[Leela] Chapter 6: Capital of the Xalaster Orthodoxy, Olodeen, City of Saints

[Throndir]

《Chapter 5: Xalaster Orthodoxy

》

《Chapter 6: Capital of the Xalaster Orthodoxy, Olodeen, City of Saints》

http://www.youtube.com/v/xHDj0KcYYjM

Location: Gates to Olodeen
Date: Day 4 - Time: 5 PM

Just like the castle of Roshandan, the city of Olodeen itself was something you haven't seen before back on Earth. Where Roshandan castle generally had a dark and foreboding aura, with gargoyles that decorated its ramparts, and the moat of lava with the ashen grey wastelands surrounding it. The city of Olodeen was much the opposite. White spires reached to the skies, many of them ending in dome-shapes that looked to be a combination of both gothic and eastern orthodox churches back in your own world. Large statues of figures either dressed in robes or in armor were aligned near the walls. The statues took defensive stances, as if they were protecting the city itself from adversaries.

The people travelling through the gates too were varied. There were the normal merchant and adventurers you had seen on your journey to Olodeen on the roads thus far. But here, there were many more people dressed in white robes, or at least robes that heavily emphasized white. So too were there knights in full armor, wielding large weapons and shields. At the gates themselves were many of those knights, keeping watch on the travellers, and many of them going up to each of the travellers, talking and questioning them. There didn't seem to be any formal line, and you also noticed that those who were wearing the white robes, or were armored like knights didn't receive much questioning at all.

"The City of Saints." Efrit echoed the words of the passing adventurer, Flynn, your group had met earlier that day. "I'm sure it's supposed to be a city of salvation. The irony that three from our realm of Roshandan, home of demons, would march here in the hopes of saving our own." Efrit glanced towards you.

"You ready, my princess?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Seeing the people in white seeming to enter without being questioned as much as the obvious travelers, Leela glanced at her own clothing and frowned. Would they ask her why she wore all black? She supposed she could just say that she was wearing black because she is in mourning for the people she lost since coming to this strange world. She had already taken the shawl with the skull broach off to prevent questions about that. Even being in mourning, wearing a brooch that looked like a bunch of skulls would most likely be considered an odd custom.

When Efrit spoke up, she shot him a warning glance. She moved closer to him and spoke softly so that only he could hear her. "Don't say things like that in a place like this unless you want to increase our chances of being caught and taken prisoner or killed. We are from the Great Country of America."

Deciding that trying to slip in without being questioned would not only be more effort than it was worth but also ineffective if she wanted directions to the guild, Leela decided to speak with the knights directly. As there did not seem to be any sort of formal line, she strode up to one of the knights with confidence. Her head was high and her back was straight as she looked up at the knight.

"I am Princess Leela Steading of the Great Country of America here to establish diplomatic relations with your leaders." She would have added more in explanation as to why she had not sent a messenger to announce her impending arrival or why she was traveling with such a small escort, but she figured keeping it short would show the knight that she was used to not having to explain herself.

[Ella]

[spoiler]Rolls for expedited training (ethereal magic) done throughout the day of travel before arriving at the city.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 3 + 13, total 16[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 1 + 13, total 14[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[Throndir]

Diplomacy roll requested.

Trainings
Knowledge (ethereal): 6/8

[Ella]

[spoiler=Diplomacy][blockquote]Rolled 1d20+3 : 3 + 3, total 6[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[Ella]

[spoiler=Rerolling Diplomacy Using 1 Heroic Action Point][blockquote]Rolled 1d20+3 : 12 + 3, total 15[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[Throndir]

"A princess?" The knight studied you carefully. "Well, you are dressed the part. I take it these other two are with you? Though, I would have expected a bigger entourage from royalty." He simply stated. "Things like this are beyond me, we're mainly just making sure there's no demons, or any other troublemakers." The guard waved towards one of the other knights behind him.

"Sir! We have a diplomatic envoy. Can we get the bishop to handle this?" He called out to the knight. He then turned back towards you as he pulled out a book and what looked to be a pen.

"Leela Steading. What are the names of the your two retainers?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Indeed, I would normally have a much larger escort. However, circumstances forced us to keep my escort small." She replied when he mentioned expecting a larger entourage from royalty.

"This is my personal knight, Erik Leif, and my personal maid servant, Abi." Leela indicated each as she said their name. She decided on the spot that Efrit's actual name might be questionable, especially considering her first thought upon hearing his name was that it was connected to Ifrit from the games she had played in her own world... Not to mention the fact that he actually was an Ifrit. If he did not like the sudden name change, she could at least tell him that she had given him the name of some famous viking leader of her own world.

[Throndir]

The knight nodded. "Very well. Erik Lief, and Abi. Does she have a last name too? And sorry about the hastle, I wasn't notified we would be getting a diplomatic envoy today..." He looked a you curiously. "But it's for the books." He said as he scribbled down the names.

Soon enough a fat man dressing in robes appeared, heading towards you.

"I was told there's a diplomatic envoy? With the actual envoy here? As in... this very moment?" He asked as he glanced at both the knight and you.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Her last name is Gale." She replied, trying to come up with a last name for Abi on the spot rather than risking asking the imp if she had one. Leela figured that if the name 'Abigail' were in this world, the guy could put two and two together as to why she had not bothered saying the last name.

"I am Princess Leela Steading of the Great Country of America." Leela turned to the robed man who had appeared and started asking questions. She assumed that he was the bishop the knight had called for. "I apologize for my sudden arrival. Normally, I would send a messenger ahead to announce my arrival, but my country is in a very precarious location and I simply could not to risk losing any more people than I had to to get here."

[Throndir]

"Well, follow me. Since it's late notice, I doubt the cardinals would be willing to give audience so soon, but let's talk in my office. I'm Mateo, the bishop in charge of the eastern gate. Though, I do have to say, for being a foreigner, you speak my language quite fluently." He gave you a stare. "I'm impressed." With that he beckoned the three of you to follow him.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Understanding and being understood by everyone she had spoken with so far, Leela had totally forgotten about her translate all blessing. Worried that the bishop was already suspecting her of being a hero, she came up with a quick excuse.

"In my country, the royal family and others of high standing are expected to learn and maintain fluency in as many languages as possible. Your language appears to be very similar to one from the world we came from." She would have to double check with Efrit and Abi later if they could understand or not. If not, she would be able to use the excuse that neither of them are high enough standing, nor are they servants who attend to foreign visitors, to be expected to learn other languages.

[Throndir]

"The knights and priests of our country are fluent in Felothian too, it being the trade language of this world. But it's nice being able to speak in my own language to foreigners." With that he continued to lead the way. As you traveled, you noticed a large section of the wall that you didn't see from the outside going through a lot of construction-work. There was damage from the inside, and it looks like workers, primarily animal-eared people, were working on rebuilding it.

Soon enough, the bishop lead the way to a building that looked like a church, and when you had entered, you realized that it was indeed one. He soon lead the way to the office. It was sparsely decorated, but there were enough seats for everyone.

"Do come in. My station isn't the most glamorous in the order, among the bishops, it's probably on the lowest rung, but I enjoy being able to meet new travelers of potential importance. We had a hero visit some weeks ago too, and I'm proud to say that I was one of the first bishops from my country to meet with her!" He grinned as he retold the short tale. He pulled out a series of papers, then leafed through it til he found the one he wanted.

"Think of this just as a short interview, so I can tell the importance of your visit, then potentially create a meeting between one or few of the cardinals and upper bishops. But first... Princess Leela Steading of the Great Country of America... Some basic questions. You are royalty then? How intact is your country of America? By this I mean... how much land have you appeared here with, for I'm assuming you came in through a Shifting. It's the phenomenon that brings people to this world. Where is your country located? Do keep in mind that the Felencorp do impose a sort of... 'tax' on new countries occupying the lands of previous countries, for reparations, but we can discuss that later too. Lastly, and most importantly, does your country serve the goddesses?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela had not even realized that he had been speaking a different language from the others until he mentioned how nice it was to speak in his own language. Well, at least that gave her some sort of bonus points.

"Felothian is what your language is called?" She asked, deciding it would be good to know what the different languages were called. She also tried paying more attention to the words he was saying so she could pinpoint the language easier in the future should the topic come up again. It would be good to be able to figure out what language from her own world Felothian sounded most like so she could say that is the language that was similar, too.

"What happened to the wall?" She indicated the section that was undergoing construction as they passed, eyeing the animal people and wondering why there were so many more animal people than other races working on it. If things did not work out and animal people were treated poorly here or were slaves, perhaps she could rally them to join her. Animal people reminded her of her best friend from her school days and she had to quickly brush that thought aside so that she would not get emotional never getting to see her friend again.

As they made their way to the building and the bishop's office, Leela looked around casually, checking to see if there was other damage to the city, as well as how many guards, knights, and white robed people there were in the area. She also looked for adventurers and other races of interest.

She entered the plain office at his request, glancing around briefly before moving to sit down. From the sounds of it, he enjoyed his humble position as the bishop of the eastern gate, especially since it increased his chances of getting to meet new people and important people. He sounded much like the sort of people who got excited that they got to work with or even just meet a celebrity back at home and probably enjoyed telling others about each important person as if he knew them personally. She wondered what he would say about having met her after all this.

Leela listened as he explained what they were going to do and then as he started asking his questions. She waited for him to finish, as he did not really leave much room to actually answer each question before starting on the next. It worked out, as it gave her a little more time to think of how to answer each one. When he finally got to his last question, she replied.

"I am the only member of the royal family who was present at the time of this... Shifting, as you call it. I had been sent to inspect the defenses of one of our towns near the border, Grants Pass, which so far has been the only land that has been moved into this world. Fortunately, the town's defenses are in good condition, as we have found our land surrounded by ruined land that appears to be overrun with demonic creatures." She explained with a serious expression. She frowned when she came to her next answer, however.

"I do not know what this Felencorp is, but I refuse to pay this 'tax'. My people and I did not choose to come to this strange world, and even if we did, we certainly would not have chosen to 'occupy' land surrounded by demons in which we would be forced to defend our borders or be overrun and killed."

If he had not emphasized the importance of his final question, she would have left her answering with that. However, he did seem to find it more important than the discussion of being taxed by the Felencorp, so she continued with her final answer.

"My country serves God." She said simply, unwilling to get in an argument about religion by adding anything else. She was unsure of who or what these goddesses were, but she hoped that perhaps it was like a pantheon with perhaps one god at the head. Otherwise... well, there might end up problems with this diplomatic meeting if there was an otherwise.



[spoiler=Altered Pledge of Allegiance for future reference.]I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Great Country of America, and to the people for which it stands, this Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.[/spoiler]

[Throndir]

The bishop blinked his eyes.

"N-no... Felothian is the trade language of this world. A language used by the Felencorp, the Antwarch Dragonknight Kingdom, and the Valkyrie of Hierdsvain. A couple of the shifted countries use languages similar to it as well, though, many speak a different tongue. This city speaks Xalastrian. Did you learn the language without knowing what it was called?"



"The wall... Well, we... captured something pretty strong and vile, it managed to destroy that wall actually, until our hero managed to bring it in."

Looking around there were plenty of knights and white-robed priests about. There were less adventurers however. And there seemed to be even less 'commoners'. There was more than the wall that was damaged, from your vantage point you could see a couple of buildings that were in the process of being repaired. Each of them primarily had animal-eared workers.



The man's eye were wide.

"Surrounded by demons? Then..." He pulled out a map, and moved it towards you. "Can you point on this map where you and your people are? There are demons to our south and east. Though, most of our focus has been on the southern front."

"As for the reparations, if you didn't actually end up taking the land of an existing country, then there should be none. In fact, if what you say is true and your land is surrounded by demons, then we need to take action. It won't be long until the demon armies advanced on your country too. Has any of your standing military survived?"

Also roll Bluff

"A God, not Goddess? Hmm... Well, does your country have any religious books? From what we've found many of the practices of this new world differ from each other. Though there are accords laid down by the Felencorp to not base negotiations through religious practices, the Xalaster take our vows seriously to the Goddess of Light."