Fantasy World Creations

Location: Domain of Roshandan - Roshandan Castle - Leela's Room
Date: Day 2 - Time: Early Morning

Stirring awake, you found Abi still holding hands with you sleeping away. Her breathing was rhythmic and peaceful. The contract should have completed successfully, but you didn't feel anything different. Instead of the normal morning sun that greeted you, it was a pale blue sun, though, the light was diffused, and continued to make the skies grey in tone.

A moment later, a green notification window appeared.

You heard some giggling sounds from somewhere nearby. It took you only a moment to realize they were imps.

"We shouldn't be here Leelashama would be mad!"

"Do you think the contract work?"

"The contract must have worked! Do you think we'll have one too?"

"I hope to have one! I want a contract!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

Consciousness slowly came to Leela as she lay in her bed. 'What a weird dream.' She thought to herself, keeping her eyes closed and imagining some of the scenes from the dream she had. 'It was like some weird mix of an RPG and isekai anime, though I don't recall every playing or watching anything like it.'

Suddenly, she realized she was holding hands with someone. At first, she thought it was Amy, since she was supposed to be with Amy for the convention. Opening her eyes revealed the truth of the matter. She jerked her hands to her face to rub sleep out of her eyes to make sure she was seeing things clearly. It had not been a dream. Here she was, sleeping on a bed with the little imp she had dreamed about passed out in front of her.

Leela heard the giggling and the not-so-quiet whispers and sat up in the bed to stare at the imps who had invaded "her" room. The young woman was most definitely not a morning person, something which these imps had the misfortune of finding out. She glared at the imps. People always used to comment "if looks could kill..." whenever they saw her glaring, and she was sure this was one of those kinds of glares.

"Get. Out." She ordered simply, not willing to speak any more than she had to until she had the chance to perform her morning routine.

"Intimidation"

Rolled 1d20+11 : 1 + 11, total 12

[close]

"I told you Leelashama would be mad!"

"She is mad! She is mad!"

"I hope she doesn't eat us! Do humans eat imps when they're mad?"

"I don't mind if she eats me!"

"No! I mind! I'm sorry Leelasama!"

"I'm sorry too!"

"Don't eat us!"

"Me three!"

Abi woke up from the ruckus. She blinked her eyes for a moment, then realized all the unexpected company.

"Everyone! You're not supposed to be here! You're not supposed to interrupt Leelasama! Leelasama will only let you in here if she says so! I bet Kuki is making food! Do you like to eat?"

"I like to eat! Is Leelasama still mad?"

"I really like to eat! This is breakfast!"

"Well, I love to eat! Eating is fun!"

"Eating is the best!"

"Maybe master Leelasama will eat breakfast instead of us!"

"I will eat the breakfast though."

"Kuki has food! Let's eat!"

"Me three!"

With that, the bouncing imps poofed into clouds of smoke as they continued to bounce their way out the door, and beyond.

Abi stood triumphantly on your bed.

"Did you see what I did, Leelasama? Leelasama, I think I'm getting better as your personal assistant!"

Leela only continued to glare at the imps as they chattered between themselves about her being mad and them being sorry and if she ate imps. She had been about to say that 'yes, she did eat imps' when Abi seemed to wake up and decided to take action.

"Good job, Abi. You were very... diplomatic." The young woman replied after the imps had left and Abi had asked if she had seen. Her voice had its usual morning crackle to it that meant she needed to drink some water.

"Why don't you go and get us breakfast and some water." She asked, knowing the imp probably wanted to eat, too. And Leela had told Abi to only eat with her, so it would not be fair to make the imp wait until she was ready to eat. "If I'm not in here when you get back, wait for me to come back."

As Leela moved off the bed to head for her backpack, she realized she was still in her lolita dress. She had not thought to ask Zavan if there was anything she could change into before they had started the contract. The ribbon that had been in her hair had come undone in her sleep and had tangled with her hair and her clothes were all wrinkled from sleeping in them.

"Oh, Abi, if you see Zavan, could you ask him if there are any clothes in the castle that might fit me that I could borrow until I can make new ones?" Leela asked before the imp could poof away.

Reaching her backpack, Leela dug around in it until she found her hair brush and began her morning ritual. Spotting a mirror in the room, she moved over to it as she brushed her hair. That was when she noticed her eyes were red. Had she been wearing contacts with her outfit for the photoshoot? Leela could only guess that she had. But why had she not noticed them? Usually her eyes started to feel weird after wearing them all day at a convention. Moving in closer to the mirror to get a better look at her eyes, she could not see the edges of the contact lenses. She was afraid to try poking at her eye to pull them out, so she rubbed her eyes and blinked to see if she could dislodge them. Maybe they were just blending in really well. Unfortunately, that did not work. She was forced to resort to poking to attempt to move the lenses to the side to pinch them off. Leaving the contacts in was a bad idea and she did not want to ruin her eyes by wearing them.

"Hsss!" She held back a cry of pain. Poking the contact, she should not have felt that in the way she had. But it seemed she had not poked her contacts, she had poked her actual eye. And it hurt in the way that poking your actual eye hurt. She let her eyes tear up, hoping that rubbing her eyes with extra fluid in them might move the contacts that should be there. However, she felt no discomfort of a dislocated contact after rubbing them. 'They should be there, though! My eyes are blue, not red like this!' Afraid of what might happen if the contacts were still in her eyes and she had failed to remove them, she decided to attempt to remove the contact that should have been in her right eye. Again, she felt the pain of finger poke actual eye.

After recovering from her self-inflicted pain once again, Leela gave up. Being summoned as a demon hero must have done something that removed the contacts and changed her eye color. It was the only thing that she could think of. She would have to ask Zavan if such a thing were possible.

Still worried about her eyes, Leela picked her brush up again and finished what she had originally started. That done, she decided to go ahead and put the hair tie back in her hair. It would help to keep her hair out of her face. Smoothing out her outfit as best she could, the girl made her way down the hall to where she thought she remembered Zavan saying the bathroom was.

The bathroom was indeed where she had thought it was... But it was not quite what she had expected. 'Of course it would be a pot, did you think they had toilets and running water?' She scolded herself as she stared at the chamber pot with disapproval. After forcing herself to get over the fact that she had to use such a thing, Leela continued on with her morning routine. It was as she was leaving the small room that she remembered to check her status.

"Status." She muttered. She wanted to check and see how much mana she had after sleeping. Zavan had said that after running out of mana, she would fall into slumber. So that would mean that she had run out of mana at some point during the night. Knowing how much she recovered from sleeping would be important to know.

"Okay! I'll get some food from Kuki! I'll see if Zavan has clothes for you too! I like your clothes Leelasama! Leelasama, bye bye!" And with that she poofed into a cloud of smoke and disappeared.

Opening up the Status menu, it appeared in a translucent green window.

QuoteRough Status
Leela: Uninjured, Tired
[include u=2]Leela MP Used: 41[/include]

So it appeared that she had regained a little over half of her mana back after... Well, she wasn't sure how much sleep she got. She was not even sure what time it was.

When she got back to her room, she looked out the window to try to guess the time. 'So... it looks like its still morning. If I was to put numbers to it, probably around eight or nine-ish?' Wow. She had actually woken up before noon without being woken up by her alarm clock. Imps muttering in her room probably helped with that, though.

If Leela recalled correctly, it would take a few days to get to the human settlement, so she would have plenty of time to replenish the rest of her mana at this rate and also be able to play around with her "blessings". She wondered if she could use the mana to cast spells, too. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if maybe she should ask Zavan to go with her. Perhaps she could see if him going might cause him any problems with his normal duties. If so, then she would have to do without. If he could manage it, then she could probably learn a lot from him. Besides... She did not really know how to fight, so if things did not go well, she would pretty much be relying on the imps in her fighting and sneaking groups. It would be good if she learned some things for herself and she was not sure learning from the imps would be such a good idea.

Spoiler

Waiting for Abi to return with the food and her report.

[close]

Abi suddenly poofs into existence in front of your face with a tray of food.

"Leelasama!" She giggles.

"Ayahh!" Leela exclaimed at the sudden appearance of Abi in her face. Her body moved on its own again, shoving the imp away. She realized only too late that Abi held a tray of food.

Leela did her best to try to catch the imp and food from falling to the ground.

"Abi! What did I say about suddenly poofing in front of people's faces?!" She scolded the imp.

Dexterity

Rolled 1d20+9 : 8 + 9, total 17

[close]

Dexterity 2

Rolled 1d20+9 : 12 + 9, total 21

[close]

Abi was suddenly flung but you managed to catch both her and the food before they fell. You were surprised at your own dexterity.

"I'm sorry Leelasama! I'm so sorry Leelasama! Leelasama I'm sorry!"

"If you're sorry, then stop doing it." She told the imp, setting Abi down on the ground and the tray of food on the desk.

Sitting down in the chair, Leela eyed the food. She wondered if she could mimic Zavan's nail elongating ability again to cut up the fruits. Concentrating on doing so, she attempted it.

"What is that?" She pointed at the food that was not a fruit. "And what did Zavan say about the clothes?"

Abi sniffled one more time as she wiped her tears away.

"Okay Leelasama... Leelasama, Zavan said there are plenty of clothes to choose from! I didn't think we had that many, but we did!"

Abi poked at the gloppy food. It was a purple-colored pile that looked like it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. However, when Abi poked it, it seemed to jiggle like jello.

"One of Kuki's experiments!" She exclaimed.

Attempting to elongate your nails, they grew longer.

Leela cut up the fruits as she had done the previous day. This ability was very useful. She hoped that she could continue using it. But hadn't her information screen said something about copied abilities only lasting one day? Maybe she should go ahead and ask Zavan to come along. Perhaps he could teach her how to do it so she could do it all the time. And if it wasn't something she could learn normally, then it would be useful to have him around so she could copy the ability from him.

"Where did he say the clothes are? Should I meet him somewhere? Actually, I need to talk to him anyways, so once we're done with breakfast, I need you to show me where he's at." She handed Abi one of the pieces for the cut up fruits before taking a bite out of another one she had in her hands.

She watched as the purple mashed potato thing jiggled, not sure that she really wanted to even try it. "What is it made out of?"

"Maybe it's yummy to you! I'm not sure if I like it! It tastes weird! Do you like it? Do you want to try some? I don't know! You should try! It's made out of something!"

Abi said as she reached up and took the offered piece of food. Not bothering to sit down, she simply began munching on the morsel.

'Maybe its yummy to me? It tastes weird? Does that mean is might actually have some flavor?' Now Leela did want to try it.

"Okay, then, I will try it." With that, she took a spoon, scooped a little bit up, and put it in her mouth.

Eating it, as you suspected, was bland. However, chewing on it long enough produced a slight bitterness to it. It also seemed to be slightly sticky as it slightly attached itself to the insides of your mouth. It was a strange experience altogether, it wasn't very pleasant. Abi put some in her mouth as well.

"See! It's weird! It's goopy, and sticky! It tastes weird!"

'Yuck!' Leela never liked bitter things. But bitterness was technically a flavor, so at least some of their food had some sort of flavor. She did not like that it stuck to her mouth, either. Putting the spoon down, she forced herself to swallow what was in her mouth.

"Abi, that flavor would be called 'bitter'. I don't like bitter things, and it is apparent that you don't, either. Before we leave today, we need to tell Kuki to make a list of the ingredients he used to make that so we can figure out what is giving it the bitter taste." Although she was not much of a cook, she knew that even if the thing was bitter, it might be able to be cooked in other ways to make it less bitter or with other things to change the flavor completely... Assuming she had other things that had flavor to cook it with. It would be something to experiment with when she got back with the demon princess.

"I won't be eating any more of it." Leela indicated the bitter jello food before picking up more pieces of cut up fruit.

When they finished their breakfast, Leela picked up the tray. "Let's go drop this back off at the kitchen, then we'll go talk to Zavan." And with that, they headed for the kitchen.

While in the kitchens, Leela told Kuki to make a list of the ingredients he used. If he couldn't write, she told him to draw pictures or to make sure he remembered them all so she could draw them out when she got back. That done, she had Abi take her to Zavan.

While in the kitchen, Kuki happily obliged. He at first started to spout the random ingredients, and some of the things he listed did not seem appealing. But eventually, he had told you that he'd make it a point to write down the ingredients he uses for his experiments going forward.

Eventually both you and Abi made your way back to Zavan. As diligent as always, you found Zavan in a room filled with plenty of clothes, along with a loom, and a variety of other tools related with cloth, or making clothes. Tai was there as well, and both looked like they were in the middle of creating some sort of dress.

Zavan bowed gracefully, noticing you enter.

"Good morning lady Leela-sama." Zavan said courteously.

At some point, Leela realized, she would have to go through all the "foods" available to them and make a list of the ones that were tolerable, ones that she disliked, and ones that she did not even consider food.

Leela had not expected to find Zavan nor Tai to be actively working on a dress when she walked in. She had the suspicious feeling that they were making it for her because she had asked about clothes, but if they were... then how had the gotten so much done so quickly? Maybe they had liked her own clothes so much that they were making one for Ashaki? But why were they putting making a dress over finishing up those cloaks? Zavan had said they should have enough, but she had a hard time with the idea that they could have finished more than a few in less than twenty-four hours.

"Good morning, Zavan. Morning, Tai." She greeted the two, then looked around to see if the dark cloaks were in there.

"There were a few things I wanted to talk to you about before I leave today. Abi said you have clothes I can borrow, so I was hoping I could pick up a couple things to pack for my mission. I was also thinking about the mission and I remember you mentioning that you've been busy defending Roshandan's borders and I didn't want to ask you to come with us and take you away from your duties. But I realized a couple things. One being that if things don't go well in retrieving Ashaki, we might end up needing to defend the borders anyways, so it would probably be better to have you come along. And also..." She paused, thinking about how to word the next part in a way that she wouldn't seem weak. She still did not want to appear weak in the eyes of the demons.

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to do that thing you did yesterday when you cut up the fruit in the kitchen. I think it would be very useful if things go wrong to be able to use my own nails as weapons instead of having to rely on swords or daggers. I was thinking we could do that on the way to the human settlements. If you think you can come along, that is." Leela had also not mentioned her own abilities to anyone yet, so she figured she would leave that out for now. She and Zavan would probably end up talking about it at some point on the trip if he was able to come.

"Feel free to take anything here that you so desire. It is a splendid idea to accompany you on your trip to the human settlements lady Leela-sama. But... Teaching this?" Zavan echoed your question out loud. "It may be difficult to teach this... As for this particular ability..." Zavan extended his claws again. "It's inherent to what I am. A demon lord's general. Of course, not all other demon generals have the same thing."

"However... I do know of a magical technique that can mimic something similar. Teaching you that would take us some time though. Since you requested me presence in the journey... Perhaps I can start that teaching."

Zavan seemed eager to join Leela on her "trip", as he agreed to it without a second thought. She wondered if he had intended to go with whichever hero had been summoned before they had summoned her.

She watched as he extended his nails, intending to use her Mimcry to copy it again to show him later, hoping that "copying" it again so soon would refresh the twenty-four hour period that her status screen claimed it would last.

"Oh... I see. Well... I guess we can talk more about that once we're all settled in the carriage." She replied. She was not yet sure if she should actually be disappointed in what he had said, considering she had been able to mimic his ability, but she still felt disappointed at the idea that she might not be able to learn it. Still, once they were on their way, she would have to bring up her Mimicry blessing to Zavan and see if they might be able to find a way for her to learn how to do it permanently using her own ability to study it. Even if it turned out to not be possible at all, knowing something similar would be fine for the even that she did not get the chance to copy the ability with Mimicry.

"I was also wondering... Do you know how much things can change about a hero when they are summoned? Like... I noticed new abilities, and having a status screen and stats that I didn't have before, but I was also wondering about physical appearance." The fact that her eyes had pretty much absorbed the contacts and become red had been nagging at her in the back of her mind since she had first realized it had happened.

Leela moved over to the clothing and sorted through it. She only wanted travel clothes, something to sleep in, and maybe something for the day they arrive at the human settlement. Something that looked nice, but was also something she could run or fight in without worrying about tripping on her face. She also needed underwear... She was not going to wear the same underwear the entire time she was here.

Location: Clothing Room
Date: Day 2 - Morning

Zavan paused uncharacteristically as he began to almost look at something in the distance, but nothing specifically at all.

"Many things can change when a hero is summoned. As you found out my lady, you get new abilities, and, at times, your appearance changes as well." Zavan glanced at you. "Was there something that changed?"

QuoteAssume you'll be able to find everything you need. The clothing themselves are top-notch quality, including any garments. Whoever made them seemed to know what they were doing.

---

Location: Roshandan Castle Stables
Date: Day 2 - Morning

Soon enough, Zavan, along with Abi and a good number of imps soon lead the way towards the stables. The first thing that you noticed was that each of the stalls were huge. Though, most of them were empty, except for one. It was a towering horse, one that you haven't seen before except in stories. It was dark as night, but its mane and hair were all made out of flames. It towered almost 20 ft high, and almost 30 ft. long.

To your surprise, it spoke.


"Lady Leela-sama, this is Roadmarech."

"My eyes changed." Leela replied to Zavan's question. "My eyes are supposed to be blue. In my world, we have an item called 'contacts' that we can place on our eyes to make them temporarily appear as a different color. They are supposed to be removed because wearing them too long can damage the eyes. When I was summoned, I was wearing contacts that made my eyes appear red. Usually, I start to feel when I need to take them out, but I did not even notice them at all yesterday and so forgot to check until this morning. But they're not there anymore and obviously my eyes are not blue anymore. I don't know if it is because I was summoned by a demon or if my body somehow absorbed the contacts or both." She explained her situation. The young woman had been rather attached to her original eye color and rarely chose to wear contacts with her cosplays. It bothered her that one of the few times she wore them might have caused her eye color to change forever.

She was pleased to find pretty much everything she was looking for among the clothes. At least the demons could do something right. Quality cloth and clothing. If she was able to start trade relations with the humans, then she would definitely /have/ to show off the fine quality. With that in mind, she decided to pick up a couple of garments for men so she would have more variety to show. Not everything would fit in her backpack, so she simple folded them as nicely as she could and stacked them in a pile.


The stables were ginormous on the outside. With as tall as Ghorat was and the fact that he could ride, she already had an idea in her head that they had at least one huge horse. Even with that in mind, the stalls were much bigger than she had anticipated.

When they stopped at a stall, Leela looked up. And up. And up. And up. Until her eyes finally landed on the head of the horse housed in the stall. She stared. Her mind was going wild as it processed the information it had just be presented with. It was as tall as a two-story house, if not taller. It being huge was not even the most surprising part. Its mane and tail seemed to be made out of fire. Her thoughts branched in all directions, from thinking about how one would ride such a beast without catching on fire to what the humans would think with her trotting up in a carriage pulled by this. She would have to have them stop far enough outside of the human settlement that the humans could not see the flaming horse and then walk the rest of the way if she was going to have any chance of peaceful negotiations.

As she was still trying to process the beast before her, it spoke. It was a proud animal, she could tell from the words that spilled out of its mouth. It also seemed to share the same sentiments that Ghorat did about humans.

"Good morning, Roadmark." Leela greeted the horse. "I am Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America and summoned hero on behalf of Roshandan. You may call me Leela-sama, though."

Maybe, just maybe, they had stopped here so she could meet the horse, but would be using more regular horses for the trip. After all, a proud beast like Roadmarech might see pulling a carriage as beneath him. He was probably lord of the horses of Roshandan, and so it was important to talk to him first before making use of his subjects. Zavan had said that they had horses, as in more than one, when they had talked the day before.

When you mentioned the contacts, Zavan simply nodded as if understanding.

"It is hard to say, Lady Leela-sama. Perhaps due to the nature of being summoned hero of the demons, your eyes are now red."

---

"So you're the one our Lord Ghorat summoned. You may look like a human, but you have a different presence and aura than of one. So, speak Princess Leela Steading. What do you need from Roadmarech, lord of the effigy flames, cauchemar of the azure shadows, prince of the nightmare steeds, moonlight walker of the ethereal." As he spoke his titles, the fire on his back seemed to burn brighter as he stared at you intensely.

"What sort of presence and aura do I seem to have?" She asked. It would be cool if he thought she had the aura of an elf, but she did not want to say that out loud. She had always thought it would be cool to be an elf.

"We need to borrow some of your subjects to take us to the human settlements to rescue Ashaki." When she said 'us', Leela indicated everyone who was with her.

"Your presence... In some ways, it feels similar to Zavan when I had first met him. You are different from a human, but you are no demon. No... it's as if there's something from the ethereal plane within you."

Roadmarech huffed as a plume of fire and smoke was forcefully ejected, and dissipated shortly after.

"But... perhaps that is just my imagination."

"As for my subjects, there are only two others here in Roshandan castle. I stay here when I am needed by Lord Ghorat. The other two are here in case there is reason for Zavan or our vault keeper to use. There isn't a lot of sustenance that can be provided since the rest of the demon generals left, so the rest of them are in the ethereal plane..."

"I can call them for if you wish it. They will hear my call when I summon for them."

At Roadmarech's words, Leela turned to look at Zavan. "Zavan, you're not a demon?" He did seem different from how she had imagined demon's to be, but she had figured that they just came in all shapes, sizes, and forms. But here this horse lord was implying that Zavan had also not given off the same sort of aura as other demons when they had first met.

She turned back to Roadmarech when he brought up his subjects. "Yes, please call for them. We need ones who are willing to pull our carriages. Preferably ones that also... appear more like the horses of humans so that we are not attacked on sight. I am hoping to resolve things in a way that will be beneficial to the inhabitants of Roshandan without bloodshed. Also... what sort of sustenance do they need?" Since they seemed to be from the ethereal plane instead of... whatever world they were currently in, Leela wanted to make sure she could provide them with what they needed.

It seemed like Zavan was struggling with something. He had paused and he looked somber for a moment.

"I am a demon..." He eventually said bowing low, though without giving anything away.

"... as thorough as any other."

QuoteSense motive requested

There was a low rumble of laughter coming from Roadmarech.

"For sustenance? Flesh of course. Humans are preferred. But... ones of us that look like human horses?" Roadmarech said as he started his way out of the stables. His voice seemed to have some mirth to them, as if he found the question particularly amusing. Once he was finally out in the grey skies and ashen-colored land did he continue.

"Princess Leela Steading, we are a proud and noble group. Know that we are not mere mounts, but we are partners. We are stronger, faster, smarter, and much much more deadly than those that the humans ride on. We inspire fear in the stories they tell their foal. Regardless of where they had come from... Be it their own world, your world, or any others... We are there. Our stories exist... Do you know why Princess?" Roadmarech asked as he began to look at the grey skies.

"Because we live outside of it..." He turned back towards you, his eyes piercing.

"And everywhere all at once."

Roadmarech raised his head high, then called forth.

"Roadmerech calls upon the tribe of the Azure Shadows! I summon you to this realm!" There was a glow of light that came from him, orange in color that then spread towards various places around him, you, and to the skies themselves as well. The space began to warp and coil. What you saw all around you was nothing you've ever seen before. It looked almost like ripples on a puddle of water from a multitude of raindrops. More and more appeared. The cacophony of ripples shimmering through the fabric of reality continued to increase. And from each one stepped through a horse clad in black, with fires for its mane and orange flames for its tail.

There were 300 of them. They appeared all around you, and some even appeared floating in the skies and stood as if they were on solid ground. They were much smaller in size compared to Roadmarech, but they all held themselves high, their pride easy to see.

"There will be no bloodshed, Princess." He paused as the host of his horses began to turn their heads and stare at you. "For they will be fleeing."

"We are the Azure Shadows, nightmares of the ethereal, and we shall serve."

"We will be your nightmares."

Sense Motive

Rolled 1d20 : 3, total 3

[close]

Although Zavan seemed to be struggling with his answer, the only real reason Leela had for doubting his words were the words of the demon horse. She decided to accept his answer for now. They could talk more about it later, probably whenever she decided to ask him how he became on of Ghorat's generals. Perhaps he had told everyone he was demon when he was actually a... drow. She could see him being a drow elf. If that was the case, it wasn't much different from her telling them all that she was a princess of America.

Leela was not sure where the random intense music had started to come from as Roadmarech gave his speech. She followed him out of the stables, thoroughly unamused with his speech and the random music. Everything he said seemed more like a pep-talk a leader would give to his subjects to bring up morale... if you were an evil being who wanted to encourage your subjects to be scary. Or something you would say in front of your enemies to encourage fear.

As the other demon horses appeared and Roadmarech continued to speak, Leela stared blankly in annoyance. Finally, the demon horse finished speaking.

Leela looked at Zavan.

"I changed my mind. We don't need horses. We're going to walk." She told him with a straight face.

"It was nice to meet you all, Azure Shadows. Sorry for wasting your time, but you can go back to your home plane now." She apologized to the herd of demon horses before turning to walk away.

Roadmarech literally dropped his jaw. Zavan blinked a couple times.

"A-ah." For once Zavan was at a loss of what to say. "Very well Leela-sama." Zavan said recovering. "If Roshandan's castle's steeds are not to your taste then perhaps... perhaps... we may be able to find human horses..."

Roadmarech on the hand, his features moved from confusion, to anger, to confusion over and over.

"Wait just a minute!" The nightmare cried. "Are we not going to the humans to punish them for stealing the lord's daughter, Ashaki?"

Not to her tastes? What were they thinking? From the beginning, she had told them that she hoped to peacefully resolve the issue and maybe even get the humans to want to trade with them so that they could have the delicious bread that had pretty much started the whole issue in the first place. Yet here they were thinking it was perfectly okay to send her out with flesh-eating horses. It was clear to her that demons did not even try to understand humans or how intimidated and afraid they might feel in the presence of something that clearly was proud that it caused nightmares.

"I would rather not sit around waiting for non-ethereal plane horses to be found. Unless you think the village of goblins might have some we could borrow." She doubted goblins would have horses or any sort of animals, though one could never know for sure. Her knowledge of goblins was that they were not very intelligent and usually stayed in groups to help survival rate. And that they liked to kill to get things they wanted. They likely were not farming creatures. Still, seeing as nothing else she had come across so far was what she had expected it to be here, she could hope.

Leela turned back to look at Roadmarech when he cried after her.

"I have a very important mission. I mission that I do not have all the facts for and so must handle things carefully. I do not know why the humans decided to kidnap Ashaki when she went to try to make peace with them about her father's actions. Maybe they think she is amazing and worship her. Maybe they intend to ransom her. Maybe they think that keeping her hostage will ensure that they will not be attacked again, because her life is at stake if we do retaliate. Whatever they intend to do, I do not intend to go in with guns blazing when there is a chance that things could be solved peacefully and in a way that could be beneficial to everyone involved." She explained as calmly as she could.

"It is clear to me that none of you have stopped to consider how the humans might be feeling about everything that has happened. So, tell me, what would you do if your worst nightmare suddenly showed up yelling at you in a loud and intimidating voice -possibly in another language that you did not understand- about food without making sure that you knew that it meant no harm to you and your families? I wasn't even there, but hearing it second-hand from Lord Ghorat himself, I can already tell that the humans were afraid for their lives from the start. When humans -especially uneducated humans- are afraid, their philosophy is to kill first, ask questions later. They might even have a hero of their own, and if they see a herd of flesh-eating demon horses coming their way, I'm sure the hero or whoever they have that can fight would come out to fight us instead of receiving me for negotiations."

"I want my mission to be a complete success. If all that I try to do to resolve things peacefully fails, then and only then will I allow more violent means dealing with them."

Roadmarech was about to speak, but he realized he had no actual arguments for your reasonings.

"A-ah... unexpected way to solve the problem at hand... If it were any other demon general, they would have gathered their armies in retaliation... I assumed you were summoned for that purpose, as Lord Ghorat is not willing to do it himself."

"We can make our way to the goblin village if you wish, and from there, we can take you to the borders of Lord Ghorat's domain."

"Well I'm not a demon general. I am a summoned hero. And heroes don't go on a violent rampage when there are safer and possibly more lucrative alternatives." It was probably a good thing that she had been summoned instead of some demon or some demented human who thought it was fun to go around killing people to get their way. These demons did not even have a true army. She was sure if the humans gathered friends from other settlements nearby that they could muster up enough fighters to invade Roshandan if provoked enough to do so. Ghorat had said himself that he stayed out of the demon council's war with the humans, but if he had to, she was sure he would turn to them for help in dealing with human invaders. She was not sure what the demon council would do with a human hero should Ghorat be forced to ally with them, summoned by demons or not, and she did not want to find out. Even if they didn't care about her race, she did not want to be in the center of a war.

"Thank you for your offer. But I can only accept you and your... Azure Shadows taking us to the border if everyone can promise not to eat anything living without my permission first. If you cannot, then I can only accept your offer to take us to the goblin village." She had almost said to not eat any humans, but then realized humans might not be the only sentient creatures who these flesh-eating demon horses would eat.

"Very well then... If that what the summoned hero desires... Humans on this world are a treat... But there are plenty of beasts in the ethereal. It is there that we hunt."

He then faced the rest of the nightmares.

"Return back home! The princess has willed it. I will personally take you to the border."

"Thank you, Roadmarech." Look at both Roadmarech and Zavan, Leela continued. "It looks like we will be stopping by the goblin village first to see if they have steeds that are less intimidating to humans that we can borrow." Going to the goblin village did mean more time spent doing other things, but it was better to see if they had mounts than to simply walk the whole way. Leela would have to figure out a more definitive plan once they visited the goblins.

"If it's going to Roadmarech himself that bring us to our destination... Then, I'll proceed on letting the imps know to pull out your carriage." Zavan nodded, and proceeded to head back to the castle, an imp appeared beside him at that moment, and he seemed to be giving her instructions.

---

Shortly after that, the new carriage was prepared, and Roadmarech strode over to have the vehicle attached to him.

The vehicle itself was large. Even the wheels of the carriage seemed like it was blown up to fit the size of someone like Roadmarech. However, once a ladder was lowered, and you managed to peer in, you realized that the carriage itself was meant for normal-sized people. Many of the imps were already seated, though, you noticed there were plenty of chairs hanging far along the wall in high places. That told you that the seats were made specifically for the imps, as only they could have easily teleported to reach there. There was another ladder too that went upwards, and it was there that Zavan lead you to.

At the very top of the main carriage, was a secondary carriage, which was more of a normal-sized one, but gave you the ability to look around. It was as if you were on the 3rd floor of a building.

'My carriage?' Leela thought. She was unsure as to why he seemed to be emphasizing that it was hers. Zavan had said that they had horses and a carriage when they had talked the day before, but she had not expected that it would be given to her. Unless he meant that he was not riding with her?

"Thank you, Roadmarech, for pulling this carriage for us." She felt the need to thank the huge horse once again as he allowed himself to be hooked up to the extremely large carriage. She would probably thank him again when they stopped, or at least when they split at the border. Even regular horses were prideful creatures, and she was sure demon horses were even more so. She did feel a little bad about what she had done, but she had been so overwhelmed and upset with the situation that she could not have helped it. Besides, it had probably made such a huge impact on them all that it made them willing to hear out her explanation. And besides... once she successfully rescued Ghorat's daughter, perhaps she could make a contract with one of the Azure Shadows. A demon horse that could pop out of the ethereal plane into her plane would be extremely handy.

Although... Once she successfully rescued Ghorat's daughter, the demon lord had said he would give her whatever she wanted. She was not sure if it were possible to be sent back to her own world, but if there was a chance, she would most likely choose that. It had not even been a full two days in this place, but she was already feeling the tugging longing of seeing her sweet kitty and her family and the comforts of her bedroom. If she could not go back home, though... She needed to think of what she wanted. Whatever she asked for, it would have to be something big, because they had literally ripped her out of her happy life to a place that had no electricity, tasteless food, and depressing landscape.

Leela had not even bothered asking why the carriage was so huge. She had assumed that such a large horse would pull a large carriage. A regular-sized carriage would just look too comical. Still, she could not help but to mutter under her breath as she climbed to the top, "its like a moving house." And that was when she decided to call it Leela's Moving Castle.

"Wow, Zavan!" She exclaimed when she looked out at the scenery. It was pretty amazing being so high up on such a large vehicle. This was also her first time actually looking around at the outside world. Before, she had only peeked out the window briefly to see the sky, but she had so much on her mind that she had not really stopped to look at the scenery. "This view would be amazing if landscape wasn't so..." She trailed off, trying to think of the right word. Unusual? Dark? Depressing?

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter right now." She turned to Zavan. "How long will it take to get to the goblin village?"

"It shouldn't be too long." Zavan said as he sat comfortably in his spot with you at the top of the carriage. Abi popped her head from below.

"Leelasama! Leelasama! Leelasama! Leelasama!" Abi kept saying again and again, as she continued to giggle. Finally, when it was just about to get annoying she finished what she was saying. "We're going on a road trip together!" She then poofed into the chair beside you.

With that you felt the carriage move, at first it was bumpy, then all of a sudden it was absolutely smooth. You suddenly picked up speed then, going much much faster than you thought a regular horse could go. You could still hear Roadmarech's footsteps galloping onwards, but you no longer heard the sound ot the wheels hitting rocks and stones. The view also looked like you were higher than when you first started. Roadmarech was flying.

As he had not given her how long it would be in hours, Leela decided that meant it would be a short enough trip that she should not bother asking about that lesson or bring up her abilities just yet.

"Yes, we are." The young woman patted Abi's head when the imp poofed next to her. Then, she turned to look out at the scenery. It would be good for her to at least look about for landmarks to learn the lay of the land.

"I don't think we can quite call this a 'road' trip." She said when she realized that they were no longer on land. She was not even sure if she was surprised or not that the demon horse could fly. After everything she had been through and done since the moment she had arrived, she wasn't sure what unexpected things could actually surprise her.

QuoteThe journey to the goblin village will take just under 3 hours. Feel free to state any actions if needed. You can attempt to do the Training rules, but since its only 3 hours, you'll have to attempt Expedited. You can do a normal 4, if you choose to slow down the ride.

"It's fun! But in a carriage! This is fun! Big horse is big! Look! I see far! Do you like to ride? It's flying!" Abi said joyfully as she kept peeping over the window, then sitting herself back down beside you, through her eyes never leaving the view of the outside.

---

Location: Domain of Roshandan - Goblin Village
Date: Day 2 - Time: 1 PM

In the distance you see what looks to a village. The houses were small, and they didn't look very well made at all. The inhabitants themselves were short creatures with green skin, wearing rags.


The moment they saw the large flying horse and the carriage however, all the goblins kneeled. At that same moment, a red-haired man strode to the kneeling goblins. As Roadmarech landed, and slowed, the red-haired man raised a hand in greeting.


"Welcome to the goblin village #1 Lord Ghor-" He paused, as he saw you in the carriage with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Leela smiled at Abi's enthusiasm about the trip and being in a flying carriage. It was like the imp had never done anything like this before. Perhaps she had not. It was hard to tell when it came to the imps. They were very easily excitable. The rest of the imps in the lower part of the carriage were probably jumping all around in their excitement.

"In my world, we fly in large metal... birds. The ones who invented them call them airplanes. I do not really like flying in airplanes, but it is pretty cool flying in a carriage pulled by a giant fiery horse." She responded to Abi's question.

Spoiler

Leela will do expedited training on the way there (http://forums.fantasyworldcreations.com/index.php?topic=1932.0).

[close]

While the imps' appearance and personalities had been very different from what Leela had been expecting, the goblins looked the same as she had expected them to. Their village was also much like she had expected, small and looking like it could be destroyed easily. She watched as they all began to kneel down at the sight of the carriage.

"Who is that?" She asked Zavan when she noticed the red-haired man walk towards the goblins. From what she could remember, the only people she had yet to meet were the goblins and the... Keeper? But she had imagined the Keeper stayed in the castle, since he was supposed to guard the vaults.

Spoiler

Leela is not ignoring his greeting, she is asking this before they land.

[close]

"The Goblin Master, a demon general, the ifrit, named Efrit Burut..." Zavan narrowed his eyes.

"Once named Efrit Burut al Valorja. But now goes by Efrit Burut al Akashin..." Zavan moved quickly, and he was suddenly in between you and the red-haired man, Efrit.

"Whoa. Whoa Zavan." Efrit said as he shrugged. "Let's just say it was a change of heart. Apparently the demon lord of the Akashin tribes has a distaste for goblins... And I couldn't bring these cute ones over." Efrit said explaining, motioning to the goblins. The goblins did not look very cute though.

"Came to check on the village that decided to stay with Lord Ghorat... But the other 1,000 goblins should be re-settling their villages as we speak. Once I was done here... I was actually planning to go to the big guy himself. Imagine my surprise seeing Roadmarech."

"But more importantly Zavan... Who's that fine lady behind you?" He grinned as he shot you a glance.

'Ifrit?' Characters named Ifrit in her own world were usually firey lords of fire. Sure, this guy had red hair and eyes, but... even though he was standing right there before her eyes, she could not imagine the Ifrit as a Goblin Master. Even master of the demon horses, the Azure Shadows, made more sense for someone who had the name of a fire lord.

"Oh, so he is one of the traitors." Leela commented bluntly when Zavan continued to explain who he was. She did not bother trying to keep her voice down so only Zavan and Abi could hear her words; she did not mind if the traitor heard her. She crossed her arms and added, "I don't like traitors."

When Zavan suddenly moved in front of her as if to protect her, Leela stepped to the side a little so that she was still behind Zavan but could also look at Ifrit. Although he was taller than her, Leela still managed to look down her nose at him. He thought the goblins were cute? Cute was definitely not the term she would have used. She wondered why he decided to come back when he found out his new lord did not like Ifrit's goblin charges instead of trying to join a different demon lord. Perhaps none of the other demon lords wanted the goblins, so he had come crawling back because he had nowhere else to go. It was pathetic... but at least he cared enough about the creatures to make sure they had a good home. She could not look down on him for that at least.

"You have the honor of standing before Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America, summoned hero of the Domain of Roshandan." She stepped forward to stand next to Zavan, not wanted Ifrit to think that she was weak enough to need protection from him - even if she was weaker than him.

QuoteColor change for readability.

"A traitor? Well, it's not like I can disagree to that." Efrit shrugged. "A demon hero? So the big guy decided to turn to the summoning ritual to bring a hero here, huh? That was a bit risky... I'm surprised a human like you is willing to work with demons."

"But a princess too?" Efrit bowed gracefully. "The pleasure is mine then. My name is Efrit Burut. Hopefully I can tack on that 'al Valorja' title at the end, but I suppose we'll see?"

"So, what's the demon hero and her butler doing out here?"

"The demons of Roshandan have not given me a reason to not work with them. Unlike you, who abandoned Roshandan to work for another demon lord. You seem eager to work for Ghorat again, but how do we know you are not a spy, sent by this demon lord of Akashin?" Leela glanced at Zavan.

"What do you, think, Zavan? Does the Hero of Roshandan and the General of Roshandan need to defend our land from this traitor?" The young woman was not sure she wanted to leave Efrit alone to go and see Ghorat while Ghorat and the Keeper were the only ones there to defend the castle should Efrit actually be a spy or mean them harm. She was not sure how strong Ghorat actually was and she had not even met the Keeper before she left. But two demons and a bunch of imps with little to no fighting skills were most likely no match for a general who had an army of one thousand goblins.

She ignored his question about why they were there in the goblin village, hoping he would come to his own conclusion of them being there to defend Roshandan.

Zavan narrowed his eyes.

"I do not doubt the strength of our keeper and Lord Ghorat himself. Though, it is Efrit's loyalty that is more the concern."

The ifrit shrugged.

"Come now, what would I hope to gain for spying on Lord Ghorat? His lands are emptied out, save for this goblin village. Besides the demon lord of Ashakin is busy with the humans on his front..."

It was true and Efrit did make a valid point. Ghorat really did not have anything that Leela could imagine the other demon lords might covet. Unless he had something hidden away and protected by the Keeper. Or unless the other demon lords were plotting to find a way to force Ghorat to join them in fighting against humans.

"Your words have no meaning to us. If you want us to believe that you have the best intentions for the Domain of Roshandan and are truly loyal to Ghorat, you are going to have to prove it."

"How?"

"Obviously, the only way I could trust you is if you were bound by magic to never betray us."

Efrit frowned.

"If you think I'll be going along with that plan... You'll be sorely disappointed." He grinned as you noticed he took up a fighting stance. At the same time Zavan stood ready as well.

"I understand if you are worried for your freedom, but I assure you, it would only be to ensure loyalty and would not be abused." She had little hope that her words would persuade him, but figured it was worth a try. After all, she had said to Roadmarech that heroes don't go on a violent rampage when there were safer and possibly more lucrative alternatives. Just because this guy was a demon and could probably handle a game of dodge-fireball did not mean that she should not try possible alternatives first.

Seeing that he had too much pride to go along with her idea without a fight, she decided now was the time to put her new abilities into practice. If Efrit truly did want to work for Ghorat again, then surely he would not seek to kill Ghorat's summoned hero and last general, right? If he did try to actually kill them, then it was proof that he was not be be trusted at all.

Knowing that she would have some explaining to do later, Leela decided to use her Mimicry ability to extend her nails into blades. It really was a good thing that Zavan had done it again in front of her earlier that morning.

"If you are choosing to fight us, does that not prove that you are not to be trusted?" She said as her nails extended and sharpened. As soon as they were finished extending and the last word was out of her mouth, she tried mimicking an ability she had not attempted yet before. She concentrated on her Mimicry ability again, this time using the teleportation ability that the imps had to teleport right above and behind Efrit so that she could get into the right sort of position for landing on his back and wrapping her hands around to hold her fingernail daggers at his throat.

"Besides, its not like I am asking you to become a slave. You'd still be free to do as you wish, as long as it does not betray Ghorat, Zavan, or myself." She finished, ready to either cut or teleport away if he tried anything as she waited for his answer.

Initiative

Rolled 1d20+9 : 13 + 9, total 22

[close]

Efrit was shocked the moment you disappeared. You managed to surprise him, along with having the chance to attack first.

"The idea of being bound in any way... just doesn't sit well with me!" You start to see fires building up from his hair.

QuoteLeela to take turn

Turn Order
Leela -> Zavan -> Efrit

[include u=2]Leela MP Used: 2[/include]

'Ah, so this guy does have affinity for fire.' Leela thought, noticing his hair. She was a little disappointed that her scare tactic had not worked. Oh well. He was a demon, after all. Perhaps it would work on the humans if they were this difficult during negotiations.

Teleporting back to Zavan's side, Leela decided to see if she could do something about the firey hair before it sparked into an actual fire. Using the information on spells that she had learned on the way to the goblin village, she thought of what she wanted to do, pulling out what she hoped would be enough mana, and let the words that came to her spew out.

"Water, swift as a coursing river and with the force of a great typhoon, gather and pound the fire out of our enemy. Raging Waterfall!" The spell's purpose? To create a forceful waterfall to literally pound him into the ground and hopefully put out the fires in his hair - which she assumed was part of some sort of firey power-up. And also to get him wet to make the next spell she had in mind a little easier.

QuoteRoll 6d6

Zavan began tarnsforming. His skin took on an even darker hue, and took a sheen, as if it had hardened. Scales grew as well and covered segments of his skin.

Efrit managed to get out of the way, but the waterfall still managed to pound him. He didn't take as much damage as you would have hoped however. At that moment, he finished preparing his ability. Efrit started to burn up. You see his clothing burn away from the flames coming from his body.

You saw something.

Suddenly, a green notification window appeared.


[include u=2]Leela MP Used: 8
Efreet Dmg Taken: 5[/include]

Out of the corner of her eye, Leela noticed a patch of Zavan's skin grow scales. 'Scales? Was he a snake or lizard type of demon?' She made a mental note to ask him about that later.

It seemed her getting distracted by Zavan's transformation had affected her spell, as it did not exude the amount of force she had intended. She would have been satisfied with her spell at least getting him wet, but not only had he managed to escape the brunt of it, whatever power up he had been doing caused him to burst into flame. And seeing as his clothes had started to burn away, the water had probably evaporated in no time.

"You can catch yourself on fire just like that, but have failed to obtain fire-proof clothing? Have you no decency?!" She wanted to look away from the naked burning demon, but was afraid that he would use that to get the upper hand. And then the green window flashed before her to alert her of a new title. "Why is there a title for this?!" She yelled at the sky.

Her plan to beat the fire out of him with water and then freeze him did not seem to be working so well, but she still wanted to see if she could freeze him, fire and all. Again, she began to pull out mana and spoke the words as they came to her.

"Air and water, abrupt and stone-cold, gather around the enemy and freeze them in their tracks. Ice Prison!"

The icy wind hit him, and the frost began to spread across his body. He was immediately frozen and stopped moving. His eyes were still alert though, and he seemed to be glaring at you. Zavan, finished with his transforming, strode up to Efreet at that moment, and chanting some words, all of a sudden, obsidian tendrils of rock spread from the ground, and clamped on Efreet's feet, torso, and arms tightly.

Efreet wanted to respond, but the cold that froze him kept him from moving.

With two different types of restraints now holding Efrit in place, Leela decided to make another attempt at a peaceful resolution. The ice did nothing to hide Efrit's exposed body, causing a blush to spread across her cheeks as she tried to maintain composure by staring him down straight in the eyes; she did not want her eyes to wander.

"Now that you are a little cooled off, I want to remind you that I did offer a non-violent solution to your dilemma. You had not even stopped to properly negotiate the offer or propose an alternative solution before preparing yourself for battle. As everyone here is still alive and well, I do not yet have a reason to retract my offer. However, if you wish to resort to violence to get your way, I am afraid that we will have to resort to more drastic measures ourselves. So think this through; do you really want to try to explain to Lord Ghorat that you are trustworthy enough for him to accept you back as a general while also having to explain to him that you attacked his General and the Hero that he summoned when they asked you to prove your trustworthiness?"

While speaking, she readied herself for another spell in case he tried to break free and attack her or Zavan. As Zavan knew this guy better than she did, she decided to let Zavan choose what to do next with Efrit. The now scaly demon general most likely knew what to expect of the firey demon general in this sort of situation.

There was muffled or groaning sounds coming from within, but even the man's mouth was frozen. Zavan stood by silently.

"Always the one to fight Efrit. You already know my capabilities, but the demon hero here as well should not be taken as an easy target. You've been beaten."

The ifrit was still stuck in the ice.

Either he was bluffing or Zavan believed that they had beaten Efrit. Either way, Leela was not sure if the muffled sounds were him standing down or him threatening them.

Still readying herself for if Efrit was able to break out of her spell, Leela thought of what she wanted to do. It was then that she remembered that Zavan had an ability that could blur things out like a sort of censoring.

"Zavan... While Efrit is taking this time to think things over, would you mind using your blur ability to censor... that." Without looking, Leela indicated Efrit's lower half. Her light blush of embarrassment deepened a little more.

"I'm sorry for allowing you to see such indecency Lady Leela-sama." Zavan bowed. Waving his hands, the mosaics appeared again covering Efrit's most sensitive areas.

QuoteAssuming you wait until the frozen wears off.

Eventually Efrit managed to free himself from the fires.

"You've had me beaten! Though, with Zavan intruding, that was hardly fair. Either way, I admit defeat."

"Its okay, Zavan, you've had other matters on your mind." She was relieved when Zavan censored Efrit's body parts.

When the ice finally began to melt away, Leela was readied for an attempted attack. Again, she was relieved when no attack came and she instead heard Efrit's words. Her lips spread in a small smile of victory.

"I am glad that you have come to your senses, Efrit. Now, shall we discuss how you intend to prove your trustworthiness to me? I am open to other ideas if you have one that I might find as a satisfactory alternative."

Zavan's bindings were still on him.

"Proving my trustworthiness?" Efrit grinned. "How about simply letting me go? And if I don't attack, wouldn't that show enough trust?"

Zavan raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment.

"No. I still think you could be a spy and I have no assurance that you would abandon Roshandan again if you were accepted back."

Efrit shrugged.

"Well, then we're at an impasse. What now hero?" He said eyeing you directly.

"Indeed." She said, staring back at him as she thought about the information she had on hand about Efrit and tried to figure out something they could do.

"It seems to me like you do not particularly care either way whether you are accepted back or not, as you do not seem to be trying very hard." She continued, an idea slowly coming to her. "So, let's have a chat about you. Zavan mentioned you were the Goblin Master. Which general were you when they started to abandon Lord Ghorat? The first one to leave? The last one to leave? Somewhere in between?" She asked, deciding that when he left would give her a bigger idea of his character. "When you left, what are the reasons that you chose to leave? Why did you take Lord Ghorat's goblin subjects with you? Why did you choose to go to the demon lord of the Akashin? Did you try going to other demon lords before bringing the goblins back here, or did you decide to come straight back here after you found out the goblins were not welcome in your new home?"

Efrit shrugged again.

"None of us asked to be summoned into this world. Sure the demon lords have plans for domination, well, except for Lord Ghorat. And us Demon Generals just follow on their whim. Blasphemous to the Dark God, I'm sure, but I'm just a bit more practical."

"I requested ownership of these goblin villages under Lord Ghorat's domain... Train them hard enough, and they eventually get stronger, you see? But Lord Ghorat was starting to make enemies from the other Demon Lords. Not a very safe place to be as a small goblin, if you catch my drift? Some goblins wanted to stay, so I let them. After most of the other Demon Generals left, I decided to go too. I figured our chances were better with one of the Demon Lords who had stronger armies."

"Be wary Demon Hero. Lord Ghorat has angered the council of the demons. Zavan, Roadmarech, and perhaps a few others are loyal to him, but most demons care for their own selves. The Lord Ghorat has always had problems with the other demons... Though, that would be expected given the case he had a being of light for his companion and wife. That caused some stir. Wouldn't you know, Zavan?"

"Truth be told, if Lord Ghorat chose not to have accepted me, I would have moved northwards with the rest of my goblins, to see if the next Demon Lord would accept us."

Leela listened to every word with interest. Ghorat had mentioned that he and Ashaki had been brought to this world and that they had wanted nothing to do with the demon council's war, which she had assumed had something to do with the humans. His saying that had been part of the reason why she had been willing to accept his request for her to rescue his daughter. She wondered who the dark god was supposed to be, but did not want to interrupt Efrit's tale.

From his words, Leela gathered that his intentions when he left had been to protect the goblins. And as he had mentioned before, the goblins had been his reason for returning. His words that he had not decided to leave until after most of the other generals had abandoned Ghorat made her want to believe him. After all, if his words were true, then she might have more troubles than simply rescuing Ashaki from humans. She might also end up caught up in war against the demon council for her own survival. Even if Ghorat did not want to participate in their battle, the chance that other demons might come to attack him because they were angry with him put her in danger. Honestly... being summoned into this world where demons wanted to dominate it and were probably at war with humans and whatever other non-demon beings lived there put her into danger. The more she learned, the more she wanted to just go back to her home world and forget about all this.

"Zavan, is what he said true?" She turned to the dark-skinned demon. "Was Efrit one of the last generals to leave? Do the other demon lords dislike Ghorat?" She wanted to ask about Ghorat's wife being a 'being of light' and why Zavan, Roadmarech, and the keeper had decided to stay with Ghroat, but decided it would be better to ask those kinds of questions later. She needed to stick to one thing at a time, and her current thing was figuring out if she could trust Efrit.

"It is. He wasn't the last general to leave as I recall... It isn't that they didn't like Lord Ghorat, it was more for their safety. Once a couple of the demon generals who commanded most of Lord Ghorat's army left, it didn't sit well with the others. Keep in mind Lord Ghorat's domain is next to the human borders... So far their hero hasn't yet come, but with our armies dispersed, our domain is an open target. This coupled with the fact the rest of the demon lords disapprove of Lord Ghorat's actions, the risk for an invasion from other lords, if only to claim territory or armies, was high."

"My Lord is focused on lady Ashaki however..."

She was not realizing she should have asked more questions as to why the demon generals had left. Ghorat had said it was because they did not like that he had cast binding magic on himself to prevent him from touching human lands again. She had not thought that they might be fleeing for their own safety. Although... thinking back on it... did he say they had fled to other demon lords?

"I see." She turned back to Efrit.

"I don't understand why you chose to come back to Ghorat even knowing he had lost all of his generals but Zavan when you still had not yet tried going to the other demon lords, but I can admit that I understand why you chose to leave at first. If you are accepted back as a General of Lord Ghorat, are you prepared to take orders from me, even if they do not match up with what you believe should be done?"

"As long as it's not suicidal, sure."

The serious look that she had been keeping up while talking to Efrit gave way to yet another small smile.

"Okay, then. I will talk to Lord Ghorat about agreeing to let you and your goblins come back to Roshandan, but you have to do something for me first." She told Efrit before turning to Zavan. "Zavan, I think I trust him enough for you to release him now. I would prefer if he were fully clothed before we continue this discussion, assuming clothes are to be had."

"My clothes? I always bring spares." Efrit said grinning as the obsidian bindings came off of him.

The ifrit stretched, and seemed to do a quick round of stretches. Thankfully, Zavan's mosaics were still in effect. After that was done he nonchalantly went over to one of the huts. The goblins were still huddling away from the potential fight, but once they had seen that things were starting to calm down, they had begun popping their heads out.


"Everything's all right little fellas..." He disappeared for a few moments, but eventually came out with a stack of clothing. Wearing them, you realized they looked exactly the same as his previous set of clothing.

He winked.

"I get hot pretty often."

While Leela was glad that Efrit had spare clothes, she was not glad that he decided to stretch out while still naked. Her faint smile quickly turned back to its usual frown and she looked away, a faint blush coming back to her cheeks even though Zavan's mosaics were still censoring Efrit's private parts. She was not sure if he really did feel like he needed to stretch after that short time of being unable to move or if he was trying to show off his body, but she did not care to ask.

She heard him telling the goblins that everything was alright as he passed by them and was glad that, although they were ugly little things, he did seem to care about them enough to make sure they were okay.

"I think we need to find you some fireproof clothing if you need to replace your clothes that often." She replied, looking away in an attempt to hide the blush that she was sure was still there.

"Anyways, now that you are dressed and we have come to an agreement," Leela started, "let's finish our discussion. After everyone left, the humans decided to come back and attack, killing some who had remained. Perhaps you were here for some of this. Ashaki decided to take matters into her own hands and went to talk to the humans. But she has not come back, nor have we heard anything from her or the humans as of yet."

"I was summoned to rescue Ashaki, should the humans be keeping her against her will. My goal is to settle things peacefully, in a way that we might be able to get the humans to work with us, if in nothing else but to at least to agree not to attack Roshandan or its inhabitants anymore and hopefully to enter into trade. If things go well, perhaps they would even be willing to form an alliance with us to protect Roshandan from other demon lords who might try to take over the domain. If things do not go well... well, I have a plan B. We came to the goblin village to see if they had any horses or other animals to take us past the border, as just the sight of Roadmarech or any of his subjects is sure to provoke an attack from the humans. I want my initial party to be as non-threatening in appearance as possible so that they will at least hear me out. But I also do not want to walk into something that could be a trap. Roadmarech as agreed to take us to the border, and I asked Zavan to come along in case things go wrong and they decide to attack Roshandan again."

"The thing is..." She looked at Zavan, then back to Efrit, "Zavan's been defending the borders from the humans for a while now, so they most likely know him by sight. Even if they don't, he looks different enough from humans that I'm sure they would be on guard from the start. We have cloaks for the imps that I have brought along, but -given the way that they are- I do not think having them at my side when I approach the humans is the best thing. I was thinking it would be best to have them hiding nearby so that they can teleport to me in case of an emergency."

"So, long story short, I want you to come with me when I approach the humans. That means that you would need to keep your firey self under control and pretend to be as human as you can." She finally finished her explanation before adding, "If you help me and we are able to bring Ashaki back safely, I will be sure to tell Ghorat that you helped rescue Ashaki and should be accepted back as a general."

"Me, passing off as a human? Well, I suppose as long as I don't get all hot and bothered..."

"A pretty sharp plan, Zavan would stick out like a sore-thumb. And knowing how Lord Ghorat is with Ashaki... Yes... This will do nicely."

"Well, alright then Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America, summoned hero of the Domain of Roshandan, rider of the Azure Shadows. I Efrit will personally bring you to the human settlement, rescue the lady Ashaki, and gain back my position as a demon general."

When he seemed to emphasize getting 'hot and bothered' again, Leela decided he was doing it on purpose. He had most definitely noticed her blush and was rubbing it in. She tried to ignore it, knowing full well that the blush would not go away unless he stopped. She wondered briefly if she was making a mistake, but decided that as long as he did not try anything, she would just have to suffer it for now.

"Rephrase that and we're settled. You will go with me to the human settlement and assist me in rescuing Ashaki by following my orders. I am in charge of this rescue mission."

With that settled, Leela turned to the goblins. "Now that that surprise has been handled, I need to talk to whichever one of you is in charge of this village."

"Rephrasing it? Alright... When I strip down for a beautiful lady such as yourself." His eyes had a hint of mischief to them.

A goblin made his way to the front, he was a rather thick and muscular goblin, and had short white hair. He was almost human-like, being the same height as what you would expect from a regular human.


The goblin seemed to be flexing randomly.

"Technically, you already did. So you can skip that part and go straight into doing what I asked you." She felt her face burning up. She would not be surprised if it was as red as the gem on her necktie at this rate. Something needed to be done about that mouth of his.

Leela stared at the goblin now flexing and introducing himself. At this point in her day, she would rather deal with the shenanigans of the imps than have had to deal with anything that had happened since she had arrived at the goblin village. At least she did not find the goblin's flexing to be nearly as embarrassing as Efrit apparently flirtatious attitude and she felt her face finally going back to normal.

"Ragkur, how much of what I told Efrit about my mission did you hear?"

"Uhh... Let... me... think..."

Ragkur instead flexed. He finally responded a full solid minute later.

He looked straight into your eye.

"All of it."

Leela stared at the goblin leader as she waited for him to give his answer. Clearly, he was either so enthralled with his physic that he had a hard time thinking about other things or he was just plain stupid. She would tell Efrit to teach them more intellectual things than just buffing up and fighting after they talked to Ghorat about him being accepted back.

"Good. So you heard that I am in need of horses for my mission. Do you have any that I could borrow? Camels, donkeys, cattle, or other such ride-able creatures are acceptable as long as they are something the humans would keep themselves."

"Hmm..."

He started to flex again.

"Do you like my muscles?" He flashed a toothy grin.

Leela stared at the goblin leader for a minute, then turned to look at the crowd of goblins. "Who here is second in command?" Clearly, this guy had not been chosen for his brains.

Another goblin some distance away staring at the two of you raised his hand.

"I am! I am!" The goblin strode over to you. "I am Plunk!"

Spoiler

"The wise." He prompted tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face.
(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tensei-shitara-slime-datta-ken/images/f/f7/Gobuta_Anime.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20180924191117)

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"Great. Have you an answer for my request of your village?" She did not want to get her hopes up with this one.

"Wait... what?" Plunk had a blank face, he looked completely confused and lost.

It was at this point that Efrit started laughing.

"Cute, aren't they?"

Sighing in frustration, Leela ignored Efrit's comment and repeated her words in as simple an explanation as she could think of. "Does your village have any horses, camels, donkeys, cows, or other such creatures that can be ridden and that also look like animals that humans would keep that I can borrow for my mission."

Plunk still continued to look blankly at you.

"The wolves like my muscles!" Ragkur said as he continued to flex.

Efrit was still laughing, but managed to calm himself down enough to translate.

"He means, yes, they have wolves... But I'm not sure if that would help you any... Wolves would be just as strange as a giant flying horse. And Plunk... isn't really that wise."

Disappointment flitted across Leela's face. In the end... she should have just asked Efrit. Even if he had been away from the village for a while, he still probably knew better than the others.

With a sigh of resignation, Leela looked at Zavan and Efrit. "I don't suppose either of you have any sort of ability or magic to make an illusion so that the wolves might look like horses to the humans?" She asked them, her voice full of doubt. Sure, Zavan had that mosaic censoring skill and sure, she had something that made it sound like she should be able to alter her own appearance at the least, but she did not want to get her hopes up. "Or perhaps we could make some disguises of some sort for the wolves or Azure Shadows? If not... we're going to have to walk after we reach the border."

Zavan shook his head.

"One of our generals was a master illusionist... Unfortunately neither I nor Efrit have that kind of magic. We could potentially disguise one of the tribe of Azure Shadows... But disguising a wolf to look like a regular horse might not be possible."

"Well... at this rate, I guess we'll just have to see if we can do that when we reach the border." Leela sighed.

She had been about to head back to the carriage and tell those in her party they should head out when she realized she had not yet actually introduced herself to the goblins. Quickly turning back to the gathered group, she spoke to them.

"I, Princess Leela Steading, summoned hero of Roshandan, thank you all for your time and apologize for scaring you with the earlier encounter with Efrit. When I have returned from my mission, I plan on returning here to discuss plans for the future of the goblin villages." She had thought of saying get to know them all, since she had personally interviewed pretty much all of the imps already, but she was not sure that she could handle meeting each individual goblin and trying to hold a conversation with each one if they were all like their two goblin leaders.

After giving a brief farewell to the goblins, Leela turned to return to the carriage. Although the trip to the goblin village had not provided them with the mounts she had hoped for, it had at least provided her with a companion who she might be able to bring with her to the human settlement without causing alarm. Key word: might. She did not want to get her hopes up.

"Well, we should probably head out." She told the others of her party as she walked.

Eventually your group made their way into the carriage. There was more than enough space for you in there. The imps started talking amongst themselves the moment Efrit showed up. A lot of them welcomed him back, and they were all generally excited for the carriage to take off again.

Soon enough, Roadmarech started to fly up again. The goblins had waved, and a few moments later, you were speeding westwards towards the border.

"You managed to grow your claws out like I did... Along with teleporting much like the imps... Is this your heroic blessing?"

"Uhm..." Leela hesitated, glancing at Efrit and then at Abi. She was not sure how many people she wanted to know about the details of her blessing. She still did not fully trust Efrit enough to be comfortable telling him what little she knew. Though... she guessed he might be able to figure it out for himself at some point and knowing more of his abilities so that she could copy them would probably be useful. Looking back and forth between the two generals and the imp, she sighed in defeat. It was best if they knew what she was capable of so as to plan properly for the future.

"Yes." She admitted, but rushed to add, "But I would like this information to remain just between us for now. I think it could give us an upper hand when dealing with other groups as long as they don't know what I can do. When I used it against Efrit earlier, I had hoped it might both surprise and intimidate him into agreeing... If I had known about the fire, I wouldn't have wasted time trying it."

"Hmm... Why don't you try out the ability I did, Princess?" Efrit said grinning.

As for Zavan, the demon general nodded.

"Heroic blessings can come in all forms... Since we are heading to the human settlements to the west, there is a chance that you will run into their hero... For that man, he is unrivaled in his speed. Even when I clashed with him in my full transformation, I was not able to keep up with him. I have yet to even injure him."

QuoteIt will take 4 hours to reach the border. Feel free to state what actions you do in the next 4 hours. (You could fit in 1 Training, or 2 Expedited Trainings)

"No." She turned away from Efrit without adding any more to her curt response.

"Super speed, huh?" Leela muttered to herself, looking down in thought. "That could be useful..."

She looked up at Zavan, calling up her status. "Status."

"There are some limitations..." She paused to change her current title to "Princess" as well as to check how much mana she had available before moving on to concentrate on each of the titles she had related to Mimicry before concentrating on Mimicry itself to see if any information about it had changed.

"The titles I have associated with it made me think that maybe I could look like another person or creature, but when I tried to make myself look like Abi -Abi, absolutely do not go around repeating any of what we're talking about to anyone." She cut herself off mid-thought to add the warning to the little imp, who she could see was hopping around in excitement about the information she was hearing.

"When I tried to look like her, I got some sort of notification saying that the ability is not yet unlocked. I take that as meaning that I might be able to unlock that feature in the future. The descriptions of the titles say that my blessing is more efficient and that copied abilities can last for an entire day. So I am assuming that I have to "renew" copied abilities I would like to use by watching a person with the ability I want to copy perform it. I don't see any limits as to how many abilities I can copy and so far have only done the two you saw today."

"It is because of the time limit for how long I can use the abilities that I copy that I was hoping you could teach me how to use your claw ability. I figured that even if it is inherent, maybe I can use my ability to copy it to study it so that it can become a more permanent ability. Otherwise... I'd have to copy it from you if I want to use it or just make due with the alternative technique you mentioned before, and I think an ability like that would be super useful to have. I wouldn't have to carry a dagger on me if I could turn my own nails into weapons. By the way... What was that thing you did where parts of your skin became scaly? Is it like snake or dragon scales? Do they provide extra defense?" Her eyes were sparkling a little when she brought up the scales.

"That particular ability gives me scales with resistance to fire, normally it is a sound strategy when fighting against a fire user such as Efrit. Not only that, it increases my natural defenses."

You see nothing new with the descriptions about Mimicry.

"As for teaching you the claw ability... There is magicka that can create a similar effect."

"I suppose that is an inherent ability as well? Is there a similar thing to it that I could learn? How much mana do you need to use for it?" Scales increasing her natural defense sounded cool just by itself, but to also give resistance to fire made it something Leela definitely wanted.

Leela moved to sit in one of the seats and waited for Zavan to join her so that he could begin teaching her how to use the alternate claw ability, and hopefully something similar to the scales ability as well.

"I am ready to learn."

Spoiler

Leela will do training (expedited if she can also learn something like Zavan's scaley ability, too) on the way to the border (http://forums.fantasyworldcreations.com/index.php?topic=1943.0). Ready to move on as long as some of the training is roleplayed in the linked thread.

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