Kathi's Osirion Story

Kathi Osiron Story There are some words that can strike fear in the hearts of mortals. From the tearful joys of “Happy Birthday” and “I do” down to the depths of such phrases as “I don’t love you anymore to words such as “Cancer”, some words have a piercing quality that weapons do not....for even the thickest platemail does nothing to soften the blow of divorce or death. And while Kathi was quite well versed in the art of diffusing her emotions, the words that her superior told her stuck deep within her, building up a dread that cannot be felt by mere mortals, a dread that can only be experienced by utterance of two simple words...





“Guard Duty.”





When Kathi has originally joined the Order of the Scourge, she had done so not out of patriotic fervor to any sort of chelliaxian cause, but simply to repay a debt. Her life had been saved by a Hellknight, after all, and it would have been rude to decline the offer...especially when her own life had been without purpose up to that point. And while the rigid formality of the Hellknights was alien to those outside of it...for an android, it was perfection. To have so many people, and so many lives codified and listed within a filing cabinet...why it was almost heaven to her! No more annoying letters back and forth trying to schedule events; if she wished to meet with her commander, she knew that all the Hellknight Paralictor’s of Block 7B was always given leave on Thursday nights, from 4PM until 8AM the next morning. And even still, if she herself was busy on thursdays, she should always speak to the Paralictor during friday mornings state-mandated Coffee Break, from 9:40 AM until 9:53 AM.





Alas, the Orders focus on scheduling was as much a limitation as it was a boon. As Kathi made her way through the official Chelaxian Embassy to Osrion, she tilted her head upward to a particular angle, and within seconds, an image of her daily schedule appeared on the inside of her eyes. For other Hellknights, a large number of activities, from waste training, to naval patrols around the entrance to the Inner Sea, but alas, for Kathi, she had but one task upon her schedule for the entire day. She focused her eyes on the words once more, just making sure she had read it correctly.



“7AM untill 7PM, Moonday until Starday, Personal Guard to Senator Lavical Nontrivical, 1st Gozran until 1st Sarenith.”-Sorry K. You were the only one in the area suited for this one



The note had been from her dispatch officer, a tiefling named Kennith Batch. Kathi knew that the tiefing meant well, but Kathi had learned to read between the lines of his messages. While originally she had taken many of her assignments literally, Chelliax was nothing if not a politically-charged society, and even in a land of red tape...one needed to at least have a little personal insight if you wanted to have a chance to survive the shark pit. And from what Kathi had been briefed about chelliaxan senators, they were nothing if not elitist.



Thus was the curse of her rank; Maralictor. Important enough to be addressed by name, and to be above the rank and file, but also unimportant enough to be assigned to guard some snot-nosed senator from the mainland who, in all likelihood requested guards “above the riff-raff” Which meant Maralictors.



Kathi shook her head in a sigh to remove her schedule as she made her way towards her destination, and the start of her daily patrol....outside the Chelliaxain Embassy conference room, where a small crowd of onlookers had gathered. Apparently the diplomatic negotiations that the senator was here for had gone quicker than expected!



Kathi picked up her pace, and quickly placed herself in between the crowd and the closed doors of the conference room. “Move along.” she commanded, in a gentle, but firm voice. “Official diplomatic business! Please move back.” The crowd, upon seeing the officer approach, and begin barking orders..did as they were commanded. Of course, this being Osiron, and not the rigid authoritative state of Cheliax ment that Kathi did in fact have work to do. She grabbed a number of children and moved them away from the doors, while at the same time ordered another pesent to stop tracking sand onto the carpeted floors. Kathi took up a position directly in front of the door, and, with the crowd a good 20 feet away, begin scanning the crowd like a security camera. While she had received sensitivity training as an android for interacting with humans, she chose to intentionally forget it, as the cold, unblinking mechanical eyes of a sentry bot did wonders for intimidating commoners, and getting them to stay away from the door that she guarded.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the doors to the conference room finally began to creak, Kathi snapped to action, her unblinking eyes instantly refreshing themselves, as she moved...perhaps almost too quickly, out of the way of the opening door, her palms outstretched towards the crowd..the universal symbol for “Back the hell away” And from her camera-like demeanor from before, the crowd certainly got the message, and began to disperse, just as the diplomat emerged from the conference room.



Lavical Nontrivical was nothing if not an absolutely stunning tiefling, with her clothing doing all it could to accent her, from the gold trim upon her shoes to the infernal red upon her dresses, and expensive ruby rings. The one thing that seemed out of place with her dress was a strange scarf wrapped around the senator's neck, colored a dull orange, seamingly clashing with the rest of her outfit. But yet, in her time around Senator Nontrivical, she had learned the true purpose of the garment.



“It’s True Color Dye.” the Senator had explained. “ To those loyal to chelliax and it’s cause, it is a brilliant blood red, and compliments my dress perfectly. To those who are pawns of Andoran, it glows a brilliant gold to their eyes. And to you....guard types, it shows it’s true colors, an ugly orange.” The senator went on to say that the scarf was a brilliant conversation starter..and to those who complimented its colors unknowingly revealed their personal allegiances to her.



Behind the Senator was her second, a smaller, faster human named Andriy Futey. Officially, he was their as president of the Chelliaxian Congress Committee of Osiron, and had been assigned to “advise Sen. Nontrivical on all state and cultural matters of Osiron.” In practice, however...he was little more the Sen. Nontrivical’s puppet, writing her speeches, and taking care of most of the media inquiries for her. Standing at a little under 5 feet, the senator towered over the lowly human...a physical representation of her political power over his tiny organization. In truth, Lavical had picked Andriy specifically because of her meek nature over any sort of credibility he had. While in the diplomatic cables the two of them stood as equals in the negotiating table, one only needed to look at Andriy, scrambling into the conference room to pick up a number of forgotten documents as Lavical looked on in disdain to know who held the power at the negotiating table.



“Clear the way! Clear the way!” Ordered Kathi towards the crowd as the senator emerged with her second. “Official Chelliaxian buses!” Dashing around, Kathi cleared a wide berth around the seitor, as Lavical crossed her arms at Andriy, still struggling to pick up documents from inside the negorateing room, as the Osiron diplomats left via a difference exit. “Will you hurry up, you Pinkskin?” Lavical yelled at Andriy in Infernal. “We’re headed across town and I do NOT want to be late for dinner with the Mayor of this Asmodeus-cursed town!” Andriy, in his characteristic introversion, simply spoke back “Yes Lavi. Coming Lavi!”





As the crowd finally moved off the carpet, Kathi took up position beside Lavical, who’s focus remained fixed upon Andriy, who quickly excited the conference room, his hands full of folders of parchment, cables, and other minutes from the meetings. Kathi extended her arms in assistance towards Andriy, who, almost reflexably, dumped the papers onto the Hellknight like one might throw garbage in the trash, before taking his place beside Lavical, as both their eyes fell upon Kathi, who...despite being caught off balance by the heavy papers, wasted no time getting them into a proper plie, and, after switching her voice box to infernal, addressed the two diplomats. “The mayors palace is about two miles (3.2 km) from the embassy;their is a carriage waiting for us at the end of the hallway. “



“Finally, some decent transportation.” spoke Lavical, as she began walking, whilst turning towards Andriy, who followed close behind “Assuming, of course, your quite finished wasting time?”



Kathi engaged her legs to follow the two diplomats, far enough to be respectful, but close enough to listen in on their conversation as she sorted the papers. “It’s not my fault President Atem gave us the most disorganised conference room in the Inner Sea. Osiron’s been through a lot in the last few months. It’s actually a miracle that the state still functions...what with the undead across the countryside and what not.”



Lavical shook her head. “The undead aren't the fault of the infernal throne. Regardless of what they claim. The nerve of them to claim that we whould incite necromancers across Osiron to weaken them....I had half a mind to walk out then and their;but I suppose it makes sense. From their perspective, the only reason they want an alliance is our economic aid. Money for soldiers. Though hiring mercenaries would be a lot simpler.” Andriy moved up beside Lavical and spoke “Don’t think of the people of Orion as simple mercenaries, Senitor. An alliance with Osiron brings you much more than soldiers. It could result in increased trade with Egoran, a louder voice at other diplomatic venues, increased political power, perhaps even a quicker solution to the Westcrown Problem?”



“Oh don’t remind me!” spoke Lavical, clearly annoyed. “Westcrown is the reason that Moorthif is bedridden, and our trade drying up in the first place. And unless your Osirion can kill a god, then is unlikely they remove Aroden and his “oh-so-holy” army from our doorstep!” Andriy took a deep breath. “Well...Osron is responsible for the death of a Spawn of Rovagug? The large dome around Sothis? That’s the corpse of one of the first Spawn of Rovagug..killed by Osiron’s first Pharaoh!”



By this point, Kathi had sorted through about half of the papers. She caught a glance at a few of them..lists of diplomats by deity, and alignment, as well as a note labeled “Blackmail” She did her best to hide her curiosity as she folded the papers into the correct folders as the three of them mounted into the carriage, the two diplomats still chatting away.



“Yes yes, I read the same document you did on the ship here” responded Lavical. “But that's all ancient history. Westcrown is a problem, and it’s not a problem that any number of soldiers from Osiron can fix. And so long as Westcrown remains independent, Cheliax remains the laughing stock of the international community. It’s a single city! And we lost it! To who? A rag-tag bunch of misfits, taking advantage of a useless administration, and Hell Knight incompetence!



The senator's words cut deeply into Kathi’s mind as they rode the carriage together. True, the rebels, a group now known to the world as The New Vanguard; had certainly taken advantage of the local unhappiness to bring the city into open rebellion. But from the records that she had read...it was hardly the fault of the local Hellknights. True, the book-burning, anti-reform nature of the Order of the Rank was hardly loved by the population. But their actions had done much to quell the rebellion...from kidnapping local leaders, to disrupting meetings...even working to clear the local guard of traitors and other spies. Alas, it had proven not to be enough, and Citadel Riviad now stood as the lone bastion of law and discipline before the chaotic freedoms of Westcrown and it’s Divine patron.



The carriage rumbled along in silence for a few more moments before Andriy responded. “Well, Senator. Now that you mention Westcrown....there's another thing.” Lavical looked up at Andriy, disinterested. Andriy responded by looking towards Kathi, who by now had just about finished sorting through the various papers and documents into their respective folders, and simply requested “The scouting reports from southern Osiron, please.” Kathi’s mind beamed with joy as she handed over the perfectly sorted folder to Andriy, though she did her best to maintain zero emotion on her physical face; showing emotion as a Hellknight was a big no-no. Andriy thankfully did not comment on her demeanor and simply opened up the folder, and passed a number of papers over to Lavical, including a drawing of what looked to be a large pyramid. “This is the location where the mages believe the undead originated.” spoke Andriy. “A place the locals have aptly nicknamed “The Pyramid of Doom” Lavical looked at the documents, and then back at Andriy, the words “So what?” drifting out of her disinterested expression. “The reason I bring this up,” Andriy continued “Is because of the magical signatures our mages discovered scrying on the pyramid. Theologian signatures.”



Instantly, Lavical snapped out of her self-induced trance. “What!?” she spoke. Andriy smirked “You heard me right. Not regular old clerical divine magic. Actual, Godly magic. The sort of thing that might be produced by a Miracle, or Wish...” “Or a deity walking on earth.” Lavical finished, suddenly absorbed into the reports on her lap. “What else do we know?”



“Sadly not much.” responded Andriy. “It’s still quite too dangerous to send out physical scouts into the more undead-heavy parts of Osiron. Though we know who to look for..” Andriy reached over and pulled out a drawing, and handed it to Lavical. Sneaking a peak at the drawing, Kathi saw it depicted four figures trekking through the sand dunes, a short halfling, a humanoid creature completely covered in capes and cloaks, as well as an elf riding a Centaur. “These,” spoke Andriy “Are who we believe Osiron has to thank for the removal of their undead problem. As well as the last group of living people our scouts saw entering the pyramid before the undead began to retreat.”



Kathi felt the carriage stop outside of the mayor's estate as the intense conversation continued. “We need to get physical scouts to that pyramid immediately, to confirm these readings. I demand to know what this is, and if we can use whatever is causing it as a weapon against Westcrown!” As the three of them stepped out of the carriage, Andriy responded, “But the undead are still at large in the south...sending scouting teams out here would be a suiside mission. We can't just..” “Then send ten teams!” snapped Lavical. “I don’t care about losses. I demand to know what is inside that pyramid! Understood?” Andriy opened his mouth to respond when the doors of the manor opened, and two guards stepped out, and announced the arrival of the senitor to the mayor inside. Without skipping a beat, Lavical performed a formal bow, and requested an invitation inside, now speaking in perfect Common. When permission was granted, she strolled inside, Andriy quickly grabbed the rest of his papers away from Kathi, and rushed inside after her.





With nothing left to do, Kathi took up position next to the carriage, and began scanning the crowd once more. Today was going to be a long shift.