Staying well back, Raven took aim at the new group of threats. Instead of trying for a debilitating shot, he suspected a critical location would do just as well.
Raven scores a hit on one of the creatures, but One and Two both miss. The women turn their attention to the mercenaries, smiling coquettishly even as the eels in their body lash out to grab them! Fortunately, the skilled mercenaries hold the creatures at bay!
Already having closed some of the distance to the foe, Chiruut focuses his mental energies into a lance of psychic power and flings it with a thought at an eel-woman!
The light will hold back the dark! Kris yells out as she focuses a beam of light from her inner radiance through her holy symbol and towards one of the eel women.
The eel-creatures continue to hold off the bodyguards' attacks, the two focusing more on holding them back.
Thomas shouts at the cowering villagers, gesturing towards where they'd come from.. "Quit your blubbering, and flee! Get out of our way!"
"What kind of -" Raven started, but his attack hit the eel woman he'd already shot in the head.
Seizing the moment, he hurriedly drew and loosed a second arrow.
Too fast, the second arrow went wide.
Raven takes out the wounded eel-woman with a head shot. Kris burns one with a beam of sunlight, then Krislyx explodes her head with a stab of psychic power! Fortunately, the creatures don't appear to be possessed of a strong intellect.
One and Two miss with their attacks, and the four remaining enemies attack them. Two takes a hit as an eel-woman grabs hold and gently caresses his face as the eels in her body snip and snap!
While some of the villagers take advantage of your distraction to flee, a few stand their ground, throwing rocks and firing the rifle Kris gave to them. Another eel-woman goes down, leaving three still fighting.
Hold firm! Kris yells out, countering to Thomas's orders. We can beat them!
Kris holds her censer aloft, and tries something new, something she learned working with the priests of other religions back when she was helping the poor. She focuses on her holy symbol and speaks the divine words in her native tongue.
A symbol of the Comic Egg appears before her, enveloping the eel-women.
"Keep it going, we almost have this!" Raven shouted as encouragement. Seeing that the second of Thomas's hired muscle had been grabbed, Raven took aim.
Two struggles to free himself while One once again fails to land a meaningful blow. Thomas's lips curl in dissatisfaction, but he makes no attempt to come to their aid.
Hucking loudly at the sight of one eel-head exploding, Chiruut eagerly seeks the next target of his mental assaults!
Two of the eel-women resist Kris's censure, but one is impaired by the power. Two frees himself before the eels can bite off his most delicate parts, but only Raven lands a hit this time, lodging an arrow in one of the creatures' chest.
One of the monsters lands a glancing bite on One's thigh!
Eager to finish off the grasping eel-women, the mercenaries go on the offensive, swinging their weapons wildly.
We almost have them! Stay strong, men! Let the light guide your way!
Kris' words of encouragement may have sounded cliche, but she believed in them fervently. The passion on her face was more than proof of her conviction. Light continued to glow out from underneath her scales; a bright white light tracing the edges of each scale while the paler grey light forced order upon the world.
Raven moved to take a better angle again, but he was distracted by the glowing light coming from Kris and his night vision was dissipated.
Chiruut dispenses with mental assaults, opting instead to charge in with his axe in hand!
All of your attacks hit this time, and with some aid from the commoners, the final enemies fall!
Breathing hard as the rush of adrenaline fades, Raven grimaces as he surveys the carnage before them. But he was also more than a little relieved that he was alive and whole.
"I think it's over. You folks doing alright?" He asked, glancing around.
Good job, everyone! Kris says. She takes the rifle back from the man she handed it to earlier. After a minute or so, the light surrounding her begins to fade away.
Anyone know where these things have come from?
The commoners don’t know much about the monsters, only that they are very dangerous and they want nothing more to do with them! They quickly scurry off to hide in their homes. The merchants’ district is just a few more blocks away,
Kris starts heading towards the merchants district, Come on, guys! Let's go!
Thomas brushes off the commoners. "Return to your homes and lock the doors, we don't have time to watch over you."
He takes a couple moments to ensure the eels are dead before following the excitable snake-thing.
"The crochety old nobleman is right. " Raven says ruefully, as he glanced around to try and collect any stray arrows he'd fired. It was a poor attempt at humor but he figured it was better to try and lift a few spirits up before more horror occurred. "Hurry, before anything else dangerous happens tonight."
As they pressed forward, following after Kris, he called after the others.
"You know, we really ought to call ourselves something. A name for our rather eclectic group. Something so that people can remember us by."
Finally reaching the merchants' district, you spot groups of the eel-women making their way slowly towards the hill at the district's center, where the manor of Arctan Holbrin stands. You can see an old man dressed as a butler standing in the manor's doorway, waving for help.
"Please, you must assist us! Master Arctan is in grave duress!" he shouts. "He has locked himself in his study. I caught a glimpse of a bloody mess within before he ordered everybody out. The other servants have fled, but my duty to my master has kept me here. I can hear his agonizing screams. He needs aid!"
"Of course, the lord got wooed by an eel woman. Okay, here's the plan we rush inside and hold them at the doors and try to see what we can do about helping the lord." Raven said to the others before he began moving towards manor.
"You hold those doors until we get there!"
Kris moves along with Ven, That's a good idea, Ven. Something like Champions of the Light - you know, so people know we're good and here to help them. We can be their guiding light for goodness against these troubles times.
As they move towards the Manor, worry creases her face. She starts loading another round into the rifle, just in case.
Chiruut hucks as he checks his invisible defenses and advances.
"'The Champions' works. Let us show why."
You rush into the manor, the butler closing the door behind him. He directs through the many halls to Arctan's study. There, you find the doors securely locked. You can hear screams of agony coming from the other side. "Argh! Get off of me! Why? Why?"
Thomas rolls his eyes as the others speak of a team name. He instead focuses on the door before him. Pushing past everyone, he approaches the study. "Clear the way, I'm going to remove this hinderance."
Sword ready to strike, the noble simply kicks the study's door open.
The others are faster than Kryslix, and she takes up the rear position as they charge through the manner, her rifle at the ready to shoot something dangerous.
As she hears the screams behind the door, she pops up the rifle ready to shoot the eel woman she knows is behind it, and she fires as soon as Thomas kicks the door open.
Chiruut rushes into the fray, his axe ready to swing at an eel-woman or any other hostile!
Raven was reaching for his set of picks when Thomas brushed past him and kicked at the locked door.
"Well, that works too!" he said, getting up to the door.
Thomas kicks open the door to the study. The room is splattered with blood, and you can see a middle-aged, balding man seemingly fighting with himself. His pants are off, and to your horror, you see that in place of his genitals, there is instead a snarling eel that thrashes and undulates! Arctan is trying to grab it and gain control, but it snaps and bites at his fingers.
He looks up at you with a twisted look on his face. "Get out of here! I-I can master this thing! It's mine!"
Kris opens fire without thinking, but Arctan leaps to the side, covering the eel protectively. He similarly dodges away as Chiruut attacks with his axe!
The eel lunges at Chiruut, its fangs sinking into his leg.
Kris sighs.
What are you doing? she asks with incredulity.
The rifle gets slung across her shoulder as she dogs in her satchel to grab her holy symbol. She pulls it up in front of herself, chanting a few words in the Naga tongue and aims the spell at the eel.
Chiruut clicks, irritated.
"Stop protecting it or I hack *you*. Last chance.", the Yerathi says, deadly serious.
As Chiruut speaks, he chops!
Raven looks at the man in a mix of horror and dubiousness. "The eel women outside are coming here, you maniac! Did one of them do this to you? Did you do this to yourself?!" he didn't really know if it was something he wanted to find out but answers might be helpful in stopping whatever this was... assuming there was anything to find out here.
"What in the god's names are you doing?" Thomas growls as he swings for the eel-creature. He stares darkly at the wealthy man, considering his fate.
Kris's spell causes the eel to go rigid, ceasing its movements. Chiruut and Thomas manage to hit it, despite Arctan trying to protect it, though they don't harm it much.
"No, I need it!" Arctan whines in protest. "This is the Phallus of the Eelwives! Everybody laughs at me behind my back, questioning my prowess! My partners tell me I don't know how to satisfy them. But the Phallus gave me the power to please anyone with a taste for such things, male or female! I only had to graft it onto myself! I just need to get control of it..."
Kris looks very confused. Is this how you mammals mate? With eels? Ew.
Well, it's immobilized now. Do what you must. Just know that you've been causing death and dismemberment all over your city, and your people will probably burn you alive when we tell them that this was all your fault.
Arctan looks at Krislyx, and a sudden surge of desire clouds his expression. "Oh... Well, if you are interested in knowing how we mate, I can show you... From the waist up, you are rather fetching..." He licks his lips hungrily and takes a few steps closer to the naga.
Ew! No! If I wanted to be with a mammal, it wouldn't be with you! Ven! Help me! She cries out, backing away.
Thomas had heard enough. "All this chaos stems from your weak will, slime. I am putting an end to this degeneracy!'
"Damn it all, so you were the cause of this!" Raven said accusingly to the nobleman.
As he tried to defend the damn thing between his legs and completely disregard what he had done, Raven gritted his teeth in frustration. "Gods you're a disgrace! Inquisitors would have a field day with you... but we're not going to give them the chance."
"No, just no!" he said, advancing on the man. Reflexively drawing another arrow and hammering him with it, as Kris called to him for help.
Arctan looks shocked as Raven fires two arrows into his chest. Thomas cuts him down with a slice of his sword, the merchant crumpling to the floor in a pool of blood. From there, it is a simple matter to kill the vile Phallus of the Eelwives.
With its death, a ripple of energy washes out across the room, spreading outside the walls of the manor. When you go outside, you can see the all of the eelwives have fallen apart, rotting eels and slime festering around their slimy remains. It would seem that the threat has ended.
Searching through Arctan's study, you find a ritual book with details of how to awaken the Phallus of the Eelwives. A receipt of purchase indicates that Arctan purchased the foul object from none other than pirate captain Anne the Red...
What is it with that woman!? It's like she's intentionally trying to see chaos and discord across all the pirate isles!
Chiruut hucks.
"Soft mind in that softskin.", he notes as he searches the room further.
"Maybe she is. Maybe she doing opposite to you, Kris."
"Tch; he payed for the thing alright, in more ways than one. At least he was meticulous about who he dealt with." Raven said, glancing through Arctan's ledgers. He was thankful he could read now and make sense of such things. A rather handy skill.
I wonder what else is written in here?
He looked between Chiruut and Kris as the two made their observations. "She may well be doing so on purpose, Chiruut. Or perhaps it's just in the nature of the objects she finds to find their way into the hands of fools who will use them. Either way, this thing could have brought ruin to this town, just to satisfy one man's lust... who knows what else she has?"
He glanced over at Thomas. "That's some swordplay you showed there. Were you always that good?"
After a moment he began checking around the room.
"Also, I don't suppose you'd be looking to get your hands on a new manor house? We could use a base of operations and I suspect that not too many other nobles are going to want to own a place that was the source of the evil in their town."
"Fine dwelling. I say yes."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thomas cleaned the merchant's blood off his sabre before sheathing it again. "Some forty years ago, I lead men into battle against the Fomor. I was skilled enough then, but after taking my father's place I've had little time for martial practices. So much of my time was spent dealing with men like this." The elderly man spat on the degenerate merchant's corpse.
He looks around at the others gathered here. "But it occurs to me that the three of you have proven to be a cut above the dregs I've encountered. I suppose I wouldn't mind entering some form of partnership."
At Raven's other question, the noble shrugged. "It wasn't my plan to stay in this town, but I won't overlook such an offer."
Thomas stopped for a moment. "Wait, what was the name on that ledger? Arctan Holbrin? This suckling pig was the one who called us here! Lucrative opportunities, bah!" Enraged, Thomas kicks the corpse for good measure.
You lay claim to Holbrin's estate as the town slowly gets back to normal in the wake of the eelwives' attack. You feel you are close to finally tracking down the notorious Anne the Red. Since this was her last known port of call, you hope you can find clues as to where she has gone if you stay here for a while...
Work: You earned some. You lived the comfortable lifestyle.
Work: You earned a lot. You lived the wealthy lifestyle.
Work: You earned a bit. You lived the getting by lifestyle.
Minor Setback: You broke up with a lifelong friend. Roll a d6. It was your fault on an odd number, or the other person’s fault on an even number.