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Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Now Lissa was getting very tempted to give these guards –more like thugs—some lip. If this was how they treated every outsider then it was no wonder that people didn’t come here often. It would also explain why the entire place looked poor. “Eh, well hold up now. You can’t just go arresting every merchant or traveler that comes by just because one outsider was a bad egg.” Lissa placed her hands on her hips in a displeased manner, a pose that only slightly coincidentally placed her hands closer to the sidearm at her hip.

She glanced over her companions, and leaned into them with a hush voice for their opinions. “Thoughts? They’re more aggressive than I’d thought… might be best to cut our losses here.” Lissa was willing to march right up inside if the cues they gave were right, but she wasn’t willing to march right up into actively hostile territory and be immediately taken prisoner, either. If her companions didn’t have any objection to what she was about to do, then she would continue on. The lady shaking her head at her made it all the more prudent to her, even if she couldn’t quite tell if she was shaking her head no to leaving, or shaking her head no as in ‘don’t go in there, it’s dangerous.’

Lissa gave an indignant protest. “We came here to offer some wares and to see if there were any dangers on the road ahead. Most villages I know of pride themselves on their hospitality and good business sense, but if you insist on breaking the established rules of hospitality and being that danger, then I think we will be taking our leave. Thank you, and good day.” And leaving a bad review of the town everywhere else, but that was an obvious statement best left unsaid, as was the fact that they would give the patrol a pretty good match for a fight, with escorts and heavily armed weapons and all.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina regarded the tray of macarons with a critical eye. Bringing the confections to level with her face, she frowned as she found the desserts lacking, the sheen of its coat a notch or two duller than what passed as acceptable to her standards. The galley of the airship, while well-appointed by the standards of what could expect for a craft of its size, could only be so well equipped, especially for a trip on such short notice and she recognized that fact, however much it galled her.

Taking sets of preprepared silken pouches, she emptied the tray of colorful confections into the containers before tying their drawstrings together and carefully placing them into a woven handbasket to later distribute.

For Polina, this was not the first time she would be going into battle. This was something that she always found profoundly ironic, considering her entire raison d’etre for being a maid had been fleeing conflict. It had been almost ten years since that fateful day, though, and she had found her purpose since. She could count herself as a veteran maid, but as a battlemaid, she still had things to learn despite her splendid education. When you lived in a state that didn’t see an inkling of conflict during your entire span of service there, there was only so much experience you could gain outside of special assignments given by your mistress. Fending off suitors and crazies didn’t much count, though she considered it a personal failing that she hadn’t been able to prevent the assassination of the Grand Prince.

She was still apprehensive about her tour of duty with the Violet Garden. It would do her well in treading new ground, and she was ostensibly among friends to learn and rely on. Yet the mutual pact of trust was not yet there, and likely would not ever be there unless circumstances changed. It was a far cry from her experience at home, but that too was why she was here. Depending on what she learned, the two mistresses she now served would either forge a new friendship that was more than just the simple platitudes it was now, or the relationship would be forever lost with a wall firmly in place between mutual reconciliation.

She was a well-rounded maid with a very good set of skills that just wanted to meet new people, but she hated playing the spy. Yet from what her mistress had told her, what was going on in the Maison d’Violette could have wider implications.

Such was the cost of living in interesting times.

In the meantime, though, she would feed her new maidenly comrades sweets and prepare for battle. As the voice of the Kyrsan veteran barked over the intercom, she slung her rifle over her shoulder after taking it up from its place against the wall. Even with a basket of macarons in her hand, she was combat-ready— she always kept her sword openly at her side, as were her more concealed weapons closer to her body.
With a spring in her step, she stepped out onto the deck to hand out her confections—even if she didn’t fully trust everybody yet, she would still feed them sweets and be fed the same in return, ‘accidents’ be damned.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Serious Meido

Polina Laye

Human. | ♀

---

Relevant Abilities

Polina is the consummate maid, highly educated, and fit for service in all scenarios, whether that be in a royal palace, in the field in the thick of it, or in covert missions of subterfuge and intrigue. She is very good with wielding and throwing all manners of bladed instruments, often concealed. Most importantly, she is very good at baking… putting things to the sword, and shooting the mad minute… scoped.

About her

Polina is a serious girl on the surface. Indeed, she has a serious face, is serious about her work ethic, and will never give doubt to her loyalty to her mistress. Her interpretation of marching orders is not so strict, however, when she deems a need for it to be so, and is very much a ‘spirit of the law, rather than letter of the law’ type of person. In other words, she might have a loose interpretation of marching orders when it's convenient to her... but it's usually to the benefit of her mistress. Usually.

She is cheeky in a subdued sort of way. She may not be the type to look like one that'd initiate a joke or prank, but many would be surprised that she would go along with one if asked, or even start something herself. She might even crack a smile doing it.

Her sense of justice might be slightly loose, but she has a soft spot for those down on luck. Polina will do you right if you are in trouble, and give a cheeky victory sign as she departs afterwards. She can and will be ruthless if you cross her sword, however. Polina may be creative about the ways she might carry out some orders, but she will kill without a thought if instructed to do so, even if she may have other feelings on the matter.

History

Polina was born to a minor noble family on the border of the Oros Empire. Not a particularly lucky house, its fortunes fell during the Great Holy War, when the Laye family and its lands were utterly destroyed in the first years of the conflict. Bereft of most of her family, and with many of her family’s former friends and allies themselves indisposed or turning a blind eye, Polina fled with her younger sister Nephenee as refugees to the neutral Grand Principality of Farry, a small state surrounded by tall, impenetrable mountains and located on the borders between the Oros Empire and the Kyrsan nation.

There, she was received with hospitality by the young princess Giselle de Farry, who took on the two siblings as her personal maids. At the palace there, Polina and her sister would receive a rigorous education in all that was fit to be a maid, from cleaning, to etiquette, setting a table, knowing how to prepare a banquet… to defending her charge with sword and rifle, to performing reconnaissance and intelligence operations, and to even knowing how to operate a marine steam engine.

Even with the strict education and busy workdays in the employ of the princess, Polina knew peacetime, even as war raged outside the mountain ranges of the Grand Principality. Growing up together with their princess, in time she and her sister became close confidantes of the soon-to-be sovereign, attending and waiting on every tea party, event, and excursion with their charge. In one of those events, Polina would meet a young Livia, a friend and acquaintance of the princess, someone that she would eventually meet again...

Even with peace, though, they remained in interesting times. Intrigue was ever-present as the threat of demons and instability in the Oros Empire loomed, spurred on by the devastating conclusion of the empire’s holy war, and a few years later, the unexpected assassination of their royal mistress’s father, the Grand Prince, and the princess's subsequent coronation.

Despite remaining in an isolated, protected land, Polina did not neglect to pay attention to her former country, and nor did her mistress. With the developments in Alavaris and the subsequent succession of Livia as the head of the Fiore family, Polina was dispatched to return to Oros for a stint, ostensibly as a gesture of friendship and goodwill to augment the young lady’s fledgling force of battlemaids in her quest to protect humanity against demonkind. She would arrive, however, to not just aid her new mistress, but to also find out just what the bloody hell was going on in the Maison d’Violette… and perhaps the greater world at large.

Tools

True to her origins as a battle maid, Polina is a skilled expert in the sword, rivaling her skills as a rifle markswoman. She is well-appointed, with a knightly sword as her sidearm, and a bolt-action battle rifle as her service weapon of choice. She has an accompanying detachable scope and bayonet for the weapon secreted away within the folds of her skirt, and a hidden semi-automatic handgun strapped to her thigh underneath her maid’s dress, together with countless numbers of dangerous, sharp instruments. She always carries her pocket watch, the twin of her sister's and an heirloom from her long lost family.

Occult

Polina can manipulate small to medium-sized objects around her and multi-task with them to a surprising level of finesse. Indoors, she uses her magical skill to manage her duties as a maid to a level never seen before. In battle, she uses it to a similar effect to distract or otherwise gain an advantage, especially when manipulated to propel large quantities of sharp projectiles…

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Well, Polina was also very specifically designed to be serious, but also… not.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Serious Meido

Polina Laye

Human. | ♀

---

Relevant Abilities

Polina is the consummate maid, highly educated, and fit for service in all scenarios, whether that be in a royal palace, in the field in the thick of it, or in covert missions of subterfuge and intrigue. She is very good with wielding and throwing all manners of bladed instruments, often concealed. Most importantly, she is very good at baking… putting things to the sword, and shooting the mad minute… scoped.

About her

Polina is a serious girl on the surface. Indeed, she has a serious face, is serious about her work ethic, and will never give doubt to her loyalty to her mistress. Her interpretation of marching orders is not so strict, however, when she deems a need for it to be so, and is very much a ‘spirit of the law, rather than letter of the law’ type of person. In other words, she might have a loose interpretation of marching orders when it's convenient to her... but it's usually to the benefit of her mistress. Usually.

She is cheeky in a subdued sort of way. She may not be the type to look like one that'd initiate a joke or prank, but many would be surprised that she would go along with one if asked, or even start something herself. She might even crack a smile doing it.

Her sense of justice might be slightly loose, but she has a soft spot for those down on luck. Polina will do you right if you are in trouble, and give a cheeky victory sign as she departs afterwards. She can and will be ruthless if you cross her sword, however. Polina may be creative about the ways she might carry out some orders, but she will kill without a thought if instructed to do so, even if she may have other feelings on the matter.

History

Polina was born to a minor noble family on the border of the Oros Empire. Not a particularly lucky house, its fortunes fell during the Great Holy War, when the Laye family and its lands were utterly destroyed in the first years of the conflict. Bereft of most of her family, and with many of her family’s former friends and allies themselves indisposed or turning a blind eye, Polina fled with her younger sister Nephenee as refugees to the neutral Grand Principality of Farry, a small state surrounded by tall, impenetrable mountains and located on the borders between the Oros Empire and the Kyrsan nation.

There, she was received with hospitality by the young princess Giselle de Farry, who took on the two siblings as her personal maids. At the palace there, Polina and her sister would receive a rigorous education in all that was fit to be a maid, from cleaning, to etiquette, setting a table, knowing how to prepare a banquet… to defending her charge with sword and rifle, to performing reconnaissance and intelligence operations, and to even knowing how to operate a marine steam engine.

Even with the strict education and busy workdays in the employ of the princess, Polina knew peacetime, even as war raged outside the mountain ranges of the Grand Principality. Growing up together with their princess, in time she and her sister became close confidantes of the soon-to-be sovereign, attending and waiting on every tea party, event, and excursion with their charge. In one of those events, Polina would meet a young Livia, a friend and acquaintance of the princess, someone that she would eventually meet again...

Even with peace, though, they remained in interesting times. Intrigue was ever-present as the threat of demons and instability in the Oros Empire loomed, spurred on by the devastating conclusion of the empire’s holy war, and a few years later, the unexpected assassination of their royal mistress’s father, the Grand Prince, and the princess's subsequent coronation.

Despite remaining in an isolated, protected land, Polina did not neglect to pay attention to her former country, and nor did her mistress. With the developments in Alavaris and the subsequent succession of Livia as the head of the Fiore family, Polina was dispatched to return to Oros for a stint, ostensibly as a gesture of friendship and goodwill to augment the young lady’s fledgling force of battlemaids in her quest to protect humanity against demonkind. She would arrive, however, to not just aid her new mistress, but to also find out just what the bloody hell was going on in the Maison d’Violette… and perhaps the greater world at large.

Tools

True to her origins as a battle maid, Polina is a skilled expert in the sword, rivaling her skills as a rifle markswoman. She is well-appointed, with a knightly sword as her sidearm, and a bolt-action battle rifle as her service weapon of choice. She has an accompanying detachable scope and bayonet for the weapon secreted away within the folds of her skirt, and a hidden semi-automatic handgun strapped to her thigh underneath her maid’s dress, together with countless numbers of dangerous, sharp instruments. She always carries her pocket watch, the twin of her sister's and an heirloom from her long lost family.

Occult

Polina can manipulate small to medium-sized objects around her and multi-task with them to a surprising level of finesse. Indoors, she uses her magical skill to manage her duties as a maid to a level never seen before. In battle, she uses it to a similar effect to distract or otherwise gain an advantage, especially when manipulated to propel large quantities of sharp projectiles…

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

I will get to work on finishing my sheet once I’m home from work, yes yes.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

The ashen-skinned vampire couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at Akyasha. “I was not aware your ability to sense social cues had degraded to such an extent during your slumber. Had you successfully played along and fed that human some nonsense information, he might have given the three of us one of those vials of high-quality blood that were displayed very prominently on his coat.” She made her criticism of her response far more obvious here, but that was just about all that she had left to be said about the matter, leaving the red-haired vampire to continue her tale.

Further reinvigorated by the one vial that she did receive, she gave a nod of acknowledgement to Aleksiya before her attention was taken by Illena’s report. She was one of the stranger ones of the vampire lords assembled here, but that was no issue. “Rikard… that was the human that we encountered on the walls,” she acknowledged. “It would seem we have a name for his partner and his employer, then. If there is a ‘society’ of any sort, then perhaps society as a whole may not have degenerated quite as badly as I’d initially thought.”

Turning towards Dragan, she too gave him a nod. “Quite. If I have your measure correctly, then we’ll be heading to the same place, so please allow me to accompany you.” She made her way to the armory otherwise silently, where she gave her own critical eye over what remained in the centuries-old vault. A good number of the weapons there were still serviceable, although not to the point where she would replace her newly refurbished scythe as her primary arm.

To her mild surprise, there were some firearms in reasonable condition among the cold-steel weapons. She would not trust the rifles or their high-power ammunition, not without spending more effort than she wished at the moment to give them a once-over, but she picked out a revolver, and after creating a cloth and leather holster for it around her thigh, took it with her and strapped it in. Without anything else that she needed, she soon returned outside, ready to make their push west.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Despite Nylah’s protests, Lissa continued on. She was adamant that her plan would work, and was by far the best option. Worst comes to worst, they’d have to fight their way out, and a fighting retreat was something that Lissa was uniquely suited to do, being a Raam-in-disguise. Nobody would expect the buffed human doing a bit of retreating tanking… What could go wrong?

It seemed Eirhild was of the same mind as her, and she gave a companionable nod as the dwarf came alongside. Together with her, they penetrated surprisingly deeply into Krysa and Yaga space, at least until they approached the village proper. There, they were stopped by a small patrol of six. Although she was tempted to respond to their remark on Mie, she schooled her face into that of a neutral merchant, if somewhat shocked by being accosted.

The patrol didn’t give her too much concern, although the gaze of a nearby Yaga woman nearby caught her attention. Something about her gave off the impression she would be someone to watch, if things came to a head here.

“I’m not familiar with these foxes you speak of,” she replied, canting her head to the side. “As for who we are, I am a humble traveling merchant… this is my assistant, Nylah, and our stout escort, Eirhild.” She gestured to her companions with a sweep of her hand, before turning back to the patrol. “We were hoping to enter the village to seek shelter for the next couple of nights to both trade and barter… also, to gather information ahead of the road. Now, more than ever. It seems the roads have been particularly dangerous this year.”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Yes, hello. Inject this into me.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Great, it seemed like the priestess was as clueless as she was stupid. Not that Giselle was ever going to say that, either to her or in public. She was too much of a class act for that, even if she did like to show her disapproval of things at times. Rather than correct Akyasha’s misconceptions, the white-haired vampire thought that she had better things to do, such as to pay proper attention to the words of her goddess. She hardly rushed to hear her words like a giddy child, instead affecting a solemn pace and posture as she received her words.

Her words of guidance were more worldly than what might have expected out of a god, but given the circumstances, it was very understandable. To revive more of her fallen brethren, together with the queen of her kind was only logical.

Giselle did have her doubts about ‘the seven,’ but there was little doubt as to who the seven were—the seven remaining vampire lords that had not been resurrected and were together in the cathedral with her. Some of those remaining seven, though… Well, for somebody who valued good governance, administration, and the love of her people, she had no love for them and thought they should continue to rest as they were.

But who was she to question the will of a goddess? She did have to admit, in these times, a strong set of hands would be needed to guide things onto a better path, no matter how flawed the tools might be…

Eyeing one of the leftover vials of blood, Giselle made to partake of it, even as she continued to mentally curse Akyasha for the loss of an extra good vial.

“West we shall go, but a word of caution, friends,” she said, once she was done. “The three of us recently came from that direction. With six of us, it might not be so problematic, but it is worth mentioning that a great skeleton beast lies in our path there. Perhaps one of you have also encountered it?” She glanced over at Luna, Dragan, and Illena, inclining her head towards the latter as Dragan mentioned her as the bearer of the heart.

“There are also other humans in the city we have encountered. Other entities too, though it was not I who encountered them…” Trailing off, she glanced at Akyasha.