<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/d8/Dhampir_Sorceress.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<br/><hr/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Mechanics</div><div class="spoiler_body">Mephis's Insight check to determine Josephine's motivations: 23 (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=161301)</div></div><hr/>"And do these strong moral objections to slavery apply to me as well?" Mephis questioned, turning her attentions to Muula and Thistle, now that she had received a satisfactory answer from Alana. There was a definite hint of annoyance in her tone, though she did her best to keep her voice level for now. "Will you seek to purchase me from my master as well, so that you can set me free from this vile servitude? Perhaps we can all come together as a single adventuring company under Josephine's patronage and go on a grand crusade to abolish slavery in the Free Nations and Azure City?<br/><br/>"...Or perhaps I don't count. I was already a slave when you met me, after all, and none of you had any objections to Alana's services before you learned that she hadn't actually been bound yet. Do I not count because I've lived as a pleasure slave for two years already? Or maybe it's because she's being forced into this by circumstances outside her control? Oh wait, no, I was raped and then falsely accused of a crime so that I could be sold off into slavery, that can't be it. No, I'm sure it's just that you're trying to keep your own limitations in mind and only take care of the problems you think you can actually do something about, isn't it? That you've really thought this all through. That you didn't sign up to travel with a slave trader's caravan, in the company of multiple wealthy merchants and their slaves, despite how<strong>wrong</strong>you feel slavery is."<br/><br/>With her work on the redhead's back done, the dhampir pulled her shirt back down into place, though with perhaps a bit more force than she had intended. It wasn't anywhere near enough to damage it, of course, just enough to signal her irritation. All the same, it was enough to get her to take a deep breath and seek to calm herself just a bit more.<br/><br/>"I know that you both mean well," She continued on, once she felt a bit more centered. "I even somewhat understand how you both must feel. I was born in Atlantica myself, and slavery is abolished in that nation, treated every bit as morally wrong as I'm sure it is in the world you come from, Miss Muula. When I first found out that I'd been made a slave, I thought my life was over. But having seen how slavery works in the Free Nations in the two years since then, I know now that I knew nothing back then. I was the daughter of a noble house when I lived in Atlantica, and I can honestly tell you that I have a far better quality of life now, that I am more free to... pursue my own happiness, as a slave than I was as a free woman."<br/><br/>Though even then, she herself had plans of her own for achieving her freedom... She couldn't really say that she was truly happy to be a slave, even if her life was happier than before. The life of a slave was just a step on the path towards her real goal.<br/><br/>"I would ask that you keep in mind that this is not your homeland, and that you not get so caught up in your beliefs that you insult our host, my master, or myself in the process of expressing them." And, with that final piece said, she looked to Cain and turned her attention back to the task at hand. "Lord Nyrood, Master Balebrook is prepared to pay up to a price of 9,000 gold for the sake of purchasing Alana. If Miss Josephine can guarantee a payment exceeding that amount, however, he won't get into a bidding war."<br/><br/>Meaning Josephine would be the one to take possession of Alana, and presumably have that first pick of the rare magic items, if she wanted it. Mephis spared a glance towards the heavily armored adventurer at that point. The woman was a bit of a mystery even now, especially with that armor concealing her facial features, but the fact that she had made the offer to purchase the cat-eared woman in the first place revealed more about her than she had likely realized, at least to the dhampir's trained eye. She was like Muula and Thistle, clearly opposed to slavery on principle, but also far more aware of her overall situation at the moment.<br/><br/>That was enough to guess that she had been born and raised in Atlantica as well, and if she could also guarantee payment on the substantial sum being asked for the slave girl, then... she was nobility? But nobility that was far from home, and clearly traveling incognito. That was more than enough to leave the dhampir very interested in the armored woman. Her revenge was suddenly looking a lot closer than she had expected it to be.<br/><br/>"Regardless of whether he is successful in purchasing her or not, he is also interested in registering the group gathered here as an adventuring company under his patronage." Mephis finished up, deciding that, after the lecture she'd given, it would be a good idea to end her statement with a sign that she wasn't upset or holding a grudge. "While there is some risk involved in the quest we're about to undertake, saving an innocent village from raiders and stamping out a local menace in the process is a worthy cause, and the rewards for doing it will be far greater if we're known as a group than if we're a collection of individual adventurers. Also, everyone gathered here all seem like good people, and I know that Master Balebrook would approve of them."