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

[Victor Wolfe]

The assassins caravan had arrived without much trouble, not that he had predicted much. With his powers returning most of the beasts encountered so far on this icy wasteland would not have been too much of a challenge to cut down to size, and those of the other planes likely where far more interested in the eldrich priest and his flock of worshipers. Victor kept his party small, the two losers from the arena having to pay back their debt to the crown by acting like musk ox. The mushroom tree that Victor had ordered to be cut down as a gift to the elves strapped to the back of a cart. The two ogres of women pushing on a long bar as they held it steady across the uneven rocky terrain of the cavern.



The Emperor simply sat on the back of the cart, his eyes scanning the environment as they progressed towards the elven city. It was clear that there was once some sort of barrier about halfway through the passage, fallen rocks laying around and creating a tough journey, the sound of gems clinking together as they where shaken around in their chest, another clear sign that they where entering another territory was abundantly clear, replacing the bright gem and mushroom-laden cavern, was an expanse of ebony rock, the only light emerging from crevices flowing with molten magma, and the reflections from veins of precious metals in the walls and ceilings. At least now they knew why the Elves could afford to waste so much on their shiny armour.

On the horizon loomed a citadel worthy of any civilisation, wide cobbled streets being lined with small flat-topped two floored houses and what seemed to be shops and stalls. With much larger and more extravagant buildings taking up the centre. From his vantage point, Victor could make out what seemed to be a temple of some sort, a stepped pyramid with each layer of steps possessing a layer of gold lining. All leading up to the main building, a statue of an assumed elven god proudly cast in silver atop the temple.

Much like in the greatest city Victor had ever stepped foot in, the palace lay in a central position, smooth obsidian steps starting where the central cobble road ended, and leading up to a stone arch with a large golden gate. squadrons of guards patrolling the city their bright shining armour making their presence known to the citizens they where there to protect...or control. Compared to the later days of Nippur however the guards here seemed different, yes they were kitted out in high-quality elven crafts but after about two hours of watching their bright little shapes from his elevated position, it seemed that there were far fewer guards than one would expect.

From what the assassin could see even assuming a large guard force with each member only working small shifts it was likely that their total numbered less than 1/3rd that of the restructured guards of Nippur. Victor gave a chuckle as he said to himself "And could have been one-tenth if the punk kid had decided to actually be the martial we needed rather than spending his days chasing around his magic sword. Young boys, always playing with their swords when work needs to be done..." Victor shook his head as he continued to examine the elven warriors. Whenever there seemed to be some kind of disturbance way more guards than should be needed would flock to the scene, as if there was very little communication or training. Victor chuckled, his smile growing as he watched them running around like ants that had lost their scent trails.

The party eventually made their way into the city itself, passing by the gates without much trouble, the guards and townsfolk eyeing the giant women acting as beasts of burden suspiciously. Their eyes expecting some sort of even more brutish warlord to be sitting atop the wooden cart. Instead, they found an average height (by Elven standards) lightly built young adult. Glowing red eyes and a mischievous smile making them wonder if this boy was some kind of demon lord, enslaving these behemoths with foul magic or trickery. They were not too far off the mark, But even the most mischevious demon would have struggled to keep up with the ever grander and expanding plots of the mostly human lord.

Victor approached the steps of the stairs, raising his hand as he ordered the villagers to stop. Panting they let go of the bar, bringing the entire cart to a halt as the elder elf from before approached, an annoyed expression crossing his brow. "Halt intruder. How dare you arrive here on our doorstep after the stunt you pulled! Why I should remove your head right now and bring it to our lords." Victor simply smiled in response.

"I'm sorry but have we met before? Oh, right, you are that bootlicker who decided to come and threaten our people. Now you could attempt to remove my head, but you saw what our chieftess could do. I am twenty times the fighter she will ever be. Now I didn't come here to exchange banter with one so low on the cities totem pole of authority that they are seen as a totally expendable messenger, who can be sent out with a minimal guard force to a potentially hostile tribe. No, I came here to parley with those in this city whos lives actually have a value that they might not just be viewed as well wrapped up cannon fodder! Now, how about you go and inform your masters that for once someone who can actually do something for their city wishes to speak to them. I will be up there in about ten minutes, now run off dog, before I need to put you down." Victor gave a toothy grin as the Elder elf gave a frustrated shrug, quickly deciding that allowing the lords of the city to decide the insolent brats fate would likely be the easier choice.

The elf walked up the stairs as Victor gave a clap. The two giants in front of him ending their rest as they each went to an end of the mushroom tree, the assassins blades slicing the rope that held it in place as the women picked it up. Victor, on the other hand, lifted the gem-filled treasure chest as they started their journey up the steps towards a diplomatic meeting that would likely shape the future of Neo-Babylonian society.

Reaching the peak of the stairs the women following the assassin let out a huge sigh of relief, dropping the fungal tree onto the pathway leading to the palace entrance. The sudden thud as it hit the obsidian causing Victor to jump, he glared back at the pair, an annoyed look crossing his face as he turned back towards his targets.

Just before the entrance to the fortress stood the messenger that had started this entire journey, along with a collection of well-dressed elves, their long flowing locks of hair and dress like tunics embroidered with precious metals, their knife ears pierced with silver and gold. One of the androgynous individuals took a few steps forward from the rest of the crowd. Victor assumed that this group was the social elite, likely some sort of oligarchic "republic", not quite as powerful individually as an absolute monarch, but allowing for no individual to take the full wrath of the masses should things not go as planned. The apparent leader of this group, with the appearance of someone in their early thirties, although possibly being far older knowing elves, spoke up.

"Our messenger told us about that little announcement that you made Sir Wolfe. You really caused quite the fuss for our people. They were so looking forward to having some new places to build homes and opportunities. We were aware of that choice little spot for a while but until the earth mother opened up the path for her chosen people we had no way to really move our people there with ease. And then when we do send a forward scout it would seem that a new fledgeling nation had sprouted up, with an ambitious young leadership all who seemed to be extremely jingoistic and anti-elf. Why it caused such a stir that we have been debating mobilising to nip such an openly hostile threat in the bud. Thus we find your appearance before us strange, we will hear you out Sir Wolfe, we are intrigued, but chose your words carefully." He announces to a small clamour of applause from his lackeys and the mumblings of agreement. Victor merely dropped the chest still in his hands at his feet and prepared to give his own little speech.

"Jingoistic? Neo-New Babylon? You have us all wrong my Elven comrades, I believe that our grizzled old Veteran friend back there may have given my message out of context, or perhaps after so much experience, he has grown distrustful of those around him. You see my message was not warmongering in nature, it was merely a statement that I, a true and noble leader, would do anything to protect those under my most generous and loving care. I view my people like they are my children, I want to see them live the happiest and most fulfilling of lives, and to live happy they must feel safe with their position in the world. Thus I merely drew out the line that I would do everything in my power to protect them from hostile threats. My message was merely a way to send a statement that may have forced your most powerful of cities to take a pause before moving troops into a bloody battle that may have caused all of our people's much heartache and suffering. And it appears to have worked." Victor gave a polite bow as he finished his little speech, raising the eyebrows of many of the elven lords as they wondered just what the blonde Emperor had planned with this visit. The dejure leader of the group seemed intrigued. His finger stroked his chin as he took a moment to think over what he had just heard and with cautionary optimism he spoke.

"Well, perhaps our little messenger may not have understood the full message that one as refined as yourself were trying to convey, but if your purpose of this new state was not to declare war, then what is your purpose here? Surely if you wished for diplomatic discussion you could have sent one of your followers to discuss it, what brings a newly crowned emperor all the way out here to our city?" He questioned as Victor grinned.

"Well, I was not always an emperor, and in my previous fields of employment I figured out that in sensitive situations where you have a very specific outcome in mind it is often best to do things yourself. Diplomacy has always been one of the more amusing games that those in positions of power can play with each other, and I am somewhat of a master in the art of the deal. But I do not expect good relations to happen right away, of course, the loss of potential territory and the sleep you may have lost over dealing with a possible new threat on the horizon is something I must deeply apologise for. To make it up to you most noble of knif...Elves I bring gifts as well as a promise of a very close and prosperous relationship in the future." Victor pointed back to the mushroom tree.

"I would ask that you plant this, I know that you elves are very in touch with nature and from my meeting with some merchants from this fine city I was informed that these large fungus based trees where not found in the area surrounding you fine gentlemen. Thus consider this specimen a gift from our Empire, and a sign of good relations and friendship in the future." The leader of the elves smiled, as he skirted around the assassin, his hand resting on the trunk of the fungal tree.

"A most wise gift, we have an open space just before the throne room in the palace where we grow whatever plants and fungi we can get our hands on, after all even deep underground we do still worship gods that associate with nature. Are you sure this one is ok? It feels, in pain?" Victor clapped, the two behemoth women glaring at him as they picked the tree up again, shaking the elven hand of its trunk. They followed two guards who were likely guiding them to the gifts new home in the wide open space just beyond the palace door, more like a greenhouse than a reception room as far as Victor could see.

"Oh it is just likely stressed from the journey, I am sure within a few days once it has settled it will be feeling much better, my second gift is one that I feel you will enjoy, as looking at your decorative finery it would appear that although there is an almost needless amount of precious gold and silver, that you fine people do not appear to have many gemstones, no diamonds, rubies, amethysts or jade. I thus assume that they are not very common in this part of the tunnel, however looking at your guardsmen it would appear that something I very much love is quite common. May I see one of your loyal troopers weapons?" As Victor approached one of the guards a few raised their blades at the assassin who merely smirked.

"Trust me, good sirs, if I wanted to attempt to harm anyone here I would do it with the daggers strapped to my sides, I have honed my craft with those beauties for almost two decades. I merely want to inspect the craftsmanship of your tools of the trade. I have two theories about what your weapons and armour are made from, but I do ever so hope that it is the more exciting of the two." With a nod from the noble-elves, the guardsman held his short sword out for the assassin who took it into his hands, the metal quickly giving off a golden glow. Victors eyes went wide with sheer joy as he laughed out loud.

"Well well well, it would seem that we have celestial gold here, I knew it was not the traditional stuff, that would be far too heavy for your men to carry around all day, my other theory was the much more boring gold and silver plated steel. Ha! In my own world, this is the height of materials alongside its counterpart stygian silver. One only found in rocks that fell from the sky, thus a gift from the gods, and the other found at the deepest fiery depths. Stolen from hell itself. And you people have enough of it to equip everyone with it! Well, I think that I can propose a deal that will benefit us all. First of all, stop your mobilisation, we do not want any of your troops stepping foot in our territory. And then I propose a trade deal, we will allow you, good folks, the first choice of the gems our empire mine. And in turn, you provide us with the materials you use to craft your equipment" As the assassin finished his speech he kicked open the chest, the gems within blinding all due to the glow of the guardsman's sword. an audible gasp came from the group of lords, they had clearly never seen this amount of jewels all in one place before.

"Oh, and this is just a small down payment, a gift from my people, to you."

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund stretched as his assembled cultists recovered from their ritual, murmurs and the occasional giggle filling the procession. The high priest extracted the letter that Victor had handed from within his cloak and opened it curiously, but not before double checking that none of the cultists would attempt to read over his shoulder. Confident that no one else would see its contents, Sigmund opened the letter and quickly scanned over it. After reading the letter, the cultist paused and read it again, squinting at it.

“By the gods…” He muttered as he folded up the letter and held it in the air. The paper began to stiffen as the cultist clutched it, frost creeping across the edges before flames burst from Sigmund's fist, immolating the incriminating note.

“Amy.” Sigmund called. “I have a job for you.”

“Yes, high priest?” The priestess answered, bowing slightly with an absent-minded grin on her face. The ritual seemed to have affected her a little more than the others.

“There is more work for me to do. If you see Ahana and she asks where I am, just tell her that I've already gone.”

“Gone where?”

“That is irrelevant. Ahana will know when you tell her.” Sigmund said before flashing her a smile. “Alright, see ya later.”

The head cultist turned on his heels and left the dazed congregation, mentally assembling a list of things that he needed. As he speed-walked through the village, he passed by a group of warriors disemboweling each other and promptly regenerating. The cultist paused at the bizarre scene, not because the warriors were brutalising each other but rather because Ahana seemed to actually be doing work.

Moving purposefully through the village, Sigmund collected some hunks of spoiled meat and old bones. The village butcher was more than willing to give one of the village champions the viscera without asking too many questions, despite his confusion. Stuffing the meat into a pouch on his belt, Sigmund sighed to himself. Now came the hard part.

Navigating his way through the caves, the cultist did his best to make his way back to where he had heard the call of the fell beast lurking in the tunnels. If the villagers had some sort of subterranean mounts, this job would be noticeably easier, but Sigmund would have to simply run and pray. The high priest opened his tome, the pages flicking to his desired page. Briefly hesitating, Sigmund wondered if he could simply ride on the shoulders of the one of the villager’s ogre women, but pushed the thought aside and cast a rift bolt at the cavern wall.

As the prismatic projectile struck the cave, a mournful cry split the silence. The shudderer, the wicked creature haunting the caverns, had gotten another taste of what it was searching for. The power to tear through the breach. The power to make it whole. Sigmund cast one more rift bolt, just for good measure, as the tunnel began to rumble. The beast was on his trail, and it was coming quickly. Calling up the directions Victor had given him in the letter, the cultist turned and began to sprint, fully aware of what would happen if the beast caught him.

Within a few minutes of running, Sigmund was beginning to regret pursuing academia rather than listening to his sister’s lectures about training the body as well as the mind. His lungs were burning and his legs had turned to lead as he forced himself to keep running through the tunnels, his only saving grace being the shudderer’s shifting bulk slowing its passage through the caverns. Even as the beast’s distorted bellows sent its frustration echoing through the caves, it's quarry increased the distance between them bit by bit.

Unfortunately, cultist’s lead wasn't meant to last forever. As his body began to slow, the shudderer only began to speed up. Sigmund could almost feel it breathing down his next as he came to a sort of barrier in the road, which he desperately launched himself through before tumbling clumsily to the floor. The cultist took a few breaths and glanced behind him for a mind, quickly regretting that he had done so. The shudderer’s twisted bulk was visible in the distance, rapidly approaching the priest. The beast’s many maws opened up, announcing the creature’s despair to the world. Even as its cry echoed through the cave, the shudderer fell apart, it's tainted flesh bubbling and decaying, losing all shape before pulling itself together over the course of a few seconds.

With renewed vigour, Sigmund leapt to his feet and continued his mad dash towards the Dwemer citadel, desperate to get to some semblance of safety. The shudderer however, so close to its goal, would not be denied. The monstrosity plowed through the barrier, falling to pieces momentarily before knitting itself back together and continuing the chase. As the human and his pursuer approached, Sigmund prayed that the guards wouldn't stop him as well as the beast.

“Make way!” The cultist shouted as he rushed towards the front gate, the shudderer hot on his heels.

“Hey! Where do you think y- What is THAT?” One of the guards cried as his eyes fell upon the abomination. His partner, on the other hand, was too busy attempting to understand what he was looking at to speak. Sigmund rushed through the streets, throwing himself at a nearby building, scrambling clumsily up onto the roof, even as the abomination plowed past the two guards. Normally the beast would fall upon the Dwemer in a rage, but at the moment it had a more important target. The cultist leapt from rooftop to rooftop, desperately keeping just out of the abomination’s reach. Screams filled the streets as the shudderer rampaged through them, attempting to force its way to the cultist.

“Well, hopefully this is what Victor had in mind.” Sigmund said to himself. “I hope Ahana gets here soon…”

988 words
1867/1867 Crawl words
3589/5000 WC words

 

[Ahana Varma]

“Heeey there!”

Ahana tilted her head quizzically, raising an eyebrow at the figure charging towards her. It was Amethyst. And she was happy.

It was weird. Unnatural, even.

“What’s up, Amy?” the general asked, as the priestess stopped just shy of crashing into her. Breathing heavily enough that the bunnygirl figured she may well have sprinted all the way here from wherever it was that Sigmund had taken his flock to perform their ritual, Amethyst grabbed the healer’s upper arm to steady herself as she panted.

Not being utterly repulsed by the very thought of touching Ahana was unusual enough for her, but her face was also flushed, she was smiling absently, and she even gave a quiet giggle. The bunnygirl’s eyes widened as she put two and two together, “Did Siggy get you wasted?”

She was both surprised and impressed; she'd figured Sigmund would probably be the kind of priest who considered alcohol to be the Devil's drink. But maybe he was cooler than she'd been giving him credit for.

“Huh? Hehe, what?” the seemingly less-than-sober priestess asked, then shook her head… a dozen times, while still grinning ear-to-ear, “Nooo, don’t be silly. We just, hehehee, performed a ritual… together…”

After gazing dazedly into the distance for a minute or so, while Ahana wondered if she might have lost her mind and everyone else on the training field stopped what they were doing to stare, Amethyst shook her head once more, seeming to recover some of her composure this time. She straightened up, released the general, and stepped back. Given that she still seemed a little unsteady on her feet, though, the healer wasn’t too sure if that was such a good idea.

“I haven’t drunk any alcohol,” the priestess said, and clasped her hands together, as if in prayer, “It’s just… his power. It’s intoxicating. I- we felt it, coursing through us as we performed his ritual. High Priest Sigmund is so amazing... he’s a true saviour to our people.”

Ahana smirked at that, both at the obvious crush Amethyst had on the man who’d made her his first cultist, and at the implication that of their trio, he was the only one worthy of actually leading the fledgling empire. She wasn’t upset by that, of course, because she figured it was probably accurate.

“Yeah, yeah, Siggy’s a real saint, so why are you here, rather than busying yourself with kissing his feet?”

“Kissing…” the priestess said dreamily. The general sighed, rolling her eyes, and Amethyst’s face grew even more flushed than it had been previously. She cleared her throat, “The High Priest gave me a message to pass along, he said you’d know what it meant. He wanted me to tell you that he has 'already gone'.”

“Ah, I see.” frowning, the bunnygirl regarded her soldiers. Many of the would-be recruits had been turned away already, but she wasn’t quite sure if these ones had really been put through enough pain to have really proven themselves properly. She would have liked more time, but apparently this would be all she was getting before some of her forces would be put to the test.

Reaching into her top, where she’d stashed the envelope that Victor had given her, she pulled it out and opened it, making sure not to let anyone else see what was written there. The emperor’s instructions were clear and explicit.

She scowled. As expected of a master assassin, his plan was so well-thought-out that she doubted that her army would even prove necessary in this scheme. She would much rather just continue hanging around here, watching half-naked men and women maiming one another, than get involved in this endeavour.

Still, she supposed that she ought to go; if Victor could restrain himself enough to avoid completely wiping out every living thing in the dwemer city, in spite of his own personal grudge against the ‘knife-ears’, then it’d be the least she could do to make an appearance.

Looking around, she asked, “Anyone have a light?”

No one did. That wasn’t too surprising, considering these people didn’t seem to have tobacco down here. She sighed, then scrunched the letter up into a ball and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing for a few seconds before swallowing it. She ignored the weird looks she was given.

Victor had wanted the letter burned after being read, but this would do, she figured; either way, no one was going to be reading it. It would’ve been easier if she could’ve just incinerated it with her golden flames, but alas, the Divine Conflagration was a blessing of healing, not one of harming. It couldn’t burn even the most inflammable of substances.

She dropped the envelope—not seeing any need to eat it as well, as it was blank—and spoke to her followers, “Sapphiro, Beryl, each of you pick a score of soldiers you think’ve been the most impressive, then come with me. Nisse, you’re in charge of judging the rest of the tryouts. By the time we get back, I want this finished.”

“Sure.” the slim man nodded once, though his eyes were narrowed as he looked at her. She thought he might be a tiny bit suspicious about the reason why she’d felt compelled to eat her instructions, rather than risk them being seen. He didn’t object, though.

The other two went about gathering their troops of choice, and the healer turned back to Amethyst, “Thanks for passing on the message, Amy. I doubt there’s really any rush for me to head after him… but still, I’ll let Siggy know how enthusiastic you were about delivering his message quickly. I’m sure he’ll appreciate your eagerness.”

“Yes, of course! I would do anything for the High Priest!” the first priestess declared loudly, without hesitation, her hands clenched into fists at her side. Ahana smirked.

“Heh. I think I like you better when you’re this honest about your feelings… maybe you and Siggy should perform rituals more often.” she said smugly. The priestess’ eyes widened, as she realised how Ahana was choosing to interpret her last statement. She then slugged the bunnygirl in the jaw.

Ahana crumpled to the ground, before laughing loudly, “Worth it.”


***


“General Varma, the scouts report that they’ve spotted the dwemer city a little further down our projected route. We should be within sight of the walls within a few minutes at our current pace.” Beryl said smartly. Ahana resisted the temptation to say ‘we have scouts?’.

No one had actually told her that they were going to be sending them out ahead of the main group, so it wouldn’t actually have been that odd for her not to know… though based on the conversation she’d overheard between Sapphiro and his cousin, she knew that they both had simply assumed that it was something she would want done, and so had acted on their own initiative.

In reality, she never would have even considered it, but she supposed there was no reason in sharing that information. Just as there was no need to let them know that she didn’t actually need to be told this. Her bunny ears were not simply for show, after all; she’d heard everything the scouts had said to Beryl when they’d made their report.

“Yeah, of course,” the healer said instead, nodding, “we’re following the directions Vic gave me, after all. It’s to be expected that they’d lead us there properly.”

“Of course, we would never doubt the emperor’s guidance.” said the ex-warrior, who now held the rank of ‘lieutenant’. Her tone wasn’t overly sincere, but Ahana didn’t bother to reprimand her for not sounding appreciative enough of Victor’s leadership, “I just thought you might like to know that there don’t appear to be any traps lain, or ambushes along our path, nor any monsters currently inhabiting these passages.”

“Great, thanks for the update. So... where’s the ‘but’?”

Beryl made a noise somewhere in between a laugh and a grunt, “We’ve found… tracks, I suppose. It’s clear that some sort of creature passed through here, and not long ago. It might be dangerous to continue.”

It was the healer’s turn to laugh, “What’s wrong? Afraid of a little monster, Lieutenant?”

“No.” the dark-eyed woman said coldly, glaring down at her superior officer, “This thing is anything but ‘little’, though… and I’ve heard the reports of what happened during the battle with the invaders; I know that your blessed flames are not infallible. If our bodies take enough damage, it is still possible for us to be killed.”

Ahana scowled, “So what, you’re not interested in fighting just because you’re not completely immortal? I thought the warriors of your tribe had more guts than that.”

“We did. But we’re not warriors of our tribe anymore. We’re soldiers of your empire. And in my new role as an officer, I now have to consider more than just fighting for glory and dying with honour. The lives of those under my command are my responsibility.”

Ahana snorted. They’d only become soldiers earlier today, but both Beryl and Sapphiro were taking this whole thing really seriously. Too seriously, in her opinion… but the bunnygirl wasn’t yet sure enough about the security of her position to expect that there would be no repercussions if she started casually dismissing the worth of her troops’ lives, so she held her tongue.

“It would be different if we were guarding our own borders,” the muscular woman continued, and Ahana didn’t fail to notice that she’d said ‘borders’ instead of ‘village’ or ‘cavern’. She really was making an effort at sounding as professional as she could. Her attitude seriously contrasted with her attire, though, given that she was still dressed only in a loincloth, a chest-wrap, and an absurd amount of jewellery, “but why should we put our lives at risk to fight something which is not only heading away from our lands, but towards those of a nation which just recently promised to destroy us, should we refuse to capitulate and surrender our territory to them.”

The healer shrugged, “‘Cause Vic said so, I guess.”

Beryl looked at her as if she were an idiot, and Ahana smirked back.


***


A few people ran screaming for the guards, who seemed strangely absent. Some others froze in terror or fell to the ground and started bawling, and a few even immediately began pleading for their lives and offering to sell out their friends and families. Truly, these elves were such a noble and upstanding people.

Several of them, however, took a harder stance, and jeered or insulted the band of soldiers marching through the cracked and scratched-up archway which held their gates; though ‘held’ was perhaps an overstatement, given that the two large slabs of intricately carved stone hung off their hinges, looking like they could break free entirely at any moment.

“What the hell are you doing here?” yelled someone, and Ahana looked over to see that trader-lady she’d gotten her sari from. The woman was glaring venomously at her. The bunnygirl gave her a wink.

She would have been fine leaving it at that, but Sapphiro apparently considered this a dramatically-appropriate moment to make an announcement, so raised his hand, calling his unit to a halt. Beryl near-instantly imitated his gesture, and her half of their force stopped as well.

“We are here tracking a giant monster which has been terrorising the nearby area,” the blond lieutenant announced, holding his head high and making eye contact with as many people on the streets as he could manage. The general wasn’t sure if they were genuinely curious, or if it was just due to his natural charisma, or perhaps his good looks, but for whatever reason, the dwemer actually shut up and listened to him speak.

“We know that your leaders have made threats against us, but we will not hold you responsible for their foolishness; we would feel guilty if we simply sat back and allowed you and your fellow citizens to be brutally torn limb from limb and devoured by this horrific abomination, as it rampaged through your fine city, drenching the streets in the blood of the innocent. So please, help us by pointing us in the direction that the creature headed, then barricade yourselves in your homes, lest it come back this way.”

“What monster?” growled the clothes-merchant-lady, clearly not concerned at all by what he’d said the thing might do to them. Judging by the silence and pale faces of almost everyone else, though, she was in the clear minority there, “We haven’t seen any monster here, so you can all fuck off!”

Sapphiro simply smiled, and very slowly and deliberately turned to regard the half-destroyed gates—which had large gouges in their stone faces, where enormous claws or fangs had torn into them as if they were no more solid than clay—and the twin puddles of blood, scraps of fleshy offal, and scattered fragments of metal which were all that remained of the two guards who had presumably stood guard there until the abomination had passed through.

He then looked back at the merchant, who glared at the cobbles rather than meeting his gaze. A few of her fellows who’d also been jeering voiced half-hearted denials. The others, however, were quick to tell the group that the beast had headed for the palace, closely followed by every single guard who'd noticed it. Whether the crowd actually believed that the savage soldiers were here to save them, or simply wanted them to go thieve and murder and pillage and rape a section of the city in which they themselves were not currently located, Ahana couldn’t be sure. She figured that it likely didn’t matter either way, though.

So she and her compatriots marched through the city—well, ‘ambled’ might’ve been a better way of describing their walk, to be honest. Despite trying to act somewhat professional, they hadn’t really had any actual training yet, so marching properly was beyond them—and Ahana took in the sights.

With the ground cobbled, even the smallest of buildings built of stone, and everything illuminated by orbs of soft, white light that hovered in mid-air above, below or in front of what she assumed were magic circles, wherever those patterns had been carved into the rock, the dwemer city was undeniably beautiful. If her memory wasn’t failing her, she recalled that the caravan leader had referred to this place as Kah Derngrolenf… she didn’t know if that name had any special meaning to the dwemer, or if it was nothing more the ridiculous and arbitrary amalgamation of consonants which it sounded like to her beautiful ears. Either way, they should probably rename it after they conquered the place.

Eventually, her two-score soldiers did make it to the castle gates, though not before taking a small detour because a few of her troops said they smelled something delicious, which turned out to be a bakery.

Naturally, Ahana allowed them all to stop for lunch, under the pretence that it’d be good for morale, or something.

She actually said ‘or something’ at the end of her sentence. It may have been a pretence, but it wasn’t exactly one she was working hard at keeping up. She hadn’t eaten in hours, and the existence of a bakery this far underground was, not to put too fine a point on it, surprising.

The soldiers immediately decided that this was the best food they’d ever eaten, and that she was an awesome boss for leading them to this free, all-you-can-eat buffet. It wouldn’t ordinarily have been free, of course, but the shopkeeper had likely fled when the enormous, eldritch entity had stormed past, on its way to the castle. And as a result, the bunnygirl ended up getting to scarf down a whole bunch of doughnuts (they were great. Jelly-filled were her favourite).

After eating their fill and trashing the shop—to make it look as if the monster were to blame, of course—the totally-professional troops finally headed on, and reached their destination a short time thereafter. The fortress-like palace was surrounded on all sides by a massive wall, which seemed to feature only a single gateway, though as with the gates to the city itself, it was plainly apparent that something tremendously large and with very little regard for the architecture had passed through the entrance.

“Alright, you lot wait here,” the healer instructed her followers, scratching an ear, “if anyone tries to get in, just kill them… or, well, I guess you could turn them back, if you're feeling merciful. Our lunch break probably gave most, if not all, of the guards in the city—as well as any would-be heroes—plenty of time to show up and get themselves slaughtered by that thing. So, the plan is for me to go in there and kill it, ideally with the help of our majestic emperor and benevolent high priest, if they’re still alive. Then, once that's done, we take over the city, as bloodfully as possible.”

“As what as possible?” Beryl deadpanned.

“‘Bloodfully’,” the general explained, “y’know, like the opposite of ‘bloodlessly’?”

Sapphiro sighed and shook his head, “How about we make that Plan B?”

“What’s Plan A, then?” Ahana asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Tell them their city belongs to us, and only kill those who object.” the blond shrugged.

“Hmm, I dunno, it’s a bit lacking in genocide…” the bunnygirl mused, tapping her chin with an index finger.

“Gal’skap’s balls, our boss is a fucking nutcase.” one man whispered very, very softly to the woman next to him, whose lips twitched upwards in the beginnings of a smile. Ahana immediately tilted her head and cast a sidelong glare over his way.

“I heard that.” her rabbit ears twitched pointedly, angling towards him.

The soldier blanched, and those around him—the woman who’d smiled included—edged away, putting some distance between him and themselves, so as not to be caught up in the general’s wrath.

“And you’re absolutely correct! Mwahaha!” the bunnygirl skipped over to stand before the singled-out soldier, grinning broadly, and gave him a cheerful slap on the shoulder.

Behind her, she distinctly heard Beryl whisper to her cousin, “Did she seriously just say ‘mwahaha’?”

Sapphiro sighed for the second time in as many minutes, then muttered under his breath about surface dwellers with no tolerance for the maddening effects of the moon’s depths. Ahana laughed again at that, no doubt making her seem even crazier to everyone too far from the pair of lieutenants to overhear their quiet conversation.

She slapped the random guy on the shoulder again, then started walking backwards, away from the two squads, “Alright, you lot, I’ll go deal with that thing now. I’ll be back soon, so try not to kill too many innocent dwemer in the meantime.”

She paused, thinking over her last instruction for a moment, before adding an addendum, “Unless they attack you, of course… or irritate you… or you just think it’d be funny, I guess.”

Sapphiro groaned, “Will you please just go deal with the interdimensional horror rampaging through that palace?”

“Heh. Fiiine.” the healer drawled, giving the exasperated man a little wave before turning and striding boldly up the long pathway which led to the immense manor.

In the distance behind her, the last thing she heard before entering the enormous abode was Beryl hissing at her and her cousin’s troops, “I don’t care if General Varma technically gave you permission, I will personally tear out the throat of anyone who kills a civilian for a laugh. Am I making myself clear?”

Ahana chuckled to herself. As soon as she was out of sight of her allies, she stretched her arms, sighed contentedly, then lightly kissed her cursed sword, and grinned broadly, “Y’know, b’Aky, I’ve actually got a pretty great feeling about this new job; I reckon you and I are gonna get along just fine with this army of mine, even if my lieutenants can sometimes be real sticks-in-the-mud.”

Though b’Akphiyr couldn’t answer her, naturally, he made no attempt at maiming her, which she took as a sign that he agreed. Today was actually turning out to be a damn good day, she thought.

Then something ate her head.

It was mildly inconvenient.

Post Word Count: 3,402
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Post Count: 3/3
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Word Count: 10,758/1,867 (7,356 + 3,402)

 

[Victor Wolfe]

Whilst Ahana and her troops "requisitioned" some supplies from the bakery Victor and the elven lords where greeted by a frantic high priest, quickly followed by a creature that resembled the summoned beast Siggy had brought to their aid in the battle against the miners. This writhing monstrosity seemed even more unnatural, like the very world itself was attempting to purge it from being. Its skin crawling as charged on, the void constantly calling it back. The elven lords made to flee only to notice that all of the exits had been sealed. Victor had asked his two behemoth caravan mules to in the chaos close the two doors leading deeper into the palace. Large and ornate Victor doubted that they had ever actually been designed to close, But his two friends with some elbow grease had managed to crank them shut, leaving the only escape from the room to be one with a giant eldritch monstrosity standing in their way.

The lords stared at Victor, who simply shrugged.

"Its an open area, and we need to prevent the creature from escaping, If you would summon your guards and stick close to the mushroom I am certain we can kill this creature pretty quick, Stay close to the shroom and away from the priest and my friends, he is the one it is interested in," Victor said with authority as the elder elves shuffled to put the mushroom between them and the creature.

Victor gave a happy grin towards Sigmund, clearly pleased that he had been able to follow the instruction laid out for him so well. As the panting priest ran towards the assassin he managed to get out through deep breaths.

"What now?" Causing Victor to chuckle, the danger of the situation clearly not weighing on him. For the assassin who had wandered war zones picking off nobility and their honour guards, taming a dragon, and overthrowing entire states as a part-time hobby this was merely another day on the job.

"Well now we need to wait on the noble elven guards to arrive, and of course, the ace up our sleeves. Let us just hope they actually put themselves into the deck for us to even stand a chance of surviving this." He smirked, an all to jovial tone.

Victor raised his hand, Sigmund not quite sure exactly why decided to raise his too, Victor smacked his palm against Sigmunds as he patted him on the back.

"Tagging into this one, you catch your breath back, and NO fireballs" he added loudly "We would not want to destroy our new friends' little plant sanctuary would we?" With this the assassin rushed the creature, ducking a pointed barbed tongue as he slid forwards, the smooth stone of the floor allowing him to slide on his knees under the creatures right leg, with one quick slash the limb was removed, in an explosion of purple blood and the shrill high pitched screams not of this world. the slide carried the assassin straight through to the flank of the beast preventing him from being crushed under its weight. With one swift movement, he opened up another two large parallel slices in the side of the monster, purple ichor covering his blades and clothing.

Victor sure that he now had its attention leapt backwards the creature in hot pursuit as its still working front limb dragged it forward at surprising pace, this allowed the first wave of guards to get inside the room, and on Victors signal, his two large bodied comrades to escape.

Deciding that it was time for the guardsmen to tag in Victor returned to Sigmunds side as he patted him on the back. "Good work my comrade in arms, it would appear that things are going just as I planned, the guards are getting here, and now all we need to do is wait for General bunny breasts to arrive and we can truly make history!" mid-monologue Victor noticed out of the corner of his eye something he had not anticipated. One of the guards clearly had ideas above his station as when the creature aimed its long chameleon-like tongue at him, he dodged to the side. And the deadly appendage was now aimed at a distracted Sigmund.

Victor panicked, he knew Erik would have never forgiven him if he had let his son die to easily, Victor pushed both of hilts of his daggers into Siggys channelling half power into them as he slid backwards about five feet. Only to see the emperor's arm be impaled by the monster, the creature immediately started to drag him back towards its shredder like mouth.

In the split second, he had to decide the assassin winced, as he dropped the blade in the trapped hand, and took his other to the elbow, slicing it off completely. A scream of pain echoed through the chamber as the assassin used the now free momentum to spin, sliding over the creatures head and down its back, the blade opening up another wound that would have killed most normal creatures.

Dark red blood spilt onto the floor as the assassin bearly managed to stay on his feet, the loss of blood and intense pain eventually starting to lessen from his natural healing rate as he found his footing again. Using the elves as meat shields he managed to create some space. Wondering if he had actually gotten the timings wrong. His eyes scanned the doors, no more guards seemed to be coming at least, and when all hope seemed to be lost, he felt golden flames at his wound site.

"You took your sweet time my friend!" Victor said with a grin, happy to see the bunny girl, his arm now speedily returning. Now that all the guards were in the room, and All three of the party too, The final doorway shut ominously behind Ahana.Victors two comrades would now rush down to join up with the rest of the army to provide more muscle. And with that, the trap was set. But before the bunny girl could even utter a word, her head found itself being ripped clean off, a spout of blood cartoonishly spraying everywhere like a fountain, causing the horrified screams of elves and humans alike. The healing aura, however, didn't stop, Victor could feel his arm returning, And the elven guards seemed to have a renewed vigour about them. This hopefulness was brought to a halt however as whilst the Generals head restored itself golden flames danced along the cuts of the creature Victor had tried to hard to cripple. His hands rested in his head, she really was sometimes more trouble than she was worth.

Victor screamed as he with his now regrown hand picked up his discarded blade, the creatures head turning towards the assassin, a long barbed tongue once again shooting out. This time the assassin sidestepped the blow, bringing his dagger down as it easily nestled itself through the appendage and into the stone, forming an effective peg. With purpose he walked past the struggling creature, his one dagger once again slicing off limbs in an attempt to slow its recovery as he dragged the recovering body of his comrade towards Sigmund. The elves and monster in a stalemate, none able to kill the other as the priest and emperor waited for Ahanas head to finish regrowing.

Eventually, after what felt like minutes, the bunny girl opened her mouth taking a breath.

"sfjsfvposjfdv sodiosv sisfd halp. Ok Ok, wow, I helped"
Victor shook his head.

"Just turn off their healing," he said as he pointed to the group in front of them, all of a sudden both the elves and monster stopped healing, the flames that once covered their wounds now fading.

"How dare you!" One of the elven lords shouted, outraged that they would just allow their warriors to die.

Victor grinned as he turned to the man whose life he had just saved. "Now Sigmund, Show what happens when things!" Victor sneered at that last word. "Threaten the Neo-Nippurian state!"

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund had barely managed to escape from the abomination’s clutches, throwing himself clumsily from building to building as he approached the palace. The entire city was certainly ornate and beautiful, but the cultist had little time to appreciate it with the shudderer on his heels. Behind him, he heard the tell-tale wail of the beast as it underwent a particularly harsh spasm, forcing it to halt just long enough for Sigmund to clamber down from a rooftop and rush through the palace gates, finding Victor and a number of horrified Dwemer.

The priest raised a hand in greeting, far too out of breath to give a proper ‘hello’. The Dwemer rudely ignored his gesture, instead shouting and pointing at the beast behind him. Victor began to speak, but Sigmund was only half-listening, a little too distracted by the shudderer to properly register what the assassin was yelling him. The room quickly descended into chaos, with guards desperately engaging the abomination, only to be crushed beneath its bulk or shredded in its claws.

Sigmund’s breath began to return as Victor engaged the creature. The priest had gotten used to the impressive damage that the assassin could deal with the blades, but the Elven nobles seemed to be reconsidering who the real threat was in the situation. The cultist cringed as Victor approached him, his blades soaked in foul purple ichor rather than the blue-green that one of his summons might have. The off-coloured life-blood was a vile reminder that even among the gods, the shudderer was not wanted.

The abomination then launched a barbed tongue, not unlike that of a thresher. While it wasn't common for a shudderer to have such an armament, no two were exactly alike, so it wasn't a shocking either. As the cultist pondered this, he realised that he had neglected to dodge out of the way of the projectile. Cursing himself, Sigmund’s mind raced, attempting to find a way out of the situation. Fortunately, as he could not think of anything, he didn't have to.

What happened next was little more than a blur. Victor was yanked away, flying over the creature and losing an arm. Ahana appeared, then promptly got decapitated. Everyone started healing, including the shudderer, undoing any damage done it. Sigmund’s head began to spin, a little overwhelmed by the situation. He was snapped out of it by Victor calling his name, giving him the signal.

“Gladly.” Sigmund grinned, raising his hand above his head. His tome flipped open, the breach crystal in its cover shining radiantly. The abomination stopped its rampage as the cultist began to channel, freezing in place even as blades cut deep into its wretched flesh. Suddenly reminded of its mission, the shudderer plowed through the swath of guards, charging down the incanting priest. Sigmund rapidly chanted in elderspeak, nervously glancing over at the realised nightmare that was barreling towards him. The beast began to slow down as the prayer sapped the heat from it, giving the cultist just enough time to swivel in place and hurl the massed heat at the nearby mushroom.

The fireball soared through the air, illuminating the horrified faces of the Dwemer as it crashed into the giant mushroom, igniting it and releasing the chemicals hidden within. Fumes billowed from the fungus, filling the room with Sapphira’s forbidden black alchemy, the weaponised mushroom disaster. Even as the gas began to pervade the sealed room, the abomination scooped up the priest, grasping him tightly in what might charitably be called a hand.

Sigmund found himself face to ‘face’ with the shudderer, its mottled flesh and gaping mouth filling his vision. It shrieked in the cultist’s face, blasting him with a gust of rancid breath. The human struggled in the beast’s grasp even as it tightened, cracking ribs and forcing the air from him lungs. Golden flames gave some brief respite, but only for a few moments before the ribs snapped again. Sigmund knew what the beast wanted, and he would not oblige it.

“I’ll not make you whole, you wretched thing,” Sigmund grunted in rough elderspeak. “The gods don't want you, this reality doesn't want you. We’re going to send you back through the breach where you belong.”

The shudderer, evidently not liking what it was hearing, lifted Sigmund above its head and cocked its arm back, preparing to hurl him against the wall like rotten fruit at a man in the gallows. Fortunately for the cultist, the beast’s grip faltered as the toxins began to take effect, and he was simply dropped the the floor with a ‘thump’.

The priest clambered to his feet, finding himself struggling to breathe. For a moment, Sigmund thought that Ahana’s aura had, somehow, faltered and that the black alchemy would claim him. Within a moment, however, golden flames obscured his vision, restoring his broken nose before the shock even had time to wear off.

“Excellent work, everyone.” Victor said, grinning wickedly. The assassin broke into a round of applause as if he had just seen an excellent play, which it very well may have been the equivalent to in his head. The Dwemer lay prone on the ground, violent coughing fits wracking their bodies. Their skin was pale, save for their disturbingly visible veins, which were stained black. Victor approached a face-down elf, kicking him over and crouching in front of him.

“What do you think you’re doing? This city is full of Dwemer, you won't escape with your lives.” The elf said bitterly, attempting to muster up the energy to scowl.

“I'd like to see you try and stop us, knife-ear.” Victor said, his grin widening as he rose up to his full height and stomped on the lord’s throat. The assassin chuckled to himself as he ground his heel in, stamping out the last spark of life in the Dwemer. Sigmund paid little attention to the elves, instead focusing on the shudderer. The abomination rasped weakly as its already ruined flesh failed even further, resembling a particularly deformed beached whale.

“Vile fiend. Return from whence you came.” The priest cried, throwing a feeble kick at the beast’s flank. If the shudderer felt the blow, it didn't show it, but the cultist continued to rant and strike the abomination. Sigmund wanted to ignite the monster’s prone form, but was conscious that the gas might be flammable, so resisted the urge.

“Let me handle that, Siggy.” Ahana said, climbing onto the monster’s body and swinging b’Akphiyr into the approximate area of its throat. The demon blade happily plunged itself into the tainted flesh, cutting deep into the shudderer. The creature released a long, wailing deathrattle, it's body undergoing one last spasm as it fell apart. The abomination’s body shook violently, thwarting Ahana off as its body began to liquefy, it's tainted flesh losing its consistency for the last time. As it finally stilled, all that was left of the nightmarish beast was a puddle of purple-grey viscera at Sigmund and Ahana’s feet.

The palace was silent except for the coughing fits of the elves, which were slowly snuffed out one by one, mostly from the gas itself but occasionally from Victor indulging himself in a bit of brutality. As the final elf fell silent, the trio grinned at each other, satisfied in their work.

“Well done, you two.” Victor said, dusting off his hands. “Now, let's deal with this gas, shall we?”

Sigmund’s grin dropped a little as he knew what had to come next. The cultist nodded to Victor, retrieving the rotten meat and old bones that he had stored on his belt. The priest placed them on the floor and surrounded them in a circle of breach crystals. Victor and Ahana were peering over his shoulder, curious about the ritual, but Sigmund motioned for them to back up.

“Please, I require some space for this. I'd rather you not look too closely at what I'm about to do.” The priest said, looking a little paler than normal. The Neo New Babylonian opened his tome, flicking through the book until he came to the page he was looking for.

“Great Sy’gif, lord of blight, I present an offering to you.” Sigmund said, raising the meat above his head. The cultist took the meat in his hands and tore it into two, placing one half back into the crystal circle. “I offer you this banquet, touched by your hand. Furthermore, I offer myself to you as we partake in this blessing together.”

Sigmund hesitated for a moment before raising the meat to his mouth and struggling it down, hoping that Victor and Ahana weren’t watching too closely. As he forced the last of the meat into his mouth, the breach crystals began to glow. The meat and bones in the circle began to bubble and rot, melting into black liquid as reality tore apart beneath it, consuming the rancid offering.

“Send your spirit of blight upon me, so I may spare the deserving and taint the wicked.” Sigmund said after a long moment, managing to avoid dry-reaching as he incanted. A hum sounded from the rift at the cultist’s feet, the crystals dotted around it beginning to vibrate. A slim, four-fingered hand of mottle grey flesh reached from the void, grasping around. Unsure of what else to do, Sigmund grabbed the hand and hauled the creature out of the breach, the portal closing behind it.

The wraith jittered nervously as it took in its physical form, hunching over as it chattered it's broken teeth and ran its hand over its head. Its nails gouged shallow scratches into the blighted flesh, only to be healed over by golden embers.

“Hello friend.” Sigmund said in elderspeak, causing the wraith to glance over at him.

“Hello. Summoner?” The creature rasped back, tapping its nail against the floor as it did so.

“Yes. And these are friends, Victor and Ahana.”

“Friends, yes.” The Wraith murmured as it was made aware of the extra sets of eyes upon it. The pairs stared at it curiously, obviously unsure of what it was saying.

“Could you drain the gas here?” Sigmund requested, smiling at the creature.

“Consume toxins, yes.” The abomination replied, the vents on its back opening wide, making a quiet breathing sound as the gas began to drain from the room. After a few moments, it was almost impossible to tell that room had once contained an illegal chemical weapon.

“Nice work, Siggy.” Victor said, moving to approach the Wraith, who scampered away from the assassin on all fours, gas leaking lightly from its vents.

“It's very nervous, just give it some time to make a gas cloud to hide in.” Sigmund said calmly. “And you two, let's pretend that that ritual never happened, okay?”

The pair nodded, although Sigmund could have sworn that he heard Ahana mumble “No promises” under her breath.”

1810 words
1867/1867 Crawl words
5000/5000 WQ words

 

[Ahana Varma]

Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Bonus Post!
In order to complete the “Flee the Scene of a Crime” requirement, I’m adding an additional post here.

“Alright, that should be enough to keep the truth from any casual observer,” mused the emperor of Neo New Babylon, stroking his chin thoughtfully, “we might be best to burn the bodies as well, though; if we just leave them lying and anyone thinks to test them for poisons, we’d be found out immediately.”

“Good thinking, O’ Wise Emperor, but if their bodies are still full of poison, won’t we just end up poisoning this place all over again?” the bunnygirl enquired.

“I suppose so… hmm, Siggy, how long can your new… ally hang around? Can it last as long as long as the Thresher? If not, we might have a bit of a problem.”

Sigmund grinned broadly, bouncing on the balls of his feet in his eagerness to share something with his co-conspirators, “Actually, you're underestimating the Blight Wraith; it doesn't just absorb poison from the atmosphere, but from absolutely everything within range, so the corpses here have also been cleansed. Though, I suppose people might still deduce that they've been poisoned if the symptoms of the toxin are very obvious, like their lungs rupturing and filling with blood, for example... so we might be just as well burning them anyway. In answer to your question, though; the Wraith has no time limit at all. The somewhat demanding nature of the ritual I used this time allowed me to call upon a more powerful servant of the gods; unlike Threshers, Blight Wraiths are able to remain on this plane indefinitely.”

The assassin whistled softly, “Very impressive. Well, I had intended for us to leave that 'Blight Wraith' of yours behind in this room, to clean the smoke as everything burned... but I suppose that part of the plan won't be necessary. So, what we'll do is gather up all the bodies, as well as anything else flammable that’s around here, and place them around the…”

He gestured towards the monster’s corpse, and the high priest supplied the word he was looking for, “Shudderer.”

Victor nodded to him and continued, “The Shudderer, which Siggy then sets on fire. We rush out of here, and warn people that it self-destructed when it became clear that it couldn’t win, in some sort of last-ditch attempt at taking us out.”

Ahana noticed Sigmund’s concerned expression, and apparently their leader had as well, given that he immediately sought to reassure the other man, “Don’t worry, Siggy, none of our soldiers or these knife-ears will know a thing about eldritch horrors, so it’s not like we’ll be caught out, even if that isn’t something Shudderers can actually do.”

“I… suppose not.” the high priest said, nodding slowly.

“Yeah. Anyway, we say that it’s self-destruction caused everything to catch fire, and so we figured it’d be best to flee the castle for the time being. It should come across as believable enough, since even with Ahana’s aura, I imagine burning alive probably isn’t too fun.”

“Uh-huh, I can confirm that you’re right enough on that count.” the bunnygirl commented drily, giving their high priest a look of mock annoyance as she recalled her punishment for indecent behaviour. Sigmund chuckled, clearly being able to tell that she didn’t really have any hard feelings about the incident.

“Exactly,” Victor said with a grin, “and I suppose the Blight Wraith can just find somewhere cool to lay low while everything burns up, then we can come back for it later... or it can sneak out on its own at some point, whichever you'd prefer.”

Smiling brightly, the scholarly man was nodding enthusiastically, “Yes, that should work.”

“Alright, let’s get started, then.” the emperor told his subordinates, and the trio began hauling around corpses, and any remotely flammable furnishings that they could find. The palace itself was built of stone, so there shouldn’t be much, if any, lasting damage to the actual structure, but it was well-stocked in expensive decor, and the indoor garden should burn pretty well too.

Once the fire was set, and they were confident that it was burning well, they ran from the blaze, as if the flames were hot on their heels and hesitating could be their downfall (or, at least, as if they were concerned about the fire damaging their clothes).

By the time they’d sprinted down the long path from the building’s entrance to the gates of the inner wall which separated the castle from the lower city, Sigmund was panting heavily. Ahana wasn’t as bad, having had a lot more experience with physical exertion than the scholar. Victor Wolfe, of course, being the agile and athletic assassin that he was, hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Your Imperial Majesty,” Sapphiro said, falling to one knee and bowing his head respectfully, an action which was immediately also performed by Beryl and the score of other soldiers guarding the gates, “I am glad to see that General Varma was able to find you and High Priest Vrell in good health.”

The bunnygirl’s eyes had narrowed, though, and before Victor could formulate a response, she spoke up, “Wait, didn’t there used to be more of you?”

She was pointing at her troops as she spoke. Half of them appeared to have vanished. Her lieutenants looked up at her, then Beryl briefly glanced across at the emperor—looking thoroughly embarrassed by her boss' interruption—before replying, “Yes, General, I ordered my squad to spread out along the perimeter of this wall which encircles the palace, to check for other entrances and prevent anyone from attempting to sneak in by scaling the walls.”

“Oooh, good thinking. Alright, carry on.”

Beryl sighed softly, and shot an apologetic look at Victor, who smiled back, “I appreciate the kneeling, but you can all rise now, and listen closely to what I’m about to say, as we’ll need your help in spreading word of this to all the citizens…”

After that, the assassin regaled them all with the full and ‘accurate’ tale which they were to pass on; the story of how he’d come here to pay his respects and make a peace offering to the lords, only to be caught in a battle for his life after an evil abomination which Sigmund had been trying to banish had cut the priest off from his followers and chased him all the way here.

Alas, all the high profile dwemer were quickly slain, for it was all that the emperor and high priest could do to survive themselves; protecting others was simply not possible in such a dire situation as theirs. Even when the courageous and noble city guards had shown up to rescue their leaders, and had bravely (if somewhat foolishly) charged the beast, they had been cut down in no time, the red-eyed man lamented.

He then covered the part which the trio had discussed previously: Ahana showing up, them fighting the thing, it exploding, and them running the fuck outta there.

Also, he proclaimed that as head of state for the Neo New Babylonian Empire, he had graciously decided that as this city no longer had much military strength of its own, he would welcome it into the fold, and thus its civilian population would be kept safe from the horrors which lurked throughout these deep caves.

Those watching the perimeter were left in place, but the remainder of the general’s soldiers—lieutenants included—split up and began wandering the streets, acting the part of town criers as they loudly spread Victor's message, while the three leaders themselves stood outside the gates, keeping watch for anyone who would try to enter.

The bunnygirl wasn’t sure if her subordinates had understood the dangers of what they were doing now, but in any case, they hadn’t complained, so that was good enough for her. She was sure that there would be those who saw through Victor’s ruse, and were angry enough to strike back at their would-be oppressors. With her soldiers all having gone off individually—and therefore being exceedingly vulnerable to ambushes—she fully expected that at least a few of them wouldn’t be coming back.

She wasn’t overly concerned, though. If need be, she was pretty confident that between them, she, Sigmund and Victor could kill every other living thing in this city.

Being functionally immortal was a pretty major advantage in combat.

This should fulfil the requirement. Murder, arson and tampering with evidence are all crimes, and the group ran away from the area where those things occurred.

Post Word Count: 1,381
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Post Count: 4/3
Crawl #0004 Quest #5 Word Count: 12,139/1,867 (10,758 + 1,381)

 

[Conrad Jamboy]

The rider cracked his whip with an urgency wrought of terror, driving her mount on at a feverish pace. With a low growl, the lava lizard skirted a fumarole on the volcano's lower slopes, its claws finding steady purchase on the uneven terrain. The rider pulled the damp rag tighter over her nose and mouth as a cloud of sulfurous gas swept over her, stinging her eyes and irritating her fair skin. Then she was airborne as her mount leaped high to clear the defensive barricade encircling the mining encampment, grim-faced men and women scattering with shouts of protest.

Brandishing whirring rock drills and shields, the miners scrambled to take a defensive posture. They swiftly encircled rider and mount, the lava lizard rearing up on its hind legs and releasing a plume of fire and smoke from its gaping maw. Inured by frequent raids to battle against the many denizens of the world of fire and ice, the hardened miners did not retreat. Instead they pushed forward, tightening their circle to further impede the creatures mobility.

"Heel!" The rider's commanding voice echoed through the encampment. Smoke still unfurling from its nostrils, the lizard settled back onto four legs, its rocky head sweeping back and forth to take in the crowd of miners. From a deep pocket, the rider produced a scroll and unrolled it. It bore the unmistakable crest of Neo-New Babylon. At once, the miners parted, casting their eyes to the ground with a chorus of murmured apologies.

Growling and snapping its jaws, the lava lizard launched again into a run, heading for the tunnel opening leading to the subterranean city. Neo-New Babylon and its brutal figureheads were new arrivals to this region of Inverxe, but they had quickly secured a stranglehold both on the elven city and the surrounding settlements, quashing dissension and monopolizing supply lines with frightening effect. Unwilling to invoke their wrath, the rider had forged a course straight toward the heart of the elven city as soon as she discovered the mysterious object at the heart of the volcano.

It would not do to obscure such information from her new masters.

*
​

Victor Wolfe lounged on a stone dais piled high with pillows and quilts. Popping another luurden into his mouth, he savored the subterranean fruit's bittersweet flavor. Their new home, deep below ground, was kind of a drag, but it had its charms—the fruits and wines produced from luurden fruit principal among them.

"Eh, my lord?"

The assassin's gaze fell over the obsequious little elf. "You're still here?"

An procession of subjects had filtered through the grand hall from dawn to dusk, offering tokens of favor for the opportunity to face their new overlords and make of them seemingly endless requests. While the veritable mountain of jewelry, fruits, and precious metals were not unwelcome to Victor, he had grown tired of their servility.

"My lord, I only hoped to—"

"Out!" Victor waved a hand dismissively and laid back again. The elf's footsteps receded and a merciful silence encompassed the chamber. The assassin breathed a sigh of relief and chewed on another luurden, savoring the quiet.

The doors crashing back open took the assassin by such surprise that he slipped over the back of the dais. He came up in a roll with fire in his eyes, spitting out the fruit and coming around the dais, weapons drawn.

"How dare you—"

The sight of the lava lizard, more than ten feet long and with the varicolored glow of lava rippling along its underbelly, stopped the assassin in his tracks. In one swift movement, the rider unclasped their leg buckles and swung their feet onto the floor, approaching without fear. When they drew back their cowl and the kerchief from across their face, revealing a thick mane of auburn hair and the fair, well-sculpted features of an unmistakably beautiful woman, Victor sucked in a sharp breath, a grin toying with the corners of his mouth.

The rider seemed not to notice the assassin's arousal, in plain view though it was. "My lord. The outriders discovered something in the mountains. I think you'll want to see it."

*

Bonus Quest — The Light in the Heart of the Mountain (optional, but say yes)

Word Count – 10,000 words (3,333 words per member)
Content – Deep in the volcanic heart of the mountain there exists a treasure never before seen by mortal eyes. Until now. Neo-New Babylon outriders have discovered a source of immense power while surveying the mountain–a power bearing the signature of the Arbiters themselves. The leaders of Neo-New Babylon must trek through the volcanic depths of the mountain, where dangerous creatures lurk around every corner, and locate the Relic.
Reward – ?????

 

[Victor Wolfe]

Curiosity spread across the assassins expression, he mused. "That is a most interesting report, but I do wonder why you did not merely bring whatever was so interesting to me instead of acting like an infant that spotted something new on the beach for the first time." The rider started to retort only for Victor to hush them as he simply shrugged. "Do not worry, knowing the competence of our average followers we would likely have an entire platoon killed, or summon some unspeakable evil from the depths of the underworld that would proceed to chase you lot back to murder us all if we left any job above basic, look and tell us what you see to you." Victor's voice dripped with sarcasm and venom, he was an emperor, and in his eyes had a list of jobs more important than this simple task longer than Sigmund's erection for celibacy.

As his eyes now showing a clear disinterest towards the scout scanned the palace he almost glared at just how, elven the entire building was, with many remnants of the former lords' culture still staining his vision. Victor felt that this would certainly not do for a man of his class and standing, what would any foreign guests think if they where invited to visit the mighty capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire, see the vast mineral wealth of their land and all of the people in a productive workers boom only to find that the leaders of this great state where nothing more than brutal feudal thugs who simply kicked out the real masterminds behind this civilisation?

Victor had been considering this problem for a while and it just so happened that this scout had given him a little excuse to start on his reconstruction plan. This plan would mostly focus on the larger and more noticeable buildings in the city, giving them a new look and style to help with the development of a culture. Victor knew that they had expanded fast, bringing together a melting pot of life experiences, cultures, races and history. Melting pots like this could if mismanaged by allowing one group to seem totally above all the rest could lead to civil strife, And Ahana could hardly be on the front lines expanding the empire and capturing new concubines for herself if she had to fight their own subjects in some misguided attempts at revolution every other week.

Sigmund's religion would do wonders to unite the people but knowing Elves and their habits of taking other peoples gods and twisting them into more worshipable elven versions, and human creativity tending to lead to the questioning of the religious rules and splitting into conflicting sects that fit their already established cultural identity Victor knew that religion alone would not be the answer to a truly united and strong Neo-New Babylon.

No, they had to seak the other opportunity that such a melting pot of cultures could allow, the development of a new uniting culture, thus Victor had already began to seek out anyone with artistic talent, musicians, great builders, and with some careful manipulation and encouragement was slowly convincing them to develop their own style, one that would hopefully lead to a new movement that would come to represent the Neo-New Babylonian style. Now it was time to put this plan into motion, after all despite the dire decor, Victor did enjoy lounging around the palace, as scantily clad servants sought to fulfil his every desire, much to the chagrin of his zealot of a comrade. And the last thing that the assassin wanted to hear when lounging with a drink in hand and girl in each arm was the loud banging of builders hard at work tearing apart and rebuilding this palace into something more presentable.

Thus, the assassin turned to the scout and announced.

"I want you to gather up all the architects that I have been talking with over the past few days, If I am going to be going on a little adventure then I may as well give them something to do so that we have something nice to return to with our glorious victory on another successful adventure, wonder if we will capture any more cities or villages around the way? Also, I would like for you to write down directions to whatever it was that you found, I think Sigmund, Ahana and I will be doing this little quest alone." The scout seemed confused by this.

"Wow, not sending in Ahana alone with some lower class warriors to pick up whatever is at the location, or just asking me to go back out and pick it up for you and do the job you pay me to do, its almost like you actually care about the health and wellbeing of your subordinates! Because when people think Emperor Wolfe they think caring overlord who would not risk his followers!" She smiled as this all to benevolent picture of the assassin-lord started to form in her mind causing Victor to almost choke on the wine he had picked up and started to finish before attempting to head out.

"Yes, that is totally it, I am just the nicest of guys, and I would not want a single hair on that head to even risk getting slightly singed out there in that rather dangerous volcanic surface. I mean, one of the xenos could... no, you have lava lizard, but a whompa could... nope not a chance. Ah, that must be it then, It's not that I fear ineptitude might make this much more costly than it would ever have any right to be, but its that I Victor Wolfe and just far too much of a bleeding heart to even put my most well-equipped scouts in slight harm." He sighed, only to be irked even more when the scout replied back in a pleased tone.

"Aww, you do care" Victor could not tell if she was doing this on purpose or not, but before he could snap back at her she pulled out a small device, modelled after the dataverse device and working on the same network it would allow citizens to be informed of important governmental news quicker than ever before. Or post pictures of their lunches, or upload their art of Victor and Sigmund in either violent or lewd situations, sometimes both, although given the friendship and exchanging of wits Victor could somewhat understand the fantasies spread by impressionable young women when seeing the two young bachelors interact. The Victor Nisse drawings, however, he had no clue, they had almost never interacted in public but since the guy was usually around Ahana it would seem that he had built up somewhat of a cult following amongst societal rejects and other entitled weaklings.

"May I get a picture with you? It is not every day a girl gets to meet the emperor!" The scout proclaimed as Victor sighed.

"Of course" The assassin took a hold of the device and snapped a selfie with the girl, his demeanour and expression changing almost instantly to a far more friendly and warm smile, his arm around her waist and the lava lizards head just off to the side as he sent the picture to himself and uploaded it to his social media wall.

"Got the chance to meet one of our brave and amazing scout core today, keep up the amazing work my comrades." quickly a flood of comments started to fill under the picture, mostly positive much to the satisfaction of the assassin, with a grin the scout put her helmet on and left to deliver the message to the master architects that called this city home. Victor had asked them to meet him at the bottom of the palace stairs within the hour, offering them a rather large payday if they were willing to partake in a large scale project. Victor rushed into his room and grabbed a stack of rolled up blue sheets from a desk and quickly rested a pen on his ear as he grinned, having a city so quickly was more than Victor could have wished for when he had first arrived on this desolate moon, but with some hard work, dedication, friends, and a bordering on war crime body count Victor was convinced that he could achieve any goal he set his mind to. And the city most certainly was his now, he felt that it was the time that this new empire made its first significant architectural mark on this universe, no longer would they have to settle for elven designs, other the huts of gem villagers, or even the rickety temporary shelters of the surface miners. Neo-New Babylon would have its own aesthetic. And it would be glorious.

Victor arrived at the bottom of the palace steps, being met by three separate architects, he recognised their faces as the three of them made up the leadership of the largest and thus most capable offices for handling such large undertakings, and luckily for the assassin it was exactly the number of teams that he had in mind for this first major project. Picking the middle of the three men Victor called him over and lay out what turned out to be a basic design document for how the castle should look, even suggesting what artists would be good to go to for the extra decorations. The design included a large and open throne room, with two central thrones on a step above what would be six extra seats on each side to allow for other high ranking officials to sit in on important court events. There was also an extra room, with the label hidden room. Victor quickly laid out what he had in mind to the elder ex-miner turned builder as the bearded man simply nodded or "hmm'd" in acknowledgement of the king's request. It was quite the undertaking and for the secret room, in particular, it required the installation of some rather unique security features, mostly a cloaking device much like the one on Victor's belt that would allow the entrance to remain hidden and for no sound to escape the room.

"So how long do we have Guv" the foreman asked as his eyes scanned the documents. It was an extreme ask that in his mind would likely take weeks or months, possibly years if acquiring some of the more interesting materials ended up proving rather tricky.

"Whenever I get back, so likely a few days at most" Victor said in a casual but serious tone as the foremen's face went pale. This was madness, a project of that scale even with the size of his team would be impossible on such a small time frame, sensing his worry the emperor patted him on the back.

"Oh do not worry, for I have a plan to make this even easier for you, you see the elves have been complaining that since our takeover we have not really done enough to get their workers into the workplace and that they just simply want the chance to work so that they can at least feed their families. And I agree, so as part of a new state initiative to create more jobs I will pay you forty percent of every elven worker's wages that you need, should take some of the strain off your accounts whilst the project is ongoing, now, of course, that does not mean you are allowed to just fire human workers and save on their wages. That will be monitored. But it should allow you to get all the cheap labour that you need to finish this project, we will even put down half of the total pay for the project as a down payment to keep the wages flowing." All three of the foremen nodded in agreement realising that with the number of elves looking for a chance to work would make the tight time frame a lot more manageable, Victor didn't, however, tell them that the minimum wage for an elf in the building trade would be pennies compared to that of a human, due to needing to be "trained". He would leave that as a nice little surprise for them to figure out on their own later,

With the palace reforming projects marching orders being given the assassin headed towards the former elven temple that Sigmund had claimed almost as soon as he set eyes on it. Victor wanted the palace was more than happy with this, especially knowing that what the eldrich priest would want to do with the temple would likely be considered as multiple forms of desecrating elven culture and religious laws, something that brought a rather intense and perverse pleasure to the assassin. At the bottom of the temple step, he saw the high priest surrounded by his adoring followers, the subtle hints of jealousy in Amy's eyes flaring up whenever one of the more daring cultists would lean in to make contact with him making the assassin giggle. His laughter attracted the attention of the fangirls as Amys jealous half glares turned to an annoyed stare, moving closer to Sigmund as if to protect him from the big bad Wolfe the other girls made space for the emperor. Victor waved, no desire for overly dramatic formalities with his friend and comrade in arms Sigmund also waved wondering just what Victor had brought two strange men to the temple for.

Giving a wave to Amy only for her to turn her nose up at him Victor decided to mess with the muscle-bound zealot.

"Oh I am sorry Amy, I assume that you are so angry because you heard that I proclaimed to Sigmund that I would not pork you even whilst wearing a pig mask" many of the other followers eyes darted between the two as Victor stared down the much larger women, who seemed to have to force back the hint of tears, apparently not enjoying having her appearance and sexual appeal mocked so viciously by the head of state in front of the man she sought after. Sigmund sensing the tension decided to step in.

"Well, that was rather rude Vic, was there something that you needed me for?" He questioned walking away from his followers before Amy could explode in rage and do something that she would likely end up regretting.

"Two things Sigmund my boy! First, we are going on an adventure, scouts say they found something very interesting in the volcanic caves and were too cowardly to actually attempt to bring whatever it is back. So the old band is getting back together to find out what this is, knowing this moon it could be something amazing, or it could be a trap that kills us, well, you all. I guess that's the fun part, every mission here is like a jack in the box of the weird and wonderful." Sigmund seemed excited at the prospect of stretching his legs, whilst he was loving spreading his faith to an even larger audience than before the chance to explore this world of madness, ice and volcanoes was intriguing to him, and he knew that Amy would be able to carry on his work whilst he was gone.

"The second is that as one of my first major acts as emperor I am investing in the redesign of this city, I want it to feel more, us." Victor signalled for one of the two remaining foremen to step forward. As he did so Victor laid out a sheet with the current layout of the pyramid drawn on it and removed the pen from his ear. He signalled for Sigmund to start listing ideas and as he did so the foremen drew what he thought would be the structurally safest way to achieve the young priest's vision for his equivalent to the Sistine Chapel

"Could we have the little building at the top be converted to the entrance, leading to some stairs that lead down into a few different floors. Oh! And can we have some large cages constructed on one of the floors? And we need a dorm room there for new recruits, and maybe one there for adepts that want to live in the temple after they complete their training. Oh, and can the very bottom floor have a small secluded room for my own use?" As Sigmund gave orders the construction project took shape, eventually coming up with what was likely close to a dream temple for any cult looking to show off their affluence to the rest of the world. Sigmund thanked the foremen before he left to go and gather his team to start on the construction work as the assassin and high priest made small talk as they went to meet up with their other comrade.

What was once a rather large pottery and metal workshop had now been converted to a barracks allowing the Neo-New Babylonian troops to repair their equipment and when they had the time attempt to forge new armour and weapons from the plentiful celestial gold and stygian silver available in this part of the cavern. Victor didn't even bother asking Ahana what ideas she had for the design of her dream living quarters as he was sure that with Sigmund around it would likely lead to her face being melted once again. Instead, Victor had already prepared a document and handed it to the last of the three foremen and pointing out the building for renovations. They met up with the rabbit-eared general who was using Nisses back as a seat whilst pretending to observe her troops' training, Victor was pretty sure she was in fact just napping with her eyes open, using the motions of the push-ups to rock her to sleep.

"Yo, Ahana, grab your clothes, and your sword, we are going to finish a job some lazy scouts couldn't do properly." Ahana snapped to attention as the all to familiar sound of Victor asking her to do some work filled her ears.

"Why do I have to go? Either of you could do a scouting mission on your own and be fine, I believe in you two, go team!" Ahana said as she seemed to want to drift off again assuming that the conversation was over.

"Well you are the one in charge of our scouts, and they didn't do the job right. Besides you won't be able to sleep here much longer anyway, the place is getting renovated." Victor pulled the rabbit girl off her boy toys back and away from Sigmund "and I even threw in some extra perks for you in the design, like self-cleaning floors for the gore of training and a special secret basement level that Siggy wont know about, a training room that will be filled with many "special" training tools" Victor giggled.

"So get your stuff, we have a scouting mission to finish, and then we can all come back heroes once again and enjoy the fruits of our labour in our brand spanking new homes!" Ahana sighed as she nodded in agreement, after all there was always the chance she would get to test out her blade on some of the wildlife that had a habit of attempting to eat or otherwise murder humans on the surface, and after the last few days of training and having to live in a more "civilised society" she felt like a little adventure may be fun.

Thus the three rulers of Neo-New Babylon set out on their quest to discover what had gotten the scout crew so excited about these volcanic caves, would this be another harrowing adventure with many twists and turns, that would lead them to discover the power of friendship and one of them achieving a long lost alien legend that would allow them to achieve a fifty times power boost to defeat an evil space overlord that destroyed one of their real home planet in their long-forgotten past? Probably not, This was a scouting mission and the only Super Rabbit in the city was the one Ahana kept in a drawer.

Word count 3390/3333

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund had finally started to feel like his life was returning to a modicum of normalcy as he stepped into the now empty temple. The heathen relics that had been contained within not even an hour before had been disposed of, leaving a hollow pyramid for Sigmund to shape to his will. The cultist was the only person inside, the Blight Wraith being the only one he was allowing inside at the moment.

“This is the beginning of a bright new future, dedicated to the old ones.” Sigmund mused to the creature.

“Yes yes, praise elders.” The Wraith rasped, rapping its nails on the floor and casting a puff of gas from its vents. “Summoner, I hunger.”

“Hmm? Oh, I apologise, you've not eaten since your summoning, have you?” The priest said apologetically. While the Wraith didn't need to eat, it's nature as a child of the Blight God compelled it to consume rotten food and toxic substances. “Stay here, I'll go get something for you to eat.”

The Blight Wraith hissed an affirmative and slunk off into the shadows of the temple, presumably looking to designate a spot as its territory. Sigmund exited the pyramid, finding a hoard of devout followers outside, clamouring for their high priest. The cultist waved them off, telling them that he had an important job. The crowd relented, allowing him to pass and enter the village. Sigmund found his way to the same butcher he had bought the meat to summon the Wraith with, pushing away bad memories as he purchased some more rotten meat, stuffing it into a pouch on his belt.

When he found his way back, the congregation had only grown, desperate to talk to their high priest and listen to his teachings. The cultist decided that he would give the crowd a quick address as he rose up the step, turning to face them. Before he could begin, however, Victor was coming up the temple steps, motioning to Sigmund, just moments before insulting Amy who the high priest had just realised was there.

While the cultist didn't approve of Victor’s crude insults, Amethyst’s reaction wasn't much better. While she was certainly devoted, Amy wasn't the ideal priestess that Sigmund had hoped that she would turn out to be. She lacked the self-control and resolve that a servant of Gal’skap needed to possess. Her muscular physique wasn't helping Sigmund’s mental image for her, either. In the crowd of overly enthusiastic, muscle-bound women, the cultist found himself wishing for the company of the more slender men, reminded of the lithe forms common among mindbreakers.

“An adventure, how exciting.” Sigmund said, clapping his hands together once after giving his instructions to the foreman. He silently thanked the assassin for allowing him to get away from the temple. There would have to be some adjustments to the order of things when he returned. The cultists would need to learn restraint if they were to succeed in this religion. As the Neo New Babylonian rulers made their way to Ahana, Sigmund quickly averted his eyes, trying to preserve a little of her decency, even if she wouldn't.

As Victor discussed construction with Ahana, Sigmund realised with a start that he had forgotten about the Wraith and decided that it could be helpful in their adventure. The cultist reached out through the void, brushing against his summon’s mind with his own.

“There is work to be done, friend. Come meet me outside the city.”

The wraith could not respond, not having telepathy of its own, but Sigmund was sure that it would follow the orders, even if it may not want to. With everything sorted, the trio made their way through the city, discussing their travel plans.

“We’re going to the heart of the volcano? Then we shall need mounts, no?” Sigmund suggested, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “Like some of those lava lizards that the outriders ride, maybe?”

“We won't need mounts, Siggy.” Victor said, waving off the suggestion. “We won't need anything, really, other than ourselves. Ahana’s aura can basically replace anything that we would need to bring.”

The bunnygirl gave a smug grin while Sigmund sulked slightly. He had desperately wanted to study one of the lava lizards, fascinated by their mix of biological and geological features. The rulers arrived at the outskirts of the city, guided by Victor’s directions that he had gotten from the scout. Right outside the walls was what appeared to be a cloud of noxious green gas emerging from the ground.

“Ah, there you are.” Sigmund called in elderspeak, retrieving the rotten meat from his belt. “Here’s your food.”

As the cultist tossed the rancid meat into the cloud, Victor and Ahana gave him a strange look. Their expressions turned from confusion to slight disgust as a gnawing sound came from the gas, which slowly faded, revealing the wraith as it messily stuffed the vile flesh into its maw.

“Ah, so you're bringing the wraith.” Victor noted, receiving an enthusiastic nod from the high priest. “Sure, why not.”

“Thank you, summoner.” The Blight Wraith grunted as it shovelled meat into its mouth. “Many humans around. Have to hide.”

“As long as no one was hurt.”

“No no, they move aside fast. No pain.”

“Alright, are we ready to move? I want to get this done quickly.” Victor said, clapping his hands together, drawing Sigmund’s attention.

“Oh, certainly.” The cultist said, grinning enthusiastically. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“Something of great power, apparently.” Victor said, sounding significantly less impressed than the most would at the prospect of ‘great power’.

“Sounds interesting.” The cultist said, although he wasn't especially convincing.

“Did the scout give you any more details than ‘great power’?” Ahana asked, not sounding very impressed, a testament that Sigmund found himself agreeing with. Their emperor simply shrugged and shook his head, receiving a sigh from his allies.

“Well, let's get there quick and find out, eh?” The priest suggested, forcing a smile and returning Victor’s shrug. As the trio moved out, Sigmund shouted to the Blight Wraith. The abomination, having finished its meal, dashed after its summoner, desperate not to be left alone somewhere that more people could come and gawk at it.

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[Ahana Varma]

Victor and Sigmund had shown up to drag her along on their latest escapade, and though she was initially a little reluctant, as she’d been drifting off to sleep when they arrived, she didn’t really put up much resistance. After all, the whole reason she’d joined them in the first place was because she figured watching the assassin’s schemes come to fruition—and helping out along the way—would prove entertaining.

And this little quest to recover some random thing her scouts had been too scared to touch could prove quite enjoyable, should there be any opposing forces involved. So as soon as she was done letting the emperor convince her, she called over her two lieutenants and her newly hired warrant officer; a white-bearded old dwemer who’d been brought on board at the insistence of Beryl and Sapphiro, who for some weird reason wanted their troops to actually learn to fight properly, rather than relying solely on being semi-immortal to win fights.

The lieutenants both looked her in the eyes as she spoke to them, though they wore near-identical, exasperated expressions. They weren’t the sort to ogle her body when they thought she wasn’t looking, but that may have been simply because neither of them were into chicks. In any case, they’d both made it clear that they didn't approve of her showing up to their training sessions naked, as she was distracting many of the soldiers. She found this somewhat funny, considering they—and the majority of their army’s troops—were themselves dressed in what the dwemer and miners amongst their forces would consider to be essentially just underwear.

On the other hand, the warrant officer—whose name was Reinhardt Margrave—didn’t seem at all phased by her nudity. He behaved around her no differently when she was like this than when she wore her sari. Ahana wasn’t sure whether to be impressed with him for being so open-minded, or disappointed in him for being so boring. Still, boring or not, the old dude certainly knew how to fight and strategise, so he was a valuable asset in training their soldiers.

Not that the bunnygirl herself really cared all that much about this, having only hired him (and any other dwemer who’d wanted to join) to please Beryl and Sapphiro, who hadn't been too happy with her after a bunch of their soldiers had been killed when they were sent off in groups of one to inform the elves that their city now belonged to Neo New Babylon, following the massacre of its leaders.

She told her three officers that she had to head out, and had no idea how long this trip would last, so they should prepare to be running training sessions which didn’t require her aura for a while. She didn’t think they’d have much trouble, for the cousins had been pressing Reinhardt to teach them all he knew about combat and tactics, so by this point they were surely skilled enough to at least aid him in running the others through drills, or something.

In fact, it appeared that the most pressing concern which Sapphiro and Beryl had was that she may be planning on going out in public (un)dressed as she was, which gave her a good laugh. They may have been willing to put up with her wearing nothing when the only ones around were fellow soldiers, but apparently believed that it would bring shame on the entire military for her to be seen that way in public. As tempted as she was to do exactly that, just to mess with them, now likely wasn’t the time, so instead she reassured the pair that Victor had already told her to get dressed before they left.

The final thing she did before heading off to do that was to make Warrant Officer Margrave promise to continue forcing as much training as possible onto Nisse, no matter how vehemently he objected. She knew that Sigmund and Victor still held low opinions of her pet, and so she had yet to give him an official rank in her army, despite the level to which he had already improved; by this point he was able to manage scores of push-ups, even with her full weight on his back. She wouldn’t be satisfied with his progress until he could at least rival, if not overcome, their own pawns.

Once she’d gotten ready, the Mad God’s trio headed out of the city, where they met up with the high priest’s Blight Wraith, and the assassin gave them a little more information on what it was they were looking for, describing it as ‘something of great power’.

That wasn’t exactly much to go on, but the healer assumed that this was one of those ‘you’ll know it when you see it’ situations. Still, the notion of great power had become rather laughable to her of late. She had always considered herself amazing, but with her aura having grown in strength so much, that belief had reached a whole new level. She simply couldn’t imagine any object of power really being so great that it could even compare to the awe-inspiring might of her Divine Conflagration.

Still, a little magic item might be worth something to her allies, and if such a thing should in some way allow them to expand their empire faster across Inverxe, then it was likely worth seeking out.

So they headed off, into the tunnels.

The dwemer city was beneath a volcano, nestled in amongst its magma channels, while the crystal cavern was off toward one side of the mountain, though still close enough to the magma and deep enough in the ground for the savages in the village there to be comfortably warm, despite wearing little more than their skimpy loincloths. And directly above that, outside the wide, vertical shaft which the Rock Raiders had drilled down through the volcano, was the shabby, miners’ settlement.

The passages they followed now did not lead to either of those places, though. This was a path the three had yet to tread. They headed up, through smooth tunnels formed from lava in ages past, lined with obsidian in many places. The passageways curved a lot, and occasionally split off at junctions. There was a clear pattern to which tunnels they were taking, though; they closed in on the central shaft of the volcano with every passing hour.

The trio rested fairly frequently, for their most holy of comrades lacked the stamina that the emperor and his general possessed. This was probably fine, though. Ahana knew little about the construction industry, but even she could tell that Victor had given the city’s architects and builders an absurdly difficult task. Such an ambitious project likely would have been possible with the aid of numerous powerful archmages, such as that envoy elf who'd been sent to the tribe's village at one point, or the rest of his companions in the city’s upper class. Alas, they had all been tragically slain by an evil monster (and totally not a gas attack), and so could not offer their aid. With little in the way of magical support, the bunnygirl wasn’t sure it was possible, let alone plausible, for the assassin's project to be completed so rapidly.

So it was no problem if their trip took a little longer than intended.

Even if it was kinda boring just walking about a lot and listening to Sigmund mutter occasionally about how they should’ve just brought some lava lizards to ride.

It didn’t help that they hadn’t bothered bringing any supplies with them. Days passed. Probably. They were underground, and without other people around with set sleeping schedules, it was actually pretty much impossible to tell what time it was outside.

Based on how hungry she was getting, however, the bunnygirl felt it was safe to say that they had been walking for more than just a day or two. Eventually, when they came upon a chamber with a small river of lava running through its centre, she decided it was time for a meal. She’d held off this long because raw meat wasn’t all that nice.

Now, however, she had come across a means of cooking. And so, she promptly lopped off one of her arms at the elbow.

Actually, scratch that. It wasn’t ‘prompt’ at all, and was more of a hacking, sawing job than ‘lopping’. Her power had grown a lot, and sadly, no matter how vicious he may be, the simple fact of the matter was that b’Akphiyr had not grown alongside her. Whilst once her demon blade could have easily maimed her, now she found that doing such a thing was a time-consuming struggle for him. As sad as it was, she couldn’t help but think that she might be starting to outgrow her weapon.

“What the...” Victor paused after getting out only a couple words, then started over, “Care to explain why you just maimed yourself?”

Ahana, who had crouched down in front of a conveniently-sized rock, which she’d used as a chopping board when cutting off her limb, turned back to look at the red-eyed man behind her. Her breathing was heavier than normal, her heart rate accelerated, and her eyes a little too wide; as accustomed to pain as she was, the bunnygirl did still feel it, and having to saw off an arm had not been fun.

That was in the past, though. It took her severed forearm only a couple seconds to regenerate fully, under a sheet of gilded fire. She wiggled her fingers at the emperor, as if she’d just performed a magic trick. He did not seem overly impressed, and just continued staring at her.

“Heh,” she laughed, and picked up her former left arm, which was now just a piece of meat, “Isn’t it obvious?”

Standing, she walked across to the lava flow and dipped the end of the severed limb into the liquid rock. She held it there for a few seconds, making sure it caught fire properly, before dropping it on the stone floor, plopping down beside it, and leaving it for a minute or so, grinning as she breathed in deeply, appreciating the lovely aroma of burning human flesh.

Once she judged that enough time had elapsed, the healer patted out the fire with her bare hands, ignoring the burns she got in the process, as they healed almost too quickly for her to notice them in the first place. She then brushed off the worst of the charred, black bits, and proudly held up the product of her efforts.

“I’m making lunch.” she said, smirking at her allies, then dug in, tearing off a chunk of meat with her teeth. It went from horribly burnt on the outside to red raw on the inside, with scarcely any properly cooked flesh in-between. She’d pretty much expected that, to be honest.

Thankfully, after (probably) a few days of starvation, the smell of it cooking had been enough to get her salivating to the point that she'd almost been drooling, and at the moment she wasn’t exactly feeling like a connoisseur of fine dining. She sat and ate for a few minutes, the others watching in silence while she made a mess of herself, getting blood from the uncooked meat all over her face and clothes.

Then she held out the half-finished limb, licking her lips and grinning at them, “Want some?”

“Sure, wouldn’t be the first time.” the assassin said, casually reaching out to take it. She was almost too surprised to react; she’d been expecting her companions would have some sort of moral quandary about eating human flesh, or at the very least, be too squeamish to eat something which had clearly been badly over- and undercooked. It would seem that she’d underestimated Victor, however.

While it was a pleasant surprise, that didn’t keep her from snatching back her arm before he could take it, then grinning smugly at the childish prank she’d just pulled, “Heh. Sorry, but this one’s mine. If you wanna try some, feel free to cut off your own arm.”

“Oh? What’s that? You won’t share your food with me, even though I’m your emperor? Not even if I command it?” the blond's eyes narrowed slightly, but at the same time he raised an eyebrow. His tone held a hint of mirth, and a small smile played about his lips.

The bunnygirl’s response to his questions was laughter. He might have astonished her once, but she still doubted he'd be desperate enough to maim himself to eat. She was going to enjoy taking her time with her meals, savouring his immense jealousy as he looked on, helpless to feed himself.

Then, before she could even notice him move, he'd barrelled into her, knocking the healer onto her back. She wasn’t winded, for of course the fires of her Divine Conflagration protected her from such a minimal impact, yet still she was too slow to react, and before she could do more than give an exclamation of surprise, the assassin was sitting on her abdomen, his left arm holding down her right, to keep her from swinging her demonblade.

Quick as a flash, he drew one of his knives and plunged the blade into her arm, just below the shoulder. Not having been anticipated the pain, the general couldn’t help but let out a short, sharp gasp, as the dagger broke bone as easily as she might snap a twig. Even the stone floor of the miniature cavern was split by the force of his strike, the crack loud in her four ears.

Before it could even begin to heal, the assassin had severed the last thin threads of flesh that held on her arm, and raised the detached limb above his head, holding it away so that her Conflagration would simply grow another, rather than trying to reattach it. Blood spurted from her grievous wound for only a moment before her golden flames expanded outwards, taking on the shape of her missing arm. And then those flickered out, leaving her whole once more, by which point the emperor had gotten up off her. He was now holding her lost limb in the lava, as she had done previously, to set it alight.

“What the fuck, Victor!?” she spat, glaring daggers at him. So pissed off that she actually used his full first name. Tossing the now-burning limb down by his feet, the assassin faced her once again. And it was now his turn to look smug.

“Come on, you were totally asking for it. Besides, you shouldn’t disobey your emperor.” despite his actions, his voice still held a joking, lighthearted tone. He didn’t remotely appreciate the severity of what he’d just done.

Though, in fairness, Ahana herself would have considered this turn of events pretty hilarious if the person being chopped up against their will was anyone other than herself, so that wasn’t overly surprising, she supposed. Still, she was fuming at the guy. It was almost like he didn’t realise how blessed he was to have her on his side. He should be on his knees, praising her and kissing her feet, not talking down to her as if he was in some way superior.

She knew that she could beat him in a fight to the death, should they go at it for real. That much was obvious, of course, since her victory would always be only a matter of time, no matter who her opponent should be. Still, it was now all too clear to her that in the short term, Victor Wolfe could cut her to ribbons with impunity. It was infuriating. Baring her teeth, she simply snarled at him, unable to come up with a more appropriate response. The emperor of Neo New Babylon chuckled.

Then, he kicked the burning limb lightly, and it rolled over to stop before her, “Pat the fire out, would you?”

She blinked, momentarily too taken aback by the sheer audacity of his request to respond, then she managed a, “Huh?”

Victor grinned and shrugged, “I don’t want to burn my hands or my clothes, so I’d like you to do it for me, General. Of course, if you don’t want to, I can just knock you down again and use your sari to smother the flames, whether you like it or not.”

“Bastard.” she hissed, but got to work doing as instructed. She then brushed off the most charred bits, as she had with her own meal, and threw it directly at his head with as much force as she could muster. The red-eyed man simply chuckled again, effortlessly snatching it from the air.

The healer could only watch, glaring venomously, as he devoured her own flesh right before her eyes. She was not in the best of moods.

After a few bites, though, the emperor paused, and held out the limb to Sigmund, “Oh, sorry, Siggy, you must be hungry too. Want some?”

“Ah, no. I can’t engage in cannibalism. Religious reasons.” the high priest looked a tad uncomfortable. But then he smiled, and said jokingly, “I don’t suppose you have anything else on offer?”

“Hm?” the assassin said absently, tearing off another chunk of both over- and undercooked meat, and chewing it with no visible indication that he found it at all distasteful, “Okay, sure. How about a Ceasar salad?”

So saying, he held out his empty hand to the priest, palm upwards, and in a sudden flash of colour, a white plate topped with lettuce, croutons and cheese materialised there.

His companions simply stared, slack-jawed, for a few moments, before finally processing what had just happened. Sigmund spoke first, “Uh, Victor, how long have you-”

Only to be interrupted by the bunnygirl, who was feeling much less cordial, "What the actual fuck, Victor!?"

“What?” he asked, turning to face her, an inhumanly smug smirk plastered on his face.

“If you could do that shit all this time then why the hell did you not mention it before now?”

“You never asked.” he answered innocently.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?”

He laughed loudly, “I was planning on telling you both as soon as either of you complained that I hadn’t thought to bring any food or water with us for this trip, despite knowing in advance that we could easily be away for days. I was pleasantly surprised when you both held out so long without saying anything. I hadn’t exactly anticipated that you'd resort to self-mutilation, though.”

“Tch, you damn prick.” the general grumbled. It was kind of an asshole-ish thing to do, so not really something she appreciated happening to her, but as with the arm-stealing thing, she had to admit that if she’d been in on the joke, it probably would’ve seemed pretty funny, so she did calm down a bit after hearing his explanation.

Then, as Sigmund sighed and took the proffered salad, the assassin casually took another bite out of Ahana’s sundered limb, and it finally occurred to her that him taking it from her had been utterly unnecessary, “Wait, you bastard! If you knew you could make food like that, why the hell’d you cut off my fucking arm!?”

She was on her feet now, hands balled into fists, but the emperor didn’t appear intimidated in the slightest. He simply smirked and shrugged, “It was funny.”

"Asshole." the healer spat, contemplating tearing out his throat with her teeth. Victor laughed.

“Tell you what, if you agree to forgive me, I’ll give you this.” he held out his hand to her this time, once again calling matter into existence as if the power of creation was as natural to him as breathing.

“What is it?” she asked, eyeing the fancy glass he'd created, the dessert-looking substance within, and the metal spoon stuck into it.

“Sticky toffee sundae.” the assassin answered, “So, what do you say?”

“You think you can convince me to overlook you maiming me and eating my arm, which you’re still doing, right now, as we speak… just because you offer me some dumb treat? Are you stupid?” the healer’s tone was incredulous.

“And yet you didn’t hesitate to snatch it off me, did you?” Victor responded drily, watching her eat.

“So what? That doesn’t mean anything. I’m still not forgiving you. Ever.” Ahana said defensively, in between spoonfuls of ice cream and toffee.

“You know I can un-summon that food, right?”

“You’re forgiven.”

The emperor laughed, the high priest sighed again, and the general blushed a little, not meeting either of their gazes. She didn’t stop eating, though. This stuff was fucking delicious. By comparison, half-burnt, half-raw human flesh was totally gross.

… Though, thinking about it, comparing it to that might not be setting the bar very high.

“Well, that conversation was completely stupid, but are we all friends again?” Sigmund asked cheerfully, picking at his salad.

“Of course we are, Siggy. We were just fooling around, you know? It’s because we’re such close friends that we can have fun like this, you know?” the red-eyed man said brightly, “Right, Ahana?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” the bunnygirl said grumpily, then realised that being rude even to people whom she acknowledged as being her friends made her seem like a tsundere, and immediately backpedalled, “I mean, sure, woo, go team us!”

“Alright then, I'm glad to hear it. So, shall we continue on towards this object of power we’re seeking?” the eldritch scholar enquired. Before either of his fellow leaders could respond, though, a few garbled words in a language the healer didn’t know came from the Blight Wraith, which stood behind its master, just far away enough not to be exposing him to its gaseous shroud.

“Oh, and are you able to summon rotting meat, Victor? The Wraith is hungry too.” Sigmund added.

“Sure, no problem. Bon appetit.” the blond conjured up another porcelain plate, this one with a massive, rot-ridden and raw t-bone steak sat atop it, and tossed the whole thing into the cloud. There then came the sound shattering china, as the servant of Sy’gif immediately dropped the plate, followed by loud, slurping, tearing noises as it dug in, “And yeah, let’s head on. It surely can’t be that much further now.”

Post Word Count: 3,726
Crawl #0004 Bonus Quest Post Count: 1/?
Crawl #0004 Bonus Quest Word Count: 3,726/3,333 (0 + 3,726)

 

[Sigmund Vrell]

Sigmund yawned as the trio came to a stop by the lava stream. The cultist had expected them to be walking for a day at most, and they had been out for two or three days by his estimate.

“Gal’skap preserve me.” He groaned as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Surely we must be close.”

Sigmund was roused from his grumbling by Ahana violently severing her own arm and cooking it. As the bunnygirl proceeded to smugly ask Victor if he wanted some, the priest groaned silently. Cannibalism, just what the expedition needed. The cultist was praying silently that no spirits would possess the pair as the emperor pinned his general and took an arm for himself.

“They are fighting.” The Wraith observed. “Why?”

“For food. To assert dominance. Because they're stupid.” Sigmund muttered back, crossing his arms over his stomach just in time to suppress a rumble. The cultist hesitated a moment as he considered his options. He wasn't going to eat any human meat, of course, but what other option did he have?

‘I can probably last until the expedition is over. If the spirit is willing, the flesh will follow.’ The priest internally chanted to himself, right before Victor offered him a ‘Caesar salad.’ ‘Just because I can, doesn't mean I have to, I suppose.’

Sigmund took the salad gratefully before slowly eating a mouthful. His face twisted a little as he tried to decide whether he liked it or not. It was certainly different. After agonising over it for a long moment, the cultist took another bite. He stared wistfully into nothingness for a moment, wishing for some mindbreaker food, but resigned himself to what he had. After the humans and their eldritch servant had finished their food, they picked themselves up and continued their trek.

“I hope we get home soon.” Sigmund sighed. “Gods know what they're doing to my new temple. What if they start trying to reinstate their elven religion?”

Victor gasped, raising his hand to his chest in mock offence. “I'm wounded, Siggy. As if I would let their dirty knife-ear faith rear its dirty head in our territory.”

“That's good to hear.” Sigmund said, grinning at the assassin. The group was silent for a while as the tunnels began to narrow, every word sending echoes down through the mountain. After a while, however, the cultist decided to risk some words, regardless of what it might lure in.

“Say, what do you two think of Amy?”

“She's easy to tease.” Victor said, grinning and shrugging simultaneously.

“What's up, are you gonna propose to her?” Ahana asked with a smirk. “You should hear how she goes on about you, I'm sure she'd say yes.”

The cultist’s stomach sank a little, and he struggled to speak up for a moment.

“That was a joke, by the way. You're not actually…”

“Oh, heavens no.” Sigmund said, shaking his hands as if to wave away the very notion. “Quite the opposite, in a way. I had high hopes for Amy when I recruited her, she showed signs of being high priest material. But she has been… Disappointing.”

Ahana gave a low whistle. “Harsh. Are you gonna kick her out?”

“No, anyone who wishes to join the cult may. That said, I won't be putting as much time into her as I have been. There are no doubt some more capable cultists that would benefit from my time and effort.”

“Now hold on Siggy, let's not be too hasty.” Victor said, grinning wickedly at the cultist, the same look he always wore when he was about to say something nefarious. “It would be a waste to just throw away someone so loyal to you. Consider this; you continue to pay her just a little attention so that she keeps doing what you ask, desperate for the praise she'll never receive.”

“Are you asking me to lead her on?”

“I… Sorry, I didn't expect you to know what that meant. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.”

“I don't know.” Sigmund said, shifting around a little. “That seems wrong.”

“We didn't get where we are by doing the right thing.” The emperor said, smirking. The priest simply nodded, unable to deny that there was some sense to what Victor was saying. The trio continued their journey, silent for the most part, but occasionally breaking the silence with idle chit-chat. As they continued further into the mountain, Sigmund began to grow paranoid. He glanced from side to side, occasionally pausing to listen for something.

“Don't you think it's strange that nothing has attacked us?” The priest hissed, reluctant to raise his voice in case something attempted to ambush them as he spoke. Ahana simply shrugged.

“Nah. And so what, less work for us.” She said. Sigmund couldn't disagree, but he could shake the feeling that something was off. As the trio turned a corner and continued into the tunnels, a glint on the cave walls caught the scholar’s eye. Sigmund paused to turn and inspect it, peering at it closely. After a few moment, he determined that it was little more than a vein of mundane crystals.

“How disappointing.” He muttered. As he turned away from the crystals, he noticed something strange. Ahana’s ears were twitching towards him.

“Hey Siggy. Run.” She said calmly, drawing b’Akphiyr.

“Eh?” Sigmund asked, confused, right as the ground beneath him exploded and a colossal centipede removed his legs from his body. The cultist hit the ground, too surprised to understand what had just happened, even as his legs began to reform beneath him. Victor darted around Ahana, the tell-tale sound of a dagger being torn from its sheath ringing through the tunnels.

The centipede turned to face the assassin, moments before his blade tore straight through the massive arthropod’s body. The beast barely had time to shriek as it’s head hit the ground next to its victim. The priest had Ahana’s aura to save him from bisection. The centipede wasn't so lucky.

“Uh, thanks.” Sigmund croaked as he rose to a pair of shaky legs.

“Don't mention it.” Ahana said with a grin. “And don't mention it next time I sin in front of you, deal?”

The cultist, snapping out of his shock, sighed and gave a strained nod. He briefly turned to examine the centipede’s severed head, wishing that he had some time to study it. A rapping of knuckles against carapace revealed that the beast’s hide was tough, more than enough to turn the blows of any normal man. Unfortunately for the centipede, Victor was no normal man. It's antennae swayed gently in an intangible breeze, pointing past Sigmund and to his companions.

“Perhaps these can sense danger?” The priest mused to himself, pushing aside the slight indignation he felt at the beast not considering him a danger. Unsure of what else to do, the cultist reached forward and tore the appendages from the creature’s head, stuffing them in his belt for later. The Blight Wraith hopped upon the corpse, sniffing at it briefly as Sigmund stepped back.

“Not enough blight.” It decided after a long moment. “We stay here? Wait for father’s touch?”

“Sorry friend, we have to keep moving.” The summoner replied. He peered into the cloud of gas enveloping the creature for a moment, unsuccessfully attempting to catch a glimpse of it.

“Of course.” It said finally, and Sigmund jogged off to catch up with his human comrades. The Wraith wasn't far behind him, and the cultist was sure that he heard the sound of something large and hard being dragged across stone, but didn't care enough to scold the abomination so long as it could keep up. The priest was sure to keep close to his companions, beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic. To his relief, the tunnel soon began to open up, reducing the angles that another centipede, or something slightly more daring, could strike from.

The trio glanced around as they came out into a clearing. The cavern was nowhere near the size of those this village or city were built in, but was decently sized in its own right. A soft blue glow bathed the cavern, illuminating countless stones levitating above them and over a small lake. The glow seemed to shine out from the water, drawing Sigmund in like a moth to a flame.

“What do you make of this?” The priest asked as he cautiously approached the pond.

“I'd call this a good sign.” Victor said, his red eyes glowing faintly in the light. As Sigmund approached the water, the glow caught on something, pulling his attention. A thread of translucent material was suspended from the ceiling, drawing his gaze upwards to a strange, spider-like creature. It was over twice the size of a man, with countless eyes peering down from the cave roof. A pair of sickle-like claws grasped the string that projected from its mouth, like a perverse fisherman.

Not willing to risk another encounter with a giant arthropod, Sigmund simply motioned upwards and crept around it, approaching the water’s edge. His eyes widened as he peered in, finding himself staring at countless creatures resembling many-eyed tadpoles, each one glowing faintly from stripes across their backs. The cultist was mesmerised by the creatures, hastily weighing the consequences of snatching one for himself.

“Larval forms, maybe. Or perhaps a form of primitive livestock indicative of a basic society.” He mused to himself, the fingers of one hand poised over to pool and the others on his chin. His thought were interrupted, however, by a soul-piercing shriek, followed by a loud thump.

Sigmund spun around, finding himself staring at a bizarre scene. The Blight Wraith lay stunned, half-eaten centipede head still in hand, atop a corpse of one of the creatures. Ahana stood nearby, stifling laughter as the wraith regained its senses and began to hurriedly muster up a gas cloud.

“Not my fault, couldn't see.” It whined in the twisted tongue of the old gods, sounding slightly pathetic despite itself. Victor didn't join Ahana in her giggling, instead scanning around the room.

“Looks like we have to go up there.” The emperor said, motioning to the levitating rocks. They formed a makeshift path up to another cave mouth, from which a faint orange glow could be seen. Sigmund glanced back at the pool once more before turning back to join his allies. Ahana had recovered from her laughing fit and the wraith had righted itself, ready to continue through the cavern. After inspecting the rock to ensure that it wasn't being hung by one of the spider-beasts, Victor nodded to himself and gingerly climbed onto the rock. Though the rock was only big enough for the assassin to plant both feet on, it didn't so much as shift under his weight.

“Looks like it's safe.” The emperor said, nimbly hopping from stone to stone. Ahana followed next jumping from one makeshift platform to another. Sigmund refrained from making a rabbit joke as he scrambled up onto the first rock, clumsily following his allies. The Blight Wraith, apparently having finished it meal, followed closely behind, leaping to each rock as its summoner left it. Eventually, the whole party had reached the cave mouth. After taking a few steps, Sigmund guessed that, had it not been for the heat god’s mercy, he would be considering turning back.

A lake of magma lay before them, a thin bridge of obsidian at its centre. A wide cave lay at the other end, beckoning the group to cross. Victor grinned at his allies as if to say ‘this is it’ and took a step forward. The stone seemed stable enough beneath his feet, and his comrades soon joined him. The priest couldn't help but feel some amazement at Victor’s resolve as he crossed the bridge without Sigmund or Ahana’s protection from heat. The trio reached the other side of the lava lake without trouble, grinning at each other.

“No no!” The Wraith rasped. From the other side of the magma. “Varmnn here! Eat away father, no no!”

“Come on, friend, it's safe.” Sigmund called, attempting to coax the creature across.

“No no!”

The cultist sighed before reaching out through the ether, closing around the creature with his mind. The wraith helped as it was psionically hoisted into the air, carried across the bridge by Gal’skap’s grasp.

“There, that wasn't so bad, eh?” Sigmund said to the trembling abomination before turning back to his human allies. “So, shall we?”

2080 words
3117/3333 words

 

[Conrad Jamboy]

Encounter
​

As the companions moved to enter the next cave, a distant rumbling halted their progress. It soon grew to a roar, the ground beneath them lurching violently as dust and stone rained down on them from above. Sigmund cast a glance back over his shoulder to see the obsidian bridge split apart and crumble, the magma pool devouring it greedily. With no other apparent avenue of escape, the trio were now stranded on the far side with no choice but to move forward.

"A little dramatic, don't you think?" Victor muttered, drawing his daggers and twirling them idly.

Ahana smirked. "As if a pool of magma is going to stop us. Well, stop us," she finished, looking pointedly at Sigmund.

When Sigmund started to reply, his voice was drowned out by the deafening sound of rock being hewn apart. The trio watched in amazement as a chasm opened on either side of the cave entrance. Two gigantic, stone creatures—earth elementals standing more than twenty feet tall—emerged from the makeshift tunnels, moving to bar the trio's path.

The first elemental spoke, its voice the low rumble of cascading gravel. "Speak your names, trespassers."

"We are Ahana Varma, Victor Wolfe, and Sigmund Vrell, the leaders of New New Babylon, conquerors of Neo Nippur. We seek the source of power at the heart of the mountain," Victor said.

If the elemental was impressed by his proclamation, it didn't show on its unreadable visage. "You are not the first to seek the Heart," the second elemental rumbled. "Nor will you be the last." The huge creature proffered a stone slab, roughly two feet square and emitting a pale light.

Victor took the slab tentatively, turning it over in its hand. He recoiled instinctively when it flashed and grew hot in his grasp.

"Wimp," Ahana whispered, just loud enough for the assassin to hear.

"Decipher the code," the elementals said in unison. "Only by speaking the command word may you proceed."

The trio watched as foreign symbols appeared on the slab, seven in all.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

To proceed to the next stage, you must rightly guess the seven-letter command word to dismiss the elementals. Use the information at your disposal to make a single guess. If incorrect, you will face the consequences."

 

[Conrad Jamboy]

After some deliberation, Victor Wolfe stepped forward and raised the tablet above him with outstretched arms, speaking a single, solemn word. With another flash of bright, white light and a surge of heat, the spoken word imprinted itself on the tablet's face.

C R Y S T A L​

"Very well," the nearest elemental rumbled. It outstretched its huge hand, and Victor allowed it to take the tablet from his grasp. Without a word, the elementals exited the cavern entrance and the walls ground closed.

Victor turned to his companions. "Shall we?"

"Still saw you flinch," Ahana teased, taking the lead.

After a short distance, the trio emerged in a small chamber. Above a carved obsidian pedestal in the center of the room hovered, a glowing, multifaceted orb. It seemed to sense the presence of the three newcomers, emitting an almost sentient energy to acknowledge their arrival. Without fear, Ahana stepped forward and clasped the object. A surge of warmth flowed through her and her vision faded away.

*
​

Ahana awoke in darkness, her body floating in an inky void. As she watched, innumerable stars winked into existence before her, suffusing her in their dim glow. Then she was racing forward, propelled by an unknown force, charting a course she could neither comprehend, nor, it seemed, ever forget. In the distance, a dark orb drew ever closer—grew ever nearer. Ahana drew up close to it, hovering in orbit. Strangely, although its enormity surpassed her field of view, it remained indistinct, as if obscured by a dark shroud.

A sensation flooded through her—an imperative too strong to ignore. Find it.

Reward

Ahana Varma received a Map Fragment.

Assembling ???? map fragments on a single character or within a single faction grants the ability to seek out, discover, and design a brand new world for Multerra. Turning in the correct number of map fragments triggers an epic level Quest. Upon completion, the player or faction members will enter into a design process with staff oversight, designing and introducing a new world to Multerra's collection.

Congratulations!