[Leela] Chapter 3: Setting Out

[Throndir]

You gained a heroic action point

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.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

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.

[Throndir]

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.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

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.

[Throndir]

"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.

Assuming 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."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"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."

[Throndir]

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.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"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."

[Throndir]

Efrit shrugged.

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

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"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?"

[Throndir]

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."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

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.

[Throndir]

"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..."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

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?"

[Throndir]

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