[Temple of Dalachrech]
Will returns to his room, unless stopped, and awaits his retrieval for the ritual.
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[Temple of Dalachrech]
Will returns to his room, unless stopped, and awaits his retrieval for the ritual.
Temple of Dalachrech
Charynrae will watch as the various beings go down the lift. When they're all down, Charynrae will remove the cog and put it into a sack resting on her abdomen. "Now, follow me. Also, I'll later need a volunteer. I need help with the ritual Will's going through, but it needs to be kept secret, and afterwards I'll have to remove their tongue. And Three? I order you not to volunteer. Your tongue I have other uses for." Charynrae sounds regretful of the necessity, but there's no doubt in her mind that she'll do it to either One or Two.
When she arrives at Will's room, she chants briefly in Abyssal, a prayer aimed at temporarily paralysing Will.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Wait! What? One of the slaves is going to lose her tongue! That's terrible and oh so unnecessary! Extraneous precautions are just as damaging as the dangers they are designed to defend against!
The slaves' eyes grow wide. They stare up at Charynrae incredulously before one hesitantly poses a question to Charynrae, provided didn't just rush off as soon as she broke the news to the slaves that one of them was going to be deprived of one of their most precious body parts!
One attempts to address the situation with as much serenity as she can muster.
"Why must one of us lose her tongue after this ritual is complete, Reverend Mistress? Would it not be better to merely wipe all traces of the ritual from our minds in order to maintain the secrecy of said ritual?" :smallconfused:
[Inide Below - VC]
"We never had enough to make an attempt worthwile. These are the first willing donors we've had in several hundred years, and what we got from the others, we had to use."
Temple of Dalachrech- Slaves
"Because I can't alter memories. That is a gift outside Dalachrech's perview so He is unable to grant it." Charynrae smiles, but it's not exactly a happy smile.
((Spoilered for length! Undercity Self-RP.))
Spoiler[Undercity Market]
The market was, perhaps, one of the more lively areas of the Undercity. People coming and going, buying, selling, trading... the place was alive with strange goods and occasionally stranger people. Traders would come through here from other colonies in the tunnels, some were regulars but others were not, and often they would marvel at the luminous beauty of the crystal lights and other such wonders of the city.
There were, however, always individuals who did not quite understand the Undercity. People who thought that any city that willingly operated apart from the Topsider laws must not have as many qualms with individuals of ill-repute. These people never remained ignorant of the city's workings for long.
Today, it was the usual tale. Slavers had rolled into town, expecting to turn a profit off of their immoral business as usual. It was not after all uncommon to find cities beneath the earth that dealt in such illicit trades. But the Undercity was not one of those cities. They were more lenient of the generally accepted social laws, yes, but they were not typically without moral qualms regarding such things. The people steered right clear of the slavers, barely paying them any mind as they passed. People were not hostile, and yet there air was thick. Tense.
Eventually, one of the slavers began to grow agitated, shouting at his unfortunate 'goods' and blaming them for the lack of service - clearly they must be undesirable. There could be no other reason these degenerates were refusing to pay for these filthy creatures. The slaves recoiled from his anger, closing their eyes and preparing for the pain to come as he lifted his truncheon -
But the pain never came. A hand grasped the slaver's wrist.
"There's no need for that, friend." came the large man's deep voice as he stared down at the slaver with a frown. He seemed to be of an orcish decent, with broad shoulders and grey-green skin. Around him, the slavers' guards drew their weapons. He barely regarded them.
"What business is it of yours what I do with my property?" the slaver sneers, turning his head to glare at the man. The nerve of these people. They should have no say as to what he does with his unsold goods. If they want to play good samaritan, why don't they just buy them?
"You are in the Undercity, friend." replies the man, "And it's Undercity business." His grip did not loosen. The slaver struggled in protest, and one of his guards directed his blade to rest on the orc's back.
"You'll be letting him go, before things get bad."
The Orc blinked.
"Was that a threat, son?" he felt the blade on his back, "Because that isn't wise."
There was a flurry of movement. The slaver hit the ground, and the guard followed shortly after, his blade wrestled from his hand and now directed at him.
"We don't take too kindly to threats here, boy, nor this 'business' of your employer's. You stand down, and you -" he pointed at the slaver as he began to scramble for his own weapon, "You'll pass me the keys to those collars, and leave here empty handed."
The slaver spat his outrage, leaping to his feet with a dagger in hand as he charged! Suddenly a flaring pain struck his leg, and he collapsed to one knee, gasping. A bolt had pierced his thigh, and to his horror, he saw that the crowd was watching, almost circling the scene. An elven woman stepped forward, loading her crossbow nonchalantly.
"The man gave you a request. It'd be wise of you to take it, before... how did your man put it? Ah, yes. Before things get bad." the slaver whipped his head around, staring at the crowd of people that encircled him.
"You're crazy!" he spat, cursing, "You're all insane!"
"It doesn't much sound like he wants t'be civil, Alyce, does it?"
"No, Baan, it doesn't." their polite tone only served to infuriate the man more, but he and his companions were swiftly apprehended by the crowd.
"You'll not hear the end of this!" the slaver shouted through gritted teeth as he was lifted, "You have no right!"
"That's funny, Aylce, it almost sounds like a slaver is complaining about rights." The man named Baan seemed to be addressing the elven woman, but stared straight at the slaver as he spoke.
"I'll tend to the slaves, Baan. Why don't you take care of him?"
And the Orc was more than happy to oblige.
~~~~
[Tunnels]
The slaver awoke in the dark. His legs refused to obey him, and the pain struck him as he realised that the bones were shattered. He tried to drag himself along, tried to get to his pocketed light-stone as he winced through the pain. One of his hands slipped, hitting something in the dark, and he barely managed to sit himself up and get a hand into his pocket without crying out.
What had those savages done to him? Well, they'd made a mistake - they left him alive. As soon as he returned to his people, they'd be sure to destroy this pathetic 'Undercity'. Let's see them act so calm and collected when they were the ones being bought and sold. If he ever saw that orc or that woman again, he'd -
The light-stone flicked on.
The man's eyes widened.
He had barely enough time to scream.
~~~~
[Tunnel Entrance]
Baan lit a cigarette, leaning against the doorway at the end of the tunnel, listening as a distant, echoing scream was suddenly cut short.
He let out a puff of smoke.
"Welcome to the Undercity, you son of a bitch."
"Well, I've never seen a tree inside a house before, so I wouldn't know what to think. As for your curiosity, I had nothing to do and decided to get a better vantage point."
He shrugs back.
"This society of yours is quite fascinating, by the way. Why do you need warmth from others, as opposed to simply lighting a fire?"
[Inside Below - VC]
"Fire... Is not healthy for us. It does not warm us, unless it burns, and people use it to kill us, or at least drive us from our homes, as it is one of the few ways we can be killed without a great deal of trouble."
Inside Below - VC
"Ah. That makes sense. What kinds of things do you trade for warmth, then?"
[Inside Below - VC]
"Mostly we guide people. Sometimes we trade rare things that we've found over the years, or knowledge others have, for the most part, forgotten."
Inside Below - VC
"Knowledge? Interesting... How does this transaction occur? Or would that information require payment of itself?"
[Inside Below - VC]
"No, it doesn't take payment. We give them the information, and take the agreed upon amount, usually whatever seems fair to us, as there is often no other place to get what we offer."
[Temple of Dalachrech- Slaves]
One is frustrated by this response! Even more so than Two! It's just so... Grr! And all... Ugh! Bleh! A terrible solution! That's what tongue thievery is!
"Reverend Mistress, I must bring to your attention that the removal of one's tongue won't fix the secrecy issue of your ritual. There are other means of communication, and were we ever to leave this temple, could we not have our tongues magically regrown by a cleric of a conflicting religion who is after your secrets? A magical oath might better be suited to this end. Slicing out a tongue..."
One cringes. It'd just be horrible! Entirely, irredeemably horrible! A violent, senseless, primitive act! There's got to be a better way!
Temple of Dalachrech- Slaves
"Yes, I could do that. It will likely hurt more, though, and my healing has no effect on this pain." Charynrae nods slightly. "And yes, another cleric could regrow your tongue and likely force you to speak. But there's clerics who could prise the secret from your corpse, or dispel the magic preventing you from speaking. Thank you, I shall definitely use that spell when I silence you of the ritual." But maybe she'd better remove the tongue as well, to be certain? But why would anybody suspect the slaves know secret rituals, one closed to non-clerics? Charynrae's thinking about it.
[The Tunnels]
"Jayk, no torches! You heard what Paul said-"
"Shh, I hear something..."
A terrible feeling of foreboding struck me, at that precise moment, and a sense of deja vu. Those words were an invitation for something terrible, or maybe just a confirmation of it.
I felt the intrusion of panic, but shoved it back down.
Keep calm, don't die.
We were playing guard for a small-time merchant's caravan. It was his first time trying an inter-city move. He was nervous and that's why we were here.
Five of us, Jayk, Paul, Terrat, Friis, and myself.
"Friis, wake up. I feel something."
"They made a fire."
"Put a blanket over yourself and stay quiet. Run if I tell you to, okay?"
Friis had been sleeping with the cargo, in the back of the cart, where I had hoped she would be able to stay.
But I doubt she'd be able to.
"Jayk! We should stay by the cart."
"Hold on..."
I could hear it too. A faint scrabbling in the darkness. The torch's light didn't extend far enough to reveal the source, but that wouldn't matter soon.
A light in the darkness of these tunnels was a bit like a light in a cloud of moths.
From somewhere up ahead, Paul cursed and a large object, possibly a rock, hit the ground.
"Mr. Harris, I would join Friis."
Tapping the side of the cart next to our merchant friend, I jogged past to check on Paul. He might have just tripped, but that ugly feeling was still there.
From behind, another rock hitting the ground, and another curse.
[Underside Outskirts]
From one of the larger tunnels, a young girl appears, dragging what looks to be a body on a large burlap bag.
Blood is splashed over each, and their clothes ripped and torn.
The girl holds no wounds, merely looking terrified and possibly in shock, but the other doesn't appear so lucky.
[Temple of Dalachrech - Slaves]
Is anyone in the Nexus currently trying to get a hold of any Dalachrechian rituals right now? :smallconfused: What would be the motivation for doing so anyway? This confuses the slaves very much.
And then One finally figures out that she has just volunteered to have herself permanently silenced... To be mute, for all intents and purposes...
"Wait! I am the one to be silenced during the ritual?!" :smalleek:
Oh gods! Oh gods no! One's face grows pale. Far paler than is normal for a human. After that, she abruptly faints.
Temple of Dalachrech
Yes, she has volunteered herself. Fortunately, she'll only be silenced of the ritual- she could still talk afterwards. So long as Charynrae goes with only the magical protection, rather than both magical and mundane methods of silencing.
"Somebody pick her up so I can wake her up." Charynrae would frown, but it's hard to frown with compound eyes.
And nobody currently wants Dalachrechian rituals, but that doesn't mean nobody will ever want Dalachrechian rituals. It's mainly paranoia as to why they're so hushed-up.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Two and Three silently grab One by the arms and haul her to her feet. They then offer her to Charynrae to revive.
Paranoia shouldn't be an excuse for slicing off someone's tongue, in the slaves' opinion.
Temple of Dalachrech
Charynrae gives One a quick slap across the face. I think that works; I'm not sure. It works on TV, anyway.
And the slaves, being slaves, don't get to have an opinion that differs from that of their owners. Dalachrech wants his rituals secret to all those not of His clergy, so it's divine paranoia.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Divine paranoia. XD
I would think that Dalachrech would be more focused on his slave retention rates and much less on his slaves are subhuman and silence policies, honestly.
One comes to soon after she is slapped. She glances at Charynrae, clearly disoriented.
"Reverend Mistress?"
Temple of Dalachrech
"The spell I'll use will prevent you from revealing the ritual to others, but you'll still be able to talk. You won't be silenced, not really." Charynrae smiles slightly. It's not as reassuring as she intended.
Also, Dalachrech is still adapting to the size of His cult- most of His worshippers were on a world that got destroyed by a chap called Calublufiok and Terrowin was the only survivor of that world. He went from a few thousand regular worshippers to one quite quickly, and He's only regaining worshippers slowly.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Just out of curiosity, has that loss affected only Dalachrech's influence or his power level itself? :smallconfused:
"Thank you, Reverend Mistress."
One replies. She's still somewhat dazed from her episode. She'll be fine in a minute or two, though.
Two and Three are wondering what is so special about the Dalachrechian clergy's induction ritual. They don't understand what could be happening that needs to be kept so hush-hush. Doesn't make much sense to them, really. After all, if someone got wind of the rites of initiation, what would they do with them? Couldn't they only devote themselves entirely to Dalachrech through it? Isn't that what Dalachrech desires?
Temple of Dalachrech
Yes, but He's recovering quickly and His area of interest makes it easier for Him to defend His power than other deities.
"Good. Now, follow me." Charynrae will reach back and try to take One's hand and pull her along as Charynrae heads towards Will's room.
And the initiation ritual has a major effect other than saying 'yes, you're a novice cleric now'.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Two and Three solemnly wave goodbye to their friend as she is led, by Charynrae, to Daetrin's chamber! Two and Three then scamper off to chat in a comfy, bouncy corner somewhere! One is somewhat hesitant and afraid of the prospects of this ritual that she might now be ordered to participate in. It is rather frightening, but Charynrae wouldn't hurt One without reason... No. Charynrae is a good person. Then again, Charynrae's allegiance to her deity is unwavering, and she did specifically command her favorite slave not to volunteer for the task at hand...
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Now that they've finally gotten to his room, Will shows no resistance to the paralyzing spell it was stated back in the post where Charynrae asked for the volunteer that she would cast on him when she arrived.
Temple of Dalachrech
"Excellent, the prayer worked. Now, One, please would you grab Will's upper torso? Don't worry, dear, he can't hurt you; he's paralysed. I'll get his feet, and lead him out." Charynrae will bend down to grab hold of Will's feet, and if One takes Will's upper torso as she's asked, Charynrae will try to manhandle Will out of his room and towards a hidden room near her own cocoon.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Hidden room! Cool! Secrets are fun! :smallbiggrin:
"Yes, Reverend Mistress."
One will do as she is told without hesitation, though she is prepared to pull away from Will in case he tries any funny stuff. Of course, if memory serves, Will is kinda heavy, so One might have some considerable trouble lugging him over a long distance. Hopefully, that won't be the case here, but there is a possibility that it might be depending on how far it is from Will's room to this hidden induction chamber.
[Temple of Dalachrech]
Will is indeed kind of heavy, being somewhere in the range of four or five hundred pounds. And considering he's covered in spikes, he's really not something one (or, to be specific, One. :smalltongue:) wants to drop on their foot.
In any case, he moves only as much as they're able to move him, since he's paralyzed.