A Refreshing Excursion to the Wildlands (Tarot & Satu)

[Tarot]

Long hours and days of painstaking exercise and intricate drills had made Satu into a dangerous user of the suvai. It was only now that she could finally bring her full skills out; with no more restraints nor inhibitions the hands moved fast and the bone blades seemed sharper and more eager to drink. Her opponent had been a deck hand till a few months prior, with little practical knowledge of combat and swordsmanship. It was such a one-sided confrontation, one would be hard-pressed to call it a fight.

Slash, sang the suvai, and blood sprayed from the man's leg like a fountain. He barely had time to realize he was going to die within minutes, that he had to update his guess to the fact he was going to die right now. Satu's second suvai impaled his throat and the bloodloss from the first wound looked like a flesh wound in comparison. The man collapsed in a pool of crimson, the same color that now featured on Satu's skin and clothing as well. He twitched once, and then was dead. That was all there was to it. Satu had taken a life without remorse or hesitation.

Of course, by the time she'd done so, Danna had similarly killed her three opponents, who were at about the same skill level as the other man's. Four corpses littered the floor of the Summoning room. The guard leader clenched his teeth and cursed under his breath, preparing himself for a fight he might well not win. But there was no fight, at least not now. Instead, the portal glowed a bit brighter as a hand rose from its surface, wrapped in the same blue energy. A head followed, then a neck, and finally a whole body crossed the boundary. Even before the glow dissipated, the silhouette was unmistakable. Drainira stepped in front of the portal, smiling, and placed a forceful hand upon the head guard's shoulder. The man started at the contact, knowing the golem rarely touched another without a specific reason.

"Your chances of victory are below 12%, Falek. You are useful enough for me to preserve alive… if just barely," Drainira said, and her hand wrapped around his upper arm with a vice-like grip. The man winced as the golem literally tossed him several meters aside, where he crash-landed in great pain.

"You may not be restrained anymore, ladies, but your odds of defeating me at your current level are less than my smallest floating point precision interval - that is to say, they are zero for all practical purposes." The golem took a step forward, joining her hands together and looking a bit like a creepy monk of sorts with her dark robes. "That said, I have no intention of fighting you unless you give me no other choice. You are my precious guests after all."

The artificial girl spread her arms, as if preaching to a crowd. "Miss Satu, Miss Danna, would you like to be free?" She smiled. "I have decided to let you go." Falek, the guard leader rolled on his stomach and see the terrible cunning of Drainira's plan unfolding. She had planned this from the very start… possibly from the moment they'd captured Satu. Drainira had envisioned it ending here, in the Summoning room, with freedom behind her and Drainira between them and freedom. And the entire show, the sacrifices of her own men, it was all for Satu's benefit, to shape her as the golem wanted. What a terrifying creature had emerged from the halls of Sahova. "However, for you to appreciate the freedom I am giving you, there has to be a catch."

"Only one of you can leave. Please let me know when you have settled the matter of who goes and who stays… in whatever way you may prefer." She smiled gently.

[Satu]

Blood pooled on the stones, soaked her clothes and dripped from her skin. Redness flowed from his body, free in its final release. Transfixed, the Konti watched it spread. Freedom! He had it now... all he would ever need. She had felt his Pain. His Fear. His Panic. Within her Heart, these emotions exploded and she relished it, and embraced it, and it made her feel strong. So different from how she had felt when- . Her head twitched again. She had killed him, yes. But she had also felt him die, slipping from life, one emotion at a time. She had taken a life and a satisfying silence filled the air.

Was it wrong to feel as she did? Was she wrong to kill him? Her conscious, a glimmering shadow of its previous self began tentatively questioning her actions. “He was wrong,” she answered, but a strange numbness crept into her spirit. The Konti did not notice, for the tears forming in her eyes. She could not say what the tears meant, or what emotion they belonged to, because Satu could not comprehend the extent of the emotional and mental damage done to her.

Satu did not want to fight Drainira, or even defeat her. Narrowing her gaze the Konti turned her head to look at the Machine sideways. Was she Friend, or Foe? It was hard to remember... Her hand reached up to rub her temple, but the blood covering it distracted her. So again, she looked at the Golem. Drainira had removed the Guard Captain from the fight. Drainira had saved her treasured suvai. Drainira had offered Satu power. Drainira would let them go... One of them. Satu’s lips turned upwards.

“Would you like to be free?” The words echoed in her mind. Satu had heard them before. The Vision Words, soothing the uneasy Heart. “Would you like to be free?” It was all Satu had ever wanted, as she forgot her effortless and carefree life in Mura. “Yes,” Satu whispered, “Free…” and she nodded, drops of crimson blood smeared on her cheek. Freedom was what she desired. The Konti met the Golem’s eyes, and Satu’s smile matched Drainira’s. They understood one another, Satu was sure of it now.

Small hairs on her neck began to prickle. Her foresight sent warning. Over and over it harried her, but the HeartSeer could not understand the purpose of the message. And in her current state, she could not expend the mental energy needed to discern the meaning. Satu’s eyes shifted warily to the mercenary. Was Danna the reason for the warning? Danna was a fighter, a Killer for Hire. She fought for mizas to the highest bidder. Danna had killed and would kill again. Danna would never let Satu leave Opportunity! Danna was as bad as those men, keeping her here against her will. And just like them, the mercenary had always underestimated her, and now she would take Satu’s freedom away! “Betrayer!” Satu’s mind screamed. Danna was wrong. Satu would show her how wrong.

For her own victory, the suvai fighter had to defeat the other woman. It would be difficult considering the mercenary’s weapon prowess. And the Konti was well aware of the numerous, stolen blades the woman now carried on her person; that Danna was highly trained, there was no doubt. Satu, if she wanted to survive, would need to defeat her without engaging those… Her mind churned.

Before Opportunity, Satu would have sacrificed her life for another’s. But that gentle Konti had been displaced, lost along the straw hewn floor in a dirty cell. Bombarded by an excess of uncontrollable emotion from herself and the others around her, she drifted. This Satu in the Summoning Room held no such concern for others, but she could manage to remember that other Konti faintly. Willing her face to soften, and her body to relax from its tensions, the change in Satu’s posture was immediately noticeable. Lying in her softest voice, she turned towards the mercenary and offered, “Danna? It is You who must go. I will stay in your stead...” Sadly she approached her friend closer, whispers filled with emotion, “You must warn others, you must tell them about this place… I will not be able to do it, from here.” She paused, looking every ounce the bedraggled and harmless Konti Danna had first met. The HeartSeer’s voice choked on the intimate, false words, “I am so afraid, Danna! Try to send help… before , before it is too late…”

Very near to Danna now, Satu lifted her bruised and battered arms, weapons held loosely. It appeared she might drop them as she moved to give a last sorrowful hug to the mercenary, her friend.

[Tarot]

Drainira wasn't often wrong. She was the pinnacle of science long lost, engineered as a superior analysis tool. Created by a fading Empire to sow the seeds of its rebirth, she had broken free of her shackles. Her enormous processing power was now devoted to entirely different pursuits. Even so, every now and then she had to admit to being wrong, and learn from it. Satu was perhaps one such misjudgment, though in a good way. The speed at which the puppeteer was shaping the Konti surpassed her most optimistic estimates. Drainira wondered if she should have doubled the number of guards taking advantage of Satu. Would that have made the experiment even more successful? No. She didn't need an empty shell of a woman. She needed another like her - a puppet who could see the strings and made the switch to puppeteer.

In a way, though, the speed of Satu's fall threatened to be the Seer's own undoing. She was very new at manipulation, and while she could read emotions in combat, gauging them in the midst of a lie was entirely new territory to her. If she'd paid more attention to the subtle shift in Danna's colors, Satu might have noticed the extremely suspicious edge to the mercenary's mindset. Danna didn't trust anyone in this place, including Satu.

The Konti found the blade of her longsword pointed at her throat.

"Stop it right there, sweetie. No offense meant, but that's too sudden and I can't take any chances. Especially not after you've been full of crazy ever since they raped you." Danna's eyes were hard and borderline paranoid as they stared at Satu. For a long moment, they were locked in a deadly stalemate, and the Konti could take a good look at her Heart-colors. There was a natural background of disillusionment to Danna's attitude. Ironically, a part of her still wanted to believe in ideals, but all the blood and killings had jaded the woman over the years. Danna was a complicated woman. She wanted to trust someone, but found it hard to do so. She was lonely, distancing herself from others in an attempt to avoid heartbreak. She'd had to kill friends before.

Right now, she was highly stressed out. While she was strong, the time spent in Opportunity had taken a toll on her, as well. Both physically and mentally. She might just be pushed into making a mistake, but it had to be done right, carefully, playing the right cards. "Frankly, even if I went to call for help," she conceded, hypothetically trusting Satu's good faith but not lowering her weapon, "there will be no portal by the time I returned. And that's assuming she even sticks to her word. She's the one who had you tortured in the first place. I'm gonna be honest with you, Satu. I'd rather kill you on the spot than leave you here with her."

"But I have never lied to either of you," Drainira chimed in with a cheerful tone that was entirely out of place, "And she asked for that torture. I tried to make her reconsider - three times, no less! But I had to respect her decision." The mercenary hissed at the golem. How could she be trying to sell herself as the good guy? No-one in their right minds could possibly buy that. No-one in their right minds.

[Satu]

“Danna, why?” Satu pleaded, wide-eyed at the sword pointed at her throat and the mercenary who held it. Regret and sorrow travelled across the Konti’s worn face. That Danna would want to kill her stung her deeply. A wrongful Betrayal! The words and emotions of sadness were real, as were the tears that dropped. It was no act, even though Satu planned to kill the mercenary only moments before. The woman was dangerous, suspicious and distrustful, Satu decided. A Deceiver! She would never accept an embrace from the Konti now. She did not deserve to be Free! Satu sensed on some level she was losing Danna’s trust to inner suspicions about the Konti’s emotional state. But Satu could not control her wildly swinging emotions, especially as she was oblivious that her thoughts were even chaotic. As unaware as Satu might have been of her own inner world, she was now hyperaware of Danna’s. With her newly attuned HeartSense she could feel and see the woman’s aura and the stresses it contained more strongly than ever. Inspiration came to her then. Change tactics. Satu saw Danna, saw her loneliness and confusion, and also the deeply hidden inner feelings that never wholly rose to the surface. All swirled within and around the mercenary’s Heart. The HeartSeer followed the strands of feeling, one by one. Each thought led to the next as Satu’s mind descended a dangerous ladder. Emotions are valuable. Emotions can be used. Danna’s emotions could be turned against her… like a weapon. A sharp, poisonous weapon. “Why do you do this? You are my friend. I couldn’t have made it this far without you. I…, I want to be free, Danna. Please, don’t give up now! Lower the sword; you are stronger than that… we can figure it out together. I am not your enemy, they are!” And she pointed to the guard with her suvai and took a shaky breath. “Don’t do worse to me than they have…” Satu sniffed as the words poured out, and the lies poured forth. “Trust me Danna, as I have trusted you. You are my friend; if you wish me not stay... would you stay here yourself…?” It was the most she had spoken since her interview with Drainira. Drainira… So susceptible to suggestion was Satu that the Golem’s words had made perfect sense. Drainira had not lied to her. Drainira had only spoken the truth. Was the torment in the cell her own fault? Her mind hesitated; Drainira had tried to talk her out of it. And Drainira had trusted her enough to make her own decisions… but Danna did not trust her. And Danna wanted to kill her! Satu’s eyes became slits. Betrayer! Sinister colours built and twisted in Satu’s Heart and the suvai dripped crimson very slowly onto the stones. Satu waited and watched Danna’s eyes, and then her voice dropped low, “Or… together we could do it. Together, we could fight Her… You and I.” Satu observed the mercenary carefully, any change in the woman’s Heartcolours could signal an acceptance of the false offer, or the intent to make a deadly challenge on the Konti’s life with the sword in her hand. If it came to violence between them, Satu was prepared. The emotions always gave a tell-tale sign before an opponent made a strike and with her training, the suvai were always ready. She only needed an opening. As if she only fidgeted under the weight of Danna’s scrutiny, Satu reversed one of the bone white blades in her hand, holding it so that its length now rested along her wrist. At the slightest sign of further treachery from the woman, Satu would step lightly away and raise the still forward pointing suvai to trap Danna’s blade within its dual prongs. After which she hoped to twist it out of the woman’s hands or snap the blade as she spun pulling the mercenary off balance and towards her. And using dual wield, with the opposite hand holding the reversed suvai, she would attempt to stab the poisonous blade into the deceiving woman’s heart. Head cocked, she waited, listening to Danna’s bright and vivid Heart. But in her own Vessel she felt only a blanket of velvety violence supporting her desire for Freedom.

[Tarot]

There was this long moment in which the fates of the two women lay in a dangerous balance. Even time seemed to stand still as everything around Satu happened in slow motion. Tears, words, looks were exchanged. A lie was spun by the Konti's darkened Heart. Would the warrior believe it? Danna was torn between her natural problem with trust and the almost physical need to have an ally, someone to count on to make it through this nightmare. She wanted to get this over with, in the quickest way possible, though she wouldn't actually kill Satu in cold blood.

The prospect of killing the golem-girl, on the other hand, was infinitely more appealing, due in no small part to the fact that Danna had been used as a practice target for skills copied from her own mind. Danna felt the burning need for payback. To see if actual blood flowed through the veins of Drainira's body or some kind of machine oil. To see her beg for her petching artificial life. It was a simple plan, like all the best plans were. And Satu had demonstrated good skill with the suvai. Even if she only acted as a distraction and didn't engage the golem in combat, she could tip the scales in Danna's favor. They could actually do this!

It wasn't the right choice. Had Danna thought this over with a fresh mind, she would have seen that her best bet, cruel though it may be, was to kill Satu. Better yet, she should have killed her when she wasn't expecting it, instead of just pointing the sword at her. Even if Danna herself didn't believe Drainira's proposal, Satu in her current state just might… and that was reason enough to distrust her.

But she did not think of this. Instead, she saw the chance to kill something wicked, and do the world a favor. Perhaps the first heroic deed of her entire life. The tip of the longsword wavered. "You are right. I'm sorry, Satu, let's show the bitch what we're made of and get out of here together." Danna shifted from one stance to another and the blade parted from Satu's throat to point at Drainira's direction. On her part, the golem had absolutely no reaction whatsoever. What mattered to the Konti was something else: she saw the very thing she had wanted to create. An opening.

A few tenths of a second and Danna's sword would complete its arc, leaving the mercenary in a solid defensive stance. Until then, her sword arm would be travelling away from Satu, in the wrong direction, leaving her front unprotected from the suvai. Only someone with fighting experience would be able to take advantage of such a small opening, but Satu's eyes could see it and her hand may just be able to make it real.

[Satu]

Danna’s emotional shift washed over Satu like a gentle rain, caressing the broken, inner parts of the Konti’s delicate psyche. Her eyes sparkled as each wave of the softening feeling touched her Heart, and she breathed in the emotional opening as if she could enfold it within herself forever. Danna was a good friend. All was well… Danna trusted her again and the sword now travelled away from her body and relief filled the HeartSeer. Almost in slow motion, Satu watched as Danna turned toward the Golem, exposing an opening within her stance. It was there…, the vulnerability of the mercenary. Like a sharp bulls-eye, Satu was drawn to the weakness. Weakness! Her head twitched as her eyes narrowed, and she blinked away the soft, comforting feelings that had so recently soothed her. Danna was a good friend. Danna offered freely what Satu had desired. So patiently had the Konti waited and now the woman presented this Opening to her, offering herself to Satu. For Freedom. It was the smallest opening possible for the largest sacrifice of all. Danna’s life. Danna wanted her to be the one to leave Opportunity! The offered opening beckoned her and compelled her. Satu had to take it, to please Danna! It was the woman’s choice after all... Satu could not disappoint a friend. Already the HeartSeer sensed emotion building. Vengeance and Violence! How brittle they burned within Danna, as she looked with hate at the Golem! Satu grew excited too, as those same feelings surfaced compellingly within her own Heart. Malicious passion filled her limbs and Satu flew into the mercenary, leading with one suvai. It was a straight thrust, aimed at the woman’s unprotected side, the small opening between the leather armour where the ribs were only just exposed. She hoped to slide the bone shaft into the space between the ribs and pierce the mercenary’s heart, or perhaps puncture a lung. Even a knick of the Heart Vessel would send poison more quickly into the bloodstream. If she only aimed somewhat accurately, she should hit something vital, while the other blade was swung in an arc above the mercenary’s armour where it met the skin. Under different circumstances, SuvaiMistress Nitvin might have been proud of Satu’s focus and aim, but Satu believed it was Danna’s will, and not hours upon hours of practice that placed the blade where it landed. Satu’s smile shone dazzlingly, hoping the suvai bone danced where it would within Danna’s body…

[Tarot]

Danna's eyes saw the incoming suvai as soon as Satu made her move on her. Her experienced eyes saw it, but her fatigued body could not keep up. Her instinct immediately knew the trajectory was lethal, that she had been betrayed for trusting someone else just once in her life. She regretted helping Satu out of the cell, trying to console her after the abuse, taking her along with her weapons. She was about to die to the one person that was supposed to be her ally in this place. And in her last flash of awareness, she knew the golem had it all planned from the start. Satu had become her agent without even knowing it.

Danna hated them both beyond words.

The suvai sunk between Danna's ribs and drank her blood avidly. She attempted a weak retaliation, but the twin suvai came down on her, piercing her throat. The longsword slipped off her hand with a metallic clang. Danna staggered and crashed in a lump on Satu's own body, hands clinging to the Konti's shoulders. Satu could feel a burst of overwhelming despair and hate hitting her like an emotional shockwave as Danna's body slid down her own, leaving her drenched in even more blood. Their eyes met for an instant, and then Danna was lying at Satu's feet, dead.

"As they say, freedom is not free," Drainira interrupted the silence that followed. "You have earned your own, Ms. Satu. You can follow me through this portal. It leads back to the Syliran Wildlands where you were first taken. I have a gift to offer before you go, however. Your ordeal should not go unrewarded."

The golem walked onto the portal on the floor and began to sink in the blue glow that claimed her like magical quicksands. The guard leader had backed well behind the portal, hoping Satu would rather step in than seek him out. If Satu followed Drainira, she would also be swallowed by the blue-shifted radiations of the Summoning portal. It would feel like being tied to a giant bolt and shot by a ballista into a channel of light. She would then emerge on the other side, a small cave that smelled like the wildlands. The walls of Syliras were visible off in the distance.

"You could have saved Ms. Danna if you had the Power," Drainira gazed upon the fortified city from the cavern entrance. "Indeed, you could have avoided all of this if you had the Power. It must have felt wrong to you, because the weak were commanding the strong. Command is the freedom of the strong, and as strange as it may sound, servitude is the freedom of the weak. You are strong, and born to command. Born to pull the strings. Please accept this gift."

She held her hands out, but Satu could see nothing at first. If she squinted and focused her Konti abilities and gnosis mark, though, something thin and glowing would slowly come into view. It was like an ethereal thread, or maybe a string. Yellow, weightless, and infinitely long. Drainira was holding one end of it in her hands, but the other end was nowhere in sight. It stretched well past the cave and to the South, towards the Cyphrus grasslands for countless miles, disappearing into the horizon.

"Take this string with you. Tie it around your finger, or one of your possessions if you wish. It will not encumber your movements at all, and it will stretch to any length or conversely shrink when you get closer. When you feel ready, follow it all the way to the very end. The source of the Power is awaiting you there. The world shall stop tossing you around. You'd start tossing it around."

The golem turned sharply and made her way back to the portal. "We will meet again, Ms. Satu. And you will have fully bloomed by then, if you survive that is." She disappeared into the gateway, which soon fizzled down in a blue-colored flash.

Satu Notes: Satu's HeartSight has matured and evolved in response to the events of this thread. She is now very good at recognizing dark and especially violent emotions. Satu may be able to predict the evolution of someone's feelings while in an emotional turmoil. Experience: +4 Weapon: Suvai +3 Dual Wielding +3 Impersonation Lore: Dark emotions Drainira Opportunity Other: Wonderful thread! Feel free to post once more to wrap it up, but you're free to continue your adventuring.

[Satu]

The mercenary tumbled into Satu, weak hands clinging wretchedly to the Konti’s shoulders. So gently, Satu brought her own hands up to enfold the mercenary’s face in her pale, blood stained palms. Softly, the HeartSeer offered what comfort she could to the dying woman. “Shhh, shhh…” Satu cooed, whispering in a singsong voice as she would to a child, rubbing her long fingers along Danna's cheeks. Her vivid eyes so very close, “It is okay… do not fret... We’ve gotten what we have always wanted... our Freedom. It is cause for celebration…” she smiled consolingly. But Danna’s last emotions of Despair and Hate welled up and exploded outwards to batter the unsuspecting Satu as she tried to comfort her friend. The force of it caused the Konti to loosen her hands in shock and confusion. And she watched, spellbound as Danna slid to the floor, dead. Satu, covered in blood, stepped over the mercenary to follow the beckoning Golem. Drainira led to Freedom. All she had to do was follow. Had it always been so simple? Her eyes stayed on the portal and the woman who had saved her, there was no more to do, or say, or even wish for. Even in the madness and force of the portal, Satu was complacent. Nothing compared to the ordeal she had just been through and very little registered to her numb mind. “The weak commanded the strong,” Satu repeated, nodding. “That was Wrong…” Satu was strong, Drainira had told her that. And someday Satu would Command. But right now she did not know what the word meant. The thin, gossamer gift lay cradled secure in her hand. Was it alive? She wondered as it threatened to hypnotize her. The Gift was Freedom and Control.“They will control me no longer…” she replied, looking out over the Syliran Wildlands and the walls of Syliras in the distance. But she could speak no more as she looked at the walls. There had been too many surrounding her the last few days, she could not go back to them! Even the cave seemed to confine her Spirit. The Konti only desired Heart Silence and a respite from the stresses she could neither face nor see. The smell of the wildlands, and of nature pulled her towards its canopied solitude and Satu did not see Drainira depart in a flash of blue. The words of Power would have to wait.