[Hanako] Chapter 4: A Slaver's Deal

[Throndir]

Trudy shook her head.

"Thank you..." Trudy said genuinely. She continued to blush when you took her hand, but Trudy didn't pull away. The soldier even squeezed your hand slightly in affection, but she couldn't meet your gaze as she did so. Still holding your hand, she continued.

"I appreciate it, I truly do... But... the journey to get there will take too much time. And there's still things that we need to do here."

"Klein had a couple of different enterprises... Almost all of them consisted of heavily using slaves. The 25 soldiers here in his estate were his personal guards, and housekeepers. The 30 slaves in the basement... were mainly for... other purposes..."

"But he owns two mines in our country, along with a factory here in this city that refines the material. Slaver contacts came in daily mainly because the work in the mines are sometimes grueling, and from what I heard there were frequent casualties."

"There are soldiers there too, all of them with collars like ours. Not every soldier or slave is owned by Klein though... I don't actually know the specifics, since I never helped with that. One of the soldiers here worked as Klein's accountant and assistant, so, she should know more."

Trudy continued to hold your hand, she wasn't letting go, at least, not quite yet.

[Asta]

"Perhaps sometime then." Hanako said with a gentle smile. "You're right though, we have a lot that needs doing. Once I'm out of bed, lets get the collars that I couldn't take off yesterday out of the way, then I think we should finish preparations for the locks. It's a lengthy and complex process but we should be able to get it done properly. After that's taken care of I'd like to have a meeting with everyone in the house present, Ive got some things I want to address moving forward. Lastly, I guess we should speak with the soldier that did Klein's accounting."

She paused a moment before continuing "We'll have to come up with a plan to free the people in those mines, and perhaps find a way to use the properties and businesses that were Klein's to get some financial stability and perhaps make a base of power for moving forward. I'll have to think about it though..."

Things were getting more complicated by the day, but if she took it one step at a time it would be manageable. Probably.

"Oh! I nearly forgot!" Hanako said, fishing the locket from the little pile of things she had acquired since being summoned. "This locket that Klein had on him has a portrait in it and some hair... do you happen to know who this is a picture of?"

[Throndir]

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

"I don't... He's had that locket ever since I was bought. I've never seen him without it though." Trudy said finally letting go of your hand as she herself stood up as well.

"I'll ask around though. Maybe some of the other soldiers know, or even the slaves in the basement, since some of them have been here longer."

The first thing you did was remove the remaining collars. Yours, Trudy's, and the last soldier who was with you during the meeting with Sofia. With that all the collars were removed, though there was still the locks to take care of.

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

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

Trudy had begun circulating the question you had earlier, asking each of the slaves and soldiers whether or not they knew who the person in the locket was, however, most of them didn't seem to know. They had all mentioned that Klein had the locket for years now. However, the elf woman, the same that had talked to you down in the dungeon, happened to be the one that lived with Klein for the longest, mentioned that the woman in the locket was Klein's wife. However, the elf didn't know whether or not his wife was still alive, but seemed to guess that she was probably dead.

You started the 24-hour ritual for converting the slab of meat into an essence of Klein himself. From what you knew of the ritual, it seemed like it was yet again a different kind of magic than the one used to bind slaves through a contract and slave collars. But your knowledge of slavery seemed to include this specific ritual as well. The magic for this ritual made use of binding an essence of the dead, or their spirit, into a corporeal and physical form. The usage of the items made that connection stronger, and thus making the spell easier to prepare. If Trudy's magic was a simple creation and manipulation of the elements. Slavery magic was more like binding magic, with contracts involved. While this particular magic seemed to be in a different category, dealing with the spirit and the dead.

With the items in place, the magic circle created, you begun the long 24-hour spell.

First part for Klein Meat:
Spellcraft check requested, I'll continue describing below, but success depends on this roll

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Living Room
Date: Day 3 - Time: Evening - 6 PM

A full day had passed, you yourself had to continue the ritual providing it mana. Many of the soldiers didn't have the knowledge or know-how on how to help you at all with the actual casting of the spell, so they couldn't help at all with the casting. This meant that you had to do the burden of doing this on your own.

Throughout last night, into the early morning, the afternoon, and finally the evening, the soldiers took their turns keeping watch, and keeping you company. Not a lot of words were said, simply because the process was taxing, and the soldiers knew not to break your concentration at all during the entire process.

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

[Asta]

Requested roll
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 7 + 8, total 15

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Living Room
Date: Day 3 - Time: Evening - 6 PM

You managed to successfully complete the ritual. The magic circle grew bright near the end, as the lights coalesced to each of the items you had inside the circle, then finally moving to the slab of meat at the center.

After that, the lights died down, but you knew it was a success.

The rest of the soldiers, knowing the ritual would take 24 hours, were watching you intently, unsure whether or not what they had just seen meant that the spell was a success or a failure.

"Did it work?"


Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 3 - Time: Evening - 6 PM

You started work on the next part: creating the magical inkwells from both you, and the now-deceased Klein. You brought with you the same items you had for the same ritual, including the slab of meat that represented Klein. Setting the items ready, as Trudy, and some of the other soldiers watched, you began your work.

Requesting 2 Spellcraft checks - one for each inkwell. The second spellcraft check is for Klein's inkwell, that has an extra +4 DC for success due to the more intricate mana manipulation usage.

After that I need 30 Craft (slavery) checks. Having you roll each one, since the cost is still 1 MP.

Hanako Okita
Spellcaster
Level 15

Condition: Uninjured, Slightly Tired

HP: 28/28
MP: 31/34
STR: 18
DEX: 22
CON: 18
INT: 22
WIS: 12
CHA: 10
MAG: 22

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate All, Personal Status, Item Speaker, Slavemancer

[Asta]

Hanako wiped her brow. "As far as I know that's step one down!" she said cheerfully, then set about creating the inkwells for the next part of the ritual.

Hanako's inkwell
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 5 + 8, total 13

Klein's inkwell
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 7 + 8, total 15

[Throndir]

Both attempts at creating the inkwell failed.

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

[Asta]

"God damn it."

Hanako's inkwell try 2
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 20 + 8, total 28

Klein's inkwell try 2
Spellcraft:

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

[Throndir]

You managed to make your inkwell, but Klein's you had trouble with.

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

[Asta]

Reeeeeeeeee~! This stupid thing! Hanako cracked her knuckles and tried to calm down, slow and steady wins the race or so they say...

Klein's inkwell try 3
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 8 + 8, total 16

[Throndir]

You failed again.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 6
Hanako MP Used: 11
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

[Asta]

Okay this is it for sure.

Klein's inkwell try 4
Spellcraft:

Rolled 1d20+8 : 14 + 8, total 22

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 3 - Time: Evening - 9 PM

It took 3 hours, but you managed to create both inkwells. Finally, you were ready to start drafting the ownership change contracts.

No need to roll Craft (slavery), your +11 is high enough to auto-succeed even on 1s for this type of contract.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 6
Hanako MP Used: 8
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

[Throndir]

Hanako Okita
Spellcaster
Level 15

Condition: Uninjured, Tired

HP: 28/28
MP: 26/34
STR: 18
DEX: 22
CON: 18
INT: 22
WIS: 12
CHA: 10
MAG: 22

Blessings: Quick Learner, Mana Sensitivity, Translate All, Personal Status, Item Speaker, Slavemancer

[Asta]

"Finally... Now let's get to work on those contracts." she said, rolling up her sleeves. She didn't actually know how to write in the language of the land, and wondered if it would still work in Japanese. Guess I'll find out... she thought and set to work.