The Nine Witches (IC, TWI Only)

[Athara Magarat]

OOC

The Nine Witches

A Mysterious Case in Athara Magarat and the Western Isles

The Kham Magars, the main ethnic group of Athara Magarat, are predominately animist/shamanistic/nature worshipers/ancestor worshipers by religion. They have many myths and legends which have been passed down from one generation to another by oral stories, songs, dances, poems and literature. Among those myths and legends is the poem-story of the Nine Witch Sisters.

It is said that the apsara/angel goddess was angered by how humans were wicked, selfish and evil and destroying the nature. So as to punish the humans, she sent the Nine Witch Sisters, who had gained supernatural powers, to bring diseases and disasters upon the humans who had sinned. The humans sent a shaman (the uncle of the sisters) to kill the witches. He killed his sister's nine daughters but their souls remained on earth. And it is said that in present time, their souls are looking for vessels similar to them, possibly women who want to rid of evil-doers.

Rules:
>No god-modding.
>Only TWI, especially new folks to our region. And you have to post you character in OOC page first.
>Maximum of 2 characters per nation.
>I know what the tile says but this is a mystery/murder investigation rp. No magic.
>We will decide the action of the "witch/es" OOC.
>Remember this is to help develop your rp skills without jeopardizing major rp conflicts of TWI. So please take advice and suggestions with a positive note. Also TG me if I get too harsh or autocratic.

[Athara Magarat]

Anadit Sarrah.

That's the name of the diplomat whom Alisha Poon and her squad were supposed to guard. The diplomat from the relatively unknown (i.e. to Athara Magaratis) nation of Perawin was staying at Hotel Takdah, an old hotel based on traditional Atish architecture. It was located at the outskirts of Ghale Town, a cosmopolitan touristic town of 12,000 Ghale, Tamu, Kham Magars, Atish, Khas, British and other ethnic groups . Due to the well-known fact that Athara Magarat had a small 1 million population and half of them resided on the two major cities: the capital New Libang and industrial city of Myagdi Island; the locality around the hotel was a silent one. There were only a few houses and most of the nearest ones were about half a kilometer away.

Hotel Takdah was owned by a rich Athara Magarati Englishman and his Ghale wife.

Alisha and her squad-mates: Jeevan Baskota, Pravin Moktan and Emily McCabe were supposed to check other guests or tourists at the hotel and wait for Anadit's arrival. As planned, Alish and Emily, the two girls in the squad, would be bodyguards for the Perawinian. Jeevan and Pravin would guard the hotel premises after that. For now, the four of them stood at the hotel gate.

The four of them were all eighteen-year-old teenagers doing their conscription in the Athara Magarat National Army and did not hold any rank. Alisha was from the dominant Kham Magar ethnic group. She had large almond eyes, pale skin and straight black hair. Emily was of Scottish descent. Athara Magarati British were common in the republic. They were mostly descendants of British officers, sailors and merchants. She was blonde and had green eyes. There was Jeevan, a pale curly brown-haired Brahmin boy of Khas ethnicity and Pravin, the Tamang boy with spiky straight hair and slanted eyes.

Only a handful of tourists had arrived at the hotel if a group of Grade 10 students and teachers from a secondary school in Kirat Town was excluded. After Anadit Sarrah had arrived at 7:00 pm, Alisha and Emily accompanied her.

The dinner was served at 9:00 pm. It was traditional Nepali meal with mixtures from Thakali, Newari, British and Atish cuisine for everyone. The girls had to explain to Anadit that Hotel Takdah was a small business hotel and that most small hotels around Athara Magarat usually served their food to tourists at specific time. They, accompanied by Jeevan and Pravin, who had stayed at the gate the whole day, discussed the Perawinian's schedule for the next day.

The diplomat commented that the dinner was good. The four teenagers doing military service had to agree with her. The dinner was quite good.

[Athara Magarat]

My head hurts.

Alisha opened her right eye and then her left eye as well. The room was dimly-lit but she could see that there were eight other people as well, including Anadit Sarrah. She breathed a sigh of relief when she came to know that the diplomat was okay.

"You are the last one to wake up, army sis", spoke a boy with dyed blonde hair. He went on speaking. "Since you were unconscious until now, I will repeat this again. We nine are locked in this storeroom. I say it's a storeroom cause there's only way out which is a metallic door and that's locked. There are no windows but there seems to some small opening somewhere form where we are getting this breathing air."

"You are pretty smart for a kid", remarked Alisha.

"I checked all that while you were sleeping like an airhead."

"What did you say punk?"

"Nothing", snorted the boy. "And the strangest thing of all is this laptop." He pointed at a MIC (Myagdi Island Computers) laptop which was open. Alisha had failed to notice the laptop before and it was right in front of her at the center of the room on top of a stool. The laptop had a screen which was running a countdown. 20:12. 20:11.

"As you see this laptop has a timer for something. I checked the laptop but it doesn't work. It only shows that countdown. We have 20 minutes for something. Maybe this is all a prank and we will be released when the countdown stops."

"Maybe!" exclaimed Alisha. "Until then let's introduce ourselves. I am Alisha Poon, currently doing compulsory military service at the national army."

"Wilson Kulung", replied the dyed-blonde boy without blinking his eye.

"A Kirati, huh?"

"Yep."

After that Alisha looked at others to get their introductions and pass the time till the countdown.

[Perawin]

"You already know who I am," Anadit intoned quietly. "Anadit Sarrah."
She had eaten dinner last night calmly but, in a blink, it had all changed. It was too fast for nerves to set in; she was dangerously calm and collected. Anadit turned to Alisha. She seemed to be in charge, and, unconsciously, Anadit realized she had deferred to her.

No! You are a Periwinian emissary. You do not defer! This was her first diplomatic posting, and already, it was outside of protocol. The faces of the others trapped in the small storeroom blurred together, the two that Anadit assessed seem to have the most value being Alisha and Wilson. She looked at the countdown, the flashing of numbers burning through her pupils.

[Upper Norseland]

Tyrvald opened his eyes slowly, deliberately, and glanced around the room blearily. Attempting to sit up, he groaned and rubbed his temple, trying to stop the throbbing and keep the room from spinning out of control.
"For faen..." he muttered quietly to himself and grabbed for the amulet at his neck, to find nothing but the coarse wool of his shirt beneath his fingers. "Hvar?" Sitting up suddenly and gazing around the room rapidly, he soon fixed his gaze on the girl in the uniform. Her. It had to be. No, wait. The laptop. What was that? A countdown? To what?
Switching to a more common tongue, Tyrvald addressed the his fellow captives. "Who are all of you?" His accent had gotten better, but was still detectable to a trained or experienced ear. Not to mention his slip-up earlier. "What have you done with my amulet?"

[Athara Magarat]

"Old man, I just said my name and I am student." Wilson said to the large blond man. "As for the others ask their names yourself."

Fuck. Wilson knew that this was no prank. He had lied in order to maintain order and so that no one would panic. The army sister was dumbo. She was chatting with this Anna-something woman without realizing the graveness of the situation while most others in the room were silent.

His mind raced as to hypothesize the reasons they were locked in the storeroom. Could be a terrorist work. After all, there had been army recruits like that dumb girl around the hotel and someone important was staying at the hotel. And what's the goddamned timer for? Possibly for their demands to be fulfilled within the given time or else. . . Or else everyone would be killed if this was done by some foreign terrorists.

And great! The only one we could rely on was this army girl and she turns out to be a airhead. Wilson was cursing everything that was happening under his breath.

[Prestatyn]

Reece Preyndor, junior inspector of Prestatyn Yard wrote notes about his surroundings into his department issued note book. This was supposed to be a simple post and just solve some basic crimes and now I'm stuck in here with total strangers. He thought to himself.
He stood from his place in the corner and sat down with the rest of the group.
Hi I'm Reece Preyndor, Prestatyn Yard. So what brings you here to this hotel. I should have known I'd have issues when the reviews said they had poor customer service.

[Perawin]

Devmond wrapped his arm around his new wife. "If you couldn't tell, we're Iresi Perawani, and it's good to know one of our diplomats are here that we can address all of our complaints too. Well, I'm Mr. Devmond Levorane and my wife is Mrs. Ariss Levorane," at hearing her name, Ariss giggled obnoxiously into Dev's shoulder.

"You're so funny!" she gasped. Repulsed, Anadit wrinkled her nose. She know understood where the Iresi stereotype came from. She turned to Alisha and tried to use gestures to communicate that she was sorry for these shameful Perawinians. "Anyways, we're like, on our honeymoon," Mrs. Levorane said. She snuggled her head into the crook of Dev's neck, and Anadit resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at them. "If you want to hear how we met-"

"No, we don't," Anadit snapped. She figured Wilson would have had an even stronger response. "With all due respect, Mr. and Mrs. Levorane, we have a real problem here and if you could be quiet and leave it to the professionals things will go a lot quicker."

[Athara Magarat]

What the fuck? This Anna-woman is a dilpomat?

"Fuck it! I will not hide it anymore", growled Wilson. "I lied earlier. I told it might be a prank so as not to cause mass panic. There is no way this is a prank. Now that you mentioned that this woman is a diplomat, it makes sense. This is only a hypothesis but this might be the work of some terrorists. You Perawinians, how many terrorist organizations are there in your nation and what are their demands?"

"What your tongue, Wilson! No foul language! And is that the way to talk to elders and on top of that foreigners and on top of that a diplomat?!" a voice shouted before anyone could speak. It came from a tall woman with silky black hair and sharp Indo-Aryan features.

"Sorry teacher", Wilson muttered.

"Teacher?!" others were surprised.

"I am sorry. Where are the manners of me and my student?" apologized the woman to others. "My name is Rubina Karki. I am the Maths teacher at Arun Valley Higher Secondary School and class-teacher of Grade 10. This foul-mouthed young boy here is Wilson Kulung. You already know his name. He might not look like it but he is quite smart and has helped the police many ti-"

"You can tell that stuff later when we are out of this room, Miss!" shouted WIlson.

"Who told you to interject your teacher?!"

Wilson sighed and said to the others in a low voice. "Would you people please check your phones? I don't have mine cause of the school rules for this trip. And I am more worried about what will happen once the countdown stops. And I need answers regarding terrorism in Perawin."

"You might be right in this being a terrorist attack", agreed Alisha silently.

"And you are okay with that?! Should you not be worried about that?! How naive can you be, army sis!"

"Stop calling me naive you moron!"

Wilson sighed again. "Great! Now I have two women shouting at my ears. I think I am gonna go deaf sooner than I estimated. Please check your phones without making noise."

"There's no signal in mine", remarked Miss Karki. "What about the others?"

[Prestatyn]

Reece took out his satellite phone and checked to see if he could get anything to work. But to his surprise his phone was missing from its pouch. He swore in his native language because he didn't want to have the wrath of the teacher come down on him.
"Guys we have a problem I had a satelite phone with a GPS tracker to keep Prestatyn Yard in the loop about my location. If I don't check in they will send a local contact to find me. But if the can't find me they will just mark me as MIA due to the nature of this assignment, so my government will not be of assistance if this is the work of terrorists."

[Perawin]

Anadit blinked, somewhat surprised at Wilson but slightly impressed. Perawani culture valued bluntness as a measure of trust. She let her brain take over. "We're a brand new nation, only having been formed in the past three years. Perawin does have enemies, but I am an incredibly low-level diplomat, which would make a surprising target. Enemies; ah, there is the Iresi. This may be offensive, Mr. and Mrs. Levorane." She said, her eyes flickering towards the couple, "The Iresi were one of the original families two thousand years ago and now everyone of the Iresi ethnicity claims to be descended from them. Of course, only the direct line from Theor Iresi, called the Theran, were rulers in the past three hundred years when Iresi occupied all three states, brutally, I may add, being the reason for the Second Revolution. King Theomin VII was killed in 2012, during one of the last battles of the war, but his nephew and daughter-in-law fled abroad. Some Theran are still upset about this. There has been government awareness for those who wish a return of the Theran monarchy, but we don't have any data.
But there is the RPR - Renysian People's Revolt. They want a return to the ancient three, or depending on how you look at it, five state solution, because they feel like the Aneesian ethnicity has too much power, which isn't true, because after all, I am Renysian. Why would they want to kill me? There are more groups, of course, but we have hardly any data on their motives." She shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

[Athara Magarat]

"We know the feel. It's same here", Wilson spoke bluntly. "My own ethnic group, the Kiratis, have various rebel groups who are still out there and seeking to crave out an another nation. They believe that the Atish, the Khams, the Khas and the Newars are the only ethnic groups who have power in this nation. And Miss Karki understands me. We went through the same thing."

Rubina smiled at her student and nodded at the others. "When I arrived at Kirat Town to teach at government school, at first the people there, who are mostly Kiratis, resented me. Wilson was always silent and I tried to approach him to make him more active him in class. Everyone at the school, the staff and the students, were angry at me. Later on, I came to find that his childhood friend had been killed by some lunatics from my ethnic group, the Khas people, who were demanding Athara Magarat to be made a Hindu state. But gradually, I came to realize that Wilson was a genius and helped him show it to others. And then I was accepted slowly by everyone at the school and the town."

"It's okay, Miss", smiled back Wilson.

"And we also have the remnants of the Eagle Brigade", stated Alisha. "You know those far-right Kham Magars who want to deport foreigners and treat other ethnic groups and second-class citizens."

The three nodded at each other and the three Perawanians and also at the others across the room. The room was silent for a while.

Then Wilson shouted. "We are nearing the countdown! Everyone cover your nose! It's gotta be a gas attack if my theory is right!"

The others looked at the laptop. Indeed the countdown now read 04: 34. 04: 33. 04: 32.

[Perawin]

Anadit covered her nose, as Wilson ordered, but as a thought struck her, she carelessly dropped it long enough for her to get her words out. "It makes no sense! Why would they kidnap us, warn us, give us this countdown, when they could simply gas us in our beds as we were sleeping?"

[Prestatyn]

Reece covered his nose with his hand and secured his satchel with his other hand and nervously stared at the screen as it counted down...getting closer and closer to zero.

[Athara Magarat]

Miss Karki had also not understood why Wilson was so nervous. But she knew in her heart that Wilson was a smart kid and did as she had been told.

Alisha, Recce, Anadit and a few others had also covered their noses.

"They are testing us." Wilson replied to Anadit. "Those sick bastards who ever they are. This countdown has to mean something significant! If they really wanna kill us, the only possible way right now is a gas attack. It's worth a try. Hurry up!"

03:03. 03:02. 03:01. . .

Fuck! what is going on here?!

[Athara Magarat]

Everyone else had covered their noses except for a man with straight black hair and almond eyes. He was the only one who had not introduced himself to others. He grunted, "Why should I trust you, kid? What proof is there that this is not a work of you Kirat Liberation Front?"

"What?!" Miss Karki was utterly dumb-founded. This man was accusing her student of being in league with ethnic terrorists just because Wilson was a Kirati.

"Cover your nose you fool", Wilson barked.

"I will not. I will not do what a terrorist like you says-"

Suddenly the room was filled with smoke-like gas. The white-colored gas blinded the visibility but Wilson knew that the countdown had finished. Why are they trying to kill us? What's their real motive?

"You chickens, this is nothing else than smoke", laughed the man. The gas got thicker and thicker as he started coughing very loudly. After about five minutes, the fans on the storeroom suddenly turned on and blew out the gas.

Wilson looked around and saw that everyone else was okay except for the man who had been against him lying dead on the floor. Motionless.

What the fuck is going on here? A person just died. Wilson was too scared too speak.

[Perawin]

Devmond, being closest to the Dead Man, quickly crouched beside him and his thick fingers clumsily struggled for a pulse, finding none either from incompetence or from the fact that the man was dead. "Well, he's dead," the Perawani said, trying to appear nonchalant and experienced, but his wide-eyed expression miserably betrayed him.

Anadit turned, frowning, to Wilson and Alisha. "What in Hell's name is going on?" She turned to the door. Could they get out now?

[Prestatyn]

The sudden death of this stranger botherd Reece deeply. He was sent here to gather information and protect people and on his watch a man had died. He reached into his satchel and pulled out and old leather bound book and turned several pages. He began chanting softly but loud enough those around him could hear his words though none of them understood them as the we're spoken in his native tongue
"Oh great ancestors take this soul into the next world and may his hunts be successful."
He returned his book into the bag and touched the man's forehead. He nervously stared at the othersame in the room and began to pace around the room trying to figure out what their next move would be.

[Athara Magarat]

"Greetings, humans. I am the Devi", came a woman's voice out of nowhere. Everyone looked around for where the new voice was coming from.

"The laptop!" Alisha shouted. Indeed the source of the voice was the laptop.

"From now on, your role as the Nine Witches who judge sinners has been fixed. I will give you half an hour to judge the sinners. Choose wisely and you will be out of this room. So who will you send to hell, a waitress who put the sleep-inducing chemicals on all of your foods or the soldier who brought you all here while you were asleep. Choose."

[Perawin]

Anadit was done. She needed order to restructure the chaos of tonight and hid her apprehension under obnoxious spite.
"Okay, Devi, you who are above humans" she said. "I'm not a blind follower of Telmung. I believe in science, and considering Perawin's motto is "I cannot judge", there is no way I will sentence anybody, let alone the fact I have no legal authority to do so. I don't know who you think you are, but PIRC 2.4 in relation to diplomatic emissaries states that in the case that a Perawani diplomat is being held against their will by a foreign entity, such acts will be treated as a declaration of war. Yes, admittedly... we do not have the capacities to carry out on such a threat, but our allies certainly do. I would release me, my escort, the kid and his teacher, because I will report the holding of civilians for no sane reason as a human rights abuse. The Iresi..." Anadit forced herself to set aside her Iresi stereotype. "You should release them. Probably someone cares." Anadit looked to Wilson as she talked, motioning behind her back for him to go to the computer. If she was streaming something to them, there should be some way to hijack the source, or not. There had to be logic somewhere, somehow.

Yet she got no response from Devi. "Dammit," she swore, raking her sweaty hair behind her ear. "What even are the Nine Witches?"

[Prestatyn]

Reece looked around and realized that this Devi even if she were more than a person enjoys killing and as such would kill again only this time the choice of who dies is the choice of the group.
"Devi I call upon you to here my pleas. As an agent of Prestatyn Yard I can not pass judgment on those that I have not questioned. There for I emplore you to allow these people stand arbitration by the council of people in this."
Hey turns away from the laptop and towards the group.
"Guys I think we are dealing with a psychopath, and I don't want to convict any of these people to death, however if we don't I'm afraid Devi will kill at least one of us in this room as retribution for not playing in her twisted fantasy. We need answers. And we need them sooner rather than later."

[Perawin]

"Agreed, Reece," Anadit muttered.

[Upper Norseland]

Tyrvald sighed and upturned his flask, gazing mournfully at the distinct lack of liquid that emerged. Groaning, he stood from the corner from which he had been observing the goings-on. "Well, does anyone have any ideas as to how we're going to find anything else out from this lovely little prison, hm?" Raising his arms and chuckling, the Norseman sauntered over to the laptop and smiled cheerily at his fellow captives. "Seems to me that the best way to overcome this is to sacrifice somebody. At least then, the others will have a chance to get some answers. So, with that in mind..." Tyrvald turned to face the laptop, pushing the investigator gently out of the way. "It's a damn good thing I was never destined for Valhalla. Devi!" Suddenly letting loose with the characterstic Norse bellow, Tyrvald raised his hands and stared directly into the small, black camera set into the upper frame of the laptop. "If you're truly above us, as you imply, then how about you take me instead? Strike me down, witch!"

[Perawin]

Anadit's eyes widened and she turned to Alisha.

"Damn, that was not expected."

[Athara Magarat]

"Shit got even worse. Whom should we vote for?" Wilson murmured. "We are gonna die if we don't vote. DAMN IT!"

"Can I make a suggestion? Let's not vote for soldier", murmured Alisha in a weak voice.

"Are you serious?" shouted Miss Karki but then she softened her tone. "I understand. I am voting for the waitress."

The sudden declaration surprised everyone, even Alisha.