(Long Knights’ post on previous page.)
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Floyd the Pink plays Tear Down the Wall! The war horn causes chunks of brick to tumble toward Emi!
Atk roll 1-5: lose ♥️♥️♥️.
Atk roll 6-10: lose ♥️♥️.
Atk roll 11-15: lose ♥️.
Atk roll 16-20: remain unscathed!
(In addition, Floyd and/or Robert will be caught in the blast, depending on your attack roll.)
Emi-na throws her hand up, a defensive spell flowing from her fingers. She pulverizes the brick to rubble, converting it to sand that she redirects back to Floyd.
”Argh!” Badia takes a hit! But she leaps into the air and comes down on Sir Andre’s lance, using it like a springboard to fling herself further into the air! She comes back down axe first!
"I'm sick of getting hit."
The untouchable Emi gets buried in rock—which crumbles to sand—which turns on Floyd the Pink. Nuts, bolts, limbs, valves, head and horn burst from the armored mage-turned-machine!
A stray brick twirls toward Robert the Strong. He raises his shield and, in the next instant, is crushed beyond recognition.
Badia chooses her opponent wisely, she leaps toward the glass cannon and beats him relentlessly with axe-swings and kicks.
The head of Sir Andre is kicked off his body. The head flies toward Sir Randy who dodges it with a swivel of the hip. “OH YEEAAHH!” Andre’s gun lance clatters to the ground and discharges, disintegrating Sir Randy from the waist up.
Only John the Good and Jack the Nimble remain. And as the only remaining Randy is sick of getting hit, he bashes Jack until he quivers on the ground as twisted metal, emanating purple jolts of electricity.
Sir John the Good stands alone, a broken machine. Despite what Sir Robert said about surrender, he drops his greatsword and raises his hands.
Badia hops over to Sir John, landing beside him and putting the blade of her axe to his neck. "Talk now. What has all of this been about? Why are you metal men?"
The metal man says, “I will talk. I am not Sir John the Good, but I retain his memories.
“He, along with the six you defeated, investigated a ship. I do not recall the name, but I remember this.”
He warns you of what he is about to do before he does it: he rips a piece of armor off of his chest. There is an odd synthetic skin that is neither metal nor flesh. There is a T-shaped logo between heart and shoulder.
“The ship had this logo. And the captain too. It was tattooed on his forehead. I remember him congratulating us for discovering his machines. Then there was noise and Sir John’s memories ended there.”
The machine man looks over at the large chunk of rock that crushed Sir Robert.
“The leader said many lies that used words from the truth. Sir John had no vices but he said I did, so I went through the motions. I would go to a brothel, pay a woman to take a nap while I guarded the door, prepared to kill anyone who entered. Robert lied about the flotsam. He knew of a gentle beast with a name similar to the word, and he—both as man and as machine—may have known why the ship was destroyed. I do not.
“I only know that this hunt was a distraction. Donald the Water Wizard was to be killed by the mechanized ape. Sir Robert sent it. But I see one of you carries its remains. If it did not kill Donald the Water Wizard, he may find out the truth before the Tech Wizard…” His eyes flash dimly. “I am sorry. The Tech Wizard’s intent was erased from my memory.”
"OK...That's all well and good. But we don't get paid until the chimera is dead."
The knight’s red eyes blink twice at Randy’s words.
“I… realize I was part of a unit which made repeated attempts to kill you, but please be patient. I am searching Sir John’s memory to understand human nature. I see… Treachery… Monetary rewards. Ah… you hold the evidence that the Velvet Ape has been defeated.
“Unless there is a possibility of two monetary rewards, my understanding is that you may receive payment without contradicting the green one’s claim to be on the side of justice.”
Sir John’s memories suggest that distinguishing those of orcish heritage by dermal tone is considered insensitive, according to recent social trends. The robot adjusts its head at a slight downward angle to express shame.
Badia lowers her weapon as Robo-John gives his spiel. She turns an angry look at Randy. "We will not be killing the glorious Flo T. Sam! If coin is all you are after, then you can have my share of the reward for the Ape. This has become more than just a simple hunt, friends. This is about good versus evil! Order versus chaos! Butt-kickers versus buttt-kickees! I will tell the chimera that she is safe, then we will find Donny the Water Wizard so that we may learn more about our ultimate enemy!"
The half-orc leaps away, headed back into the chimera's cave.
Sir RoboJohn understands. “If I am to be spared, I give you my word on the honor of Sir John the Good’s memory, I will guard Florence Thomas Samuel until I cease to function.”
Badia pauses mid-leap when RoboJohn speaks. She hops back, nods, picks him up, then hops with him into the chimera's cave so he can pledge himself to her directly.
Flo thanks Badia—and Sir RoboJohn as well, who was carried here by Badia’s uncanny ninja* leaping skills!—but with a curious look at her (and Randy!), asks, “Will you make it back safely? You are wounded.”
"Just a scratch!" Badia says, though numerous sword wounds are visible on her exposed skin. "But, uh, if you have any healing magic to spare, I would be very thankful, Froggy One!"
“I do not, sadly. I assumed it was you who can turn the water into a healing spring. I have seen it, looking below. The aura is pretty and pink.”
"That was the water wizard. Perhaps he will perform the spell again for us when we find him." She sticks out her tongue and bids Flo a froggy farewell before turning to her companions. "Let's go!"
Emi is aware that the transformation magic that changed the water to a healing spring, herself to a mermaid and Naja to a humanoid creature are all very powerful spells. It is unlikely that Donny can cast another spring anytime soon…
Emi-na stays quiet during the revelation of the knights' strange fate. At least one of them remains to uphold the memory of the true knights. But what they faced and lost will be something that her team would soon have to confront. Hopefully they would avoid becoming robots themselves.
"The healing spring magic was very powerful. I hope Donny the wizard is up for another casting, but do not expect him to be able to create the spell again soon."
Badia lowers her weapon as Robo-John gives his spiel. She turns an angry look at Randy. "We will not be killing the glorious Flo T. Sam! If coin is all you are after, then you can have my share of the reward for the Ape. This has become more than just a simple hunt, friends. This is about good versus evil! Order versus chaos! Butt-kickers versus buttt-kickees! I will tell the chimera that she is safe, then we will find Donny the Water Wizard so that we may learn more about our ultimate enemy!"
"What if the ultimate enemy is ultimately a frog?" Asks Randy "Will we again aimed at someone else to kill?"
"Not all frogs deserve worship," Badia says, unperturbed by Randy's biting tone. "Some may be snakes in disguise."
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"Snake?" Randy looks confused. "What you got against snakes?"
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"Ahem!" Emi exclaims while her friend Naja draped over her shoulders lifts her head.
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Badia flushes a darker shade of green. "I meant no offense! I meant a 'snake,' as in an untrustworthy person! Not a fine, scaly friend like you, Naja! Perhaps I should have chose a different word."
"Speciesist" Says Randy with a disapproving shake of his head.
"No need to be rude," Emi interjects. "Badia apologised. She knows Naja is a friend and ally to her."
Naja is indeed a friend and ally… and Emi realizes that it is a sand-snake form that holds the power to heal!
Thus, the spell is cast and Naja transforms to a humanoid shape as before. Fuchsia-toned sand wraps around her body until she is completely mummified in pink ribbon. Her head is covered in a blue and gold headdress. For a moment, Emi and the wounded ones around her can only assume Naja is the same serpentine-humanoid form as before.
(Well… ‘before,’ as in that very brief moment between having legs and having a fish tail!)
But soon Naja gazes at the wounds, and she begins to dance! There’s no music, and the occasion seems odd, yet the magic somehow compels Naja with the urge. There is joy! And Naja feels this joy in its purest form! Badia and Randy are hurt, yet they live! Sir RoboJohn is just a machine, yet memories of the real John have reprogrammed him. Tom the Goat is dead, but Flo-Sam’s wing can be fixed. And Emi, though unscathed, has saved lives!
The ribbons shoot from Naja’s body to everyone, bursting as hot pink sand! As the bandages unravel, they become paler and paler, and they expose more and more of Naja’s temporary new form! Unscaled flesh… human face… the body of a beautiful, young woman!
By the time all are healed, few bandages remain—just enough to cover what lingerie would!
All are healed. And you all feel stronger somehow. Sadly, Tom’s head has separated from the chimera… but his soul has passed. It is better this way. (Sir RoboJohn will bury the head with whatever’s left of the fallen knights. His robo-body was repaired by the magic; he can handle this.)
As for the scroll, it mostly dissolves. There is no ribbon now, and only the bottom quarter remains. Naja believes this means that not everything the spell can do has happened yet. Without the colored ribbon, there is no way for Emi-na to trigger the magic, yet Naja thinks this last piece of the scroll is worth keeping.
The baying of murder poodles deters any further prolonging of long goodbyes. Cleansed of the scent of freshly spilled blood, you make it to the city gates safely. Some poor antlered creature is being ripped apart and feasted upon by fluffy, cottontailed predators. Such is nature.
The gates slam shut behind you…
Fanfare announces your return as you enter the town square… but aside from a couple children tugging at their mother’s skirts, pointing in awe at the metal monkey bone, minds are hardly on the successful hunt.
It seems there is a confrontation between Donny and a man with a tattoo on his forehead. They aren’t casting spells at each other, just angry glares.
Badia leaps to the side of the glaring men. "Hello, Donny! Is this tattooed man bothering you?" she asks, adding her own glare to the ongoing glaring contest.
“Oh, hey Badia. Heh. Bothering me personally, no. But I was just down by the waterfront with the guys, doing a little beach bowling, and let me tell you what the water told me.”
He tells you some of what RoboJohn told you—the part involving the sea captain with a tattoo on his forehead (yes, the guy glaring at Donny now) saying congratulations, then the death. There’s an additional detail: the knights emerging as machines.
The man with the tattoo tells Badia (without glaring), “I am not denying the part that involves me. But Jacques Tréshourne Productions are not animated-dead-turned-machine. They are simply machines.” Jacques Tréshourne looks Badia up and down, then realizes what Randy’s holding. “That’s not mine,” he says of the logo-less bone.
Donny says, “Tell that to the king.”
It turns out that the king knows the tech wizard well, and even funds his research. “But the mechanized ape and the zombie plants animating corpses…?”
“Gross,” says more than one queen.
“It’s us taxpayers who fund the research,” says Walter.
Badia furrows her brow, hoping her companions might prove more perspicacious than her.
Emi-na reacts with excitement when the scroll changes Naja once more, this time providing much-needed healing to her compatriots (though her cheeks redden when she sees that Naja is left nearly naked after the ribbons are used up).
"Um, good job! I'll keep the rest of this scroll at hand in case there's something else that's needed," she tells her serpentine friend.
Randy looks bored.
There’s a lot of talking and accusations and speculations happening. Nobody’s calling RoboJohn a liar, but nobody really knows how he became a robot. Same with the Velvet Ape—he was flesh and blood when he killed the barbarians last year. The Queens just look at each other, having nothing to add. Walter tells Donny he’s out of his element. And it seems there will be an investigation. It’ll take weeks. The king agrees it’s time to move on, reward Team Huntress and call it a night.
And as he’s about to give the sign for the fanfare…
⅔ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
—blood erupts from the king’s chest in several places. Rapid bursts light from surrounding rooftops! The tech wizard’s face is half blown off! The queens surround the king as he flops over on his back, wide-eyed, struggling to breathe. Waifu the 12th and 14th crumple in front of the fallen men, and Waifu the 13th just stands there, shielding her husband as iron pellets are blasted against her body!
”Ambush!” Badia shouts. She leaps to the north rooftop to attack the spider robots!
Badia makes short work of one assassin droid as it prepares to put a pellet in the king’s brain. Others surround her, but that just makes them easier to cleave with her axe.
Emi-na shrieks at the surprise attack, but reacts quickly. She weaves her spell, drawing the sand from the sphinx statue she had left in the courtyard into a wave that blasts the robots coming in from the south.
Queen Waifu the 13th watches as sand blasts several droids off of the south-side rooftop!
She looks to the east and west, not sure where to go to shield her king.
Those who look at her will notice her synthetic skin has been shot away clean, revealing a seemingly-metallic face. With her dress in tatters, you can see the T-shaped logo between her (anatomically incorrect) breast and shoulder.
⅔ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
The outlaw’s earthy-crunchy magic wipes out every assassin droid in the west!
XIII positions herself to protect her king from the only remaining shooters.
However, the droids assume that the orc on the roof is the easier target.
Badia’s leaping boots may save her from more than being riddled with bullets. There’s a strange greenish vapor coming from the droids she cleaved. And she also gets a glimpse of the interior—a fungal matter much like that which covered the zombie barbarians’ rotting flesh.
”Ow! Ow!” Badia shouts as she is shot. She leaps onto the east rooftop to dish out vengeance!
Badia smashes the droids who shot her!
There are several others clinging to the building, but all at once, the surviving droids plunge into the sea. From Badia’s position on the east side roof, she can see a whole army of droids. Some are leaping from the castle.
Even those who might be able to get a shot at the king as his guards hastily carry him inside ignore him.
The two queens who fell are helped to their feet. They are unharmed. XIII shoved them down so they wouldn’t get hit by bullets meant for the king and the tech wizard.
Guards escort them inside the castle. All are prepared to take bullets for these women, but no shots are fired for now.
XIII approaches our heroines.
“On behalf of King Joshua, I want to thank you. But words are all I can offer for now.” She looks over at the sea. “I can hear her… calling to me. She is Mother. She controls the machines. She is trying to control me as well, but I cannot do as she commands.
“I am a shield. I do no harm. I cannot harm the king, nor can I harm Mother.” She pauses, perhaps to contemplate… or calculate. “That is unfortunate.”