V S [Crawl #0004] Insanely Rich (COMPLETE)

[Elise]

Crawl #0004 - Insanely Rich
Party Members: Ahana Varma, Victor Wolfe, Sigmund Vrell

Party Meter: 50%
(Note - As the Meter depletes, your character will be subject to increasing malaise and psychosis)
Total Loot: 4,484 Coin, Base Upgrade
Quests Completed: 3


Quest #1 - Meeting the Competition

Word Count – 5,300 words (1,767 per party member)
Content – Inverxe is a World with many moving parts, both within and without. Aside from the generally accepted and reviled presence of
predatory nightmares, dozens of companies compete for the precious riches the moon has to offer. If Sigmund, Ahana, and Victor want to compete, they'll have to prove they're a better prospect than, say, The Rock Raiders, who are very interested in hiring these long-lost miners out from under them. In the course of this segment, the party must incorporate getting lost.
Reward – 636 Coin


Quest #2 - Unleashing the Circus

Word Count – 5,800 words (1,934 per party member)
Content – It can rarely be said that anywhere on Inverxe can be considered safe, and certainly, it is well accepted that danger grows the deeper one ventures into the planet. Still, the Crossroads are a world of unexpected circumstances, and Gal'skap has evidently cast favor upon these intrepid souls. The party will encounter a hidden, subterranean tribe of natives that offer aid, but a betrayal must be included in this segment.
Reward – Meter Boost, 928 Coin


Quest #3 - Friends in Low Places

Word Count – 6,600 words (1,934 per party member)
Content – The party has chosen to stand with their newly allied fools and defend the nameless village against the invading Rock Raiders, even as bloody screams and noxious fungal smoke fills the glittering chasm. Successfully fending off the space miners will require some form of Illicit Substance and Mathematics.
Reward – Base Upgrade, 1,320 Coin


Quest #4 - Pink Skies in Mourning

Word Count – 6,400 words (2,133 per party member)
Content – As the noxious smoke clears and the village goes quiet, the party will do their best to salvage their relationship with the village and the lives they have walked into. The explosions and slaughter have drawn a small cadre of Dwemer merchants to the cavern, who can be traded with and asked for help, for a fee. Sigmund's gleeful rips into the fabric of reality have attracted the attentions of something...deeper...and an unpleasant scrutiny now weighs on their minds. These uncertain hours must include a Mysterious Stranger, a Territorial Dispute, and Creating a Work of Art.
Reward – Wayward Merchant, 1,600 Coin

The Party's Meter has dropped below 75%

Quest #5 - A Deeper Madness

Word Count – 5,600 words (1,867 per party member)
Content – As lines are drawn and curious eyes depart, life in the gemstone village seems to return to normal. The potential, looming threat of a Dwemer incursion is not lost on the general populace, but their confidence in these newcomers is resolute. This is all well and good until a young villager comes stumbling up to the new leaders, claiming that his mother was just devoured by some horrific abomination...the same type of beast that High Priest Vrell seems to hold pact with. In the course of investigating this new trouble, the party must Flee the Scene of a Crime, and Conduct a Magical Ritual.
Reward – 1,680 Coin

The Party's Meter has dropped below 50%​

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund sat down cross-legged in the tent, flicking through his grimoire. Gods above, he had to teach these two about the worship of the great Gal’skap in such a short amount of time. What to teach..?

“Okay, let's get the basics covered first.” Sigmund said, flashing his new students a friendly smile. “Gal’skap is, of course, the elder God of madness, but it goes a little deeper than that. He represents the elevated, disciplined part of the mind. However, sane human minds are unable to properly comprehend him, and worship tends to send cultists into madness.”

“Well, it's not like people here aren't used to that.” Ahana said dryly. “Are we going to go insane too?”

“Oh, don't worry, madness is a lot nicer than people give it credit for.” Sigmund replied, smiling brightly. “At least, it is when you get past the severe delusions and difficulty controlling your decisions.”

Victor and Ahana exchanged an uncertain look before Sigmund resumed his speech.

“Worship of Gal’skap requires self-discipline, both as a show of faith and to keep a grip on reality. Although, self-awareness is optional. Some of the greatest seers and prophets were utterly insane.”

“So, why should we worship this guy, exactly?” Ahana inquired. “What's his selling point? How do we get the miners interested?”

Sigmund looked at her as if she were speaking in tongues. “Why wouldn't you worship him? Aside from the fact that it's our duty as humans to serve the greater purpose of the old gods, he generously offers a fraction of his power and eternal life in return for service.”

“Eternal life?”

“Yes, in the realm of the gods.”

There was a long pause. “So what kind of powers does he give you?” Victor asked. “I've only seen a little of what Erik can do.”

“Well, you can manipulate psi, which is basically the mind made manifest,”

“You mean the purple stuff?”

“Well…” Sigmund paused, taken aback at how casually Victor was addressing the sacred essence. “Yes, I suppose you could call it that… Aside from psi, Gal’skap also allows you to use abilities such as telekinesis and telepathy, and allows you to reach beyond for more generic purposes.”

“Reach beyond?” Ahana questioned.

“You know, touch the world beyond our own and draw forth the power and creatures within.” Sigmund fumbled in his pouch for the pair of breach crystals he had on him. “You need these crystals if you want to perform anything major, though.”

“Could we get Ahana to perform a few miracles if we get some more of these?” Victor asked, a plan visibly starting to form in his mind.

“As of the moment, no.” Sigmund answered flatly.

“Why not?” The pair asked in unison.

“Because Gal’skap only grants his power to the faithful. And Ahana is… Not the faithful. Not yet, at least. Convert and you'll have full access to the mad lord’s miracles.” Sigmund said, cheerily tacking on the last part as if it were a pleasant offer.

“Hmm.” Victor mumbled, deep in thought.

“Hey, you said your God offers eternal life in heaven, right?” Ahana inquired.

“In the mad god’s realm, not heaven, but yes.”

“What happens if you don't worship him and you die?”

“Ah…” Sigmund said, his smile lessening a fraction for a moment. He was silent for a good while, before finally speaking. “Well, there's no point sugar-coating it. If you die without a patron deity to take you in, then your soul will be thrown outside for the creatures and landscape to take you.”

“Outside?”

“Yes, outside of our own world. Basically anything that isn't our universe. The real name is too difficult for me to pronounce.”

“If this is the land of the gods, what's so bad about being thrown out there?” Victor asked. Sigmund got the distinct impression that eternal damnation could be one of the assassin’s selling points.

“There is… More than the realms of the gods.” Sigmund said, a slightly strained look on his face as he searched for the right words. “Think of it like… Pages on a book, if all of the pages took up the same space. You turn over one page, and another different one is in its place. And, in some pages, sinister things lurk. Things that look in from outside our world, waiting for their chance to breach the thin veil separating us and send our reality into discord.”

The cultist fumbled for his crystals again, waving one in the air for emphasis. “That's why you should never, and I mean never, attempt to use these without me, or let one of the miners try. Okay?”

Victor and Ahana nodded silently. After a beat, Sigmund realised that he had gotten into a bit of a frenzy. “Did you want to know anything else?” He asked sheepishly.

“I, uh, no. I think I have everything we need for the moment.” Victor replied, shaking off the surprise, his sly grin returning to his face. “Getting these miners to follow us shouldn't be too hard.”

“Yeah, sounds like the kind of God that Inverxe crazies would eat up.” Ahana said, resting her head lazily on her hand. Sigmund’s outburst didn't seem to concern her the tiniest amount, and the cultist was quickly coming to realise that not much did.

“What a blessed day this is!” Sigmund said brightly. “So many new cultists for the mad God! Gal’skap will surely be pleased!”

“Okay, time for action.” Victor said, rising to his feet and motioning for his companions to follow suit. “Let's go rule some miners.”

 

[Victor Wolfe]

The perkiness of his cultist companion allowed the theology to go down a little easier. Victor had always been a sceptic, even in the previous verse he had met many a self-proclaimed god, but in the end, they all seemed to falter or fail, hardly all mighty. Still, if there was one thing the diplomat thought of religion, it was that it could be used as a very powerful tool in statecraft. Us vs them was a powerful mentality and being able to control that narrative. As well as having a church to add a god given right to rule could add some real legitimacy to their fledgeling empire of three.



The three worked quickly, Victor writing up leaflets on the back of some old papers he had found in the chief's hut. Carefully choosing each word, as he wrote up the first proclamation of their new cult. Combining the religious propaganda he had heard so much from his homeland, as well as some of the sales pitches he had seen on the dataverse.



A strong first impression was needed, the miners that had been trapt with their leporine friend would likely be the easiest to convert, the real problem would be the ones who had not seen first hand the powers of the trio, and who after years without hope had resigned themselves to a fate of mine until escape or death. Thus, the trio decided to split, the assassin had a plan, Ahana at his request talked to the miners she had rescued, asking them to listen to what their cultist comrade was offering, disguising the attempt at mass proselytisation as a help group for those struggling to adjust to their new freedom.



With the rest of the villagers' none the wiser and Sigmund having the time of his life as a preacher this allowed Victor and Ahana to sneak away, free to execute the next stage in the ambitious assassins master plan, a part of the plan he now regretted conceiving. Knowing that he was soon to suffer pain as intense as a desert sun.



Victor stood, Ahana behind him at the edge of the black webbing he had so narrowly avoided previously. He had a theory that he wanted to test, but for once due to the alien nature of the situation, he was not sure if it would work as intended or backfire and kill them both. He thought back to the conversation that had created this mess.



"Ok, if we are going to send a message we need to show that we do not share the same concerns as the miners here, that what has crushed their hopes and dreams will not stop our ambitions." The Lord proclaimed as the three amigos looked over the village they intended to rule.



"But they fear everything? Do we just wander back into the mines and show that we are not scared of cave-ins?" Ahana laughed at how weak minded their potential flock was.



"No mines are a bad idea, to many things could go wrong, and it's hard for me to manoeuvre and go all out when one attack might bring the roof down on our heads. Although, now that I think of it." A devious smile crossed the assassin's face as he stood up



"I need some string, a rabbit, and some green vegetables!"



And so the pair stood, Ahana with some lettuce from their rationed meal, Victor with a white hare on a leash of string. The rabbit-eared girl still didn't seem to have any idea about the nature of this plan and the blonde rogue was not too interested in telling her, after all, the surprise was going to be half the fun.



Ahana chucked the greens three feet into the snow-covered black webbing. eyes peeled at the cave entrance the assassin waited for a few moments, and just as he expected, there was no sign of movement, it would seem that the creatures within either based their reactions on weight or had a way to tell if what ended up on their nest was in fact prey.



Gently dropping the rabbit Victor moved onto the next step of his plan, the creature tentatively hopped forwards, the green catching its eyes in the sea of white as it aimed for its next meal. This time, however, there was movement from the cave, one that made Victor breathe a sigh of relief.



One of the smaller of the creatures stalked out of the entrance, its dark slimy skin reflecting the purple glow from the planet above a beautiful mix of biology and mechanical design all in the same creature. It hissed, as it lunged towards the bunny, who now noticing the large predator rushing towards it decided to try and hop away. Only to be held in place by the string around its neck. The creature panicked as it attempted to chew at the rope, fear of its imminent death in its eyes.



The rope went slack, as the hare darted away before the xenomorph could halt its momentum it was off its nest, and Victor struck. His dagger moving in a slash as the creatures oblong head exploded from the slice. A torrent of acidic blood going in all directions as the assassin muffled a shriek. If his next theory was correct they had to act quickly. Grabbing his blade he sliced the tail of the creature off and limped away, handing the spear-like instrument to the bunny girl as her healing aura started to seal up the acid burns.



By the time the pair arrived back at the village, it had seemed that Sigmund's sermon had gone perfectly, the former miners still gathered around listening to his words on the afterlife and powers of the mad god, his warm smile lulling them into a trance as he wove his words like a master craftsman.



the appearance of the other two strangers drew the eyes of the normal villagers, just as expected their disappearance had not gone totally unnoticed, even the village chief had stepped out of his hut as the three once again reunited.



"Did you do it?" Sigmund gleefully questioned after stepping away from his preaching.



"Come on Siggy, even you should have already figured out, when I set my mind to it, I get what I want." He smiled deviously as he grabbed the tail from Ahana. Swaggering towards the public notice board the assassin placed the proclamation of their cult and stabbed it into the hardwood with the tail as a nail.



Immediately whisperings started, many of them in disbelief that it only took two people to take down one of the apex predators of this wasteland. The more curious of the miners rushed forward to read the parchment as a sense of wonder returned to their eyes. Finally, the chief pushed his way to the front of the crowd, laying his eyes on the document.



"Would you like to not live every day wondering if it is your last? Would you like the promise that even should you meet your demise that you will be taken in and live eternally in the next life in the service of a loving lord? Would you like the chance to train, and through faith and devotion gain powers like the three fine heroes that have recently stepped into your village? Then you my friends should join the cult of Gal’skap! The only organisation on the moon that can help you reach your full potential in not only this life but also the next! You, fine people, have been holding yourself to conventional wisdom for too long, fearing the dark, and insanity that lurks in the depths. But is that not the most foolish of ideas as madness runs to the very core of the earth we stand on? So we have a different solution to the one provided by your elders, Embrace the madness, madness cannot hurt you if you accept it as a part of life. Use it! Don't let yourselves go insane without knowing how to control it, it's going to happen here anyway, so why not join up now? See Sigmund for details on the miracles that our great madness god may eventually provide to his most faithful followers, and let us work towards making this moon more than just a mining base, but a homeland!"



More whispering spread through the villagers as some seemed almost convinced, the elder, however, looked frustrated, as he stormed off to his hut. Locking the door and turning anyone who approached away, seeming to see this as a move by some young troublemakers to overthrow his rule he was likely weighing up all the possible options. Victor returned to his usual observant self, relaxing whilst he observed the others at work, waiting for the next spark to ignite him into action.



Sigmund was overjoyed at how many people started to turn up to his now daily ceremonies, not just the rescued miners but now people who had only read of the miracles the trio could perform, just from a glance they could tell their words and actions had the desired effect, the largest gains where from the younger population, the ambition of humanity still strong in their eyes as they grasped at the new opportunities that the three may provide.



And the effect seemed to be spreading, as whenever a new member would come to listen to the words of Sigmund, their health would drastically improve, mostly from a well placed Ahana. Through word of mouth they seemed to be gaining more and more of a foothold, until one day the Elder made his move. It was a service like any other until the loud roar of an engine filled the sky, and a mysterious ship appeared overhead.

 

[Ahana Varma]

It had all been going so well, until the Rock Raiders arrived.

Well, she figured it was going well, anyway. The other two seemed pleased. Truth be told, Ahana hadn’t really totally exactly understood much of their plan, as such]. She liked the idea of going to the not-heaven-but-still-nice place after dying, though she wasn’t actually sure that it was even possible for her to die at this point… but did she actually comprehend any of what Sigmund had told her? Fuck no.

The universe was a book and some of the pages had things in them that liked looking at people? So the bad guys of his religion were interdimensional voyeurs? It sounded kinda dumb to her, but Victor had taken it all in his stride, acting like it totally made sense, so she just went along with it, figuring that if these two knew what was going on then she could just follow their lead without having to put too much thought into it, and everything would turn out fine.

And that plan worked out perfectly when their strategist—who had by this point informed her that he was actually an assassin by trade—demonstrated his brilliant strategy for luring out and slaying that monster-thing… a xenomorph, Victor had later told her it was called.

Only now these new guys were spoiling it.

Maybe.

Probably?

Victor wore a small smirk on his face as the trio approached the ship, the healer noticed out of the corner of her eye, as if he’d known all along that they’d be coming. Sigmund also looked happy, but that was just his default expression, so it likely didn’t mean much.

The trio had known from the moment they saw the craft that its owners were the Rock Raiders, because the vessel had their company’s name emblazoned on its side in ten-foot-tall letters. It was something of a giveaway. Having been on Inverxe for long enough, Ahana had, of course, already heard of the most famous mining operation in the entire Crossroads solar system. And, naturally, she’d shared this knowledge with her associates; they were new here—from other dimensions, apparently—so the assassin had had her to bring them up to speed on the basics.

When an entrance hatch lowered, becoming a ramp, a small crowd of rough-looking folks left the vessel. One of them, who stood at the head of his band of less-than-merry mostly-men—a tall, rugged guy with steel-grey sideburns and dark eyes—nodded to that old, leader-dude, who had apparently decided to follow the three of them out to greet the new arrivals. The four demi-leaders from the group she’d met down below hadn’t come forward, however. None of them seemed to be overly keen on taking charge; they claimed that they'’d initially done so out of a sense of duty, rather than due to ambition, and couldn't care less about running the settlement. The bunnygirl could certainly empathise with them on that last part.

“So, you two already know one another, I see.” Victor began. On the surface, his voice was warm, almost jovial… but Ahana caught the hard undertone. It took her a moment to realise what he was getting at. It must’ve been the elder who’d called these guys in, likely to sabotage their efforts at inducting the miners into their fledgeling cult.

“What’s it to you, pretty boy?” the Rock Raider sneered, not bothering with politeness or subtlety; this one was clearly no diplomat. He then carried on speaking without waiting for an answer, “An’ who the hell are these two mooks? Nice cape, kid, you some kinda homo or what? You an' blondie a couple, ey?”

Behind him, his group of thugs burst into raucous peals of laughter, as if their boss had just displayed some astounding level of wit.

“An' what’s with the ears, girlie? You dunk your head in a vat o’ toxic waste, or was your ma just real good friends with her pet rabbit?”

More laughter. Ahana twitched slightly, and her hand tightened on b’Akphiyr’s hilt. She may not be actually capable of killing anyone, thanks to her own aura, but that didn’t mean her blows would hurt any less, and she’d really like to see the look on this bastard’s face once she started hacking off limbs.

She had to smile just thinking about it. But then her face fell, as Victor laid a hand on her shoulder, clearly aware of what was going through her head. His grip wasn’t particularly strong right then, but she knew that that’d change the moment she made a move; he wasn’t planning on letting her maim these cretins even a little bit. The bunnygirl sighed glumly, but made no move to break free; the assassin knew what he was doing, she was sure.

“Now, now, no need for us to throw insults around… I’m sure we’d all prefer our peaceful conversation not devolve into violence.” the hardness in the blond man’s tone was more apparent now, though the smile on his face was still friendly enough… aside from the fact that it didn’t reach his blood-red eyes.

“Would we?” the grey-haired Raider took a couple paces forwards, and the near-two-dozen goons at his back followed suit. They were now barely a metre from the trio, “Seems to me like we outnumber you fuckin’ cultists pretty well… I reckon if we was to pick a fight, you three’d be pretty fucked. So here’s what we’re gonna do, you’re all gonna get the fuck outta here and never show your faces near anywhere we might find you ever again. If we hear so much as a whisper o’ any crazy fuckin’ cults springin’ up, you can be damn sure we’ll not be so generous next-”

He paused, glaring at Victor, who had raised a finger for silence and was waiting patiently for him to shut up, “What the fuck is is it?”

“You appear to be under a slight misconception. The truth is that you and your little band of nobodies pose absolutely no threat to us whatsoever. We are the chosen emissaries of Gal’skap, the Elder God of Madness… and here on Inverxe, where His power is strongest in all the Crossroads… we are invincible.”

Unsurprisingly, the miner guy looked at Victor as if he was an utter imbecile, “You delusional little fuckwit. Let’s see how invincible you are when-”

The Rock Raider took a step forwards, then froze, blinking in astonishment when he found the tip of the assassin’s golden dagger just a millimetre or so from grazing his Adam’s apple. Ahana blinked as well, and Sigmund looked no less surprised than she felt. Even after seeing him take down that xenomorph, she was still amazed by Victor's reaction speed.

“Back up for me, will you?” Victor said sweetly, and the big man did as he was instructed, suddenly sweating despite the chill in the air; even on the upper slopes of a volcanic mountain such as this one, calling Inverxe warm would be a stretch.

“Now, before anyone starts something that they may or may not live long enough to regret, let us demonstrate our power to you… Ahana, would you care to help me out with this?”

She glanced across at him and realised that though he'd lowered his hand, Victor hadn’t sheathed the knife. It wasn’t hard for her to guess what his plan entailed this time, “Sure.”

She shrugged off the fur coat she’d been wearing and tossed it to the ground. Beneath that, she had on a thin, sleeveless, brown vest. Leaning against her sword, she held out her left arm in front of the assassin. Most of the Raiders looked confused. She didn’t glance back at the crowd, but she imagined that many of the miners who’d been here before, and so hadn’t witnessed her underground exploits, probably wore similar expressions.

“Behold,” said Victor brightly, “the awe-inspiring power of our God.”

And with that, he swung upwards, his dagger cleaving through flesh and shattering bone with no more effort than an ordinary man might require to cut in half a lump of warm butter. Ahana couldn’t keep from wincing a little and clenching her jaw as her arm was severed at the elbow, but she didn’t cry out in pain.

The Rock Raiders gaped at them, fully convinced that this man really had embraced madness, and was truly stupid enough to think that his companion could somehow recover from such a devastating injury. When the golden flames appeared and quickly took the shape of her missing arm, Ahana grinned and waved her burning hand at the petrified bunch.

Several seconds later, when the flames had all withdrawn, leaving her fully healed, she casually used the bottom of her vest to wipe off the blood that had gotten on her arm, then picked up her coat, dusted it off a little, and put it back on. By this point, the head Raider had apparently recovered enough to speak.

“She can regenerate.” he said, dully.

“We can regenerate.” Victor corrected, and with a flick of his blade, he lopped off his pinky finger to prove it. Fire flared, and the disembodied digit was rapidly replaced.

“Great.” the big man sounded defeated already, “So why not just kill us all, then?”

“Kill you?” the assassin asked innocently, “Well, I’d be lying if I said we couldn’t... but we’d much rather have the Rock Raiders on good terms with us than bad. Just because we serve the Mad God, that doesn’t mean we’re here only to sow chaos and discord… spreading His worship would be beneficial to everyone on Inverxe, so we would rather not pick fights unless absolutely necessary.”

“I… see…” the man was clearly sceptical.

“Instead, how about a little contest?” Victor offered cheerily, “What do you say we head down into the tunnel network beneath the old mine at the centre of this settlement and see who can find some minerals worth excavating first? If you manage, we’ll leave peacefully, with no need for violence, and if we do, I’m sure you’d be willing to extend us the same courtesy.”

“You think that’s fair? We’re experienced prospectors, y’know… do you actually think you stand a chance?”

Before the blond could respond, Sigmund beat him to it, apparently realising that this would be a good time to mention his religion again. He did so in a serious, almost sage-like tone, “Gal’skap will provide. We are His prophets on this world, and He will guide us to where we must go.”

“Well… that’s hardly fair.” grumbled the Raider. Ahana laughed, and Victor gave him another bright smile.

The assassin laughed, then took over seamlessly from the priest, “It isn't supposed to be fair. Honestly, this won't really be an actual challenge for us… it’s just one more opportunity to demonstrate the power and generosity of our patron deity. We’ll show you what benefits can be had from the worship of Gal’skap… and, perhaps, if we impress you here then one day even the mighty Rock Raiders may end up following our humble faith.”

“Not likely,” their rival grunted, “but sure, we’ll take you up on your offer. All this ‘faith healin’’ crap is bad enough, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna just roll over and accept that you prayer-mad fucks can do a better job o’ prospectin’ than me an’ my team.”

***

And so, the challenge began. Sigmund and Victor had done a good enough job of spewing religious mumbo jumbo to fool their uninvited guests, but the truth of the matter was that it was just another of the assassin’s tricks. Ahana had told them both previously of the many crystal-laden tunnels that her group had passed through on their way to the surface, and the three had already been intending on sending their miners down to gather those at some point in the future.

Those sections of the labyrinthine network of passages were a little way beyond the mine itself, but the bunnygirl was confident that she could remember them well. All they were really doing was relying on her to lead them down a route she’d already traversed not long before. No matter how knowledgeable the Raiders thought themselves, there was no way they could possibly hope to win this contest.

***

“Aha, sorry, seems we may have taken a wrong turn.” Ahana turned to face the two who’d been following her, scratching one of her bunny ears absently and wearing a sheepish grin. This was the third time they’d run into a dead end already, and they’d left the mine—entering into this area of natural-looking passages—not ten minutes ago.

Victor was pinching the bridge of his nose and taking deep, calming breaths. His plan had been a good one, aside from the minor detail that it was entirely reliant on the healer not being dumber than the average rock.

“You have absolutely no idea where were are, do you?” Sigmund asked, his tone deadpan.

“Nope. Not a clue.” Ahana confessed.

Total Word Count: 2,178
Crawl Word Count: 1,767/1,767
Quest Word Count: 411/5,000

Note
As in the previous thread, Ahana's normal outfit is still ruined, and as such she is dressed similarly to the group she rescued, in clothes much like these: [LINK].

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

“Huh. Another dead end.” Ahana said, chuckling at the predicament. Her companions, however, were certainly not laughing.

“This is getting impressive.” Sigmund said cheerily, although his grin didn't meet his eyes. “If these ‘Rock Raiders’ are experienced as they say they are, they might have found crystals already.”

“Don't you worry your pretty little head, Siggy.” Victor said, slapping the cultist on the back as the trio retraced their steps once again. “We’re not going to let them undo all our hard work.”

Sigmund gave a strained nod, anxiously adjusting the pickaxe he had resting over his shoulder. He wasn't sure if a pick was necessary with Victor’s strength, but it felt right to bring one in case.

“I trust you, Vic.” Sigmund said. “But the thought of those… Rough individuals coming and snatching our flock right from under us is, frankly, sickening.”

The assassin nodded sympathetically but said no more.

“Oh! Oh! I recognise this tunnel!” Ahana announced, beckoning for the pair to follow her. The rabbit-eared woman dashed down the tunnel and came face to face with another dead end.

“Incredible! Just like the last tunnel you recognised.” Sigmund said, amazed.

“Hey, these tunnels all look really similar.” Ahana shot back. “I'd like to see you do better.”

Sigmund raised his arms in surrender.

“Okay, I apologise. I recognise that you are doing your best.”

The bunny girl seemed semi-satisfied with the apology, and the trio continued their crawl through the tunnels. Sigmund cast his eyes to the tunnel floor for a moment, contemplating the possibility of following footprints. Unfortunately, there wasn't much loose dirt or dust to leave footprints with, so the cultist had to be happy with idle wandering.

“The looks on their faces when Gal’skap leads us to joyous victory will be exceptional.” Sigmund said dreamily.

“Yeah, speaking of which, when is He going to ‘provide for us’?” Ahana asked, only half sarcastic.

“Perhaps He’d lead you to the crystals if you believe in Him more.” Sigmund replied, a slightly chastising, slightly teasing tone in his voice. “Regardless, I'm sure the Mad God will hinder those blasphemous non-believers as much as He’ll aid us.”

“Their leader really got to you, didn't he?” Victor remarked, slightly surprised.

“Alas, he did. As you can probably tell, I didn't inherit father’s temper, but sometimes things can get to me. Like when he insulted my high priest cloak, such blatant disrespect infuriates me.” Sigmund sighed.

“Was it the homo comment?” Ahana asked.

“Hmm?”

“Y’know, some religions aren't really accepting of that kind of stuff.”

“What would the gods care for human sexuality?” Sigmund wondered aloud, tilting his head to the side slightly. “They care little for your personal life outside of worship.”

“What did he do to get you so pissed off, then?”

“It was the arrogance, I suppose.” The cultist replied with a slight shrug. “The belief that you are more than insignificant in the face of something so incredible. It's baffling.”

Ahana and Victor murmured their agreements. Sigmund could feel that they understood where he was coming from, to some degree. The trio turned down another tunnel to find… More tunnel?

“Aha!” Ahana cried, placing her hands on her hips triumphantly. “This is the right way, I'm certain of it.”

“This does look promising.” Sigmund said, peering down the tunnel.

“Nice work Ahana. It only took us about seven dead ends.” Victor said playfully. “Let's go quickly, we need to get there befo-”

The assassin was cut off by a distant rumbling, shaking the ground around them.

“Sounds like a cave-in.” Ahana murmured. “The Rock Raiders might have caused it in their digging, but if they’re experienced as they say they are…

Sigmund suddenly broke into a Cheshire grin. “Gal’skap provides.”

“It's more likely that Inverxe started to make them reckless.” Ahana said before breaking into a smirk despite herself. “But I suppose that's the same thing though, isn't it?”

The trio continued down the tunnel with renewed vigour, with Sigmund almost skipping in joy as they made their way to the crystals. It wasn't long before the first beautiful gems came into sight. The cultist whooped with joy, and his companions wore wide grins themselves.

“Hey Siggy, hand me the pick.” Victor said, extending his hand out to the priest. Sigmund obliged, handing the assassin the pickaxe excitedly. Victor swung the pick a couple times experimentally before bringing it down on the point where the crystals met the cave wall with a grunt. The gems vibrated, releasing an eerie tone but remain solid. Another few swings, however, and the crystals were free.

“Should we go and grab more?” Sigmund asked excitedly. “We can increase our wealth further prove our superiority at the same time!”

“No need to rub it in, Siggy.” Victor said. “And we can always come back for these another time.”

The cultist deflated a little but relented with a nod, still quite pleased with the situation.

“Come on, we still need to get back before them.” Ahana insisted. “Don't worry, though, I'm sure that I know the way back to the camp.”

“Uh, no offence but maybe I should lead us back.” Victor said.

Sigmund remained silent but nodded vigorously. It would be a shame to starve to death in the caverns after they had come so far.

Sorry, I forgot to add my totals last post.
This post + last post = 885 + 926 = 1811 words
Crawl words: 1767/1767
WC words: 54/5000 words

 

[Victor Wolfe]

Victor once again had put far too much faith in the abilities of his companions. True they had eventually reached the gem-laden walls of the deeper caverns, but the amount of energy and time that they had already expended in the pursuit of winning this little challenge with the rock raiders had begun to irk the assassin.

Had they turned up to the noble halls of Nippur and called the lord and his entourage a bunch of mud fuck they would likely have been hung up onto crosses and left for everyone to see, perhaps even with road markers carved into their chests, painful, public, and purposeful. A truly effective form of murder. Alas, this was not the golden halls of the great desert Kingdom, and these early days in the making of their cult were crucial, if they angered too many of their more powerful neighbours, things that go bump in the night would be the least of their concerns. Gods were powerful, but people, people are persistent.

He had considered the possibility of simply following in the footsteps of the muscled miners, but as always the assassin was thinking far ahead of the other two. After all, they seemed like the sort that would one, spend a day in a tavern, and two, could not keep quiet about anything. And with the idea that Ahana knew the path to the crystals it was settled, go there quickly, get the gems, and then return and wait for them to get to the surface be amazed, and then allow the rumours of their cults possible magic to spread.

Victor regretted not asking Erik to find a way to make a clone of himself, Sigmund was certainly peppy, but so far the assassin would likely trade in the rabbit girl for an extra Erik or two. Letting out a sigh whilst leading the group he consoled himself, if anything this would just drive him on more, he would find a station, or place in this future empire that would make the most of her skills and personality. But for now, he thought back to the path that had led them to the gem tunnels.

As he led the way back he removed his blade from its sheath at his side, if they were truly going to reclaim these mines for their nation then they had the best lead by example and be efficient and meticulous. And Victor had the perfect tool for the job, as they came to the first intersection of tunnels the assassin smiled at his companions.

"Would both of you fine people relax for a moment whilst I do what I do... like fifth best? I don't want us getting lost again and I tend to find that the nations that do best are the ones that keep maps, records, and directions, not very madness based but if we are going to own these mines then we best make sure none of our new lords flock fall to an early grave." Whilst the others took a rest, Victor, carefully sliced a section of the wall, smoothing out the imperfections until a rectangular section of rock stood out against the more natural cave wall surrounding it.

Luckily with the new found power in his sword cutting through this stone was not too hard of a feat, and after a few moments he had drawn out the directions and a small description, marking out the explored and unexplored paths. He would like to replace these with actual signs one day but for now, this makeshift method would have to do.

And so the trio went, stopping at each intersection as they went, Victor not willing to trust that if they didn't lay things out as simple as they could be that some poor idiot in their flock would not find some of the creatures from before and lead an entire hive back to their base. He was done with trusting people to lead themselves, after all without Gilgamesh, Nippur had fallen, with the sickness and feebleness of his former emperor in his old age, the empire had fallen, and under the fractured democracy of the indecisive elite, his homeland had been annexed and turned into a den of crime and cheap labour. People were dumb, and they needed as much guidance from gifted individuals such as himself as possible.

"So Orgies are fun" The lord proclaimed proudly, as the trio continued their walk, almost to the main tunnel that would lead them to their freedom, Sigmund looked as if he would have sprayed water everywhere had he been drinking, a slight blush to his cheeks, Ahana seemed more puzzled and bemused, wondering just what this foreign stranger was going to continue with.

"Well, I was just thinking of laws we could propose when we finally expand past just being a cult and into a proper legal state and all that." Victor mused with a grin across his face.

"And what do Orgies have to do with Laws we will propose?!?" Siggy continued to be flustered by the assassins logic, seeming more and more like his father by the moment.

"Now now Siggy, Orgies have everything to do with what laws we could have. Think about it, we have a lot of young people, sex is great for reducing stress and increasing morale, we also want to have as many cultists as possible right? The more people worshipping the mad god the better? And we also need a large, lets say, disposable population if we really do want to spread and thrive across this moon, so why don't we just be mad and ditch the stupid norms of society, we have a day for it and turn anyone doing anyone into the new norm, all the benefits, its chaotic, people get off and thus are more satisfied. The birth rate goes up giving us so many more cultists in a few years. And Gal'skap gets to enjoy the madness of people breaking free of the social construct of monogamy! But what day do we go with? None start with... Ah, Ok the second proposal, we drop the M from Monday because who really needs it? Orgy Onday!" Before the assassin could continue his ideas on how an ideal cultist state should be run the discovered a complication in their return to the surface.

Where the main tunnel would have lead onto the route to the surface it appeared that the rumbling they had heard from the deep had done more damage than anticipated, instead of an open route to their salvation they instead found rubble and debris fallen like their hopes of a quick escape.

"Son of an Ucchian whore!" Victor scowled as his fist slammed into the wall of the tunnel. "Apparently the mad god wants to continue the game" Sigmund smiled putting on an optimistic outlook.

"You are lucky you are so cute Mr Optimist. Because from where I am standing it looks more like your Mad God pulled a me, building up our hopes before killing us in a horrible slow way. With a healer, so we couldn't even off ourselves. I hate when people pull a me, only I get to do that. " At that moment the area the assassins fist had made sharp contact with seemed to collapse, as if by fate. A new path down into the deeps was revealed, Sigmund smiling as he headed towards the new route.

"Gal'skap provides," he said with a smile.

Total Word Count: 2,874
Crawl Word Count: 1,767/1,767
World Quest Word Count: 1,107/5,000

 

[Ahana Varma]

Ahana watched Sigmund out of the corner of her eye as Victor began discussing his weird idea of encouraging their underlings to hold orgies every week. Though flustered at first, the priest’s expression darkened considerably when he realised that their assassin was actually hoping to portray the practice as some perverse form of worship. Ahana didn’t particularly care one way or the other about the idea… who other people slept with was of no concern to her, so she simply remained silent and observed.

Before Victor had time to pick up on Sigmund’s displeasure, though, they came upon a roadblock. Cheerfully changing the subject, Sigmund took the lead this time, as they headed into a freshly revealed side-passage.

It looked to be headed downwards, so on the face of it this would seem like a less wise choice than just backtracking a little and taking another route… but the blue-eyed man was certain that it was a sign from his god, so they followed him. Ahana figured that the plan was probably to look for the first tunnel which seemed to be headed upwards, which was why she was a little surprised when they came across one and Sigmund bypassed it entirely.

Evidently, Victor shared her thoughts on this matter, “Wouldn’t this way be better?”

Sigmund turned back to face them, wearing a strange expression on his face, “No, I don’t think so. It’s just a feeling, so I can’t really explain it, but I’m sure that we have to head deeper… down to where Gal’skap’s power is more concentrated.”

With that, he began walking again, and the other two followed more hesitantly. Victor wasn’t ready to give up the discussion just yet, though, “Look, we can come back down here some other time, if you think Gal'skap wants us to see something. We can come back any time we want, there’s no reason it has to be now. Let’s head back and show off the crystals, win this dumb contest, and then do our exploring.”

Victor’s voice had the same charismatic tones Ahana had heard from him many times before—she had no doubt that this man was either a natural-born public speaker or a highly trained diplomat—but in this instance, she caught a hint of something else as well, beneath his veneer of confidence and charm. Something which made her smile.

He was afraid… or… perhaps angry. He thought that Sigmund was leading them to their deaths. What he’d said previously, when they’d reached the collapsed tunnel, had given her some small insight into his true feelings. Victor raged against the idea of being lost down here to slowly die of dehydration or starvation. He feared that this whole thing was just a god’s cruel joke. And he underestimated his healer’s power. Ahana couldn’t be sure if it was even possible for her to die any longer, as powerful as she had grown. Dimly, she mused on the subject of how long she could sate her thirst by drinking her own blood before the amount of salt in it overcame her body’s magical resistance to poisons.

“The Mad God works in mysterious ways.” Sigmund said sincerely, shaking his head, “If we leave now then it’s likely we will never find this tunnel again. Just trust me, please.”

Victor sighed and Ahana grinned, “I say we give him a chance. Siggy’s the priest, after all. If any of us could figure out what Gal’skap actually wanted, he’d be the one who’d know. And it'd probably be best for us to not piss off our patron deity too much.”

“Alright, alright.” the assassin agreed with a weary shrug, "We'll do it Siggy's way. Just don't blame me if we get back to the surface to find all our would-be cultists signing the Raiders' mining contacts."

And so they headed deeper. The further they went, the more obvious the inclines of the side-tunnels they ignored became. At one point, they even passed one with the word ‘EXIT’ carved into the stone above it, and on another instance they saw one down which a cold breeze blew, and at the end of which they could see daylight. Sigmund insisted that they must be far too deep underground by now to actually be coming across an exit, and that it had to be some sort of illusion designed to send lost travellers to their deaths. It was abundantly clear that someone wanted them to turn off their current path. They kept on going.

***

The trio came out into the cavern, and immediately their jaws dropped.

Well, Ahana’s and Sigmund’s. Their unshakable diplomat managed to keep his cool, of course.

Sigmund coughed, a little awkwardly, and composed himself. As a disciple of madness, there was no doubt in the bunnygirl’s mind that he’d seen stranger things in his time. The caped man hadn’t been awestruck, only surprised.

Ahana, on the other hand, was temporarily at a loss for words. The vast subterrane before her was unlike anything she’d ever come across in her life before now. She hadn't the slightest clue how far down they’d come, but she could feel that this place was much warmer than above; if not for her magical resistance to temperature variations, the healer knew she’d be sweating fiercely under the thick furs in which she was clad… and down here, in this warm, humid hole in the ground, life flourished.

And it was almost all luminescent. Shining, pure blue moss coated the ground and much of the (very far off) walls, along with hundreds of mushrooms of varying sizes, shapes and hues, some being under an inch in height, whilst others were taller than people. Interspersed amongst them were the occasional blocks of glowing crystal, which also came in many different colours. More such gems protruded from the walls, and sparkled like stars on the ceiling high above.

Ahana wouldn’t have thought herself the sort of person to be impressed by a pretty landscape, but this underground locale was something else.

“Hahaha! Well, I think it’s safe to say that Gal’skap has provided all right. Who cares if those idiots have made it back to the surface ahead of us?” Victor said loudly, clearly relishing the words, “Even if they spent a hundred years below ground, they’d not gather so much as one percent of what we’ve uncovered here. We’ve made it big time, friends. With all these gems, we’ll have no problems building a cult… hell, we’ll have no problems building our own city. And given that they’re all glowing and magical-looking… who knows, Siggy, some of them might even turn out to be those ‘breach crystals’ you mentioned before.”

“Breach Crystals aren’t-” the priest began, about to launch into another lecture on the difference between mystical and divine power, no doubt, thought Ahana. He was (thankfully) interrupted, however, by the soft sound of approaching footsteps. He quietened immediately, and the three readied themselves for a fight.

A couple moments later, a strawberry blonde, long-haired and pale-skinned young woman ran out from amidst a cluster of huge, shining mushrooms, and Victor relaxed immediately. Ahana and Sigmund eyed her up and down. The assassin and healer smirked. The priest frowned.

Her modesty was protected only by a thick band of some kind of animal hide tied across her chest, and a sash of the same material around her hips. She was also bedecked in more jewels than a queen: necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets, anklets, hair clips, even strings of them wrapped around her waist; if it could possibly be considered jewelry, this girl wore it. It was plainly obvious that whoever she was, she’d taken a liking to the crystals which were oh so abundant in this place.

In her right hand the woman brandished a sickle in their general direction, while in her left she carried a basket partially filled with some glowing mushrooms. All these gems around to mine and she was wasting her time farming?

She looked terrified. Or rather, like someone who was terrified but desperately trying to put on a brave face, “Stay back, intruders! You are not welcome in our land! Leave now if you value your lives!”

“Heh. Let me handle her.” Victor said, casually striding forwards, drawing his silver dagger but leaving the other sheathed; he was no doubt capable of dealing with this girl with only one blade. Dropping her basket, she screamed and charged him in spite of her fear… and utter lack of fighting skill. She swung her sickle once, wildly, and then paused to gape at her empty hand, after the assassin sent her weapon flying with a casual flick of his wrist.

She returned to her senses when the red-eyed man grabbed her upper arm. He attempted to start questioning her, but she shrieked and writhed in his grip, and tried her best to kick him in the balls, which Ahana found hilarious. As the healer laughed, Victor caught the farmer-girl's leg and tripped her without effort, tossing her to the ground, then kneeling by her side, grabbing her arm again, and pressing his blade to her throat, “Give it up already, you’re beaten. Just answer a few questions for us and we won't need to get violent.”

Tears spilled from her eyes, “I-It doesn’t matter wh-what you do to me, I will n-never betray my people.”

“Oh? Your people, huh? So you’re not alone down here… that's interesting.” the assassin commented, and the woman’s eyes went wide.

“No! I won’t give you anything else!” she screeched, jerking away from Victor and scrambling backwards. Not even appearing to notice that in doing so she had managed to slit her own throat on his knife. If not for Ahana’s aura, she’d have been dead in moments. In addition to fighting skill, she also seemed to be seriously lacking in basic common sense. As it was, she quickly healed, though not before soaking pretty much the entire front of her body in blood.

Victor made to follow, but Sigmund spoke up, “Let me. You’ve clearly scared her.”

He strode past the assassin, knelt down beside the woman and bowed his head to her, “Please forgive us, we truly mean you no harm. I am Sigmund Vrell, a priest of Gal’skap, and these two are… my bodyguards, Victor and Ahana. I sincerely apologise for Victor’s overzealousness. Please, could you take us to meet your people? We wish only to spread the word of our God, we have no desire to harm any of you, steal from you or impose in any way.”

Slowly, the frightened savage nodded, perhaps thinking that her friends and family might actually be willing to hear them out... or perhaps just figuring that whatever tribe of primitives she belonged to had enough warriors back at their village to slay them. Ahana wasn’t particularly concerned; she figured this’d likely be fun either way.

She did glance across at Victor and share a look with him, though. She wasn’t sure about Sigmund’s intentions, but the two of them certainly wanted this bounty of crystals… so what the priest had said about not wanting to harm or steal from them might not prove to be entirely true, depending on how winnable the fight seemed once they’d met the rest of the young woman's group.

Post Word Count: 1,896
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Post #1 Word Count: 645/645 (1/3 of 1,934)
Total Community Quest Word Count: 1,662/5,000 (411 + 1,251)

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

The trio followed their new guide through the crystal-lined caverns. Sigmund was glad the woman was willing to listen to reason, although invoking the mad God certainly hadn't been a bad idea. People were usually willing to listen when faith was involved. Victor, however, was a cause for concern. The priest didn't want to start and argument right at that moment, but he was going to need to talk to the assassin about just how destructive hedonism could be to a cult sooner or later. Brushing such dark thoughts aside, Sigmund grinned as the woman led them to a small village of huts haphazardly placed around a small area. Many of the huts were decorated in crystals which lit up in torchlight to giving the whole village a vibrant glow in the otherwise dark caverns.

“This is it.” She said, still seeming a little wary of the group. “Come, you should speak to our chief.”

“Lead the way.” Sigmund said cheerily, motioning for her to continue to guide the group. His enthusiasm was evidently a little infectious as the woman’s hard expression softened a little. ‘Sometimes kindness can hold more sway than outright manipulation.’ Sigmund thought with a hint of smugness. ‘Oh gods, if mother was here to hear that…’

The woman brought the group to the largest and most lavishly decorated hut, which appeared to be a house made entirely of cobbled together crystals. The guide rapped her knuckles on the door, producing a hollow note each time, before stepping back. From within the hut, a hulking golem of crystal emerged. The foreign trio froze, and Sigmund almost opened his tome instinctively before he registered what he was looking at. What he had believed was a golem was, in fact, the largest woman he had ever seen in his life. She looked only a little under seven feet tall and had the body type of a small mountain. Much like her hut, she was bejewelled in so many crystals that it made the villager seem conspicuous.

“Well, what do we have here?” The chief said, crossing her arms. There was a hint of distrust in her voice, which Sigmund conceded was to be expected when you came to someone’s doorstep to preach. “I'm chief Sapphira. What do you want?”

The trio barely suppressed their laughter. Sigmund supposed that he shouldn't be surprised, but couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of the situation.

“We are humble servants of the mad God Gal’skap.” Sigmund said. Victor seemed to want to speak, but the cultist was desperate to prevent the assassin from corrupting his divine message. “We have come to spread his divine message.”

Sapphira glared down at them one by one, examining them closely. Sigmund responded with a toothy grin, Ahana with a smug smile and Victor with a sly smirk.

“Hmm. Who is this ‘Mad God’? I've never heard of such a deity on Inverxe before.” The chief responded. Her voice was hard, but had a hint of curiosity within it.

“You've never heard of Gal’skap?” Victor asked incredulously before Sigmund could even open his mouth. “He's the mighty elder God of madness, and here on Inverxe, my dear, is where he is strongest.”

“Is that so?” Sapphira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ahana, if you would?” Victor said.

“Yeah, sure thing.” The rabbit girl replied with an exasperated tone. With familiar, almost practiced movements, Ahana performed their rehearsed miracle, slicing through her fingers. Before long, the golden flames that danced across her hand abated, revealing a whole hand once more. The chief’s eyebrow raised in surprise and her eyes filled with newfound acceptance.

“H-Huh.” She said, a hint of nervousness in her voice. Victor slipped into a predatory grin at the hint of weakness, obviously excited. “Well, what brings you here, exactly.”

“We’re here to gather more sheep for our flock, of course.” Victor said smoothly. Sigmund noted that he mentioned nothing of crystal mining, but there was no doubt in his mind that the assassin would get his gems one way or another. “It would be shameful to keep all this power for ourselves.”

“We shall see.” Sapphira said. “I must admit, your proposal is promising. I must consider it some more and meet with my advisors. Until then, you may rest in our village.”

The giant woman turned to return to her hut before Sigmund called out to her.

“Oh, one more thing!” He said, drawing her gaze to him. “Have you seen any… Special, shall we say, crystals?”

“Special how?”

“Strange colour, make a weird humming noise, seem to change shape whenever you look away from them.”

“Uh, no,” Sapphira said, despite the recognition spreading across her expression. She ripped her gaze away from the trio and ducked into her hut. “We have nothing like that here.”

The door slammed shut, leaving the adventurers outside. Sigmund and Victor exchanged a glance and could tell that they were thinking the same thing. She was lying.

“Well, what now?” Sigmund asked. He was hoping Victor or Ahana had a plan. He was, frankly, just here to get his crystals and to preach, but was ready to hear what the others had in mind.

856 words
Crawl words: 865/1934
WC words: 54/5000 (unchanged)

 

[Victor Wolfe]

The eager conman that was Victor Wolfe rubbed his hands together in glee. The smell of a large score wafting on the air the scheming cogs that made up his mind turning as a plan began to form, a plan that would only really need three people, well four, but one of them likely would not know their part for a while.

As he examined the primitive villagers going about their day to day lives an even more elaborate plan popped into mind, one that would get them what they want, allow the assassin to show off his cunning, and still keep some trust with these seemingly nice people. After all, they couldn't afford to just purge them, who would mine the crystals then?

Pulling the others away to an isolated patch of the cavern, mushrooms creating a shield from the eyes of the peasants, the former lord grinned like a Cheshire cat, causing Siggy to squirm in his skin a little. Just like his father would, not sure if he wanted to know what his creepy "uncle" was actually thinking about doing to these poor people.

Unfortunately for him, Ahana had no such reservations on picking the blonde's brain. "So what do you think?" She asked, wondering just what the former lord had noticed to fill his expression with unrepentant glee.

"Well first things first, that woman is a liar, she clearly knows about breach crystals, I would go so far as to say that they probably have some stashed away. Now I don't know about you two, but I really hate being lied to." The assassins grin turned malicious causing Sigmund to burst out.

"We just got here, we are not killing them!" The group went silent until hearty laughter erupted from Victor's chest. "Obviously my dear boy. I want these people to see the light of our Lord just as much as you do, and eventually become a vital part of our empire, peacefully of course." Victor patted the preacher on his back, but the boy still clearly had his doubts.

"Besides, why kill her when there are other ways to hurt her even more!" Ahana chuckled as Sigmund gave Victor a stare of disappointment, although not quite as refined as his fathers it still stung a little.

"But first, our plan needs some set up if we are to pull it off without a hitch, and I need you two to keep up the amazing work you have provided so far, Ok mostly the amazing work you have provided Siggy, we could use about another twenty percent from you my friend" He signalled to Ahana, but before the bunny girl could protest he continued to weave out his plan.

"So what I need from you Mr Vrell is to be yourself, go into town, preach, get to know the locals, convince them that we are the good guys. Build our reputation through your infectious positivity." Sigmund still seemed a little sceptical but from what the assassin had given him to do how badly could things turn out, with a small nod he confirmed that he would be willing to follow the plan.

With a grin, Victor patted him on the back "good my friend, very good. Now as for you Miss Varma, I need you to find and make friends with a more specific target, someone young, who wants to go out into the world, a dreamer who wants more, gender doesn't really matter that is up to you but we need them to fall in love with you, I don't particularly care about the methods you use, but then I need you to ask them if they will help us and offer that they can leave with us if they do, that will be all you need to know for now. Even you can't mess up a task this simple."

With a smile the assassin clapped and finished with "meanwhile I am probably going to try and get very familiar with the daughter of the chief, I feel like if anyone knows the location of those crystals it will probably be her." Before the others could react the assassin skipped away whistling happily tipping his non-existent hat to everyone he passed.

"Good day madam, good day sir! What a fine time to be alive my friends" Ahana and Sigmund wondered just what they had gotten themselves into. One thing was for sure though, their new friend seemed to be able to slip into whatever role he put his mind too. And despite every other word that came out of his mouth sounding crazy or nonsensical. His plans had always seemed to somehow come together, be it through accidental brilliance or planned genius remained to be seen though.

Meanwhile, Victor skipped towards his target, truly a wolf in sheep's clothing as he kept up his well mannered gentlemanly act for all to see, the feeling of being on the hunt thrilling him to his core. He loved the feeling of being the only one who knew all, getting to see the look of amazement and shock on the faces of the other pieces involved in his little game providing more entertainment than getting the score itself.

Crawl words: 870/1934

 

[Ahana Varma]

Ahana and Sigmund stared after the departing assassin. Once he’d slipped between some of the larger mushrooms and left their field of vision, the bunnygirl turned to the brunette, “Uh, say, Siggy, you wouldn’t happen to have any advice on, er, how to go about picking up chicks, would you?”

He looked at her blankly. Ahana’s face flushed slightly, “Y’see, I normally just wait on people to approach me. Or pay for whores. Oh, and back when I lived on Mesa Roja, the tribe I belonged to believed I was some kinda chosen one, so I was important enough that if I just told someone I wanted to fuck, they couldn’t really turn me down.”

“You… abused your position... to get people to sleep with you?” the priest asked, aghast.

“Yup.” the healer said simply, and shrugged, not seeing the problem.

Sigmund put his face in his hands and groaned, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Ahana laughed, and patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure Vic knows what he’s doing. This’ll all work out fine… so… dating advice?”

“It’s immoral to engage in intercourse outside of marriage. So no, I can’t help you there.”

“Aw, pity. Well, I guess we split up here, then. Have fun preaching.” giving him a little wave, the bunnygirl spun and wandered off aimlessly through the vegetation.

She headed away from the village, despite the chief’s instruction for them to rest there. It wasn’t that she had any particular destination in mind, but Victor had said to look for a dreamer—someone who longed to explore the wider world—and she figured that if this tribe had any such individuals then she’d likely find them off on their own, rather than hanging around town.

She passed multitudes of mushrooms, some which towered over her, and others that were positively miniscule. She spotted several people as she went, all of whom were busy harvesting the smaller mushrooms and were bedecked in similar quantities of jewels to the woman they’d first met. More farmers. A couple glared at her until she left, another smiled pleasantly, but didn’t try to engage her in conversation, and a few more just looked at her blankly, or with expressions of slight curiosity on their faces.

Not only were they not surprised to see her, but none of them even appeared to be afraid of the massive blade she was lugging around with her. It seemed that word of their presence had travelled fast, and that the people all knew that they were guests of the chief.

Eventually, she tried to approach one of the gatherers, despite knowing that these people were unlikely to be the sort that she was looking for, as they all seemed entirely too content in their work; she had to start somewhere...

The woman she’d chosen wasn’t as heavily built as the chief, but she was still clearly stronger and more athletic than Ahana herself, and her non-crystalline clothing was even more sparse than that first woman’s. While that girl had worn a strip of hide on her torso which kept her breasts covered, this lady’s equivalent to that was a narrow band that barely even concealed her nipples. Tall, strong, immodest, and with long, wavy, blonde hair, she was certainly tempting.

It was perhaps overly optimistic, but the healer hoped that it'd be okay if she did manage to get this lady to love her. She sure looked like she’d be fun to bed. Maybe she wasn’t exactly what the assassin was after, but he was smart; Victor could probably find a way to make it work. And if not, well, she could always just blame him for not sharing with her some more details of whatever plan he had cooked up.

As she approached, she laid down b’Akphiyr against the stalk of a larger ‘shroom, so as not to appear threatening. The woman had at first simply looked at her blankly, then gone back to work, but her eyes narrowed when the healer closed in.

“What do you want?” the brutish babe asked dully, not turning away from what she was doing.

Ahana laid a hand on her shoulder and leaned in, smirking, “You’re hot.”

The savage turned at that, “What.”

Her voice was absolutely flat. What she’d said couldn’t really be considered a question.

“Wanna fuck?” the bunnygirl asked.

The farmer hesitated for a moment, “Is it true that you can heal, no matter how badly injured you get?”

“Yup.” Ahana said smugly, thinking that perhaps the woman was so impressed by her awesomeness that even an approach as direct and utterly without tact as this might actually work out.

Then the sickle that the savage had been using to harvest ‘shrooms tore through the front of her throat, severing windpipe, jugular, and pretty much everything else. A little of the blood spattered onto her fur coat, but most of it covered her attacker. The farmer barely blinked. A moment later golden flames sealed up the rent in the healer’s flesh, staunching the flow of blood, and a second after that they vanished again, leaving unblemished skin in their place.

“Is that a 'no'?” Ahana asked.

“Yeah, that's a 'no'. Now piss off before I pin you down and see how much you enjoy being repeatedly gutted.”

“Oooh, kinky.”

“Last warning.” her voice didn’t even sound angry, just bland, monotone. Still, whether her tone gave it away or not, the bunnygirl was sure she must be getting to her. Ordinarily, Ahana would've kept on at this for much longer; It could end up being pretty entertaining. Infuriating people as much as possible was a hobby of hers.

But she supposed that she was probably already getting pretty close to the line between not being particularly helpful to her allies and actively sabotaging their efforts. If she bothered this chick too much then the brute might end up poisoning the opinions of the rest of the tribe against them.

Sighing, Ahana removed her hand, straightened up, and backed off, “Alright, alright, you win, I’ll leave you and your mushrooms in peace. Later, babe.”

***

The man was alone, sitting cross-legged beside a lump of violet, luminous crystal a few feet high, hunched over, intent on something he was holding.

The bunnygirl dropped her sword—which toppled over, landing on the glowing moss with a soft thump—and wandered closer.

Her latest find wore a loincloth of the same animal hide that the villagers all used for their clothes (curiously, she had yet to actually come across any animals in the cavern, so she had no idea where that came from) as well as the customary collection of jewellery. He was slim without being skinny, and his brown hair was shorn almost to the point of baldness. He didn’t turn to face her until she sat down by his side and looked over at what he was doing. In his left hand he held a knife made from some type of clear crystal—diamond, perhaps?—and was using it to carve the fragment of purple, shining stone which he held in his right.

Getting a better look at him now, the bunnygirl saw that his eyes were dark green. She also noticed that he had his left nostril, bottom lip, navel and both his nipples pierced, as well as multiple piercings in each of his ears. Pretty keen on body modification, this guy.

He also seemed to have used more of the glowing gems in his trinkets than the rest of the tribesfolk she’d seen, with the exception of Chieftain Sapphira, of course, who had more crystals on each limb than the average savage had on their entire body. She didn't know if having more glowy stuff meant he was more important, or if it was just a style thing. Probably the latter, she guessed, based on how plentiful such gemstones seemed to be.

“You’re one of the outsiders.” he said, and when he spoke she saw that his tongue was pierced as well. At first, he seemed to study her face intently, then his gaze moved up to her ears.

“Yeah, sure am. And you’re a guy who likes staring at people’s ears.”

“Oh, sorry.” he looked away quickly, blushing a little, and the bunnygirl laughed.

“So, you have any particular interest in outsiders, mister?”

“Well, not really. I guess it’d be kinda neat to hear about what it’s like outside the cave, though.” the young man said in a tone of feigned disinterest.

Bingo, thought the healer, grinning inwardly, “Heh. Well, it’s certainly a lot colder. You’d definitely need some proper clothes if you were ever to visit the surface.”

“I guessed that much by looking at you. Though… even if you need them up above, surely down here you must be sweating like crazy, being all bundled up like that?”

“Most people would be, sure, but temperatures don’t bother me. It’s all part of being a chosen one.” Ahana bragged, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

“Ah, so you don’t actually need to wear that outfit at all?”

“Are you asking me to strip?” she said slyly, deliberately misinterpreting his question, and raising an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t be stupid.” he snapped, pointedly not looking over at her, focusing instead on whatever it was he was trying to do to the gem in his hand, “I just don’t see why anyone would choose to look like a giant ball of fluff if they didn’t have to.”

She narrowed her eyes, “I do not look like a ball of fluff.”

He shrugged.

She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Ugh, fine.”

The bunnygirl got to her feet and kicked off her fur boots, then discarded her fur coat and stepped out of her fur trousers, leaving her dressed only in her underclothes; a plain, brown vest and matching panties, “There, happy now?”

He shrugged again, “Uh, sure, I guess… I didn’t actually ask you to take your clothes off, though.”

“You said I looked like a ball of fluff.” she stated dully.

“And? Do you normally strip whenever a total stranger whose name you don’t even know tells you they don’t like your outfit?”

Ahana hesitated, then sat down beside him and chose to start over, completely ignoring his question, “So. I’m Ahana Varma. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

He stared straight at her for a long, drawn out moment before at last speaking up, “You’re an idiot.”

“Well, screw you, then.” she said, turning her head away.

For a few seconds, the only noise was the sound of his knife scraping away at the gem in his other hand, “The name’s Nisse, though. And I only have the one.”

She looked back, “Alright, that’s better, now we can get started with our conversation.”

Nisse sighed, “Our conversation?”

“Yeah, of course. Our conversation in which I tell you all about life on the surface of Inverxe, as well as what I know of the rest of the Crossroads, if you’re interested, and in return you fill me in on what your life is like down here.” she leaned against his arm and gave him the sweetest smile she could muster.

“Oh. Uh, okay, go ahead… if you insist.” he said, clearly interested despite his transparent attempt at appearing not to be.

Vic so owed her for going through all this shit, Ahana decided.
Trying to actually build relationships with people was, in her humble opinion, most definitely not worth the time and effort.

Post Word Count: 1,931
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Post #2 Word Count: 645/645 (1/3 of 1,934)
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Total Word Count: (645 + 645 = 1,290 = 2/3 of 1,934)
Total Community Quest Word Count: 2,948/5,000 (1,662 + 1,286)

 

[Elise]

The natives of this crystalline wonderland pause, all at once, and place their hands on any nearby outcrops of earth. Their faces are tense, and their heads cocked to the side as if in contemplation. A moment later, Ahana, Victor, and Sigmund all feel a sharp, rumbling jolt pass through the ground. The sound of distant, subterranean thunder washes over the yawning cavern. Motes of glittering earth patter down from the ceiling, knocked loose by the tremor.

A few tense moments pass before the natives of the hollow return to their business, but with a dim look of apprehension on their faces.

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund shivered as the tremors subsided, glancing around tensely. What in Gal’skap’s name had just happened? The tribespeople seemed to refuse to meet his gaze when he looked to them, however. He got the feeling that he wasn't getting an answer. Not as an outsider, at least. Clearing his throat, Sigmund wandered around the village, taking in the strange sights. People milled about purposefully, most of them bejewelled in some way or another. The cultist admired the conviction they went about their business with, each tribes person carrying out their duties unerringly.

“Hic!”

Except for one, it would seem. A scraggly man sat slumped against a nearby hut, swigging something from what appeared to be a crystal bottle, as one would expect from image-conscious nobility.

“Hello there.” Sigmund smiled down to the man, leaning down slightly. “What's that you're drinking?”

“Eh? You talkin’ ta me?” The man slurred. Sigmund nodded, eliciting a chuckle from the man. “Mushroom wine. It's the only drink they ‘ave down ‘ere… You want some, bruv?”

“Um, no thank you.” Sigmund replied hastily. “I can't help but notice you don't have the, uh, vigour of the other tribespeople.”

“Yeah, listen to me voice, I'm an off-worlder.” The man said, his gaze spacing out somewhat. “Came here in a minin’ expedition and got lost. Got taken in by Sapphira, and now I live ‘ere. Me minin’ doesn't seem ta please the others, though.”

“So you drink rather than work, then?” Sigmund asked, suppressing a hint of derision.

“Well, it sounds bad when ya put it that way, don't it?” He huffed. “Y’aren’t the first one to put it that way, either.”

“My apologies. It must be hard to have been separated from everyone you knew.” The cultist said, raising his hands in surrender.

“‘Ey, you're an off-world too, aren'tcha?” The man asked. Sigmund suppressed a sarcastic comment. “Cor, pleased to meetcha. Name’s Dave.”

“Sigmund. It's a pleasure.” Sigmund said, shaking Dave’s unnervingly moist hand and forcing a smile. A small part of the cultist’s mind wondered if it was quieter than it was earlier, but pushed it aside.

“Pleased to meet ya, Sigmund.” Dave said before taking another sip of his wine. “What brings you ‘ere?”

“My companions and I have come to spread the word of our God, the great Gal’skap.” Sigmund said with a grin. Dave made a strange face, as if Sigmund had just broken out into static.

“Wot?”

“Gal’skap, elder God of madness.” Sigmund repeated. “Inverxe is the perfect place to preach, is it not?”

Dave scratched his chin. “Yeah, I ‘spose so.”

“Hey!” A voice called from behind the cultist. Sigmund swivelled around, coming face to face with a small crowd. At first he thought that they had come to listen to him preach, but the serious, almost angry look on the face of the woman who had called to him said otherwise. “Isn't one of your ‘companions’ that bunny-eared girl?”

Dread filled Sigmund immediately. “Yes. Yes she is.” The cultist was tempted to ask what she had done, but perhaps there was just some sort of misunderstanding.

“Is asking random people if they want to fuck part of your religion?” There was no misunderstanding.

“She did what?!” Sigmund asked, aghast. He had a feeling that Victor and Ahana would bring moral ruin in their wake, but he hadn't expected them to be so forward. The cultist immediately dropped forward, prostrating himself before the angry crowd. “My greatest apologies. She is horrifically ignorant to the ways of Gal’skap. She shall be reprimanded severly for her behaviour.”

Truth be told, Sigmund wasn't sure how he was going to punish Ahana, but he would come up with something. Probably.

“Oi, what does this ‘Gal’skarp’ say then, bruv?” Dave asked, drawing the attention of the crowd. Sigmund wasn't sure if the drunkard was a genius or a moron, but wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

“Gal’skap teaches His followers to use their minds over their instincts, and helps them ascend above the temptations of the flesh.” Sigmund said, proudly. “Something Ahana has yet to learn… He also grants his priests divine powers, eldritch knowledge and a blessed afterlife!”

“Wild.” Dave said before taking a swig of his wine.

“Do you have really powers?” A member of the crowd asked.

“Of course!” Sigmund grinned, before releasing his grip on his tome. Rather than hitting the ground, however, the tome simply hovered below his hand before floating up and above it. The crowd ‘ooh’ed as the cultist took hold of his book again, doing a slight bow. As expected, this seeming confirmation of divine ability sent a ripple of murmuring through the crowd.

“Tell us more!” Someone shouted.

“Of course.” Sigmund said, nodding. “All can follow Gal’skap and bask in His glory, as long as they accept His teachings.”

“Even me?” Dave asked.

“Yes, even you. Regardless of race, sexuality, social standing, career… or lack thereof, all are equal before Him.” Sigmund announced, grinning wildly. “Come, friends, let me spread His word, and let us be one in His grace!”

843 words
Crawl words: 1699/1934
WQ words: still 54/5000

 

[Victor Wolfe]

"Well wasn't that ominous" Victor chuckled to himself as he pondered just what may have caused the jolt. He wondered if the tremor may have been a local deity sending signals to their blessed people not to trust the strangers that had just arrived. Stopping for a moment to laugh the assassin shook his head. "All of little Siggy's talk must be rubbing off on me more than I thought, we are here for a job, stories of magic voices in the walls and gods in the ground can wait" he resolved.

As he wandered the gem-laden stone of the cavern a thought occurred to the lord, where had the idea of the chief having a daughter come from? She had not mentioned having any children, and the house hardly gave away any clues, no stuffed unicorns, or bright pink gems lining the walls of a small bedroom? Most curious then that the assassin continued to allow his feet to guide him, he had always had great instincts, but things seemed to fall into place even better than in the last world here. His wandering had led to what he assumed was the market, stalls with many more strange kinds of fungus and oddly shaped or coloured gems making up the majority of the wares, along with tools most likely used in day to day life. Pots and pans being one of the few apparent uses of the metals that likely lined the outer walls of the cavern.

"Stop Theif!" rang out through the market as the hustle and bustle came to a halt, people turning to try and catch a glimpse of the commotion. A short hooded figure with a basket full of what almost looked like fruit? Rushed through the pedestrians, their slender frame allowing them to easily dodge any attempt to catch them.

Spotting the run-away the assassins hunting instincts kicked in, the thrill of the chase filling his blood, knowing that he could make a good impression by being seen as helpful. He dashed forwards, his own light fit frame, combined with the experience of having to chase down victims that may have noticed a trap too soon, or just been allowed to run for some sport, giving him a slight edge as he started to gain on the perpetrator. This person was good, but they were no Demetri Mallus after all.

Or so he thought, as the crook noticed that they where being followed Victor could almost see the glint of a devious smile, an expression he recognised all too well, with one fluid motion, and without dropping any of the food. The run-away reached into what he assumed was a pouch in their cloak and dropped some gems, different from the ones that seemed to make up the structures of the city, or the adornments of its citizens. The glowing rocks rolled ominously towards the assassin until as they reached his feet some started to collide.

Bang! An explosion of light and sound shattered the former lord's senses as the geological flashbang left him stunned and annoyed, once again one of his old tricks was being used against him. Shaking his head as his hearing and sight began to return, the ringing in his ears and black gaps in his vision dissipating as what felt like an eternity passed. A loud sigh filled the air if they were competent enough to have that level of tactic planned then it was likely that whoever it was that stole the food, would be long gone by now.

Or so the assassin had assumed, noticing a scurrying of small rocks near some mushrooms the assassin once again started sprinting towards what he assumed was his man. Instead, he felt his feet come away from him as he passed a mushroom, blood filled his mouth, and the crunching of cartilage as his nose was smashed under a fist.

Glaring up at his assaulter he noticed the same runner from earlier standing over him, apparently, they had hidden behind one of the tree-sized mushrooms and likely kicked or threw some rocks to attract his attention. Mr Wolfe was getting very tired of his own tactics being used to make a fool of him, and even more pissed about the goods, his perfect face getting damaged.

tactical planning, however, didn't seem to be the only trait this stranger shared with Victor, cockiness and overconfidence was in abundance as they sauntered over to the fallen assassin, likely to gloat. Before they could even pronounce the first syllable the assassin pounced, swinging his legs in a kick to the back of their own, and with a burst of movement putting a knee to their arm and a dagger to their stomach.

"Now I am going to kill you for that, but there are a couple of ways I can do it. Perhaps I will just slit your throat if you are helping? Put you out of your misery, even dig you a nice little grave? Or I can cut open this belly of yours, put your intestines in your hands and force you to walk around this cavern until the pain or blood loss finishes you off!" he threatened, venom filling his voice as the blade dug into the material of their surprisingly modest clothing. Once again, however, the assassin was taken by surprise.

"Fine! Fine, I am Gemma, daughter of Sapphira, chief of this town. And it was worth it just to watch an overconfident pretty boy like you get put in your place!" her sarcastic laughter tainted with a hint of fear for her life. sheathing his dagger the assassin lifted the girl up. She had spunk, could throw a good punch, and could verbally lash just about as harshly. Victor liked her so far.

Victor leaned back near one of the mushrooms, giving Gemma a look to do the same so they could have a talk, an expression of "if you run I will kill you" crossing his face before he took a moment to snap his nose back into place. The girl grimaced, but to the assassin, it was nothing out of the ordinary, although he did miss having it heal in a few minutes rather than days.

"So miss nobility, why are you stealing from the common folk? Piss off a dragon and need to keep feeding it? Mess up and lose everyone's taxes so have to cut out your food bill before anyone notices they are missing? Thought since you are the chief's daughter "well I will own all this one day so may as well enjoy it?" and the store clerk disagreed?" The lord returned to his calmer but quick-witted speaking pattern as he teased the idea of the daughter of a chief going out and stealing food.

"Because it's fun! No one expects it, and if I do get caught the worse I get is a slap on the wrist and a disapproving look from mother dear. So wrapped up in the "you have to do this, and do that, and rule the people like this!" What if I don't want to stick to the way things have always been, but no, I must keep everything the same and preserve tradition. People already think I am a disappointment, so go ahead turn me in." The girl pouted as she removed the cloak that had been covering her face, her frame was slim, nothing like her mother's warrior physique. But her brunette hair and sapphire blue eyes stood out on what had turned out to be a rather pretty face.

"Now why would I do that?" The assassin grind, causing a look of suspicion to cross the young adult's features.

"Of course you would, I bet you are just saying that you won't so you can lead me back and report me in front of my mother. I don't trust you blonde, I know how you old men work!" Victor felt like he had been shot, she looked to be around nineteen, and he was only twenty-three ish, it was hard to tell with the physics of his old world, but here he was being called old.

Composing himself he decided to stick to the plan. "Well not trusting me shows that you are a lot smarter than the rest of these bumpkins, and will probably do one hell of a job as a leader. I am not exactly the best person to give moral advice but, if you really do want to get back at your mother then perhaps I would be willing to help you out with that. All I need is a little help with something." He said with a confident self-righteous grin

"So you would help me piss off my mother? Just for some information? Why?" The women in front of him questioned, a confused look crossing her face.

"Because it will be fun! You see I may not look it, but driving stuffy traditionalists insane has been a hobby of mine for years, all I need to know is if your mother has any kind of secret stash, or area that she would hide something valuable. Then I can help you out in any way, after all, I am sure you know what pisses her off the best." He said as he leaned back against the mushroom awaiting a response.

"I think I know a place, but why do you want to know?" she asked, suspicious of his intentions.

"Well, I am a connoisseur of beauty, and I decided to come down into this mine to see if I could find anything worth having, one of my friends believes your mother is hiding something that would aid us greatly in our little adventure so we might want to procure that."

The chief's daughter chuckled at Victors obvious lie about his intentions for being here, not that she cared, overall it seemed like things were going to get more interesting for the bored young women.

"Ha, well I guess you guys have hit the jackpot, all these gems around us."

"Eh they are all right, but I think the real beauty of this little cavern may have been one I found much more recently." Victor flirted, causing the delinquent in front of him to almost choke, a slight blush across her cheeks. "Ok new deal, you help me piss off my mother, then I will tell you about the stash. I think I have an idea that we will both enjoy, and will really screw with that old bat" She said with a wink.

post words:1,763 words
Crawl words: 1934/1934

World Quest Word Count: 1,806/5,000

 

[Ahana Varma]

Ahana glared at Nisse, who was staring at the ground, picking absently at it, his face flushed red in embarrassment. They were both sat down on the moss-covered cave floor, and both naked. They had been making love… right up until the moment he had inexplicably frozen up, laid his hands on the ground and paused to think about something, as some small earthquake shook Inverxe. He then waited a few seconds longer, looking apprehensive and not doing much of anything, before seeming to finally remember that the bunnygirl was there, and looking back at her to find Ahana glaring furiously up at him, her face the very picture of incandescent rage.

At which point he’d hastily backed away, apologising profusely. It’d been a minute or so since then, and she had yet to say a word to him. He’d not been able to meet her gaze, and for her part, Ahana was focusing all her willpower on keeping her temper in check, lest she end up gouging out his eyes and ramming them down his throat. She had a feeling he’d not take that too well, and her attempt at seducing him wouldn’t exactly go as intended.

Still, her patience had its limits. She may be willing to prostitute herself for the sake of Victor’s plan, but even she had some standards. No matter how well this guy might meet the criteria the assassin had requested, there was no way in hell she was gonna be able to fake a relationship with anyone with such a shitty attention span that a minor—and very fucking common—geological phenomenon could distract them from sex.

Was she more empathetic, she may have stopped to consider that for a people who lived their whole lives in a cave, earthquakes might be a pretty big deal, so it was actually fairly understandable that they’d take such matters seriously. And was she more intelligent, she might have picked up on the fact that Nisse had actually frozen up shortly before the quake could be heard and felt. As it was, however, neither of these things occurred to her.

“So... what the fuck was that, then?” she finally snarled through gritted teeth. The savage winced at her tone of voice.

“Uh, well, um...” he stammered, glancing over at her nervously, still not daring to meet her eyes. He took a deep breath, attempting to compose himself, “it was a seismic wave generated by the breakup of the rock across a fault line, as a result of the accumulated pressure of two tectonic plates rubbing against each other for an extended period.”

“Stop using made-up words.” she snapped, “Also, I don’t give a damn about the stupid noise. I mean, why the hell did you decide that that demanded your attention more than I did? Tremors ain't exactly unheard of down here, y'know. Inverxe is in no way renowned for its stability. Am I really so godsdamned dull that something which must be practically a daily occurrence was more interesting to you than fucking me?”

She moved closer, until she was right up in his face, and clamped one hand on his shoulder. She tried to smile, in a vain attempt at not completely losing her cool. She felt the muscles in her own face twitching, though, and Nisse looked positively terrified, so she imagined that she wasn’t doing too great a job, ”Do I really have to worry, every time we have sex, that you might just decide to wander off halfway through to go eat some fucking mushrooms or make a fancy new necklace or some shit?”

“No! No! It’s not like that, I promise.”

She shoved him to the ground, then straddled him, and leaned down until once again her face was practically touching his, “Oh, really? Well, alright, fine, I’ll give you one more chance, but if you so much as glance away from me this time, you can go find someone else to help you get the hell out of these tunnels and teach you how life works up on the surface. Got that?”

Instead of answering out loud, he simply nodded, then pulled her head down and kissed her.

***

The crowd turned to stare at them as they approached, likely because Sigmund, standing atop the lump of glowing, blue crystal which he was using as a podium, had looked out over their heads towards the healer and her companion.

“Ahana. Why are you dressed like that?” he asked, his smile looking a tad strained.

The bunnygirl held her greatsword in her right hand, the flat of the blade resting on her shoulder. Under her left arm, she carried the furred clothing she had been wearing until recently, all bundled up. Currently, all she had on were the vest and panties that were her undergarments, as well as a necklace and a couple bracelets on her left wrist. Dropping the clothes, she held up her left arm, showing off the jewellery

“You mean these? Nisse, here-” she flung her arm around the shoulders of the man by her side, and pulled him close, “-was generous enough to give me them. I’m a long way from looking at home down here, but he figured that any amount of jewellery would be better than none at all, y’know?”

“You know fine well that I wasn’t asking about the jewels.”

She grinned, and shrugged, “Just trying to fit in. Besides, I’m still showing less skin than most of this crowd of yours. And who are they all, by the way?”

The priest sighed, but allowed her to change the subject, and even managed to return to his usual chipper demeanour, after a moment, “They are those who've so far been willing to listen to Gal’skap’s truth. Not all of them are yet sure whether they are ready to fully embrace our religion, but we’ve made a very promising start. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like.”

“Oh. Great. That’s super. Glad to hear it… I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your sermons, though… have you seen Vic around?” Ahana asked, glancing about in case he happened to be lurking around nearby. She was not overly keen on listening to Sigmund’s preaching.

“Nope. Haven’t seen him since we split up earlier. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually, though, and you wouldn't be intruding at all, so please feel free to stay here while you wait on him; you and your new friend are both welcome. I was just explaining some of the finer points of our religion to these fine, upstanding people, and I'm sure the two of you would benefit from hearing those just as much as they would.” the priest said cheerily. The bunnygirl forced herself to smile.

“Ah, yes. How… lovely.” she knew she’d mess up the whole plan if she publicly admitted that she wasn’t actually all that interested in Sigmund’s religion, so Ahana tried her best to play along. Hopefully the tribesfolk weren’t very observant, because her best wasn’t exactly up to much.

“Glad to hear it. Now, where was-” the young priest cut himself off, being distracted by someone in the crowd.

Following his gaze, Ahana looked over to see that the buff lady who’d slit her throat earlier was holding her hand up in the air. When she saw that she had his attention, she spoke up, “High Priest, I apologise for the interruption, but… uh...”

The woman looked down at the ground, fidgeting awkwardly.

“Go on.” Sigmund said, his tone reassuring.

She looked up, making eye contact, “Didn’t you say that you would punish that woman for her lechery… for disrespecting the teachings of Gal’skap?”

The healer frowned. Not at the savage’s words, for they came as little surprise, but at her tone. It was almost pleading, and definitely apologetic. This wasn’t some loud and angry outburst, demanding action; she appeared to be rather uncomfortable asking this of Sigmund. The bunnygirl got the distinct impression that this athletic, imposing tribeswoman genuinely held enough respect for the holy man that she’d actually be upset if he should chastise her for her impatience.

It occurred to Ahana that she may have greatly underestimated Sigmund’s ability to work a crowd. She wondered how long he’d been speaking with them to have the villagers eating out of his hand like this.

“Yes, I did. And I suppose you’re right enough; we should get this out of the way now. It’s important that everyone realise that while the Mad God may be forgiving of many things, those who scorn his precepts cannot do so without receiving an appropriate punishment for their transgressions.” the priest turned to the healer, “Ahana… I’ve told you before that Gal’skap considers sex outside of marriage a sin, haven’t I?”

“You may have mentioned it once or twice.” the bunnygirl replied with a smirk.

“And do you know the punishment for committing that sin?”

“Not a clue… don’t hold back, though. As one of our God’s chosen elite, blessed by his power, I can’t exactly object to being punished for failing to live up to his expectations. Do your worst. If Gal’skap wants me to survive it, I’m sure I will.” Ahana made sure she was very clear in what she said here. She didn’t want Sigmund to worry that she might be pissed off if he attacked her.

With her healing ability being as powerful as it was, she couldn’t imagine him having enough power in that little book of his to actually slay her, and so this punishment could serve as proof to the crowd that the priest was willing to discipline anyone who sinned, even should they be his closest allies, whilst at the same time giving her another opportunity to demonstrate her inability to die, which she could easily claim as being a sign of the Mad God’s favour.

“Very well then. You may want to have your friend there back away, though. This is your punishment, after all, not his.”

“Oh, yeah. Stay back, Nisse.” Ahana removed her arm from around his shoulders and gently pushed him away, giving the young man a reassuring smile. He looked unsure, but backed off even so. She then tossed down b’Akphiyr on the ground and stood looking up at Sigmund with a smirk on her face and one hand on her hip, “Go ahead, 'High Priest'. I’m ready.”

He nodded solemnly at that, then held out his grimoire before him and dropped it. The book opened, and hovered in midair. The pages flicked quickly past for a moment before stopping. His hand was still outstretched, and he had splayed his fingers. For a moment, Ahana wasn’t sure why he was hesitating. Then she felt something odd. She wasn’t sure what exactly it could be. She’d never experienced anything like it.

Then the sensation intensified, and she realised what it must be, as a shiver ran through her body. Cold. Her power had always kept her from feeling the cold in the past, yet now, for some reason, it was getting to her. Her eyes widened, and the smirk froze on her face. A few of the savages snickered, and she knew they must be able to spot the twinge of fear that was running through her. Though many of them were shivering as well. In their skimpy outfits, they were no more protected from the fall in temperature than she was, and Sigmund’s book seemed to be robbing the heat from everything in his immediate vicinity.

Ahana breathed out, and saw her breath form a cloud of vapour before her face. She was shivering more now, as the temperature continued to drop. A few of the tribespeople had stumbled back, far enough away that the heat drain was no longer affecting them. Most, though, had not moved. Perhaps they were just too focused on her impending punishment to pay much attention to their own situation, or perhaps they had some silly idea that enduring this chill would somehow prove their loyalty to the High Priest they seemed to so admire.

Ahana didn’t allow herself to back up so much as an inch, even though her instincts were all screaming at her to flee. Like it was nothing, the divine power of Gal’skap, being channeled through the eldritch tome of Sigmund Vrell, had stripped her of her resistance to temperature fluxuations. Could it do the same to her healing power? And if so, would it? She hadn’t truly believed that the young priest’s god could harm her, until now, so hadn’t considered the folly of disregarding His sacred tenets or falsely claiming to represent Him.

Surely He would appreciate that her aura of healing could keep His real priest safe… but would He care enough about that to overlook all that she had done to disrespect Him?

Her mouth was dry, and a cold sweat formed on her skin.

Then, Sigmund flicked his wrist, and a ball of flame leapt from his palm.

“Oh.” Ahana had just enough time to mutter, before it engulfed her head.

She screamed, and fell to the ground, writhing and shrieking in agony. She clawed at her face, head and ears, as if she could hope to tear the fire off. To the surprise of absolutely no one, this did not seem to be particularly effective. The bunnygirl wasn’t thinking, though. She couldn’t; not with her hair burning away, her skin charring and her eyeballs melting in their sockets.

She caught the occasional glimpse of orange and gold fire, battling to harm or heal her, respectively, though for the most part her eyes were too damaged to see anything. Wherever her divine conflagration healed her, Sigmund’s eldritch flames danced in its wake, devouring her flesh all over again.

She faintly heard the voices of others over her own screams and the crackling of the fires. Some gasped, a couple even cried out in alarm or horror, and at one point she was sure she heard Nisse yelling at someone to let him go, cursing them for letting her suffer like this.

And then it was over. It had felt like an eternity to the healer, though in reality the young priest's flames had lasted but a few seconds. For a couple moments longer, her head was enveloped in a comforting golden glow, as her own power restored her, then that too vanished.

She lay still, staring straight up at the roof of the cavern, no longer cold, but now with her whole body slicked with sweat. Her chest rose and fell noticeably as she took deep, gasping breaths. She was still trembling, though whether that was as a result of the cold, fear and pain, or due to her relief that that Gal’skap hadn’t nullified her ability to heal herself, she couldn’t say.

Then Nisse was beside her, looking down into her eyes with genuine concern on his face. He lifted her gently, just enough to lay her head in his lap. She noticed that his lip was bleeding, which she guessed must have happened when he’d been trying to reach her while she was burning. Perhaps someone had punched him to get him to shut up. She managed a shaky smile. Victor would be pleased; it seemed that this guy really had fallen for her.

“Would you all say that I was satisfactorily strict with her?” Sigmund asked the crowd.

“Yes, High Priest.” answered the woman who had called for the healer to be punished. Several others voiced their agreement.

“She’s still alive, though.” a gruff, male voice said. Not quite complaining, but definitely less respectful of the holy man than the rest of them seemed.

“Ahana Varma has been blessed, so that she may always heal from any wounds inflicted upon her, no matter how severe.” Sigmund informed the tribesman, “Those golden flames you all saw were this blessing at work. As she was able to survive, it is clear that the Mad God still has some hope for her. Should He desire her end, all the healing in the world could not save her.”

The priest paused for a moment, then clapped his hands, and when he next spoke his voice had returned to its usual, cheerful tone, “So, with that out of the way, who wants to stick around for the rest of the sermon?”

Ahana didn’t look away from Nisse, or make any move to get up; she was content to just lie here for a time. She did, however, twitch one ear, paying more attention to the crowd, listening for departing footsteps. There were none.

“That’s wonderful.” Sigmund said happily.

Post Word Count: 2,796
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Post #3 Word Count: 644/644 (1/3 of 1,934)
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Total Word Count: (1,290 + 644 = 1,934 = 3/3 of 1,934)
Total Community Quest Word Count: 5,100/5,000 (2,948 + 2,152)

Crawl #0004 Quest #2: Complete
Community Quest: Complete

 

[Victor Wolfe]

Whilst burning flesh filled the air of sermon, the assassin awoke to the sweet perfume of lust, the mix of sweat and sin filling his lungs. Not sure how long he had been enjoying the company of his latest fling. Rebelious youth had to be one of the best concepts to man, the brunette realising that the easiest and most fun way to get back at her mother had pretty much dragged Victor to her room, not that he needed much encouragement. Unfortunately for the former lord, it seemed like they had taken their fun a little further than expected, Gemma now snuggled into his side, in a deep sleep. Had she given him the information he desired it was likely that their group would have already gotten away with their target.

The quiet afterglow was not to last as a loud pounding almost took the bedroom door off its hinges, the impact causing the women next to him to wake up startled. A lusty smile crossing her face as she scanned the assassin's chest. Another loud thumping quickly took her out of her trance as under her breath she whispered "oh shit"

"Gemma! Are you bringing shame to this family again! What's this I hear about a stranger at the market stealing things? Do you take me for a fool missy?" The chieftess belted out. Victor was pretty sure with how loudly she was proclaiming these accusations he had figured out just why his new companion had been so eager to rebel. It seemed like at even the slightest slip up the poor girl would be berated in front of everyone, someone with no real chance of privacy.

"I don't know what you are talking about MOM! But whoever they are must be smarter than you since they seem to keep avoiding your stupid guards!" Gemmas expression resembled that of a pixie as she added oil to the fire. Reaching to her bedside table she pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill and began to write something down. Victor, on the other hand, was moving around the room trying to gather his clothing.

"Now you listen here you ungrateful hellspawn! Those guards live to protect you and me, they keep us safe and risk their own lives for us. So stop trying to make this about me and let's focus on you, you damn harlot!" Gemma finished writing her note and also decided that perhaps she should cover her immodesty, grabbing the first piece of clothing she could find.

"Are you sure they don't exist just to keep an eye on me? So they can tell you and everyone else what the chiefs little girl did? So you can keep trying to turn me into you, mom!" Victor had just about finished gathering his clothing, socks, boots, pants, dagger and stealth belt. When he heard.

"Be me? Oh, honey I long gave up on that. You could never be me because I don't fuck strange boys that come from the surface! I swear to god as soon as I find that punk I am dragging him and you to the church!" Victor froze, turning he noticed that the clothing that Gemma had covered herself with was, in fact, his signature cloak and shirt. Leaning over the bed towards her frame he tried to keep his voice down.

"I might need that back my love" he pleaded, causing the girl to let out a light giggle as she held it tightly to her body. "You can have this, or this" she held the note she had written earlier in between her fingers. "Besides, it clearly looks much better on me!" She taunted.

The assassin rolled his eyes as he leaned in and kissed the chieftesses daughter, taking the note for himself as he winked "I don't know about that, it looks pretty damn good on me" giving up on his shirt as a casualty of diplomacy the lord blew a kiss as the banging at the door got louder.

"Oh, my Crystals! He is still in there, isn't he! You have three seconds before I break this door! One! Two!" Before he risked a shotgun wedding the assassin chuckled as he slipped out of the window, onto the hard stone of the cavern floor. Reading the note it contained everything he could ever hope for. It gave the location that the village was likely hiding the crystals and the times that the guards switched over. Everything for his part of the plan had fallen into place thus he proceeded to where he had left the preacher, a familiar smell of burning bodies filling the air. Running towards the source the assassin worried that in their attempts to proselytize that his comrades may have been burnt at the stake. Instead, he Found Ahana on the floor her face still singed with charcoal, and a rather cute boy-toy tending to her. The crowd seemed to be in shock and awe of Sigmund.

Piecing together what had likely happened Victor kept up his facade of being a loyal cultist Until he was ahead of the crowd. A crack in his mask breaking through enough as his normally smug grin turned almost into a vicious snarl. Sigmund felt as if his senses where playing tricks on him as he could almost feel the cold sting of the assassin's blade on his skin, and for a moment he could swear that his companion's eyes seemed to glow, not just reflect but glow with a haunting light. What felt like an eternity to Sigmund was over in a second or two as the assassin returned to his normal self, the message of "there better be a good reason for this" sent loud and clear.

Looking around at the situation the Lord did have to admit that they had seemed to have both accomplished their goals. "Well done Brother Vrell, it seems that your sermon has gone better than expected. Now, as the church of Gal'skap is new to this wonderful town, we don't really have any worldly goods. And whilst these spaces are nice and open, it does leave us open to the gaze of non-believers. So if any of you new converts would like to offer us a solution I am sure Gal'skap would welcome your charity to his chosen." A moment passed before the buff lady that had called for Ahana to be punished raised a hand.

"Umm, it's not much but I do have a barn that we could use, normally use it for the bugs but its egg season right now. If it would please Gal'skap I could convert it into a church and build a new barn in time for the hatching season." the expression on her face read as if to say that she regretted the suggestion, some of what would have probably been considered more social elites tutting at the idea.

Victor confidently walked forward to the muscle-bound giant of women and took her hands into his own, urging her to stand up.

"Why my child that is exactly the sort of attitude we wish to promote in this religion, everyone doing what little they can to progress our noble cause, Your barn shall become the first official church of Gal'skap on Inverxe. And we would also like for you to be the first to train to become one of our fine priests to stand up as an example of what a true follower looks like!" The woman's face turned red with pride, she had accepted her lot in life as a common farmer but now was being told that she was someone that everyone should aspire to be like? Her pride was shattered instantly when one of the tutters stood up. Her frame light, and rather than the crystals that adorned the average folk, she had a necklace of what looked like mahogany beads.

"I own a large piece of land in the centre of the town, I could have a church more fitting of our new lord built quickly. Better than any old barn!" She said, a smug grin crossing her face as her lackeys all applauded her generosity. Victor himself began to tut.

"Now I am sure that a church built by your clearly rather deep coffers would be a fine site to see on the skyline. But I am afraid we must reject your offer" The look on her face dropped, as the farmer's eyes light up and Ahana almost had a coughing fit.

"You see my children, our church is not one that is going to be like all the others, there shall be no "one rule for the rich one for the poor." I reject this "charity" because it was clearly offered as a way to try and remind this poor woman of the "place" that you believe that she belongs in due to her lifestyle. Let it be known that our religion is one that will accept all, rich, poor, man and women, For under Gal'skap your material wealth, social status and bloodlines are all inconsequential to the value we place on your faith in him." The crowd mostly began to cheer, some of the wealthier tribespeople not sure how to feel. For Victor though winning over the everyman was more important, the rich would convert out of necessity or risk being overthrown. The poor had less to lose and thus needed to be enticed.

Victor smiled as he addressed the crowd "Now if you really do wish to show your new found faith, why don't you all help out or high inquisitor Sigmund, and out new Priest of Gal'skap here, set up our new church!?" The crowd gave a cheer as they pretty much dragged Sigmund away.

This was all part of the plan. He needed the town quieter than usual, and a chance to talk with Ahanas new boy-toy. He looked perfect, his piercings gave away a rebellious side and the wanderlust in his eyes was clear to see. "Oh has our Ahana made a new friend? I didn't think that was even possible, I feel like a father watching his daughter grow into an actually competent human being!" he said holding his hands together in mock joy as he teased the bunny girl. Nisse not taking a liking to the way he was talking about his injured lover glared at the assassin.

" Oh calm down boy. She will be fine, her healing rate is better than mine used to be. Now knowing Ahanas type I think that it is you I am more interested in my boy!" Victor offered out a hand to the kid who looked suspicious but decided that if this charismatic asshole was the apparent leader of the outsiders then it was best to listen to him. "Nisse, my name is Nisse" he responded as the assassin lead him behind some mushrooms for some apparent privacy, the kid apparently not noticing that Ahana was still in hearing range.

"The name is Victor, Victor Wolfe, a pleasure to meet you, sir, now I can tell just by the way that you look at our friend there that you are interested, But I must tell you to back off," Victor said sternly.

"Wait, why?" Nisse responded, a look of shock as he watched his chance of leaving this backwater tribe slipping away.

"You don't know her the way I do, kid. She is like family to me, and knowing how much people have hurt her in the past I can't risk that, I don't trust you enough to let my dearest friend have her heart broken again." The assassin played up the theatrics, as he looked over to where Ahana lay, wiping a single crocodile tear from his eye.

"Hurt? Her?" Nisse didn't seem to buy into it given how open and confident she had been.

"Of course, do you think a sane person acts as she does? Her aggressive sexual attitude is how she deals with being hurt in the past, if she is dominant and controls everyone around her then they can never be the ones that hurt her." Something in this argument seemed to ring true for the youngster.

"But I would never do anything to hurt her! please Victor, just give me one chance to prove myself!" Victor feigned internal conflict as he eyed the kid up and down, faking a pondering gaze before speaking.

"Fine, you will help us perform a little job, it may get messy, but I promise if you do as I say, you will be leaving with us as soon as the job is done, This is your last chance to back out, after this its help us or we have to make sure you can't talk, Are you still in?" the crew cut brunette swallowed hard before nodding and shaking the assassins hand.

"Meet me at this location, I will hand off something to you, and I need you to hide it, and then meet me at this location. Victor opened up a hand-drawn map of the village, pointing out the secluded mushroom grove where he and Gemma had hidden away successfully. "Also I need your knife, are there any others like it?" Victor grinned as he examined the sharp crystal edge of the blade.

"Most people in the village have them, They are pretty common tools. And sure, I can run and climb, avoiding guards will be no problem!" The kid nodded, full of spunk not realising just what he was getting himself into causing Victor to chuckle as he took the knife. "I didn't say anything about guards, you are smarter than I thought the kid, just don't be late. I need this to go smoothly!" With the agreement made the brunette headed towards the rendezvous point whilst Victor walked over to Ahana who had just started to get up. Before she could speak he put a finger to her lips "no talking, just listening, you did very well but I still have one more test to see what you do" reaching into his journal he ripped out a page, the original map of the village that he had drawn and pointed out the second meeting point. "This is where we are collecting the goods, I want you to be the one that collects them, and I want to make sure that the kid will never rat us out. How you do that once again is up to you, I am sure you can think of something." The assassin chuckled maliciously "now I have a stealth mission to do" he said as for the first time in this new world he pressed the button on his beloved stealth belt.

Ahana had to resist rubbing her still sore eyes as the cocky cunt in front of her disappeared, well almost, if you knew where to look his outline was still kinda visible, but without that he seemed invisible. This made her wonder just what other tricks did he hide up his, at the time non-existent sleeves.

Victor had reached the location Gemma had alerted him too, outside a small hut, some ways into the mushroom forests away from prying eyes stood a lone guard, another large bodybuilder of women. The hut was clearly designed to look like any other, although they would have as well covered it in bars as having a guard stationed outside of the building at all times did give away that there may be something important in there. Victor had decided to arrive early, his plan was to kill the guard and drop some paper with "guard change at 18:00 hours" half an hour before the actual change over opportunity. This would make it look like he arrived before the gap in the change of shifts and had to kill the guard. he would then with the plenty of time he had left he would go and hand of the gems, and find Gemma, giving himself an alibi for when the second guard found the body and note.

His stalking towards the kill was interrupted by some playful banter "stand down guardswomen, your mistress demands it~" It was the rich chick from earlier, it looked like rebellious youth was an epidemic in this town as the young women, being rejected from finding her place in the strange new religion had apparently come to blow off some steam.

"You know you can't be coming here Opal if your mom or the chief found out about us using this job for dates they would beat us!" The younger and smaller of the two girls simply smiled,

"Oh come on, it's not like anyone ever comes out here, its the only place we can be ourselves, besides I'm rich, short of murder I don't get punished for things!" The bourgeoisie bitch tugged on the arm of the guardswomen.

"fifteen minutes, down by the stream, they won't even know you where gone and we can both get out of these clothes!" The last line broke all sense of resistance as the guardswomen sighted "fine, but after that, you need to go!" With a fit of giggles the two girls skipped off towards what Victor assumed was the stream, this had turned out rather well for him as he stayed cloaked but simply sauntered up to the hut, the door open to keep the illusion that it was like all the others in the village.

Everything seemed rather normal, a simple bed at the side, a table, some sparse decorations, nothing that looked like anywhere to hide valuables. That was until he took a step forwards, the crystal underfoot felt, off? Unstable, nealing down the assassin noticed a small gap in the otherwise solid crystal floor. Taking Nisse's dagger he opened up a secret compartment in the floor to reveal an ornate bag, just more than a handful like the perfect sized breast. Opening the string that held the bag shut the Lord was confronted with the haunting glow of the Crystals Sigmund seemed so obsessed over. The bag had given him a plan. Placing the crystals into one of his own pouches the invisible assassin followed the footprints that led to the stream, the sound of moaning and rushing water leading him to where the girls had just about finished their business.

Still, in their lover's embrace, Victor acted quickly, placing the empty bag into a back pocket on what he assumed was a "designer fur" loin clough of the rich girl. making sure to tuck it deep.

Returning to the hut Victor awaited the final step in his plan, as the two lovers returned the smaller of the two smiled "that was nice, anyways I am probably going to check out that new church, make fun of the idiots that are buying into it, later love!" she said sadistically as she dashed off, perfect the assassin though.

Kneeling down he lined himself up in front of the guard, her face still red with the exertion and pleasure of her little encounter on the job, at least the last thing she would remember would be a joyful thing, and she would not have to watch the plans that he had for her lover. Victor in a quick flick of his wrist threw Nisse's dagger, straight into the unprotected throat of the guard. Her hands shot up to try and remove the blade but the impact caused her to fall back, and within a few moments, she had choked to death on her own blood.

...

About an hour had passed since the murder and Victor knew that he would be getting close to the time that shit was going to hit the fan, things had gone fine so far, he had met up with the kid and handed off the gems sending him on his way. Just as Nisse ran out of view a loud voice proclaimed. "Stop criminal!" Victor felt the blade of a spear aimed at the small of his back, putting his hands behind his head he smiled.

"Is there a problem officer? What am I being charged with?" He felt the point of the weapon poke a little deeper almost breaking the skin as he winced.

"We know you did it smart ass, it had to be one of you outsiders! No one here would commit murder!" The person that Victor assumed was the Captain of the guards judging by the shadow she cast over him and how much gruffer her voice was than any of her companions continued to stab at the assassin with the spear. A set of hands then a second began to pat down the lord as every area of his body was checked multiple times.

"OK shit for brains where is it! If you don't have it what one of your friends does?!"The angry guardswomen demanded.

"I don't know what you are talking about, I have been here letting the heat from my last romantic adventure die off, Sigmund is with a large group of villagers building a church, and Ahana has been out whilst her face heals and is probably exactly where she was left, out in public. None of us had any time to do any murder?! Although..."Victor left the group of guards hanging as he looked to the sky once again pretending to mull something over.

"I did notice something weird, there was this girl? Redhead, looked fairly rich, she came from the same direction you did but had a look of mischief in her eyes, and she was carrying this weird red bag that she stashed in her pocket... It was weird but I was trying to lay low after catching up with my friends, felt like after my speech at the sermon if I stuck around I would be shotgun weddinged into the first use of the new church, coincidently I heard her talking to herself and that seems to be her destination, you could probably still catch her!" All the pieces where in place, the guardswomen put down the spear as her and her two disciples sprinted off in the direction of the church, and things seemed to be getting fun.

Victor headed in the same direction, eager to see the action unfold.

post words:3'714 words
Crawl words: 1934/1934

World Quest Word Count: 5'000/5,000

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund was grinning wildly to himself as the crowd swept him to the barn, even more than he normally did. It filled him with joy to see how enthusiastic the tribe was getting about the worship of Gal’skap. After dealing with Victor, Ahana and the miners, it was about time the mad lord got the respect he deserved. Arriving at the barn, the congregation placed Sigmund down, staring at him expectantly.

“How do we convert the barn, high priest?” The owner of the barn asked.

“Well… Um…” Sigmund began, looking at the woman with a look to suggest ‘your name?’

“Amethyst.” The woman said. “But you can call me Amy.”

“Of course, Amy.” The priest finished. “We shall require pews, of course, and a wide altar. We shall also need a great amount of crystals and a strong adhesive to show that we are dedicating this building to the great Gal’skap, but I doubt that shall cause any difficulty.”

Groups of villagers split off to tend to their respective jobs, but as Amy moved to leave Sigmund gestured for her to stay. “Victor said you would be among the first, correct? To be ordained, that is.”

The village woman nodded vigorously. “He did, high priest.”

“Please, call me Sigmund.”

“Of course, high priest Sigmund.”

“I… Anyways, there are some things we must go over first. Are you married?”

“No.”

“Are you a virgin?”

“I… yes, high priest.” She said, hesitating a moment.

“I shall not judge you if you aren't. Repentance shall be necessary, but nothing more.”

“I was telling the truth, I was simply caught off guard.”

“Hmm, okay.” Sigmund nodded. “Is there any ink in this village?”

“Um, maybe.” Amy said. “We had a little at some point, but it is scarce on Inverxe. Why do you ask?”

“Priests must have the symbol of Gal’skap tattooed onto them at the moment of their initiation.” Sigmund said, watching the villagers make steady progress on the church. “If not ink, any dye shall suffice.”

“We have a type of dye made from mushrooms that we use for tattoos.” She offered.

“That shall work nicely.” Sigmund nodded. The cultist looked around to see that makeshift pews and an altar were already in place in the barn, as well as a respectable pile of crystals, ready for the priest’s project. “Ah, you are an efficient lot, aren't you.”

“Thank you, high priest.” Amy said with a gracious nod. Sigmund rifled through the crystals, selecting any that caught his eye as being appropriate for his vision. Once he had the desired gems, the priest carried them to the centre of the barn. A strange translucent paste was provided for him to glue the crystals together, which he proceeded to do with careful precision. Piece by piece, the cultist telekinetically created a mural one the barn roof, villagers gradually coming to marvel at his work.

The majority of the circular mural was crafted from amethysts, and was made with such care that it almost appeared that there was a fractured looking glass peering into an odd purple sky above them, decorated with small sapphires and emeralds conveying the notion of green and blue stars dotting the sky. In the centre of the mural was a mass of opals, bulging out in a slight dome.

“May Gal’skap bless this church.” The priest said as he took a knee, motioning for the villagers to follow suit. “Let this effigy remind us of his divine visage as he watches over us. Long may he reign.”

“Long may he reign!” The crowd parroted at Sigmund’s gesture.

“Now, once I have my tattoo equipment I can start the initiation of sister Amy.” Sigmund began, thinking aloud, when his thought were interrupted by the appearance of Victor and Ahana.

“Nice stuff, Siggy.” Victor said, looking around appreciatively. The priest noted that Nisse wasn't among them, likely stashing the breach crystals as they spoke. A gnawing feeling cut deep into Sigmund, he wanted those crystals now, but he was nothing if not patient.

“Victor, Ahana, glad you could make it.” Sigmund grinned.

“If I may, Siggy, I'd like to address our adoring public.” The assassin said, smiling charismatically.

The priest hesitated a moment before deciding that Victor wouldn't ruin everything they had worked for by encouraging the congregation to start on orgy.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me just thank you all for being here. You have all been too kind to our little religion, and not only do we appreciate it, but I'm sure Gal’skap appreciates it too. Through this faith, we shall bring ourselves together, breaking down the barriers constructed by class, wealth and bloodline. We will bring a new dawn to Inverxe, one of joy and prosperity, united beneath the gaze of the mad God. Let's go forward together in glory!” The assassin declared, sending the crowd into fervent cheering.

Appearing in the doorway, a woman Sigmund didn't recognise peered in and hissed something that sounds like “Mom is coming!” To Victor, who promptly vaulted out the window with a thrilled grin, the girl disappearing as he did so. Not a moment later, Sapphira rounded the corner, ducking her crystal-coated form into the new church.

“Thought I'd just come see what was going on with this new church.” The chief said unconvincingly, glancing around. Sigmund got the distinct impression that the chief wasn't the conniving type, or at least not a successful one.

“You are welcome to attend our sermon.” The priest said with a smile, but the chief shook her head.

“Sorry, I have… Business, to attend to.” She said, causing Sigmund to sigh internally. Victor was at it again. Regardless, the sermon had to continue. A villager entered carrying a vial of dye and a thin needle, widening Sigmund’s grin.

“Ah, excellent. My children, today we shall see the ordination of our newest of Gal’skap’s chosen, Amethyst.” The priest said, gesturing towards the girl who bowed slightly, her face turning red again. At Sigmund’s order, Amy laid down on the altar, shivering slightly from both the chill and the anticipation. The priest opened his tome allowing it to hover above his hand as he read from it.

“Today, children of the great God Gal’skap, we are swearing Amethyst into our sacred order to become a sworn extension of His will. Do you, Amethyst, swear to obey Gal’skaps word, and carry it out in every living moment?” The priest cried aloud.

“I swear it!” She said resolutely.

“Do you swear to accept the responsibility of being one of His chosen, taking the burden of supporting those around you onto your shoulders?”

“I swear it!”

“Do you swear for your immortal soul to reside with him, now and forever?”

“I swear it!”

“Very good, sister Amethyst.” Sigmund said, filling the needle with the dye. Concentrating his mind, the priest sent the needle across her skin, carefully tattooing the mad god’s sigils onto her back. He had to pause, however, when obnoxious laughter pierced the air.

“Oh. My. God.” The snobby girl from earlier said, laughing to herself. Sigmund didn't like entitled people, particularly those who probably didn't know why they were entitled. “You actually believe the shit this guy is spewing! Look at him, what kind of rank religion would have a farmer girl like Amy as a priest?”

The crowd began to become agitated, many of them farmers themselves, when Sigmund raised a pacifying hand. “Please, my children, allow her to curse and spit to herself. A tempered spirit is the sign of Gal’skap being with you.” He said, returning to his tattoo work.

“Hahaha, wow, are you listening to yourself?” She said, forcing even harder laughter. “‘Just ignore her’. Pathetic, honestly.”

‘Patience, Sigmund.’ The priest thought to himself as he finished his tattoo work. Amy’s back was now emblazoned with the mindbreaker sigil, an empty white eye peering out from a ragged rift. ‘The judgement goddess’ conviction will come for her soon enough.’

As if on cue, a trio of guards entered the church, the lesser two grabbing the rich girl by her arms.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She cried, trying to fight her way out of their grip.

“Opal, we just want to search you, this will only take a second.” The head guard said, not sounding convinced that the girl did anything. Relaxing, Opal obliged, letting the guards frisk her. Out of the corner of his eye, Sigmund spied Victor peering in through the window, grinning wickedly. One of the guards let out a small ‘oh’ sound as she reached into Opal’s pocket and pulled out a small, empty pouch. The three guards shared a shocked look before the lesser two tightened their grip.

“Opal.” The head guard sense, an obvious sense of betrayal in her voice. “You are under arrest for the murder of Beryl and the theft of... the chief’s property”

Opal made a face as if she had just been struck. “Beryl is dead?” She asked breathlessly. “No! Wait! Stop!” The woman screamed fruitlessly as the guards pulled her away, the crowd turning to watch the events unfold. Amy groaned on the altar, and Sigmund impressed by her resolve. From outside the window, Victor motioned for Sigmund to come with him.

“Rise, sister Amy.” Sigmund said. “Or, don't, if it's a bit too painful. I have some matters to attend to, but I shall return soon.”

“Of course, high priest.” Amy said, sounding weak but overjoyed at her success. Sneaking out the window, admittedly slightly unathletic in his movement, Sigmund rushed to follow the much faster assassin.

“I love when a plan falls together perfectly.” Victor said, sighing contently.

“So that was your doing?” Sigmund said before pausing for a moment. “I like it too.”

Victor grinned down at his ‘nephew’ as they made their way to the rendezvous point.

“And to the victor, goes the spoils.” He said as Nisse appeared, producing a small pouch from behind a mushroom. The cultist didn't bother to wonder whether or not that was a pun as he rushed towards the slim man, grasping at the strangely humming bag.

“Gimme gimme gimme.” Sigmund said, his eyes almost glowing with excitement. The villager relinquished the bag, dropping it into the cultist’s hands with a promising ‘tink’ noise. Sigmund turned the bag up, tipping its contents into his hand. A handful of breach crystals dropped into his awaiting hand, sending Sigmund into a fit of excited giggling.

“Yes! Yes yes yes!” The cultist cheered, almost dancing in place as he examined the half-dozen crystals, immediately deciding that each one was real. “Ahahahaha! What a glorious day this has been! Thank you for your aide, Victor, Nisse. May our cooperation never end!”

1785 words
1934/1934 crawl words
1604/5000 WC words
[/quotes]

 

[Elise]

In the commotion, even the natives of the geode village seemed to miss the sudden, violent tremor that ran through the underground expanse. It wasn't until the ceiling started caving in that the half-clothed tribefolk scattered from the streets. Heavy, glittering boulders crashed into the pebbly streets, rending flesh from mushrooms and smashing the quaint huts like bugs. Before the dust even settled, there came a mechanical clanking, and a whoosh of powerful jets, as a bipedal mech rocketed down from the new hole in the cave's upper reaches.

It landed hard, cracking the ground beneath it. The vehicle was essentially just an angular cockpit mounted on two powerful legs with immense boosters mounted aft. Its primary feature, however, was the twenty-foot long drill mounted to the front. Victor growled under his breath as he spotted the Rock Raider's logo on the side of the chassis. The machine hissed and clanked menacingly as it stood to its full height, looming above even the largest tribal buildings. A moment of stunned silence passed before a buzzing voice called out over the machine's loudspeaker.

"Ah, if it isn't the evangelizing off-worlders! Good work locating this geode for us. I'll put in a word to HQ, make sure you get your prospector's commission." came the voice of the gruff mining foreman. As he said this, pillars of cobalt light streamed down from the breach in the
cavern as two dozen armored men with powerful looking lasers teleported into the village. Amy wheeled around to gawk at Sigmund, Ahana and Victor.

"You...lead them here?" she asked softly. The priest could only offer a grunt of confusion in response as the assassin spat into the dirt.

"They must have tracked us somehow..." Victor muttered, trying to think of how the Rock Raiders may have been able to find them at this location. The party had almost forgotten their initial wager against the mining corporation, and there was now the distinct impression that they had been beaten at their own game. Another blaring order came from over the mining mech's loudspeaker.

"Alright boys! I want the squatters and organics scoured out of this cave within two hours and a forward base ported in! Do what you have to. Oh, off-worlders! If you want to help out, we can tack a bonus onto your commission!" the foreman called. He chuckled darkly before the speaker cut out again. The main drill started to wind up, a lathe of plasmic light spiraling along its length as the walker hungrily began tearing apart the nearest building. Amy looked on in glassy eyed horror before looking back towards her erstwhile conspirators.

"I need to...go. I need to...do...something." she said in a dazed voice. The young tribeswoman half stumbled, half jogged back towards her village as the sound of screams and pounding lasers began to fill the air. Meanwhile, Ahana's hand absently ran along the haft of b’Akphiyr. The demon sword had scented blood in the air. How might she curb its hunger?

The Party has a Choice to make before their next Quest:

1. Defend the Village with the tribe.

2. Aid its demolition with the Rock Raiders.​

3. Walk Away.​

 

[Elise]

COMBATANTS FOR QUEST #3

x1 Granite Grinder:

This bipedal, drill-snouted walker is powerful and stout. It tends to be the first piece of machinery the Rock Raiders send into new caverns for scouting and initial clearing work. Though it is normally clunky, it can use its huge booster engines to move quickly in straight lines or jump long distances. The main drill assembly is a devastating weapon, but the Granite Grinder can only arm it when standing still. The walker CAN right itself if knocked over, but this does take some time and skill from the pilot.

Physical Tendencies:
Power: 40%
Toughness: 40%
Quickness: 10%
Skill: 10%

Personality Tendencies:
Aggression: 80%
Cunning: 20%
Diplomacy: 0%
Support: 0%

Abilities:

Plasma Drill Assembly
Damage 7
-- Ongoing, Concentration, Chaotic, Limited (Stationary)

Heavy Stomp
Damage 3
-- Weakness (Off-Balance)

Booster Trample
Damage 3
Speed 3
-- Affects Multiple (In Path), Indiscriminate, Limited (Straight Line)

Booster Jump
Flight 3

Armored
Protection 5
-- Ongoing, Weakness (Cockpit)

Electronics Package
Senses 2 (Vibrations)
-- Concentration
Communication 3 (Radio)

x15 Grunt Raider

These barely-trained, largely expendable mooks make up the bulk of the Rock Raiders' vanguard into new territory. Dressed in bright orange armor and armed with powerful (but cheap) plasma lathes, they are perfect for carving out new dig sites with low risk to the corporation. Despite their gruff, irascible nature, they do tend to work very well in teams.

Physical Tendencies:
Power: 50%
Toughness: 30%
Quickness: 15%
Skill: 5%

Personality Tendencies:
Aggression: 60%
Cunning: 40%
Diplomacy: 0%
Support: 20%

Abilities:

Mining Lathe
Damage 2
-- Ranged, Limited (20 feet), Finite (20 second Cooldown after 10 seconds of total firing), Removable

Dig Suit
Protection 2
-- Ongoing
Adaptation (Immune Smoke and Gas)
Communication 2 (Radio)

Emergency Teleport
Teleport 7
-- Finite (1 Use), Concentration (10 sec), Limited (Only to HQ)

x5 Demolition Raider

Rock Raiders that prove a decent amount of survivability and competence are graduated to leading demolition squads. Usually assigned a handful of Grunts, Demo Raiders specialize in knocking down foreign obstructions and complicated structures that get in the way of a dig. Their Kinetic Hammers deliver pinpoint shockwaves that can topple weak structures, and a string of well-placed Mining Charges can bring down a whole cavern. Not that they'd do that. Probably.

Physical Tendencies:
Power: 40%
Toughness: 30%
Quickness: 10%
Skill: 20%

Personality Tendencies:
Aggression: 50%
Cunning: 40%
Diplomacy: 10%
Support: 20%

Abilities:

Kinetic Hammer
Damage 3
-- Chaotic, Removable
Move Object 2

Mining Charge
Damage 5
-- Finite (5 Charges), Removable, Activation (10 sec per Charge), Indiscriminate, Triggered (Individually or as Group), Ranged, Indirect
Move Object 2

Dig Suit
Protection 2
-- Ongoing
Adaptation (Immune Smoke and Gas)
Communication 2 (Radio)

Emergency Teleport
Teleport 7
-- Finite (1 Use), Concentration (10 sec), Limited (Only to HQ)


...aaaand on the Party's side, they have about a hundred malnourished cave pygmies with sharp sticks and slings.

Proceed.

 

[Ahana Varma]

Ahana gasped, clutching at her head with her free hand as a sharp pain shot through it. She stumbled, almost falling, her breath quickening. She was forced to lean on her sword to keep herself from collapsing.

“Ahana? You alright?” the assassin asked, he and Sigmund turning to face her. For a long moment, she said nothing, though she did give a low groan. Then, just as suddenly as she'd reacted to the pain, she straightened up, as it vanished completely.

“Hah. Haha. Ahahahahaha!” the bunnygirl threw back her head, chortling hysterically.

“Ahana.” Victor said after a few moments, when it became clear that she was too absorbed in her laughter to bother explaining anything to them. Then, when she ignored him completely, he increased the volume, “Ahana!”

The healer took notice that time, and turned to face him, a broad grin splitting her face from ear to ear, “Ohho, you're going to love this, Vic, just wait and watch and see. It's marvellous. Fucking marvellous. I swear, if this isn't a sign that our God adores me, then I can't imagine anything else that possibly could be.”

And with that, she spun around nimbly, almost a full three hundred and sixty degrees, barely noticing the way that her possessed blade lashed out at Victor as it passed him by. Luckily, the agile assassin was able to—just barely—lean back quickly enough that the weapon flew past his eyes, rather than burying its edge in his skull. At its closest point, it had come within a centimetre of grazing his face.

Then, once again facing the malicious mob of murderous miners, the bunnygirl immediately set off in their direction at a dead sprint, wielding her immense cleaver as if it weighed no more than a common short sword. She had to pass through a few clouds of sparkly, colourful smoke as she ran, but none of it hindered her progress at all. Smelled kinda odd, but no more than that.

It didn’t take too long to reach their general area, due in part to the miners making no attempt at gunning her down whilst she charged over to them, presumably because they couldn’t yet be sure whether she planned to help or hinder their efforts. Upon arrival, the healer immediately clambered up onto a huge chunk of rock that had fallen from the cavern’s ceiling when the Rock Raiders had tunnelled in. From her new vantage point, she had a good view of the action. The village was being taken apart, and from the looks of it over a dozen of the savages had already been slain.

They may have been a brave and valiant people, determined to protect their homes, livelihoods, friends and families… but with pretty much all of their weapons being little more than sharpened bits of crystal, and having no armour whatsoever, they were hardly suited to fighting off the miners with their metal-plated biohazard gear and plasma weapons.

At the foot of the boulder on which the healer stood, a Rock Raider boldly faced off against a couple of unarmed children standing several metres from his position. One was male and looked to be about twelve or thirteen, the other female, and likely a few years younger. He stood before her protectively, his expression defiant. The girl simply cowered behind him. The miner fired his lathe, and the radiant beam of energy burnt effortlessly through the first kid’s chest, instantly incinerating his heart, and then passed through the second one’s skull as well.

They toppled to the ground, dead before they’d even had time to scream. Ahana whistled softly, attracting the man’s attention, “Sweet double kill, dude.”

The miner looked up at her, grinning as he leered at the half-dressed woman, “I know, right? I amaze even myself sometimes. You planning on joining us then, bunny?”

She smirked back at him, “Not exactly.”

Then she raised her voice. She needn’t have done so, for it didn’t actually matter in the slightest if any of them heard what she had to say; she could’ve whispered the words and the effect would’ve been the same… but yelling them was a whole lot more dramatic, and she most certainly wasn’t afraid of these idiots, so saw no reason to be cautious, “Attention, Rock Raiders! As an emissary of our most glorious God, Gal’skap, I graciously grant each and every one of you my permission to die!”

So saying, she took b’Akphiyr’s hilt in both hands, lifted it, and slammed the blade’s tip-edge down on the nearby miner’s skull with all the force she could muster. As well as being accurate, he was also a pretty quick shot, and managed to spear her with a bolt of plasma before her blow could connect. Alas for him, however, her Divine Conflagration not only healed those around her, but also made her rather more durable than the average person; his blast barely got past her breastbone… not that something as minor as a few-inches-wide hole where her heart ought to have been would’ve stopped her, even if his weapon had been able to penetrate her body as easily as it'd done those of his prior targets.

The armoured helmet did weaken the impact somewhat, but even with that in place, her cursed sword had more than enough power behind it to break through the man’s skull and chop his brain in half. She paused in that position for a couple seconds, silently grateful to b’Akphiyr for not spoiling the moment by going for her instead of the miner. Then she yanked free the blade and brandished it overhead, one-handed, her gaze still locked on the corpse as it slumped to the cavern floor, a sadistic grin plastered on her face.

The golden flames that would ordinarily have washed over his injury and hastily worked to rebuild any and all damaged tissue were glaringly absent. Laughing again, revelling in her newfound control of her aura, the bunnygirl at last raised her head, gazing towards the several miners who had been close enough to hear her shout, and not too busy to pause what they were doing and turn to watch.

They all had their weapons pointed her way. The minor wound on her chest had already fully healed, though, and she highly doubted that their guns were any more capable of slaying her than that first guy’s had been. She spread her arms, smirking contemptuously, “Well, what’re you waiting for? Come at me, bitches.”

In the time it would’ve taken her to blink, half a dozen or so lances of superheated plasma pierced her body. They may not have cut straight through her, but en masse, the beams certainly packed a punch, not to mention that they really fucking stung. She managed to hold her smirk, but her eyes widened, she took a pained gasp, and stumbled backwards a couple steps.

Unfortunately, those couple steps were all it took to send her tumbling off the boulder, to land in an ungainly sprawl on the other side. Gritting her teeth as she fought to ignore the pain, Ahana inspected herself. Small, golden fires covered her in several places, most of them unsurprisingly being on her torso; aiming for the vital organs was only common sense, after all. She’d be right as rain in no time… but Sigmund would surely have words for her when this was all over. He hadn’t much liked her decision to try out the local fashion even before her vest had been filled with plasma-induced holes. In her current state, modesty was little more than a pipe dream.

From around each side of the rock, three miners charged.

“Heya, bitches.” the bunnygirl said cheerfully, and flicked her wrist towards those on her right. Her hope was that b’Akphiyr would be keen enough to get his blade wet that he’d haul her over towards them without her having to actually put in any effort herself. Either he took offence at her laziness or he’d decided he didn’t much like having to force his way through all that armour-plating which these grunts wore, for the demonblade instead chose to yank her hand around and bury his tip-edge in her belly. He hit her with enough force that the air was knocked from her lungs, the impact made her retch, and she felt metal scrape against her spine.

The miners paused, blinking in confusion. To be fair, this was their first time seeing b’Akphiyr in action, and it wasn’t exactly a common sight on the battlefield for an opponent to spontaneously attempt to gut themselves.

"Ghrk!" came a choked cry from her left, rather suddenly. Two cries, in fact. Wincing as she wrenched her huge greatsword free—and allowed her aura to begin its work fixing her up—Ahana turned towards the noise, watching with some interest as two of the Raiders jerked spasmodically, the tip of a dagger having burst forth from the centre of each of their chests.

“So, you can choose who’s affected by that aura now, huh? That’ll come in handy.” Victor Wolfe commented drly, returning to visibility and shucking the bodies from his blades, allowing them to fall to the ground, “Still, don’t go running off by yourself. That sword of yours is a liability, and your healing won’t do us any good if they manage to immobilise you and drag you off somewhere that you can’t help us out.”

“Oh… yeah, good point. I never thought of that.” the bunnygirl said thoughtfully, sitting back up. Overcoming their momentary shock, the remaining four miners opened fire on the assassin, no doubt expecting him to go down more easily than Ahana. At this range, they couldn’t exactly miss. Victor grunted and staggered back a step as four beams of light stabbed through his chest.

Then he straightened up, as golden flame filled the gaping holes. He gave the three to Ahana’s right a stern look, “That was very rude. Apologise.”

And then, utterly without warning and quick as a flash, he flipped the dagger in his left hand the other way around and slammed it into the faceplate of the miner beside him with enough force that it not only pierced the strengthened glass, and the human head behind it, but also slammed her back into the boulder with enough force to loudly crack the stone.

The three Raiders remaining didn’t apologise. They were entirely too preoccupied with staring at their recently departed comrade’s remains. Her face couldn’t even be seen any more; cracks spiderwebbed out from the point that the blade penetrated the biohazard armour’s faceplate, and behind those, her blood had covered the glass almost completely. Her body hung limply from the blade, until Victor tugged it free, allowing the corpse to slump down to rest on the cave floor, still leaning against the rock.

The trio looked from their former ally to the assassin. Then promptly fled without another word. However bloodthirsty and/or greedy these men and women might be, they were clearly far from being the most disciplined soldiers ever.

Ahana stood up, staring after them, “So, what’re we doing now then, Mr Strategy Man?”

“It’s a little hard to tell exactly how many of these Rock Raiders we’re facing, given how much smoke these mushrooms seem to be giving off whenever the idiots cut them down with those laser guns of theirs, but my guess is that they number around a score or so. Which means the three I’ve killed here make us about fifteen percent of the way through this fight.”

“I killed one too. Before they shot me.” the bunnygirl piped up, only slightly defensively. She hadn’t much liked his statement that b’Akphiyr was a liability. Sure, it might not be the most reliable of swords, but it was her sword, and she'd stubbornly insist that she could do just as good a job with it as anyone else could with any other weapon.

“Great.” the assassin said, without missing a beat, either graciously ignoring or failing to notice the edge in her tone, “Four out of twenty puts us at twenty percent, then. We’re about a fifth of the way through them. Probably. Unless they have a few more squads of reinforcements somewhere that I’ve failed to notice.”

“Eh. I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s not like we can lose with my aura." she shrugged, "No sense including potential backup in your calculations when we can easily win no matter how many of them there are… honestly, there’s not really any need for all that math-y talk of percentages and fractions either… though I’m sure you'll keep it up anyway.”

The blond man nodded, smiling, “That sounds right on the money, my dear bunny! I love mathematics! That is a character trait that I, Victor Wolfe, have.”

“Now, boss, your love of mathematics has been well established.” Ahana agreed cheerfully, confirming that this character trait which Victor totally had was indeed an actual part of his personality and not just a random, meaningless detail which was being brought up for no reason other than to advance the plot in some inconsequential way and which would instantly be forgotten as soon as the current situation had been resolved.

“Anyway,” the assassin said, changing the subject, “we should probably get going. Our job is to keep these guys distracted for a bit. Siggy is going to try and gather up the natives… they’re not exactly faring too well, after all. As if getting fired on constantly wasn’t bad enough, this smoke only makes matters worse.”

“Huh? The smoke? What’s the problem with that?”

Victor looked at her for a long moment before replying, and when he finally did, he spoke slowly, as if addressing a child, “It’s toxic, Ahana.”

“Oooh. Oh, yeah. That. Mhm. Toxic. Of course. I knew that.”

“You had no idea at all, did you?” the assassin asked flatly.

She grinned lopsidedly at him, and shrugged, “Heh. Nope. Hadn't a clue.”

“And you’ve just been breathing it in, without a care in the world?”

“Yup.” she paused for a couple seconds there, scratching an ear as the two stared at one other, then spoke up again, as something occurred to her, “I guess it's pretty lucky I'm immune to all that shit then, huh?”

Victor closed his eyes and sighed. He was really giving off a ‘how can I actually be associating with someone this thick?’ vibe. Eventually, he continued, “Okay, so… once Siggy has gotten the non-combattants clear, he’ll return with those who want to help fight this lot off and link up with us. With your aura, the rest should be a breeze after that; it doesn't matter how powerful their weapons are if none of us can die, after all. Until then, all we need to do is stall the Raiders.”

“Uh-huh… nice plan, Strategy Man, but how’ll we be handling the mecha?” Ahana asked. Having lived on Ioun’s moon for some months now, the bunnygirl was much more familiar with the sorts of tech which the mining companies made use of than Victor or Sigmund were, so she had already overcome her initial surprise at seeing one here.

Victor, on the other hand, “Ah... I’m still working on it. I’ll get back to you about that part later. For now, let’s just try and stay out of its way.”

Ahana smirked, “Sure thing, boss.”

Post Word Count: 2,593
Crawl #0004 Quest #3 Post #1 Post Count: 1/3
Crawl #0004 Quest #3 Post #1 Word Count: 2,593/2,200 (6,600 / 3 = 2,200)

[LINK] (0:36–0:52)

 

[Victor Wolfe]

The assassin's eyes scanned the smoke of the once peaceful village turned battlefield, it had seemed that once again he had found his way into a strange but interesting location only for a group of jingoistic reprobates to storm in with their better tech and weapons to push out the natives and claim the land for themselves. Such amateurs! Why waste all that manpower and ammunition? His own method of integrating the already existing culture into their own until one day in the future they would be so homogenised that no one would even remember that this village wasn't always a gear in the machine of a much larger empire seemed like the far more efficient method of cultural genocide. Make them think that mining and farming for a neo-new-Babylonian empire was always their way of life, although that would be many years down the line.

Would it be Victor overseeing that? Maybe, he still was not totally sure if death in this universe was permanent, the people seemed to fear it as such, but then again so did the secondaries that made up the last universe. The assassin chuckled at the idea, after all, if Victor could never actually fully die and pass on, then Sigmund's worries about his "immortal souls" fate were moot.

The burn of toxic fumes in his lungs, the sweet stench of death, and the crimson hues that only a massacre could bring as sanguine ichor flowed freely on the once tranquil streets, and blazing flames painted the horizon in their fearsome glow. It was just like being back home. At that moment, something seemed to click. The excitement, and anticipation of the battle, the death in the air, and violence pounding through the ground, all felt, just right.

The immersion felt like shedding a skin or removing a cast after a long injury, he felt, lighter, fitter, like his old self, maybe not quite on that level but certainly far over what he felt like his previous limit was. There was only one thing the assassin had to check. His hand drifted upwards towards his face, stopping just in front of his right eye. The palm of his hand being tinged scarlet.

His examinations of his potentially upgraded powers were cut short however by a loud booming voice. "Well, well, well, wots all dis den" the infuriatingly simple vernacular caused the assassin to let out a low sigh, This burly idiot reminded the assassin of two other intellectually challenged individuals he had the displeasure of meeting. Ahana raised her blade ready to cut down the idiot and his two goon followers where he stood causing Victor to wave her down.

"Aw, that is adorable, you think they are a threat, well just you sit back and enjoy the show, first three rows are a splash zone!" The assassin cackled menacingly as he stalked towards the trio. one of the goons turned to the bigger of the three.

"Boss, I think this may be a trap," he said nervously, aiming his weapon at the former lord who continued to cackle madly as he purposefully marched towards his prey.

"But Ders three of us an only one of him, shoot em, boys!" The captain of the group said confidently, as the braver or stupider of the two goons fired his weapon at Victor, the ray of light blasting a hole in his arm.

"Ha, Got em!" cheered the largest of the three men, who began to clap his free hand against the one holding up his hammer. His celebration was cut short by the shock on one of the mooks faces as he pointed to the area they just shot. Within a few seconds of the wound opening the flesh of the assassins, arm seemed to reject the wound, healing in the reverse of how the laser hit. until finally a tiny hole on the front of Victor's arm sealed leaving just a burn mark on his cloak to show any damage was done.

"Well, It looks like you forgot one thing Mr, my quality is higher than your quantity could ever hope to overcome. But that is some great news for you, because you no longer need to wonder where your god is, because he is right here, and he is fresh out of mercy!" The assassin burst forwards closing ground before the grunts could fire, with one quick slash the contents of their rib cages spilt onto the stone floor as the blades of the assassin carved open their sternums. As his comrades fell the one Victor had saved for last swung his hammer low to the ground, intending to sweep the lighter fighters legs out from under him.

With a wide grin, Victor leapt onto the side of the hammerhead with one foot, using it as a springboard to vault over the Demolition Raider, his blade to the taller idiots back. "So here is a question for you, what is four minus four?" The assassin taunted, using one of his blades to signal for Ahana to approach, the bunny girl eager to get a front-row seat to the splash zone.

"uhh, one?" The demolition raider began to panic as he felt the sharp point of the blade come dangerously close to his spine causing him to stutter" z,z, zero, its zero!" He pleaded, not wanting to meet as gruesome a fate as his workmates. Concerned that if he even tried to move for his teleporter the assassin would act.

"But, what really is four minus four? If you think about it deeply, I know its a novel concept for you, but what might the deeper significance of that little equation be?" Victor purred, in total control as usual.

"uh I ain't too good at de maths thing bruv." was the last thing the demolitionist managed to get out before his throat could only produce gargled screams, intense pain filled his mind, and he felt he was falling, he felt lighter than before.

"Why it's de equation of wot I just gone and did to yer limbs der bruv" Victor snarled as he mocked the stupid accent. Turning back to his more polite mask for a moment the assassin asked "Ahana would you be a dear and keep this one alive until Siggy gets here, I need something to entertain myself!"

kneeling over his victim the former lord gave a sadistic grin "All of the work you rock raiders have impeded for us and this is the calibre of idiot they send to deal with things? I am insulted, so I think I am going to start by pealing off all of your skin, then removing your eyeballs and force you to eat them... Oh or I can remove your eyes, then your genitals, and then put the eyes where the balls used to be, and when I am ready for you to die, have you choke to death on your own genitalia... So many options!"

Crawl #0004 Quest #3 Post #1 Word Count: 1163/2,200