<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fb/Topless_White_Hair.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Mephis<del>Daphoinos</del><br/><strong>Race:</strong><del>Ḩ̸̉å̴̱l̷̤͒f̷̺̎-̶̨̚E̴͖̾l̶̯̓f̷͓̒</del>Dhampir<br/><strong>Age:</strong>20<br/><strong>Class:</strong>Sorcerer<br/><strong>Status:</strong>Adventurer, Divine Mark, Harlot's Mark, Slave of Lord Victor Balebrook, Traitor to Atlantica,<em>Inspired</em><br/><hr/><em>"What was his name?"</em><br/><br/>"Alexander Daphoinos," Mephis answered, her voice calmer than Josephine's, but no less serious. "The classmates he sold me to were also members of his party that day. They were Lysander Xanthos, Simon Chloros and Sophia Leukos. They're also members of the Dragon Houses, and their family crests are gold, green and white, specifically."<br/><br/>Each of those families had produced many fine knights for the kingdom over the course of their existence... though the Xanthos family was known far more for their wealth and wide range of investments and charities these days, while the Chloros and Leukos families both specialized in wilderness talents that often made their members fine Rangers or Druids. The Leukos family in particular held most of their land in the northern parts of Atlantica, and they were said to be very adept at dealing with the cold.<br/><br/><em>"I'm... gods, Mephis.  I don't even know what to say."</em>That statement cause a warm smile to come to the dhampir's lips again, as she stared back into the aasimar's eyes for a few seconds.<br/><br/>"It's alright, Ionli. It was an experience that changed me forever. It was painful and it was frightening and in a lot of ways it broke me down completely... but it didn't kill me, and I've built myself back up into someone stronger than I was before. I don't intend to ever let something like it happen to me again." And then, moving her gaze back over to Josephine again, the dhampir continued. "I'll spare you the gruesome details on what I was like after they found out I was still alive, but suffice it to say, my exact memory of what happened next is a bit hazy."<br/><br/>She'd given in completely, after the orcs' second or third round, turned to pleasure to escape the pain... She'd become quite a bit like that adventurer girl whom Buga had been wearing as armor, in fact, half-mad and unable to do much beyond longing to feel again the touch of those orcs. But she didn't want to disturb the other two women who were listening to her too much, not when other details of her past were disturbing enough on their own.<br/><br/>"They kept me chained up, for the most part, and I remember... days passing... and my being brought before a judge who asked me questions I wasn't even remotely capable of answering at the time." Dropping her left hand down in the water to take over for the task of holding her erection down, Mephis raised her right hand from the water, showing off the angular mark on the back of it, the angry red brand that had obviously been made by a branding iron, shaped like a stylized T. "There was no jury, but I was declared and a branded a traitor to Atlantica, and it was official enough that that crime is still displayed on my Status. The judge, more than likely, was bribed. Then I was turned over to a Guild merchant named Icekrus and smuggled out of the country, out to a slave auction in the Free Nations.<br/><br/>"And that was where I was lucky enough to meet my first master, a slave merchant by the name of Rhodes." A little warmth returned to the dhampir's voice, now, and there was a faint smile at the edges of her lips as she thought back to the time she had spent with that man. "He'd probably be considered a horrible monster by the average citizen of Atlantica. His specialty was purchasing slaves who had major problems that caused them to be sold for a low price, then fixing those problems and reselling them for several times what he initially paid for them. As a result of that, he was... very, very adept at helping broken people piece themselves back together. He helped me to come to terms with all the changes my body and mind had gone through, he gave me an education, he listened to my story when I was ready to tell it and believed every word. Most importantly... he helped me to see that I had survived for a reason, that that very reason was why I needed to keep on going, keep living and moving forward.<br/><br/>"Admittedly, it's... not a very positive reason, but..." Mephis was a bit hesitant to speak, at first. Up until now, everything that she had shared with the other two women in the bath were details that she had told others many, many times. They were things that wouldn't affect her resale value, wouldn't make any of her masters or potential masters mistrust her. Her eyes had drifted a bit, as she spoke fondly of Rhodes, but as she found the resolve to reveal one of her big secrets, she met Josephine's gaze again, and there was steel in her own eyes, now. "...Those nobles, sitting comfortably back in Atlantica, need to pay for their crimes. The truth needs to come out, and more than that, I want to be standing before them, free and cleared of all charges, when they burn for what they've done."