- Adofo, the Sepow Executioner
- Djallon, Ram Warrior
- Mulweri, Tinyeleti Warrior
- Nwa Wa, Zombie Warrior General
“You brought them here?” Yiri, the master craftsman, said with puzzlement on his face. “Why did you even come back here?”
“I was hoping you could help me,” Djallon said, trying to speak privately with Yiri, though the other of the 4Warriors were in the master’s forge as well. “It’s like I told you, I am having trouble getting them to trust me because I came out of nowhere. Well, one of them is having trouble trusting me.”
“Let me guess which,” Yiri said, looking at Nwa Wa who seemed to be staring at them behind her pale mask.
“I met the Vodun Jo!” Djallon said with enthusiasm. “And she congratulated us on being the new team of 4Warriors. I did it Yiri, and it’s all thanks to your armor. She asked us to meet her in the Smiting Chamber on the Disc of Sakpata to lead forces in a fight in another realm…”
“Was that the point of the Inkanyamba, then?” Yiri asked curiously. “Interesting, but I still don’t understand why you are here. If the Vodun Jo has anointed you one of the 4, then who cares what that scary woman in the mask thinks.”
“The mission is a dangerous one,” Djallon explained. “I need the trust of my companions before we report to the Smiting Chamber. I am thankful for this armor that you built, and it will truly be legendary after we are victorious against an enemy that frightens the Vodun and threatens the Fonlands.”
“From another realm?” Yiri asked with surprise. “The Vodun are afraid of something, I am aware of that, but the details have eluded me. Promise me that once you return, you will come back here and tell me everything. Then I will talk to your warrior friends.”
“Of course, Yiri,” Djallon said.
Yiri stood before the other three warriors, only two of which were paying any attention. Adofo, the Golden Executioner, was staring at the forge and Yiri’s creations that were in various states of doneness. Mulweri, the Tinyeleti Warrior, was practically holding Adofo back from wandering around and touching things.
“It is truly an honor to be among the legendary 4Warriors of the Fonlands,” Yiri said with a slight bow.
“Why did you send this warrior to intervene with Mulweri’s mission?” Nwa Wa asked. “And how was her armor able to withstand Deads’ Town.”
“The workings of the Vodun of late have been very secretive,” Yiri explained. “There is word that the true Legba returned to the Fonlands, and since that time, Gu has been hold up in his workshop, ordering the production of many weapons and other things in numbers that would accommodate an extremely large army. Unfortunately, only the craftsmen currently working with Gu are aware of the details and they don’t leave Gu’s armory. I must admit that I feel slighted to not be among them, I am the only craftsmen capable of doing what I have done for Djallon, and I when I heard tell that Mulweri was on a mission from Jo on the Disc of Xevioso, I couldn’t help but send a noble warrior in my armor to take part. Hopefully the Vodun will take notice and my considerable talents will be tapped.”
“You are hungry for fame,” Mulweri said, “that is understandable. We all want to be remembered in the legendary stories of the Fonlands and it seems that we are entering a truly remarkable period in our history.”
“Djallon’s armor is most impressive,” Yiri said. “Since you are all here, I am happy to whip something up for each of you before you report to the Smiting Chamber. Just be sure to tell everyone who outfitted you all.”
“I know that you are only desirous of besting someone who currently enjoys a better reputation than yourself,” Nwa Wa said. “But I will let you use me if you can make me something like Dijon’s armor…”
“You know my name!” Djallon interjected.
“Armor that can withstand Deads’s Town is the most valuable armor in the Fonlands. Do that for all of us.”
“No thanks for me,” Adofo said, surprising everyone who had assumed he was distracted. “The armor of a Golden Executioner is top notch. Djallon’s armor is not as impressive as what I currently wear and I am not interested in a downgrade.”
“Can you survive Deads’ Town in your golden armor?” Mulweri asked.
“I don’t know what Deads’ Town is, but I’m sure I could,” Adofo said confidently.
“Ignore the golden idiot,” Nwa Wa said. “I’m sure he will not survive very long in the coming conflict, but make him something, too. I’m sure he won’t balk at it if it’s primarily made of gold.”
“I am happy to oblige,” Yiri said. “Make yourselves at home while I work. I will have you on your way to the Smiting Chamber in no time.”
Yiri left them eagerly to start his work. Mulweri and Adofo wandered around the workshop and Nwa Wa approached Djallon.
“You realize that you are being used?” Nwa Wa asked her.
“By Yiri? Yes, I do realize. And now we all are because you will wear his armor.”
“That is me taking advantage of the situation at hand. We are being sent to battle something that the Vodun fear, meaning we do not have an easy road ahead and we should take every advantage available to us. But Yiri is not telling us something, and since you are about as bright as the golden idiot, I assume that he is not telling you something either. This can’t just be about his reputation. He knows too much about the workings of the Vodun, and if even his Vodun has not recruited him in this effort, then he knows what he knows through subterfuge. Who is this master craftsman and what has he done to lose the favor of your Vodun?”
Nwa Wa walked away to leave Djallon with her thoughts.
The 4 Warriors arrived wide-eyed to the Smiting Chamber. There were Vodun there, powerful Fonlanders, and beings from other realms and the majority of them were in awe of the experience. Not Nwa Wa.
“You’re telling me that you expect us, Mulweri and I and two fonlanders that we just met, to face a threat that kills entire realms?” Nwa Wa was yelling, but she recognized the urgency of the situation and she did have respect for many of the Fonlanders that were present, including the Supreme Mmoatia Tracia, Pultine, and Ahdis, so she managed to control the volume of her voice, but it was clear from every other part of her that she extremely angry and yelling.
“She’s not wrong,” an Earther said. None of the 4Warriors had ever seen Earthers in person before going to the Smiting Chamber and they were all surprised that there was nothing particularly extraordinary about any of them. They were just a different thing. The Earther that agreed with Nwa Wa was a woman called Alia and the Zombie Warrior General smiled at her, the only smile that the Smiting Chamber saw from her in the time that she was there.
“It’s not ideal,” the Vodun Jo said and Age and Agbe both nodded in agreement, “but it is necessary. It is why I assembled the 4Warriors, your collective has proven effective, it is why the paradigm exists. The last time the Fonlands faced an existential threat like this, the Luminary Obea assembled the original 4Warriors to bury the Death Witches on Age’s Disc.”
“Thank you for that, by the way,” Age said jokingly.
“Its true,” Jo admitted, “we are not sending the best contingent of soldiers at our disposal on this mission, but we decided that we should send the best leader of warriors who are not in this room, which is why I had the idea to have Mulweri get the Inkanyamba. You are 4Warriors with a powerful ally in the Inkanyamba and I think that ensures your safety, even if we lose a lot of the fighting force. But we think that you all can be successful which is why we are ready to do this now. We are not sending you all to slaughter, but it is true that this is all a test to gauge the true might of the threat we face. We want to help this realm that is in peril, that is the most important thing, and we will be ready to back you up if needed. Please do not take this as an insult, it is a great compliment that we want you all to succeed. We do believe in you.”
Nwa Wa believed the Vodun Jo, but she was not happy with the team assembled.
“Adofo is an idiot, he cannot lead forces,” she said angrily. “And Dajax is a fool of another kind. You only have two fonlanders here who can do what you are asking.”
“You underestimate the members of your collective,” Agbe said. “We knew who was coming to the Smiting Chamber, we are Vodun. We left this up to Mulweri essentially to bring us the four of you, but we also looked into you before you arrived. General, you and Mulweri are seasoned warriors and your exploits demonstrate that. Adofo may not seem like a general to you, but he has trained countless Golden executioners in his time and he is an excellent commander of his peers. Djallon, who you apparently think is called Dajax, is a mighty warrior of the Disc of Gu who rages as much as the most aggressive fonlander of that disc, but has unparalleled control of her rage. She has never lost a battle, but she has also never initiated one, which to me is much more impressive considering where she is from. You are the four and we are honored to have you lead this mission.”
“I feel like we should say that some of us will be going as well,” Age added. “Ahdis, Tracia and Metatron, the Transverse Wazad will join your forces to experience this first hand as well. If I thought this was a suicide mission, the mmoatia would not be going. General Nwa, I hope that you understand that we put real thought into this and we want this to be successful, but we also want to be honest about the situation.”
“Of course I will go,” Nwa Wa said angrily. “I have respected the 4Warriors duty for a long time and I have always done my duty. It is good to know that you all are doing yours.” She bowed and then stormed away from the group, not to anywhere in particular because she had never been to the Smiting Chamber before and didn’t know a specific place to storm off to, but she left to stand alone next to a stone wall while the other warriors bowed to accept their mission.
The 4Warriors will return in Talj Junction Crossover!
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