"Oh? Slaves, hmm? Well, I suppose that is a good place to start" the tall snake goddess towered over the little band of dark elves as she moved past Nebe and towards the group of destitute elves that she leads. She examined them one by one curiously almost as if judging their quality. "Good, Good. I think they will make for good helpers for you."
As they were blindfolded, they did not realise who Zimara was asking. Nevertheless, after a moment, Lyra answered. "We sent to Stravos Kingdom exactly what they paid for!" She all but snarled. "The Kingdom put on 10 times the order you delivered!" Alea shouted back. "You received what you paid for!" The woman grunted through her teeth. "Lies! You were paid handsomely, even more then the order was requested!" Alea put her hand on her sword. "In fucking skota plant! What the fuck were we to do with that!?" The man snarled back.
"Of course," Nebe nodded her head as if Xiara stated the obvious. "They are dark elves, after all." She finished with pride.
“Enough!” Zimara put an end to the argument before it could escalate further. “Let's start from the beginning. Tell me, Lyra, what was the order, what were you paid for it, and what did you expect to be paid for it instead?”
The two became quiet, Alea glaring at the bound woman. Lyra breathed heavily, but finally she answered. "The order was quite round one. Majority was about bolts and arrows. There were also a number of magic stones, sword, spears ad some flameable substances." She recounted. "A first payment was made in gold, so we started sending the equipment. But then, instead of payment, we received boxes full of skota!" She snarled at the end.
“Skota?” Zimara inquired. Lyra could not see it due to the blindfold, but the goddess also raised an eyebrow at Alea, clearly expecting to hear from the elf as well, after the woman had answered.
The snake goddess noted that her prophet might be a little Dark Elf biased. She moved around to the dark elf that took a shot at her and looked her over critically. "While perhaps a misdirected shot, your reaction with that little bow of yours was good. I approve." Xiara moved around behind the woman and put her hands on her shoulders. The much larger snake goddess then leaned forward, her large, naked breasts pressing against the back of the dark elf's head. "Are you going to introduce me to those who have yet to figure out who I am, Nebe? Or shall I introduce myself?
Sinrah has had enough of his. She offered him the support in his goals and is not going to ask him again. He is annoying and, unfortunately, important. She checks for anyone potentially seeing this situation and tries to spawn a minion of hers, with the task to collect information. She needs to achieve independency from this prophet of hers.
With not much time left, she still could use what power she had here for now to animate some of Diana’s early work and bring it properly to life. That would certain draw attention and a crowd for the party.
Alea shrugged her arms. "It's a medicine, that the kingdom produced. Helps with healing and soothes the pain." She explained. The both bound people scowled. "It's a drug!" The man snarled, making Alea redden with rage. "You fucking brigadient!" She spat. "I knew that we should not have trusted this bastards! Can't even speak truthfully!"
The young - if there was such thing among elves - woman seem to sag with relief as Xiara gave her approval and was not angry about the action. Nebe shook her head. "Please, go ahead." She said, waving her hand. She must have seen how much of a fun it would be to the goddess...
As she tried to summon it, she succeeded... but then she quickly realised that it took incredible amount of power Sinrah had passively gathered so far. Her time in this realm became no incredibly shorter.
As Saelria waved her hand, the painting seemed to get more depth, more colour, became more vibrant, more... three dimensional. It was a little act, yet it seemed to take most of her power of her - she started feeling not being able to sustain herself in the material realm...
It wasn't much, but it would definitely generate a lot of fascination among mortals. If she could sustain herself longer, she probably could entertain themselves, though that would have to be planned out more carefully. Still, this would be enough to expand interest among those who deserve it. And undoubtedly among those who don't. That was fine. There was a morbid lack of waiting staff and practice dummies as is. Still, this seemed to be reaching the most she could accomplish for now. But, it would be enough. It was only a matter of time. With the current task accomplished of starting to set things properly in motion, it was time for her to make her return home for now.
“Medicine can be a drug, if used incorrectly...” Zimara pointed out. “But let's ignore that for now. The initial payment was in gold, yes? So why was the follow-up in medicine instead? Why not more gold? Was that always part of the deal, or did someone decide to change things up? Who was in charge of paying for the supplies?” The dark goddess was getting a little curious what had really happened. “You go first, then Lyra and then Kit.” She added, wanting to avoid the three of them speaking over each other.
"Well, if you insist." Suddenly, the goddess's mass of tentacly hair burst outward towards the small band of Dark Elves. The aggressive tendrils swarmed around the elves and restrained them. Although they held the elves firmly, they didn't restrict themselves enough to harm them. The swarm of tendrils tore at clothing and teased against soft flesh...Although not in a sexual manner. The one that got wrapped up the most was the one that had fired at her and was directly in front of the goddess. The tendrils wrapped her up until most of her body other than her face, chest, and sex were exposed. They lifted her legs and pulled her back against the goddess's naked body which left the Dark Elf girl in a rather vulnerable and exposed position. "My name is Xiara. I am The Goddess of The Forest, Listener of The Evermarch, and Extinguisher of the Discordant Noise of Civilization. Nebe Sissan is my follower and voice on this plane. You all too may follow me, if you choose and if you prove duteous may be rewarded." Although the tendrils of her hair have spread throughout the clearing and among the group of Elves. For now, Nebe remained unrestrained. However, the area around her has become a blanket of her tendrils with the other dark elves trapped within.
Alea shrugged. "War." Alea answered shortly. "We had large supplies of skota near the border, the movement of gold was dangerous. It could not make it in time or at all. We decided to pay with what we had closest to the border." She explained. "Bullshit!" The man exclaimed loudly. "The fucking weed is damn addictive. We try to use it, the Republic would have to continue buying the damn thing! We never wanted it and the damn kingdom wanted to hook us up so we would have to continue buying it!" "Lies!" Alea flared. "You could do whatever you wanted with it! Sell, refine - we made you do nothing!"
The elves exclaimed, as they tried to hurdle together in a group - some even tried to fight and kill the tentacles. Soon, they all were captured, and only whimpered and pleaded as they were bound. Nebe looked around herself, then winced at the display. "Great." She murmured, shaking her head. "I just freed them from cages and chains and sexual slavery, and the first thing she does is thraumatise the poor girls again with bondage and molests them..."
Tired and spent, Saelria returned back to her realm. She retreated back to the void. Her underworld was still unoccupied, but she had a feeling that Dina's actions would soon bring her more followers... she could wait for that... or try to search for new followers, but would she find anyone artistic in a village full of peasants?
As she resided in the overall emptiness of space, it was a reminder of how much the place had deteriorated. It was a far cry from the prime years. Sitting on her throne and with a raise of the left hand bringing about the sun, and with the right bringing thoughts and dreams to all her creations and children. Her form was always to some extent a reflection of her mood. And while the initial excitement of having company was strong, the need to focus and make use of that had now won out to have new guests. Give everyone a lion face. Rain coal. Could a mimic assume the form of a coffin? It would certainly save on burial space. Maybe bring back the authority flower. Or perhaps not. Her civilization probably should survive long enough to develop a proper foot hold. That probably rules out the freedom fireplace. A lot of thoughts went into the creation deity's mind. Most of which, did not appear to be particularly useful. She'd get to doing all of those eventually, but for now, the basic structure had to be followed to put everything together before decorating it. At most, she could at least find some new ash elementals to gather, she imagined. Not much for people with talent, but if they're willing to learn and study under someone with true mastery of the arts, who was she to refuse? Still, she needed to draw more attention. She wasn't sure exactly how far her reach would go, but she channeled her focus in the void to searching for what her options were.
