[Carrie] Chapter 3: The Leaders of Thura Forest

[Throndir]

《Chapter 2: Into the New World

《Chapter 3: The Leaders of Thura Forest》

Location: New World - Lamia Priestess Tunnels
Date: Day 2 - 5:00 PM

Synithise was quiet for a moment as she listened to your explanation of the recruits.

"I'm... sorry..." Synithise finally said. "As priestesses, our kin are kept close, and apart from our ties with the royal family, and potentially other clean heads, we keep to ourselves enough that the Shifting phenomenon that brings other countries to this world, didn't affect us on a personal level... After all... for us priestesses, families are still kept even if we did lose our royal city and much of the government."

"I can't begin to imagine losing the others. This clan that I lead..."



Location: New World - Lamia Priestess Tunnels - Meeting Room
Date: Day 2 - 5:00 PM

The guard lead the two of you onwards to the meeting room. The room itself was guarded by two other Lamia Priestesses who nodded towards both you and Synithise, their matriarch. Opening the door, they then ushered you inwards.

There were a couple of 'people' in the room. Three of them looked to be humanoid bat creatures, while the other looked like pale or blue-skinned human.

The pale one had a large scythe on her back, and looked to be wearing a thick scarf around her neck. She stared at you when you went in, and that was when you realized her eyes looked unnatural. They were black instead of white. Upon seeing you, she licked her lips.

"Why, hello there."

Next were the three bat creatures. There were two females and one male. The male one looked to be a giant werebat of some sort. The other two looked to be slightly different from each other. The one that was sitting down with the pale-skinned one looked to be the most human, with her skin less furry as the others, and also the fact that she had hair at the top of her head. You did note that she wore a blindfold over her eyes. The other two were who more beast-like and they standing a distance away from her.

"Are you the hero?"

The two in the back eyed you carefully. They weren't armed, but they gave you the impression of being bodyguards.

[Erynn]

As Carrie entered the room and was greeted by the visitors, she realized instantly that the legends she knew weren't going to be entirely reliable in describing the people that inhabited Darmona. While it wasn't terribly surprising to her, it was worth keeping in mind. She had also noticed upon entry that two of the visitors were clearly some form of protection detail, recognizing as they watched her the same practiced eye with which she assessed a given situation. It occurred to Carrie then that the way she carried herself was no doubt unnerving to them, conveying her level of combative proficiency and athleticism. It wasn't something she could really tone down or turn off, so Carrie made a mental note to keep her hands in view at all times in order to avoid any potential misunderstandings.

More interesting to Carrie was the complete lack of a protection detail for the pale individual bearing a scythe. This told Carrie that one of three things was true. This individual could have complete confidence in their ability to handle any situation that may arise. They could also simply have too few people to spare anyone for such a purpose. The third possibility was that both of the clan heads present trusted each other enough that they were comfortable being watched over by the same protection detail. Carrie would make a point of subtly paying attention to the two bodyguards' idle mannerisms, as well as who they paid attention to and when to suss out whether or not the third scenario was possible.

Carrie then strides forward and extends a hand in greeting, managing a little smile despite her current melancholy while answering the question posed to her, "In so far as the summoning ritual brought me here. I'm Carrie. Synithise here tells me that nightwalkers have had it pretty rough under Felencorp's occupation. I appreciate you coming here, particularly on such short notice."

[Throndir]

Both the pale skinned woman and the batfolk matriarch stood up from their seats.

"I am Jasna Kasun, the clan matriarch of the batfolk of Thura forest. It's an honor to meet you." The bat-like woman said as she bowed her head slightly towards you.

"The Lamia Priestesses that we safeguard here in our forest have finally summoned the hero, this is something we've all been waiting for."

"I'm Eveleen Dunn, matriarch of the dullahan of Thura forest. And having it pretty rough is an understatement." The pale-skinned one stated as she continued to lock eyes with you.

"The Felencorp have branded people, such as myself, and others of the nightwalker tribes, to be killed on sight, and have even hired adventurers from our neighboring countries to hunt us. At least... more so than some of the more feral beastfolk races." Eveleen said as she proceeded to step a bit closer.

"I'm a normal person really." She did something strange then, as she reached up for head head, and with a gentle lift, her head came off. With her eyes still locked on to you, she spoke.

"My head just comes off easily."

[Erynn]

As the batfolk matriarch bowed her head, Carrie responded in kind. She hadn't entirely expected the batfolk to shake her hand, but she found it a bit unusual that the Dullahan matriarch hadn't done so. Either there were significant differences in the customary greetings between her world and this one, or else there was some degree of distrust present. Having been left hanging where her own greeting was concerned made Carrie suddenly very pointedly aware that the Dullahan matriarch hadn't taken their eyes off hers since she had walked into the room.

Upon hearing from Eveleen that not only were nightwalkers being hunted, but were to be killed on sight, Carrie's blood ran ice cold in her veins. Until this moment, Felencorp had seemed like a simple overbearing imperialistic tyranny. Now the threat they posed took on a whole new form in Carrie's mind. The Felencorp United Alliance was pursuing a course of outright genocide. In the space of a single sentence, Carrie had been made to realize that there was no diplomatic solution to the problem that confronted the people of Darmona.

Carrie's choice not to break eye contact with Eveleen would mean that the Dullahan got to see the expression on her face change as the information reached Carrie's ears. Her expression had shifted from one of cordial welcome to one of disgusted near disbelief at what she was hearing, then a quiet fury that would turn the young marine's gaze murderous. As Carrie's hand drops limply beside her, she speaks her mind with no filter, her words laden with emotion.

"It would seem that the worst human behavior seen in my world exists here as well.", Carrie comments, her words practically dripping with disdain, then sarcasm as she continues, thinking aloud, "This is just greeeaaaat. It's basically the fuckin' nazis again! From fighting giant purple snakes, spiders, and scorpions one day, to picking a fight with Hitler 2.0 the next! The fun just doesn't stop!"

Carrie's entire demeanor has changed by the end of her brief rant. Her gaze now also betrays the presence of a small seed of madness created by the sheer magnitude of the horrors she had already experienced, and the prospect of the horrors she was nearly certain she was going to witness going forward, given Felencorp's surprisingly all too familiar pattern of behavior.

Next to the knowledge that Felencorp's leadership was truly a world-class sort of evil, the sight of Eveleen removing her head from her shoulders simply failed to impress. Normal had become for Carrie a very relative term in this new world.

[Throndir]

You felt someone start to hold you and hug you from behind. It was Synithise.

The others didn't know how to react to your words and simply continued to stare, trying to understand some of the strange words that you spoke towards them.

"You're here now Carrie... And you everyone here to help."

Afterwards, she whispered in your ear so that Eveleen couldn't hear.

"The dullahan don't like to shake hands... It's how they feed." She explained briefly. She would have continued, but Eveleen spoke.

"Its survival of the fittest... However, the Felencorp have their fear rule over them. It's true that we Dullahan require other beings to feed off of. We don't need to feed often, but it's how we sustain ourselves... But we do so sparingly. The same is true for many other nightwalkers. But our government has made things work, for the most part. For examples, those sentenced to death, or have irredeemable crimes may be sent to any of the nightwalkers. Though, we can feed on cattle and livestock in much the same way."

"But fear not dear Carrie. The kingdom of Darmona value greatly the teaching of the goddess, and of course a hero such as yourself is one at the same level as our queen. I can guarantee that it's been many years since any of the dullahan in Thura forest have fed on another intellectual being." As she spoke, she continued to keep her eyes on you, as if she was particularly interested in you.

"Eveleen... enough talk about feeding. We came here to greet you, hero Carrie. Along with paying our respects." Jasna explained.

"The Lamia Priestesses already have a lot of treasures that they can provide, along with equipment... so us who live in the actual forests above don't have a lot to give, apart from our loyalty and our people."

Eveleen nodded in agreement.

"Our forest is largely kept away from the other towns, with our forest known to be 'haunted'. The rest of the Darmona people would never willingly betray their own... But even the more reclusive tribes have been found out, and subsequently raided... The vampires of the Adria coven were the last attacked... Vampires, at least true ones, stand atop all other Darmona people, save for the royal family, but even they have decided to abandon their homes, to seek out more hidden shelters."

[Erynn]

As Synithise suddenly hugs Carrie from behind, the contact breaks her mental focus away from the dark path it had begun down, and the genuine expression causes Carrie to smile. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before tapping Synithise on the forearm to let her know that she's okay, while the reason Eveleen didn't shake hands was explained. The reason that Felencorp was hunting down nightwalkers was, as expected, founded in reality but completely lacking in context as well as ignorant and prejudiced in nature As Eveleen told it, the Dullahan were a danger only to cattle, the source of a few of Carrie's own preferred menu items.

Carrie was however thrown mentally off balance when she heard her own name spoken by Eveleen. Carrie recalled the legends of the Dullahan from her own world all too well and was at once both confused as well as concerned. Either the legends that Carrie was familiar with didn't apply, or else Eveleen had just done something horribly absent-minded. Carrie suspected that the look on her face at the moment would remind those present of the common expression of having seen a ghost.

Fortunately, though Carrie's soul was apparently not being drawn out of her, so she opted to continue the conversation until an opportune moment to inquire presented itself.

"I apologize for the confusion that little rant no doubt caused.", Carrie began, "The gist of it is that Felencorp's behavior is uncomfortably close to mirroring that of a political regime that existed in my world some seventy odd years ago. To say that I find the parallel alarming would be an understatement, given that the regime I'm referencing systematically slaughtered six million people because of their religious beliefs. That political regime was commonly called the Nazi party, and its leader was a man named Adolf Hitler. I sincerely hope we're not dealing with a similar sort of evil in Felencorp, but they're not giving me much reason to be hopeful."

Carrie took a moment to let that explanation sink in before taking a moment to ask a seemingly unrelated question before continuing on.

"Speaking of my world, while Dullahan don't actually exist there legends of them do appear in the literature. They're commonly depicted as speaking a person's name and drawing out their soul, so given how that didn't just happen a minute ago, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the legends from my world aren't accurate to this one. That leads into the obvious question......., aside from a detachable braincase, pale complexion and black sclera, what else differentiates Dullahan from humans in this world?"

[Throndir]

Eveleen seemed to hesitate in her response, but after she sighed, she continued.

"Those legends... Yes... I see how it can be perceived in that way. Rather than drawing out the 'soul', when we feed, we drain their energy; their life. When we are through, all that's left is a drained husk. And with speaking a person's name... that... well, let's just say that is a type of magic that the Dullahan keep to themselves. "

"Other differences... we are effectively immortal unless killed. We are not birthed the way humans are either, rather, a fresh corpse is taken to become one. In some ways we are both who we were when we were alive, and the spirit that resides in us that makes us who we are."

"But... we're still people. We take care of our horses like any other human, we have families too. Not blood-related, but by choice. We make friends... we can laugh, cry, smile... and love."

[Erynn]

Sense motive to try to gauge Eveleen's emotional state/demeanor at the moment or reaction to Carrie's questions regarding her world's legends.

Rolled 1d20+4 : 9 + 4, total 13

[Throndir]

Sense Motive: 13
Eveleen seemed to take the legends that you mentioned and the disparity from it to Eveleen's people in stride. She didn't seem particularly surprised about the legends your own people had. She explained the differences rather superficially. She didn't go into what this type of magic the Dullahan possesed. She didn't include details of the exact process a Dullahan is born or created. Her eyes continued to stare into yours whenever possible throughout her explanation.

[Erynn]

As Eveleen quickly lists the differences between the legends as Carrie knew them and the reality that existed in this new world, Carrie listens intently eager to know the truth behind the tall tales she grew up with. As the explanation continued, there was one line spoken by the Dullahan matriarch that stood out to Carrie; 'we're still people.'. The instant she heard that line, Carrie's brow creased partially in confusion, and partially out of concern. The young marine's reaction to the statement and its implication was deep-seated and visceral. Carrie immediately responded with a growing sense of dread for just what she might hear before the conversation was over.

"That you're people appears self-evident to me.", Carrie replied, her concern apparent in her tone and inflection, "Exactly.......what circumstances compelled you to make that statement as if it weren't? Regardless of how different one individual is from another, I find it hard to believe that anyone could fail to recognize another person as such without being at least willfully ignorant. Even if Felencorp has been hunting your people down, to not even acknowledge that they're killing people...... That's a disturbing thought even for a combat veteran."

Unlike Eveleen, Carrie hadn't made constant, unflinching eye contact throughout the conversation, but her eyes now meet Eveleen's pointedly as she asks the question she most dreads the answer to. The idea that somebody might feel the need to convince her that they were a person made Carrie's skin crawl.

[Throndir]

"Before our nation of Darmona was founded, nightwalkers like the Dullahan were treated more like monsters. Our society has progressed since then, the humans of Darmona treat us all as equals, and interacial unions are not so uncommon, even for the nightwalkers. In fact... Some mates of the Lamia Priestesses are members of other races. However, the Felencorp and most of the humans of this world we've been summoned into are not the same... They fear us, and condemn us. True, we could feed on humans, but it's not something we partake in."

"With many of our leaders, and the royal city itself gone, we only have our clan heads to turn to, and even among those, many times the representative chosen among them wasn't originally the head... For example, for the Dullahan of Thura forest, we used to belong to a group of four other tribes. However, when we were brought forth into this new world, our leaders from the larger tribes disappeared."

[Erynn]

As Carrie listens to Eveleen explain the situation, her heart sinks even further. Irrational fear and condemnation; The very things that drove the hatred behind the most prominent genocide her world had ever seen. With an ice-cold tone, Carrie declares unequivocally, "Well, that pretty well settles one question. With an irrational motivation driving Felencorp's behavior, diplomacy and negotiation are off the table."

She then turns her attention to Jasna and pursues a very similar line of inquiry.

"What sets your people apart from others, and what sort of treatment do they receive from Felencorp? What do your people need most at the moment?"

While Carrie expected to hear many similarities between the two matriarch's experiences, she hoped to glean some information about how Felencorp's behavior differs from one group to the next, as well as further understand the people she would be working with moving forward. In particular, Carrie was hoping to learn what unique attributes the varied peoples of Darmona possessed that could be relied upon to give those people a decisive edge over Felencorp.

Having come to the conclusion that war was inevitable, Carrie's mindset was now focusing in on gathering as much information as she possibly could in order to inform a strategy for liberating Darmona from its occupation.

[Throndir]

"Treatment of beastfolk like my people are different from the nightwalkers. Though, not that much different." The bat-like woman explained. "The races that are acceptable by the humans of this world include the demihumans... People like the elves, dwarves, and the other animal demihuman. But the difference from the demihuman to people like the batfolk, is that they can pass off as humans by simply covering their ears or tails."

Jasna lifted her arms, showcasing the wings attached to them, along with smoothing out the fur on one of her arms.

"Traits such as these make us appear as 'monsters' to the rest of the world. We aren't hunted on sight by the Felencorp, but we, along with the rest of the country's denizens, are prime targets for being forced into their armies as fodder for the demons, if not sent to work mining for metals, or plantations in neighboring countries as slaves."

"This enclave of batfolk in our forest of Thura... I believe are the only tribe of batfolk left in this country, but like with the Dullahan here, along with the Lamia Priestesses, we've kept away from the Felencorp."

"As for what we would need the most... We are generally self-sustaining here in the forests. Due to the Lamia Priestesses station here being a secret of the royal family, we don't generally get much traders either, even before we found ourselves here in the New World. If there's one thing lady Synithise, lady Eveleen, and I desire the most, it's the unification and freedom of what remains of our country."

"It's true that we're all of different races... But there's still a pride shared between all of us as members of our once proud country of Darmona. The subjugation that the humans put us under... Unfortunately, there has been no one to rally towards. The disarray that we were forced to endure once we found ourselves leader-less, with potentially family and friends split apart, made it easy for the Felencorp to seize control."

She bowed her head, and with that motion, the other two guards behind her bowed their heads as well.

"Please save our country.

[Erynn]

"Saving this country won't be easy, nor will it be quick.", Carrie explains to the three assembled leaders, "You're dealing with an enemy that likely possesses this world's largest, most powerful military. Despite that fact, there is still a way to win that has worked against the most powerful nation in my own world."

Carrie continues, now making clear the course of action she had decided upon, "I intend to teach every citizen of Darmona that's willing how to engage in asymetric warfare. Our strategy will be to foment and sustain a long term insurgency against the Felencorp United Alliance. Our primary assets in such a war will be information and loyalty. The hearts and minds of this country's people are likely already ours given the poor treatment that Felencorp provides them, so it won't be terribly hard to turn the entire countryside against those occupying this land."

Carrie pauses now to allow the implications of the strategy she had just laid out to sink in, then continues by providing further detail concerning just how such a war will be fought.

"We'll fight this overwhelming enemy by killing and wounding their agents without being present wherever possible. Traps will be our bread, and the information that will let us know where to place them will be our butter.", the young marine discloses, "Ironically, Felencorp's use of slave labor will be their greatest failing in terms of information security. Slaves working in their mines will be able, and likely willing, to tell us what metals Felencorp mines, and in what quantities. Slaves plying the fields can tell us how much food that our enemies have to supply their populace and their armies. Anywhere that they employ slaves to run their economy, we'll be able to keep track of their production. Even the simplest of things can help us plan our tactics. Even the elderly and infirm are able to provide us useful information by people watching, and telling us who used the road that goes by their home, when, and in what direction."

Carrie then points out the greatest advantage that the people of Darmona have over their enemies, "Your people have lived in this land all their lives. You know your own environs like no other. Felencorp personnel won't be able traverse the terrain anywhere near as easily as the locals, nor will they be able to move about unnoticed."

Carrie then proceeds to point out what will be the greatest challenge that the people of Darmona would face, "On the other hand, the enemy will keep watch over everything they can. Moving any sort of supplies or war material will be difficult under such conditions. The greatest issue we're going to face is moving people and supplies without being seen. Moving at night will help in many cases, but I'm not going to be foolish enough to assume that every Darmona citizen aside from those humans that live here can see in the dark. Ideally, I'd like to develop a subterranean transit infrastructure that will enable us to move right beneath the feet of our enemies without them ever knowing. Such an infrastructure would also allow us to create hidden operations bases and supply depots. Essentially, subterranean infrastructure will allow us to mobilize invisibly, while the cleared earth and stone would enable villages and towns to be fortified against slave raids with defensive walls. In this way, we can kill the two proverbial birds with one stone."

Carrie's immediate plans explained, she waits for a response from those assembled.

[Throndir]

Eveleen smiled in the same predatory way she smiled.

"That... is actually rather ingenious." She complimented. You notice her lick her lips again.

"Yes... There are a few subterranean races in our country. Fewer in number, but the beastmen, the molemen, have underground villages and towns. Like us, they went into hiding. The nightwalkers, or even use batfolk, can move through the night with ease and swiftness... With us being here with the Lamia Priestesses, I believe my people can help spread the word... Any word that you deem fit to tell. We'd use what makes us monsters as an advantage."


At that moment you felt Synthise hesitantly take hold of your hand.

"Oh Carrie! That's why you wanted to know how to summon an earth elemental! This will definitely work." She squeezed your hand as she smiled brightly. It was a genuine smile.

"This will take some time to setup... But yes, I agree with everyone here. This is the most sound plan we've had thus far. And with you, a hero, acting as a banner, everyone loyal to Darmona would flock towards you." Eveleen said thinking about the situation.

"We can do this... And as for the Dullahan's role? Well... We do inspire fear. Every member of my tribe can ride their steeds, and each of us are trained in martial combat."