Much reaches out and grabs a horn, giving it a twist and sending the mpeshi to the ground. Laesah quickly follows up with a kick to a leg, before the crocodilian tail can swing around to ward off her next blow.
Okoro's battle standard pulses with soothing magic as he reaches out to Much and slaps a balm on some of her electrical burns.
And then gives the fighter a slap on the back to motivate her. "Again, Much! Hit it again!"
Another swing, another welt. This one splits a little showing a thin line of blood through the fur.
Haunt shakes himself out of his paralysis and runs up to lunge at the lightning goat again.
[/ooc]
The mpeshi has been battered by the nonlethal attacks of Much and Laesah and unprepared for the deadly assault from Haunt, who drives his rapier into the ribs of the creature. It screams, a bleating, hissing sound which shakes the air. Badly wounded, it tries to rise and continue the fight.
Much sees the wobbling beast and lashes out...
...but sends her blow wide.
The mpeshi spins towards Haunt and attacks with renewed fury...
...its horned head smashes Haunt's unhorned head, and the horns win. There is a crack of bone, a crack of lightning, and the amurrun drops to the ground in a heap. The lightning arcs off of him and towards Much.
Then the tail of the mpeshi whips out at Laesah.
She arches her back, moving her head out the way. The tail sails by, inches from her face, and she snaps back to a fighting stance.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The moment the mpeshi turns its back to lash out at Laesah, Much strikes.
Before trying to strike it again.
That was for Haunt, you cruel s!%$.
Much thinks before saying out loud;
"You're lucky we're holding back Mpeshi!"
Much watches the beast sway, ready to help Laesah should it choose to fight on. But the mpeshi's brain is several steps ahead of its body, and the lights in its eyes go dark a moment before it collapses to the ground, unconscious.
Much's sigh of relief catches in her chest when she sees the blood pooling around Haunt.
"Please help him! I don't have the skill. I can get this goat back in its cage though."
Okoro is close to Haunt and rushes over and sees to his wounds, rapidly treating and bandaging.
With Haunt out of immediate danger, Much surveys the area.
"It might be worthwhile to see if there is any solid proof that Froglegs did this. I know Oba says they did, and I tend to believe her, but she is far from a trustworthy source.
Much pauses for a moment, creating a list in her mind before turning back to the group.
"Search a bit more here, talk to Oba, and then head back to school for healing and to speak to Janatimo?"
The pack combs though the animal lot, looking through everything more thoroughly. While checking back at the griffon cages, Haunt makes a discovery.
An infiltrator’s pick is stuck in the mud. The specially made pick is longer than most, with strange grips and pads that make it awkward to use for typically "human" hands.
Aside from that, there is some basilisk blood preserved in a bottle near the basilisk shack. Okoro knows that this is what you'd use had anyone or any tiger been petrified.
|
With the mpeshi down, Laesah rushes to Haunt's side, tears in her eyes. She lets Okoro tend to the fallen amurrun, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder.
"Is Haunt going to be ok?" she wonders aloud. When the catfolk open his eyes again with a pained cough, Laesah laughs, the tears dripping from her eyes. "You know, it was going to be have to be the GOAT that took you down, Haunt."
Later, as the bruised team performs a meticulous search of the perimeter, Laesah considers the information. 'It would seem that Froglegs has been implicated here, but there are still some questions that I have for Madame Oba. Chiefly, WTF?"
Laesah is keen to return to Oba to question her a bit more.
The Pack returns to Oba's office, bringing some answers and some questions.
"What so many questions for ME? I'm the victim here!" She asks, her voice shrill, and clearly aggrieved. "I don't know why this happened. Froglegs wanted a deal, I wanted a better deal. That's business. Then they tried to ruin me. Maybe kill me. I want to go back to how things were before all of this, and the only way that happens is if I keep my mouth shut and hope that Froglegs thinks they've punished me enough."
She steadies herself, taking a deep breath and pushing a loose lock of hair over her ear.
"Look... I appreciate you. Sincerely. I can't believe you saved all of my beasties," Oba says with relief. "You should consider going into business with me, we could make a killing. And I must say, the Magaambya has never been my friend, but perhaps I've been too quick to cut ties completely if you are the sorts of students they produce these days."
"I owe you one, and I hate that. So keep that feather. It looks good on you, but it'll probably fetch a decent price with a buyer." She rummages under her desk for a moment and comes back up with a potion and a token.
"And take these... A Cheetah's Elixir and a Beastmaster's Sigil. That Sigil is for saving all my creatures. Use it well... I have a feeling you're not done looking for trouble. I'm also hoping that convinces you to leave me out of that trouble. I don't want it, I don't need it, and if anyone else asks me about Froglegs, I'm going to tell them I don't know who they are talking about. Never heard of 'em."
|
|
Laesah discounts the elixir gifted by Oba, but looks curiously at the sigil with the ever-changing animal logo.
"Thank you for letting me keep my gift," the anadi says, looking with a smirk at Okoro. She loses the smirk as she turns back to the duplicitous business owner.
"Where would we find Froglegs? We have business to discuss."
"I don't know how to find Froglegs, which suits me, because I don't WANT to find Froglegs." She looks desperate for you to understand. "Look, I'm not some criminal, or part of their world. I know how to buy, keep, and sell animals in a way that makes me some money. That's it! I wouldn't have any idea how to find this person."
"I still appreciate what you've done, but this conversation is over. My goal is to move past this and hope nothing like this ever happens again. Come back if you ever have business to do with me, but otherwise, I think we're good here."
She opens a ledger and starts reviewing and making notes, set on going back about her day and ignoring you. The conversation does seem to be over, and you sense she's genuine about not knowing how to find Froglegs.