“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you. My name is Silfiel. It's nice to meet you, Sophie. Some food sounds good.” She smiled at the woman and followed her, deciding to leave further questions for later.
"I stand alone!" She nearly screams, face twisted into a snarl, the pure rage at the intrusion manifesting in an unseen storm furiously whipping around her dress and hair. The dark aura cloaking Saphielle fades along with the malignant presence, but not the determination to grind this place into dust. Empty promises by a being trapped through its own folly, what could if offer her that Mahsri could not already! Her allegiance to the diety was an expression of respect for their mutual philosophy, not feeling a shred of pity. Let the chanting cultist, the demons, Hasien, Nyx and Derisa, and his other servants bother themselves with freeing the god from the upstart angels. And the necromancer, this Apophis. "Making new friends already. Had hoped for it to last a little longer." Feeling refreshed, her spirits uplifted upon seeing Dawn in trouble, already missing dearly the foul-mouthed elf despite only being away briefly. Companionship was a balm for the soul, and a journey without a host could be such a bore. "No matter." Saphielle couldn't risk contending with the necromantic energies manipulating the mummies, even if possessing them would be as easy as putting on a new set of clothes - soggy and fetid clothes tearing apart at their seams - she would likely not be the one in control of their movements. Instead, she slipped around to the other side of the building, phasing through the wall. Leaving the tablet she carried outside. "Dawn, dear?" Quietly asking the air as she scanned the room where she had last seen her host.
Thanking the receptionist, Sandor leaves the building, and walks towards the church of Luenna, looking to pray, and also ask the priests if there have been any people in the congregation in need of a warrior monk's help.
Zaria makes an exaggerated huff, storming off, but she had already did what she meant to. She couldn’t leave to far from the lamp, so all she did was move to a corner where nobody could see her and recalled herself back to lamp. The brief flash of magic would happen again with the girl holding of and now, Zaria could sit back at home and let the pieces fall where they may. It was just a matter of waiting now.
@GenericEditor168 She seems slightly shocked by his appearance, but she doesn't make any motion to bring her gun towards him, "Oh... I wasn't quite expecting..." she shakes her head, "I'm sorry. That was rude, I've never seen anything like you before," she explains and then she looks glum as you ask about Carson, "Carson, not Carlos... He's a monster. He lurks around the village attempting to abduct people and do... who knows what to him. I've been patrolling the village to try and catch him and deal with him, but so far I haven't managed it. He also hasn't managed to abduct anyone since my patrols started though. @moonblack Sophie takes Silphiel inside the farmhouse, it's a rather small space, with a large room serving as both, living space, kitchen and dining room and two rooms with their doors closed, "Sit down and I'll make us something to eat," she says gesturing to a comfortable looking couch as she moves over to the kitchen area and begins to pull out plates and setting them down on the counter, "I don't need much concentration to cook, so feel free to talk if you need anything," she explains. @Mazoku Dawn would still be inside, unlikely even aware of the mummies outside as they had not entered or disturbed the building upon arriving. However as Saphielle enters through the wall the door would open and the mummies would enter, one of them proceeding to speak, "Visitors, to The Great Necropolis. Your arrival has not gone unnoticed and The Great Queen of The Dead, Daughter of Anubis requests your presence at the palace" the mummy speaks. @Tjf Sandor leaves and travels through the streets, the crowds are thin on the path towards the church and he makes good time. He arrives in the Piety district and arrives at the church of Luenna, there are a small group of people standing outside talking, but they move aside to let him enter. Inside there is a large statue of Luenna at the front of the church and a small altar directly in front of the statue. Sitting at the altar is a priestess deep in prayer, wearing a yellow robe and a white shawl covering her hair. Rows of pews extend down from the altar towards the front door, various people sitting in silent prayer, a priest wearing a yellow robe like the priestess, but with a wide brim white hat instead is walking beside the pews and seemingly creating small motes of light that illuminate the church. @Auraicide Zaria returns to her lamp and the woman after finishing speaking with her brother heads inside of the town hall and to the area that serves as her bedroom. She stares at the lamp, her earlier determination to keep it, fading making her feel rather silly as she stares at the simple object, "What do you do exactly?" she asks in an annoyed voice and lies down on her bed holding it above her as she tries to puzzle out what value it could possibly have. She reaches a hand to wipe the sand and dust from it's surface wondering if maybe it might be made out of some precious material perhaps.
Silfiel sat down on the couch and took a quick look around the large room before turning her attention to Sophie. She decided to take things slowly and ask about the most important things first. “Well, for starters, I'd like to know more about this area, since I've never been here before. Anything in particular I need to keep in mind, such as local laws or customs? And second, what's wrong with your crops? From what I saw earlier you seemed to be worried about something...” Sil asked as she watched Sophie cook something.
An eyebrow raised behind her veil as she heard the ostentatious titles. Saphielle turns toward the desert elf, seeing a defiant gleam reflected in her eyes. But as she moves closer, sinking into Dawn's sun-kissed skin, and becoming a part of her again, Saphielle shows her resistance for what is. The woman's body shudders as a wave freezing cold sets her body hair on edge. When Dawn's eyes open, they were glacial, sending a frosty glare at the pair of mummies. "Don't trust the bitch." Comes the warning echoing in her mind before Dawn fades into a temporary slumber. She knew Saphielle so well. But their options seemed limited for the moment. "Let's get this audience over with." Talking past the mummies, to the woman controlling them if she deigned to listen to the response.
Zaria's sense of observation was rather limited to see things while waiting to be summoned. She could spot a bit of what was going on with the holder however and almost laughed at the question that came in time with her wiping the lamp. "That's really up to you, isn't?" Her laughter to the question came with the cloud of smoke starting to seep from the lamp and pour into the girl's room. The laughter of the dijinn was from the source of various reasons the girl wouldn't even realize. For the ifrit, it was due to the fact she was being properly summoned. While she could manifest to appear, like she did to engineer her proper summoning, it was far different from being summoned. Her manifestation was a shell of herself. Summoned, she was a force of nature. And it showed. The contrast from the sight of her before to now, made Zaria curious if the girl would recognize her or not. What the mayor's daughter had saw before was a red haired human foreign looking noble. Unusual, but not like this. The red locks of hair had turned into pure burning flame, and horns that protruded from the head. The genie's dress from before had been replaced with what looked like a revealing skin tight harem outfit, not unlike what the girls who guarded the place might wear, but on closer inspection, it was just a cloak of flame woven to look like clothes and cover her body, with the mysterious woman suffering no signs of discomfort from the heat that poured into the room her presence. She didn't even wait for the girl's face to register with shock before the genie's lips curled into a smile. She knew people this girl's age might not even still remembered the stories about genies of this world. But that wouldn't matter too much. The opportunity had arisen and she was going to make use of it. "Do you understand what I am?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry... do you have any idea why you haven't been able to find him? Pure luck, or something more sinister?" He slowly walks towards her, making sure to stand back enough that she doesn't feel too threatened.
@moonblack She begins to prepare some beef burgers as she responds, "Well... Where we are currently is a pretty safe place. Arguably one of the safest in the world. With The Vatican pretty much right below us and The Archaic above us we have two groups ready to swoop in and help out if needed, though both can be a bit stifling. Especially if your a religious type. The Vatican is the home of the Church of Luenna and they can be a bit intolerant of those who worship other gods. I mean you don't have to worry about them imprisoning you or executing you for worshiping the "wrong" gods, but they might still be quite rude about it. The Archaic can also be a bit overbearing especially for someone like me with no magical powers. They're pretty condescending about that. If you don't have magical ability then you're only useful for labor or the front lines," she says and you sense a note of bitterness in her voice before she continues, "they don't bother the farmers too much though they do demand a portion of our yield, a tax of sorts for the protection they provide. As for the crops... Well it's nothing too bad, just... It seems like someone or something is stealing some of my crops. Every morning when I check a few will be missing. It's probably just some wild animal or a passerby grabbing something quick to eat. I'll still meet my quota, so it's not a huge deal, but it's annoying," she explains and then carries over two plates with a hamburger on both and offers one to you, "If you want anything on it ask and I'll grab you it if I have it," she offers cheerfully before sitting down beside Silfiel, there's a table just in front of the couch that seems to be currently serving duty as a dinner table for the two. @Mazoku The mummies don't show any response to the change and simply turn heading back out of the house and towards the palace, seemingly allowing Sarielle to follow if she pleases, but making no attempt to ensure she actually does so. If they decided to simply not head to the palace it was doubtful the mummies would even try to stop them. It would seem the woman in charge simply expected that they would want to meet her. At the palace the two mummies guarding the entrance have stepped to the sides allowing entrance, and the mummies that were "escorting" Sarielle simply enter the palace. The Palace then remains simply waiting for Sarielle to enter, seemingly whenever she decides to. @Tjf As Sandor knelt beside the Priestess, she glances over at him, a pair of yellow eyes taking in his appearance and she seems to fidget momentarily before turning her attention back to the altar and quickly finishing her prayer, before standing and she watches Sandor as he prays, her eyes tracing over every bit of him, she waits for him to finish before speaking, "Welcome to The Church of Luenna. I am Reema Sadat, priestess here. Is there something you need help with?" she asks in a quiet voice, intent on not disturbing anyone else still in prayer. @Auraicide The Woman gasped and dropped the lamp which fell onto her face, before dropping off the bed and she grabbed her face where the lamp struck it as she got onto her knees on the bed watching as Zaria was summoned, she winced instinctively at the heat that came with the Djinn's appearance. She knelt on the bed in awed silence as she watched all this and as Zaria questioned her she blurted out, "You're beautiful!" before blushing and quickly shaking her head, "Ah sorry... I... I don't know what you are," she responds. Perhaps unknown to Zaria, Zaria is in fact the first Djinn to grace this world at least as far back as most human memory went. What few legends of Djinn might exist in this world would pertain to Zaria herself. The woman seems to realize she should probably be a bit afraid of this potentially dangerous woman and raises her hands defensively just in case before speaking again, "I am Sasha Nalur, my brother is the mayor of this town, whoever you are if you mean no ill will to me or this town, you are welcome to stay?" she offers weakly. @GenericEditor168 She shakes her head, "You don't have to be sorry. It's not like he deserves the honor of having his name remembered anyway," she states bitterly, but then nods, "Yeah I know why I haven't caught him yet. It's cause he knows I'm patrolling and unfortunately he's a fast, sneaky bastard and has a few other tricks. I don't doubt he'd have an issue actually sneaking up on me to attack, but he could be watching us right now and it would be very hard to tell. He doesn't breath for one thing and he can stand perfectly motionless for hours," she explains. She seems a little tense as he approaches, but doesn't react much otherwise, "He was a normal human in the village at first, but he... Found something we think. He began to slowly change. The first person he attacked was his brother's wife. He was stopped and he fled the town. He kept coming back after that, each time he was a little more changed and started showing off strange abilities as he would abduct people, mostly women and drag them off somewhere. I've been the guardian of this village ever since I turned 18 and I was there when we originally ran him out so, I've made it my specific mission to stop him once and for all," she explains.
"Well, if he's kidnapping people, he needs to be stopped." Tlazohuitl doesn't add "because he's probably using them as part of a sacrificial ritual to summon the kind of creature which will level everything for several miles around, including myself." Instead, he says, "Do you have any idea how to catch up with him?"
Luenna? There's a Luenna in this world too? Silfiel almost blurted the thought out, but managed to stop herself and listened to what else Sophie had to say. “Thank you for the food.” Sil picked up the burger she had been served, suddenly reminded that she had not eaten anything all day. It looked very appetizing and before long she had finished her meal. “That was wonderful.” She complimented the food and waited for Sophie to finish her own before speaking again. “Well, it seems like I am stuck here for the moment, since I don't have the money or resources to get back home.” Silfiel began once Sophie had finished eating. “Guess I'll need to find a place to stay and some work to earn at least a little money. And speaking of work, if you want I could try and figure out what is going on with your crops – it's the least I could do as thanks for your help, Sophie.” She offered. “By the way, do you live here alone? You mentioned that your husband has been gone for quite a while. Any other family or relatives living with you?” She asked.
Craning her neck, looking at the edifice this close Saphielle could truly appreciate its size. So could she the inhabitant's confidence in the belief she would come here. Truly an attractive trait but one so easily broken into slavish obedience - the human had taught her that lesson in her previous life. Done with the inspection, Saphielle began walking up the steps, leaving the silence of the dead city behind her as she entered to hear what this self-styled queen had to say. The arrogance of that title had her smiling privately to herself, not like the mummies could appreciate it, nor the resting Dawn. Something simple, like dollmaker, suited Saphielle just fine as she briefly turned her thoughts to her laboratory, and how much she longed to get home soon.
Sandor scratches his head uncomfortably at the attention, though he can't help but look back, before quietly saying. "Greetings, priestess. I'm Brother Sandor, a monk, from a temple far from here. I wander around, helping people in need. Do you know of anyone in need of aid?"
Zaria's mouth opened at the sudden drop of the lamp as it hit the ground with a hard thud. It didn't break...which was either good or bad. She didn't know what would happen then, but she was stressed at would the end result could be. However, her expression soon shifted into amused laughter at the girl's awe. Not lacking in any confidence, the genie accepted Sasha's compliments as if they were just fact. Sasha did seem to at least be smart enough to be aware it probably wasn't a good idea to risk offending whatever this thing was even if she didn't know it. Folding her arms into an appearance of power, she thought on how to explain this. "Zaria the Majestic, the lady of flame, master of wishes." Some of those titles were self appointed, but making an impression was what mattered. "I'm what you'd call a dijinn. Explaining the whole history might be a little much, but the key notes are this. We're beings made from the raw elements of nature and magic itself. Very powerful. And on top of that, the ifrit are the strongest among them. Which I am. Summoning me from the lamp comes with the fact I can lend you a little bit of that power. You have three wishes which I will grant. No trade offs to other people and I can't give you my power to grant your own. There's some other stuff too, but this is probably a lot for you to process."
@GenericEditor168 She nods in agreement, "Oh yes he definitely needs to be stopped," she says and then sighs, "Unfortunately not really. He's smart enough to cover his tracks and he knows enough to not trust any trap I might try and set for him," she says, "If I could find a way to convincingly put myself in danger he'd definitely go for that, but I'm loath to risk myself like that. Since no offense to any of the villagers I don't really trust them to be good backup in a situation like that," @moonblack Sophie smiles amused as she watches Silfiel eat and then she begins to eat her own food. A proud smile on her face from the compliment. She finishes and listens to Silfiel. Well I don't have the money to pay for an extra hand on the farm. If you have any magical ability you can probably find a job with The Archaic or you can probably find a job with The Church. Otherwise I don't really know what you can do for money," she says and then smiles, "It's not a big deal, but... I guess I would be thankful if you could figure out what's going on," she answers and then her happiness seems to fade, "Y... Yeah I live here all alone. I have no children and my only living relative other than my husband lives quite far from here," @Mazoku Saphielle entered the palace, aside from the two escorts who quickly leave as soon as Saphielle arrives, the palace seems empty. There are two doorways leading to rooms on the left and right and straight ahead is the throne room. You hear a noise and then two figures appear, one is a woman, her body is soaking wet and she's wearing a white night gown that is now sheer due to being wet leaving her naked body visible. She's bloated and pale the picture of a drowned body. The other figure is much more impressive in a sense, a male figure shrouded in flames obscuring his features, they both seem to wish to say something, but then both immediately vanish and you hear a voice call from the throne room, "Ah sorry about that, my dear guests! Ignore those two. They're harmless. Come in! I love meeting new visitors and it's been quite some time since I've met a free undead," the voice is surprisingly young sounding. @Tjf She nods, "Ah a monk! How cool!" she says momentarily seeming excited before she composes herself, "Ah apologies... As for someone in need of help. I might have a suggestion. There was a disaster that ran through this area, our town was left alone, but many others have been damaged. The city has been trying to offer supplies to the affected cities, but there's some issue preventing it. If you could find a way to help speed up the process we can help those in need before it's too late," she says, "the first step would be to head to the city hall and find out what's preventing it at current," she explains. @Auraicide Sasha stares at Zaria for a few moments, still in awe of her and then blinks, "I'm sorry did you say I get wishes?" she says suddenly her eyes widening and you can see her thoughts racing at the prospect and then her face darkens, "Can you bring back the dead?" she asks, "rebuild the town? Or... Can you destroy the thing that caused this?" she asks hatred clear in her voice.
"Well, putting your life in the hands of a complete stranger - namely me - would probably convince him... but you probably won't agree." He sighs. "...Anything else need fixing around here?"
“I'm sorry I asked.” Silfiel mentally kicked herself for bringing it up and making her hostess sad. “Anyway, I'll do everything I can to figure what is going on with your crops – it's the least I can do to thank you for your hospitality.” She smiled at Sophie, hoping to lift her spirits at least a little. Then a though occurred to her. “I'm sorry to impose, but... do you have an empty room I could use? A place to rest for a few hours, until night falls? There doesn't seem to be anything I can do until night time, so I might as well rest and relax until then.”
Zaria gave the girl sometime to process all of it, before speaking. "The dead are best left to rest." The proud expression on the Ifrit's face thinned a little. "...they come back wrong." "If there's a body and they just died, then yes, it's possible. If not, the dead are best left to rest." The proud look on the genie's face dissolved just a slight bit. "...otherwise they come back wrong." She didn't necessarily need to inform this girl of all the dangers of wishing for something the wrong way. Much of Zaria's greater scope agenda counted on it. But the possibility remained that if Sarah distrusted her and chose not to use it that would be a problem. Eventually, someone would be desperate or greedy enough to try anyway especially after warnings of powerful magic started to spread telling people to stay away. That would only attract more people. Even if she ended up under lock and key, eventually that would make her a target for thieves or anyone who wanted to use power for themselves. So it wouldn't be the end of the world, if Sarah ended up refusing to use it, but it would mean Zaria couldn't use the most ideal option. Calculating this all in her head, she gave a knowing look to the mayor's daughter, not totally obvious what the dijinn had in mind. "Rebuilding the town...repairing buildings, on paper? Yes, easily. That would be a snap. However, I never really went to school for civil engineering, so the quality of how well repairs could be might be iffy...repopulating a town is a little more complicated...but if you were to wish for wealth, then you could have the funding to bring in foreign workers to repair the damages and settle in the population...and then assuming it doesn't get destroyed again, you'll have things back on their feet. That's probably best done after dealing with whatever destroyed it...how easy it is or isn't to be destroyed depends on what exactly it is and I can't exactly go travelling away from the lamp to find it myself even if I had an idea of where exactly it was. So if you could clue me in on those things, I can tell you how simple it might or might not be."
