Standing just outside the door into the farmhouse, Taliyah will look down at Janina. "Is it alright that I set you down, so that way I can help the others fight if things go poorly here? There's a crate over there you can maybe sit on if you don't want to sit on the ground. I'd have to drag over here first though so you don't get soaked by the rain any further though..." Taliyah's expression turns contemplative while she thinks.
Meanwhile, when Shugo and Alex break into the farmhouse, Pixel flies into the room, readying his shortbow to shoot the first person who attempts to actually physically provoke things beyond the proposed duel.
He sighs again, then looks to Venet, "What do you think? I don't think this duel is the smartest move." But maybe they could change the deal a little and just say, if they win they can walk, if they lose then they give up everything they stole instead of surrendering... though Alex really doesn't like that idea either considering that would leave these kids to just start over. Plus... what are they going to do with everything the kids give back? "We can't just let them get away with this, they have to be held accountable or they won't ever change their ways." He says this in a voice low enough that the group can hear him debating, just so they know that they aren't completely disregarding their offer, but quiet enough that they can't make out exactly what he's saying.
"They're just kids trying to survive, Alex. Where are their parents? Why are they out here? Maybe we can take them with us at any rate, get them somewhere where they dont need to steal, or at least set them up with the peoples army so they're only stealing from bad people."Venet hasnt drawn a weapon or lifted an instrument, its clear she doesn't see these kids as a threat at all.
*Renar turns to Shugo again as his stance remains unchanged* "So what's the plan? Do one of you guys duel them... or should I wait until one of you give me the signal?"
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The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
These kids might pretend like they're some sort of villain in a fairy tale, but unlike Cezars, they fully embrace themselves being the bad guy, not like Cezars who probably thinks he's doing all of this violence in the name of law and order.
There is some good among them, they might go around pulling 'pranks' on people or looking for fights, but they will never threaten someone's life. If they have to choose between saving a drowning child or stealing someone's money, they will always choose the former. They seem to be an honourable sort of thieves, too, since those types are often idealised and fairy tales.
However... there are some unintended effects of your Divine Sense, you feel an aura of necromantic and fiendish energy coming from the unconscious body of Cezars. It's not that strong, but it's dormant, like a snake burying in the sand, waiting to strike her prey. It seems like there is something more to Cezars' power, the spells he used earlier were merely a fraction of his actual capability. There is nothing to worry about... for now, the rest of his power will remain locked, but who knows how long until it is unleashed, better yet, what effects will all of those untapped energy have on his body?
Janina nodded to the Dragonborn's requests, she heard all of what they said earlier. "I swear... everyone in this part of Kerwos must be mentally deranged..."
The two stop playing instruments and frown when Shugo decides to decline their requests. Leonīds, in particular, seems to be extremely disappointed. He gives them a talon-down, "BOOOOO! Loser! Are you guys really the hero of this story? What a coward!" He panics even more as the party seems to insist that they won't duel them by any means.
But... Eerin, on the other hand, has another idea. She begins to crackle evil-y, "Hahaha... Hahaha! MWAHAHAHA!" She points her rapier at the group, "You fool, y'all have made a mistake of not accepting this duel because it means I get to use my super evil technique. It's so evil that you might get unconscious due to how evil it is, yo!"
The kobold slaps her thigh, spinning her rapier to a reverse grip, "This technique is called—"
"They're just kids trying to survive, Alex. Where are their parents? Why are they out here? Maybe we can take them with us at any rate, get them somewhere where they dont need to steal, or at least set them up with the peoples army so they're only stealing from bad people."Venet hasnt drawn a weapon or lifted an instrument, its clear she doesn't see these kids as a threat at all.
'Where are your parents?' Is a sentence more powerful than Power Word: Kill itself, because upon uttering that, it will remind anyone about their traumatic past.
The kobold drops her rapier, and all of her silly and goofy energy seems to vanish in an instant. She slumps down, her eyes start to get watery. "My... my mum... she just passed away three months ago from short QT syndrome." Aloizs crouches down and wraps her in a hug, gently stroking her with his claws. Eerin continues, it seems like her accent disappeared altogether too. "Never knew my biological dad either, and my adopted dad—"
"Who is me and Aloizs' biological dad, by the way," Leonīds says, standing in front of his two friends in a protective stance. "Our mum passed away after she gave birth to us, we never have any family members besides our dad... he was jailed five years ago, and he'll have to spend another 45 years in prison until he gets released."
Eerin sniffles, squeezing Aloizs' shoulder, "Short QT syndrome is one of the world's rarest diseases, only three hundred people have it, and it's genetically inherited." She glances to the side,"I only have 23 years left to live, and my biological dad probably passed away at some point or another. People with this syndrome never get to live past their forties since their hearts are already beating in the wrong rhythm since the day they were born." Kobolds in Lancea can live up to 80 years.
"We... we don't want to go to jail, alright? Who knows how long we will get imprisoned... and Eerin will suffer even more since they won't have proper treatment for a heart condition she has! Just... just leave us alone!"Leonīds yells, tearing up a bit too due to the emotional weight of the situation.
They don't have their weapons out yet, and Eerin in particular is in a vulnerable position. Now is your chance to catch them off guard and tie them up.
For this case, just make a Grappling check on three of them in order to tie them up. You can grapple Eerin with an advantage. If any of you fail, then I'll roll the initiative.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Damn it, they had to break down at this point in time?! I'm never good at dealing with these thing, especially if Rixi isn't around! And this is also why I never show emotion myself unlike Rixi, Ethan and Yuri. Displaying emotion in front of others is a sign of weakness especially during these dark times... *His eyes flash as soon as the window of opportunity opens before he swiftly targets one of the kenkus to restrain them*
"I told you to stay still didn't I, punks?!"Grapple on Aloizs: 21
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Alexander's guard lowers further as his eyes glow with divine power. So these kids really were just dealt a bad card and trying to make the most of it. Does it excuse their actions? No. Does it change the fact that they should be held accountable? Also no. But, does it change the situation? Well, he isn't sure. Yet... he shivers, sensing something foul, but currently dormant, outside. It is an issue he'll have to deal with later.
Letting out a long breath, he sheathes his sword and puts on a sympathetic smile. "You're right Venet." He says quietly, stepping towards the three 'evil' children.
Then he takes a couple steps towards the kids--only for Renar to rush in and restrain Aloizs. "Hold on a moment Renar..."He says, hoping this doesn't scare their hostages any further. "I think... we need to rethink this matter." He looks to the two who are still unrestrained. "Okay, listen. I am really sorry to hear about your... condition. Truly I am." He speaks with utmost sincerity, "But just because life dealt you bad cards doesn't mean that you have to be the bad guys." If they let him get close enough, he'll rest a hand on Eerin and Leo's shoulders, "I'll tell you what. How about we come up with a compromise? I don't want to see you in jail any more than you do, but I can't rightly let you simply resume this criminal lifestyle. Fortunately, my friends and I know a group that could put your 'villainous' skills to use, keep you fed, and help you fight for the good instead of just for yourselves. Doesn't being the good guy sound better than being the villains?"
Persuasion: 18
He offers a reassuring smile, "Now, again, this doesn't excuse your actions. And I can tell already that you know what you've been doing is wrong. However, I don't think that confiscating your stolen items will do anything other than incriminate my comrades and or get you three caught. So please, consider our offer. I might not agree with everything that the people's army is doing, but at least they are fighting for good. I'm sure they would love to have some skilled...uh... thieves like yourselves if you are willing to help them."
As much as he doesn't like bending the rules, this situation doesn't seem to have a positive outcome no matter what way he cut it. Maybe if the people's army agrees to take them on, they can also ensure that they won't keep fooling around and taking from the innocent.
Athletics: (Only for if they decide to take advantage of him lowering his guard and make a break for it): 12
Shugo's stance once again shatters at the brat's reaction. Really, like trying to fight with a sword in a reverse grip could ever be a 'super evil technique' unless they are just trying to make it another joke because it's a "bad" technique. He snickers at that thought. Though trying to use a trick like that is just asking for someone to beat you up. If he'd tried a stunt like that just to look cool back when he was still learning martial arts...well his teacher would've never let him hear the end of it.
Suddenly the entire mood of the room shifts when the three 'villains' drop their sad little backstory on them. Ugh, how did he end up in this mess anyways? And then...everything starts to fall apart. Renar tackles one of the kenkus while Alex tries to reason with the brats. Uuuuuuuggggghh. Fine. He gets both sides of this. Renar doesn't want to mess around, but Alex and Venet are clearly taking pity on these kids. And honestly? Shugo wouldn't have cared less if these little brats kept on playing pranks to their hearts content. The ONLY reason he'd gotten himself into the Cezars mess was to protect Pelmeni lady. Unfortunately, Alex's speech doesn't sound all that convincing.
Suddenly he flourishes his blade, being a LOT showier than necessary. "Coward you say?! I cannot stand for this!" He says in the most heroic voice he can muster up. In reality, he doesn't care in the slightest if anyone thinks him a coward. "Your plight is truly saddening, but will you really let that get in the way of your goal? I accept your duel! Fight me! If I win, then all of you will give up your villainous deeds and seek refuge with the people's army. If I lose, we will leave you alone...until the next time we meet that is. A true hero would never let the villains run rampant! I swear this on my honor!" He puts a hand over his heart dramatically. Maybe if he can humor these kids, things would go better. Plus, how tough can they be? Sure he used up most of his ki earlier, but he has plenty of stamina left. If he can beat them in a fair fight, then they have to listen to them. "However, if you wish to back down from this fight, I will not stop you. Though, if that is your choice you will face whatever justice we choose. Whether that be to send you to the people's army, or put you on trial. So! What say you!"
A few minutes ago, they're being silly, then they're sad, and they're back to being silly again. The three of them have sparkles in their eyes as Shugo starts playing along with them.
"Yes, YES! Haha!" Leonīds jumps up, clapping in joy... until he realises both of them seem to insist that they have to join the People's Army. His smile turns upside-down in an instant. "Haha... BOOOOO! The People's Army is even worse than Cezars!"
Eerin (Who is in a much better state now after her emotional distress earlier) gives a thumbs-down. "We tried to join them because we thought they're a supervillain team like us too, yo. Turns out they want to overthrow the third most handsome bird in Rauna... Like, dude! How can anyone oppose Elmars like that? His music is heavenly and his voice sounds like it was made in Heaven, he should be the king for that reason."
"But before we can leave, though, we make sure to send the People's Army a little gift from the people," Aloizs giggles, "We replaced all of their sugar bags with salt, pfft... I still remember the face Veno makes after he dumps a tablespoon full of 'sugar' in his hot chocolate!" During your travels with The People's Army, it's clear how much of a sweet tooth Veno is. When he isn't chopping wood for the campfire or admiring the stars, he's often seen munching on marshmallows and eating chocolate—it's his favourite food of all time too.
It's clear that The People's Army won't approve of FART's antics, and they know it well. They might be willing to tolerate their presence for today, after all, it's raining hard outside and there isn't that much option left.
"By the way, there is another reason why we want those kvass barrels, yo. We want to pull out the greatest prank of the fourth millennium -1C!" Eerin poses dramatically, "How are we going to do that? Well... y'all see at the wedding, but for now, we'll take our leave, dudes." She reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small flask. "Forest Assault Recon Team, blasting off—UWAAAAH!" She doesn't have the chance to do anything, Alex is faster and pins her to the ground, and a second later, she is tied up, the flask drops onto the wooden floor with a pling.
Aloizs covers his beak at the sight of his Kobold friend being restrained, "Eerin! Hold on, I'm co—AHH!" He, too, gets pinned down by Renar and tied up. One notable detail, though, his feather is incredibly soft and silky. It's like his body is made out of high-quality pillow.
Leonīds jumps on the table, but before he can open his beak to say anything, the table's leg gives in and breaks. He falls to the ground face-first, stunned. You don't even have to try and grab him like the other two, besides, he isn't going to leave his friends behind like that anyway.
At least, no blood is drawn for today. Crisis averted... again.
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"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Well... that was... anticlimactic? *He rapidly restrains Aloizs just before he notices the other kenku smashing onto the table and he winces* So much for trying to find the ruins in the first place. Ugh... But... For the first time throughout this stupid journey, I'm actually out of ideas on what to do next. And besides, if they ever stir up some kind of emotional distress again I swear in my thousand year life I will steal their souls for myself to extend my own lifespan!
Then again... these guys are in favour of helping Elmars, but that would only get us caught in a bigger crossfire... And screw his stupid voice! You guys really should learn how not to judge a book by its cover! Dunces... *He turns his head in all directions with a scowl, indicating he's already had enough of this stupidity*"So uh... what now?"
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The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
While the others are resolving the situation inside the cabin, Taliyah has set Janina down somewhere comfortable, and then shifts one of the crates to be sitting under the roof's cover, and moved her up onto it. "There, am I ok to leave you sitting here now, or is there anything else you need?" If Janina doesn't need anything, Taliyah will head into the cabin.
"Musuko wa, dokko desu ka...? (息子はどこですか? , Where is my son...?)" Before the heavy downpour began, a woman draped a white and red-lined dress had spent the last three days or so finding her son and worrying about his current status. Having failed to get people to understand what she's saying, apart from food and shelter of course, she decided to stray off from her starting place in this port that she doesn't know about. In fact, outside of her red umbrella and a beautiful dress since she's isn't focused on disguising herself right now, she has silky brown her that extends all the way to her lower back and her bare feet aren't covered with any footwear. Her most distinguishing features however, are her lack of human ears and five-toed feet; For the latter part, she only has four visible toes on each feet. On her head appear to be a pair of white, fluffy ears, which match the colour of her nine, visible tails swaying freely behind her back as she walks. Also, she as always seen walking around with her eyes shut, so no one in Lancea has ever seen what her eye colour looks like, let alone wonder how on earth is she able to walk around without crashing into stuff. On the rare instance she does open them though, her eyes appear to be golden, just like the boy she's aiming to reunite with again.
Right now though, she still focused on reuniting with Raiden (who she doesn't know has changed his name to disguise himself) and learning about his progress, as per Rixi and Yuri's requests before she left them. However, it seems that she got lost on the way down south and, not knowing who who turn to, she spots four young children who appear to be staring at her mystical appearance. Taking this opportunity, she approaches them and asks them the same thing that she asked so many people on Prihiyeh and the port she travelled to... Though, seeing those young kids... she does have special spot in her heart for people like them.
"Uh... Sumi masen...(すみません, Excuse me)" She sheepishly asks again as she bends down to greet them. "Watashi no... uh... Musuko o... mimashita desu ka? (私の息子を... 見ましたか? , Have you uh... seen my son?)" Again, no response from the children, which means that they probably don't know what on earth she's saying. She pouts when this happens as she does her best to speak their language... "Have you... seen... fox... son?" She resumes. as she points to her obvious fox ears and tails. "A boy like me... with these... ears... and tails? Have... you... find him?" Before she could garner a response from them though, a heavy downpour strikes her and the four young people she wanted to ask as they immediately get soaked within a matter of seconds.
"AGH!" Despite having come prepared for this harsh weather, it was pretty clear that even her massive umbrella isn't sufficient to shield herself plus the four children she met as they instantly cling onto her to avoid getting wet. And also, her decision not to wear any shoes of kind proved to be a massive drawback now that she can feel the sogginess of the mud creeping up to her four-toed legs. She smiles for a brief bit; They way they clung onto her was just like 3 centuries ago, when she flashbacks to her son clinging onto her upper body for warmth before she got separated from him. But anyways, for the kitsune woman, it was probably best to act and find shelter... and thankfully for her, she could already spot one without even batting a single eyelid open. "Minasai! Kochirae! (見なさい! こちらへ! , Look! This way!)" She direct the children, who are currently draped from the storm by her tails, to an old shack nearby to seek refuge until she comes across a Triton and Dragonborn. Even more confusing is the fact that they're watching over two unconscious figures, one of a beastial kind and one... who look similar to a person she knows in her realm... "Nandesuka...? (何ですか?, What the...?)" She mutters as she approaches the two ladies out of desperation, not so for herself but for the children.
"Uh... e-e-excuse me, Sumi Masen (すみません)..." She stutters to Taliyah and Venet before she nervously sways her head at the unconscious Fire Genasi. Her voice appears to be sweet and well-mannered as she speaks with a high pitch, and despite being nearly 7 centuries old, her tone is similar to that of a woman in her early adult years, even as she constantly switches from broken Lancean to Japanese every now and then and vice-vera. "Are you... owner... of... this... place? Can..." She points to the four draped children clinging around her slender waist underneath her massive umbrella and then to the massive shack. "Can they... take... shelter... Soko no... naka ni? (そこの... 中に? , In there?)" As long as the little bundles of fur she's shielding don't fall sick, she'll be fine; If it weren't for these poor children, she wouldn't have even bothered to ask, though she is very sceptical of what happened around here.
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Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Venet does her best to understand the woman. "Oh, it belongs to no one as far as I can tell, your welcome to come in out of the rain, although things are a tad tense inside. Unruly teens, you see."
She opens the door for them and ushers them inside. "Guys, we have a few more that got caught in the rain."
Gazing outside the window... I take a moment to recharge my batteries once again as I... hm? *His fox ears twitch as he notices a silhouette shielding four tinier ones underneath her umbrella; Because of the rain he couldn't see her tails clearly until she got really close. And by then, his heart started to feel weak as it pounds upon having a hunch about her...* "Hey guys." I tell Shugo and Alex. "It seems like there are five more people taking refuge here, with one strange woman with a cluster of four children. We probably need to hide these three from so that none of them will-"
"Uh... e-e-excuse me, Sumi Masen (すみません)..." She stutters to Taliyah and Venet before she nervously sways her head at the unconscious Fire Genasi. Her voice appears to be sweet and well-mannered as she speaks with a high pitch, and despite being nearly 7 centuries old, her tone is similar to that of a woman in her early adult years, even as she constantly switches from broken Lancean to Japanese every now and then and vice-vera. "Are you... owner... of... this... place? Can..." She points to the four draped children clinging around her slender waist underneath her massive umbrella and then to the massive shack. "Can they... take... shelter... Soko no... naka ni? (そこの... 中に? , In there?)" As long as the little bundles of fur she's shielding don't fall sick, she'll be fine; If it weren't for these poor children, she wouldn't have even bothered to ask, though she is very sceptical of what happened around here.
Wait, her manner of speaking... is she... *Extreme gasp that Shugo and Alex can visibly hear whilst his eyes widen, but since his face is directed towards the glass pane, no one could see his shocked expression* WHAT?! IS THAT... OKAA-SAN?! (お母さん, Mom?!) IS THAT YOU?! I know that sweet voice... the voice of peace when she speaks... And... she's speaking Japanese too... I recognise that speech! I thought... didn't she not make it?! Does that mean... Rixi and Yuri are here as well?! *He glances at the entire house and scans his surroundings... before realising that his cover might be blown right here and now as he shivers* I need to think of something fast... AH! The bandits! *He tries his best to gesture to Venet and Alex not to let them in yet as he scampers to hide the unconscious bandits*
"Crap! We got guests! Hide them!" I whisper as I do my best to drag one of those... crow boys... out of sight and away from my mom... *Though he does his best to remain as stoic as possible on the outside, His heart instantly pounds as he does so, mainly because he doesn't know what to do once he faces his mother again. And he knows that his current disguise won't work on her, let alone hided him from everyone else.* What should I say to her, if she find out I'm only capturing bandits instead of looking for that special trinket we need to turn the tide of the war?! She isn't even disguised like what Rixi told me to! What's gonna happen to my true self after that? *So many questions bubble in his head as he becomes the first to drag his victim into the bedroom away from everyone else*
Alex bites his lip in frustration as he is forced to apprehend the kobold. This isn't how he wanted it to go, but... he can't just let them get away--can he? No, it's wrong what they are doing. He feels for them, he really does, but... bad cards or not, they don't have any right to have fun at the expense of others. He'll just have to figure out what to do with them now, as he still doesn't like the idea of taking them to prison. But, great God above there doesn't seem to be much of an in between. Either they let them go unpunished, allowing them to run rampant (and let them think they can get away with everything), or he can take them in and let them rot--and possibly die in prison (or hopefully there will be someone there with a soft heart who can handle disciplining them better than he and his comrades can). He lets out a long, tired sigh before securing the last 'prisoner'.
"I really didn't want it to go this way, but... you all are so intent on being the villains, I guess you'll just have to get a real feeling for what it's like." He shakes his head, forcing himself to stay quiet as clearly nothing he's said has made any difference in their mentality.
Then again... these guys are in favour of helping Elmars, but that would only get us caught in a bigger crossfire... And screw his stupid voice! You guys really should learn how not to judge a book by its cover! Dunces... *He turns his head in all directions with a scowl, indicating he's already had enough of this stupidity*"So uh... what now?"
He turns to his friend, looking weary, "I... honestly don't know. I suppose we'll just have to trust that the justice system--without Cezars-- is fair. We can't just let them go, especially not after everything that has happened with Cezars." He looks to the trio, "Hopefully if they are questioned, they will be honorable enough to do the right thing. And maybe they will get a reduced sentence, and help us get Cezars kicked out of law enforcement... and hopefully imprisoned." He looks out into the rain where Venet is watching the genasi, "Uh... speaking of that hothead..." He appears rather uncomfortable for a moment, "I... well, I'm getting a really bad feeling about him. There is something else aside from just his broken oath fueling his power. Its dormant right now, but..." He shivers, "I don't want to know what will happen if it breaks free before we get him somewhere where others can help us out--others with more experience dealign with necromancy and fiends."
Venet does her best to understand the woman. "Oh, it belongs to no one as far as I can tell, your welcome to come in out of the rain, although things are a tad tense inside. Unruly teens, you see."
She opens the door for them and ushers them inside. "Guys, we have a few more that got caught in the rain."
He looks up quickly when Venet says they have some others coming in for shelter. Oh geez, this must look rather suspicious--considering they've tied up a lawman as well as three kids. Hopefully this doesn't go sideways and they can explain the situation before they end up on the wrong end of the law. "Uh... um... okay!"
Wait, her manner of speaking... is she... *Extreme gasp that Shugo and Alex can visibly hear whilst his eyes widen, but since his face is directed towards the glass pane, no one could see his shocked expression* WHAT?! IS THAT... OKAA-SAN?! (お母さん, Mom?!) IS THAT YOU?! I know that sweet voice... the voice of peace when she speaks... And... she's speaking Japanese too... I recognise that speech! I thought... didn't she not make it?! Does that mean... Rixi and Yuri are here as well?! *He glances at the entire house and scans his surroundings... before realising that his cover might be blown right here and now as he shivers* I need to think of something fast... AH! The bandits! *He tries his best to gesture to Venet and Alex not to let them in yet as he scampers to hide the unconscious bandits*
"Crap! We got guests! Hide them!" I whisper as I do my best to drag one of those... crow boys... out of sight and away from my mom... *Though he does his best to remain as stoic as possible on the outside, His heart instantly pounds as he does so, mainly because he doesn't know what to do once he faces his mother again. And he knows that his current disguise won't work on her, let alone hided him from everyone else.* What should I say to her, if she find out I'm only capturing bandits instead of looking for that special trinket we need to turn the tide of the war?! She isn't even disguised like what Rixi told me to! What's gonna happen to my true self after that? *So many questions bubble in his head as he becomes the first to drag his victim into the bedroom away from everyone else*
At the sound of Renar's gasp, Alex's gaze shoots towards him as if expecting to see Cezars's fiery and vengeful form in the doorway. "Wha--!"His exclamation is cut short when the shifter--uh--half-el...er... changeling... does Renar even know what he is at this point? Good grief Alex is going to have to ask him about that later. Anyways, he realizes that Renar is just looking at whomever is outside... who appears to be a woman but its difficult to see from within the building... then Renar starts trying to hide the kids, and Alex's eyes widen, "Uh... Is that the best idea? They aren't unconscious or anything, what if they just decide to start screaming? Then it will look really bad on our part!" The last thing they need is to look like a group of kidnappers who knocked out a lawman and are holding a bunch of kids hostage. Oh good Lord this day is getting worse and worse.
He leaps up, eyeing the bound trio before moving to the door to greet their new 'guests'. His eyes widen further when he sees the strange woman and the children... oh crap she's got kids with her?! This is going to freak them out isn't it? Great. He gives a welcoming but clearly nervous smile and waves to her, "Hi! Sorry about this... odd situation. We're performing a... uh... citizen's arrest. The genasi is... well he's been beating people up, and we also have a group of thieves inside... uh! They're all tied up so it's nothing to worry about! Not that they are really dangerous anyways, the genasi is the dangerous one.... I mean... uh..."He trails off, realizing he probably should have just stopped talking earlier. Hopefully he didn't just make them even more suspicious. "Uh... anyways. You're perfectly welcome to join us! We don't own the place but, help yourself for getting out of the rain!"
He steps to the side, feeling extremely embarrassed and nervous and exhausted--and a billion other things at this point.
Venet does her best to understand the woman. "Oh, it belongs to no one as far as I can tell, your welcome to come in out of the rain, although things are a tad tense inside. Unruly teens, you see."
She opens the door for them and ushers them inside. "Guys, we have a few more that got caught in the rain."
"Ah! Arigato gozai masu! (ありがと ござい マス!, Thank you very much!)"Maya responds to Venet with a bow as she quickly leads the four children wrapped by her tails to the front door and... notices... as she unfolds her umbrella... *Awkward silence*
"Uh... Doushitano? (どうしたの?) What... is... going on?" Maya asks confused with her eyes (still) shut in both Japanese and broken Lancean as the first thing she and the four children see is a hooded man trying to wring one of the tied-up kenkus into another room, plus two taller figures eyeing at her first thing. Her tone wasn't even aggressive; She was just as confused as those six are. And judging by the crow's horrified expression upon gazing at her face, she suspects that these three had to be unwanted criminals right? Did she perhaps come to the wrong place? She clenches her fists. "You... you all... kidnapping... little... why are you-?!" Her voice lowers significantly upon noticing the tied up states of the two kenkus and the one kobold as she prepares to-
He leaps up, eyeing the bound trio before moving to the door to greet their new 'guests'. His eyes widen further when he sees the strange woman and the children... oh crap she's got kids with her?! This is going to freak them out isn't it? Great. He gives a welcoming but clearly nervous smile and waves to her, "Hi! Sorry about this... odd situation. We're performing a... uh... citizen's arrest. The genasi is... well he's been beating people up, and we also have a group of thieves inside... uh! They're all tied up so it's nothing to worry about! Not that they are really dangerous anyways, the genasi is the dangerous one.... I mean... uh..."He trails off, realizing he probably should have just stopped talking earlier. Hopefully he didn't just make them even more suspicious. "Uh... anyways. You're perfectly welcome to join us! We don't own the place but, help yourself for getting out of the rain!"
He steps to the side, feeling extremely embarrassed and nervous and exhausted--and a billion other things at this point.
Oh. It was a misunderstanding. So the Genasi out there plus those critters was the bad guy they caught huh? But... as she sways her head to the pouring rain, she wonders if... no. She has kids to attend to, so it might not be best at heart. Anyways... Uh... after Alex tries to defend his actions... she could only pick up the words 'arrest', 'Genasi beating people up', 'thieves' and 'welcome to join us', the last sentence finally made it clear to her that these tied up ones were being served justice and that the ones standing may have been the... arrestors. Yeah. That's the word. "Ah. Gomen nasai (御免 なさい I'm sorry)." She smiles as her demeanour relaxes and she bows. "So these three, plus... outside... they are... robbers, right? You... arrest them? Play cops and robbers... In your home?" just as she finishes, she directs the kids inside as she unwraps her tails from them. She gives off a warm smile to Alex in response for that. And then when she notices before she stares at Shugo's well-built figure for a split second...
"Omae! (お前, You!) Hoodie guy! Uh... towel? Do you... have...? They... all wet. They... catch cold..." Maya tries to converse to the hooded fellow as she makes a up-and-down wiping gesture with both hands to try and show that she needs to dry them up. She can't really tell who he is though because his face is completely hidden now that his back has turned towards her. If she didn't have kids surrounding her now-soaked body, she wouldn't have drawn the line between her and the three men that are currently holding the 'robbers' hostage with this scenario.
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Shugo let's his hero facade deflate, "Welp...I tried."He says. And with that, he sheaths his dragon hilted Scimitar and moves to restrain the last little brat. These kids like Elmars just because he has a nice voice? They truly don't know what makes a good leader.
He tries to grab the kid, luckily he's already stunned because Shugo nearly trips over the broken table whilst attempting to grab him. The elf shrugs when Renar asks what to do. He'd be fine with just leaving the three of them here tied up. They already have one hostage to deal with at the moment, and he believes it would benefit them more to get that hothead behind bars rather than this group of punks.. They might be annoying, but they seem rather harmless. He finishes tying up the bird.
Lost in thought, Renar's gasp catches him off guard. He hurriedly jumps to his feet and adopts a ready stance...which might have looked cool, if he hadn't flailed his arms around on his way up...What now? Did Cezars break loose? Or maybe some rabid manticore just decided this would be a nice place to get out of the rain. Wait. Hide the brats? Why? They are just disciplining a bunch of bandits.
His amber eyes finally focus on the figure standing in the doorway...or five figures? Wait...what is some lady doing here with a bunch more random kids? Huh...this is unexpected. Adopting a more casual stance, he cocks his head towards Renar, Still confused at the shifter's reaction. Then he shifts his focus back to the lady squinting at her, when Alex starts rambling, clearly trying to explain the mess they are currently in. Good for him.
"Hello," He says in his usual friendly tone. His thick Prihyen accent ever so obvious. "I...Uh...Suppose you could say we are playing cops and robbers. haha." That's certainly what these three brats seemed to think we were doing. "Though the game might have gotten a bit out of hand." He rubs the back of his neck when he says the last part. This whole day has gotten out of hand. The woman seems to look him over for a moment, he's not sure what that's about. Though it seems like she may have trouble understanding him? That's odd, pretty much everyone in Lancea speak the same language. Hmmm, her clothing looks a lot like what women in his country favor, though he still has no clue what some of the words she's speaking mean. He continues to squint at her when she asks Renar for a towel. Thinking on his toes, he un-slings his small pack from his shoulder and pulls out his bedroll. Dancing over the restrained kenku, he hands the blanket to the woman. "Here you go miss! It's all yours. My companions and I are going to take this lot to their room now. You make yourself at home." He says hurriedly before backing away and giving her a polite bow before dashing back over to pick up the Kenku and then usher Alex, Renar, and their hostages into the bedroom. Renar was giving him a weird feeling. He didn't seem to want to talk to this strange fox-woman. Is it because she's pretty? He seems to be awkward around Venet too...
"Shepherd above... I can't believe they actually did it..."Elvīns says, his jaw slacks in sheer awe. "They defeated Cezars, I guess he's their problem now."The half-orc sighs, "You know what they say: 'You have enemies? Good, that means you've at least stood up for someone or something in your life.'"
Then, it starts raining.
"NOOOO!"Lavīze yelps, tugging her hair. "I just got dried a few hours ago and now we're all wet again? Are you serious right now?"
"We'll deal with this later, Lavīze. Radions, please get us down from this tree. We don't want to be here when the lightning strikes." Glorija speaks. Radions waves his hands and the branch of the tree lowers by itself. Allowing them to touch the ground once more.
And that's when they come face-to-face with an older, 'Shifter' lady... who seems to have nine tails for some reason. In her perspective, though, she sees an adult half-orc (Elvīns) and a red-headed halfling girl (Lavīze), a cloaked white Tiefling boy (Veno), an elf girl with a spellbook (Glorija), a quiet gnome boy (Radions), and a pink-haired dwarf clad in armour (Helene). They might be young (around 18-20 or so), but they're technically not kids either... at least from their own perspective, that is.
The 'Shifter' lady begins speaking a bunch of gibberish. Veno tilts his head. "Sorry, ma'am, I can't understand—"He notices her tail, or rather, tails, and he gasps, his eyes widened. "Oh, no..."
"What's wrong, Veno?" Helene asks.
"N-nothing, I'll explain to you all in private... It's complicated." The Tiefling replies, averting her gaze.
With that, they all walk silently to the farmhouse, they're all in awe once they realise how real (and fluffy) her tails are. Someone, she doesn't hate water at all too, Shifters and animal-like races in general dislike the sensation of water on their fur.
As The People's Army gang walks into the hut, they see the unconscious body of Cezars and his mount on the ground. They all collectively breathe out a sigh of relief as their arch-nemesis is 'sleeping' safe and sound. Then they see another arch-nemesis also being tied on the floor, this time, conscious, and there is also another stranger halfling on the outside and a silver Dragonborn inside.
"Well, well, well... What's up, People's Army," Eerin says. The three FART members don't struggle at all when they see their rival in the same room as them.
Veno walks up to the prisoners, during your travels, he's soft-spoken and gets startled a bit easily. But this time, you can see anger radiating from his eyes. It's very out of character of him to be angry like this. "Consider yourself lucky when you're tied up like this, Eerin. Because if you're not, you'd be unconscious by now."He says, placing his hand on a wand on his belt.
"Aww, look who's going crazy and going stupid right now. It's been a month and you still haven't forgiven me for putting spiders in your threats?" Aloizs says, winking.
Veno takes a step towards Eerin, "That's not funny, Eerin! That was a funnel-web spider from Southwest Hngwis. Do you know how poisonous they can be? Do you want me to die?" His voice cracks at the end, his eyes start to get watery.
The kobold snickers and playfully sticks her tongue out, "Aww, come on, dude. Are you scared over that little critter? I have a tip: try manning up more, yo. There are more things in this world to be scared about, lil' man."
Veno clenches his shaking fist, he takes another step towards the bonded bandits, but before he can say anything, though, Shugo grabs all three of them and throws them into their room. Yet another crisis averted. He just walks to the corner and sulks after they inflict emotional damage on him.
Away from the 'discussion' of two rivals. Elvīns sighs, turning towards the new Dragonborn and the 'Shifter' lady. "Sorry about that... Veno and these brats don't like each other that much, as you can see. If you're wondering who we are..."
The half-orc proceeds to explain the entire context behind their arrival. In summary:
They're the People's Army, they want to overthrow Elmars, the current Duke of Rauna because they think he's corrupt and isn't fit for this job. Right now, they're travelling together with the party since they're heading in the same direction. He explains that the current party hasn't decided who their allegiance belongs to yet, but it's clear that they lean heavily towards the People's Army, not Elmars.
He also explains about Paulis, a reclusive Tortle wizard who might have the information about the human ruins up in the frozen north. He doesn't like visitors, and the party might need a letter of recommendation for him to open up. Paulis both knows about the People's Army and Elmars, so either side can send Paulis a letter of recommendation too.
Janina doesn't say anything, she just sits and watches Elvīns do the exposition. It's hard being a neutral party in this sort of situation.
Once you see that the 'Shifter' woman has an extra tail, a DC20 History (Advantage for Shugo, since he lives in Prihyeh) would reveal that:
She isn't a Shifter with mutation or weird humanoid form or anything like that, she's a Kitsune, a race that went extinct on -1C 108 CY.
There used to be more races than what they currently have, but the majority of them were wiped out during the Second Planetary War, when the United States of Lancea government started to commit genocide on races they deemed to be a 'threat' to their crumbling empire.
Even before the First Planetary War, Kitsunes were already under threat. Their homeland in Northeast Prihyeh sits above a large oil reserve, not cooking oil, but black, sticky oil that's the liquid form of bitumen, otherwise known as asphalt. Nowadays, bitumen is primarily used in paving roads, it's strange how the United States of Lancea are so obsessed with it.
When the United States of Lancea found out that Kitsune's homeland had oil, they invaded and started killing anyone who tried to rebel against their takeover, and they started enslaving them. Their population dropped even more dramatically during the First Planetary War, and even after they were freed when slavery was abolished, it didn't help their population regrowth at all.
The Second Planetary War was the final nail in their coffin, the United States of Lancea put them in work camps and forced them to work to death. By the end of the war and the dawn of the new Cycle, there were only around 23 Kitsunes left on the entire planet. The last of their kind, Tekkan Kawasaki, passed away in his sleep in -1C 108 CY at the age of 8,386 years old, marking another end of the many sentient races the United States of Lancea wiped out.
Forty centuries later, it appears to not be the case, because another Kitsune is standing here, right in front of you. From the gibberish and the broken Lancean she speaks, she probably lives in a very isolated place, away from all the destruction of the First and Second Planetary War, and it's the reason why she survives in the first place because no one knows where she lives.
Technically, it's not the end of their entire species, though. The spirit of Kitsune still lives on in the form of Fox Shifter, who resembles Kitsune in their half-humanoid form in a lot of ways. They're in the same biological family tree and they share about 98% of their DNA with each other, but Fox Shifter only has one tail, not nine, so this isn't a false flag, she's actually a Kitsune.
There is one problem, though... how are they going to tell her that the rest of her kin went extinct four millennia ago?
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Venet giggles to herself as she realizes the kids are in fact the people's army. Then raises a brow as the others try to shoo everyone into the other bedroom. She stays in the doorway of the house so she can keep an eye on everyone.
*Renar's body freezes entirely as he puts back towards his mother; At the moment he has no idea on how to confront her and explain what he's currently doing as he sweats bullets* Damn it... Okaa-san's not disguised at all! And where are Rixi and Yuri? Aren't they supposed to be with her if the portal did succeed?! What am I going to do now?! And... those kids she's with right now, who exactly are they-
"Well, well, well... What's up, People's Army," Eerin says. The three FART members don't struggle at all when they see their rival in the same room as them.
Veno walks up to the prisoners, during your travels, he's soft-spoken and gets startled a bit easily. But this time, you can see anger radiating from his eyes. It's very out of character of him to be angry like this. "Consider yourself lucky when you're tied up like this, Eerin. Because if you're not, you'd be unconscious by now."He says, placing his hand on a wand on his belt.
*Insert angry anime mark on Renar's head as he hears Veno's voice* R... REALLY?! OUT OF ALL INCONVENIANT TIMES, THIS IS WHEN YOU GUYS HAD TO SHOW UP... WITH OKAA-SAN?! CAN I JUST JUDGEMENT CUT YOU USELESS BAKAS ALREADY?! UGH! *He clutches onto his katana and prepares to strike them when Shugo suddenly hurls the other kenku and kobold over his back as Alex drags him into the room* What the- HEY! *He hears the door slam shut, followed by his mother yelling to wait* Actually, you know what? Fine. I'm happy staying behind this dark room with those three fart bakas and Alex, not that I'm prepared to talk to her anyway now that I risk having my true identity revealed... *He slowly creaks the door open and squints his eyes as he finds his mother (struggling to) chatting to both Shugo and Elvins* Man, Okaa-san's like a fish out of water too... I bet she's wishing that I could be her translator so that she can better understood huh? Well... I mean, it's good to see you again... but... Rixi and Yuri... where are they? And also... disguises.
*He glares at the tied-up trio as he points* "Do you guys have any long cloaks in your closet? If not, don't say a single word!" *He then gazes at Alex, who still looks pretty embarassed to no ends, before he averts his stares from everyone as he looks out another closed window and grits his teeth* Damn it... what do I do... Okaa-san... *He also enters a state of conflict as his number one weakness (emotions) overwhelms his again; Underneath his soaked jacket, his tail sticks up in both anger and frustration as he struggles how to conceal himself whilst embracing the cheerful side of his mother in front of everyone else*
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
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Standing just outside the door into the farmhouse, Taliyah will look down at Janina. "Is it alright that I set you down, so that way I can help the others fight if things go poorly here? There's a crate over there you can maybe sit on if you don't want to sit on the ground. I'd have to drag over here first though so you don't get soaked by the rain any further though..." Taliyah's expression turns contemplative while she thinks.
Meanwhile, when Shugo and Alex break into the farmhouse, Pixel flies into the room, readying his shortbow to shoot the first person who attempts to actually physically provoke things beyond the proposed duel.
"They're just kids trying to survive, Alex. Where are their parents? Why are they out here? Maybe we can take them with us at any rate, get them somewhere where they dont need to steal, or at least set them up with the peoples army so they're only stealing from bad people." Venet hasnt drawn a weapon or lifted an instrument, its clear she doesn't see these kids as a threat at all.
*Renar turns to Shugo again as his stance remains unchanged* "So what's the plan? Do one of you guys duel them... or should I wait until one of you give me the signal?"
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Alex's divine sense would sense that:
These kids might pretend like they're some sort of villain in a fairy tale, but unlike Cezars, they fully embrace themselves being the bad guy, not like Cezars who probably thinks he's doing all of this violence in the name of law and order.
There is some good among them, they might go around pulling 'pranks' on people or looking for fights, but they will never threaten someone's life. If they have to choose between saving a drowning child or stealing someone's money, they will always choose the former. They seem to be an honourable sort of thieves, too, since those types are often idealised and fairy tales.
However... there are some unintended effects of your Divine Sense, you feel an aura of necromantic and fiendish energy coming from the unconscious body of Cezars. It's not that strong, but it's dormant, like a snake burying in the sand, waiting to strike her prey. It seems like there is something more to Cezars' power, the spells he used earlier were merely a fraction of his actual capability. There is nothing to worry about... for now, the rest of his power will remain locked, but who knows how long until it is unleashed, better yet, what effects will all of those untapped energy have on his body?
Janina nodded to the Dragonborn's requests, she heard all of what they said earlier. "I swear... everyone in this part of Kerwos must be mentally deranged..."
The two stop playing instruments and frown when Shugo decides to decline their requests. Leonīds, in particular, seems to be extremely disappointed. He gives them a talon-down, "BOOOOO! Loser! Are you guys really the hero of this story? What a coward!" He panics even more as the party seems to insist that they won't duel them by any means.
But... Eerin, on the other hand, has another idea. She begins to crackle evil-y, "Hahaha... Hahaha! MWAHAHAHA!" She points her rapier at the group, "You fool, y'all have made a mistake of not accepting this duel because it means I get to use my super evil technique. It's so evil that you might get unconscious due to how evil it is, yo!"
The kobold slaps her thigh, spinning her rapier to a reverse grip, "This technique is called—"
'Where are your parents?' Is a sentence more powerful than Power Word: Kill itself, because upon uttering that, it will remind anyone about their traumatic past.
The kobold drops her rapier, and all of her silly and goofy energy seems to vanish in an instant. She slumps down, her eyes start to get watery. "My... my mum... she just passed away three months ago from short QT syndrome." Aloizs crouches down and wraps her in a hug, gently stroking her with his claws. Eerin continues, it seems like her accent disappeared altogether too. "Never knew my biological dad either, and my adopted dad—"
"Who is me and Aloizs' biological dad, by the way," Leonīds says, standing in front of his two friends in a protective stance. "Our mum passed away after she gave birth to us, we never have any family members besides our dad... he was jailed five years ago, and he'll have to spend another 45 years in prison until he gets released."
Eerin sniffles, squeezing Aloizs' shoulder, "Short QT syndrome is one of the world's rarest diseases, only three hundred people have it, and it's genetically inherited." She glances to the side, "I only have 23 years left to live, and my biological dad probably passed away at some point or another. People with this syndrome never get to live past their forties since their hearts are already beating in the wrong rhythm since the day they were born." Kobolds in Lancea can live up to 80 years.
"We... we don't want to go to jail, alright? Who knows how long we will get imprisoned... and Eerin will suffer even more since they won't have proper treatment for a heart condition she has! Just... just leave us alone!" Leonīds yells, tearing up a bit too due to the emotional weight of the situation.
They don't have their weapons out yet, and Eerin in particular is in a vulnerable position. Now is your chance to catch them off guard and tie them up.
For this case, just make a Grappling check on three of them in order to tie them up. You can grapple Eerin with an advantage. If any of you fail, then I'll roll the initiative.
Eerin Acrobatics check: 16
Leonīds Athletics check: 4
Aloizs Acrobatics check: 7
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Damn it, they had to break down at this point in time?! I'm never good at dealing with these thing, especially if Rixi isn't around! And this is also why I never show emotion myself unlike Rixi, Ethan and Yuri. Displaying emotion in front of others is a sign of weakness especially during these dark times... *His eyes flash as soon as the window of opportunity opens before he swiftly targets one of the kenkus to restrain them*
"I told you to stay still didn't I, punks?!" Grapple on Aloizs: 21
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Alexander's guard lowers further as his eyes glow with divine power. So these kids really were just dealt a bad card and trying to make the most of it. Does it excuse their actions? No. Does it change the fact that they should be held accountable? Also no. But, does it change the situation? Well, he isn't sure. Yet... he shivers, sensing something foul, but currently dormant, outside. It is an issue he'll have to deal with later.
Letting out a long breath, he sheathes his sword and puts on a sympathetic smile. "You're right Venet." He says quietly, stepping towards the three 'evil' children.
Then he takes a couple steps towards the kids--only for Renar to rush in and restrain Aloizs. "Hold on a moment Renar..." He says, hoping this doesn't scare their hostages any further. "I think... we need to rethink this matter." He looks to the two who are still unrestrained. "Okay, listen. I am really sorry to hear about your... condition. Truly I am." He speaks with utmost sincerity, "But just because life dealt you bad cards doesn't mean that you have to be the bad guys." If they let him get close enough, he'll rest a hand on Eerin and Leo's shoulders, "I'll tell you what. How about we come up with a compromise? I don't want to see you in jail any more than you do, but I can't rightly let you simply resume this criminal lifestyle. Fortunately, my friends and I know a group that could put your 'villainous' skills to use, keep you fed, and help you fight for the good instead of just for yourselves. Doesn't being the good guy sound better than being the villains?"
Persuasion: 18
He offers a reassuring smile, "Now, again, this doesn't excuse your actions. And I can tell already that you know what you've been doing is wrong. However, I don't think that confiscating your stolen items will do anything other than incriminate my comrades and or get you three caught. So please, consider our offer. I might not agree with everything that the people's army is doing, but at least they are fighting for good. I'm sure they would love to have some skilled...uh... thieves like yourselves if you are willing to help them."
As much as he doesn't like bending the rules, this situation doesn't seem to have a positive outcome no matter what way he cut it. Maybe if the people's army agrees to take them on, they can also ensure that they won't keep fooling around and taking from the innocent.
Athletics: (Only for if they decide to take advantage of him lowering his guard and make a break for it): 12
Shugo's stance once again shatters at the brat's reaction. Really, like trying to fight with a sword in a reverse grip could ever be a 'super evil technique' unless they are just trying to make it another joke because it's a "bad" technique. He snickers at that thought. Though trying to use a trick like that is just asking for someone to beat you up. If he'd tried a stunt like that just to look cool back when he was still learning martial arts...well his teacher would've never let him hear the end of it.
Suddenly the entire mood of the room shifts when the three 'villains' drop their sad little backstory on them. Ugh, how did he end up in this mess anyways? And then...everything starts to fall apart. Renar tackles one of the kenkus while Alex tries to reason with the brats. Uuuuuuuggggghh. Fine. He gets both sides of this. Renar doesn't want to mess around, but Alex and Venet are clearly taking pity on these kids. And honestly? Shugo wouldn't have cared less if these little brats kept on playing pranks to their hearts content. The ONLY reason he'd gotten himself into the Cezars mess was to protect Pelmeni lady. Unfortunately, Alex's speech doesn't sound all that convincing.
Suddenly he flourishes his blade, being a LOT showier than necessary. "Coward you say?! I cannot stand for this!" He says in the most heroic voice he can muster up. In reality, he doesn't care in the slightest if anyone thinks him a coward. "Your plight is truly saddening, but will you really let that get in the way of your goal? I accept your duel! Fight me! If I win, then all of you will give up your villainous deeds and seek refuge with the people's army. If I lose, we will leave you alone...until the next time we meet that is. A true hero would never let the villains run rampant! I swear this on my honor!" He puts a hand over his heart dramatically. Maybe if he can humor these kids, things would go better. Plus, how tough can they be? Sure he used up most of his ki earlier, but he has plenty of stamina left. If he can beat them in a fair fight, then they have to listen to them. "However, if you wish to back down from this fight, I will not stop you. Though, if that is your choice you will face whatever justice we choose. Whether that be to send you to the people's army, or put you on trial. So! What say you!"
Persuasion: 15
Alex Persuasion failed.
Shugo Persuasion failed.
A few minutes ago, they're being silly, then they're sad, and they're back to being silly again. The three of them have sparkles in their eyes as Shugo starts playing along with them.
"Yes, YES! Haha!" Leonīds jumps up, clapping in joy... until he realises both of them seem to insist that they have to join the People's Army. His smile turns upside-down in an instant. "Haha... BOOOOO! The People's Army is even worse than Cezars!"
Eerin (Who is in a much better state now after her emotional distress earlier) gives a thumbs-down. "We tried to join them because we thought they're a supervillain team like us too, yo. Turns out they want to overthrow the third most handsome bird in Rauna... Like, dude! How can anyone oppose Elmars like that? His music is heavenly and his voice sounds like it was made in Heaven, he should be the king for that reason."
"But before we can leave, though, we make sure to send the People's Army a little gift from the people," Aloizs giggles, "We replaced all of their sugar bags with salt, pfft... I still remember the face Veno makes after he dumps a tablespoon full of 'sugar' in his hot chocolate!" During your travels with The People's Army, it's clear how much of a sweet tooth Veno is. When he isn't chopping wood for the campfire or admiring the stars, he's often seen munching on marshmallows and eating chocolate—it's his favourite food of all time too.
It's clear that The People's Army won't approve of FART's antics, and they know it well. They might be willing to tolerate their presence for today, after all, it's raining hard outside and there isn't that much option left.
"By the way, there is another reason why we want those kvass barrels, yo. We want to pull out the greatest prank of the fourth millennium -1C!" Eerin poses dramatically, "How are we going to do that? Well... y'all see at the wedding, but for now, we'll take our leave, dudes." She reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small flask. "Forest Assault Recon Team, blasting off—UWAAAAH!" She doesn't have the chance to do anything, Alex is faster and pins her to the ground, and a second later, she is tied up, the flask drops onto the wooden floor with a pling.
Aloizs covers his beak at the sight of his Kobold friend being restrained, "Eerin! Hold on, I'm co—AHH!" He, too, gets pinned down by Renar and tied up. One notable detail, though, his feather is incredibly soft and silky. It's like his body is made out of high-quality pillow.
Leonīds jumps on the table, but before he can open his beak to say anything, the table's leg gives in and breaks. He falls to the ground face-first, stunned. You don't even have to try and grab him like the other two, besides, he isn't going to leave his friends behind like that anyway.
At least, no blood is drawn for today. Crisis averted... again.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Well... that was... anticlimactic? *He rapidly restrains Aloizs just before he notices the other kenku smashing onto the table and he winces* So much for trying to find the ruins in the first place. Ugh... But... For the first time throughout this stupid journey, I'm actually out of ideas on what to do next. And besides, if they ever stir up some kind of emotional distress again I swear in my thousand year life I will steal their souls for myself to extend my own lifespan!
Then again... these guys are in favour of helping Elmars, but that would only get us caught in a bigger crossfire... And screw his stupid voice! You guys really should learn how not to judge a book by its cover! Dunces... *He turns his head in all directions with a scowl, indicating he's already had enough of this stupidity* "So uh... what now?"
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
While the others are resolving the situation inside the cabin, Taliyah has set Janina down somewhere comfortable, and then shifts one of the crates to be sitting under the roof's cover, and moved her up onto it. "There, am I ok to leave you sitting here now, or is there anything else you need?" If Janina doesn't need anything, Taliyah will head into the cabin.
Venet sighs, she was hoping for a less restrained conclusion. She remains outside with their little hot head, soaking in the rain.
"Musuko wa, dokko desu ka...? (息子はどこですか? , Where is my son...?)" Before the heavy downpour began, a woman draped a white and red-lined dress had spent the last three days or so finding her son and worrying about his current status. Having failed to get people to understand what she's saying, apart from food and shelter of course, she decided to stray off from her starting place in this port that she doesn't know about. In fact, outside of her red umbrella and a beautiful dress since she's isn't focused on disguising herself right now, she has silky brown her that extends all the way to her lower back and her bare feet aren't covered with any footwear. Her most distinguishing features however, are her lack of human ears and five-toed feet; For the latter part, she only has four visible toes on each feet. On her head appear to be a pair of white, fluffy ears, which match the colour of her nine, visible tails swaying freely behind her back as she walks. Also, she as always seen walking around with her eyes shut, so no one in Lancea has ever seen what her eye colour looks like, let alone wonder how on earth is she able to walk around without crashing into stuff. On the rare instance she does open them though, her eyes appear to be golden, just like the boy she's aiming to reunite with again.
Right now though, she still focused on reuniting with Raiden (who she doesn't know has changed his name to disguise himself) and learning about his progress, as per Rixi and Yuri's requests before she left them. However, it seems that she got lost on the way down south and, not knowing who who turn to, she spots four young children who appear to be staring at her mystical appearance. Taking this opportunity, she approaches them and asks them the same thing that she asked so many people on Prihiyeh and the port she travelled to... Though, seeing those young kids... she does have special spot in her heart for people like them.
"Uh... Sumi masen...(すみません, Excuse me)" She sheepishly asks again as she bends down to greet them. "Watashi no... uh... Musuko o... mimashita desu ka? (私の息子を... 見ましたか? , Have you uh... seen my son?)" Again, no response from the children, which means that they probably don't know what on earth she's saying. She pouts when this happens as she does her best to speak their language... "Have you... seen... fox... son?" She resumes. as she points to her obvious fox ears and tails. "A boy like me... with these... ears... and tails? Have... you... find him?" Before she could garner a response from them though, a heavy downpour strikes her and the four young people she wanted to ask as they immediately get soaked within a matter of seconds.
"AGH!" Despite having come prepared for this harsh weather, it was pretty clear that even her massive umbrella isn't sufficient to shield herself plus the four children she met as they instantly cling onto her to avoid getting wet. And also, her decision not to wear any shoes of kind proved to be a massive drawback now that she can feel the sogginess of the mud creeping up to her four-toed legs. She smiles for a brief bit; They way they clung onto her was just like 3 centuries ago, when she flashbacks to her son clinging onto her upper body for warmth before she got separated from him. But anyways, for the kitsune woman, it was probably best to act and find shelter... and thankfully for her, she could already spot one without even batting a single eyelid open. "Minasai! Kochirae! (見なさい! こちらへ! , Look! This way!)" She direct the children, who are currently draped from the storm by her tails, to an old shack nearby to seek refuge until she comes across a Triton and Dragonborn. Even more confusing is the fact that they're watching over two unconscious figures, one of a beastial kind and one... who look similar to a person she knows in her realm... "Nandesuka...? (何ですか?, What the...?)" She mutters as she approaches the two ladies out of desperation, not so for herself but for the children.
"Uh... e-e-excuse me, Sumi Masen (すみません)..." She stutters to Taliyah and Venet before she nervously sways her head at the unconscious Fire Genasi. Her voice appears to be sweet and well-mannered as she speaks with a high pitch, and despite being nearly 7 centuries old, her tone is similar to that of a woman in her early adult years, even as she constantly switches from broken Lancean to Japanese every now and then and vice-vera. "Are you... owner... of... this... place? Can..." She points to the four draped children clinging around her slender waist underneath her massive umbrella and then to the massive shack. "Can they... take... shelter... Soko no... naka ni? (そこの... 中に? , In there?)" As long as the little bundles of fur she's shielding don't fall sick, she'll be fine; If it weren't for these poor children, she wouldn't have even bothered to ask, though she is very sceptical of what happened around here.
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Venet does her best to understand the woman. "Oh, it belongs to no one as far as I can tell, your welcome to come in out of the rain, although things are a tad tense inside. Unruly teens, you see."
She opens the door for them and ushers them inside. "Guys, we have a few more that got caught in the rain."
Gazing outside the window... I take a moment to recharge my batteries once again as I... hm? *His fox ears twitch as he notices a silhouette shielding four tinier ones underneath her umbrella; Because of the rain he couldn't see her tails clearly until she got really close. And by then, his heart started to feel weak as it pounds upon having a hunch about her...* "Hey guys." I tell Shugo and Alex. "It seems like there are five more people taking refuge here, with one strange woman with a cluster of four children. We probably need to hide these three from so that none of them will-"
Wait, her manner of speaking... is she... *Extreme gasp that Shugo and Alex can visibly hear whilst his eyes widen, but since his face is directed towards the glass pane, no one could see his shocked expression* WHAT?! IS THAT... OKAA-SAN?! (お母さん, Mom?!) IS THAT YOU?! I know that sweet voice... the voice of peace when she speaks... And... she's speaking Japanese too... I recognise that speech! I thought... didn't she not make it?! Does that mean... Rixi and Yuri are here as well?! *He glances at the entire house and scans his surroundings... before realising that his cover might be blown right here and now as he shivers* I need to think of something fast... AH! The bandits! *He tries his best to gesture to Venet and Alex not to let them in yet as he scampers to hide the unconscious bandits*
"Crap! We got guests! Hide them!" I whisper as I do my best to drag one of those... crow boys... out of sight and away from my mom... *Though he does his best to remain as stoic as possible on the outside, His heart instantly pounds as he does so, mainly because he doesn't know what to do once he faces his mother again. And he knows that his current disguise won't work on her, let alone hided him from everyone else.* What should I say to her, if she find out I'm only capturing bandits instead of looking for that special trinket we need to turn the tide of the war?! She isn't even disguised like what Rixi told me to! What's gonna happen to my true self after that? *So many questions bubble in his head as he becomes the first to drag his victim into the bedroom away from everyone else*
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Alex bites his lip in frustration as he is forced to apprehend the kobold. This isn't how he wanted it to go, but... he can't just let them get away--can he? No, it's wrong what they are doing. He feels for them, he really does, but... bad cards or not, they don't have any right to have fun at the expense of others. He'll just have to figure out what to do with them now, as he still doesn't like the idea of taking them to prison. But, great God above there doesn't seem to be much of an in between. Either they let them go unpunished, allowing them to run rampant (and let them think they can get away with everything), or he can take them in and let them rot--and possibly die in prison (or hopefully there will be someone there with a soft heart who can handle disciplining them better than he and his comrades can). He lets out a long, tired sigh before securing the last 'prisoner'.
"I really didn't want it to go this way, but... you all are so intent on being the villains, I guess you'll just have to get a real feeling for what it's like." He shakes his head, forcing himself to stay quiet as clearly nothing he's said has made any difference in their mentality.
He turns to his friend, looking weary, "I... honestly don't know. I suppose we'll just have to trust that the justice system--without Cezars-- is fair. We can't just let them go, especially not after everything that has happened with Cezars." He looks to the trio, "Hopefully if they are questioned, they will be honorable enough to do the right thing. And maybe they will get a reduced sentence, and help us get Cezars kicked out of law enforcement... and hopefully imprisoned." He looks out into the rain where Venet is watching the genasi, "Uh... speaking of that hothead..." He appears rather uncomfortable for a moment, "I... well, I'm getting a really bad feeling about him. There is something else aside from just his broken oath fueling his power. Its dormant right now, but..." He shivers, "I don't want to know what will happen if it breaks free before we get him somewhere where others can help us out--others with more experience dealign with necromancy and fiends."
He looks up quickly when Venet says they have some others coming in for shelter. Oh geez, this must look rather suspicious--considering they've tied up a lawman as well as three kids. Hopefully this doesn't go sideways and they can explain the situation before they end up on the wrong end of the law. "Uh... um... okay!"
At the sound of Renar's gasp, Alex's gaze shoots towards him as if expecting to see Cezars's fiery and vengeful form in the doorway. "Wha--!" His exclamation is cut short when the shifter--uh--half-el...er... changeling... does Renar even know what he is at this point? Good grief Alex is going to have to ask him about that later. Anyways, he realizes that Renar is just looking at whomever is outside... who appears to be a woman but its difficult to see from within the building... then Renar starts trying to hide the kids, and Alex's eyes widen, "Uh... Is that the best idea? They aren't unconscious or anything, what if they just decide to start screaming? Then it will look really bad on our part!" The last thing they need is to look like a group of kidnappers who knocked out a lawman and are holding a bunch of kids hostage. Oh good Lord this day is getting worse and worse.
He leaps up, eyeing the bound trio before moving to the door to greet their new 'guests'. His eyes widen further when he sees the strange woman and the children... oh crap she's got kids with her?! This is going to freak them out isn't it? Great. He gives a welcoming but clearly nervous smile and waves to her, "Hi! Sorry about this... odd situation. We're performing a... uh... citizen's arrest. The genasi is... well he's been beating people up, and we also have a group of thieves inside... uh! They're all tied up so it's nothing to worry about! Not that they are really dangerous anyways, the genasi is the dangerous one.... I mean... uh..." He trails off, realizing he probably should have just stopped talking earlier. Hopefully he didn't just make them even more suspicious. "Uh... anyways. You're perfectly welcome to join us! We don't own the place but, help yourself for getting out of the rain!"
He steps to the side, feeling extremely embarrassed and nervous and exhausted--and a billion other things at this point.
"Ah! Arigato gozai masu! (ありがと ござい マス!, Thank you very much!)" Maya responds to Venet with a bow as she quickly leads the four children wrapped by her tails to the front door and... notices... as she unfolds her umbrella... *Awkward silence*
"Uh... Doushitano? (どうしたの?) What... is... going on?" Maya asks confused with her eyes (still) shut in both Japanese and broken Lancean as the first thing she and the four children see is a hooded man trying to wring one of the tied-up kenkus into another room, plus two taller figures eyeing at her first thing. Her tone wasn't even aggressive; She was just as confused as those six are. And judging by the crow's horrified expression upon gazing at her face, she suspects that these three had to be unwanted criminals right? Did she perhaps come to the wrong place? She clenches her fists. "You... you all... kidnapping... little... why are you-?!" Her voice lowers significantly upon noticing the tied up states of the two kenkus and the one kobold as she prepares to-
Oh. It was a misunderstanding. So the Genasi out there plus those critters was the bad guy they caught huh? But... as she sways her head to the pouring rain, she wonders if... no. She has kids to attend to, so it might not be best at heart. Anyways... Uh... after Alex tries to defend his actions... she could only pick up the words 'arrest', 'Genasi beating people up', 'thieves' and 'welcome to join us', the last sentence finally made it clear to her that these tied up ones were being served justice and that the ones standing may have been the... arrestors. Yeah. That's the word. "Ah. Gomen nasai (御免 なさい I'm sorry)." She smiles as her demeanour relaxes and she bows. "So these three, plus... outside... they are... robbers, right? You... arrest them? Play cops and robbers... In your home?" just as she finishes, she directs the kids inside as she unwraps her tails from them. She gives off a warm smile to Alex in response for that. And then when she notices before she stares at Shugo's well-built figure for a split second...
"Omae! (お前, You!) Hoodie guy! Uh... towel? Do you... have...? They... all wet. They... catch cold..." Maya tries to converse to the hooded fellow as she makes a up-and-down wiping gesture with both hands to try and show that she needs to dry them up. She can't really tell who he is though because his face is completely hidden now that his back has turned towards her. If she didn't have kids surrounding her now-soaked body, she wouldn't have drawn the line between her and the three men that are currently holding the 'robbers' hostage with this scenario.
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Shugo let's his hero facade deflate, "Welp...I tried." He says. And with that, he sheaths his dragon hilted Scimitar and moves to restrain the last little brat. These kids like Elmars just because he has a nice voice? They truly don't know what makes a good leader.
He tries to grab the kid, luckily he's already stunned because Shugo nearly trips over the broken table whilst attempting to grab him. The elf shrugs when Renar asks what to do. He'd be fine with just leaving the three of them here tied up. They already have one hostage to deal with at the moment, and he believes it would benefit them more to get that hothead behind bars rather than this group of punks.. They might be annoying, but they seem rather harmless. He finishes tying up the bird.
Lost in thought, Renar's gasp catches him off guard. He hurriedly jumps to his feet and adopts a ready stance...which might have looked cool, if he hadn't flailed his arms around on his way up...What now? Did Cezars break loose? Or maybe some rabid manticore just decided this would be a nice place to get out of the rain. Wait. Hide the brats? Why? They are just disciplining a bunch of bandits.
His amber eyes finally focus on the figure standing in the doorway...or five figures? Wait...what is some lady doing here with a bunch more random kids? Huh...this is unexpected. Adopting a more casual stance, he cocks his head towards Renar, Still confused at the shifter's reaction. Then he shifts his focus back to the lady squinting at her, when Alex starts rambling, clearly trying to explain the mess they are currently in. Good for him.
"Hello," He says in his usual friendly tone. His thick Prihyen accent ever so obvious. "I...Uh...Suppose you could say we are playing cops and robbers. haha." That's certainly what these three brats seemed to think we were doing. "Though the game might have gotten a bit out of hand." He rubs the back of his neck when he says the last part. This whole day has gotten out of hand. The woman seems to look him over for a moment, he's not sure what that's about. Though it seems like she may have trouble understanding him? That's odd, pretty much everyone in Lancea speak the same language. Hmmm, her clothing looks a lot like what women in his country favor, though he still has no clue what some of the words she's speaking mean. He continues to squint at her when she asks Renar for a towel. Thinking on his toes, he un-slings his small pack from his shoulder and pulls out his bedroll. Dancing over the restrained kenku, he hands the blanket to the woman. "Here you go miss! It's all yours. My companions and I are going to take this lot to their room now. You make yourself at home." He says hurriedly before backing away and giving her a polite bow before dashing back over to pick up the Kenku and then usher Alex, Renar, and their hostages into the bedroom. Renar was giving him a weird feeling. He didn't seem to want to talk to this strange fox-woman. Is it because she's pretty? He seems to be awkward around Venet too...
A few moments before...
"Shepherd above... I can't believe they actually did it..." Elvīns says, his jaw slacks in sheer awe. "They defeated Cezars, I guess he's their problem now." The half-orc sighs, "You know what they say: 'You have enemies? Good, that means you've at least stood up for someone or something in your life.'"
Then, it starts raining.
"NOOOO!" Lavīze yelps, tugging her hair. "I just got dried a few hours ago and now we're all wet again? Are you serious right now?"
"We'll deal with this later, Lavīze. Radions, please get us down from this tree. We don't want to be here when the lightning strikes." Glorija speaks. Radions waves his hands and the branch of the tree lowers by itself. Allowing them to touch the ground once more.
And that's when they come face-to-face with an older, 'Shifter' lady... who seems to have nine tails for some reason. In her perspective, though, she sees an adult half-orc (Elvīns) and a red-headed halfling girl (Lavīze), a cloaked white Tiefling boy (Veno), an elf girl with a spellbook (Glorija), a quiet gnome boy (Radions), and a pink-haired dwarf clad in armour (Helene). They might be young (around 18-20 or so), but they're technically not kids either... at least from their own perspective, that is.
The 'Shifter' lady begins speaking a bunch of gibberish. Veno tilts his head. "Sorry, ma'am, I can't understand—" He notices her tail, or rather, tails, and he gasps, his eyes widened. "Oh, no..."
"What's wrong, Veno?" Helene asks.
"N-nothing, I'll explain to you all in private... It's complicated." The Tiefling replies, averting her gaze.
With that, they all walk silently to the farmhouse, they're all in awe once they realise how real (and fluffy) her tails are. Someone, she doesn't hate water at all too, Shifters and animal-like races in general dislike the sensation of water on their fur.
As The People's Army gang walks into the hut, they see the unconscious body of Cezars and his mount on the ground. They all collectively breathe out a sigh of relief as their arch-nemesis is 'sleeping' safe and sound. Then they see another arch-nemesis also being tied on the floor, this time, conscious, and there is also another stranger halfling on the outside and a silver Dragonborn inside.
"Well, well, well... What's up, People's Army," Eerin says. The three FART members don't struggle at all when they see their rival in the same room as them.
Veno walks up to the prisoners, during your travels, he's soft-spoken and gets startled a bit easily. But this time, you can see anger radiating from his eyes. It's very out of character of him to be angry like this. "Consider yourself lucky when you're tied up like this, Eerin. Because if you're not, you'd be unconscious by now." He says, placing his hand on a wand on his belt.
"Aww, look who's going crazy and going stupid right now. It's been a month and you still haven't forgiven me for putting spiders in your threats?" Aloizs says, winking.
Veno takes a step towards Eerin, "That's not funny, Eerin! That was a funnel-web spider from Southwest Hngwis. Do you know how poisonous they can be? Do you want me to die?" His voice cracks at the end, his eyes start to get watery.
The kobold snickers and playfully sticks her tongue out, "Aww, come on, dude. Are you scared over that little critter? I have a tip: try manning up more, yo. There are more things in this world to be scared about, lil' man."
Veno clenches his shaking fist, he takes another step towards the bonded bandits, but before he can say anything, though, Shugo grabs all three of them and throws them into their room. Yet another crisis averted. He just walks to the corner and sulks after they inflict emotional damage on him.
Away from the 'discussion' of two rivals. Elvīns sighs, turning towards the new Dragonborn and the 'Shifter' lady. "Sorry about that... Veno and these brats don't like each other that much, as you can see. If you're wondering who we are..."
The half-orc proceeds to explain the entire context behind their arrival. In summary:
They're the People's Army, they want to overthrow Elmars, the current Duke of Rauna because they think he's corrupt and isn't fit for this job. Right now, they're travelling together with the party since they're heading in the same direction. He explains that the current party hasn't decided who their allegiance belongs to yet, but it's clear that they lean heavily towards the People's Army, not Elmars.
He also explains about Paulis, a reclusive Tortle wizard who might have the information about the human ruins up in the frozen north. He doesn't like visitors, and the party might need a letter of recommendation for him to open up. Paulis both knows about the People's Army and Elmars, so either side can send Paulis a letter of recommendation too.
Janina doesn't say anything, she just sits and watches Elvīns do the exposition. It's hard being a neutral party in this sort of situation.
Once you see that the 'Shifter' woman has an extra tail, a DC20 History (Advantage for Shugo, since he lives in Prihyeh) would reveal that:
She isn't a Shifter with mutation or weird humanoid form or anything like that, she's a Kitsune, a race that went extinct on -1C 108 CY.
There used to be more races than what they currently have, but the majority of them were wiped out during the Second Planetary War, when the United States of Lancea government started to commit genocide on races they deemed to be a 'threat' to their crumbling empire.
Even before the First Planetary War, Kitsunes were already under threat. Their homeland in Northeast Prihyeh sits above a large oil reserve, not cooking oil, but black, sticky oil that's the liquid form of bitumen, otherwise known as asphalt. Nowadays, bitumen is primarily used in paving roads, it's strange how the United States of Lancea are so obsessed with it.
When the United States of Lancea found out that Kitsune's homeland had oil, they invaded and started killing anyone who tried to rebel against their takeover, and they started enslaving them. Their population dropped even more dramatically during the First Planetary War, and even after they were freed when slavery was abolished, it didn't help their population regrowth at all.
The Second Planetary War was the final nail in their coffin, the United States of Lancea put them in work camps and forced them to work to death. By the end of the war and the dawn of the new Cycle, there were only around 23 Kitsunes left on the entire planet. The last of their kind, Tekkan Kawasaki, passed away in his sleep in -1C 108 CY at the age of 8,386 years old, marking another end of the many sentient races the United States of Lancea wiped out.
Forty centuries later, it appears to not be the case, because another Kitsune is standing here, right in front of you. From the gibberish and the broken Lancean she speaks, she probably lives in a very isolated place, away from all the destruction of the First and Second Planetary War, and it's the reason why she survives in the first place because no one knows where she lives.
Technically, it's not the end of their entire species, though. The spirit of Kitsune still lives on in the form of Fox Shifter, who resembles Kitsune in their half-humanoid form in a lot of ways. They're in the same biological family tree and they share about 98% of their DNA with each other, but Fox Shifter only has one tail, not nine, so this isn't a false flag, she's actually a Kitsune.
There is one problem, though... how are they going to tell her that the rest of her kin went extinct four millennia ago?
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Venet giggles to herself as she realizes the kids are in fact the people's army. Then raises a brow as the others try to shoo everyone into the other bedroom. She stays in the doorway of the house so she can keep an eye on everyone.
*Renar's body freezes entirely as he puts back towards his mother; At the moment he has no idea on how to confront her and explain what he's currently doing as he sweats bullets* Damn it... Okaa-san's not disguised at all! And where are Rixi and Yuri? Aren't they supposed to be with her if the portal did succeed?! What am I going to do now?! And... those kids she's with right now, who exactly are they-
*Insert angry anime mark on Renar's head as he hears Veno's voice* R... REALLY?! OUT OF ALL INCONVENIANT TIMES, THIS IS WHEN YOU GUYS HAD TO SHOW UP... WITH OKAA-SAN?! CAN I JUST JUDGEMENT CUT YOU USELESS BAKAS ALREADY?! UGH! *He clutches onto his katana and prepares to strike them when Shugo suddenly hurls the other kenku and kobold over his back as Alex drags him into the room* What the- HEY! *He hears the door slam shut, followed by his mother yelling to wait* Actually, you know what? Fine. I'm happy staying behind this dark room with those three fart bakas and Alex, not that I'm prepared to talk to her anyway now that I risk having my true identity revealed... *He slowly creaks the door open and squints his eyes as he finds his mother (struggling to) chatting to both Shugo and Elvins* Man, Okaa-san's like a fish out of water too... I bet she's wishing that I could be her translator so that she can better understood huh? Well... I mean, it's good to see you again... but... Rixi and Yuri... where are they? And also... disguises.
*He glares at the tied-up trio as he points* "Do you guys have any long cloaks in your closet? If not, don't say a single word!" *He then gazes at Alex, who still looks pretty embarassed to no ends, before he averts his stares from everyone as he looks out another closed window and grits his teeth* Damn it... what do I do... Okaa-san... *He also enters a state of conflict as his number one weakness (emotions) overwhelms his again; Underneath his soaked jacket, his tail sticks up in both anger and frustration as he struggles how to conceal himself whilst embracing the cheerful side of his mother in front of everyone else*
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)