[Amelia] Chapter 14: Church of Light

[Throndir]

You have gained a new title 『Student』
You have gained +1 WIS

Training
Knowledge (religion): 8/8

Thyra smiled weakly at you. "I thank thee, mine hero." She moved her own hand on tops of yours, and clasped it. "In truth the valkyrie hath expected as such... Tis woulds't be a matter of time til we were ousted from our ancestral lands." She took in a deep breath and she squeezed your hand. "I shalt be well, mine hero."

Soon enough Ragnar came back. He came with three bottles, placing them down, along with four cups for everyone. "Mendernich mead. Totally our own brew of my country. A bottle of wine that comes from Antwarch. One of my... hmmm... frequent temple visitors... gave it to me as a gift. Lastly..." He placed the last shorter bottle in front of you, and proceeded to sit on the chair next to you. "Hard gin for the hero and I." Ragnar said grinning. "It's about time you had something harder than cider."

Thyra proceeded to pour herself some. Clifton, on the other hand, furrowed his eyebrows, and seemed to stare in shock towards father Barnabas. Clifton eventually laughed. "The High Priest of Mendernich... You contained yourself well during the meeting with the other churches." Clifton commented as he too, poured himself some of the wine. You noticed he didn't really put in that much, at least compared to Thyra, who was already downing her first glass.

Ragnar Barnabas smiled apologetically. "There were some in there who wouldn't approve. Yeah?"

[Mysticsage]

Amelia nods at Thyra's warm words squeezing Thrya's hand in support, "You will always have a home here, Thyra. I will do everything I can to make sure you will get to see your home again one day. I'm here for you."

As Ragnar entered with the three bottles she smiled at his bravado and ease despite his station. As he placed the gin down in front of her however she could feel the sweat building at the back of her neck. Having her first major hangover the day before a huge meeting was far from a good idea. But then she glanced at Thyra and Ragnar two people who had done everything in their power to help her. She needed to show that she respected them and their camaraderie. If risking getting drunk was the price to pay than so be it.

As Clifton spoke she couldn't help but laugh, "I thank my lucky stars every day that someone like Ragnar is in the position of the high priest. He matches my rhythm and viewpoints as much as one could in his position. I'd much rather work with him and his interesting habits than having to pull along someone kicking and screaming." Amelia said as she uncorks the bottle. "I believe it's the duty of the youngest member to pour the drinks for the rest of the table. Also, Ragnar, I'm going to have to teach you what mixed drinks and cocktails are," she said with a smile.

Amelia will drink but do her best to pace herself and go slow to help with the eventual checks XD

[Throndir]

I'll be using these inebriation rules to handle drinking. At your current CON score, you can have 1 drink per hour, you would need to roll for your second drink in that hour. You could definitely role-play out getting tipsy if you'd like, though.

"Thy offer is gracious mine hero." She then turned towards Clifton. "Praytell Father Atwood, dost thou know how many of mine sisters yet remain? How about mine queen? Or the three valkyrie princesses?"

Clifton shook his head. "I'm afraid not. The report I received was more on the matters of my kingdom, rather than your nation specifically."

"I need to knoweth what did happen and how they art doing." Thyra declared.

When you mentioned the mixed drinks to Ragnar, his eyes lighted up. "That sounds like a venture worth having." Ragnar said, his drink prepared as well. Ragnar raised his drink, and waited for a moment. Thyra, who had already started drinking, quickly refilled her own glass. There was a lot of sorrow in her eyes, and Ragnar understanding what that look meant waited patiently.

"Well then... A toast? To the Kingdom of Bursteig." Ragnar started.

"To the Kingdom of Antwarch." Clifton spoke a moment later.

"To Hierdsvain! And to all mine fellow sisters, for it is they and their families that maketh mine country." Thyra said resolutely. They each turned towards you.

[Mysticsage]

Amelia laughed slightly at Ragnar's excitement over the idea of mixed drinks. She poured herself a small glass of gin that she thought would be a respectable amount without committing her to get totally smashed. "To the family, I've made along the way, and the family I've been spirited away from. May we all be blessed from the light and have the strength to face whatever obstacles come their way," she said holding up her glass.

With a sip and a slow drink, she will generally perform small talk in an attempt to console others and try to get people to relax. She will begin telling stories about her homeland looking to commiserate about what is on the line. From simple things like food and clothes to complex things like politics and it's lack of magic. As she continued to sip her jin she got into more silly topics like boy bands and novel series she wonders how it will end.

She is just trying to get these guys to relax forget about their station and talk as people.

[Throndir]

Roll Diplomacy to see how well you do.

Thyra was getting more tipsy as time went, it got to a point that Ragnar actually had to head back to pull out more drink. This time around, he had pulled out lighter drinks, especially for Thyra who had been going through his stash fairly well. Clifton drunk lightly, being reserved, but he didn't shy away from any of the original hard alcohol that Father Barnabas first brought.

[Mysticsage]

diplomacy

Rolled 1d20+11 : 18 + 11, total 29

[Throndir]

Location: Church of Light
Date: Day 13 - 3-4 PM

The next hour was spent more in camaraderie than anything else. Instead of talking about religion and beliefs, the four of you spent time retelling stories of each of their respective homelands. It was from this that you were able to get more information on how the Hierdsvain valkyrie were like. They were a race of warrior maidens. Any child they bore would become valkyrie themselves, and it was due to this that typically valkyrie sought out men as there were generally very few available ones in their own kingdom. They had once numbered in the millions, and had a kingdom that stretched through most of the northern lands. Temples and places of worship were common place, and so too were training facilities and academies. Theirs was a civilization who had been thriving at least until the war had started. They were a militant race of people, and every child would begin attempting to learn to fight starting from the age of 10.

From Antwarch, you had eventually come to know that theirs is an old nation. Spanning hundreds of years as well. Though, it was highly debated whether or not they existed when Felothia had been formed. Records were hard to come by in the ancient era after all. Theirs was a country primarily founded by the people who lived with dragons. They formed a mutual bond with them. Like the valkyrie, the dragon race of their world, Velothia, were all females. Though, when they would bear children, there was half a chance it would be a human, and another half a chance it would be a dragon. Though who went into contract with a dragon was something akin to a marriage tie in their own culture. Not only that, those with contracts were greatly admired and respected. Typically they commanded armies, and platoons of dragonriders were enough to turn the tides of war at times. Their losses weren't as large as the Hierdsvain valkyrie, however, they had still lost more than 60% of their own territory, primarily the lands to the west.

Apart from that information, you began to get to know them better as people too. Eventually, they both told of stories from their own personal childhood, along with the events in their life that had eventually lead them to who they were now.

[Mysticsage]

Amelia laughes and joins in the storytelling as well as asking a number of questions she otherwise would not. Topics like how Clifton and Angelica met were fair game along with different aspects of Amelia's former life. She talked about things like high school, trips to the beach, and even how the modern views of relationships worked.

After things had calmed down Amelia sits back, "you know, sometimes, I feel like I have the strangest luck. Like someone out in the universe is rolling a 20 sided die to see what happens to me is some kind of cosmic board game." Amelia said with a tipsy laugh.



When they had finally finished the meeting Amelia came out of the church of light slightly pink in the face after the drink looking to go home with Kurt.

[Throndir]

Location: Church of Light
Date: Day 13 - 3-4 PM

During the talk with them, a notification had appeared.

You have gained a new title 『4th-Wall Breaker』
You have gained +1 WIS

You very well knew what the 4th-wall was, and what 4th-wall breaking meant.



Kurt was outside, it looked like he was in the middle of sparring with one of the guards. The moment they noticed you they stopped however.

"That was a good spar." Kurt said towards the guard. The guard saluted.

"Thank you for honoring me with a spar, my lord." The man said clumsily, a faint blush on his cheeks. Kurt smiled gently and nodded his head, but then started to wave towards you and walk towards you.

"My q- Hand-maiden Amelia! How did the meeting with-" He paused as he noticed the reddened cheeks and noticeable tipsiness. "... are you okay?" He said, concern in his voice as he rushed up to you., planning to check up on the temperature of your forehead, and generally pull you closer to him.

[Mysticsage]

Location: Church of Light
Date: Day 13 - 3-4 PM

Seeing the notification pop-up she blinked a few times as she felt the heat spreading across her checks. She didn't want to think that one drink would affect her so greatly that either she was seeing things or the cosmos was making fun of her. She giggled the idea of a 4th wall break was pretty funny though.

"I think it's time I head home before I end up getting the attention of Felencorp with all this partying. Knowing those sticks in the mud they would end up wanting to take all this for themselves." She stood quickly as a means of making her exit accept it was too quickly as the blood and alcohol instantly rushed to her head and the world went sideways. Luckily, there was a somewhat soft Ragnar in the way of her fall keeping her from face planting.

"OH," she said now realizing she was sitting directly on someone's lap. "I'm so sorry, the room was spinning for a second there." She attempted to stand, having to use Ragnar's body as a crutch to stand, which put her face and body in very close proximity to the young priest. She was glad to have the drink as an excuse for the color in her cheeks as her face turned a brighter red.



"I'm fine Kurt-" she said trying to push him off but having to pull him suddenly closer as the entire area began to swim and she needed him to keep her standing. "In all honesty, I may have had one drink. Maybe a little more-" She said. "I'm glad you are so strong right now or I would be on the floor." she smiled as she clung to him as an anchor.

[Throndir]

There was a faint blush on Kurt's cheeks, but he eventually made it to the stables that were near the temple. He motioned to one of the guards to bring a carriage instead, and soon enough, one was provided.

State plans for rest of the day.

[Mysticsage]

Location: Church of Light
Date: Day 13 - 3-4 PM

As Amelia left the meeting and said her goodbyes for the day, she did her best to keep standing as she made it through the hallways and corridors of the church proper. After all, no devout believer would want to see a girl stumbling through their place of worship. However, in Amelia's single-minded endeavor to look like a normal person she ended up making a wrong turn ending up exactly where she did not want to be one of the main areas of worship.

Now realizing where she was, she quickly ducked around a corner into one of the private rooms of worship. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts and her breath she looked around at the confined space of worship and the various iconography. Feeling the beating of her own heart in her chest she knew she would have to wait a few minutes to collect herself. If she was going to be in this room for a while she figured she might as well try praying at the actual temple once or twice.

Now, back home Amelia wasn't totally sold on the idea of religion. That is not to say that she wasn't spiritual or had her own mixture of beliefs she just disliked the effect that organized religion had on people and politics. She didn't like how people used and twisted people's beliefs for their own selfish games. Wars had lasted for years because of interpretations of holy books the intent of those books ignored as human failings did great atrocities under the banner of the divine will.

Amelia believed that if the divine did exist across any ideology it didn't change the fact that she had to live life-based off of her own moral standing. Even if the gods were vengeful and not loving as she suspected it was all the more reason to rise above them and show the better nature of mortals. It was when the resolve of earthly beings falters that belief in something larger than yourself gives people the strength to keep moving forward. The idea of community faith and charity has helped heal as well as destroy.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but right now Amelia needed the strength to keep things from spiraling out of control. What could go wrong if she asked for a little bit of divine protection every now and again? So perhaps despite herself she sat down to attempt to pray.

"I don't know who if anyone may be listening. If you are the goddess of light they pray too or some shirtless man like the gods back home, or even if more then one can hear me right now. I know I'm technically not the one they called for, but I'm trying my best for them.

I want to protect them and help them grow. To do that I need to survive tomorrow with the duke. Please, give me the strength wisdom, or shit just luck to do what I need to do to avoid the fighting that could come. I need all the help I can get so please if even one of you find me of interest watch over me and give me guidence."

Once we get back to the castle I'm going to try to sobber up with a bath

Meet with the king to talk about the meeting and the duke

Then a bedroom scene at night with Kurt

[Throndir]

Location: Mendernich Castle - Bathhouse
Date: Day 13 - 4:30 PM

You prep for the bath, and soon take it. Kurt and Matilda you knew used the bathhouse in the morning.



Location: Mendernich Castle - King's Study
Date: Day 13 - 5:30 PM

You found the king in his study.

Do you plan to just head into Kurt's room at night?

[Mysticsage]

Location: Mendernich Castle - Bathhouse
Date: Day 13 - 4:30 PM

Amelia enters the bath slowly doing her best to let the steam do its work in attempting to make her sober in time for her meeting with the King. She blindly walked nude across the tile floor not connecting the memories together from what happened last time to what could happen again. She was too focused on the meeting she would have with the king in a few more hours. The last thing she wanted to do was appear like she wasn't able to handle herself at this moment of strife. She let herself sink below the surface of the bath and let the flickering lamps on the wall cast cascading lights that bounced like rainbows through the water.

Location: Mendernich Castle - King's Study
Date: Day 13 - 5:30 PM

Amelia looked in and made sure to knock on the door to announce herself before entering, "Are you busy your majesty? I wanted to talk to you about the meeting tomorrow if you have the time."

Kurt is staying in my room tonight just to be safe.

[Throndir]

Location: Mendernich Castle - King's Study
Date: Day 13 - 5:30 PM

"About Duke Hallam? Of course Amelia my dear, what do you need to know?"