at him with a raised brow. Was she still feeling the effects of last night's binge, or did he sound hopeful? "Better put in an application early."
"Hm." As quickly as he brought it up, he swapped it for a new subject. "But my concern now is when we'll hold our own vigil." Hurt it may, he wouldn't ignore the inevitable. "A memorial in the skies? Can't say I've observed that before."

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 5, 2023

Daedric Sanctified Location: The Abyss
"Take control, or submit to my control."
-Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deeps

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Oppressive Darkness, Oppressive Pressure, Oppressive Cold. The Abyss is the biggest sanctified location throughout all realms. When one finally traverses the depths of the Deepest Deeps comes the final obstacle. A daunting traversal of 7,000 feet from 13,000-20,000 to reach the Trench of Goddess Mariana, it is the culmination of Oppressive. Hard enough to find given the lack of light from the layer above, The Abyss has an unholy trinity of Oppression. Oppressive Darkness serving as a poison that sucks out all light, Oppressive pressure for every 1,000 feet of ocean above it, and Oppressive Cold that come with the touch of Daedric making it to freezing temperatures, this place is its own natural buffer zone keeping interlopers from Mariana's Holy Trench

The Sanctified Daedric Location to note isn't actually in the Abyss, but in the Deepest Deep. It is the spectral outline of a wrecked ship, along with the ghostly spirits of those aboard when it wrecked. If one begins to see spirits of humans in the otherwise pitch black unseeable-ness of the Deepest Deeps, it is because you are nearing the ship. This ship is sanctified. The MOST sanctified location on the planet due to it almost never being interrupted or subverted. If one sees the ship, it is their final warning before they enter the Abyss, characterized by its bow pointing up, the only sense of direction one will have seen since entering the Deepest Deeps, and the one pointing back to where the light will be

The creatures of The Abyss are exponentially stronger than the Deepest Deeps, the temperature immediately noticeably lower, the darkness almost suffocatingly permeant. Many of the creatures here are blind, repulsed by the light. However, unlike the Deepest Deeps, the Abyss sucks out the light, the creatures hostile to holy with this being their domain. Light doesn't illuminate far. Batteries die faster, light-generating spells using exponentially more mana. If one runs out of light and their vision is plunged into darkness, the darkness begins to poison them, feeding on the light in their eyes until they are robbed of their vision completely. Then the light on the soul is fed upon, causing gradual hollowfication. When hollowfication completes, the soul is Oppressed out completely, leaving a silhouette of a corpse, all color robbed from even their bones.

The Abyss is Mariana's domain, the waves of Oppression vast and deep. If you are not welcome, best stop at the Deepest Deep

The cold dark waters of The Abyss began its work as soon as Nancy's vision left him and the water temperature dropped low enough to numb the body. "Should the light fade, life fades." A whisper passed through Nancy's ears. A small ball of light came into Nancy's vision, hard to track but visible nonetheless. A small spirit flame? A mischievous sprite? The lure of an Abyssal beast? A guide sent by the Goddess, the light he needed to find in the darkness? The ball began to float away from Nancy, shown by it getting smaller and smaller. Nancy could pulse his vision by using Holy Magic to see his surroundings in full if only for a few seconds (Remember, he lost it in the real world, not here since he still has Divine Favor) yet...... What he saw in those few seconds were horrifying. Creatures lurked below, almost mutated in looks. Pitch black eyes, almost demonic looking. Who needed vision in the Abyss? Razor sharp teeth like and a look like they'll skin you alive then eat you bones and all. Bodies blackened. Even in Nancy's enhanced vision, they looked like silhouettes. These waters were full of them, these fish. Viper fish. Serpentine eels brimming with ions and crackling with black static. This would be unseen in the Abyss if not for Nancy enhancing his vision. Fish almost completely transparent yet with those midnight black orbs for eyes.

There were 2 creatures that served as guardians at the Surface and the Depths. Those were the Kraken and the Leviathan. Nancy was familiar with those, Titans of the waters, awe-worthy and magnificent as they were fierce. Here? If these fish were denizens of the Abyss, what would the Guardians look like? What would they be? What other abominations lurked these waters? Is this where Nancy wanted to die? In this Oppressive arctic cold visionless waterscape? Even FISH could drown in these waters.

Were these people actually abominations? Were they malicious and violent? These were, afterall, children of the Goddess just as much as he was, a people in a different place, the new age to his outdated lung-borne ass. Did THEY need to be protected too? Were they loved by the Goddess as well? Was this love? Was this Divine Favor? Surely these people had their own children whom they loved and surely they loved the Goddess. This WAS the Goddess's waters. Were these actually people? Were they real?

Nancy wouldn't have time to figure that out, as one of them swam into his face and hissed, and with it, the holy that enhanced his vision was sucked out. A warning: the Holy was not welcome. This was a different kind of sacred location, no less sanctified than the Trench. Just sanctified in a different way. Like bringing Vespera into the Church, not a single fiber of Nancy's being felt welcome here. Unlike Vespera in the church though, Nancy was afforded a mercy: A lot of these fish were blind. Ves would be a pile of ashes by now if she entered the Church, yet Nancy...... Was still alive. Maybe it was the Goddess keeping him alive. No.... It was the nature of Oppression. While Holy Sanctification served a zero tolerance to the Daedric, delivering a swift smiting, the Daedric Sanctification was a poison. An extremely potent and painful poison. The ice in the air that crystallized in the lungs, the murk in the waters made it hard to breathe through gills, the gas that singed the sinuses and caused a painful hacking cough, the weight on your chest growing heavier every time one drew a breath, the famine that made your stomach gnaw on your muscles........ the conquest that burned Kraiven to the ground in the first invasion

This was the Oppression that Nellie turned on their oppressors in Hemhart and the 100 Elite, and the fate that awaited Nancy should he choose this. He would be an algae Oppressed into oblivion along with the traitors to the kingdom. The people he was surrounded by right now in the Abyss could take it. They thrived in it. Nellie could take it and then wield it. Nancy? This wasn't Nancy's place. This was a fate worse than death. Nancy.........knew nothing about Oppression or the Daedric. Did he think that the place that Hemhart would be sentenced to would be preferable to ANYTHING?

Despite knowing he was unwelcome here, the Abyss sucked at his will to keep going, beckoning him to stop. Voices from above. Voices from below. Voices from in front, behind, left right. Nellie, Ves, Demi, Efi, Arnold, GP, Jack, Steven. The whisper of an endless swim, chasing a goal he couldn't see, to the destination of potentially nowhere. Keeping his eyes on the light staved off the voices, staved off the fatigue, but the light was a fickle one, quick moving and spastic.

He could use the Holy enhancement to see and keep going but there was no replenishment of it, and it made him bear witness to what lurked in the terrifying Oppressive Darkness. What was worse: Knowing something was lurking and not seeing it..... Or seeing it and knowing you were powerless in it's presence regardless of the horror you were looking at? Since there was no replenishment of it, his use was limited, a method to buy himself time

He made his choice to take the plunge. Now there was no turning back. Oppression or atonement?

If Nancy's light went out, if he gave up hope, if he lost his faith, he was done for. The death he was confronting this time around wasn't a masked skeleton with a scythe. This wasn't some earthen death that ended in one meeting their maker for Judgement in Nancy's first attempt on his life. This........ this was an Oppressive Death. There were no clearer waters here, no solace. Only Oppression. Either he got out, or he became one with the Abyss. Only those wrapped in the darkness of those waters could find comfort. That was for Nellie. Not Nancy. Just like Nellie would never find comfort in the Trench, Nancy would never find comfort in the Abyss

Mariah the Watcher
Stoneroses HQ

Mariah rushed over urgently. Sure enough, Nancy had begun to feel the effects of the Abyss. She touched him, thinking that there would be an effect, that there COULD be an effect given that Daedric was obviously working on his body. However, there was still nothing. "There's nothing we can do," Mariah said. "He's Null. Nothing we do with magic will have any effect. Not on this side of things." Mariah couldn't even pray Nancy made it out. The Goddess she would pray to was witnessing all of it. None of this would be happening to Nancy's body if he weren't in this commune with the Goddess.

The only thing to do was wait. "My my," Elaina said, making her entrance. She eyed Nancy, pulling her hand close but not touching him. "What a predicament. The only way to the Trench is through the Abyss." The Trench was a specific location on earth. There was only 1 way in and out. There was no way to reach the Trench without traversing the distance above it first. "Never thought the Goddess would go this far. But it makes sense...... "

"The Goddess is making Nancy swim to Her through the Abyss," Mariah concluded. It was a very easy conclusion to draw, because the Goddess wouldn't just inflict that on him. "It is.......necessary. Suicide isn't an escape from Punishment. If you commit a crime, you will serve Punishment. If not in this life, then the next."

"Ding ding ding," Elaina said, wagging her finger as she said it. "Nancy gets to learn about The Abyss. Hemhart's sentencing place....." Elaina leaned in and her voice got dark and she spoke slowly. ".......and the place he will end up if he tries to escape the Goddess's punishment. Seeing the Abyss will dispel ANY notion that suicide is an escape. It. Is. DEFIANCE."

Upon Elaina saying that, it made Mariah realize how little Nancy knew about the Goddess now and definitely how little he knew about The Abyss. Most didn't know. Heck, SHE didn't even know until the Goddess flooded her brains. How COULD one know? The Abyss was eternally dark and never explored. Those that lived there never came out, and even if they could, had nothing to talk about, nothing to describe.

Divinity Law was frightening. Immensely immensely frightening. It made her stomach groan to know that, as a Watcher, she could very well doom someone to a fate such as Oppression in the Abyss. "Nancy must make it through the Abyss. I have faith in him making it out," Mariah said with a calm resolve about her now. There was nothing she could do. She had complete faith in the Goddess's intentions, and she had complete faith in Nancy wanting to keep living on.

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 5, 2023

Nancy Noi
The Abyss

Should the light fade, life fades.

A single light. To gaze upon its darting form repelled the dark tendrils that weaved across his eyes. To near its warmth staved off the needles of ice that jabbed between his scales. To follow its path was to ease the pressure of 10,000 feet bearing down on him. A single light kept the Oppression of a malevolent Lord from feasting upon what little light remained in his soul. To think on anything else was to acknowledge that this place wanted nothing more than to blind him, freeze him, crush him into oblivion. This place despised him.

She despised him.
No! That's not true-- She's right there!
Was it? Or was it just a lure, guiding him to false promises? Some Trench where She supposedly wanted him, only to send him out an impossible trial to cure an incurable illness?
There is no impossible. We left to the Void and came back! Just like Nellie said--
Who will never forgive herself for all of this. Did he really think ending it all would HELP her?!
I'm... I'm burdening her. She'd be better off without me.
They all would.

"Goddess!!" The little light flickered in the far distance, flitting further and further away. Or was he being pulled away, yanked until he rebound further backwards? "Don't leave me!"
She already has, hasn't She?
But the promise of return. The apologies and thanks She couldn't give yet. She wouldn't give up on him!
Why shouldn't She? I betrayed Her... why would She want to help me? Why would She still love me?!
Why would anyone? He hated himself more than anyone loved him. He couldn't begin to repay all that they did for him.
I just wanted to protect my sister...
He couldn't protect her from herself. He couldn't protect her from himself.

Disturbances in the undulating deep startled him, shifting the water by his scales. Ever surrounding were echoes of voices, chewing their way through his ears with dagger teeth until they overpowered his thought-voice.
Do you ever think about how much you hurt us?
"I do!" he cried. "Every single day!"
You failed us.
"I... I know..."
There's no greater shame.
"I'm sorry!" A greater pressure built in his eyes, tears indistinguishable from the black brine. "I'm so sorry. I ruined everything!"
So why would you think we'd ever want to see you again?
"Because--!" There was nothing. No light, no guide in this endless darkness. "Goddess...?"
She's abandoned you. They all have. And they have every damn right to.

He felt numb. He felt pain. He felt nothing the mortal could describe. "GODDESS!!" His guttural shriek pierced the Abyssal waters, surely falling on deaf ears. "So this is it, then?! I follow Your Word to perfection for 200 years, without Your guidance, mourning Your loss! Then You shower a dissident follower with Gifts having done nothing for You, but I make one mistake, and have everything taken from me! Am I not good enough for You, Goddess?! AM I GOOD ENOUGH FOR ANYONE?!"

Despair rooted in his core, growing outwards in branching veins. Oppressive tendrils burrowed inwards, meeting in the middle between flesh and sinew. The sharp cold made him gasp, water pushing through his gills like thick tar. Grasping the Holiness within, he flashed a pulse of light from his eyes. And was met with horror.
He didn't know who screamed louder. Him, or the abysmal beast that opened its many-teethed maw before him. Eyes like portals to the Void, its throat a tunnel into Hell. Any light was sucked into its gullet, snuffed out before his eyes until they saw nothing.
I can't do anything right.
So why bother trying anymore?!

"Fine! I get it now!" Nancy whipped around the empty not-empty space, yanking his fins. "I was never meant to succeed! It's literally in my namesake! It was foreseen that I'd be a failure!" Water stirred all around him, though he didn't move another foot down. "You have Your golden child now! Your perfect Mage! Why would you even need me anymore?!"

This place despised him. It wanted to consume his Holy, consume his soul, and Oppress it into misery forever. He could think of no more fitting a punishment. "You deserve a follower who actually follows!" The coiling Abyss wrapped around him, enveloping limb and tail. "Zeltzin deserved an apprentice who isn't so useless! Nellie deserves a brother who won't drag her down! Efi, Arnold, GP, Mariah... they deserve someone who they don't have to pity!" It crept up his neck, demanding entry of his maw and gills. "I'm a terrible servant, a terrible brother, a terrible friend--" It silenced his crystal, choking him as reached for the soul within. Some Shield I am. I couldn't protect her. I couldn't protect Ves. I couldn't even protect myself--

And stopped.

Vespera...
He still hadn't given her that gift.
Does anyone else know what she's been through? Will anyone else show her how much we appreciate her? How much I'll miss her? He couldn't succumb before letting her know that her suffering wasn't in vain.

The burning tendrils receded, permitting him breath. And Nellie! Nellie suffered so much trying to help me through everything. I can't let that be for nothing... how is that showing how I appreciate her? He finally permitted himself breath. The ice tore lacerations through his gills with each one, but they came with more vigor as he remembered, Goddess wept all night! Everyone High and Below saw it! I can't bear to think what it would do to Her if I just--
What was he doing?

She was loathed and abused for 200 years! 200! The realization lit a warmth within himself. It dispelled the Abyssal grasp on his person, the tendrils reeling back from their slow crawl into him. 200 years she suffered, and she's still here! She still carried on, she still held hope. And here she is now. Of those 200 years, who abused him? Who treated him like garbage until he conceded and believed it himself? I have no excuse. If she could do it, why couldn't he?

When the needles in his eyes subsided, they opened. And were met with wonder.
What... how...
A single light. A pinprick, nigh microscopic dot of light hovered in front of his vision. Silvery and soft, not bright and golden like Holy light. But it WAS Holy.
If she can do it, so can I.
The light glimmered in response. Was it real? Or an illusion his mind conjured, a last ditch attempt at self-preservation?
What am I doing?!

He couldn't just leave everyone! Nellie, who defended him to the ends of the Earth. Vlad, who never left his side even during his worst moments. Goddess, who was there for him when he returned, as faithful as he'd been. Efi, GP, Mariah, and Demi, who always loved his company. Arnold Asella, who never stopped telling him how proud he was to have such a skilled alchemist as a member. Zeltzin, who had been so diligent with him even up to her death. And Vespera, his very best friend.
As each person came to mind, another light flickered. They flashed to life, warding away the darkness until the constellation formed a shield around him. A constellation-- His breath hitched in his throat.

They shone like stars.

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ

My God... Could things get any worse? Yes. Yes they could. But that all depended on Nancy now. "He has too much good to look forward to, to justify throwing it all away." And Vlad had too much faith in him to believe he would. This would be his final wake-up call, a frigid fire lit under his ass to get him to finally confront his demons. No more walling up behind the fortified doors of an alchemy lab, burying under books, busying his mind with information to ward off the dark thoughts that plagued him.
I... I should have seen the signs sooner, he thought with a sinking heart. I should have helped him more. He could have. But Vlad couldn't help someone who didn't want to help themselves.

That was something Nellie still wasn't getting. "None of you understand!" she hissed, pointed fangs in full display. "Did you not hear me?! HE. HATES. HIMSELF!!" Arms clung tighter to Nancy in a desperate grip, his body giving way too much. "If he's not running to his death to end it all, then it's to punish himself! He'll take on that Abyss just to suffer!"
"It is STILL DEFIANCE!" His patience was wearing thin, loosening its hold on his ever rising temper. "His Goddess-Ordained sentence is exile until recovery! Not Eternal Damnation! But your brother would rather destroy himself whole and fully, just to evade the punishment given by a loved one!" Remembering Nancy's words in the church, it made sense. If suffering in stagnation was prefered to facing his vices, it meant those vices were punished with cruelty. If his father was anything like Vlad's mother... no, far worse. But neither were like the Goddess. "He can't see that the Goddess's discipline is a show of faith and love! If he can be punished, he can improve!"
But Nellie couldn't see it either, and didn't back down. "If the punishment is enough to make him want to die, then maybe he should evade it!"
"HE MAKES HIMSELF WANT TO DIE!!"

His bellow rattled the walls of the office, numbing his ears and surely piercing those of everyone else inside. Air shaken, canines bared, Nellie was stunned enough to finally shut up. Finally! If she could shut up, then she could listen. "Every single person in this room who has ever done anything for him, was to help him," he explained in a lower voice, but the growl in his throat let her know he wasn't yet calm. "But you can't help someone who won't help themselves. You can't save someone from themselves!"
"Yes you can!" she insisted, distress wavering her voice. "I've been doing it my whole life!" Tears unleashed, sobs breaking through as the dam crumbled. "If I hadn't faltered, none of this would've happened! The moment I let myself be weak, he does this!"
"Because you wouldn't let him be strong!" That was the whole issue here. Or at least a very large part. "You've been setting him up for failure, Nellie. Treating him like he can't handle things. How else is he supposed to learn? How else is he supposed to have faith in himself, if even you can't?!"

Vlad prepared himself for this to devolve into a screaming match. The idea that Nellie was doing the opposite of saving him would destroy her, sooner rousing her wrath than throwing her into the pits of despair. So when the fight in her instead deteriorated, sobs intensifying as she lowered her head to Nancy's, it was time to switch gears.
"I just wanted to protect him!" she wailed. "I'm the elder sister! That's what I'm supposed to do! Who else will?!"
"You aren't meant to protect him! Maybe once upon a time." Only long ago, when they were still lost children. Now they were adults, a man and woman who should have found their place by now. "But you heard the Goddess. You are NOT a Shield. NANCY is the Shield."

Her head lifted, flooded and hazy eyes pleading as they met his. "I can't leave him to die..."
"You won't. Listen to me." His paws clutched her shoulders, Nancy nestled between them. She jolted at the sudden touch, her attention nowhere else but on the man who demanded it. "You are not a Shield. You are not an Arrow. You are a Sword, and a Hook." He had no doubt on his mind that the Goddess knew what She was doing. This trial highlighted what Vlad didn't know how to convey before. "Nancy is the Shield to protect against Oppression. Let Nancy shield himself. And you..."

Nellie Noi

WayfaringWaaksian said:
"You can't just RUN from this, Nellie! You can't run from yourself! This is all YOU!"

Her lungs stilled. Her tears ran dry. Clarity pierced its way through her frenetic mind like a cold Ice Shard. Maybe it was Vlad's words, or a bestowment from her Goddess. Maybe it was the memories that ran across her mind's eye, memories of a girl shielding a scared little boy from the world, from monsters who would devour them until nothing remained. But just as many were of that boy standing beside her, facing those monsters with an unyielding courage. Scared did not mean helpless. He was never helpless.
Those deadly brown caps in his hand... he had confessed to the temptation. And had she not intervened, he might have succumbed to it. But the intention when he picked them weren't to run into the Goddess's embrace. They were to concoct a poison for their enemies, rather than himself. He always helped me fight.

Helping wasn't stealing the burden from her. It was her burden to bear. But he lightened the load. I have to help him protect.

"I can't turn the Sword against him." This Oppression was from within. It was a part of him, weaved into his soul. To strike it would maim him. "But I can be the Hook." The realization came with an assertive nod. "The Hook to drag the Abyss out of him."
"Then do it. Quickly!" Vlad urged her, paws tightening their hold.

Eyes glowed violet before she sealed them shut, concentration etching lines into her face as she set her forehead against Nancy's. But the Hook needn't find him. I've been holding you back, Nancy. Time to cut you loose.

----------

Something snapped. A tether broke, and he felt himself sink. Down? Yes, the pressure was growing now. A new rush of energy flooded his bloodstream, drowning out the exhaustion that stiffened his limbs. It came with a memory.

WayfaringWaaksian said:
"I'M sorry. I'll never stop fighting again. I promise."

"Nellie!" Her star flashed with a burning vigor. He felt tears return to his eyes. "You've fought for me so hard."

But the residents here... didn't like that very much. A hiss sounded on one side, something buffeting him on the other. A fraction of Holy was still Holy, and he knew in his soul that they wanted nothing more than to purge it. The fatigue would return, his will would dampen, the Oppression already multiplying its efforts as doubts came flooding in.
She'll never forgive herself-- Yes she will! She'll be okay. Even if he couldn't be around to reassure her.

The Abyss would take him soon. Nothing Holy could sustain itself in this Daedric Sanctified place long. But this bought him some time. "Now I'll try to fight for myself."

Plunging downwards-- at least, he thought it was downwards-- "There!" Yes, it was still there! The little lure hadn't gone far. Goddess had to have been waiting on him, counting on him to shake it off and keep pressing on.

Kylesar1 said:
"My dear Nancy Noi............"

The first, wonderful words he heard from Her, after that hellish 200 year wait. He was Her servant, Her Child! She could never hate him. "Goddess!" He was no heretic. There were only two people in all of existence who he loved as much as Her. Two terrible decisions, or poorly-spoken words, couldn't change that.
But how can I even begin to atone?

WayfaringWaaksian said:
"You owe it to yourself to improve. But if you can't try for yourself, Nancy? Try for us. Try for your Goddess, and your sister. You owe it to them, too."

It was no impossible task. If She sent him away with nothing, then She knew he could return with so much more. He had done it once before. And maybe there wouldn't be nothing; She did say She'd reward him, after all. If She wanted him back, She wouldn't send him to his death.

Kylesar1 said:
"I'm glad you actually made it out alive, Nancy!"

They wanted him to live! The Stoneroses, and everyone else. He was so lucky to be alive, after so many died.
But why me? Why was I Ordained to live, and them die?

Kylesar1 said:
"I'm sorry this happened to you. I know you of all people don't deserve this."

... Did he? The Council seemed to think--
No. Fuck the Council. He deserved the chance to atone. He deserved the chance to fix this. Every one of them thought so! They did so much to get him here, and he was about to just throw it all away?!
He was so ungrateful...

No. Not ungrateful. Just scared.

A horrible growl shook the water, rattling each scale and down to every bone. The stars were blotted out, his only light now that orb that led him ever down. Something... HORRIBLE... was there. Always there? Well, now it was MORE there, and it wouldn't tolerate another burst of Holy in these Daedric waters. But that was okay. He had what he needed now. He was getting out of there.

"Goddess!" His tail screamed in protest as he propelled himself faster. His skin was so numb he couldn't feel the other fish move around him. His eyes burned from the darkness that wanted to consume them, and his chest hurt from a pounding heart that beat against the critical pressure. But he had to be almost there. 200 years he'd waited... what was a little longer? "I don't want to fear You anymore! I love You!"

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 6, 2023

The Abyss

Nancy caught the little light. Finally. As he grabbed it, it began to glow brighter. No, his vision began to improve and then he laid eyes on something in front of him. The beast behind the light. More horrifying than every other thing he'd seen. The beast roared and and its gaping maw opened. There would never be more Daedric emanating from a place except from perhaps the Goddess Herself. More teeth than anything he'd ever seen sharpened to pierce even the hardest of armor. This beast didn't have eyes. At least, not eyes where eyes should be. To its left and to its right were 2 eel-looking faces also hissing at him with their own mouths full of razor-sharps. 3 heads, a set of eyes on the left and right head, then a maw so massive that if Nancy hadn't watched it open its mouth, he wouldn't know that he was staring into one save for its breath, eerily the sole source of warmth he had encountered since he began swimming

Now the Oppressive Darkness seemed more Oppressive than ever. How do you get more dark than the Abyss? Enter the giant gaping death-hole that was the mouth of a Guardian.......One of the tyrants of the Abyss. From there, the Oppression started working double, triple, quadruple time on Nancy. This Oppression wasn't a poison. This was complete and total tyranny, a highly potent acid that didn't whisper suggestions to will as much as brainwashed you into submission

For a bit, Nancy's soul was snuffed out of existence. 10 seconds. 20 seconds. 30...........

..............Nancy's vision didn't return until minutes later, where it would burn his eyes from the sudden burst of light. Nancy began to burn horrendously for a few seconds. Then it stopped, then it began to soothe. Now the waters were clear. Warm. Comforting. He could see again, and swim like it instead of the murky waters of The Abyss. When Nancy looked up, he would the beast that he exited. Only a silhouette, a shadow. Not a single detail visible before was visible on it now. The beast hissed again, its other 2 heads hissing with it, then it turned around back into the pitch black waters touching it but never mingling it mixing with it. He had made it

The Guardian had brought him here

Holy Sanctified Locations: The Trench and Cordelia, the City in the Trench

If one can make the 7,000 feet swim through the Oppressive Trinity that makes up the Abyss, one will be immediately met with warm, crystal clear waters. Thriving with all manner of life, beautiful colorful coral reefs, fish that shimmer with the brightest scales, fish that are known to be extinct in the world above and fish thought to be only seen in myth, the Trench is a finish line to a dangerous path travelled. Treasure chests littered the floors, finally coming to rest as sanctified and holy now

The Trench, unlike the Abyss, is an underwater paradise, a tropical dream. A place only the most faithful holy are allowed in the afterlife, it is a haven of the Goddess Mariana. To those who can survive the pilgrimage, who can keep the faith through some of the worst conditions in this realm and the next, the worst gives way to an eternally loving and doting Goddess reminiscent of the Goddess of the Sea of 200 years ago

This spectacle, this shimmering beauty glowing with Holy Magic and spreading it to every single thing the waters touched all gave way to the visual out in the open, a big area for a trench. It was a giant underwater city with an absolutely massive palace in the dead center. This was Cordelia, the City in the Trench. With the Abyss being one of the most Daedric places on the planet given how the flow of Daedric sanctification is never interrupted due to the natural buffer zone of 13,000 feet's worth of ocean bearing down on it, Cordelia is the same with Holy for the same reason

Cordelia is a place made for all manners of sea-based life, all to dote on the devotees of the Goddess. Magnificent is the most appropriate word to describe it. It had in it a beauty that could never be accomplished by human hands, a place that preserved every bit of life that could flourish under the sea, so while it was very obviously crafted, there was never any indications of terra-forming, as if the Goddess hand-made this location Herself to have her city built on

However, that was simply not the case. Unlike most Gods who had their city built to their desired form factor, Goddess Mariana did not. This was a labor of love from the denizens of the deep, celebrating her descent to become the Goddess of the Deepest Deep. These weren't her Holy followers. These were the followers in The Abyss, her Daedric followers who not only gave to her the Abyss they so dearly called home, but also allowed her to foster a Holy city within the city THEY BUILT HER. It is truly an act of devotion for a people who love their God, to allow her to foster a Holy presence to a Daedric City

Then guard it with their lives. Let it be known then that Goddess Mariana rightfully holds her children in extremely high regard.

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Cordelia: Temple of the Goddess- Throne Room

Nancy was spat into the Trench, alive and well, soul preserved. Now he was here in Cordelia. Her last Holy City Atlantis lay destroyed and decrepit at the bottom of the Depths not far from where the Deeps began. She gave it to the humans after purging everything of value in it when it was time for her to Descend. Now though, it was Cordelia. "This, my dear Nancy, is one of my new homes," she declared after Nancy finally got his bearings back and settled in with the knowledge that he was in fact alive and not a morsel for that gargantuan horror-beast that was the Tyrant of the Abyss.

"This is to be your home if you are faithful. Nellie will live in a section of the Abyss reserved for my devoted as well, away from the likes of those who must be punished. She will never bear witness to this Holy City Cordelia, just as you will never bear witness to my beautiful Abyssal city Elmar. That is for her. This is for you." The Goddess said nothing of Nancy's words, but the response seems to merit that they reached. Otherwise, Nancy would be a silhouette husk by now. Or digested in the belly of that Guardian. "Your faith and your resolve shone through. For that, I deemed you worthy to bring here, lest you die right after the 15,000 mark." Yeah, Nancy made it about 2,000 feet. Who knows how much time passed since he took the plunge. It was a pathetically slow speed though. It only went to show much work the Oppressive Abyss did on him. The Daedric concentrated in the Abyss was potent and ancient at this point. Ancient as in there even before she took it over

The Abyss was there to protect the Trench. A pilgrimage through it was not an easy task. 7,000 feet was nothing for a sea-based creature. Did Nancy think he got anywhere near close? With that little faith, determination, and fear? Nancy could take solace in that he made it far enough for it to matter. He was floundering until............well until whatever mental block he had was lifted off his shoulders

The Goddess laughed to herself. "Friends. Nellie, my dear. Your faith has been rewarded." These words projected out into the Stoneroses HQ. Mariana saw all of it, all of Nancy's thoughts within the Abyss. And the scene above. Nellie had also finally learned her place. It was beside her brother. Not in front of him. The sword only moved in front of the shield when it was time to strike.

But it was back to Nancy. Time was ticking. "Come to me, posthaste. You are not here for leisure." she then said formally, "Know that you have one chance and one chance only to make your appeal. It is not through hatred in which punishment is rendered. In death, an end. In punishment, a life renewed." Any hope to explore this city in any kind of length was snuffed out immediately with those words. Last thing he wanted was to keep the Goddess waiting even a second longer than he needed to. Another light conjured in front of him, to guide him to the palace in the center of the Holy City. "Time is fleeting........" then she cut the connection

Mariana pulled out put a scroll, the Ordination of Punishment. Then pulled out another and wrote on the top "Amendment to Existing Ordination of Punishment."

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

Back in the Stoneroses HQ, Nancy's body followed its progression with the Abyss. The Oppression taking hold and beginning to destroy his body, then burning in the Trench when spat out by the Guardian as Daedric is unwelcome there, then stopping, then beginning to heal in the Trench's Holy Waters. The effects on Nancy's body long term remained to be seen, but one thing was for certain: His body on earth remained Null, his breathing calm. They all heard the words of the Goddess. Whatever it was they did, it worked

"Sebas, are you fine staying here?" Elaina asked him, standing beside him as they watched the proceedings. The Kraiven residents had been hunched over Nancy for minutes on end, and rightfully so given the crazy thing that was happening despite Nancy being a Null
"I may as well stay," Sebas responded. "Looks like shit is getting better so we ain't staying here much longer anyway." Lostro and Ora were bickering. Lostro wanted to see what happened when Oppression overtook Nancy completely. Orabelle wanted Nancy to live. Elaina wanted to find out what properties were around these effects to Nancy's body despite his body being Null. Sebas wanted to leave. "Lattice, how ya holding up?"
"I'm fine, Sir Sebas," Lattice said with a bow of her head, though the thorough shaking of her body gave away that she was utterly frightened about the amount of Daedric prevalent in the room between it having emanated from Nancy's body, from Lostro, and especially from Nellie where it leaked the more emotional she got.
Sebas sighed. "Come here, Lattice," he said to which Lattice obliged without resistance. He put his hand on her head. His left hand, the holy one. "Calm it down," he told her softly, "I wouldn't let the girls stay here if it were dangerous."
"It's hard to be calm in a situation such as this," Lattice responded, "How do you stay calm?"
Sebas unsheathed his knife and eyed its glint. "What keeps me calm? Knowing that I can kill it," he said with a bit of a chuckle. "For you and the girls? It's knowing that I can kill it."
"So confidence in violence?"
"How has Demi protected you from harm? With witty banter?"
"...........Touche, Sir Sebas." she said calmly and sat down beside him, calmed by the soothing of his left hand. "Then shall I have confidence that you will protect me?"
"Second only to the girls, yeah."
"Hmmmmmm? Someone's taken to Lattice, I see," Elaina mused. "I thought you saw her as something else to babysit."
Sebas scoffed. "Lattice is in full control of her magic. She don't make no noise. She don't open her mouth unnecessarily." Sebas started rattling off and counting on his fingers. "She don't fuck with the divine. She don't attract attention. She don't complain. She's there when called. She don't go trying to get herself killed. She keeps herself clean. She don't fight. She washes her ass. She dresses well." Sebas looked at Elaina. "Lattice is a SAINT. If she were human, I would propose and then abandon this crew." His head snapped to look at Lattice. "Don't take that the wrong way." Sebas was so done with this shit. He was undoubtedly the most insane person in all of this.
Lattice began to actually laugh. "No offense taken," she said in a giggling fit. "Is your life that bad, Sir Sebas?"

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 9, 2023

Nancy Noi
The Abyss

With each flick and flutter, the little light teased a growing compulsion that turned convoy into chase. Would it become a guide to continue shining the way down, or a shield to beat back the Oppression that still pulled at his insides like a magnet? Curiosity overwhelmed Nancy until he caught it, held tight and glowing between finned hands. "Gotcha!"

His reward? A perfect view of the Abyss itself parting open. Two tail-lengths, ten, twenty, fifty, and onward until the distance between jaws was unfathomable. Teeth that narrowed to such fine points that it bore more resemblance to sinews splitting apart in tearing flesh. A growling howl that rattled every particle until he felt indistinguishable from the murk. A blast of hot breath that made him wish for the numbness that had deadened his nose, the stench of a hundred million demises singing his whiskers. Darkness beyond darkness beckoning to join them. Commanding.

He was gazing into Death's insatiable maws. "... Ah." What was that about Nancy not wanting to fear the Goddess? Yeah, this made quick work of that little hiccup.

The pounding in his chest, the ice in his veins, the clarity hazing in his eyes... this wasn't his usual anxiety, spiraling into panic at horrors imagined. This was horror unimaginable. No more primal fear existed than prey being faced with predator. There was no fight or flight. Only freeze. Only obey.

Then, blissful nothingness...

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ

Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes felt like an eternity, especially when Nancy's body began to lose its form and seep into Nellie's hold, to her palpable distress. Vlad prepared himself witness her brother melting into a pile of algae. He always had to prepare for the worst. Even so...
Fight it, Nancy! His thoughts would never reach, but they were his own assurance. You don't want this! Don't you dare leave us like this!

But he didn't. The Daedric decay slowed, ceased, then reversed when his body regained its solidity. Nancy still lay in his sister's arms, a sleeping Locathah motionless save for his soft breathing. Vlad let out his own breath when the Goddess confirmed their hopes; he'd made it. Honest to Gods, he actually made it.

Nellie began to cry violent sobs against Nancy's shoulder, in a way he'd never heard her before. Terror dissolved into relief, grief into gratitude. Endless thanks poured from her crystal, only ceasing to say, "Maybe... maybe he'll be okay."
"He will be. We'll all be." His hands lowered from her shoulders to her back, pulling the twins into an embrace. "The worst is over now." The city destroyed, the population decimated, the ruling class executed, things could only go up from here. As for Nancy... if he could muster courage through that terrifying Abyss Nellie tapped into, nothing could hold him back now. Nothing could hold back any of them.

Vlad only caught pieces of the Basenjis' banter, and only turned to look their way when he blinked his own tears away. "Don't feel obligated to stay. But your presence is appreciated." Admittedly, it was a subtle request that they do stay. Their information had been imperative, their company a reassurance. From pirates, no less! Vlad never would have dreamed it back in the old days, but those days were long behind him.

Nancy Noi
The Trench - Cordelia

Existence made its return with harsh remembrance. White shards of light tore through his eyes, the world eating away at his skin as it seared through flesh. In those few seconds, all Nancy knew was pain, but his cries were cut short when agony melted into relief. At long last, relief! He could see, smell, and feel again, aching body and tumultuous mind soothed in the warm waves. Holy waves...
... disturbed only by a hiss overhead that made his spine shiver. That tyrannical beast, the Abyssal Guardian, made its farewell before ascending into the rolling black to rejoin its teratoid kin. It not a predator and he not prey, rather escort and passenger. The realization made him heave the heaviest sigh he ever had, letting himself lay limp as jelly legs tingled with adrenaline. Oh my Goddess.

As if on cue, Her blessed voice graced his ears. Kindly, reassuring, with none of Her Daedric wrath directed his way. Not that he could blame Her...
"... Oh!" The sights took hold of his vision, a demand on par with the Guardian's command to enter its belly. But instead of cowing under subjugation, he was entranced by wonders. No, wonders beyond wonders! Anywhere would have been a welcoming enough reward for passing through the Abyss, but here? These beautiful reefs, that glimmering city that sprawled on and on... there was no comparison. Not even visions of old Atlantis shone a candle to this marvelous place. And this was to be his home?
Nellie's home surely would be similarly spectacular, even if it was never for his eyes. But did that mean... Would we never see each other again? Those visions had birthed many dreams of sharing Atlantis with his sister, forever frolicking over those golden roads into eternity. The idea that they could be forever apart sunk his heart. Maybe they could join together in the Deeps, but it would be quite a trip up for Nancy from the Trench.

And apparently, that was a trip he had barely completed himself. Only 2,000 feet?! Well. That's embarrassing. Which was more so, that he would have turned into a husk regardless, or that he actually thought he was close? Him, a legged freshwater fish who only refused to submit because of a few glimmers of hope? Still, better to be high on those hopes than to spiral to his own death. Again.

But "a life renewed". Those were words Nancy knew to hold to his heart. The exile was a guarantee, as there was no reversing his actions. Maybe... maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Again, he'd done it before. Whatever it was the Goddess was planning, he would try to trust. She had a way of extracting silver linings from stormy clouds.

One of them would not be exploring the beautiful Cordelia, to his disappointment. But just as well. The Trench was eternal, but his chance at redemption was now or never. The sweet smells and shimmering sights beckoned him, but the little guide kept his attention on that vast, glorious obelisk of a palace the Goddess surely called home.

... It was a difficult endeavor. How many people are down here? he wondered, barbels trying to make sense of the sensory overload as he glimpsed the rooftops. Over the course of Mariana's Godhood, surely millions, if not billions. Perhaps just below that, if only Her most faithful were allowed residence. Could he even remember any Piscean scents after 200 years? But he had to remember one.
How many of us? There couldn't be many, at least not in comparison. Lungborne were not an old-world species even when he was around, so for them to be extinct not much longer after, they had to be a rare find. But--

No. Stop. Nancy flicked that desire away and out of sight, keeping his gaze locked on the guide as he paddled his tail faster. Goddess forbid I actually find one now. I'd never get to the palace in time.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 13, 2023

Nancy eventually made it into the palace, with the guiding light flickering out as soon as Nancy made it to the gate. Nancy was stopped at the gate. "Long time no see, Nancy," he said. This guy.......... was a lung-borne Locathah from the Wellspring who seemed to recognize him. The Lung-Borne may be outdated in this day and age, but they certainly had a place in Cordelia. Since they were pre-Descent (aka, no Daedric in the Goddess yet), any and all Lung-Borne who followed the Goddess would be here instead of the Abyssal City. "The Goddess is expecting you." Touching the palace doors, the insignia of the Goddess began to glow then the palace doors began to open

The interior of the palace had its own set of beautiful sights. For starters, the palace was utterly ENORMOUS inside compared to the outside. For a land comparison, it was like a castle door opening to a huge sprawling meadow, or like the gates to the castle opening up to the courtyard rather than the castle itself. It made sense given how vast the ocean, its population, and its creatures were. Now it kind of made sense why the Goddess was looking to make Kraiven into Orivae. Surely there had to be some consideration of the population........or at least the fact that land-based creatures probably wouldn't feel at home in an underwater city...........or a city that literally directly touched the Abyss

Unlike Atlantis, whose castle was more in line with a human castle, this one was different. For a palace containing the Goddess of the Deepest Deep, this place was BUSTLING with life. Schools of the brightest fish from all depths from the Surface to the bottom of the Deeps swam around the palace in perfect unison, guided by manta rays. Sea turtles floating around lazily near the middle with jellyfish floating nearer to the top, lighting up the entire palace with bioluminescence obviously enhanced by the Goddess's influence. Tritons and Gill-Borne kept vigilant and watchful guard at ever opening, armed with spears. Even whales swam around, whose bodies didn't seem entirely corporeal. They were visible fully, but fish swam through them and they through the walls and through spires of glowing fauna

Clearly the Goddess's influence was all over the palace as it was over Cordelia at large. It was absolutely overwhelming to be in this presence Saltwater fish, freshwater fish, sharks, crabs, eels, starfish, so long as they weren't Daedric, one could find them here. This palace must be the place of the Goddess's true most favored. It was damn near a city in itself, SOMEHOW as vast a difference as the Noble District and Slums of Kraiven, and Cordelia itself was utopian before even beholding the palace. This sort of thing was fairly common of Gods, to house their most devoted in a special place, pretty much perfection in a utopia

The path to the Throne Room was illuminated by a golden path with a blue glow at the outer edges. While their swimming would put them above the path overall (in that they weren't walking on it), it was still nice to behold

Throne Room

Soon they came upon the Throne Room. "The Goddess awaits. Good luck, Nancy boy........." The guard said, putting his head down and tapping his spear to the ground twice, which started to open the Throne Room door. "Words of advice: Swimming or not, treat it like a human court. Step on the floors, bow. Never elevate yourself above her position. Remember this as well: She is not only the Holy Goddess of Cordelia, but the Daedric Goddess of Elmar."

With that, the Throne Room opened

The room was like most Throne Rooms: Nothing special in comparison to the other views of the palace. This was to keep the focus on what mattered: the presence of the one inside it. Compared to that, no amount treasure, wealth, artwork, or rare material used to construct anything in the room mattered. UNLIKE most Throne Rooms, the Holy Presence within was so overwhelming that it was like a second ocean was placed atop the one they were already tens of thousands of feet below already. This was even stronger than when the Goddess had made her appearance to Kraiven. Maybe it was the mixture of her general influence mixed with being in her Holy City

The water within the Throne Room was crystal clear and transparently so. If not for being submerged in it and having to swim in it, it would be questionable if there was water within this place. The normal visual effects of water didn't seem to occur. There was no distortion of vision or waviness. The water was still, as if suspended in space levitating rather than swimming. The distance between the Throne Room and the door was quite large and perhaps it was to accommodate the Goddess's immense whale form, but the Goddess was there in her Triton form. The size of a human, she was quite small when viewed from that distance but her influence was undeniable.

There was only the Goddess. No counsel, no circle of people, no troops standing by, no bailiff. No Gods above watching and no Gods possibly able to go below. Only her, sitting at the throne donning beautiful royal garb different than what she wore to the claiming ceremony. This one was less human in its look and more Piscean, decked out with scales, pearls, clams, and shells. More revealing than a human dress but obviously created with swim practicality in mind while retaining a regal appearance fit for a Queen to wear. Her beauty was not surprising but no less stunning to behold

Nothing would be said from the Goddess until Nancy presented himself before her. Bow before Her, state name and why they're appearing before Her. If a weapon is carried, it is to be sheathed. If it cannot be sheathed or it is a stick/staff then it is to be put underhand as they kneel. Head down until told otherwise. After the reporting, then it is silent until spoken to again. Unlike every other time, there was no Angel there to give fair warning about the procession or punishment. If he screwed up here, it was over. His soul was already in her realm so there was no escape if he incurred her wrath

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

"My life is nothing I haven't chosen for myself," Sebas responded to Lattice, before Vlad made it clear that their presence was appreciated. "Hey, it's no problem. Can't say I'm necessarily GLAD to be here, but.........Someone's gotta look after him. He's looking like a cupcake, gotta be honest."
"Lady Nellie is the fighter of the two," Lattice said, "Sir Nancy is an alchemist. I would guess a master alchemist at this point."
"That's up Elaina's alley," Sebas said bluntly, "Not mine."
"Of course. I'm more than willing to put Nancy to work in my library," the witch piped up, "His brain has to have some ancient secrets in there."
"Lucky for you, his memories will be intact," Sebas responded, "You can actually ask him a thing or two when he makes it out."
"If he fucks up, I can always take his notes, copy them, and reteach him," Elaina said with a shrug, unbothered by the prospect of him failing this task. She wanted his knowledge. Nancy himself was optional to her.
"He ain't failing. He obviously made it through the Abyss so he'll be fine."
"More than likely, he got carried there by the Guardian," Elaina corrected him
"Elaina........" Sebas gave her a death glare that inadvertently made Lattice straighten up. "The fucker made it, so shove it or I'm shoving my boot." Unlike the others in Kraiven, Elaina learned the hard way that Sebas wasn't above violence against women. Not even attractive ones like herself. He'd straight up punch her in the face without hesitation. "Do that nerd shit some other time."

Elaina put her hands up as if backing off. "My apologies," she said half sincerely.

Elaina Melora
Stoneroses HQ

"Vlad" Elaina told him, quickly disengaging from Sebas. Best not prod that bear anymore. There were smarter things for her to be doing. Like ensuring that Vlad had his shit together since he'd have to deal with all this. "Some of you will be attempting to go with us. I know you'll be staying, with Nellie if not for anyone else." Elaina wasn't about to entertain the idea of Vlad leaving for a city that worshipped his God. It would be delusional. Mariah was the Overseer of Orivae, Nellie to be the Scion and stand-in Queen until someone else was appointed. The Stoneroses would very likely be the premier guild, probably the only guild if not 1 of 3 given the population. "We have asked it." They asked during this little scene here. The people who were going with the Basenjis, either to join or to leave to restart life in the new world, were packing up. "They get a dropoff point and room/board, we get manual labor until then. Where does that leave you, Vlad? Will your God approve of you serving a city that worships another God?"

It seemed to Elaina that Vlad could be a special case given that he was lost to time. Still, if Vlad didn't ask permission, such exception would not be given even if he knew the God would approve if asked. "It's a question to be asked not only of you, Vlad, but of every denizen of this city who doesn't follow the Goddess. Mariah, I would see to it that people know and ask. I wonder if there were people who will be punished or stripped for bowing before the Goddess before them after 200 years." To Elaina, this would be unreasonable, but such is Divinity Law. That unreasonable power potential came with unreasonable rules. That made it reasonable, right?

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 16, 2023

Nancy Noi
Cordelia - Palace

Looking up from the trench floor, the palace stretched ever onwards, reaching for that starless sky with grandeur to eclipse Toron's castle in its sprawling shadow. Extravagant couldn't hope to describe its lustrous walls, iridescent with mother of pearl, or the pearly gates that beckoned bedazzled followers in. Waves pulsed with Holy ever stronger, here the epicenter of power on High brought to the lowest point. The surrounding city basked in its presence eternally, forever consoled by the matronly love of the Goddess that spilled forth. Those unused to this place could only be intoxicated.

Yet what made Nancy's gills pause breath, his heart skip beats, was who waited for him.

"Reed?" It only took a few seconds for the memories to flow in. Those banded patterns on his flowing tail, the long tapering fins, were the same of a boy who lived in a neighboring family. A friend, less present of the few he had in those times, but Nancy never forgot a face whom he looked upon with joy. Even if that face was older, grizzled with scars that boasted of past battles won. "I'm..."
His crystal fell silent, unable to pick out the words tangling into nettles in his mind. What were the odds? This guard, of all the many guards who had to be stationed at this huge palace, attending this spot just as Nancy came through? It could have only been the Goddess orchestrating this.

Time was too sparse to talk, sparing him from hovering there gaping like a basking shark any longer. Weaving Reeds guided him into the palace, wonders beyond the wonders of the city enveloping him. It was like the palace itself was carved into a vast coral reef. Cavernous in the space allowed for thronging schools of creatures, but as such, not a foot was left empty for long. Everywhere from the open waters, the corals that made ornamental arches, the flowing sea grass blanketing the floor, was teeming with every life possible and not. Fish he hadn't seen in centuries, fish he'd never even heard of. Crustaceans and copepods skittering through the blades and among anemone fronds, enough to make a Lungborne's mouth water. Eels and sea snakes slipping in and out of dens in live rock. Then the blinking jellyfish, colossal whales, and drifting turtles with many-hued shells dwarfing it all. It made the Wellspring look like a desolate wasteland in comparison, it and its departing Tearstreams.

Even in the company of such Godly miracles, the one that kept drawing his attention was escorting him along. Words teased the mana of his crystal, but none were conjured. What to even say, or ask? Where to even begin? Was everyone else here? How was Reed speaking with his mouth instead of with scent? What happened when the Goddess Descended? What led Reed to become a fighter, then a trusted guard of one of Her most Holy places? Why... do you remember me?
Nancy barely had a presence among his own. Surely the Goddess just imparted him with knowledge of his coming, and jogged his memory. He used his self-given name, so that could be the case.

One Last Hearing

A quieter corridor led them to a pair of huge doors. The sight was telling on its own, without the intense pulse of Holy emanating from inside. It was finally time. "Um..." Weaving Reeds imparted advice, which earned a wide-eyed look from Nancy. The reminder of Goddess's status as a Daedric holder was very pointed. Did that mean he knew what happened during the hearing? Was everyone here watching?! His skin crawled under his scales; oh, what a mortifying thought. Reed has to be an acclaimed warrior now, while I'm the same crying fool I've always been...
It was not a mistake he would repeat. The warning was clear: don't anger Her. Simple, so long as he didn't act like an emotional idiot again. "Thank you. I..." Without the time to stammer like said emotional idiot, he forced it out. "I'm glad to see you again." Delaying no longer, Nancy sealed his nose and entered the throne room, hearing the doors close behind him.

There he was. There She was.

Four curved walls kept the Trench, the Ocean, the Highs and Lows, and realms beyond out. Water with double the weight, crystal clear yet thick enough to feel like liquid tension, was all that was between the two beings in the room. One desperate and destitute, the other blissful and boundless. The most beautiful, perfect thing in all of Cordelia, had invited a pathetic waste like himself into Her esteemed eminence. With so many loving subjects both Holy and Daedric, why could She possible still want--
Stop! Nancy nipped his lip, a pinch of pain from the last spot his fang nicked. Don't do this again, dammit! If he spiraled here, that terrifying journey down would have been for nothing. He wasn't about to shatter his and Goddess's hopes after everything. Even a loving Goddess wouldn't bring literal waste in here. I'm not... He couldn't even bring himself to think something nice. How sad was that? I'm not literal waste. That sufficed.

Swallowing despite his throat not possibly being dry, Nancy sunk himself to the floor, as low as the pit in his stomach already had. Slow steps down a long runway gave his buzzing mind enough time to assault him with more doubts. Each were struck down, even as each pierced deeper the nearer he was to the throne. Was it his anxiety? Lingering Daedric reacting with Her presence? The dread of knowledge that if he screwed this up, it would be all over?
Not screwing this up.

The distance was only a few tail-lengths away, any more an encroachment. Here he stopped, knelt before Her, and kept his head lowered almost to the floor. "My Goddess." Eyes were closed, banishing Her adorned form from his unworthy sight best his thin haws could. "Nancy Noi. Reporting to receive the Ordination of Punishment." The simple word drilled jagged spires into his body, a pain he could feel in real flesh. A reminder eased the agony. "Not in hatred". "And to correct the offense I've made against You."

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ

Somehow in all of this, Nellie choked out a laugh at Sebas's reply. "Oh, he's worse than a cupcake." Drawing a sleeve against her face was a vain attempt at staving the tears that flowed on. "The biggest cream puff you'll ever meet."
"That's not true." Vlad wasn't going to lecture her on what she'd finally come to terms with, but neither was he about to let her project this image. "You saw him bite a man's hand into splinters."
"Was that man a trained fighter with swords and guns?"
Ah, well. Defending against an unruly drunk wielding a broken bottle wasn't quite the comparison. "No, but regardless. The self-defense lessons will come in handy." Nellie had refused to teach him much else. Vlad could assume it was due to a lack of interest on Nancy's part, but he couldn't help but wonder if she had been trying to keep him away from that sort of thing.

He also wondered if she wanted to keep him away from Elaina, given the suspicion oozing from her as the witch spoke. But said witch switched the focus onto him, jogging his gears in a direction he really didn't want right now. "I can only hope He will," was the honest answer. Serving a city that served another God could raise its own issues. Loyalty to both tore him two ways, but he knew where the more whole half would be ultimately.
"Why would He make you leave?!" A touch of her earlier panic returned a chill to the air. "It's your own life! He can't just take you away from loved ones, can he?!"
"It's complicated." He couldn't give false hopes. Making bold assumptions would be improper, especially of a follower in his position. "There's a good chance He will, but there might be changes. If I can't serve the city, I should at least be permitted to continue living here." Demanding he leave all he knew and loved for 200 years without inarguable reason would indeed be cruel. It didn't sound like the Prince Qeien he knew, but who was to say He was even the same? The Twins' Goddess had changed almost completely. But She was still the same kindly protector, Daedric aside. Vlad's faith wouldn't be shaken yet.
"He'd better!" Holding in tears continued to yield only failure, especially at the prospect of him being gone. "I just lost my friends and my brother! I'm not losing you too!"
"You're not." He tightened his embrace, feeling her soft sobs through his paws. "We'll figure something out."

Elaina bringing this up now was unfortunate, but necessary. "It's imperative that all followers consult with their Gods post haste," he agreed, directing this at Mariah. New missionaries, new crusades, new everything. The entire political landscape could be different, and Gods could need followers in places that wasn't this isolated rock suspended above it all. Which could mean...
If I'm afforded any mercy, please let it be this.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 21, 2023

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Cordelia: Temple of the Goddess- Throne Room

Mariana's eyes swept over Nancy. Elated heart stifled by the circumstance around him being here, Mariana had to be a Goddess rather than a mother right now. "Welcome, my child," She said, "Allow me to lay to rest any suspicion that anyone has knowledge around why you are here. Beyond, of course, those who were in our meeting." They knew THAT Nancy was here to meet her, just not WHY. "I hope you have enjoyed the few sights you were allowed to take in given the time."

"Now, to the official business: You said you wanted to clarify previously made statements. I want you to do so right here and right now." She declared. "Let me be clear beforehand: Your exile will stand. Subversion and Defiance is a crime that you are convicted guilty of without any shadow of a doubt, and that is the punishment for those crimes." She didn't want him to garner any hope that Kraiven/Orivae would be his home after this meeting regardless of what he said. "The crime you are here to appeal is HERESY. I have already written an Amendment to your Ordination of Punishment. Whether or not I burn this Amendment depends on your words." Her eyes flashed red. "How your words came across is Heretical, yet you meant them. You are not here to CHANGE those words. You are here to clarify the meaning of them." Heresy is fully dependent on the God beholding the words. Since her interpretation of the words is the determining factor behind guilt, she'd rather not let it stand as is. "Perhaps my time in the Abyss made made me biased in favor of guilt. Perhaps it is the Holy and Daedric Courts watching. Perhaps it is compensating for my own mistakes. Perhaps it was bad balancing between Goddess and Mother. Perhaps all of them. My once infallible status was rescinded when I took on a new court."

"Regardless, I will hear your clarification now, Nancy. This is the time to speak clearly and without much room for interpretation. You resolved yourself to live and atone rather than die a heretic. I want you to find salvation here and then reunite with Nellie in Orivae between your homes of Cordelia and Elmar........." So they would see each other again. Just not go into each other's sanctified domains. Nancy wasn't welcome in the Abyss, nor Nellie the Trench. Orivae would be that neutral zone. "...........so don't accept a label that does not apply."

Elaina Melora
Stoneroses HQ

"Gods CAN direct you to live somewhere. Most don't," she said matter-of-factly. "Unless you're under some sort of trial or some sort of punishment, I personally don't see a reason why a God would make you live somewhere else." Trials for high level discipleship and punishments had something in common: The inability to Dissent. "Then again, Kraiven isn't exactly a normal location in a normal situation."
"I'll go put out a public announcement for all followers," Mariah said with a nod, then quickly flew off
"Gods and their pride," Sebas mused about the situation which seemed obvious to everyone involved. After 200 years of disconnection, you can't exactly act like people need to tow the line immediately again. "I think the Fae got the right idea."
"The Fae Counsel have their own list of personal issues." Lattice told him. It occurred to Elaina that Lattice probably wasn't fond of the Fae Counsel given her life of accursed servitude.
"Why say that?"
"Because if what I just said has offended a single one of them, it will reflect in my dreams tonight." she responded calmly. Incredibly grim words. If Divine Big Brother was always listening to Lattice, it might explain why she doesn't talk all that much about herself or her situation. Elaina made a mental note to experiment with that knowledge. It put forth a powerful hypothesis
"..........Your story is a buzzkill, Lattice."
"My apologies, Sir Sebas."

"It doesn't seem that complicated," Sebas said, "Either he wants you around friends and family or he doesn't." After 200 years, what was there to consider? No way Vlad could be evaluated like any followers of his God except their immortal followers. "Who the hell do you serve that you can't be sure he'll let you stay here?"
Elaina would pull out a book, but she wasn't sure who to pull one out on. It occurred to Elaina that she had no idea what God Vlad served. His Favor was very clear, but who exactly she couldn't see. Another hypothesis came to her mind. This one about smell. "Either you're really bad to a good God, or you're really good to a bad God."
"Neither........" Lostro said absent-mindedly, extremely intrigued by a picture of someone posted on the wall. "Who is this woman?"
Lattice went over to her. "That is Lady Demestral's mother........." she said and began to converse with Lostro about the woman in the picture

Since Elaina didn't know who Vlad served, she couldn't speculate with any sort of education behind it. If I weren't so focused on the Goddess, I'd know who it is Vlad serves, Elaina thought with an internal sigh. "But wait, you were under Div- Ohhh....." Elaina cut herself off as realization dawned on her. Elaina didn't know the exacts but she was catching on.

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 25, 2023

Nancy Noi
Cordelia - Throne Room

When the Goddess's voice quieted, so did the throne room. No low rocking of waves, or high squeaking of dolphins like the outside of these walls. Nancy could hear his quickening breaths. Goddess could hear his running thoughts. Relief that the meeting had remained private, relief that he had survived the trial so he could kneel before Her now, relief that he was being given this chance at all. He ebbed with disappointment, but not at the verification that his exile would stand. More that he was standing here at all. How could he have let this happen? How could he...
Then indignation. Then self-reproach. Then back and forth again.

Nancy breathed in deeply, feeling the sanctified water flow through his gills. Stop... blaming. It was everyone's fault. Even She knew that. If She was only infallible in court, then surely she understood more than she was letting on then. Maybe he could clarify his reasoning more, but for now, Just explain.
Head still bowed, he glimpsed the boutonniere fastened to his robes. The formerly pure white water lily had stark veins of black etching along its petals, something he only noticed until after the trip through the Abyss. No Daedric emanated from it, but the lines remained as a remnant. A reminder. And don't be rude, for gods' sake.

"Goddess. I thank You for giving me the chance to amend this transgression. I did mean the words I spoke, but the meaning behind them were lost in emotion." Looking back, there was little other way they could have been interpreted. Too blunt, too bitter. Why wouldn't Goddess presume heresy, right after he defied Her? It wasn't like She could read his intent, him being Null. But in Her domain, She would know beyond doubt that his following words and intentions were honest. "As You asked, I will leave no room for misinterpretation."

WayfaringWaaksian said:
<<If I acted more like a Witch than a Follower, then I suppose it's only fair.>>

"When I said it was fair I acted like a Witch, that wasn't to say it was fair THAT I did so." Never would he wish to compare Her misdemeanor to his treachery in such a fashion. Nancy had asserted that his actions weren't justified before, but it beared repeating. "It was fair that You drew the connection, and made the comparison. As a Follower, I acted in Defiance and betrayed You. It's only fair that You acknowledge that fact, as... hurtful it is." Emotions swelling under sealed lungs, he swallowed them best he could. "It hurt, being compared to something You hate. I was afraid that the hatred was... extended. To me." Tears were blinked back before they could bleed into the waters. "I was emotional, thus was negligent to my choice of words. Don't blame Yourself, Goddess. That was my error."

WayfaringWaaksian said:
<>

"And when I said You weren't acting like a Goddess, I only meant from a perspective of Law, and only in the specific instance of Nellie. ONLY in Legal terms: a Goddess is not to impart such Gifts on a non-follower. A Goddess wouldn't share Her power with a dissenter who ought not to be trusted." He felt like shit. Complete, absolute shit. Not just the from the hurt those words had caused Goddess, but to refer to Nellie in such a way. He didn't know where that had come from, but the Abyss drew something awful out of him. How could he even be mad at the simple INTENTION of wanting to give Nellie a Gift? The irresponsibility and outcome of it was a different matter. "In every other act, You were abiding Law, as You said. But in this one instance... You were acting like a mother."

That was really all he should have said before. Gods, why was he such an idiot? "A mother would heed the cries of her child, regardless of their standing. A mother would impart Gifts to her child to prove that they're still loved." Nancy had no suspicion that She lured Nellie to Her service with the promise of revenge and power. Nellie would never accept power for the simple sake of it, even to fight against those who wronged her. There was another reason entirely. "You wanted to be a Mother before a Goddess. You wanted to dote on a child who had no right to receive it, Legally. But in this case... Law be damned."
He meant that. Meant it with every Null cell in his body, every string of existence in his soul. "Truthfully, I don't care that You disobeyed the rules. Only that Nellie was hurt as a result." Had she been of the right mind, and knowledgeable of Law, Nancy wouldn't have even thought twice about it. "I have a deep respect for Your willingness to aid Your Children above all else. That's why You're the only God I'll ever trust. The only God I'll ever serve."

It was growing into a tangent, but he tied it back with the beginning. "I say this to reassure that I'm not questioning Your right as a Goddess, or Your ability to be a Goddess. Never have, and never will. My earlier statement was only to highlight that we both fell short in the eyes of the Law. Mine more grievous, certainly. Though at the time, I..." His head shook slowly. "It didn't feel fair, being criticized for breaking the rules by someone who had done the same. My words were solely out of pain, not to cast doubt towards Your Godhood. A compensation on MY part, not yours, Goddess."

The return to this point would prompt memories of a very young Nancy, and the very few times Goddess had to punish him for breaking Her tenets. Each time, a terrible ordeal. Goddess would have to pull a hysterical child begging for forgiveness out of a panic attack, with constant reassurances that the punishment wasn't an omen of Her love for him fading. His trust in Her grew as time went on, when Her love was never marred by his wrongdoings. Even so, every judgement came with much weeping, following a depressive episode that allowed him only to work towards atonement.
Knowing that, it made sense why an adult Nancy would react so strongly regarding a crime as serious as Defiance.

Though another statement would stand out to Her. "Law be damned".
It made sense now. The disregard towards Law that led him to committing the act. The distrust towards the Angels, one who nearly killed him over possessing a Daedric object, another who wanted to slaughter the inhabitants over the wrongdoings of the Church, and Mariah saying there was "a good case" for such. The declaration that he'd only trust and wish to serve the Goddess. Just as he confessed to wavering faith before, he did so again now.

Nancy had Faith Shattered. At least, partially. If not in the Goddess wholly, then in the Law and those who enforced it. His oath that he would put good back into the world, approximate to the pain that had been inflicted on the orphans... was it a way of giving back to the Goddess who still wished to aid him? A way to do what he felt Law couldn't? Defying Her Will and attempting his own death at Nellie's hands certainly wasn't the way.

What was a Goddess to do? Especially a Goddess who was willing to break the rules Herself?

Vladimir Hochmut
Stoneroses HQ

Vlad fell silent. Not for lack of words, but for lack of knowing WHICH words. Long enough for Nellie to begin spilling forth.
"But... but that was so long ago!" She shook her head desperately. "200 years! We're not even the same people anymore! You're a changed man now, wasn't that the point?"
"It was," he conceded, voice lowered. "Perhaps I'm viewing this too pessimistically. Your status now as high leadership surely would be enough to fulfill the conditions. Even if not, He wouldn't send me away from the one He assigned me to."
"Then why worry me like that, if it's that simple?!"

An ice pick felt lodged in his forehead, throbs of pain radiating from where his fingers soothed. For one reason: it WASN'T that simple. Vlad should have known better than to think he could slip this past Nellie, the person who knew him better than anyone. But he'd make one more attempt. "Forgive me. I'm still anticipating the worst. How can I not, after everything?"
Nellie's tears trickled away, clearing the path for her piercing gaze. "Because the worst is yet to come?"
Vlad sighed, freeing the cracks in his mask so the fragments could fall away. "It is."
"You've been acting strange since the moment I brought it up!" Even if she hadn't known him so well, she knew the scent of anxiety, and how it DIDN'T linger from Vlad. Not like it had been now. Fear and anxiety were quite distinct, she had informed him before. One in regards of the now: the battle and its waking destruction. One in regards of what was to come...

... He couldn't lie to her. Not anymore.
"Did something happen?" she demanded, pulling herself and Nancy out of his hold. "Something I don't know about?!"
"We'll discuss it afterwards," he told her firmly, trying to steer her thoughts away from the matter. She didn't need this right now, and frankly, neither did he. "Nancy is our priority. Our time with him is short."

A retcon. Originally I was playing up the idea that Vlad had lost his Favor after getting pulled from the Void and was borrowing it just for the emergency of the battle. This no longer applies. I'm going to edit all posts that reference this so they reflect the new canon, but basically:
Before the events of the First War and the Void Sea, Vlad was put under a sanction that puts a cap on his physical and magical strength as punishment for a crime. The sanction was lifted ONLY for the battle with Mozreliun, as it was an emergency. So he still has Favor, just not complete access to it. Nancy and Nellie are the only characters mentioned so far who know about it, aside from Divinity obviously.

This was discussed with GM privately, but I'm just leaving the note here for people reading and for me to keep track of things.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 27, 2023

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Cordelia: Temple of the Goddess- Throne Room

".............." The Goddess didn't speak while Nancy said his peace. She contemplated every word he spoke. "Formalities established!" She then declared. While there was no Angel there, Nancy could recall the words. She speaks, he listens.

"Your true intentions have been made clear, and there is no longer any room for doubt. You are not a heretic." She held up the Amendment to the Ordination. "I should never have doubted your intentions in the first place. I'll note that on my list of failures......but allow us to handle business and then I can remove the hat of Goddess for the rest of your time here." If she had to dual hat her emotions, she would simply compartmentalize. It was EXTREMELY common for what the Goddess did: Favoring one to the degree of committing an infraction, hence why the offense is an infraction instead of a full-blown serious crime.

So she began. "Your punishment for Subversion and Defiance stands. You will NOT be punished as a Heretic.........." The pause meant that a condition was to be set. "BUT as Goddess, you will undergo a trial during your punishment. The theme of your Trial is this: Despair is not the time to do Alchemy. Despair is when you take the time to steady the stormy seas. It also serves to emphasize that death is not an escape from Divine Punishment. Serve your punishment so you can return home."

The Amended Ordination of Punishment appeared in front of Nancy to read. "Your alchemical memories referenced in the aforementioned Ordination of Punishment will be hazy proportionately to self-esteem, will to live, and faith in one's self. NOT faith in me. An instance of self-harm will seal ALL of your alchemical memories for 24 hours, and an attempt on your own life will permanently erase 1 year's worth of alchemical knowledge for you to have to learn again. I guarantee you here and now that an attempt will not succeed."

Alchemical Knowledge is not just brewing, but ANY knowledge in the context of alchemy

"There is a STEEP difference in consequence between thought and action." In that suicidal thought will cause what's essentially a brain fog and a headache that goes away with the thoughts. An attempt is a memory wipe. "DO NOT test those waters. It is out of my control if you do." She was warning him here and now. "Since this is a Trial and not a punishment, there are positives. You can also consider this a reward for saving your sister." Yes, rewards were bestowed where they were do and since Mariana couldn't do it outright, she wrote it into the Trial. "I will bestow onto you vocal chords." As his Goddess, She can rewrite his biology just like she did with Sebas. Between Lung-Borne and Gill-Borne, adding vocal chords is more of a software update than a body overhaul. "You may speak freely on earth as you do here. Your voice will be the same as the one projected through your Trace Relic"

Additional information

Record of Conviction: Nancy Noi
Sex: Male
Offense: Subversion and Defiance
Punishment: Exile from the Deepest Deep
Duration: Conditionally Specified
Presiding Authority: Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep

Description: Tasked under Goddess Mariana's Daedric Empowerment, subject's sibling, Nelson "Nellie" Noi was tasked to launch an offensive to render approved punishment to offenders of the Goddess Mariana for crimes of Gross Negligence in an event which, due to this offense, resulted in a death toll of over 75,000. In having to render the approved punishment, subject Nancy Noi utilized the Goddess's Holy Empowerment to counteract the gift of Daedric Empowerment. This eliminated Nelson's ability to fulfill her task as required under the conditions of her Divine Daedric Empowerment. This constitutes a Defiance of the Goddess's Will. His use of the Goddess's gift of Divine Holy Empowerment to accomplish this qualifies as Subversion.

Sentence: Subject is issued an Ordination of Punishment outlying an "Exile from the Deepest Deep" which is Goddess Mariana's version of a Complete Exile. After the grace period to exit qualifying territories, the Subject is then banned from ever entering territories associated with the Presiding God. The outlines of a Complete Exile are as follows:

Subject is issued a Mark of Exile. This mark identifies the subject to all Followers of the Presiding God. Followers know no further information beyond knowledge of the presence of a subject carrying the Mark of Exile
Subject is not allowed in a territory claimed by or in the name of the Presiding God, be they temporary (ie a campsite) or an established community.
Followers of the Presiding God must be approved by that God to assist the subject in any way, except in cases of imminent threat to life or justifiable on a case-by-case basis
Subject must be notified and turned away by Followers upon identification, except in cases of imminent threat to life or justifiable on a case-by-case basis.
With the exception of official doctrine text, Subject may not own or carry material associated with the Presiding God. Exceptions may be granted, most typically for material owned before the exile
- Any material blessed in the name of the Presiding God are disabled in the cases of granted exceptions
Any Magics or material blessed in the name of the Presiding God with a "positive" effect are rendered Null on the Subject

This Exile is to be served until the Subject's current condition, defined as Nullification (or "Nullified") is lifted for 24 hours. This condition is approved by the Holy Counsel under the presiding authority of Zaccai, Elder God of Penance. The justification for this is that the Subject's condition is indefinite, persisting until it is manually cured. Since research is currently inconclusive, it is deemed to be enough time to constitute a fitting time-punishment by the time research is advanced enough to cure the status

Footnote: Nancy Noi is male and Nelson Noi is female. They are self-given names

Trial of the Calm Deep
"Tranquility in the Trench or floundering ceased in the Abyss. Either way, the Deepest Deep is calm."
-Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep

Duration: Conclusion of the Exile Sentencing and a Pilgrimage to the Holy City of Cordelia
Positives:

Perfect Appraisal
Perfect Alchemical Knowledge retention/recall
Steady Hands
Speed Reading
Vocal Chords

Negatives:

Self-Doubt, Suicidal thought, Despair, etc. cause a brain fog and suppression of alchemy abilities
Self Harm causes a complete seal on ALL alchemical knowledge for 24 hours, escalating by 24 hours per attempt (2 instances is 2 days, 3 is 3 days, etc.)
- This also disables his everything written in the positives including his English Mastery
Any form of suicide attempt erases an entire year's worth of alchemical knowledge
- All positives are sealed for 30 days

This Trial is formally concluded after a full pilgrimage from the Surface to the Trench. Pilgrimage must be done solo.

With the Amendment in place, the Goddess nodded. "You have all the tools to continue your alchemy work. You have the tools necessary to forge new connections. You have a support circle in Sebas, Steven and Jack, Demestral and Vespera. Before the boons bestowed through this Trial, you have the experience and proficiency on par with a Master Alchemist. With these boons, you transcend even that." With literally 200+ years of experience, the only thing Nancy had to do was play catchup. Catchup as a Master Alchemist could go by extremely fast. Like a decade-long study dropped down to realistically 4 years of dedicated study with the wealth of knowledge that he already possessed.

"With this, my hope is that you don't feel like I am sending you to your death." Outside of the exile itself, it would only get harder if Nancy made it harder on himself. "There is 200 years of advancement. Just as Vespera needs to learn, you need to learn as well." Nancy wouldn't be the only person leaving Kraiven. However, realistically the shock of 200 years in one fell swoop would be something most can't adjust to. Mariana knew that the lion's share of them would be looking to return to Orivae or they'd find their deaths.........or cut themselves off from society. Most of them were leaving due to trauma and betrayal from the Crown

"With this, business concludes. Formalities ended. If you have no questions, we have about 5 minutes before this commune ends."

WayfaringWaaksian

Safety Hammer · Dec 28, 2023

Laszlo
The open sea, off the coast of Padtoles

Patience.
A valuable trait in a mortal, but an essential element of being a child of the night. And in the three centuries Laszlo Fairbanks had been walking the earth and sailing the seas, he had become a master in the trait. Hunger dug at his stomach, and in a way, deep within his heart. A hunger for action. A hunger for blood. When he was younger. He might have rashly sailed forth, or even dive into the obsidian waves of the sea. But now, he knew better. Confronting your prey head on simply ruins your meal. A more skilled predator knows that the hunt can be useless when waiting for your food to walk willingly onto your plate serves the same purpose.

The waters around the coast of Padtoles were calm at this time of night. The midday squalls of moist, tropical air had ceased their advance towards land and left the seas in between as a calm, glassy surf. The soft winds were accompanied by a deathly quiet aboard the only vessel within sight, the Bluetide. It tentatively rocked back and forth on the dark cerulean waves, not a sound or a sign of life aboard the ship, which was odd. The Bluetide was a large, well-manned merchant galleon, usually staffed by veteran marines and well-seasoned seamen. They had been on a trip to sail eight hundred barrels of black powder from their home port in Grov Strax to a trading post on the peninsula of neighboring Samerbia. But the slow, lukewarm winds of night had left them at a deathly slow pace. And the ship had fallen dark, and quiet.

Suspiciously quiet. No sailors roamed the decks. No one to steer the ship, no one to adjust the sails or navigate the galleon through the night. Just the way he had planned.
Suddenly, footsteps.
Slow, but yet confident in their stride. Sometimes soft, sometimes louder, but all emanating from behind the closed door to the captain's cabin. The soft plodding grew closer and closer still until the quiet reverberations of boots rapping against a rug-covered floor ceased. Without warning or pretense, the wooden door exploded away from the entrance way, leaving splinters and bent hinges in its wake. The ship rocked in its sudden aftershock as what was left of the captain's door splashed into the sea with a watery crash.

Striding out onto the empty deck, Laszlo Fairbanks lifted the corpse of the captain by the collar of his shirt in order to meet him at eye level. The man had died in terror, and the horrified visage of inescapable death was frozen forever on his face. Eyes milky with faded mortality, the skipper of the ship infinitely stared back at the pale, placid face of his murderer. The vampyre scoffed, and slackened his grip on the collar, letting the body slip from his hand and crumple to the floor. He had taken all he needed from the man. Lifting his head to the sky, the Night Angler brushed his platinum blonde locks from his face and took a deep sniff of the air. His eyebrow twitched in disgust. Something wasn't right. On top of the pungent scents of death and saltwater, just barely hidden beneath the acrid, stinging odor of barrel upon barrel of black powder, was fear. The metallic taste of sweat and adrenaline was faint, yet sour, and lingered in the back of his throat with every probing whiff. Someone was still on the ship. Someone survived. Lazlo ceased his smelling, and cleared his throat. His first instinct was to search, scouring the decks for the sole survivor, and draining him under the light of the moon. But as the urge to hunt began to rise within his cold, dead heart, he shook the thought from his head. He had a mission, after all. The point wasn't to kill the crew. The point was to send his message.

From a bag slung over his shoulder, Laszlo unbuckled the top flap and withdrew a violin. His violin. Plucking the fingerboard, he twisted and turned the dials on the head, tuning the fiddle to harmonic perfection. It was time to start the show. Drawing his bow across the strings, he let the sharp, demonic screech of his instrument become the prelude to his disaster. He started soft, picking up his pace with every note and couplet he would finish with a devilish flair, eventually blending his warm-up with a delightfully mischievous barrage of noise. He stepped in tune, completing every box with a spring towards the hatch that led to the hull. The shakey, warbling sound of the strings echoed across the empty sea, bouncing down the dead halls of the ship. As soon as he was over the hatch, he lifted the trapdoor with the toe of his boot, and stared down below. Barrel after barrel, row after row. The vampyre grinned, all 32 teeth wide and twinkling in the night sky. As he finished his last note to the song, he stuffed his instrument back into his sack, and took an exaggerated bow. “Thank you, thank you!” He announced to his imaginary audience, bowing and smiling to the applause in his head. Snapping back upright, the vampyre palmed a bottle filled with kerosene, corked with a stuffed handkerchief. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, your encore performance.”

The waters around the coast of Padtoles were calm at this time of night. But that beautiful silence was shattered as the galleon, the Bluetide, carrying eight hundred barrels of black powder, exploded into a massive pillar of flame and smoke. The sound could be heard all over the coast, and into neighboring areas. The flames were massive, and nearly inextinguishable. And in the chaos, no one noticed the coffin floating amongst the waves, bobbing around flotsam, jetsam, and burning corpses.

And heading for land..

WayfaringWaaksian · Dec 28, 2023

Nancy Noi
Cordelia - Throne Room

With the Goddess at last declaring him not a heretic, Nancy's next breath flooded through previously stilled gills, relief now insurmountable. He hadn't been sure if his words here would be enough. It would have been for the Goddess of the Sea, but that Goddess didn't even exist anymore. If nearly everything about her and her doctrine has changed, why would that stop at qualifiers for Heresy? But not EVERYTHING had changed about Her. She was still the same loving, doting Goddess he knew long before, if not a bit angrier-- okay, significantly angrier. Perhaps he shouldn't doubt her intentions himself.
Then a big, fat, BUT came around. No... please! She was going to seal his memories anyway?! What sort of trial was that?! That's all I have left! I can't--

The Amended Ordination came to the rescue when it manifested before him, the Goddess's clarifications quelling his growing panic. Okay... He breathed yet another sigh, and yet another unsuccessful attempt at unraveling the tense coils of muscle around his chest. Reading over the terms wouldn't grant them much release. Physical ailments for simply experiencing his on-brand self-deprecation? When was he NOT despairing? It had always been this way. Why should he be punished for being broken?
Not a punishment, he echoed Her words, deciding this was more in line of the Goddess he knew. An intervention. He had tried to keep it to himself, tried not to burden anyone. Honest to gods, he tried. Vespera managed to keep her troubles hidden for hundreds of years. Was he really so weak? Maybe it was just a matter of time before his own became everyone else's problem regardless.

Though devastation still gripped his heart, dragging it down to the floor of his innards, Nancy found that he hadn't lost hope. Perfect appraisal, in a world that would be eager to fleece him for his lack of modern expertise. Perfect retention of his alchemical knowledge, so long as he kept his thoughts at bay. Steady hands to forestall error, speed reading to quicken the daunting mountain of research awaiting him. And his own vocal chords! Nancy touched his fingertips to his throat in wonder. Never again would he have to write shorthand in a notebook just to keep up with conversations. Even the negatives weren't so terrible. He could expect very frequent headaches in his future, but only a day of memory loss for self-harm? Only a year sealed for another attempt, out of the 200+ years on his belt? He'd have to be trying his damnedest to screw himself over for it to have a significant long-term effect.

Goddess's hope bore fruit. He wasn't being sent to his death. No easy life awaited him, as She said, but an easy life wasn't in any survivor's stars. He didn't want to act like he was worse off when most didn't have the favoritism he and his sister did. He was Ordained to live, a commandment manifested in the form of a Holy Coin. Remembering that, he was surprised circumventing that wasn't part of the Defiance charge. Considering everything he'd done, she was being so generous, so loving, so...
This was what he hoped for. A display of love, proof that she wanted him back as soon as possible and that this wasn't just her tossing him out of sight like the embarrassment he was. "Goddess." So why did he feel so...
He was guilty. He didn't deserve any of this.

"I'm sorry." He had no questions. Just tears to shed, sobs to stifle as he clutched himself with trembling arms. "I'm sorry I put You through this. I've been wallowing in self-pity all this time, while everyone else just had their lives ruined!" How could he be so selfish? Most of Kraiven didn't have family or friends left. Nancy still had his sister, his Mother, his many friends, even if he couldn't be with them for a long time. And he still threw his life away, as if they weren't suffering enough. "I know You're despairing too. I felt something in the Abyss. Someone crying." His memory of the passage was as murky as those accursed depths, drowned in anguish no mortal could fathom. Had it been his? The Goddess's? The collective of endless souls forever trapped under a threefold Oppression? "Was it You, Goddess?"

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Dec 31, 2023

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Cordelia: Temple of the Goddess- Throne Room

"Nancy......." The Goddess said putting her head down. "It is indeed me, the despair that's still there, wailing in the Abyss." she said, "Knowing that my stupid actions have caused this.........the punishment that I am to get is lightweight in comparison. You called upon me. You gave me a city and I repaid it with stupid actions that ended in you being Nullified." Of course it was her crying in the Abyss. She wanted to weep right now. She wouldn't though. She'd have all the time in the world to curl up in the Abyss later. After she was administered her own punishment.

She did go hug Nancy though. There was no sense of the Daedric Lord here. This was Holy at its most pure, a level that only came from actually touching a Holy God. If the Holy feeling was at 10 from being in the Throne Room, it was at 1,000 from her hug since she wasn't actively suppressing her Holiness. The irony is that Nullification is the only way to survive this in the real world. It was why Gods always suppressed their Holy Power and never physically touched their followers. What they all felt at the ceremony was SUPPRESSED.

At full power, your soul will literally be smited unless it is 100% pure, a trait that only children have and that is lost very quickly

Still, Nancy didn't feel the suffocatingly high Holiness that he felt since entering the Throne Room. If anything, it cleared up when she hugged him. Maybe because the eye of the typhoon was Mariana herself. "I am immeasurably proud of you, Nancy. I've seen your memories in the Abyss. The Nancy that entered and the Nancy that left are 2 different people. You have attained a level of strength that can only come from enduring hardships that drive other people mad." Suicide was VERY high after the people recognized that they wouldn't be leaving the Null Realm any time soon. To be decimated in a war and then trapped in a timeless realm........ Nancy only recently found out that Vespera was on the verge herself.

"My Daughter, Sunning Stone." Her actual name, names that they hadn't heard in forever. "I designed your sister to go down in history as one of the greatest fighters to ever pick up a weapon." Nellie's limitation? A power obsession. If it didn't make her stronger, if she couldn't apply it in a way to make her stronger, she struggled with a desire to learn it. At her worst, she could become a Tyrant. Then she would die by the blade she lived by. THAT was fine. "The stone calls upon the blessings from on high to warm it so that it warms another. When the stone calls upon too much sun, it gets too hot and incinerates the stone. When the stone has been consumed in the sunlight, long before has it consumed everything around it." The world would correct her should she over-extend, but never before she destroys everything around her. Just like a meltdown that a certain witch was going to stop.

"My Son, Star Under Stars......When you stop to take a look at the still water, you see the absolutely limitless potential." Her race were driven by vision and interpretation. These visions were always up for interpretation, but when coming from the lips of the Goddess, it may as well be an Ordination. "Some stars are further than others, but they are never out of reach. When your seas are stormy, you cannot see your potential. When clouds block the sky, you are shrouded in darkness." Then she added some words to the original prophecy. "When light ceases, so too does life cease." Nancy was his own worst enemy moreso than not. Nancy's key was keeping the vision of the stars clear from the reflection of the water. "Now this trial makes sense, yes? There is nothing I don't think you can conquer."

Sebas Deadeye
Stoneroses HQ

"Huh?" Sebas had been discussing with Orabelle and Elaina about the Goddess. He wondered why the hell Nellie and Nancy had clearly (to him) swapped names. "That's not their actual names? And here I thought their parents were somehow deep sea drunk on sunken Ale." It made more sense then that they named themselves based on what they thought sounded good, with no basis of how boys and girls should be named. That's what he assumed anyways. If they weren't a given name then it must be a chosen name

"I don't know their actual names, but they can't possibly be Nancy and Nellie. At least not the names given to them at birth." Elaina, of course, was always happy to be the nerd imparting knowledge. "For Locathah, a priest receives a vision by Goddess Mariana. That vision becomes their name and the typical guideline they follow if they want to achieve greatness." Elaina explained. "Twins are known to be special across the board, usually either a have and a have-not, or a perfect sync."

"So either a sacrifice or a synch....." It was intriguing. Sebas had heard plenty of stories about false accusations and evil twins........ And it turned how that they actually had a twin who was a piece of shit and stealing their identity. As for an unstoppable team, that was more for Nobles, since the common peasant could barely afford 1 kid, let alone 2 unless they had a job more profitable than clerk at a bakery. Twins were typically not a good sign in lower society for that reason. Out of nowhere, they had to double their expected expenses and effort at a roll of the dice, an outcome they would never learn of until childbirth, at least not unless they could see a doctor.

For Orcs, that wasn't really an issue, as Orcs and Goblins had an agonistic society. If the God wasn't one of strength or honor, it was noise to them. Twins were a sign of strength to Orcs, with the mother gaining more credibility than the Twins themselves. But the concept of Gods willing to make one mediocre to make the other great? Sounds like something done only for a divine pissing contest, he thought. Blessed to the have, yet cruel to the have-not.

Sebas turned to Orabelle. "So what was your vision, Ora?"
Ora shook her head. "I'm a Triton. Since we split between Goddess Mariana and God Kaimana, it is taboo to push us either way."
"Ding ding," Elaina affirmed, "Pisceans are monotheistic between 2 Gods. Gill-Borne tend to choose Mariana and Sirens Kaimana. Tritons are the least religious since they are split." This made Sebas furrow his brow as his eyes passed over Orabelle. LEAST religious? This girl? "Remember Sebas, we're speaking of generalities," she qualified with a laugh at his expression.

About this time, Nellie should have felt a shift in Nancy. "It should be nearing an hour," Elaina said, being someone who also felt the shift because of course she would. Sebas didn't feel a damn thing besides energy from knowing that it meant they were to leave soon. Sitting around waiting for the cream puff to awaken was a new form of boredom.

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Jan 3, 2024

Nancy Noi
Cordelia - Throne Room

Mind and body stilled when thin arms wrapped around his chest. The Goddess's warmth ebbing through his aching soul, Nancy was awash with clarity. Intoxicating Holy grew crystal clear at her touch, and he felt all of it. Her love, her pride in him, the anguish and sorrow she was wrought with underneath. Doubts in any of it were smote on the spot, Oppressive thoughts withering in the epicenter of all that was good.
Nancy melted in her hold, stifled sobs breaking through as he draped his neck over her shoulder, tail circling their shared embrace. So many long years, so much suffering and longing, at last rewarded here. Here, and never again for another eternity. Why was life so cruel to him?

Why was he so cruel to take solace in knowing he wasn't the only victim? "It sounds like we're both doomed by fate." Nellie, destined to take on a power that would destroy all she loved before destroying herself. Nancy, destined to reach for the unattainable in vain. Because who could harness the Sun? Who could reach for the Stars? "You have so much faith in us, Goddess. Too much." To Nancy, that was the start of it all. Goddess trusting them with Divine power, when it would only falter the user. And they were the fools for accepting it. "We're both broken. You say I'm not the same person who left, but I don't feel any stronger than when I first hatched." A pathetic whelp, and an obsessive protector. Well, Nancy was getting what he wanted in the end after all: Nellie would be freed of her burden. "Maybe this is for the best. Nellie has a whole city to look after. She doesn't need me."

Then what did they need? For none of this to have ever happened... But there wasn't any point in wishing that the past few days were a dream. Why would he wish for the Null Realm, a godless place where evil festered unchecked? A place where the endless days melded into incomprehension? Nancy would be back to collecting dust on his scales over the same books, Nellie would be agonized by the inability to help, and Vespera... Gods, Vespera. If his misery meant Vespera's release, maybe it was all worth it.

"My seas have been stormy for a long time," he said, following Goddess's metaphor. "Maybe forever." If the stars his light, the light his life, then he had been blind to purpose. It was no wonder why he felt so empty for so long. But the stars were ALWAYS there, regardless. His vision in the Abyss was that reminder. When the clouds dispersed, the winds quieted, there they were, waiting for him. Stars flickering overhead, reflected on the stilled water. In reach all along, because they weren't THE stars, the ones billions of miles away. That same light only mirrored, a smooth plane he could graze with his fingertips. The Stars Under Stars.

"I think... I understand," he answered. "But I don't see what You see, Goddess." Which was the point, but how can he muster what he couldn't see? "I just see a failure. Someone worth punishing. Why... why do You trust that I'll ever get better?" If Nancy were her, he'd just banish himself forever. "Why do You want me back? Why do You... still love me?" he asked tearfully. That was all he wanted. And he felt so guilty for it. He should just accept that he's terrible, and that he's right to be punished for it. He should... but he didn't want this! He didn't deserve to suffer! But he--
Then what DO you want?! Pardon or punishment? Neither satisfied him.

Nancy felt Her emotions unfiltered. Perhaps...
"I have one request, Goddess. Can You show me what You see? Show me someone worth loving? Then maybe... I can survive this." Just one more glimpse of the stars. Was he the same light for everyone that they were for him?

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Jan 7, 2024

Mariana, Goddess of the Deepest Deep
Cordelia > Temple of the Goddess- Throne Room

Nancy slowly but surely began to become translucent, his vision starting to go white with it. The commune was reaching its end. "To be frank, you are more worthy than Nellie. If I love her enough to want her back, why not you my more faithful?" The exact dynamic between Mariana and Nellie was kept under wraps. No one knows why exactly she strayed, or at least not the most detailed story around it.

"I will bestow onto you a final bit of knowledge." Standing, she snapped her fingers and Nancy would feel a flood of more memories. It wasn't as bad as having his brain tsunami'ed with Ves's tumultuous memories of depression, discrimination, and dread. These were a host of memories all related to Nancy. These memories came from people who died in the Mozreliun raid but who were healed by Nancy's mass-produced potions in the aftermath of the first invasion. Bottles of potion with the Stonerose crest engraved on the glass. He made the potions, she delivered them. Person after person after person being healed thanks to his potions. People on the battlefield trying to defend their homes in the invasions draining mana and stamina potions. People working day after day to search for survivors without break thanks to his potions

Vespera invoked the name of Nancy whenever she or one of her workers made a delivery and the bottles themselves invoked the name oft he guild who made them. It ushered in a new era for the guild. Now, even though mail is what got the Stoneroses on the map, it was now through alchemy requests that gave the guild a special position. Still being delivered at lightning speed by the Hermes vampire herself, high quality potions from the Guild of former misfit non-humans couldn't be denied. Those who discriminated against the likes of Demi, Nellie, Ves and himself were forced to acknowledge them and Guild Stoneroses. Arnold sang his praises left and right while Ves prevented the likes of the nobility from taking Nancy for themselves to exploit. The Stoneroses truly were a family for the alchemist. Person after person healed from his potions Vespera coming in with her courier bag FILLED reports of prevented casualties, thank you letters flooding in mixed in with commission orders to sift through.

Nancy wasn't necessarily THE alchemist of Kraiven, but he was absolutely one of the Top 5. This metric.......was never really released but it showed in that it kept Nancy busy. He had the notoriety. He was just not a public figure. No one knew WHO exactly Nancy was, or if they did, they didn't associate it with a male Locathah, let alone THAT male Locathah. They just knew that an alchemist named Nancy from Guild Stoneroses made some of the highest quality potions in the Capital City

Then came a beaming of pure pride from the Goddess. She couldn't show him her perception of him. Not in a way that he could understand anyways. It was beyond elating to see Nancy...... Not even forge his place in that family as much as naturally just integrate. He wasn't a cog in the Kraiven machine. He was his own person, not burdened by the pressure to produce. From the Goddess, all she felt was unconditional love. "You still have your Favor, Nancy. You never lost it." He just couldn't access it as a Null. That showed that she didn't strip him of it. In fact, only if he accepted the title of heretic and his death would that have happened

"It pains me to see you gone so soon," the Goddess declared, "But like all parents, more than anything I am happy for you to be alive." Her voice started to crack a bit as the weight of what she caused started settling in again, just as bad as when that witch injected him with that accursed substance. The worst part of it all is that Mariana was in a position of gratitude, knowing that this was the preferable alternative to where Nancy would've gone had he died to that Oppressive Cold. "When you return, I hope you return a man who can be proud of himself. MY pride you already have since my pride you already are."

With that, the commune came to an end. Nancy had enough time to say his peace. When his vision fully fades to white, it'll then fade to black until he opens his eyes to see the ceiling of the Stoneroses HQ once again. From then on, Nullification will be in full effect, but also Nancy will be sporting a set of vocal cords so that he may verbalize his thoughts naturally instead of frantically flounder using Kraiven Sign to communicate. His time in Kraiven draws to a close

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Jan 8, 2024

Nancy Noi
Cordelia - Throne Room

"More faithful"? After defying her Will? After acting in little faith? Well... accused of acting in little faith, really. Watching Nellie spiral into despair was hardly a matter of faith, Nancy felt. But the Goddess said...
He was so confused. Goddess had said his actions were shameful. So why did the only shame he feel from her pierce only inwards?

The memories of thousands chased away his ever-cycling doubts, long enough for them to play out fully. The collective suffering from the first invasion hit him with nigh the intensity of Vespera's anguished memories, until it steadily melted away. Wounds mended themselves, fatigue gave way to renewed strength, mana replenished from critical reserves. Injured soldiers brought back from the brink, survivors pulled out from under rubble, infections cured, magic comas and exhaustion prevented throughout it all. Thousands of lives saved, thousands of recoveries, and a thousand thanks in return.
And it was thanks to his potions. Nancy's potions.

Grief for his late mentor lost to the war was put on hold for weeks to supply the rescue effort. 10+ years of dedicated study by that same mentor bore its sweetest fruit to combat the bitter aftermath. Nancy knew it helped, but never could he comprehend the sheer scale of it all, always figuring that many alchemists more skilled than him had a bigger impact, and that his was just a drop in the ocean. All the while, there were few alchemists left more skilled than he.

And Nancy knew he was part of why the Stoneroses rose to greater status. But one of THE reasons? Enough that Ves felt the need to shoo away profiteering aristocrats eager to mint him. Not that he would have fallen for their overtures, even had he been the gullible type. Arnold, Ves, Efi, and all the others saw him as a person instead of just some cash cow to milk. Arnold was the one praising more than just his skill, Ves inviting him to her house parties for more than showing off an asset, Efi sharing her skills with Nancy for more than broadening his utility. They were the ones who always made sure he did more than make a mill out of himself, coaxing him out of his lab and intervening when his bouts of studious isolation turned to days, weeks at a time.
They were his family. Nancy's family.

And She's taking me away from them.
Indignation returned, a hot flash in his chest. Not only that, she was ready to take away the accomplishments that brought him his family. Over a misunderstanding! Over her chafed feelings! When HE was the one losing everything!
But... no, it had to be a feint, right? She wouldn't just strip him of everything and throw him to the wolves. The Trial had to be some sort of rework from the would-be Heresy punishment, the decreed sentence a big fat bluff. And why would he be deemed shameful if she only beamed with pride for him? Why would he be accused of acting without faith when he still had his Favor? Why would she blame him for saving his sister when she herself was tortured by regret?

Why did she make him look so terrible during that trial? Was he the sacrificial lamb to save her image to the Council?
And you're blaming Her for it? Who's the one here making a martyr out of you?

Guildmaster's Office...

"Nancy?"

Haws fluttered open and blinked away the image of his Goddess choking back emotion, a final picture burned within the darkness until he could make out the wooden beams of the Stoneroses ceiling. In place of the warm Holy waters, a very faint chill nipping his scales. In place of pride and sorrow, relief and despair touched his barbels. In place of the Goddess's embrace, cold arms cradled him close to his dear sister. His dear, beloved, traumatized sister, with robes soaked in tears and eyes bloodshot from shedding them. Because of course she would be! This was the worst thing that could have happened to her.

"Nancy..." She was grimacing, swallowing back sobs. "I'm so sorry. This is the worst thing that could have happened to you!"
With what he knew now, not exactly. He began to sign, hands sluggish as they rose, but she kept going.
"This is all my fault!" she cried, tears falling down her lowered face onto his clothes. "I did this to you! I ruined your life! It-- It should have been me! I deserve to suffer, not you! I'm so terrible--"
"STOP!" He flew up with renewed vim, hands cradling her head and forcing her to face him. "Nellie, stop it! You're not terrible!"
This earned silence, her looking on stunned.
"No one is terrible." he told her, hands firm over her cheeks. "Only circumstances."
"You're..."

Shock was mirrored when he realized how easy it was. Lips, tongue, mind and throat worked in tandem. The words flowed from his mouth as naturally as if he'd been speaking his entire life.
"She gave you a voice?" Relief was evident from Vlad as much as narrowed curiosity, eyes honed between his throat and mouth.
Nancy drew back from Nellie, touching the new lump with his fingers. Mostly obscured by fat and muscle, he could still feel it roll underneath. "More than that." He especially felt the vibrations from it. So strange feeling, let alone the voice itself. Did it sound... deeper? He felt it rumble in his ears, and echo in his mouth.

Like the reverse of hearing your voice recorded in comparison to how it sounds when speaking. For everyone else, it's like meeting someone in person after only talking to them long-distance.

"And the Heresy charge?" he pressed, sounding hopeful.
"Not Heresy," Nancy confirmed. "Just a misunderstanding."
"Thank gods." Nellie took his hand and began to stand. "Can you...?"
"I'm okay." Nancy stood with her, shakily when his head began to spin. He felt so tired all of a sudden. Was that just how the mortal body felt to his soul, after experiencing heaven? He hoped this wasn't like a Fae Ambrosia kind of deal, where getting one taste of Avalon food would ruin Earth food forever. "She gave me--" he stumbled, Nellie steadying him, "... a few tricks up my sleeve." It was a marvel. Nancy was expecting to need a degree of speech therapy, adjusting to the new normal and exercising mouth parts that rarely got so much use. Instead it was flawless, save for the slight whistle between his tongue and fangs from the S and C consonants.

Gaze sweeping over the room, Nancy saw they had a full office. Lattice, the two girls, Elaina because of course she was there, and their captain Sebas. People he was going to become very acquainted with soon. "With a caveat." Memory of the Ordination and its details was burned into his brain. He knew Sebas and the Coin of the Trench were the two exceptions to the Exile, the latter still at the alter of the Church empowering it (unless it was already disabled).
Realizing they were down one body, Nancy asked with concern, "Where's Mariah?"
"She's giving an announcement to the people. Unrelated to this," Vlad assured him. "Don't worry about that now. You'll be able to see her before you leave."
This made Nancy turn Sebas's way, though he was silent. The look on his face conveyed enough apology that Goddess was saddling the captain with a loser like him.

Kylesar1

Kylesar1 · Jan 14, 2024

The moment Nancy spoke, Elaina's eyes widened. Her test subject just mutated! He was speaking! "EEEEEEE!" Elaina screeched as she ran over, eyes shining. "Holy shit he has vocal chords! I've known about blood mixing." Her enthusiasm was that of an awe-struck child, a stark contrast from every way the Kraiven-folk had experienced her up to now. When she said she viewed them as subjects for study, like everything else she said, it was true. "I didn't know Gods can alter DNA from the soul. I must study this phenomena!"
"Back off, Elaina," Sebas called, walking over, "He's got business to handle."
"Why do you never let me have fun? This is a BREAKTHROUGH event!"
"Have fun at the expense of people I'm not in charge of," he retorted without hesitation, "Goddess put me in charge of Nancy, so until he's ready to piss off into the sunset, he's under my protection." He passed a nod to Nancy. From the aura he gave off especially with the girls and then Lattice, and from the fact that he was the captain of a ship, it served to go "Taking care of you is no more of a problem than the rest of these jackwads."

Sebas Deadeye
Stoneroses HQ- Guildmaster's Office

He couldn't read Nancy's expression of self-deprecation. He was reading the expressions of a fish afterall. "Nancy, the moment you want to leave and go your own way, feel free. Until then, I'll be around to help." This went to show that Sebas wasn't displeased but he wasn't pleased. If anything, it was just another task to be done.
"I'll let you do your thing until it's time to go. We leave at 5 pm. I'll be there at 4:50 at the gate. If you're late, well............it's a long drop into the water." Water that Nancy wasn't built for since he was a fresh-water Locathah over a salty sea. The only viable alternative than the pirates were to ask Demi. Mariah, being Mariana's angel, couldn't assist him after he left the gates.
"Is he exiled from the territory or from the city?"
"It's a Complete Exile." Sebas responded, using the official term. "KRAIVEN is becoming Orivae, not just Toron. That means this whole rock is Hers. He can't be here in 24 hours from the moment he opened his eyes. So he either leaves with us or he takes a long walk off a short dock." Choosing to stay and die to violating the rules counts as suicide, thus a long painful sentence to be served in the Abyss

"We'll be having Vespera come with us as well, Nancy." Elaina said. "Someone has to educate her. And take her home, if she can call this new world home........"
Sebas passed a potion over to Vlad. "Have him drink it."
"Wait, Sebas. Don't give him Reset."
"Huh?" Sebas paused, "Why?"
"I already gave him a dose of Reset to save his life."
He was about to question why she gave him Reset, but then rolled his eyes. Fine. Why didn't the Goddess put Elaina in charge of this shit? Oh right, because the Goddess hated her. Instead, he passed Vlad a stamina potion. "It should give him enough energy to make it through all this." Probably JUST enough. It would really just delay the inevitable physical crash that would happen once the fatigue hit all at once.........like it was still hitting the Basenjis having to pack up while still licking their wounds

Sebas wanted to hibernate, but the only resting souls were those in the medical bay and those 6 feet under. "We'll get fully acquainted later. Remember, 4:50 at the Gate. Everyone else leaving this place is gonna be there as well. Don't be late." He shot a glance to his entourage. "Let's bounce."

"S'been a pleasure Vlad. I'd drink with ya if we didn't have to deal with this bullshit." With a polite bow from Orabelle, a nonchalant uncaring wave from Lostro, and an actual verbal farewell to Nellie and Vlad from Lattice, Sebas snapped the crystal and everyone teleported away, back to the ship. That left Elaina standing there. "I have words for Mariah about my next library," the witch said, heading to the door. "Carry on. I grant you privacy in these trying times." she said, shutting the door

For once since they met Elaina, there was finally that sense that they could speak without the eavesdropping witch's omnipresent surveillance.

WayfaringWaaksian

WayfaringWaaksian · Jan 15, 2024

Nancy Noi
Stoneroses HQ

Elaina deciding to encroach his bubble-- again-- made Nancy recoil, head rearing back to regain some of that precious space. Or it was prepping to strike if she decided to get handsy. But the hiss of warning came from his sister, dilated eyes a mere glimpse of the Abyss she wanted to unleash.
"Make a science project out of him, and I'll put YOUR organs on display."
"Nellie--"
"It'll be fine," Nancy stepped in before Vlad could scold her. While Sebas reeled in Elaina so she didn't get bit, Nancy reassured, "If she wanted a dead specimen, she had two opportunities she passed up on."
"... Two?!"
Oh lords... "It's not like I was completely safe in the Church." Or from murderous angels, but she needn't know about that. Her plate was so full, even her ravenous appetite would want to gag at the thought of eating it all in one sitting.

Nancy wanted to gag in general. Two hours?! The only home he'd known for over 200 years, and he had to condense his peace into just two hours!
... He swallowed back his nausea. Maybe it was better to rip off this bandage, rather than wait in agony for however long while the time ticked down. Gulping down the rest of it with the stamina potion, the taste alerted him before its properties did. It was potent, more than he would have expected from sailor's stock. Was it because it was a high-scale crew, or was this the new standard across the board? They were sailing the skies, but was that unusual in these times?
The sheer scale of the unknown he was about to face made him sick all over again. At least the Goddess didn't send him back to learning how to boil water, per his former punishment.

"I concur," Vlad answered Sebas with a nod. "A shame we had to meet in such grim circumstances. Know that you and your crew are always welcome to return. It's the least we can offer, after all you've done for this kingdom." It was a given, especially since their captain was a follower of the Goddess.
"So long as we remain allies, you have our aid to call upon," Nellie agreed, keen to show that her trust would waver at the slightest scent of treachery, but her trust they had all the same.
"And when you do come back, drinks are on me," he added, smiling. "Hope brandywine hasn't fallen out of fashion."

When the office cleared out, silence settled between the three. Silence that was broken by stifled breaths and sniffles.
"Nellie..." Nancy firmed the grasp of their held hands, now the one holding her steady.
"I don't know how She expects us to do this." Her eyes squeezed shut, head shaking. "Is this the real reason of the punishment? To separate us?"
"No! No..." It couldn't be. That was just too cruel. But... maybe? They had hurt each other. Goddess was hurt by his actions and exiled him for it. The correlation was there... no, surely it was only that. "She wants me back home, with you." The Goddess had said so herself. "But I can't cure my condition from here. I think She just wants me to fix this as quickly as possible."
Nellie quieted, but not from finding comfort, given the turmoil twisting on her face.
"Are... you and Goddess...?"
"I don't know!" she cried, pulling away and retreating near the corner. "I don't know anymore! When I took Her back in, I didn't expect it to be... to be like THIS!!" Hands cradled her head, masking tearful eyes. "If I'd known this would happen, I..."
Nancy made his approach slow, so she wouldn't jump when he retrieved her hand. "Let me ask you this: do you love Her as a Goddess, or a mother?"
"I..." She trailed off, no more shocked than pensive. It must have never occurred to her. "I don't..."
"Because regardless of what you accepted Her for, She is both," he explained. "She is the Holy Goddess of the Deepest Deeps. She is the Daedric Lord of the Abyss. And She is your Mother. Never is She not all of these things, and the moment you forget that, you'll end up just like me."

When clarity refused to shine through the fog in her eyes, Nancy decided to leave it at that. He was realizing now just how little she understood the Divine, which nearly stirred his anger all over again. Goddess knew just as little of Nellie, if She thought throwing yet another responsibility at her was a good idea.
"I'm sorry." She'd been struggling not to apologize incessantly, but picking up on his frustration drew it out. "You shouldn't be the one comforting me. I should be strong for you right now!"
A sigh huffed through his nose. For gods' sake, sister. Let me be the brave one for once. "I'll be fine, Nellie." Before she could try to argue, he insisted, "I'm NOT fine. I don't think I will be for a long time. But... I'll survive. I've held out on my own before." He found a home in the Stoneroses with nothing to his name, and became one of the greatest alchemists in Kraiven. This time, he wasn't empty-handed. "Knowing that you're safe, and that the people are safe under your care, makes everything worth it. So if you need to be strong for anyone, be strong for them."

He could anticipate the retorts. How could he ever be okay if he kept throwing his life away? How could the people be safe under her, when she caused more collateral? How can she be strong after ruining everything?
But none of it came. "I will." Her slow nodding grew more assertive. "This is beyond just us now."

Though it was a brave face she was putting in front of her dismay, it kept Nellie stable. It was what they needed, but not what they wanted. Nancy longed for nothing more than to collapse in her hold, to let them both wail and lament the unfairness of it all like they had every other tragedy, but there wasn't the time. He needed to focus.

"I have to go pack. And..." his gaze fell, "I guess say goodbye to the place."
"Go," she said. "We'll inform Arnold."
He snapped back up. "Don't tell him anything. Just try to gather them. I'll do the talking." A spike of anxiety shot through him. With how Arnold treated Vespera, should he expect anger directed at him too? Nancy supposed it would just have to be.

When Nancy hurried through the door, a paw slid in place of Nellie's emptied hold. "You don't have to decide anything right now." Maybe he had overreacted, Vlad thought. The kingdom wouldn't be doomed, per se, if Nellie decided to renounce her Favor. They didn't just need a powerful mage. They needed her. "Don't think about all of that. Just ride this out."
"I'm trying," her crystal croaked. "I just... I just want this over with."
A soothing thumb over clammy knuckles, Vlad guided her out of the office. "Let's see if they're back."

Nancy Makes Peace

Nancy looked over his safe haven. Between here and the lab in the other Wing, nowhere else had he spent more time. His life was imprinted into every wall, every flattened path in the carpet, every worn dip in the furniture. It felt so wrong to imagine this place barren of life in just a few short hours, after centuries of housing him.

Passing the lounge room, his fingertips grazed the table he and his friends had hunched over many a rowdy game night. The cards and coasters were still stacked neatly in the center, not the least bit jostled even in the chaos of the battle. The only sign of yesterday was his parched eyes looking in the mirror of the bathroom, and the dark tendrils of scarring on his palms that gleamed as he rinsed his glasses. The tiles were spotless, and this was the ONLY room he forbade Efilisa from cleaning due to his own embarrassment. He had insisted he take care of the space himself, just as he learned from her how to sew to tailor his own clothes.

Nights of adjusting his robes under the needle flashed through his mind as he stood over his bed, then even more nights curled around a book until it lulled him to sleep. Nights mourning his Goddess, mourning his mentor, crying at every harsh reminder that nothing would change from the same endless drudgery that kept him from going insane in these walls...
Every day-- over 73,000 days, he'd done the numbers-- just wore down the same paths, same dips, same fibers of resolve that kept him tied to this place. The same fibers that kept him from throwing himself over Kraiven's edge just to give his frayed mind the peace that his books reread, games replayed, memories relived a thousand times couldn't give...

It hit him then when he saw the note he left on his dresser, the one change to his flat that bore the new truth, a reminder that the outside was again surrounded in blue skies and starry nights.
If he left today, what would he even be missing?

Inspiration brought him to flick his crystal. "Nancy to Vespera."

Kylesar1

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

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