Long List of Grudges IC (Isekai RP)

[Crow]

Cassandra's hair obscures her features as she bows , hand to her chest.

She tonelessly repeats word for word the oath, eyes unreadable. It grated at her if she were honest with herself, but it was a little too late to back out of now.

She had her reservations, with the existence of the fantastical what effects could such an oath have on her ? She rattled at any fetters to be placed upon her.

But the only way was forward here. She'd think a way out later if the terms didn't suit her. For now she'll comply.

"As you say My Queen" she assents with a sharp smile.

 

[Chronobreak]

@MiracleGrow

Matsu kept one ear out for the words of his liege, but the majority of his attention had been focused outside. The ebb and flow of a new world was more agreeable to his soul than the darting words of his compatriots, though he was thankful that from their inquiries, he learned more himself.

At the mention of their mission, however, his muscles began to unconsciously contract, his body tensing and untensing in tune with an alien rhythm he'd need time to pinpoint. Behind him, his tail swayed like a wave.

Invasions. Holding territory. This was how wars were waged in centuries passed, before the death of empires and the birth of a more globalized world. In his time, Matsu had swept across the center of his continental homeland, laying claim to villages under the banner of bloody handed ideologues, but it was a hopeless rebellion. The status quo was restored after he had began his new life, lands returned to the countries he had stolen from, and the foundations for the regressive revolution those like his father had so hoped for was washed away from the unssailable might of foreign interest. In the end, they had nothing to show for what they had done but a legacy of misery and pain.

Matsu, however, remained silent as the Queen went on. Even if he feared, even if he ached at the thought of pointless slaughter, he was not so craven as to set himself against the words of the woman who had saved his life. He owed a debt to her, and that debt would be paid,whether or not he enjoyed the process or not. And besides, despite the wonders he had seen, the moral framework of the Ashen Lands was not like his modern Earth. Much like how the Church was more brutish in its earlier incarnations, the times influenced what was or was not acceptable.

Still. He'd not lose himself that easily, and his guide wouldn't let him besides. He had five years to figure this out, to divine a path forwards that would lead towards the least strife for those who would come to rely on him. He wouldn't be causing trouble the first day of his new life.

"Musko, Hilda, Kuukyo." She says, beckoning towards your group.

"You will be leaving capital and heading to the fortress of Osso. Hilda's adjuant will be escorting you to the place. And yes, you will be going on foot. Hope you like camping in tunnels."

Click to shrink...

"Kuukyo?" Matsu said beneath his breath, tilting his head slightly, before flinching as the flaps of his flesh hat slapped against his cheeks. Right, that was going to take some getting used too.

"Aah, I cannot say I'm so fond of that, but I won't let you down that easily. Excercise will do me some good. Always though tails were cool, but it does a number on one's posture," Matsu trailed off contemplatively, before shaking his head.

Her hand flicks downwards towards the ground.

"Now repeat after me. 'I swear upon the council, the Queen, and the grudges written in blood. May I toil against the world, to right what was wrong'. No changes, exactly that or I'm going to make you repeat it a couple thousand times."

Click to shrink...

Matsu brought himself down gently, not wanting to lose his balance and make an embarassment of himself by faceplanting during his dismissal. First his knee dug into the ground, allowing him to shift his weight so his other leg was pushed out behind him. His webbed fingers flexed, searching for a weapon with which to push into the ground, before he mentally chastised himself. Instead, he pushed his tail in front of him, the pointed end aimed stiffly to the ceiling.

Hoping desperately that pushing ones tail betwix ones legs was not a grave faux pas, he released his token from the lapel of his shirt, and placed it on his tails tip. If he was to take an oath now, it would be with utmost gravity and commitment, and he cleared his throat as he grasped his new limb, placing his forehead against his knuckles and closing his eyes so that he could envision nothing but his duty, to take arms for the cause of another, to a future that would satisfy the needs of his Queen, regardless of his own feelings.

"I swear upon the Council, the Queen, and the grudges written in blood. May I toil against the world, to right what was wrong."

Something twisted in Matsu's throat. Almost like a gurgle, but not quite, excited and knowing.

He wondered what part of him would respond so strongly to that.

 

[MiracleGrow]

@Chronobreak @Crow @THatWhichWillBe @Jemnite @Unlucky Bibliophile

@Omida (I'll be going with the assumption that you dropped)


The Queen of the Ashenlands claps her hand on her knee. Her smile lighting up the room with its radiance.

"Contract sealed."

The short woman lets that hang in the air for a couple of moments. Giving each and everyone you look to ease out any reaction you had to her words. After a couple of more seconds she lets out a small laugh and makes a shooing motion.

"Nah I'm kidding, it's just a thing to close out meetings with me. Now go, I'll be seeing you all again soon."

Two massive stone doors rise at the far end of the room. The Queen points towards the group staying in the capital. "Go to the one on the left, others to the right."

"Left most, follow me." Noelle says razing her hand. Already turning her back to leave the room.

"Right most, stay here a moment. I need one more word with you before you leave." The Queen quickly interjects.

------Sometime Later ------

The long passage is filled with red crystals adorning the walls. Casting it all in an eerie dim red light that makes it hell for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. Occasionally passages leading away seem to appear out of nowhere from time to time. Time to time a dark shadow passes your group, stretching across the walls to avoid being touched by the other worlders.

"Ah, those are guards," Nolle quickly pipes up after you pass the first one. "Clerics to the Dancer, they crawl around like that when on duty. Make 'em mad and they will drag you into the wall like nothing."

This continues on for a good twenty minutes until you see a shining light from the end of the corridor, a black shadow moving away to let light pour in. A practical wave of sound pours down the tunnel. Your group emerges out into a packed underground square. The cavern you entered was clearly carved out entirely by hand. Multiple structures littered the ceiling, the edges of the cave, and deep below you can hear the roar of water rushing past. Large bridges crisscrossed between structures, and markets freely sprawled across the caverns. Over bridges, sticking out of buildings, and a particular odd looking cafe that goes under the bridge.

But what stood out the most among it all was the colors. Your previous sights showed the Ashenlands to be a rather dark grey place. But in the cavern walls were hundreds of different glowing crystals that coated the cavern in a bright light. Hundreds of different hues of light causing all to appear in a strange hue. As well as large colored banners and market stalls that make the entire room appear as a rainbow.

Among the brilliant colors in the cavern was the people itself. Grey and lack hair seems incredibly dominant, as deep black robes as well. However, there were usually colorful arrangements embroidered on each robe. Among the bridges you could see multi color webs criss cross the cavern, and the occasional spider person traversing across them, lazily making their way across gossamer webs despite their large bulk. You even spot what appears to be large Lamina arguing with each other in front of a fruit stand filled with exotic looking fruit.

"They signify what house and heritage you hail from. A pretty important thing here." Nolle says as she points towards the sigils on a large number of clothes. "Despite the great strides this land has faced in these past three hundred years, it is still deeply trenched in its old tribal cultures. Not that it is wrong in any fashion, just something to be aware of."

"Follow me and don't get lost. Last thing I want to see happen is you getting scammed." Noelle says motioning towards your small group.

Most pay little mind to your procession crossing the main bridge from what you think is the Queen's castle. Their eyes mostly focusing on the two guards wreathed in shadow that followed you from the tunnel. One large man attempts to approach the group, but a strange sharp sound emerges from the movements of your shadowed guards, sending him scrambling away, getting a few laughs from the crowd.

The more perceptive of the group would notice that people's eyes seem to slide right off of Noelle. She was doing something that made her hard to see.

Noelle marches the group towards an indiscriminate looking building. Well, as indiscriminate a large stone structure carved out of a cave wall could be.

"In," Noelle motions the group inside as she slams the door open.

The inside of the stone building was lavished in all sorts of fine wear. Rugs with immaculate trims, chairs and couches that were clearly pilfered from various nobility, and rows of fine busts and statues. Each bearing the face of a different man or woman.

"Welcome to my home, or more often known as Ashenlands Bureau of Intelligence. And your home for now." Noelle says collapsing in a large ornate armchair, her ears idly twitching as she relaxes for a moment.

"I used to be a… famous thief. Most of this is my collection, just don't break any of it." She says scooting her chair up closer to a small table that has three other well cushioned chairs.

"Sit, let's talk a little. Without the Queen looking down our necks the entire time. But first," Noelle looks at a set of stairs in the far corner of room "Jessica! Get down here, your student is here."

"Fine Fine! Did you at leeast get za torch out of you ass?" A high pitched and heavily accented voice yells back.

The figure that appears down the stairs was a bit off an odd one. Her long blond hair was tightly woven into neat drills. The four of which shook with her every step. Her bright red clothes did not seem all out of place among what you saw in the market. But what stood out the most was a fancy revolver at her side. It was overly bulky but had a gas canister attached to the side of it.

"This is Miss Jessica Trench, an other worlder that I talent poached. She comes from a world of steam, pipes, and big flammable balloon ships." Noelle quickly introduces her.

But Jessica seems to be paying little attention to Noelle. Her eyes locking onto Kuukyo, her sight not leaving her for a moment.

"Da eye'z are not right. Verry wrong. She is human, you sure?" She speaks, her accent so thick you could cut it with a knife

"Are you going to be helpful to your student or are you going to spout off on your nonsense again?" Noelle sighs as she flicks open the lock on a liquor cabinet besides the table.

"No no, but I've seen eye'z like this err… before? Not good, something must change. Hungry look will always starve eventually." She says pacing forward, finally breaking eye contact to give Noelle a sheepish look.

"Kuukyo, you have my permission to kick her if she annoys you too much by the way." Noelle says leaning back into her chair. A hand reaching out and plucking a bottle of wine from the cabinet besides her.

"No offense yes? Kicking not needed." She quickly says to the little pop idol. "But err, do you have experience in war? Fighting? Seen too much blood? Have odd nightmares?" The otherworlder blitzes you with a rapid series of questions.

Noelle puts her odd otherworlder roommate out of her mind and places wine cups on the table. Looking at the group with a raised eyebrow.

"Wine, or do you wish to get to the real meat of this. This place has been warded so much that if you look out the windows. You will notice that we are actually on the ceiling of the cavern, not on the side of it." Her words ring true, the house faces straight down. The room seemingly defying gravity and not sending everything crashing downwards.

"This is a safe place to talk. If the Queen made you swear to do something really stupid. Now is the best time to speak."

Jessica scoots up behind Noelle, her head peering over the top of her chair.

 

[Unlucky Bibliophile]

But what stood out the most among it all was the colors. Your previous sights showed the Ashenlands to be a rather dark grey place. But in the cavern walls were hundreds of different glowing crystals that coated the cavern in a bright light. Hundreds of different hues of light causing all to appear in a strange hue. As well as large colored banners and market stalls that make the entire room appear as a rainbow.

Among the brilliant colors in the cavern was the people itself. Grey and lack hair seems incredibly dominant, as deep black robes as well. However, there were usually colorful arrangements embroidered on each robe. Among the bridges you could see multi color webs criss cross the cavern, and the occasional spider person traversing across them, lazily making their way across gossamer webs despite their large bulk. You even spot what appears to be large Lamina arguing with each other in front of a fruit stand filled with exotic looking fruit.

Click to shrink...

Callista followed closely behind Noelle, noting everything she saw. Shadow guards, appearing and disappearing passages -- a conventional force would have trouble navigating the place, let alone digging a hostile force out. Taliban and Vietcong tunnel complexes had nothing on these tunnels.

Most of all, however, Callista took note of Ashenland society. What she saw was that it was a colorful place. There was an availability of colored fabric that she suspected would have beggared nobles. She had heard that certain colors of dye were incredibly expensive for middle age society. Here, it was common enough that most clothing seemed to incorporate even a little. No doubt thanks to the spider ladies crawling along the walls and ceilings of the cavern.

Idly, Callista wondered if they could choose the color of the webbing or if they did something else to dye their webs. In any case, textiles looked to be the kingdom's most profitable trade.

"Wine, or do you wish to get to the real meat of this. This place has been warded so much that if you look out the windows. You will notice that we are actually on the ceiling of the cavern, not on the side of it." Her words ring true, the house faces straight down. The room seemingly defying gravity and not sending everything crashing downwards.

"This is a safe place to talk. If the Queen made you swear to do something really stupid. Now is the best time to speak."

Click to shrink...

Callista spent a few minutes looking around Noelle's office. Expensive objects lined the walls. She almost expected to see placards explaining how and when Noelle acquired them. A former thief, though? An odd choice to head the kingdom's intelligence office, but she had heard of weirder.

The view outside was incredible, too. They seemed to be on the ceiling!

Callista raised her hand as she took a seat. "I'll have that wine. No reason to refuse. I'm a little parched, too."

"As for having us swear to do something stupid, I think you're too late. We all just swore to do something stupid a while ago," said Callista, smiling.

 

[Jemnite]

"Da eye'z are not right. Verry wrong. She is human, you sure?" She speaks, her accent so thick you could cut it with a knife

"Are you going to be helpful to your student or are you going to spout off on your nonsense again?" Noelle sighs as she flicks open the lock on a liquor cabinet besides the table.

"No no, but I've seen eye'z like this err… before? Not good, something must change. Hungry look will always starve eventually." She says pacing forward, finally breaking eye contact to give Noelle a sheepish look.

"Kuukyo, you have my permission to kick her if she annoys you too much by the way." Noelle says leaning back into her chair. A hand reaching out and plucking a bottle of wine from the cabinet besides her.

"No offense yes? Kicking not needed." She quickly says to the little pop idol. "But err, do you have experience in war? Fighting? Seen too much blood? Have odd nightmares?" The otherworlder blitzes you with a rapid series of questions.

Click to shrink...

Rise takes two steps back from the rapid press. Her fingers twitch behind, but they latch onto nothing but the index finger and the middle finger of her other hand. Ah, right. Rise forces her hands to relax and let go but they unconsciously slip onto the edge of a table behind her instead.

Seriously was I really this timid before?

"Er, I've never been in a fight," Rise says hesitantly. "Um, I haven't been having nightmares either. I had a weird dream when I got here, but I think that was mostly because of the transfer process? Also I think I'm 100% human...? Or at least I uh," Rise thinks to the series of mutations she's seen sprouted on the other otherworlders. "Was...? Am...?"

Her mutations are a little late apparently.

 

[MiracleGrow]

"The person you will be working with has no filter for her words. Feel free to attempt to kick her ass if she annoys you too much. Emphasis on the attempt here." Queen says, steadily rising from her chair. Her new leg glowing a soft red for a moment.

"Now I'm off to drink heavily and snuggle one of my consorts." She makes a shooing motion towards the group.

A bored looking maid approaches the two of you. Giving a small bow, placing her hand on heart.

"I will be taking you to Lady Ayzria. If you follow me please." She turns and starts moving down a set of stairs at the far end of the room. Not bothering to wait for your answer.

You seemed to be moving through what might as well have been the maintenance tunnels of the building. Ash lines the side of the walls, lazily pushed to the side to make a pathway. Despite the great magical shield to protect it from the dust, the entire hallway softly rumbles. The ashen storm outside was still blowing with terrible power. Wherever you are it must be close to the outer ring of the castle.

A clattering of armored boots echoes down the hallways. A column of what must be troops marches down the otherside of the hallway. Who looked to be in… mild disrepair. Their chainmail was torn in various places, ash flaked off of them on their every step, and their cloaks were charred in various places. They shoot the group a couple of looks before marching forward.

"Ahhhh, musta been caught up in dealing with the livestock. They get kinda cranky sometimes~." The maid mutters to you as they pass.

The maid makes a quick hand motion towards the last guard in the formation. He locks up on the spot, snapping a quick bow to the maid.

"Yes Vesmiian?" The guard says as he rises from his bow. Still standing at attention to the two of you. The word he uses to refer to the Maid rings a little odd in your ears. There was power to that word but none that you could just make out with your ears.

"Is Ayzria in the dock station?" She responds.

"Yes, just got back from the ash storms."

"Just got back?" The maid raises an eyebrow.

"You know how she is, she could have a picnic in it if she felt like it." He gives a small shrug

"You're dismissed then, don't let the bird bite next time." She waves the soldier off, who gives a quick nod in return and sprints down the hallway to catch up with his fellows.

The maid picks up the pace slightly as she moves through the ashridden hallways. The rumbling grew stronger with each step. It gets to the point where it becomes difficult to walk. After ten more minutes of treacherous downward descent you find you query. The hallway leads out into a massive open room that has small ashen dunes coating its floor. At the far end of the room you can see a blue shimmering shield barely keeping the ash storm at bay. Its force produces a solid swelling wall of pure darkness against the shield. Occasionally flashing erratically as dust lightning strikes out at the tower. In the room everything was shaking uncontrollably. It was like being in a severe earthquake that just wouldn't end.

"I'm not needed anymore than." The maid turns on the spot and leaves where hence she came. Leaving just the two of you standing in a room filled with nothing but ash and the roaring storm pounding away at its walls.

In a pile only a few meters away from you the ash shifts. Two large red horns peak out of the ash. The horns move through the ash like a shark fin peeking out of the water. Stopping right before you. Two arms burst forth from the ash, wiggling their fingers for a moment before reaching downwards and ripping themselves from their earthen confines. A woman with a brillant plume of red hair bursts forth from the earth. Her brilliant lavender clothes are not mired with even a bare speck of the ash. Her powerful muscular arms reach and grapple both of your shoulders.

"So these are the two twigs I gotta make oaks?" Her brutish voice rings out as she shakes your shoulders.

She releases your for a moment. Pointing at herself as she shoots the both of you a grin.

"Ayzria at your service. Nothing more and nothing less. So tell me what experience you got gruff man and uhh…." her expression falters as she gets a better look at Matsu. "Man the portal really did a fucking number on ya huh? Are you like umm okay?"

 

[THatWhichWillBe]

"Ayzria at your service. Nothing more and nothing less. So tell me what experience you got gruff man and uhh…." her expression falters as she gets a better look at Matsu. "Man the portal really did a fucking number on ya huh? Are you like umm okay?"

Click to shrink...

"I've been fighting since I was... Fourteen? Mostly older kids, then after some geezer picked me up and taught me a few things, fought other martial artists of various sorts."

Musko suddenly feels very old. Man, time flies when you're having fun, huh?

"Cribbed a lot off of other styles. Went to a lot of tournaments, not much real 'battlefield experience' though, unless you count the occasional nasty gang fight as 'battlefield experience'."

He taps his staff on the ground.

"I'm good with the basic weapons of staff, spear, sword, saber... Never bothered to get into the exotic stuff though. My real specialty, though, is just using good ol' hands and feet."