Welcome Parties Part I

The ride from the gates of the Verdahead Plantation to the manor house took nearly an hour. Jerry was amazed at the enormity of it all. The road was lined with trees Jerry's HUD identified as < Pixie Hive Oaks > and < Sprite Elms >. An endless rows of tall, shady, aromatic, old growth broke only to make an opening for a vast field of row crops or an orchard of mana rich fruits and nuts, or occasionally a lone tree surrounded by a stone wall. These lonely trees were enormous in their size towering over all the other plant life in the area. Jerry had seen the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest, and these titanic flora which Jerry's HUD called < Worldgate Trees > would have towered over anything growing in that forest.

Everywhere his carriage passed, Jerry saw green skinned bodies toiling naked in the fields under the watchful eye of demihumans wearing practical well made garments sitting atop giant lizards of both four and two legged varieties making liberal use of their whips. At first, the sight of such casual brutality unsettled Jerry, then his HUD pointed out to Jerry that the whips were enchanted to cast Haste, Boost, and Surge on their targets. Jerry also noticed that none of the orcs or goblins appeared to have any scars and once he noticed it, Jerry could not stop noticing how quickly a greenskin can go from bleeding from a torn open back like Abby had been back to being whole and unblemished.

The orcs and goblins were not always working alone. Monstrous creatures of every shape and size worked under the violent direction of the greenskins put in charge of them. These monsters were usually in their natural bodies and only occasionally toiled in their humanoid forms.

The produce changed, but the hierarchy repeated itself. Demihuman overseers managed gangs of orcs and goblins who in turn treated the monsters under their charge like cattle in both the sense of being used as beasts of burden and in the sense that many of the monsters were being raised for their meat, hides, and horns, hooves, and other products which Jerry preferred not to imagine.

Having formulated a mostly true cover story for Titania and after a crash course on protocol by Freynika and Jenina, Jerry retreated to his bedroom where his clothes had been laid out, and summoned Abby Rodent. "Help me get dressed." Commanded Jerry. Abby nodded and began to work quickly at the complex series of buttons. "How are you?"

"This **** is able bodied and capable of performing whatever task Master requires of it."
"You are not an 'it'." said Jerry. "You are a beautiful young lady who has been through an awful trauma. But it is going to be fine. Show me your back." Abby turned around and removed her dress. The healing magics of Jerry's containment cube did their best to heal the demi-human, but the whip that was used on Abby had been enchanted to cause aggravated damage in order to maximize the victim's suffering and to leave lasting scars resistant to magical healing.
Jerry cast Heal. Abby let out a breath of shock before tears of joy started falling from her eyes as pain so persistent that the mind blocks it out suddenly vanished and an agony that Abby did not even realize that she was feeling simply flowed away. Jerry watched as healthy fresh skin replaced scar tissue. The whip's feeble enchantments being no match for Jerry's Magical Mastery. "There. I wish that scars of the mind were as easy to heal as the ones on the body, but I promise you that as long as you belong to me, no one will ever hurt you like that ever again." Jerry buttoned the mouse-girl's dress back up and kissed her on the top of the head. "Now, lets get me looking all fancy for The Brigadier."
"Yes, Master." said Abby with a smile.

***

The carriage rounded the decorative fountain with jumping mermaid performers to come to a stop in front of Verdahead Manor's grand entrance. Abraham Valwaaroo, his family, and their closest retainers waited as six bannermen exited the carriage, laid out a red carpet, and stomped their feet and hit their standards to the ground which was the signal for Bellanna, Kendrhea, and Freynika to exit the carriage representing the triachs of strength, cunning, and wisdom respectively. The trio inspected the area. """Pax.""" said the three advance guards which was the signal for the herald to exit the carriage.

Maylynn walked out of the carriage and up to her former family. The holstaur was now had piercings in her horns, ears, and septum that sported master crafted rings that matched the cowgirls collar which all rang with the music of enchanted bells that the listener could help but find delightful and soothing. "My Most Exalted Master, Jerry of Oxnard, freeblade dungeon delver and his companions the elven ranger Titania of Ulthwendaguo and the ladies Sasha, Chloe and Zoe of Stoneford offer you peace and present unto your august House gifts of friendship."

This surprised Abraham. Isaac and Dina had described the stranger as a penniless yokel of no education or manners, and upjumped crypt-rake fresh off of the farm being used as disposable fodder by an elf who said that she was on her adventure, but Abraham thought was more likely a refugee. Nothing Abraham had seen of the man earlier that morning had dissuaded the brigadier from that notion. Now here he was presenting himself as a gentleman, though one without title, and rather than asking for hospitality and being given lodgings as a supplicant accepting magnanimity from a superior, the young man was offered peace and presented gifts, something one does if they wish to convey that they are someone who expects no charity and demands respect. "We are happy to accept his generosity."

Two hulking bipedal bovines sparking with ice and fire magic each carried a massive chest down from the carriage, placed the ornate wooden boxes on the ground with a heavy THUD, and returned to the carriage. Abraham backed up as his footmen opened the boxes, his bodyguards and wizards checked the gift chests for traps and once the security team gave the all clear, Abraham was free to look in amazement. One chest was filled with silks, jewelry, and baubles sitting on a bed of rare mana gems. Both master crafted crystals that required premium ingredients to produce and exotic stones that can only be mined from the most dangerous of wyld zones. Abraham recognized a few of the gems as being found only in the wake of the living mountains of The Tohu. Abraham tried to do the math of how many years of income this chest represented before examining the other chest and finding himself in awe at what he was seeing.

Palutena bows, seven league lances, seeker whips, mithril chainmail, Shoguntai wandjians spell swords, all of them mastercrafted, all of them infused with more bespoke enchantments than Abraham thought was possible to infuse into a single item, and to top it all off. "Dad, All of these are Holy. All of them autocast Bind and Capture."
"I know, Zohar." said Abraham to his daughter. "Who is this guy?"

"We should probably invite him in and find out." said Zohar before straightening her clerical vestments.

"We graciously accept your master's generous gifts. We cordially request his presence and offer him the warmest of hospitality." said Abraham. The Bannermen hit their standard poles three times on the ground, which was the signal for Jerry to exit the coach and the ladies to exit the coach.

The gold thread of the party's outfits shimmered in the late morning light. The three ladies of Stoneford wore what was in fashion in their home on the west end. Sasha's dress borrowing heavily from the traditional attire of the Tohu nomads while the twins preferred to dress in the styles that were supposed to be all the rage in The Pharaoh's ever growing empire. Titania wore a sheer robe over her enchanted bikini. For his part, Jerry was not sure if he was a cowboy's idea of a French fop or an aristocrat's idea of a wealthy frontiersman, but Jerry thought his outfit was a bit strange, though for all of the strangeness of it, the ensemble was not without style. "Greetings." said Jerry, offering his hand.

"You sure know how to make an entrance, son." said Abraham, giving Jerry a firm, friendly handshake. "Let me introduce you. This is my wife, Greta." the Brigadier gestured to a woman visibly pregnant who looked at least thirty if not forty years younger than her husband. "My mother-in-Law, Regina, who like so many others has decided to welcome prince Rabadash to our country." Jerry could not help but think that they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.

"My sister, Elisa and her husband, Ishmael, and their daughters Sabine and Czarla whose age coming gala happens to be tomorrow." The twin girls blushed nervously as their father grinned with pride.
"We wanted to time the festivities to coinside with the prince's arrival, but sea travel being what it is." said Ishmael with a shrug.

"My brother Simeon, his wife, Kara, and his concubines Zelda, Daisy, Betty and Veronica and their children Taylor, Jordan, Emma, Frida, Monica, and Leah." Abraham grimaced at the mention of the concubines, resulting in Simeon's laughter.
"The old codger will never get past the fact that some people prefer the orthodox lifestyle. That is some amazing hardware you just gave away. You married? All of the ladies here are hoping to catch the eye of the prince and become one of his wives. I tried to have the clerics explain the difference between a wife and a concubine and it all sounded like a lot of manatechincal babel that boiled down to you can swap and trade concubines but you cannot swap and trade wives. You never answered my question, you married?"
"umm. No." said Jerry as he suspected that Simeon was a bit on the spectrum.
"Well then, Doooo please make yourself welcome on the third floor of the east wing. It looks like The Prince is going to find himself in competition for..."
"Simeon, why don't you and your ladies check to see if the groxtaur is ready, and if it is, start eating, we will be a long shortly." said Abraham in clipped syllables of a man under stress dealing with difficult relatives.
"Alright." said Simeon.
"Loquacious." said Jerry. Abraham laughed at that.

"You have met Ashur and Isaac." The two brothers nodded. "This is my son, Zebulon." A quiet shy young man looked up, smiled, and nodded at the strangers looking uncomfortable until suddenly Zebulon Valwaaroo was thunderstruck by the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The young man could not explain it, but looking at the woman's almond shaped eyes like sapphires, her skin of amber and her hair of gold with a smile that made the sun seem dim by comparison made him experience feelings stronger and purer than anything Zebulon Valwaaroo had experienced before. In that moment, Zebulon wanted to know the lady's name, he wanted to know her favorite food, he wanted to know her favorite song, favorite book, he wanted to know what kind of flowers she wanted at their wedding, he wanted to know if she wanted to raise their kids in the country or in one of the big cities like Kingshome, Babelgard, or Stoneford. In that moment of love at first sight, Zebulon saw the woman of his dreams and decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Titania hid her giggles behind her hands, she had never experienced a human falling in love. It was quite the rare delicacy which might be described as sweet and savory if one were trying to use food terminology to explain differentials in psychoemotional motonic wave forms.

"You three look familiar." said Isaac.
"I would think so, considering what you did to us yesterday." said one of the twins. "Were you so busy getting off with your candles and clamps that you did not even look at us long enough to remember our faces?"
"Ohh. Wow. The human **** girls Herr Seamus pawned to the stranger. Cleaned up nicely, you is. Prettiest slaves I can see." said Isaac with a lascivious grin.
"You see any collars on our necks? We are not slaves anymore." Chloe, or Zoe, wrapped herself around Jerry, act which Zoe, or Chloe followed. "Jerry freed us. Said humans should not be in bondage and removed our collars."

"Is that true? You were a ****?" asked Zebulon.
It took a few moments for Sasha to realize that his question was directed towards her. "Yes." answered Sasha.
"I am terribly sorry." said Zebulon. "I would not ask, but would you be willing to be interviewed for The Chronicle?"
"What?" A confused Sasha asked.
"I am the editor in chief of The Marchland Chronicle. We have been doing an ongoing investigation into the rise of human trafficking and the proliferation of **** collars that work on people. You could really help us to put a human face to the issue."
"Me? I'm just a nobody from the West End of Stoneford."
"Nonsense, everybody is a somebody, it is just a matter of telling their story well. If you are from the West End, then do you know Cantandotos on Mewthree street, the noodle shop where they have the live glowing squidcarps swimming in the soup broth?"
"Yes! They are good, but the crabao shop across the street is to die for." said Sasha as a smile grew across her face. "You spend a lot of time in the West End?"
"Not as much as I should. The Family's main townhouse is in the Northeast Ward." said Zebulon.
"Well of course it is." said Sasha. A family like this would not imagine owning a residence anywhere but the classiest and most posh district in the city.
"But a reporter who wants the interesting story knows that the best news comes into the city from The West End. The East Side is so boring. All the streets are neat, prim, clean, and proper. The West End is alive, the music, the food, the dancing, the rodeos..."
"The gangs, the **** addicts, the ****, the tenements sprawling out into the Tohu packed with people that have been pushed to the edge of the civilized world." said Sasha.
"That to." said Zebulon. "I have people on my staff who like writing about whose daughter is marrying the heir to what estate and folks who studied fashion with at a fancy guild hall. I know that there are people who think that kind of news is important, and they are paying customers, but more people need to read the news that matters, the stories about real people with real struggles. They need..."
Abraham smiled with delight to see his son so animated and engaged with a young woman,

"You met Dina." said Abraham, gesturing to the young woman. Jerry remembered was ready to bite his head off last night. "These are my daughters Zohar, Mary, and Beth." The four ladies curtsied. Zohar was dressed in the robes and decorative chains of a clerical order while Mary and Beth turned out to be twins. Jerry began to wonder if twins were just more common in this world when he felt Abraham's arm on him and the old man giving Jerry a slap on the shoulders.
"We were just about to enjoy ourselves a cookout. We would be delighted for y'all to join us for some groxtaur steaks and rotisserie chipoultry with grilled mana-corn and fried potatoes."