—3rd Person POV—
Obliterating the cultists in a matter of minutes, the civilians and leadership were brought before Cole. Sitting on a throne made of the corpses of the dead, Cole stared at them as the infamous relic was handed to him by one of his soldiers. Examining the scepter for a moment, Cole looked at the Pope specifically with an annoyed expression.
“All of this for a fucking paperweight and a half-baked ideology.”, he remarked handing the rod to Bolton, “I entrust this to you, have your men repair it and disenchant it. Once it’s done, I will return it to Faubrey…no nation needs to carry a dangerous weapon like that. It should be preserved in a museum for everyone to admire, few relics like this exist and it should be made available for the public to see.”
“Of course, aside from minor physical damage, this is a pretty, well-crafted item!”, Bolton chuckled as he placed a specialized magnifying glass next to the scepter., “Never seen these runes before, looks like I have something to do for a few weeks!”
Handing it over to his assistant, Bolton ordered him to take it directly to his workshop for processing. Warning the man to be careful with it, the young halfling quickly scurried off to put it in his boss’ private vault.
“Now on to you lot…”, Cole spat pointing to the civilians, “Do you have any idea the amount of suffering and pain you caused? All of you have tormented Nonhumans for decades because of your devotion to a non-existent God! The Gods of this world died thousands of years ago during a conflict with other worlds, there are none left to hear your prayers or dispense Divine Punishment on heathens. I have spent a good deal of time searching for them, and I have only found one of their faithful servants trapped in a pocket dimension.”
Calling Cis from my home, she stepped out and bowed her head to the civilians. Having her tell them and the world about what happened to the Gods, all of them needed to know the truth to help prevent this in the future. Once Cis had told them everything she knew, the civilians looked devastated as reality hit them like a runaway carriage. Realizing that they had done horrible, unspeakable things for a God that was long since dead…the civilians looked at the Church’s Leadership in disdain.
Many of them had given their bodies and every copper they had to the Church hoping to receive God’s Blessings. Now that the wool was removed from their eyes, they saw the Church for what it really was. While they stood there in rags and filthy robes, the leaders were wearing the finest clothing money could buy. They starved themselves and their families, and the Church ate like fat pigs.
Turning to me, they bowed their heads and pleaded for their lives. Saying they were blinded by the sweet words of the Church, all of them swore they’d never harm another Demihuman as long as they lived. Hoping they could avoid being killed like the soldiers, their hearts dropped the moment he started laughing at them.
“HAHA!”, Cole laughed with amusement, “You think a cheap ‘I am sorry’ is going to fix everything? The families you tore apart have no homes to go to, no money to their names, and no way to rebuild their lives! Don’t try to shift the blame onto these scammers, all of you willingly went along with it even though your conscious told you it was wrong! The families watching this right now almost certainly did nothing to harm you, but you treated them as if they’d killed your entire family right before your eyes. You don’t get to walk away from owning up for your actions.”
Healing the civilians with magic, Cole ordered all of them to be placed in chains. Tightly chaining all of them together, their punishment was told to them immediately.
“All of you will be sold to the Slavers in Siltvelt, and your sale prices will be split among the families you harmed. This is the bare minimum you can do to repay them!”, Cole proclaimed, “In fact, I will take it one step further…all of you will be cursed to live till you are one hundred years of age. Nothing will be able to kill you no matter how hard your Masters push you, only old age may claim your lives.”
Cursing them just as he promised, a brand appeared on all of their necks. Displaying the amount of time they had left till death would take them, they looked at each other in horror. Pleading for him to reconsider a lighter punishment, Cole instantly started to Force Choke one of the men with Telekinesis. Hoisting him off the ground for a few moments, Cole told all of them that there was no negotiating the punishment.
“I hope your Masters starve you for months on end and watch you suffer! Get these filthy animals out of my sight at once!”, Cole commanded as he let the man fall to the ground.
Dragging them away, one of the Battle Trolls forcibly dragged them from his view. Turning to the leadership, Cole cursed them so that they couldn’t lie to him. Forcing all of them to tell all the dirty secrets the Church had, all of them started crying as they spoke knowing that they were digging their own graves. Prattling on for over an hour, they finally finished telling Cole everything they knew.
“All of you are disgusting!”, Cis hissed in anger, “None of the Gods or Goddesses I knew would have ever condoned your actions! How dare you insinuate that you are going God’s Work! I spent centuries helping people of every race because that is what my Lord wished, to hear you speak of the horrendous actions you did…I can’t believe humans like you exist!”
“Cis, as the ringleaders in this atrocity, what should their punishment be?”, Cole inquired.
“Send them to Hell…”, she replied in a cold tone, “Even Hell isn’t fitting enough punishment for you!”
Agreeing with her assessment, Cole stood up from his seat and created a large magic circle beneath them. Watching flames start to flare up from around the etchings, the Pope began screaming for me to just kill them. Shaking my head, I told him that we were far past that point now.
“I am sending you to a very special person that excels in tormenting souls like yours.”, Cole snickered.
Hearing a portal open behind them, they turned back to a man in a black, skin-tight suit with glowing green eyes appear. Cracking his neck with annoyance, he looked at them with a stern expression.
“I thought I told you to call ahead next time…”, Spawn complained as he approached Cole.
“And I thought I told you to stop being an ugly motherfucker, but here you stand.”, Cole replied with a smirk.
Staring at each other for a minute, the two men had a firm handshake before they started laughing. Having spoken on several occasions, when Cole sent people to Hell as Avos, the two of them considered each other friends.
“So this the latest batch of motherfuckers you want to be tormented?”, Spawn asked looking at them, “Bunch of fucking, lying assholes by the looks of it, never did like holy men.”
“Yes, the usual arrangement?”, Cole inquired.
“You know it, I will call you when I need you to watch over Hell for me.”, Spawn replied as his chains shot out and ensnared the group, “I have a special place for people he sends me, we have all sorts of fun toys for fuckers like you…the ones that turn you inside out are especially fun.”
Screaming for forgiveness as he dragged them behind him, they swore they’d change their ways. Seeing the Devils and Demons that Spawn had trapped on the other side of the portal, all let out terrified screams as the portal closed behind them.
—Cole POV—
“Good Riddance to trash like that.”, I sighed looking at my group, “Alright Drakken, I want troops sent to check the surrounding settlements. If there is any damage done by the Church’s people, see to it that they are addressed. Bolton, I need plans drawn up for several city layouts and costs associated with construction. The families on the ramparts will need a place to sleep and raise their families in my territory.”
“We adding more settlements to the Special Region?”, Bolton inquired.
“That depends on what they want.”, I replied looking up at the ramparts, “All of you are clear to come down, none of us bite…while maybe the Warrior Rabbits do but the rest of us don’t.”
“That was a one-time event asshole!”, Luna’s mother spat as she kicked me in the ass.
“Uh huh…your tribe ambushed me and instead of fighting normally the first thing you do is try to bite me!”, Cole shouted at her, “Even Luna wasn’t that bold, she at least attacked me with a spear!”
Crossing her arms with a scowl on her face, Luna’s mother called me an asshole again before walking away. Joining us down in the meadow, the dignitaries began intermingling with many of my nobles while I spoke with the families. Giving them the option of moving to the Special Region or into my new territory in Melromarc, I wanted them to pick their new home. Quickly talking it over with their families, all of them agreed to stay in Melromarc.
While they weren’t overly excited about it, they wanted to stay here because many of them had extended family here. The humans among them wanted to try and patch things up with their families now that the Church’s influence was gone. Acknowledging their answers, I passed the information along to Bolton so he could start working on it.
“Very well, my first orders as Archduke of Melromarc is as follows…”, I proclaimed loudly, “All races, no matter how big or small, shall be treated equally under the law. Any laws that unfairly punish certain races will no longer be upheld in my land, and those that have been jailed/enslaved by them will be freed by me personally. In my land, there will only be two taxes from now on…what is owed to the Crown and a flat sales tax on purchased goods. Food and Water will not be taxed from here on out, everything else is subject to the sales tax…unless you barter.”
“How much will the Sales Tax be?”, one of the men asked.
“A flat three percent tax, the same as I maintain in the Special Region.”, I answered.
Looking at one another, I could see the shock in their eyes. Having already gone over this with the Queen, she didn’t care so long as the Crown received their standard yearly tax. Lowering the taxes from the twenty to thirty percent they were used to seeing, the extra money they would have would go a long way towards giving them a better quality of life.
“The Sales Tax will allow me to place guards in every planned settlement, pay for better roads, and will be used to buy excess crop yields for any future famines.”, I told them, “Lastly, it will be a requirement that all children be taught to read, write, and do basic math. This is to give future generations a brighter future where they aren’t taken advantage of by shady people.”
Ending the broadcast there, I began intermingling with people till my troops returned from the missions Drakken gave them.
—3rd Person POV—
Obliterating the cultists in a matter of minutes, the civilians and leadership were brought before Cole. Sitting on a throne made of the corpses of the dead, Cole stared at them as the infamous relic was handed to him by one of his soldiers. Examining the scepter for a moment, Cole looked at the Pope specifically with an annoyed expression.
“All of this for a fucking paperweight and a half-baked ideology.”, he remarked handing the rod to Bolton, “I entrust this to you, have your men repair it and disenchant it. Once it’s done, I will return it to Faubrey…no nation needs to carry a dangerous weapon like that. It should be preserved in a museum for everyone to admire, few relics like this exist and it should be made available for the public to see.”
“Of course, aside from minor physical damage, this is a pretty, well-crafted item!”, Bolton chuckled as he placed a specialized magnifying glass next to the scepter., “Never seen these runes before, looks like I have something to do for a few weeks!”
Handing it over to his assistant, Bolton ordered him to take it directly to his workshop for processing. Warning the man to be careful with it, the young halfling quickly scurried off to put it in his boss’ private vault.
“Now on to you lot…”, Cole spat pointing to the civilians, “Do you have any idea the amount of suffering and pain you caused? All of you have tormented Nonhumans for decades because of your devotion to a non-existent God! The Gods of this world died thousands of years ago during a conflict with other worlds, there are none left to hear your prayers or dispense Divine Punishment on heathens. I have spent a good deal of time searching for them, and I have only found one of their faithful servants trapped in a pocket dimension.”
Calling Cis from my home, she stepped out and bowed her head to the civilians. Having her tell them and the world about what happened to the Gods, all of them needed to know the truth to help prevent this in the future. Once Cis had told them everything she knew, the civilians looked devastated as reality hit them like a runaway carriage. Realizing that they had done horrible, unspeakable things for a God that was long since dead…the civilians looked at the Church’s Leadership in disdain.
Many of them had given their bodies and every copper they had to the Church hoping to receive God’s Blessings. Now that the wool was removed from their eyes, they saw the Church for what it really was. While they stood there in rags and filthy robes, the leaders were wearing the finest clothing money could buy. They starved themselves and their families, and the Church ate like fat pigs.
Turning to me, they bowed their heads and pleaded for their lives. Saying they were blinded by the sweet words of the Church, all of them swore they’d never harm another Demihuman as long as they lived. Hoping they could avoid being killed like the soldiers, their hearts dropped the moment he started laughing at them.
“HAHA!”, Cole laughed with amusement, “You think a cheap ‘I am sorry’ is going to fix everything? The families you tore apart have no homes to go to, no money to their names, and no way to rebuild their lives! Don’t try to shift the blame onto these scammers, all of you willingly went along with it even though your conscious told you it was wrong! The families watching this right now almost certainly did nothing to harm you, but you treated them as if they’d killed your entire family right before your eyes. You don’t get to walk away from owning up for your actions.”
Healing the civilians with magic, Cole ordered all of them to be placed in chains. Tightly chaining all of them together, their punishment was told to them immediately.
“All of you will be sold to the Slavers in Siltvelt, and your sale prices will be split among the families you harmed. This is the bare minimum you can do to repay them!”, Cole proclaimed, “In fact, I will take it one step further…all of you will be cursed to live till you are one hundred years of age. Nothing will be able to kill you no matter how hard your Masters push you, only old age may claim your lives.”
Cursing them just as he promised, a brand appeared on all of their necks. Displaying the amount of time they had left till death would take them, they looked at each other in horror. Pleading for him to reconsider a lighter punishment, Cole instantly started to Force Choke one of the men with Telekinesis. Hoisting him off the ground for a few moments, Cole told all of them that there was no negotiating the punishment.
“I hope your Masters starve you for months on end and watch you suffer! Get these filthy animals out of my sight at once!”, Cole commanded as he let the man fall to the ground.
Dragging them away, one of the Battle Trolls forcibly dragged them from his view. Turning to the leadership, Cole cursed them so that they couldn’t lie to him. Forcing all of them to tell all the dirty secrets the Church had, all of them started crying as they spoke knowing that they were digging their own graves. Prattling on for over an hour, they finally finished telling Cole everything they knew.
“All of you are disgusting!”, Cis hissed in anger, “None of the Gods or Goddesses I knew would have ever condoned your actions! How dare you insinuate that you are going God’s Work! I spent centuries helping people of every race because that is what my Lord wished, to hear you speak of the horrendous actions you did…I can’t believe humans like you exist!”
“Cis, as the ringleaders in this atrocity, what should their punishment be?”, Cole inquired.
“Send them to Hell…”, she replied in a cold tone, “Even Hell isn’t fitting enough punishment for you!”
Agreeing with her assessment, Cole stood up from his seat and created a large magic circle beneath them. Watching flames start to flare up from around the etchings, the Pope began screaming for me to just kill them. Shaking my head, I told him that we were far past that point now.
“I am sending you to a very special person that excels in tormenting souls like yours.”, Cole snickered.
Hearing a portal open behind them, they turned back to a man in a black, skin-tight suit with glowing green eyes appear. Cracking his neck with annoyance, he looked at them with a stern expression.
“I thought I told you to call ahead next time…”, Spawn complained as he approached Cole.
“And I thought I told you to stop being an ugly motherfucker, but here you stand.”, Cole replied with a smirk.
Staring at each other for a minute, the two men had a firm handshake before they started laughing. Having spoken on several occasions, when Cole sent people to Hell as Avos, the two of them considered each other friends.
“So this the latest batch of motherfuckers you want to be tormented?”, Spawn asked looking at them, “Bunch of fucking, lying assholes by the looks of it, never did like holy men.”
“Yes, the usual arrangement?”, Cole inquired.
“You know it, I will call you when I need you to watch over Hell for me.”, Spawn replied as his chains shot out and ensnared the group, “I have a special place for people he sends me, we have all sorts of fun toys for fuckers like you…the ones that turn you inside out are especially fun.”
Screaming for forgiveness as he dragged them behind him, they swore they’d change their ways. Seeing the Devils and Demons that Spawn had trapped on the other side of the portal, all let out terrified screams as the portal closed behind them.
—Cole POV—
“Good Riddance to trash like that.”, I sighed looking at my group, “Alright Drakken, I want troops sent to check the surrounding settlements. If there is any damage done by the Church’s people, see to it that they are addressed. Bolton, I need plans drawn up for several city layouts and costs associated with construction. The families on the ramparts will need a place to sleep and raise their families in my territory.”
“We adding more settlements to the Special Region?”, Bolton inquired.
“That depends on what they want.”, I replied looking up at the ramparts, “All of you are clear to come down, none of us bite…while maybe the Warrior Rabbits do but the rest of us don’t.”
“That was a one-time event asshole!”, Luna’s mother spat as she kicked me in the ass.
“Uh huh…your tribe ambushed me and instead of fighting normally the first thing you do is try to bite me!”, Cole shouted at her, “Even Luna wasn’t that bold, she at least attacked me with a spear!”
Crossing her arms with a scowl on her face, Luna’s mother called me an asshole again before walking away. Joining us down in the meadow, the dignitaries began intermingling with many of my nobles while I spoke with the families. Giving them the option of moving to the Special Region or into my new territory in Melromarc, I wanted them to pick their new home. Quickly talking it over with their families, all of them agreed to stay in Melromarc.
While they weren’t overly excited about it, they wanted to stay here because many of them had extended family here. The humans among them wanted to try and patch things up with their families now that the Church’s influence was gone. Acknowledging their answers, I passed the information along to Bolton so he could start working on it.
“Very well, my first orders as Archduke of Melromarc is as follows…”, I proclaimed loudly, “All races, no matter how big or small, shall be treated equally under the law. Any laws that unfairly punish certain races will no longer be upheld in my land, and those that have been jailed/enslaved by them will be freed by me personally. In my land, there will only be two taxes from now on…what is owed to the Crown and a flat sales tax on purchased goods. Food and Water will not be taxed from here on out, everything else is subject to the sales tax…unless you barter.”
“How much will the Sales Tax be?”, one of the men asked.
“A flat three percent tax, the same as I maintain in the Special Region.”, I answered.
Looking at one another, I could see the shock in their eyes. Having already gone over this with the Queen, she didn’t care so long as the Crown received their standard yearly tax. Lowering the taxes from the twenty to thirty percent they were used to seeing, the extra money they would have would go a long way towards giving them a better quality of life.
“The Sales Tax will allow me to place guards in every planned settlement, pay for better roads, and will be used to buy excess crop yields for any future famines.”, I told them, “Lastly, it will be a requirement that all children be taught to read, write, and do basic math. This is to give future generations a brighter future where they aren’t taken advantage of by shady people.”
Ending the broadcast there, I began intermingling with people till my troops returned from the missions Drakken gave them.
