Randomguy

Danyel In The Den Of Lions

U R U H A
U R U H A

Faction

_{^D.O.B Dec 13 | ^Age 20 ^y.o | ^Sato Konoha [Formerly Kiri] | ^Region Mainland | ^Rank Chūnin | ^Caste Banha}

Mimoto
Mimoto

Yuki Akane

Shigoto
Shigoto

ANBU

Joretsu
Joretsu

A+

G A I D E N
G A I D E N

Flashback

_Monogatari
Yuki Akane was born in Kirigakure into the Yuki Clan as the granddaughter of Yuki Samanosuke, the Fifth Mizukage. As part of a clan that traditionally is counted among the highest caste in Kiri, the Aokiri, prior to the reform, she would be born into a high noble family in the Land of Water. Since she was born after the reform, she only has few memories of a mansion in the upper-class Mizuhana District in Kirigakure, before the Enclave project happened, making the gilded walls of the Enclave where she remembered most growing up. The Enclave was the name given to the residential district in Shiomori Island—formerly the Land of Whirlpool—specifically for Kekkans, those that submitted, in any case.

When the rebellion over the Enclave project broke out, like many in the Yuki Clan, Akane’s parents chose to stay loyal to Kiri in order to honour the Fifth Mizukage's wishes. As a result, Akane grew up as part of the Kekkanjutsu users who remained loyal to Kirigakure, sequestered away from the rest of the population, marked by a cursed seal that can be activated to kill her. While serving as a ninja is not required for the Kekkan, there was little else to do in the Enclave, and so, just like all the other children within the Enclave, Akane enrolled in the academy, before participating in the infamous Brood Feast graduation exam, where she had to kill one of her fellow students, a boy from a civilian family she was sure had a crush on her.

As a genin, Akane started doing missions. Unlike the D-ranks missions given to genins in more ‘peaceful’ villages such as Konoha, for instance, Kiri genins see combat and are expected to kill or be killed. A talented genin with a Kekkei Genkai like Akane, even more so. One day, in a C-rank mission, a group of masked shinobi ambushed her team, killing everyone except for her. Rather than finishing her off, however, the group deactivated her cursed seal and brought her to the Land of Fire, specifically, Konoha.

She later found out that this was due to her father’s request. Her father had secretly been in contact with the former Third Hokage of Konoha, Shimura Danzo whom he had known in the war due to the former Hokage and his father, the Fifth Mizukage worked together as allies. Her father's request to Danzo was to take Akane away from Kiri and allow her to live in Konoha. Even back then, Akane already expected that Konoha would have her serve as their kunoichi, what she did not realize, however, was that her cursed seal was not deactivated but merely transferred ownership to Danzo.

Fulfilling the agreement only in technicality, now being the one holding Akane’s proverbial leash, Danzo conscripted Akane into his personal black ops unit, the Root under the codename of Yui. Under Root, Akane was sent on many missions, typically assassinations, her ice release made it convenient to blame the assassination on Kirigakure rather than Konoha. After Uchiha Sasuke killed Danzo, like many Root agents, Akane was reassigned to ANBU under the mask of an owl, where she remained until today.

S E I K A K U
S E I K A K U

Individuality

_Kokorononaka
As a member of the Yuki Clan in post-reformation Kiri, Akane is used to having a stigma. In order to offset it, she has long since learned how to adopt a specific persona to fit in better. A social chameleon, so to speak. This does not necessarily mean that Akane would actively try to deceive people outside of missions, but her first instinct in social situations was to fit in the best she could. Her real personality is the quiet, introverted sort, preferring reading books at home rather than going out on to drink.

Kirainamono
Kirainamono

Unprofessionalism, people who just moan about how bad their lives are without doing anything

Sukinamono
Sukinamono

Books, Kenjutsu training, debating

Mokutekiwa
Mokutekiwa

Agency

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

Carnatia thought over the new information provided by the Commander. While the fact that Paladin Thomas seemingly had died was regrettable—though she imaged that Westernant's government would be happy to have an indictment of Sielse's instability and the incompetence of its government to secure the region—it was still within the scope of their mission.

There were also a couple of interesting tidbits that the Commander had dropped.

First, she was right in thinking that there was a new third faction besides the Loyalists and the Revolutionaries, rather she was also right that the Loyalists had been defeated and instead a new faction made up of rebels from the Revolutionaries had risen, which indicated that the information they had of Tretagor was outdated.

Second, the fact that the 'Witch' was known to do experiments suggested that she was the one who was responsible for the Paladin's death, considering the vision we saw from the lantern.

As tension started to rise between Carmen and the Commander, Carnatia spoke up, "May I speak?".

Turning to the Commander, she continued, "You are quite right, Commander that we do wish to see the body to confirm Paladin Thomas' death, if you have it. Contrary to what you may believe, our mission directive here is not to deliver retribution but merely to bring Paladin Thomas and his entourage back, or if he is dead, to bring back a report of what exactly happened. That is all. Once we have confirmed his death and the situation surrounding his death, we will, of course, return to Westernant. From our own investigation, added together with what you said about the witch having a history of doing experiments, we have grounds to believe that she is the one responsible. If you can assist us by giving us any evidence that confirms or denies our suspicion and have us confirm Paladin Thomas' death, that would be ideal. We can finish what we came here for, and we will happily return to Westernant," turning to Carmen, she then added, "Isn't that right, Captain Friston?"

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

"Bless the great Czarnia!" scoffed the commander. "Westernant sent out someone so naive I almost believe this entire farce! Lady, in war, all is fair among the combatants. And both nations employed some of those lousy tactics for information. Still, the entire enterprise of shooting civilians must not be justified, nor your role in intervening in the proceedings of the local law and trespassing or domain."

@Mas Bagus

"If all is fair among combatants meant disguising spies as refugees, you have no grounds to lodge a complaint for Westernant shooting down possible saboteurs. Therefore, for the sake of a productive discussion, let us agree that both Westernant and Tretagor did what we had to do during the war, and let the past be the past. Otherwise, I suspect we will each bring up a litany of our umbrage against each other with no end in sight."

As Carmen then took over the negotiation, Carnatia followed his lead, cautiously accepting the hospitality offered. Watching the callous way the man treated one of his conscripts, as everything else it seemed like in this land, reinforced her belief that it was indeed a failed state if these were the sort of men in charge, publicly breaking decorum and flaunting a despotic rule.

Still, Carnatia was a noblewoman, one who was born to one of the foremost houses in Westernant, even. Keeping her face neutral during diplomatic negotiation was a skill she had cultivated since she could remember, and so, not betraying her thoughts, she replied to the commander's question with a polite smile,

"Well, it would be a lie were I to say that Westernant was not one of the stakeholders. However, it wasn't quite as a sponsor. Westernant merely agreed with the proposition of the order to send a team to ascertain Paladin Thomas' whereabouts. Considering that we count many of the Church's faithful among our citizens, you can imagine why Westernant had a stake in the whereabouts of one of the faith's great exemplars. I happened to work as an Adventurer for a while and was successful in an expedition to the Land of Twilight a couple of years ago. Westernant's government thought that the order could use my help and thus sponsored me. Hence, my presence here. Now then, if you would allow me some questions of my own? We overheard some of your men mentioning 'rebels' and 'a witch', may we know exactly who these people are and how much of an issue they pose in Sielse?"

Carnatia chose her words carefully, specifically emphasizing how she puts the rebels and the witch as an 'issue' for Sielse. While her personal feelings for all of the factions so far were neutral, in negotiation, it was always good to at least present the facade of being sympathetic to the other party, hence her designation of the rebels and the witch as an 'issue', hopefully placing herself and her group as a 'possible ally against a shared issue' for the commander.

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

Carnatia accompanied Carmen and the rest into the outpost. There was a bit of argument at the gates, but eventually, Carmen managed to convince the soldiers to allow them in. Carnatia did take notice that they referred to Carmen as a 'Prince'. More likely than not, it was sarcasm than anything else, but it was something she would keep in the back of her mind just in case.

The soldiers then took the group to meet the commander, where they witnessed soldiers harshly rebuking a peasant over a rotten shipment. The sight confirmed Carnatia's previous suspicion that the soldiers they encountered on the road earlier were probably enacting a 'justice' derived from dubious legal procedure.

It was true that requisitioning peasants for supplies such as grains, especially in a time of crisis was a thing that could be done, even by Westernant's laws. But enforcing it to such a degree, from a pragmatic standpoint was unwise. Peasant rebellion may be put down easily enough, but it still took resources and had long-term unpleasant consequences. But even that aside, there was a gulf between the peasants unable to fulfil the requisition due to things legally called Force Majeure and willfully engaging in sabotage by delivering defective goods, such as what the peasant was being punished for.

Soldiers playing fast and loose with laws and punishment was a mark of a bankrupt judicial system, an indication of a larger rot in the region. What she had seen so far more and more made her think that Sielse being absorbed into Westernant was for the best for its people after all.

Finally, the commander in charge met with the group. The commander immediately brought up the incident at the border to question their intent of parley.

Carnatia replied, "Let us not forget, Commander, that when Westernant opened its border to accept refugees of your Civil War despite our status as enemies, Tretagor repaid that gesture by sending in spies along with the refugees. But, just as I am sure you are about to say that you had nothing to do with that, so do we have little to do with that debacle. So why not we put the past behind us? As for our intent, I would like to point out that we did attempt to de-escalate, only for your men to shoot at us. But even disregarding that, we do not cause any further harm than necessary, one of our own even helped heal their wounds. We could also continue to avoid law enforcement, but here we are to clear the misunderstanding. I'd like to think that proves we are coming in good faith. That said, it was undeniable that our side started the conflict, it was a rash decision by some among our numbers. For that, we do apologize."

Tales Of Endoroth (A Slice Of Life MMO Roleplay)

Robert/Claudia

---

Claudia frowned as it looked like it would turn into PvP. Using the terminology of Robert, the player, this jester person might have an advantage over them, as they had already seen them fight and gathered information about their builds. Thus, they might already adjusted their equipment slots to equip the appropriate items to give them the maximum advantage. On the other hand, they were alone so their party could just gank this guy and hopefully be done with.

Thinking in Claudia's headspace...it would still line up. Perhaps not that specific terminologies, but she would understand that they had a chance to observe her group's fighting style and thus had an advantage, but was still outnumbered.

Now then, what to do...?

The player in him just wanted to PK this PK-er and have it be done with. Surely they can't solo their entire party alone. Claudia, however, was of the opinion that she would want to give the man a chance to back down. After all, when not doing the bidding of the evil god she contracted, Claudia was a kind-hearted noblewoman.

Claudia then spoke, "We vanquished that abomination. By right of conquest, the spoils of the battle are ours. You have no right to demand them. Surely you realize you are terribly outnumbered? Leave and you need not perish here."

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

"I understand your concern, Amaris, but I must try this. I know how their military operates, and as a field commander to another, I am optimistic we might be able to see eye to eye."

@Mas Bagus

Carnatia bit back a retort. She had already said her piece, to further argue was to eschew the chain of command. Carmen, was after all, in charge of this mission.

Despite her murky history with her family's tradition of producing famous knights for Westernant, she was born to a martial, military-oriented noble family. All three of her father's children had been prepared to take military command. So she understood the necessity of a chain of command.

Therefore, despite her misgiving, she would acquiesce to Carmen on this one.

The discussion then turned into who would go along with Carment to parley. Mirielle then volunteered herself. While Osric suggested Amaris.

...No offence to those two, but Carnatia did not have faith in them for negotiation. Still, she ought to put it tactfully. And so, she spoke, "I think Lady Amaris' assessment is correct. No offence intended, but I suspect your Sarkazian lineage would only arouse suspicion. Especially if they are with the red stripes. I've heard rumours of them holding on to backwater pseudo-arcane belief that magic inherently is evil and warps the mind. Who knows what sort of superstition they have for Sarkaz. I will go with Lady Mirielle and Captain Carmen. I am a noble and as a daughter of a Ducal Household, I am somewhat versed in diplomacy. I am not sure how much I can help, but at the very least, I think I can contribute more than were I to stay here."

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

“I think I’ll have to agree with Carnatia on this one, with one caveat. We are not the only ones looking for this Thomas person. And I think it would be fair to say these red stripes have had a huge head start. So if we can get past here without being noticed, that would be best. I’m liking little Lynx’s idea. With her drone, she could remotely set up a distraction to keep their eyes from us as we pass by through the tree line.”

@Randomness

"I'm not sure why we are assuming that these red stripes are looking for Paladin Thomas, have I missed something? I thought we agreed that there was not enough evidence from Captain Carmen's lantern to form any conclusion one way or another. As for Linceleste's plan..."

It was, admittedly a reasonable plan. The best case scenario was if they could get past the outpost without being noticed. Still, she had some concerns before agreeing to it.

Turning to Linceleste, she asked, "Some questions, Lady Linceleste. Are those bombs normal bombs you can find everywhere or are they specially crafted bombs? If they are the latter after they explode, would they leave any traces? Such as fragments or such that could allow the soldiers to infer it was not any normal explosives? My concern is if those explosives are not something that are readily available here, wouldn't they suspect our involvement? Given that the captain from earlier has already seen your spider drones. Therefore, if they found exotic explosives that seem to be made using a high level of technology not found here, you, and subsequently us, would be their primary suspect."

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

Once more, Carnatia had to hold back a sigh as some among the group seemed to lean more toward attacking the outpost. Did they not agree to avoid confrontation when possible?

It was not even that Carnatia was a pacifist, it was more that she did not see the merit in doing so. Sure, backtracking would mean they lost on time, but it was not as if they were on a time limit.

"I vote for backtracking and looking for another route," Carnatia said to the group. She then elaborated, "For the sake of argument, let us say that it is guaranteed that we would triumph over them. What merit, exactly do we have in this scenario? Time-wise, we do not even know how much time we could save by doing so, and we're not even on a time limit in the first place. Fighting them also wastes our energy in case we need to actually fight an unavoidable conflict later on. But most of all, the more we make problems for the local authority, the more we'll have trouble moving around because the more they will be on alert for us, which could make us lose more time than backtracking in the long run.

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

"To be clear, I am not saying that they are most definitely not the revolutionaries, I am merely attempting to demonstrate the possibility of them actually being the loyalists instead. My point was that we still have to many unknown to be jumping to conclusions." Carnatia clarified in response to Ludvig's inquiry.

She then turned to Carmen, as she answered his questions.

"But who they really are is way less important than the action we must take when dealing with them. Our investigation is far from over, and if they have the lordship of this land, our chance to run into them is unavoidable. I care not who their true allegiance is, and finding it out is an unrealistic task, so, let me ask you this: what is the best course of action we must take when they force our hands?"

@Mas Bagus

"I think I demonstrated enough in our last fight, that I am not opposed to fighting them, should they force our hand. It is more that I am of the opinion that we shouldn't march into their outpost rashly when we have little evidence of them being the guilty party, especially when punitive actions are not in our mission parameter. Should we encounter them again, I would argue to attempt diplomacy first on the off chance that we have not burnt all bridges with them. If they force our hands, then we have no other recourse but to defend ourselves, though I will say that we should probably avoid them rather than seek them out. May I suggest that we make approaching the 'traitors' or witch they mentioned our next priority instead? Our mission, first and foremost, is information gathering, making contact with major factions in this land is paramount, we've unfortunately has likely missed out on our chance to do just that with those soldiers, but perhaps their enemies would be more amicable."

Absolved Will Be the Saviors

Carnatia de Valmont

---

"No! No! We report to The Order!" he refuted abruptly eyes gazed sharply at Carnathia, and for that brief moment, it looked like Carmen was in terrible psychological pain. "Not some elven woman who thinks she knows it all. It is absurd! If only this damned Case officer did not stall our mission with unnecessary precautions, those... they could still be saved. What is the merit of following order if it impedes us from preventing unnecessary death?"

@Mas Bagus

"Either way," Carnatia replied, in a placating tone, "Our mission here is not to capture nor punish the perpetrator for the disappearance of Paladin Thomas and his entourage, but rather to bring back the group, or provided it is not possible, to discover the truth of what happened and report it to the stakeholders of this mission.

"I am not suggesting us to engage in mindless slaughter, lady de Valmont." Replied the ex-inquisitor, a bit offended that the noble would even imply such. "Merely pointing at the best course of further investigation. If you hadn't noticed, this site is a dead end."

@A5G

Mirielle joined the conversation, replying to Carnatia's urging to keep calm help. Carnatia held back a sigh as she heard her response. She expected her to believe that after being the one who escalated the encounter with the previous soldiers?

Still, she schooled her expression and replied, "That is not what at all I was insinuating, Lady Mirielle. My apologies if I have caused any offence. I am merely saying to approach this situation with a mindset of neutrality, not naming any single party as the perpetrator until we have decisive evidence of their guilt."

The conversation then continued, as they started digging up makeshift graves for the corpses. It was clear that they had not been able to find any clear leads of the guilty party, neither confirming nor denying the rest of the group's suspicion of the soldiers' guilt.

As all the shovels were in use, Carnatia respectfully stood at the edge of the burial site, doing her best not to impede the work of those digging the grave.

Although, if she were to be honest with herself, she doubted she'd be much help with intensive physical labour. Of course, being an adventurer it was not as if she were helpless, but just about anybody else in this group could probably make better use of this hypothetical extra shovel. After all, if Carnatia had an affinity for pure physical strength, the course of events that made her be exiled all those years ago probably would not happened. And she would be wielding a monstrous greatsword like the rest of her family instead of a rapier.

Eventually, the graves were dug and prayers were uttered, to which Carnatia joined in. It was then, that Carmen's lantern started to materialize several shadowy figures and a gruesome scene unfolded before them.

Halfway through the scene, Carnatia felt the content of her stomach started to rise up. She closed her eyes, before turning away from the scene, only to realize that she could still hear the projected voices, her imagination filling in the blanks in horrific imagery.

Still, she couldn't walk away now, as there may be hints in the vision. She took a deep breath and entered her Zen State of mind once more. Emptying her mind of any thoughts except to clinically dissect the vision shown by Carmen's lantern.

Finally, the vision ended.

"...Pardon me," Carnatia managed to utter, she then walked off hurriedly, before vomiting.

She uncorked her water bottle, as she washed her mouth to get rid of the unpleasant aftertaste.

As Carnatia turned her attention back to the rest of the group, she found many among them understandably angered, and yet...this was exactly what she had warned them against earlier.

She took a deep breath, before she called out to the group,

"Before we take any rash actions, might I ask all of you to consider a few things? While I agree that what Captain Friston's lantern showed us was a vile example of beasts in human form, there was no, in fact, any evidence within that vision that would tie the group in the vision to the soldiers we encountered earlier. In fact, I would argue that the circumstantial evidence we have implied the involvement of other parties."

Turning to Amaris, she continued, "Lady Amaris. Earlier you mentioned how given the Ealdorman held the most influence in this area, they are the most likely party to be responsible. Allow me a few rebuttals as a devil's advocate, if nothing else. First of all, we simply do not know if the premise that they held the most influence here is a true premise. You infer it so based on the fact that they seemingly were able to execute everyone they liked. While it is true, that compared to the more civilized lands such as Helvetia or Westernant such actions would seem to be the actions of an unchecked despot, for years Tretagor had been a war-torn land. There is a reason why it is a failed state, I doubt that the right of a peasant such as Dromele would be guaranteed by any of the poor excuse that called themselves 'government' in this land, regardless of their sphere of influence. They simply have other priorities. But even if they are a major power in this land, there are in fact, at least two other factions that we know of. The witch and the traitors those soldiers mentioned. They seem wary enough of both that if we are working under the premise that those soldiers belonged to a major power, then it follows that these traitors and witch are also considerable power in this land."

She stops, taking a breath, before continuing her argument, "Next, let us consider the vision we see from the lantern. Yes, there was a man they called 'General', however, the term general is common enough to be found in any standing army. This General could belong to the traitors the soldiers mentioned, or perhaps the witch has a standing army. Let us not forget that the spectators in that vision did not seem to be soldiers. Indeed, if anything based on the vision, I would say the witch would be the guilty party. After all, they were conducting some experiments, which given the black flames that resulted as the result, appeared to be an arcane experiment. Typically, though not always, the moniker of 'witch' would be given to practitioners of magic."

She then turned to Carmen, "Finally, there is also Captain Friston's hypothesis. That of the Red Stripe is the guilty party due to them possibly not liking the idea of foreign clergymen. I posit the possibility that the soldiers we encountered were Fredrin Loyalists. The only testimony we have of them being the revolutionaries came from Dromele who mentioned that red stripes were stationed at the outpost, but I think we can all agree that Dromele did not exactly act in a trustworthy manner. But if we set aside Dromele's testimony, is there any proof that those soldiers were the revolutionaries? Consider, for instance, their use of the term Ealdorman. While it is true that technically speaking, Ealdorman only refers to a governmental office, typically it is tied to a noble title, in Regions of Westernant the term Ealdorman is interchangeable with Earl, is it not curious that a faction who is allegedly the revolutionaries to be serving an Ealdorman? Furthermore, consider their usage of the word 'traitor'. Of course, it is possible for them to merely be referring to defectors who joined the Fredrin Loyalist, but if that was the case, wouldn't you find it strange that they specifically referred to traitors rather than the whole Loyalist faction when inquiring which of their enemies sent us? No, I think it is reasonable to infer that by traitors, it is likely they did not mean merely a group of defectors but a faction opposed to them as a whole. In this case, the usage of the word 'traitor' becomes quite...curious."

She paused not enough for them to offer a response just yet, but enough for her words to sink in better and for them to start following the threads of logic she laid out. A common enough oratory tactic.

Carnatia continued, "Consider this. If they were the revolutionaries, the 'red stripe' as Dromele put it, then why would they refer to the Fredrin Loyalists as 'traitors'? Extraordinary circumstances aside, typically in a civil war, or any conflicts of similar kind, the usage of the word traitor is used by those defending the ruler of the previously established status quo. If hypothetically speaking, my brother's Duchy or Captain Friston's County were to rebel, they would not refer to the Westernant Crown loyalist as 'traitors', again barring any circumstances such as the Crown now held by a usurper. Rather, the Crown loyalist would be the one calling the rebels 'traitors' for eschewing the status quo and rebelling against the crown. If those soldiers were part of the revolution, wouldn't they refer to the Fredrin Loyalists as 'dogs' or 'boot-lickers' or any derogatory phrases of that sort? Since they call their opposing faction 'traitors', that would imply they are the loyalists. Either that or the situation in this land had changed substantially that there is a third major faction that is formed by these traitors, and since those soldiers only mentioned two factions, the witch and the 'traitors' if these 'traitors' are indeed a new faction, that would imply whichever faction the soldiers were not a part of, either the Fredrin Loyalists or Revolutionaries had fallen to such insignificance that they did not even merit a mention."