'yea the last group of peoples who i trusted to return on their own accord where never seen from again. I also have something in mind already, your horses won't be going far without those now would you.' William was beginning to get very angry, he just manged to hide it and said "Do you want proof that we are working for the king? I can show you the letters I have from the general, the one who is responsible for his mission. And I will even tell you who I am, my name is William Phoenix from the Phoenix trade company. And I give you my word that we will return, either alive or as undeads."
Karen sighed inwardly, with the sounds coming from all directions this wasn't gonna get her anywhere, if 'sight' was no go and 'hearing' was clouded, her last, crazy, option was touch. Crazy cause it meant countering on contact, not as its coming, which means she's relying on how tough her armor is to walk away from this.
With out putting much thought into it, since her opponent was a mind reader, Karen lunged toward one of the sounds in hopes of luring it to attack so she could put her insane plan into action
'I am responsible for every live in this town, it doesn't matter if they are fighters or healers, if they are saints or the scum of the earth, they have their lives in my hand, what kind of leader would I be for such a irresponsible death as letting a complete stranger near the sick. So if you were in my position would you led someone you have no idea who they are near the most vulnerable of those you are responsible?'
Ivaan gripped the bridge of his nose. A difficult task for someone with a muzzle. You throw us in prison as soon as look at us, want us to battle your greatest enemy without our supplies or horses, act like a high and mighty guardian when your best troops are a bunch of kids, after the rest of your city was murdered, or worse by the enemy we're trying to destroy, and tell us you don't trust us!? We're your last option princess, I don't know what I'd do in your position, but I do know I'd be doing a damn sight better than you are, How can we even know whether we can trust you!? you-
It was at this point Ivaan noticed he had been speaking out loud.
Great job controlling that anger, Ivaan. So shaman like. He thought to himself.
Ivaan took a deep breathe, and spoke in a steady voice; "My apologies", before sending an apologetic glance at William and heading to the back of the cell, slumping down into a disgruntled heap of fur and claws.
'HOW CAN I TRUST THOSE SENT BY THE VERY NATION THAT WERE TRYING TO SEND ABUMOT THIS!?!' the female yama bellowed as she pulled her sword form her sheath and swung it vertically, the air it cut through rippled and flew forward hitting the wall next to ivaan and leaving a massive cut mark in it as if a massive beast had clawed at the wall, the sword glowed like the shield owned by antigonus 'we found it on a dying messenger it was addressed to abumot from one of your politicians, so either you give me a bloody good reason to trust you, as I have shown you can trust me by not killing you for being part of the army aiding the enemy, or you can work on my terms'
As Karen swung she hit nothing but air but a horn dug into her left shoulder, though her armour protected her form any major damage, it definitely felt like it would leave a bruise, though karens quick reaction allowed her to ram her blade on he right arm backwards into the unicorns neck, the unicorn quickly retreated into the black cloud, but as it did the cloud slightly lifted allowing karen to see a bit further, the noises in her head also lessened.
Ivaan stayed silent, not wanting to cause any more trouble than he already had.
However, he turned to the great gouge in the wall beside him, inspected it down his nose, then turned back and complimented the yama on her diplomacy with a quirk of an eybrow.
BY THE GUARDIANS HOLY HOME TREE THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING.
Ivaan made sure he didn't vocalise his thoughts this time. A bead of sweat rolled down his muzzle and dripped on the dusty floor.
Karen rolled her shoulder a bit, she felt that, noting the dent it left in her hide, as well as noticed things had cleared up a bit, not enough for an exact bead on its location, but she felt the next one would more accurate, she was intent on winning even if it meant taking the unicorn apart one silver at a time.
Karen watched the cloud a few moments, listening for any differences in sounds now that it was less deafening, before picking what she thought was the spot and attacking once more
"...we found it on a dying messenger it was addressed to abumot from one of your politicians, so either you give me a bloody good reason to trust you, as I have shown you can trust me by not killing you for being part of the army aiding the enemy, or you can work on my terms" the Yama woman said after swinging a clearly magical blade; apparently of human make.
"Everyone calm down." Claire said, trying to bring a semblance of order back to the situation. "First, may I inquire which politician that blade was supposedly from. I'd be greatly interested in knowing the identity of someone who has betrayed Embla." she said, her voice low. She disliked the proposition that one of Embla was cavorting with mages and she wasn't even sure it was true; but if it was true then she would need to see to the resolution of the problem.
"Now Ms, please try to see it from out side. We're here on a mission representing multiple species-" she said, indicating Mr. Bom, Reetch, and Ivaan, "-to stop mages; that much is true. I don't know how to make our trustworthiness apparent to you given the sword that you have, but I can only offer you the possibilities. You can either trust that we will kill this mage or leave us all locked away in a prison cell, consuming resources you don't have to spare. If you let us go, then, from your perspective, we will either do as we say and kill the mage - doing your city good, we could do as we say and fail to kill the mage, leaving you in the same position as you were before, or possible we're lying and really part of the enemy forces, in which case you expel us from the city and you're in the same situation as you were before we arrived. Trusting us can only benefit you or worst case do no harm. I suppose you could kill us, but if that was really what you wanted we'd be a bloody mess outside the gates right now. There's nothing we can leave here that will guarantee our return - even ignoring the chance of our death - since you don't know anything about us or what we value. So, how how about you think about the problem rationally and give us the small amount of trust it takes to maybe save your city?" she finished, hoping the logical explanation would give them some aid.
"Now, if you want to be certain we'll come back, you have only a few options really. The first - and this one I prefer - is to offer us something to aid us on our missions in the future; some resource or information that you can give us after we kill the enemy as a reward. What better reason to return with a head then to trade it for something valuable. The other option - I'm sure you have realized being a clearly capable commander - is to keep one of us captive to ensure our return. This has the disadvantage of souring the trust we have in each other and ensuring no friendship will be born from this arrangement - as well as weakening both our positions - but it has the advantage of being free for you." she offered, trying to get the conversation on track.
"So what will it be?" she said, smiling, "Will you trust us enough to let us go, leave us locked up, or kill us where we stand? I do offer you a bit of a hint; we don't take kindly to the last two." she said with a shrug then moved back to lean against a wall, awaiting the answer, her hand behind her back ready to open a portal if they decided to kill them.
Claire says everything rationally and calmly; no bursts of emotion. Think that she speaks like a school teacher. Just for refference"
The female yama looked at clair while putting her sword back into her seath she though about something before responding 'the man's name was harvey treasach. I will keep your leader, as you would be less likely to stab us in the back somehow if I can kill him on a word command. Mages a tricky folk you don't know which one of their actions could be part of a spell they are trying to preform. Also if you do return with abumots head I will give you what ever supplies we can afford to spare.'
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someone call animal control
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Karen strike was another miss, a mere second after her swing she could see the unicorn coming straight at her, its horn struck karen in her chest, the combination on the unicorns velocity and indent cause by the horn allowed the unicorn to lift karen slight off her feet with its horn. It kept charging straight out of the cloud, smashing karen back through a tree as it did so. As the two hit the tree the horn dug slightly deeper, the unicron kept charging towards the next tree with karen still on its horn.
Karen was dazed for a second by the first tree, how ever the feeling on the Unicorns horn piercing her armor snapped her out of that daze right fast, and jammed both arm blades and knee spikes into the Unicorns neck while her back spikes went for the base of its neck, aiming to hit something important.
"You want us to go on without our leader, Ms? Why not take me? I'm as good a hostage. take me."
Bom felt he owed it to the group as penance for his earlier actions. The mission needed it's leader, and at times William was often the only thing holding the group together.
'the man's name was harvey treasach. I will keep your leader, as you would be less likely to stab us in the back somehow if I can kill him on a word command. Mages a tricky folk you don't know which one of their actions could be part of a spell they are trying to preform. Also if you do return with abumots head I will give you what ever supplies we can afford to spare.' William turned a bit white. They want to keep me here? In this hellhole?! And even more importantly, this abumot sound strong. I can't allow my party to face them without me!
Bom suddenly spoke "You want us to go on without our leader, Ms? Why not take me? I'm as good a hostage. take me." William looked at Bom, surprised, he then shook his head and looked back to the woman. "I don't know what game you are trying to pull here, but keeping one of us here means we will be severely weakened. Do you want us to come back? If you do then let all of us go, because if you don't we will never come back because we will die." William was trying to hide his irritation, he was barely able to keep it in check.
'I am not the one who came up with the idea to keep one of you here, your leader is the only one I now you would come back for, as I don't know your group and maybe you would decide to leave me with someone you don't mind loosing. Also if you do end up pulling something he would be the first I would want dead. Also if the loss of a single member would ensure your downfall you guys aren't good enough to make sure that non of you die' The female yama responded
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I am running out of things to put here
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Karen spikes seemed to have hit something as the unicorn let out a cry of pain before blasting karen of its horn with a blast of energy straight into the crack in her armour. The unicorn stood over karen as some blood dropped form its neck.
"The man's name was Harvey Treasach." she said, and Claire frowned. She recognized the name of the nobleman; and while the action itself didn't really surprise her given what she knew of him, the thought that Treasach was willing to go this far was more then disturbing enough to leave a bad taste in her mouth. She'd only met the man once; at a party some 5 years ago, but that was more then enough encounters to ruin her opinion of the man. She wouldn't call the man a snake; snakes didn't deserve the insult. His sole redeeming quality was his devotion to humans; which he took to a degree that the most ardent of human supremacists pale in comparison. More then once, the man had risked the lives of diplomats and ambassadors - her friends and family - for the simple pleasure of "proving human superiority". Even the night she'd met the man, he spoke of little other then "hypothetical" arena's for the "lesser races" to fight to the death for human enjoyment. Needless to say, when she - already a rather stubborn individual at the time - met the man, it had been a miracle they had not come to blows. She still wished it had; she could have taken him. His name, his face - everything about him sickened her.
Her father had tried numerous times to remove the bastard's rank, but no charges had ever stuck. For all the horrors that man had caused, he was smart enough to cover his tracks. But, if the Yama had proof of his treachery, then maybe they had a chance to destroy the arrogant fool once and for all.
Claire heard the words of the Yama regarding the desire to keep William captive; but payed them little heed; she had a better idea. Walking to the cell door, as close to the Yama as she could, Claire spoke up. "Do you have proof Harvey Treasach-" she said, her voice dripping with venom, save at the traitor's name where her voice and face turned to an expression similar one might share when surrounded by refuse, "-attempted this deal? If so, you have all you need bring me back. To finally get something on Treasach, I'd come back with the head of goddamn Morgan La Fay if I had to."
Insert any world-appropriate, legendary/mythical magic user in place of "Morgan La Fay"; she was just the first magic user that popped into my head and fit the bill.
Karen hit another tree, and just bounced off this one, but she was slow to get up. That last one really hurt. She put her hand on the spot in her hide the Unicorn stabbed, then blasted her with her horn, and laughed, there was blood leaking through the cracks. "A tie then? I can live with that." she said still looking at the blood on her hand "You know how long its been since anyone has been able to draw blood from me in my transformed state?" her quested smacked of both being rhetorical, and not even having the answer her self.
Karen then returned to her human form, a contented smile."We'll have to do this again some time" she said with a side ways salute to her opponent.
Rias walked over to Karen "All done?", to which Karen nodded
The female yama smiled as she looked clair in the eyes 'Now that is passion that can't be faked, I will give you all the evidence I have in exchange for your word and abumot's head, I will let you do your mission with no further interference' she put out her hand in order to offer a handshake 'names avada'
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outside
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the unicorn started walking further into the swamp, gesturing its head to show rias and karen it wants them to follow.
Karen started following the Unicorn."It knows where our target is" Karen said to Rias, whom hesitated to follow for a moment, but did anyway "Why would a Unicorn care about the outcome mage rebellion?"
Ivaan narrowed his gaze at the yama as she brightened up. This worm. Keen to offer handshakes through bars of a cell, and won over by emotion rather than sense. If any of my patients have died during this little power trip, I'll swear...
Ivaan got up, brushed himself off, and prepared to leave the cell.
Reetch had stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout this whole ordeal. Not saying a word, but sitting against the wall near to William, not moving from his spot and hardly every taking his eyes of this 'Avada'. Even ignoring the unwarranted attack on him, Reetch felt little to no sympathy to this Yama, and by the looks of it he wasn't alone in thinking that, it was pretty clear most of the party held her in dislike and contempt, not to mention mistrust.
He watched her extend an open hand, he looked to the others, seeing what their reaction to this new development was.
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