[Hanako] Chapter 4: A Slaver's Deal

[Asta]

"But of course" Hanako replied, "We hope your visit was a pleasant one." She motioned to the door, while simultaneously trying to read the text on the card.

[Throndir]

The words were in a foreign language with unfamiliar characters, but you realized you can read it.

"Pleasant indeed." Sofia said simply as she began her way out the door to the room, the guards behind her followed suite. Trudy was back in the hall, standing at attention, waiting to escort the guests out.

[Asta]

As Hanako made her way to the door with Sofia she asked as politely as she could "As a businesswoman familiar with such things, do you happen to know the method for reassigning ownership for a certain type of lock that has a habit of exploding when opened by the wrong person?"

This was the entire reason they had attempted the ruse in the first place, and while at the very least Sofia wasn't openly hostile to them, the entire situation would have been pointless if she couldn't free the people in the basement. She hoped the woman would both have the answer, and be amenable.

[Throndir]

"A slave lock that explodes? That sounds like the work of a particular dwarf that my company now owns. I am aware of such things of course, they used to be rare, but nowadays, not so much. Most slave owners wouldn't want exploding locks for fear of damaging their goods, you see, But these days, the only clients we've found that preferred them were for maximum security prisons that now house some of our ex-government officials. Some of our demonic customers too have been wanting them for their own purposes as well."

The corners of Sofia's lips turned into a smile.

"A procedure for transferring a slave to another owner without the previous owner though? That would be hard, and usually..." Her eyes roamed over to you.

"Quite expensive."

Requesting a Knowledge (slavery) roll, since you have new information about requiring parts of the previous owner + your use of magic.

[Asta]

Hanako shrugged. "The issue of ownership isn't a problem really. We do have a situation with some of those locks however. If it's going to cost something, please state your price."

Hanako expected any information to come at a price, now it was a matter of figuring out what that price was and if she would be able to pay it...

Requested roll
Knowledge, Slavery:

Rolled 1d20+11 : 15 + 11, total 26

[Throndir]

"500 gold pieces for a transfer to another owner. It takes a variety of things, research on our part to find out where Klein made the original slave contracts, who the slaver he worked with to initiate the binding ritual, how it was done, examination of the locks themselves on site..."

Knowledge (slavery): 26
You knew the ritual that Sofia mentioned for some reason. Combining that with the knowledge from the lock you talked to earlier that morning, you knew you had to have enough 'material' of the previous owner in order to successfully initiate the ritual. Liquid usually worked the best, blood was perhaps the easiest to acquire from living owners. When you had first thought about it earlier that morning, the concept of magic and mana was something foreign to you, now however, combined with the knowledge you had, it felt like you could recall the exact steps in order to do the ritual yourself. It required multiple things: parchment, a pen and ink, 'material' from the previous owner, something for the next owner as well, then the exact steps in order to initiate the binding.

There were other methods too, there was one that skipped the requirement of the original owner, but that process would have taken at least 2 days for each lock, rather than half an hour each.

Now that you had experienced magic first hand, you realized too that the method in your head for transfer the ownership seemed to work differently than the magic that Trudy had taught you earlier. There was no simple incantation, while pulling out mana. True, mana was still involved, but the steps to invoke the magic were more precise. More preparations were required. Even the use of mana had specific points in the process where a potential caster had to manipulate the mana in certain ways.

"The knowledge of slavery magic, dark magic as some call it, isn't a widely used profession either. True, my company has a few in its employ, but the extent that Klein did with his own slaves was simple one that too much money and no way to spend it could do."

"I can't help but notice you failed to mention the collars too... If Herr Klein is having trouble with some of his locks, does not the collar pose the same problem?" Her eyes captured yours, as if studying you.

[Asta]

"I see, I see." Hanako replied. The sudden recollection of information that she wasn't aware she knew was jarring to say the least. Now that she seemed to actually know the methods one might take to deal with the problem it almost seemed laughably easy, to a degree...

"If Herr Klein is having trouble with some of his locks, does not the collar pose the same problem?"

Sofia seemed suspicious, which was understandable but also odd considering she quite obviously knew that Hanako was in fact the "hero" that shouldn't exist. It wouldn't be a great idea to tip her hand and reveal the nature of her powers, but she needed to tell her something.

"Ah yeah the collars... Actually they're less of a problem than you might think. It seems that since Klein's decision to become a homebody they've sort of stopped functioning. And since we all have nothing but admiration for his generosity for taking care of us this is fine.

Meanwhile in the back of her head Hanako was trying to work out exactly what the steps were to perform the more complex ritual to deal with the locks, considering that much of Klein's body was a pile of ashes somewhere.

Knowledge, Slavery:

Rolled 1d20+11 : 10 + 11, total 21

[Throndir]

She narrowed her eyes slightly, as if trying to figure something out in her head.

"Simply stopped functioning you say?" Sofia's eyes ventured towards the collar on your own neck, though her face remained impassive, not betraying what she was thinking.

A moment later she smiled as she continued her way. Trudy who had been rapt in attention listening to the conversation noticed the movement, and began leading the way out to the front door.

"It was a rather enlightening trip to Herr Klein's estate. I do appreciate the delectable Isikawan tea. Please tell Herr Klein that he or any of his servants are welcome to visit Birkensen Trading Company. I, Sofia Leiningen, understand his plight, and would ensure it be... clandestine."

With that, Sofia and her entourage left, making their way to their carriage.

Knowledge (slavery): 21
There are multiple ways to do the ritual of changing ownership without the use of the original creator's 'backdoor'.

Method that has both Original Owner's mana, and Original Owner's essence
-Creating Ink Solution-
1) Have something of Original Owner (essence of Original Owner). Blood is generally used, though, there is no other restrictions, as long as there is enough matter.
2) Have a liquid that can hold mana well. You know blood can be easily used for this purpose as well.
3) Combine both into one container. Blood solves both requirements.
4) Add Ink if solution does not stain. The infused solution is used for the Original Owner to sign.
5) Original Owner infuses solution with their mana. This steps takes time. Either they do it themselves, find a master Mana Manipulator, or have it extracted by a slaver mage.

6) Repeat steps 1-5 but with the New Owner, in their own separate container.

-Creating Contract-
7) Have parchment and ink pen ready.
8) Contract quickly written with the intent of changing ownership, stating what possession will be transferred, who the Original Owner was, and who the New Owner will be.
9) The contract needs to be infused with mana while it is being written, specifically with the intent of binding.
10) The binding object that is being transferred (collar or lock or anything else), needs to also be infused with mana.
11) While the mana-infused liquid, object, and contract have mana still in them. The contract is then signed using the mana-infused liquid from both parties created in steps 1-5 for both the Original Owner and New Owner.

Mechanically:
-Craft (slavery) check for the Contract work
-Spellcraft check for Original Owner's inkwell (can be done by Original Owner)
-Spellcraft check for New Owner's inkwell (can be done by New Owner)
-30 minutes of time (assuming both mana-ink solutions are created at the same time)
-Required materials

Shortcuts:
-If a single user is manipulating the mana, they need to only do one Spellcraft.

Method that does not have Original Owner's mana, but does have Original Owner's essence
Same as above but the steps that require Original Owner's mana, specifically the Original Owner's ink-solution
1) Have something that the original owner has some mana in. Potential:
-Items kept with owner may have naturally gained/infused some of his mana due to proximity.
-Item that the original owner may have infused their mana with.
-Item that may have extracted the original owner's mana.
2) Have a second container with an amount of mana-holding liquid (such as blood).
3) Put Item containing original owner's mana into the new liquid.
4) Infuse Item with mana, 'foreign mana'. This saturates the item with the mana, to help it leak out, into the pool.
5) Once saturated, the foreign mana needs to be removed, through mana manipulation, or expending the mana from through magic or spells. Once the foreign mana is gone, results in a pool with the original owner's mana.
6) That new liquid solution is mixed with ink (or used as is, if blood), then its used to sign the contract in place of the original owner.

Mechanically:
-Spellcraft check for the magic work (+4 DC increase, due to missing component: Original Owner's mana, and more difficulty in technique described above)
-30 minutes of time for New Owner's inkwell
-Required materials

Method that does not have the Original Owner;s mana, and does not have Original Owner's essence
Same as above but the Original Owner's essence need to be artificially created
1) Have any sort of bio organic material (a slab of meat for example)
2) Have items associated with Original Owner (Associated Items)
3) Have chalk/ink/blood to be able to draw a magic circle
4) Create magic circle for essence/spirit transferring
5) Place organic material at the center
6) Place Associated Items at the keypoints in the circle.
7) 24-hour spell ritual cast

Mechanically:
-Spellcraft check for the magic to work
-24 hours
-Materials required

[Asta]

"Our thanks." Hanako said, watching Sofia and the soldiers depart. When the woman was finally gone Hanako let out a long sigh, a mix of mental exhaustion and relief.

"Well that went better than I had hoped." she said to Trudy. "Something she said seems to have sort of dredged up a memory that I wasn't aware I had too, so I've got a way to get the folks out of the basement cells. Let's go down there and let them know, right after I get these collars off the rest of you."

Hanako will remove the collars from the others until she has 1 mp remaining so she can stay conscious. If there isn't enough she'll leave hers and Trudy's for later.

In the basement, Hanako explained to the people still imprisoned that she had found a way to get them out, but she would need time to repair and recuperate her mana. She thanked them for their patience and listened to anything they had to say to her before heading back upstairs.


Once back to the main floor, she dictated to Trudy the objects they needed to find to complete the circuitous ritual needed to unlock the cells. Specifically among the list of items she needed were some organic material and very personal items belonging to Klein. For the organic component she planned to use the highest quality meat available in the house, and for the personal items she assumed the rings and the locket (sans-hair) should be enough. She would use her own blood for the liquid components, since that seemed like the right thing to use in a magic ritual.

Provided that's enough info, whenever the gathering of items is complete Hanako would like to engage in training again with Trudy for using longswords (expedited training time). She will try to go to sleep at some point attempting to get about 10-11 hours of rest before getting up semi early in the morning.

Training check for the first session: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18

Training check for second session:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Main Hall
Date: Day 2 - Time: Morning

You were able to unlock and disable the collars of 3 of your soldiers, but after that, you felt too tired to do much of anything else. In your status was 1 MP left exactly, each usage of both locking and unlocking them came to 1 MP.

It was hard to keep your eyes open, but you powered through.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Sleepy (mana)
Trudy: Slightly Injured, Refreshed
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 3
Hanako MP Used: 33
Trudy Dmg Taken: 6[/include]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 2 - Time: Morning

The slaves all thanked you once again. Like before, many of them had bowed and prostrated themselves to you. The majority were human. The one with long ears was an elf, and you found out that the people with animal ears and tails called themselves demi-humans. There was one of each of those of the different races.



Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Living Room
Date: Day 2 - Time: Morning

You manage to gather the items. Cutting yourself and withdrawing blood was a bit painful, but you managed to get enough. You had the 3 rings and the locket as well. Finally Trudy brought out what looked to be a choice cut from some animal. You managed to find some small wells that could be used for the 'inkwell', along with the pen itself. Finally, the soldiers managed to find a stack of parchment paper from Klein's study.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Injured (non-lethal), Sleepy (mana)
Trudy: Slightly Injured, Refreshed
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 9
Hanako MP Used: 32
Trudy Dmg Taken: 6[/include]

Attempting to train for the next 4 hours, you sparred with Trudy. You tried to rush the training, taking steps to attempt to speed up and cover more topics that Trudy was teaching you, but the process ended up being too much, and you weren't able to gain any progress.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Injured (non-lethal), Sleepy (mana)
Trudy: Slightly Injured, Refreshed
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 9
Hanako MP Used: 28
Trudy Dmg Taken: 6[/include]

Eventually you made your way back to your room and slept for 10 hours.



Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Your Room
Date: Day 2 - Time: Evening - 6 PM

Again you dreamt of the divine realm. Erato again. You weren't sure if it was willed or not, but you remember the dream being pleasant, though as you began to stir, you couldn't quite remember exactly how the dream went. Instead, you felt something brushing your face, or it was more like your hair. It was someone's hand, lightly and gently stroking your bangs. From your forehead to right above your ears. You realized someone was playing with your hair, brushing it back and forth.

When you opened your eyes, you saw it was Trudy seated on the same chair as the first time, though, it was moved up closer to the head of the bed. When she noticed you were awake, she immediately pulled her hand back as she started to blush.

"A-aah... U-um... Y-you were asleep, and I figured someone should be guarding you here just in case... a-and-"

She looked downwards, not looking at anything in particular, trying vainly to stop her blushing.

[Asta]

"Oh uhhh... D-don't worry about it.." Hanako stammered, looking away and flushing a bit herself. So close... She really shouldn't have been as embarrassed as she was, but she had lived a reclusive life up to about two days ago and being so near someone else that was so... attractive... was almost panic inducing.

She wondered if she should just stay in bed a while longer before starting the ritual downstairs, and in the end decided not to get up immediately.

"So ahh... how are things?" she said, awkwardly.

[Throndir]

"A-ah... w-well... L-let's see... Our shoulders- I mean soldiers! Our soldiers are in high hopes, the slaves in the basement have been happier too. Everyone's excited... that... you're here." Trudy looked up at you and met your gaze, she was still blushing.

She didn't realize the moment had stretched until a few long seconds after.

"Oh we're all glad that you're here with us..."

[Asta]

Hanako sat up and stretched. "Thats... good. I can't really say I have a lot of confidence in my status as a hero, but If people can breathe a little easier that's really good. Really though I think I was asking how you are. It's been a really busy two days so I haven't really got the chance to get to know you." She pulled the covers off her legs and swung around to face Trudy head on. "Tell me about yourself, if you don't mind..." she said with a smile.

[Throndir]

"N-no, of course not. Myself? Y-you want to get to know about me?" Trudy still had a slight pink to her features, but she eventually spoke after she took a deep breathe.

"There isn't much... My family had always been a family of soldiers. My mother, my father, my grandfather before them. Both of my parents were soldiers in different divisions. My father was on the front lines, while my mother worked with logistics. As for me... I wanted to go into something completely different, before three years ago when we were sent here, tensions were already rising with a neighboring country, and a lot of people were expecting a war to break out."

"But... I didn't really want to be a part of that. I didn't want to be a soldier. No... I wanted to paint, I had dreams of becoming a painter, you see? But then we found ourselves here. My father and mother were called up to arms... I stayed with a relative. We got the news that my father was killed in this war, and mother was devastated. I was too. I signed up for the military right after that. They needed more bodies, so it was easy to get in. I went through the training... About 5 months later, I too was deployed out."

"We weren't doing very well, but it wasn't that bad either... At least until we were told that the remaining royal family had been murdered. And you know the rest... We were pulled back from the front, to take care of the mess that was brewing back at home. But instead the demons captured us. Then... We found the towns and cities in this state. Corruption everywhere."

"There are some countries here in the new world that slavery is illegal, but in ours, it's been legal since the dawn of our country's birth. Maybe in the last decade there was some push to reduce it... Sofia called them servants sometimes, yes? That was the nicer way of calling them. But ever since our government was torn down, slavery's back to an all time high."

Trudy sighed, her face somber.

"There are times I miss them... My father, and my mother. The house we had near the outskirts of a town not far from here. Friends from back then... I don't even know if my mother still lives... Everyone who supported the old government, or fought against the demons had been killed, or enslaved. It's only people like Klein or Sofia who either embrace them, or play dirty, that they can still be around publicly. For the people like me? We've been kept in the dark for over a year now, mistreated... Assaulted..." She tensed up as a flare of anger crossed her eyes, but she sighed again releasing the feelings.

"It's like this for many of us Hanako. And suddenly you appeared... And suddenly we have hope again. You have no idea what that means to all of us."

"A-ah... I'm sorry... we're thrusting you in this position..."

[Asta]

Hanako felt like she should probably do something comforting. At the moment it seemed like reaching out to take Trudy's hand was the way to go, which a moment after she had done it she felt quite embarrassed by the act. She pushed that down though and replied in a gentle tone.

"It's okay. You've had a hard time of it. Your country has had a hard time of it. I can't even really imagine it to be honest. Slavery has been outlawed on my world for quite some time, but even then my country has had... a problematic past."

She thought a moment and then continued, giving Trudy's hand a squeeze, "If you'd like, when things have calmed down a bit here we could try going to that town and seeing if your mother is alright."