Ba'lor's Fall

[Arthotus]

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The City of Iron Wall was founded near the beginning of the Demon Wars. The Kingdom of Jolania was always known for it's rich, numerous iron mines, and the many dwarven holds that reside in it's mountains. When the demons first came, they only appeared on the surface, so the Dwarves lent their effort and expertise to building defenses for the human cities of the Kingdom, until they began to have their own battles beneath the ground. Still, Iron Wall was built through the combined efforts of the greatest human and Dwarven architects, battle tacticians, generals and kings. Even against demonic hordes, the iron walls are impregnable to attack, and it's survived nearly a hundred years of conflict without much difficulty. Also home to the Holy Order of Iron Crusaders, renowned the world over for their unbreakable Armour and will, infiltration and subversion by demons is also impossible, and so it has been a bastion of hope and civilization for the entire world for many years, especially since the latest resurgence in demonic attacks. The noble city and it's surrounding lands are awash with refugees, fleeing the chaos of their homelands to shelter under the shadow of the wall from which he city gets it's name. It's a common place for the Blessed to travel to as well, the Iron Crusaders taking in the holy warriors readily to train them for the fight against the demons. Even without joining the Holy Order, it's a common place for the blessed to go in search of other Blessed, others who understand their sudden gift of power.

[Awolfest]

A wolf-girl with snow white hair, and cheap clothing stepped into the city and scanned around "Alright! Operation get rich and famous is officially started! Or...at least it will be once I find someone to partner up with. I thought this city was suppose to make finding others like me easier." She tilted her head back and let out a groan "Maybe I should just find a place to sleep first."

[TinyInconvenience]

Close to the heart of the city, there was a commotion. By the road lay what appeared to be an unconscious, casually clothed woman, her body limp and her face planted onto the cobbled path. In reality, this person was not a woman, but a female elf, and more importantly, she was not unconscious. In fact, she was neither harmed or in any immediate danger, unless boredom could kill. Too caught up in her own thoughts, she hadn't even noticed the crowd of concerned bypassers gathering around her, as she was easily mistaken for a lifeless corpse. It was hard to distinguish any of her features in her position, but her brown hair was easily visible as it passed by her shoulders on her back, and if you squinted, you could probably make out a set of pointy ears beneath it. For now, however, people seemed more concerned for her wellbeing than her appearance.

[Arthotus]

The darker complexion of a wood elf wasn't as common as the fairer high elven race of the mostly human city, but it was common enough that a sighting wasn't cause for alarm. Passersby were concerned about the woman lying unconscious on the ground, but few approached, as there were plenty of refugees throughout the city with no place to stay. Seeing people laying, either unconscious or begging, in the streets wasn't an unusual sight these days.

"Ma'am, do you need assistance?" A pair of guards stopped to look over the woman, one gently taping her ankle with the toe of his boot.

The other looked around for trouble, wondering if the woman was a victim of violence or not.

____

The beast races, especially the more human-like wolf girl trotting through the streets were for the most part accepted by human societies. A few xenophobic countries saw them as a taint brought on by the corruption of the demon, a tactic to turn humans into servile beasts in the long term, though these beliefs are unfounded as the beast races were around long before the demons appeared. With the influx of peoples from near and far, torn from their lands by war and famine, it was common to see people from many races, so the wolf girl wasn't attracting any unusual attention, especially since she was female and fairly non-threatening.

There were many places to stay the night in Iron Wall. There were inns, taverns, and hostels of all varieties, some even catering to non-human travelers and merchants. One would think they would be full from the many refugees, but money was a requirement for prepared shelters, which the large majority of refugees lacked.

[Awolfest]

As she walked around, she stopped in the middle of a crossroad "Okay let's see....which way to go...eenie meenie miney mo....That way!" As she continued in her random direction, she eventually stopped at the first inn she found.

Stepping through the door she approached the owner of the building "Heya! I was looking for a room, you got any open?"

[Coolguywithhat]

behind the the inn in an ally was very short dark elf name ania. she was very small, standing at only 3ft 10in, though she was very well endowed with double f cup breast and a sizable ass. she never got along with her other dark elves so she kept to herself most of the time. when the demon hordes came, she ran and hid herself deep in the underground. while there, she learned how to use shadow magic, which she used to move through the shadows so no one could find her. eventually, the war in the underground got far to close to her hiding place so she ran back to the surface. she wandered around, staying away from anyone she saw. she soon came across the city of iron wall. knowing how dark elves have a bad reputation nowadays, she uses her shadow magic to sneak in. she stays in the allys and dark areas of the city to avoid being seen. currently, she was hiding behind the inn, feeding herself off the scrapes they threw out.

[Arthotus]

The Pig Roast Inn was a natural place for the wolf girl to drift towards, it's nightly meal being self explanatory. It was a bustling building with many customers, some just there for the nightly feast, while others were staying the night with the Roast hog being a treat. One of the servers, a thinner man with a thick frop of black hair badly contained under a bandana, met the beast woman at the door.

"Ah! A room? Come this way miss." He seemed the nervous type as he lead her through the crowded tables to a desk with a bespectacled woman behind it. She dismissed the server with a flick of her wrist and took up her quill as her sharp eyes swept once over the wolf girl.

"Travelling alone? Our lowest rate is 5 silver a night, which includes hot water and a nightly meal of pig." She was respectful enough, but her controlled expression betrayed her doubt that the inhuman had the coin to stay at the Inn.

_______

Life in Iron Wall was not particularly easy for anyone, but it was definitely most difficult for those who 'didn't belong there'. Dark Elves were a known ally to the demon's, which meant that the best case scenario if one were to appear at the gates of a civilized place like Iron Wall would be life in prison work camps, though more likely execution.

Shadow magic was a tricky thing though, rarely practiced even by demons and dark elves. Contrary to popular belief, there was nothing inherently evil about the shadows of the world, just like light also has no intrinsic morality. Still, should the guards or Iron Crusaders catch even a whiff of the forbidden magic being used within the city, there would be an extensive man hunt to root out the Demon or demonic ally that had infiltrated the city.

Luckily for Ania, shadow magic was exceedingly rare on the surface world, and even the few mages of Iron Wall that were looking for trouble had their magical noses attuned to far more common indications of demonic presences. The well endowed woman, having spent much of her life sneaking about, managed to slip by the wards and guards without bringing the entire garrison down on her head.

Compared with the underground home she was born to, even the most desolate alley had a cornucopia of food for her to sample, as long as one wasn't too picky. The various Inns and Hostels always had bits of food and scraps left over, one in particular having a nice pile of bones behind it nearly every night with flecks of delicious meat to chew on, not to mention the marrow of many uncracked bones to suck out.

[Awolfest]

She was a bit taken back by the price "Money? uhh...right money. I have... I have some of that" She dug around in the rabbit skin purse she made when she was young, and eventually pulled out a flawed ruby, covered in many layers of mica. She slapped it on the table and looked at the owner of the building with a proud expression "Hah there it is! Look at that thing! I can pay with this right? It's not cut yet..but it's probably worth a few silver" In reality, the gemstone was ugly, even if the mica was removed it'd still be nearly worthless

[Arthotus]

The woman scowled down at the stone, "I'm sure you're correct, but this is an Inn, not a goods exchange. Please return when you have valid currency to exchange for our services."

At that moment, one of the servers scooped a pile of bones from one of the buffet tables into a bucket and walked past the booking desk and disappeared through a door towards the back of the Inn. Perfectly good bones, with plenty of scraps left on them. Her nomadic family back home would have been furious if someone threw out such things!

[Awolfest]

She eye'd the bones being taken out, then smiled "Oh alright. I'll come back once I get this baby exchanged for some coins. The name's Min by the way. Just so you know what to call me when I come back!" She left the tavern and rounded around toward the back, trying to find out where all the bones were dropped off.

[Arthotus]

The secretary or Inn keeper or whoever she was sniffed and went back to reading a book before the inhuman interrupted.

-For Min and Ania now-

The first bones of the evening arrived right on time, thrown into the collection dumpster out back just after the first dinner rush. It never took long for the patrons of the Inn to finish at least one hog. The server dumped the bones quickly an scurried back inside. The garbage collection carts didn't roll through until the morning, so any scraps left in the alley evernight were there for whoever wanted them. For the first time since she'd arrived though, Ania would have company picking over the bones.

Just as she stepped out of her shadowy concealment to inspect today's dinner assortment, a pale perky young wolf girl came trotting happy around the corner after the same prize. The pair would see each other instantly, like two foxes raiding the same hen house.

[Coolguywithhat]

ania's mouth was agape staring at the wolf girl, a million things going through her head, all of them very bad. thinking quickly she dashed into the shadows and used a spell to fuse herself with the shadows to hide. after a few seconds she peeked out of the shadows to see if the girl was still there. when she sees the wolf girl, ania lets out a tiny eep and goes back into the shadows

[Awolfest]

Min was a bit confused at the girl who fled from her "Heya! You here to eat snack on some of the bones too? We can split them, I think I even saw a few that still had meat on them." She walked toward where she last saw Ania. She wasn't knowledgeable on magic so she didn't recognize that the woman was using magic to hide from her "Hey how come I can't see you?"

[TinyInconvenience]

The elf twisted around onto her back, eyes still closed. Her face had been sullied with mud from the ground, something that was only barely visible thanks to her darker skin. She started mumbling at them: "Go away. Can't you see I'm..." She abruptly stopped as she finally opened her eyes and saw the guards standing in front of her. "G-g-guards!? D-do you need me? Is the city in danger!? Have you finally noticed my incredible battle potential?!?!" Her voice grew increasingly louder as she spoke, her face gleaming with happiness as she imagined herself finally getting to fight for something. She'd been waiting for this moment her entire life. However, her smile quickly shifted to a somewhat disappointed frown as she noticed the guards' expressions: they were shocked, likely due to the liveliness of what they assumed to be a corpse. She turned around and kicked a tiny rock in the mud, seemingly very disappointed. "Nevermind, sorry for scaring you", she said quietly as she slowly walked away.

[Coolguywithhat]

ania took a small peek outside, surprised that the girl is running to the guards. "you... you arnt scared of me? I thought everyone hated dark dark elves nowadays because of the demons". she steps out of the shadows, keeping an eye on the girl incase she tries to do anything or runs away

[Awolfest]

Min tilted her head curiously "Why would I be scared of you? You a cute little thing, you remind me of the children in my village. I am not sure what a dark elf is, but I don't really mind elves, they can be a bit snooty but you seem alright."

[Arthotus]

The guards were surprised at her sudden energy. Neither of them were new though, so they recovered quickly. "You should find a better shelter for the night ma'am. The city might be Demon free, buy that doesn't mean it's safe to sleep on the street." Warning given, the pair moved on, more ground to partrol.

Before the wood elf could wander too far, she felt the cold touch of steel on her shoulder and an iron gauntlet settled there. A stern female voice cut through the dull roar of the crowded streets. "Miss, might you happen to be looking for something?"

Turning to inspect the woman who'd stopped her would reveal one of the cities famed protectors, an Iron Crusader. Their bulky, sturdy metal armour was their trademark and not an inch of skin was showing through the well polished full plate. The crusader leaned closer, her voice lowering, "Welcome to Iron Wall blessed one. Come with me and I can offer you some help."

She waited a moment to see what the elf's reaction would be, though her own face was completely hidden from view.

[Coolguywithhat]

ania cracked a small smile. "you... you really not scared or angry at me. what relief, so many people nowadays hate dark elves because so many of them help the demons. i didn't really like other dark elves, didn't help they called me a midget bimbo." saying that her smile faded. she shook her head to regain her composer and picked up the bones and brought them over to the wolf girl. "my name is ania, what's your"

[Awolfest]

As the woman brought the bones over, Min smiled "I'm Min. The cute as heck adventurer to be!" She took one of the bones and started to absent mindedly gnaw on it. "Hey, you should join me! From what you said, that makes both of us weirdos, the perfect team! I have a lil' plan I call." She set the bone down and struck a heroic pose, that just looked more ridiculous "Operation get rich and famous!"

[Coolguywithhat]

ania giggled when she say the goofy pose and silly plan name "its nice of you to offer, but unlike you, if the guards see me in the city I could get sent to prison, a work camp or worse" she shakes her head again. "sorry if im being a downer, I just have a lot on my mind" she sits down and starts to gnaw on a bone