[Leela] Chapter 7: Cardinals of Xalaster

[Ella]

Leela Steading

http://www.youtube.com/v/wcBosWg1UfA

Seating herself comfortably at the table, Leela looked directly at Bishop Mateo. "Considering the precarious location of what I have left of my country, I am assuming the cardinals wish for more information about it to see what they may benefit from working with us. That is understandable." She led the conversation, deciding to show authority rather than anything that might be considered weakness. Again, she could hear music that seemed to come from nowhere, this time it had started when she started speaking. She decided not to let it affect her and keep on going with what she had planned to say.

"First, I will reply to your question of our religion. I already told you that our country is under God. He is the one and only God, who created the heavens and the earth and all living things. He is three parts, the Father who rules in Heaven, the Son who came to earth and sacrificed himself to save all of humanity for our sins, and the Holy Spirit who resides within us to lead us and help us reject the temptations of sin. He is our Lord, our Savior. He is Life and He is Love. He is the Light of the world and the Lamp unto our path." And unfortunately, she did not have a Bible or any way to retrieve one to prove anything she said. Unless... Leela wondered if the Bible app on her phone would still work in this world. Assuming the battery had not died. Not that anyone here would be able to read it even if it did work, since it was in English.

"As far as demographics go, the world from which we have come is made up of one-hundred percent humans. Every other living thing that is not human is an animal. There are no demi-humans, elves, dwarves, centaurs, or whatever else this world has. If there are, then they did a fantastic job of keeping themselves and their homes completely undiscovered for all these years, which would be a major feat in our world, considering the levels of technology we have- had available to us." She explained.

"And as I mentioned yesterday, the City of Grants Pass that was shifted to this world was a border town in our previous world. That being said, at the time of our shifting, it was being used as a military base to deal with issues that we had with our bordering neighbor, which is why I was there inspecting the town's defenses. The last I checked the census for Grants Pass, we had about a hundred-thousand residents, including the military force, however they were still taking a census of how many had come with us with the shifting when I left." She knew she had drastically overstated that number, but figured combining the numbers of outlying towns and even the nearby city of Medford would probably get around that number... Still, it was nowhere near the size of a place like Portland. She could not even begin to guess how many lived there. She wondered briefly how many goblins Efrit actually had under his command... Because they were most definitely her 'residents' of Grants Pass at this point in time. That was probably something she should have asked Efrit the day before or this morning... Whoops.

"My country... In our own world, we could wall ourselves up and have everything we needed without any outside influence. We grew and raised enough food to export it out to other countries that could not supply enough food for their populace without help. We had farms a plenty for producing all sorts of textiles. We had scientists and inventors researching and creating so many things that we were the leading country in technological advancements." All of this was truth, she knew. Unfortunately, she also knew that only certain states actually produced all that food. Without California, Texas, and Nebraska they probably would not have enough to actually help support other countries. And then a lot of their cotton and wool also came from California, Texas, and a few other states. And Grants Pass was in none of those states. It was part of Oregon, whose primary export was... well, trees, farming machinery, and electronic parts. And in reality... she had none of those to offer up, either.

"The only things we imported from other countries were cheap labor and cultural foods and luxuries." Yes, China and its cheap labor factories... Design the product, send it to a China factory, receive said product made at the lowest cost possible. At the expense of the poor laborers who were treated horribly and barely made enough to survive.

"Unfortunately, with the land that shifted here, things appear to have been changed. I hate to admit that, separated from most of the rest of our country, we are not the super power that we once were. We can offer quality clothing, as you can see from the finery that I and my companions are wearing now. And of course, we still have knowledge on technological advancements from our own world that we may be willing to offer in trade as well." Ha... That was going to be fun. She had knowledge of plenty of technological advancements. But actually knowing how to replicate them... Well, she can at least tell them about things and then tell them the specifics of it is lost knowledge. If they wanted knowledge on things, she can always claim to need to speak with her council about such things before she could provide them. She at least knew of simple things. Like... maybe they don't have or even know what a printing press is. That right there was quite an invention. Oh, and typewriters. She was pretty sure she could reinvent sewing machines, too. She assumed they already had agricultural knowledge, but who knew. Perhaps she even had knowledge on that that they might find useful.

She was sure Mateo had asked other questions when they were out in the lobby as well, but there had been so many, she only answered the ones that she remembered off the top of her head. Besides, she also had another matter on her mind. How to rescue Ashaki when these people had already scheduled her execution. Assuming she was the one they had scheduled the execution for.

Leela shook her head sadly. "I am afraid, Bishop Mateo, that I did not make myself clear enough before when I told you that the fate of my people and possibly even yours hinges on the condition that I bring the captured demon back alive to the demons of Roshandan. Everything I could tell you about my country and what has been brought over into this world will be pointless information if it all ends up being destroyed, which will surely happen if I cannot uphold my end of the bargain - the main condition for the alliance in which they will protect our country from the other demons."

"It is true that they may be manipulating us to get what they want, however, I ask this. Have they ever, aside from the incident I spoke of yesterday, crossed your borders to attack your people? They claim to have no desire to partake in the war against humans that the other demons pursue. If this was a lie, I would assume that your country would be defending not only its southern borders, but its eastern borders as well. No one was guarding the borders when I crossed. In fact, it was very peaceful along the border. Your country is lucky that mine appeared when it did and the Roshandan demons took advantage of that to ask us for help in resolving things peacefully, as they had been preparing a full-scale attack to retrieve what is theirs. I have no doubts of what will happen should your cardinals continue with this plan to execute her. I do doubt, however, your hero's ability to defend both the southern and eastern borders should the worst occur."

[Throndir]

Diplomacy check requested. Specifically for Make Request of:  I do doubt, however, your hero's ability to defend both the southern and eastern borders should the worst occur.

[Ella]

Diplomacy Check

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

[Ella]

Using 1 Heroic Action Point to reroll Diplomacy.

Rolled 1d20+7 : 10 + 7, total 17

[Throndir]

At first Mateo started to look indignant, especially when you called out their hero's skill, or lack there of. But before he was able to reply, a notification appeared.

You wish is granted.

At that moment, Mateo eased up instead, and only seemed to nod approvingly at your suggestion. "Yes, yes... That makes sense. Perhaps I was not able to tell all the details properly to the cardinals earlier. But you do bring up a good point." Mateo stopped to think about it for a moment as he collected all of his notes that he took while you were in discussion with him. "I'll be sure to bring that point up, if we were indeed fighting on two fronts, even with our heroes help, that would severely tax our resources. I'll talk to the cardinals."

This will result in a positive circumstantial modifier for your meeting with the Cardinals.

With that, Mateo finished packing up the stack of papers, and putting them into a folder.

"Is there anything else you might want me to bring up to them? Your audience with them is at 1 PM, it'll be at the Grand Cathedral, located at the center of the city." He handed you what looks to be a medallion. It has the symbol of a cross on it. "With this you should be able to go through the guards and they should let you in."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela wondered briefly if Bishop Mateo expected her to know of the powers of a hero as she studied his reaction to her words. She was sure that he did not like hearing any of the last bit she had said about the demons of Roshandan and was a little surprised that it took doubting their hero's abilities to get that indignant expression. She had hoped that her words would cause him to see reason and understand the dangers of the cardinals' plans-

Before she could get any further in her thoughts on the matter, a strange notification appeared. 'My wish is granted?' She was so confused. But now was not the time to allow her confusion to show and she quickly turned her attention back to Mateo, who suddenly seemed more agreeable to what she had said.

"I am glad that you understand." Her politicians' smile broke into a true smile. "I can only hope that the cardinals will be as reasonable and understanding as you have been, Bishop Mateo." She wondered just how much of his reaction was tied to this 'granted wish'.

"Oh, you are not taking us there?" Leela inquired. She was confused at how much... well, freedom they gave. She had thought that they would have someone escort her there or something, but she accepted the offered medallion anyways. "In that case, we shall see you at the Grand Cathedral?"

"There is one thing I would like to request before the meeting. I would like to be able to confirm that the demon that you are holding is the same demon that I have been requested to negotiate the release of. If it is not the same one, then there will be no point in continuing such negotiations. They did show me the likeness of the one that they wish returned to them, you see, so I only need to have a look." Perhaps... if they showed her where they were keeping Ashaki, then she could teleport there and then teleport back out with the demon girl. Abi could teleport holding stuff, after all. Surely, Leela could hold Ashaki and teleport her out. This would be her next option if she was unable to negotiate Ashaki's release.

As she thought about Ashaki's release, Leela realized something. Mateo had said that 'something vile' had been captured by their hero just the day before. But not to long ago, he was saying that they were recalling their hero from the front lines of the battle with demons to the south and that he would be arriving in a few days... So... either they had more than one hero, they send the hero back to the front lines and then decided to call him back, or they were lying about it. She was beginning to wonder if Ashaki had simply turned herself in to make up for her father's mistakes.

"I am also curious about your hero. You seem to put a lot of faith in this hero, but I do not understand how he could be any more special than a high ranking official with many honors. What is it that makes him special?" Leela questioned. Since Mateo seemed to nearly worship the hero, she figured she would give him the opportunity to gush about him. And then lead him into questions about how it was possible for the hero to bring in a demon ravaging the city when he was supposedly on the front lines of battle.

[Ella]

Diplomacy

Rolled 1d20+7 : 3 + 7, total 10

[Ella]

Using 1 Heroic Action Point to take 10.
(10+7=17)

[Throndir]

"The hero is indeed someone special!" Mateo said, his eyes wide. "I had the honor of shaking his hand before, on one of the few occasions he went to the east gate. His type of power allows him to be anywhere he pleases in a short amount of time. He's perhaps the fastest hero. And it may be different for your own people... But the heroes are from the goddesses themselves, so they are an entity much like the cardinals, actually even higher than the cardinals. That's one of the reasons why I asked so many questions before, if the cardinals see it fit to aid your country, the hero of Xalaster would come to your aid and perhaps even vanquish the demons!"

"Well, I can get one of the servants here in the Golden Wing to escort you there if you would like. But I have a lot of work to do today you see... The medallion should give you entry though. As for confirming the demon... Hmmm... I'm not sure that's-"

Like last time a notification appeared.

Your wish is granted.

Bishop Mateo nodded instead. "Very well, it makes sense that you'll need to see the demon to ensure it's the right one. There's all kinds of them after all that need to be exterminated." Mateo smiled. "Let's make a stop there first before I give the report to the cardinals with what we discussed."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Hmmm... Leela was beginning to worry that the charm she had in her own world was less effective in this one. Perhaps because she had been summoned by demons... Zavan had said that he had been 'just' a dark elf before he had been summoned. Was this an effect of her starting to become one herself? But it seemed her attempts to will her words to work were being seen as wishes by... something. Whatever it was that was giving her titles and the other strange notifications.

Her smile had lessened when Mateo seemed to not like the idea of showing her the demon they held in custody, but it returned to a full smile of happiness when he nodded and agreed. "Indeed." She wondered how many demons they actually had captured.

Leela paid close attention to the things the bishop said about the hero. So, Zavan was definitely correct in that this hero had a super speed. Imagine the hero's surprise when she copied that ability. What caught her interest the most, however, was that the hero was being described as higher than even the country's leaders. All because he had been blessed with special powers by the goddesses that they worshiped. Or so they claimed. Leela wondered, if summoned heroes where blessed by gods or goddesses of this world, which one had put her in this situation with these abilities. She certainly had a thing or two to say to them.

"Wow! He certainly does sound different from those we call heroes in our own world." She was starting to wonder if they would be more willing to do as she requested if she told them she was also a summoned hero... But if they asked for proof, she did not wish to give away knowledge of her power. She would have time to think the idea over before the meeting. Until then, she would continue to pretend she knew nothing of summoned heroes. "I would be honored to meet him."

"You say the heroes are from the goddesses themselves; how do they come into being? Are they just born special or do the goddesses pick someone to bestow special powers upon? Does every country have one? What does it take for a country to be bestowed its own hero?" She asked these questions as they rose and exited the building, walking beside Mateo as he had said that he would show her there on his way to give his report to the cardinals. With the Orthodoxy's ability to travel quickly, Leela decided not to bother asking who exactly had trapped Ashaki. For now.

[Throndir]

Bishop Mateo's eyes brightened up when you started to ask about heroes. "Oh you happen to be talking to the resident expert on heroes." Mateo boasted. "The goddesses grant heroes their abilities, this is true. But they aren't born here in this world. These exists sites in our land that is full of natural energy. At these sites there are old ancient runes. Coupled with the summoning ritual passed down to us from our ancestors, we can then summon a hero. The heroes are granted blessings and boons from the goddesses, and they represent the hope of all mankind."

"Not every country has a summoning ritual... But there have been many here in our new world that do."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I see. So anyone with the knowledge of the summoning ritual can summon a hero using the ancient runes in these sites? You mentioned that heroes are even higher than the cardinals, does that mean I should actually be talking with your hero instead of them?" Oh, boy. Now she really wondered what Mateo would say if he knew she was actually a summoned hero. Would it actually make things easier? Or would it cause trouble? With the Orthodoxy's hero being a few days away, there was nothing he could do... Well, it was something she could consider. At least more and more options seemed to be opening up in how she could handle this. She wished Zavan could have joined them in the city so she could run her ideas by him. Efrit mostly acted like all decisions were on her and he was just along for the ride. Zephyrus knew nothing of tactics, he was just excited to be helping her in a rescue mission. And Abi was totally useless.

"Could there be ancient rune sites in demon lands, too?" She asked, though she made it sound more like she was just thinking out loud rather than actually asking a question. She, of course, knew the answer to that, but she figured now would be a good time to get their opinion on that matter. If Mateo freaked out and said that could never happen or something along those lines, then perhaps she could use herself having been summoned by the demons of Roshandan as a way to prove that they were not bad. After all, how could bad guys summon a hero blessed by these goddesses that they worshiped?

[Throndir]

The bishop thought about it for a second. "Hmm... The hero's approval would always be good to have. However, we tend not to bother him with the mundane details of our own country, and instead he focuses on driving back the demons. He too doesn't have a thorough knowledge of all of our country's needs, so these sort of decisions are best left to the cardinals." The bishop explained.

"Summoning sites of the goddess on demon lands? Heaven forbid... If that were the case, then surely the goddess has a reason for putting them in such places. But no, the heroes are for the humans, and therefore would be found in places where humans live."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela nodded her understanding, wondering if their hero told them to do something if they would do it or if they would hold a council first to decide. Just how much power did they give their hero? Or did they make it sound like they gave him power when he was actually just a puppet doing what they told him to do?

She wanted to ask 'what if there was a site on demon lands and demons summoned a hero of their own who only wished to have peaceful relations with everyone'. However, she still worried that he might question why she was asking such things and she still did not want to give away her secret.

"What about the other heroes? Are they as esteemed in the countries they were summoned in? You mentioned another hero visited recently, what was she like? Do the heroes hold their own council to discuss plans of action?" The princess asked after walking in her pondering silence for a few moments.

As they continued walking, Leela watched the buildings, roads, and people around them. She was curious as to which building housed the captive demon, but she also wanted to keep tabs on her surroundings so that she could use the map Mateo had given her of the city to find the place again later on.

Spoiler

Ready to start scene at wherever Ashaki is being kept.

[close]

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn to Grand Cathedral
Date: Day 5 - Time: 10:00 AM

"Yes! Well... They should be. 'In times of trouble and woe, a hero will come to grace the land. Come forth from the goddess herself, they will lead the people to prosperity. Blessed is he who treats the messenger as king, for he too will be rewarded.'" Mateo recited.

You can roll Knowledge (theology and philosophy) if you have it for more insight, or a straight INT.

"The other hero that visited was one of the heroes from the Felencorp United Alliance. She didn't stay for very long, but she was friendly! There isn't much more I can say though..." Mateo admitted. "Usually the heroes are busy enough with the war that getting them in a single place for council hasn't yet happened. There are skirmishes and battles every day along the borders."


Location: Grand Cathedral
Date: Day 5 - Time: 10:30 AM

Eventually you made your way towards the center of the city. Efrit and Abi were with you as well. Instead of going through the main gate however, Mateo continued his way around the cathedral to one of the side entrances. There were two guards posted there. Both had full armor, and looked more akin to knights than simple guards.

"Bishop of the east gate!" One of the knights said, recognizing Mateo. "This area is prohibited for entry..."

"Oh fear not sir knight. These are my guests, they're to see the... you-know-what in the... you-know-where." Mateo replied, lowering his voice.

"But bishop..." The knight said confused. "I must insist you get written permission or orders from one of the cardinals."