/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance★

>>232574 (OP)

BZZZZT

Nope. No that didn't happen. They didn’t just buzz you. You’re just going to go into this tavern, grab a beer an-

BZZZZT

Emperor damn it.

It's only been what, an hour? Couldn't they have just waited for you to get one drink?

BZZZZT

Alright already!

Looks like the drink will have to wait. You turn around and, with a heavy sigh, begin the journey back to the guild office.

---

“Next!”

You shuffle back up to the front desk and show Janice you’re buzzing badge, she frowns and flips through her appointments list.

“Looks like they found you a new group, poor bastard. Says they want see you upstairs first though. Third floor, second door on your left.”

They want to see you? What for? They don’t think you have something to do with those ditzy goblins biting the dust do they?

You climb the stairs and follow Janice’s instructions, coming before a red door with “Officer Ward” on a metal plaque and knock.

“Come in” You push open the door and find a short, bald man in a blue tunic sitting at a pine desk working away on a pile of paperwork.

“Take a seat Mr. Sanus.”

You do as he says and sit in the chair opposite him as he sets his quill aside and stares at you with tired brown eyes.

“Do you have any idea why you're here Mr. Sanus?”

“I swear I had nothing to do with those goblin’s unfortunate demise. Frankly they didn't need any help.”

“No Mr. Sanus this has nothing to do with the death of your last party. Its to do with The Convergence.”

You frown at his words and try to think of what he could mean. The Convergence was the reason so many like yourself had taken to being adventurers. Approximately two hundred years ago the first Convergence occurred, and has occurred once a year ever since. When the Convergence happens, large portions of land suddenly, in the blink of an eye, disappear and in their place ruins, dungeons, and caves appear. With the Convergence came the monsters, leading academics to believe that your world’s land was somehow being swapped with the land of other worlds, unintentionally trapping their people in our world leading to the hundreds of demihumans living under the God Emperor’s rule today. The latest Convergence happened six months ago, replacing a portion of the mountains far to the north with a massive castle filled with mindless monsters.

“There's been another Convergence Mr. Sanus, last week in fact. Do to the unusual nature of two occurring in the same year we, that is the adventurer’s guild and His Holiness’ empire, are keeping this a secret until we can send in someone to check it out. To make sure it's safe.”

“And…..you want me to do that?”

“You and your new party. Like you they’re previous parties were wiped out leaving them the sole survivors.”

In other words, the guild can easily change the paperwork to say we were killed with them. A party of disposable adventurers in case there really was something dangerous about these new lands.

“Gather your things Mr. Sanus, your party will meet you at the gates. They’ve already been briefed on what to expect and given a map to the location of the new Convergence. Time is of the essence as we cannot hide its existence for long so your party will have to give you the details on the way.”

“Don't I get a say in this?”

“Not really no. You signed a contract when you joined the guild that basically said you’ll do anything we tell you to do, didn't you read it?”

You just stare blankly at him for a few seconds before standing up and leaving his office. You wave goodbye to Janice as you leave the office and head towards the gate.

So the guild was sending you on what was most likely a suicide mission.

…

They seriously couldn’t let you have one drink before you left?

>To be continued

>>232575

Alright so we’re going to roll to decide the party. Roll 1d20 for each member, one roll each. MG’s are mostly MGE and some stuff I found looking through DnD material.

The Fighter

1.Berserker (Red Oni)

2.Knight (Dullahan)

3.Warrior (P’Orc)

4.Brawler (Golem)

5.Crusader (Archon)

6.Magic Fencer (Dark Elf)

7.Soldier (Hornet)

8.Monk (Kakuen)

9.Beast Master (Wood Elf)

10.Mage Hunter (Basilisk)

11.Drunken Fist (Blue Oni)

12.Guardian (Living Armor)

13.Juggernaut (Minotaur)

14.Wrestler (Beargirl)

15.Gladiator (Liongirl)

16.Axemen (Ettin)

17.Samurai (Cursed Sword)

18.Cavalier ( Slime Carrier)

19.Bladedancer (Kejourou)

20.Predator (Owlbear)

The Mage

1.Pyromancer (Kitsune)

2.Necromancer (Lich)

3.Runecaster (Homunculus)

4.Warlock ( Succubus)

5.Witch (Lamia)

6.Geomancer (Doggirl)

7.Hexxer (Harpy)

8.Enhancer (Monoeye)

9.Psion (Mindflayer)

10.Librarian (Gazer)

11.Shaman (Orc)

12.Dark Mage (Living Shadow)

13.Conjurer (Demon)

14.Ice Elemental

15.Magical Girl (Imp)

16.Illusionist (Leprechaun)

17.Blood Mage (Vampire)

18.Bard (Satyros)

19.Defiler (Tiefling)

20.Wandslinger (Myconid)

The Rogue

1.Archer (High Elf)

2.Thief (Skaven)

3.Trapper (Ettercap)

4.Assassin ( Mantis)

5.Ninja (Kunoichi)

6.Harlequin

7.Treasure Hunter (Flumph)

8.Ranger (Displacer Beast)

9.Scout (Goblin)

10.Spy (Doppelganger)

11.Bandit (Lizardman)

12.Swashbuckler (Dvati)

13.Bowgunner (Gremlin)

14.Dervish (Salamander)

15.Saboteur (Dwarf)

16.Hunter (Bugbear)

17.Pathfinder (Rabbitgirl)

18.Sniper (Troll)

19.Stalker (Scarecrow)

20.Trickster (Nekomata)

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>232577

Rolling for rogue.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>232577

Rolling for Fighter

[roll]2d15[/roll]

Wonder what It'll be?

>>232578

>>232587

>>232589

>Owlbear

>Living Shadow

>Harlequin

Well this is a more…..interesting party than I expected.

You flash a fake smile at the two lizards guarding the gate as they step aside to let you pass. Once outside the great wooden walls surrounding the outpost you can finally take a breath, within the walls you're always surrounded by the merchants hocking their wares and adventurers running to and fro. Out here though there were only a handful of stable hands tending to the horses and laborers carrying supplies in from the merchant’s carts.

You quickly scan the area looking for your new party, adventurers were always easy to pick out of a crowd and HOLY EMPERORS SHIT!

You found yourself staring face to chest with a massive woman that despite her size had somehow snuck up on you. Instinctively you jumped back a few feet, definitely not out of fear of course. Yeah, you just wanted to get a good look at her. Fuck she's huge.

She had to be eight feet tall at least. She was only wearing a few strips of leather to protect her modesty, though they were straining to keep her massive bust hidden. Her lower half was covered by a simple loincloth though your eye was drawn to her belt, which seemed to hold no function other than to hold strings of skulls that rattled in the gentle breeze. Once you tore your eyes from the gruesome trophies you finally recognized her species. The paws ending in huge talon-like claws, the feathers covering her arms and legs, the piercing yellow eyes with black sclera, they could only belong to the dreaded owlbear. Despite only being around for thirty years, they had quickly become recognized as one of the deadliest demihuman species in existence.

“Are you the Dick?”

The shock of the moment wore off and you realize the wall of muscle was staring down at you.

“W-what?”

“I asked if you are the Dick.”

She reaches behind her and pulls a scrap of paper that was tucked into her belt.

“White robes, brown hair, green eyes, carrying a leather satchel and a bronze cudgel. You match his description.”

“Oh right, yes that's me.”

She nods her head and grunts in acknowledgment, though it was more like a menacing growl.

“The other two are waiting by the cart. Will take us as far as Pale Rock, from there we go on foot.”

With that said she turns and heads through the outpost gates, giving you a very nice view of her well toned ass while her feathery tail swishes back and forth.

No, bad cleric! She could probably split your head like a ripe melon without even trying.

You shake your head of any impure thoughts and head towards the stable where you see a horse-drawn cart waiting, though you don't see anyone but the driver.

“Excuse me, I was told my party was over here somewhere have you seen them?”

The look he gives you, it's like you just vomited on his boots then tried to kiss him. He wordlessly motions behind him to two figures standing in the stable a few feet away.

You nod your thanks and make your way over to the two. You can't help but notice their rather unusual appearances, even compared to the owlbear.

The one on the left was dark. As if the light itself was bending around her. You had heard of mages that could bend light to create optical illusions, but there was something different about this, something that was just…..wrong. Her skin, her eyes, her hair, even her robes are black as night. You could barely make out the details of her form as they seemed to blend with the unnatural shadows that surround her. She is tall and slender, though nowhere as tall as the owlbear, and her hair is long and flowing.

On the right appeared to be a jester, but that couldn't be right. She wears a velvet shirt with pointed tips like a jester but the traditional bells were replaced with little silver poms. The torso of the shirt is ruby red, the sleeves are a royal purple with pink lace around the cuffs. Her legs are covered with blue and black checkered tights and she wears pointed shoes the same red as her shirt. At first you thought her face was covered in makeup, but her hands were the same pale white. Her eyes were a sparkling red that complemented her attire. A thin line of blue makeup extending down from the center of her left eye, a black line below the right. Her hair was a short bob cut and was a golden blonde that matched her gold lipstick.

>>233192

You open your mouth to call out to them but they turn and spot you at the same time, and in the next moment the jester take a single graceful leap through the air and is by your side.

“Ah ha! So the holy man finally reveals himself, welcome to our troupe Mr. Dick!”

The two of you just stare at each other. You with your tired and confused glare, her beaming at you like puppy waiting to be praised.

“Oh, silly me, I forgot my introduction!”

The jester hops a step back, spins in a circle, and ends in a deep bow.

“I am Merry the Harlequin, actor extraordinaire at your service.” She ends her introduction by striking a confident pose, one hand on her hip and the other flashing you a peace sign.

“An actor.”

“Yes siree!”

“What the hell is an actor going to do in a dungeon?”

At this she strike an usual pose, puffing her chest out with confidence but pouting at your rudeness.

“I’ll have you know I’ve been with the guild for three whole years Mr. Snooty Pants.”

“And what happened to your old group?”

She shrugs with an eerily casual smile.

“They died.”

Thoroughly creeped out and annoyed by the childish clown, you turn towards the other member of your party still standing in the shadows of the stable.

“Alright so who are you? You all obviously know my name by now, what's yours?”

The dark figure strides out of the stable, dragging the shadows along with her. Once she was clear of the stable’s awning the shadows seemed to fade back to their natural places, but darkness still seemed to cling to her like her robes even under the afternoon sun. Maybe it was her robes you thought. Probably some kind of enchantment. She stares at you intently and brings her hand to her chin, a smug little smirk creeping across her face.

‘’”I am the night given flesh, the darkness of the Abyss brought to life. I am-”’’

“Stop”

“W-what?”

“Just stop. I fucked around with a dark angel in my university years who tried the same crap with me. It was cute at first but got annoying pretty fast.”

“I-I don't know what you speak of cleric. I am the the dark mirror of man’s soul and…..”

You just glare at her until she trails off.

“What's your name?”

“…..N-Nocta, I’m a living shadow.”

You keep glaring.

“N-no really I am! My master created me from her own shadow to serve her.”

“Where is she now?”

Nocta’s face grows sullen and she stares at the ground, Merry is pouting again and glaring at you.

“Sorry, I should have known.”

With that the three of you stand around in awkward silence for a few minutes until the owlbear finally returns, a huge sack slung over her shoulder. She eyes each of you intently as she tosses the sack into the back of the cart with a huge thud.

“What did the Dick do?”

Merry shoots you a quick glare “He bullied Nocta.”

“W-wait a minute I didn't mean to-”

The owlbear’s massive paw came down to rest on your shoulder, claws slightly digging into your skin.

“Apologize to the Nocta.”

“I already did!”

“Apologize.”

Not wanting to test her patience, you sigh and turn back to Nocta.

“Again, I’m very sorry for what I said.”

Nocta seems to perk up a little and brings her hand up to her face, covering all but her left eye.

‘’“You are forgiven, mortal. It is only natural for primitive beings to fear the unknown.”’’ She ends this with trying to chuckle in a deep, menacing tone but just makes herself cough instead.

What the hell have you gotten involved in?.

---

The ride west had been quiet. The owlbear, her name was “The Head Taker” or Heady as Merry called her, had rounded everyone onto the cart shortly after she returned and the driver quickly took off. The driver, Lars, had avoided any attempt at conversation Merry or Nocta tried the entire ride, you're not sure what they had done before you got there but it seemed to leave a bad impression on him. You decide to take the opportunity to grab a quick nap, after all you have no idea what kind of trouble might be waiting for you…..

‘’’THUNK’’’

There was an arrow.

An arrow was sticking out of Heady’s shoulder.

“U-um Heady?”

“Hmm?”

“Your shoulder…..”

She glances down at where you were staring. She simply grunts in annoyance and tears the arrow from her shoulder, spraying blood everywhere, before scanning the wood line along the road.

“Bandits.” She says and points to a group of men and elves that were hiding, poorly, behind some bushes. Realizing they had been made the bandits let out a battle cry and charged the cart, archers notching another round of arrows and preparing to fire.

>what do you do?

>Spells

Minor Healing

Mass Heal

Antidote

>Inventory

10 Healing Potions

Bandage Roll

Scalpel

Forceps

Needle & Thread

Bronze-Headed Cudgel

>>233197

Not sure how involved you want to get with combat, so… Plan for right now, minor heal on Heady, smash a fool with the cudgel if we see a good opportunity.

Overall: Use Heady as a meat shield so as not to get arrowed, play heal bot, hit idiots who overextend. The same thing, basically. The biggest factor is how often we can use our magic.

>>233197

How does magic work? Is there a mana pool we need to draw from?

>>233283

>>233292

Right sorry should have clarified that. Different types of mages/clerics get their magic from different sources.

For Dick, it comes from his physical energy. In other words the more he uses his magic the more exhausted he becomes. Over using his magic will put him at risk of passing out mid-battle, but getting a little sleep will recharge him. Since this isn't a major battle over-exerting himself shouldn't be a big deal as he can sleep it off for the rest of the journey assuming the cart is still usable at the end of of course.

>>233294

Well, I'll amend my earlier post >>233283 . Keep using Heady as a meat shield if possible, and try to keep positioned to support the girls by stopping them from being flanked if we can, and tell the wagon driver to get to cover because we don't want to drive this thing ourselves if he dies. We can settle up with the healing after the fight, unless something major needs to be done during it (since it looks like Heady can take a few hits. The mage and rouge, probably not so much so).

>>233283

Really? The Cudgel?

Fuck that noise, get out your scalpel, and shank some bitches. Seriously, even touching the blade the wrong way will get you cut, that'll defiantly slice through some nerds even if you lightly graze their skin and clothing (If it doesn't break or bend, that is.)

The archers let loose another volley of arrows that rain down upon you. The majority miss and only hit the cart itself and the rest strike Heady who shields you and the others, luckily they don't seem to penetrate too deep and miss any vital areas.

“Lars start hauling ass!”

Not needing any more encouragement the driver snaps the reins and his horses take off at full speed. In seconds the bandits give up their pursuit as the cart speeds down the road.

Well, the human bandits do.

The elves are still chasing you.

Since when were knife ears this fucking fast?

AND THEY’RE STILL SHOOTING AT YOU!

Heady stands at the back of the cart trying to swat arrows out of the air, thankfully the elves can't draw their bows back fully as they chase you so there isn't much power behind each shot. The bandits figure out their strategy isn't working pretty quickly and drop their bows, draw their side arms and start closing the distance. Heady starts swiping at the bandits as they get close and you hear the sickening crunch of breaking bones and tearing of flesh. A few of them start to flank around the sides, Nocta tries to blast them with bolts of dark energy but proves to be absolutely shit at hitting moving targets.

“Foul woodland devils, stand still so you can receive your divine punishment!”

The bandits begin climbing the sides of the cart, Nocta finely starts hitting a few shots leaving smoking black wounds where they connect and sending bandits tumbling under the cart’s wheels. A flash of steel shoots from Merry’s sleeve and another bandit falls dead with a knife embedded in her chest. For the moment it looks like your party has everything under control and the bandits’ numbers quickly fall as Heady tears the apart with Nocta and Merry taking care of the flankers.

But then you fuck up. You let your guard down.

“Hah, gotcha human!”

The blade of a knife dug into your neck drawing a small trickle of blood.

“This was supposed to be a simple highway robbery! We were only going to kill the big one to make an example, but you bastards had to make things difficult! You killed all my friends!”

The knife digs a little deeper into your neck. Like the elf said the other bandits had been finished off with the last one being kicked away by Merry, their throat sliced wide open. With their attention freed your party turns to the lone, desperate elf holding you hostage.

“Don't move! Any of you move a muscle and I'll cut his throat!”

Shadows swirl around Nocta, Merry holds an ornate dagger in each hand, and Heady bears her teeth and claws, but none of them make a move to attack. At this angle you can't draw your cudgel without her noticing. Time to improvise you suppose.

“H-hey let's talk about this, we can end this without any more bloodshed.”

You snake your left hand down towards your satchel and carefully open it making sure the bandit doesn't see the movement.

“Fuck you! That clown whore killed my sister!”

“That's rude, I'm not a clown!”

You fish around in your satchel until you find what you're looking for, the familiar feeling of metal in you hand as you slowly draw it out.

“Last chance lady, leave now and we won't have to hurt you.”

“You're not in a position to tell me what to do asshole.”

“Don't say I didn't warn you.”

You lash out over your shoulder with the scalpel in your left hand and feel it cleanly cut through the elf’s flesh. She screams in pain and drops the knife in surprise, clutching at the side of her head and you notice half her right ear is laying on the floor of the cart. The moment the knife drops from her hand an inky black bolt of energy strikes the bandit’s shoulder and she falls over the side of the cart hit the ground with a loud thud and rolling off into the ditch.

With the threat passed Lars slows the horses down and you sigh with relief, ready to relax the rest of the way to Pale Rock. Until Heady roughly jerks your shoulder.

“Heal me.”

>>234150

Right. Healing. That was kinda your thing wasn't it?

You sit up and look over Heady’s injuries. Most of it isn't too bad, the shots that hit her during the chase had only pierced about an inch at most and most of the arrows and simply fallen out on their own. The shots that hit at the start however are pretty deep, they didn't hit anywhere vital at least but they still did quite a bit of damage. The most worrying however is a huge gash in her side she must have suffered during the melee after the bandits gave up on ranged combat.

“Ok, first I’ll need to remove these arrows, just hold still and I’ll try to take these out without causing much more damage.”

“Just pull them out.”

“What!?”

Heady shrugs “You're going to heal it anyway, just pull them out.”

Emperor save you, this was going to be a difficult trip. You grab the shaft of an arrow stuck in her bicep and tear it out with a bit of force spraying blood on your robes, then repeat the process with the three other arrows sticking out of her. Now the real work begins.

As taught to you at St. Barnes’ University, healing magic comes from sacrificing your own energy to mend the physical damage of your patient. You rub your hands together, place them over the gash in her side, and begin channeling your energy into her. Immediately you start to feel tired as the gash closes up on its own. In seconds it vanishes completely, not even leaving a scar. You then move to each of the smaller wounds in turn and repeat the spell feeling a little more tired each time. After a few minutes your job is done and Heady, besides some blood here and there, looks no different then she did before the bandit attack. Heady takes a quick look over herself to see your handiwork as you lean back in your seat, feeling like you hadn't slept in days, and slowly drift off.

---

You wake up a few hours later and stretch out your aching back, reminding yourself to never sleep sitting up again. You look around and find yourself alone, the cart parked next to a stable. You stand up and collect your things then hop down from the cart and look around. Pale Rock wasn't a large settlement but saw a fair bit of traffic due to its name sake, a quarry of “Mage Stone” brought over in a Convergence around a hundred years ago. Mage Stone became popular amongst amateur mages as you can channel energy into it and it will hold the charge indefinitely. Basically, they work as “magic batteries”. However the small amount of energy they hold compared to the large amount you have to channel into it makes them useless once you become a practiced magician.

You can't see any trace of your party or even the driver Lars so you start walking down the road. Hopefully there was a nearby inn or pub you’d fine them in. You're a little miffed they just left you behind though, maybe next time you'd half-ass the healing and leave a few scars. You turn a corner into what looks like a business district. The streets are unusually quiet even though the sun is still high in the air, you guess it's probably mid afternoon, as only a few people are moving about between the stores.

You scratch your head and take another look around, again not seeing any trace of your team. You take another corner and start searching this street next. Then the next street. And then the next. At this point you just wanted to go back to the stable and wait for somebody to find you, unfortunately you were a little lost. You were currently in some alley between two large buildings connecting residential streets. You step out of the alley and nearly run over a woman walking down the street.

“S-sorry about that. I'm a little lost.”

A small grin flashes across her face. Two brown fuzzy ears poking out of her chestnut mark her as demihuman. Well that and the big fluffy tail swishing behind her. She's a little shorter than you, her ears coming just below your chin. She looks you over with her dark green eyes and her grin shrinks into a seductive smirk.

“Oh how terrible! Where are you trying to go?”

“Uh, I’m just trying to find my way back to the stables.”

At this point she starts walking in a circle around you, eyeing you up and down the whole time.

“Mmmm…..I can show you the way. Of course, that's if you agree to do a little favor for me in return.”

>what do you do?

>>234151

Wanted to do this earlier but I've had a nasty cold this weekend and couldn't focus enough to write.

Also wanted to make another note on magic. The spells Dick knows now are just the basic applications of healing magic.

>Minor Healing

Small amounts of healing for large amounts of energy. With practice this can be refined so heal more and spend less energy

>Mass Heal

Same as Minor Healing but on multiple targets, making it much more taxing to perform

>Antidote

Similar to Minor Healing but focused on purging toxins and disease from the target

New spells can also be discovered through creative application and research, so don't feel restricted to using the spell list.

>>234151

>short

>ears and large fluffy tail

>business district

>danuki

>how about no

We seem too pessimistic for this garbage. Ask literally anybody else for free, or pay some kid in small change to show us the way to the stables, or an inn.

>>234175

>>234188

>Trust the Danuki

>Dont trust the Danuki

I'm getting mixed messages here

>Animate Dead

Its doable, definitely advanced level magic though it'll take some serious research and study.

>>234151

Don't trust her. Be ready in case she tries something. Afterward follow the previous advice and ask someone less shady. Make sure when we find our group to call them out on leaving us. This party might only together because our other partners have died, but we're still a team and we need to act like it.

I think we lucked out with our party choices. More variety on this board is always nice. Good start op, keep it up.

>>234843

Yeah, lost track of the thread for a few days, buy you're right, we ended up with some interesting girls.

“What kind of favor?”

You eye the small raccoon women suspiciously, as much as you’d like to believe that she was just some kind stranger that little grin of hers made you uneasy.

“Oh it's nothing too difficult. Certainly nothing a strong young man like you couldn't handle. I own a little warehouse that houses and ships Mage Stone nearby and one of our workers had to leave early. If you would be so kind as to help move a few crates he left I’d be happy to show you the way back to the stables.”

She punctuated her proposal by smiling seductively and not so subtly pushing her breast together to give you a nice view.

“Look, I appreciate the offer but if the white robes didn't clue you in I'm not exactly a physical sort of guy. I doubt I could lift a crate full of Mage Stone let alone move several of them.”

“I don't remember saying the crates are full of Mage Stone boy.” She giggles and flashes you that seductive smile again “They hold a special linen we use to transport charged stones, they keep the energy from dissipating and protects them from damage during transit. I’m sure a handsome man like yourself can handle it.”

“Even so I think I’ll pass, I’m sure I can find my way back eventually. Thanks for the offer though.”

You turn to walk away but you only take a couple steps before you feel someone grab your arm and the Danuki wheels you around, the seductive look on her face replaced by a tired, annoyed look you feel is a little too familiar.

“Alright, I’ll level with you boy. I’m almost thirty years old and haven’t tricked a man into marriage yet. The other Danuki are starting to talk, making moves on my business because they think I’m not smart or clever enough to run it since I can’t find someone.”

“Have you tried just asking a guy out?”

A hint of disgust creeps into her expression.

“That's not how this works you little shit. Danuki find men using their wits.”

“By tricking them. How the fuck did you plan to trick me anyway?”

She shrugs “I was just going to pretend you damaged some of the merchandise. A few legal threats and contracts later and boom we’d be married.”

“Ok, so now what? You couldn't trick me so what's the point of all this?”

“Well if can't get a man the Danuki way, I figure I’ll just get a man the regular old demihuman way. I'll just lie and tell the other girls that my first plan worked.”

The hell does that mean? You’d heard a few stories of how different demihuman find mates, the most common way was…..

A creepy grin starts spreading across the raccoon girl’s face.

Fuck.

>>237493

So raccoons are fast

Not as fast as the knife ear fucks who chased you into town, but she's still pretty fast.

Your lungs are burning. It's only been like five minutes. You always thought a life of adventuring would help you get fit, but most of your time is spent hanging in the back while others mop up the monsters and napping after you heal them.

You try to get a feel for your surroundings, but since you don't know this town very well the buildings and streets blur together as you run past. At this point you were far more lost than you were before you ran into the Danuki.

After ten minutes you were exhausted. Your legs feel like rubber and you're losing speed. The fucking raccoon however doesn't look any worse for wear, except for that increasingly manic look in her eye as she started closing the distance. Well, You guess this is it, you can't keep out running her. Strangers on the street weren't helping, most just ignored you two completely. Guess those rumors you heard about Danuki weren't complete bullshit after all. She’ll probably rape you in the street and everyone will pretend nothing is out of the ordinary to avoid the fluffy merchant’s wrath. She’d force you to sign the contract and you'd spend the rest of your life as her bitch boy. You were so lost in the nightmare of your future you don't even notice the familiar wall of muscle in front of you until you slammed into her massive chest and fell on your ass.

“There you are. I’ve been searching for you, but your scent was hard to track.” Heady roughly pulls you to your feet and turns around “Come, we rented rooms at the inn.”

“Wait what about the -” you frantically turn around to face your attacker but find nothing. The raccoon had disappeared without a trace, though you thought you saw a fluffy tail dash behind a building. Heady was already a block ahead of you so you jog to catch up. You’ll worry about the Danuki later, seems as long as Heady is nearby she won't try anything. With any luck she’ll just give up and you’ll never have to see her again. Please Emperor let that be the truth.

“So, Heady, where the FUCK did you all run off to?”

“Hmm? We only went to the inn to rent rooms and drop off our possessions. When we returned to the stables to wake you you had vanished.”

“Yeah I left to go find you three chucklefucks! Why didn't you just wake me when we got here? Or leave one person behind to let me know what the fuck was going on?”

Heady just shrugs and keeps walking “The Nocta and The Merry were hungry and wished to eat and I needed to store my possessions. I was only gone for ten minutes, I did not think you could get into much trouble in such a short amount of time.”

“Yeah well…..I did. Look, it doesn't matter, we’re a team now and if we’re going to survive this shitshow we need to stick together.”

“Do you wish to share a bed with me?”

“W-What!?”

Heady stops and turns to you “You said we need to stay together even when we sleep, yes? If you wish we can share a bed tonight. I trust you know better than to try something while I sleep.”

“That's…..NO. That's not what I meant! I’m just saying we can't leave each other defenseless like that! I was nearly raped by a Danuki because you all left me behind like that!”

Heady looks down on you, her face never breaking from it's emotionless mask, and nods. “You are right, I apologize. I will take better care to protect you all from now on.”

Heady then suddenly grabs you roughly by the arm and starts dragging you along at faster pace than you were traveling before.”

“Hey! What the hell are you doing!?”

“Making sure you don't get into trouble again. We need to hurry back, The Danuki is still watching you.”

At that you found your second wind and matched Heady’s pace as you both quickly made your way to the inn.

>>237494

“The Spotted Mare” was only a few blocks from the stables you learned, if you had only turned left instead of right you probably could have avoided all this shit. You swear you can still feel that raccoon’s eyes on you from time to time. After you and Heady arrived you found Nocta and Merry sitting at a table in the back happily digging into plates of what seemed to be chicken and potatoes.

“Heeeeeeey Mr. Sleepyhead glad you could join us! Heady, what took you guys so long? Did you two need some alone time~?”

“Fuck off, I got lost trying to find you shits after you left me behind.”

“Oooooh somebody's cranky. Wake up on the wrong side of the wagon?” She giggles while flicking a potato peel at you with her fork as you and Heady sit down.

“Eat a dick Merry.”

“No thanks, you look too salty.”

You sigh and run your fingers through your hair. You were hungry, tired, and now pretty annoyed. Thankfully the first was quickly fixed as a catgirl maid brings over two plates for you and Heady and you tear into the chicken.

“So, where are we going from here anyway? Nobody ever told me where this new Convergence was.”

Nocta pulls a map out of her robes lays it out on the center of the table.

“First we must cross through the Valley of Sorrows into the Horror Fields of the Undying. From there we must descend into-”

You tune out whatever the hell she's raving about and just look over the map.

The map was a pretty standard outline of The Emperor’s Holy Kingdom, otherwise known collectively as The Walled Kingdom by the filthy foreigners who live beyond the protection of His Holiness’ divine protection. You were in the southeastern province of Pince, home of the capital city Watchtower. Pale Rock is a located a few weeks travel to the southwest of Watchtower though you're not sure of the exact distance with winding roads through woods and hills it takes to get from here to there. A dozen miles or so to the south from here is the city of Dartin, a hub of mages and home to more than one school of magic. The path on the map however takes you northwest from here, through the woods and into large field that's empty but for a small lake and a few villages unnamed on the map.

“So anyone know what it is we’re looking for out there?”

“A dungeon, with a small fort built on top of it. That's what the reports we were read described.” Heady answers between massive bites of chicken she practically swallows whole. “There are supposed to be guild agents who will meet us there.”

“And the monsters? Or Demihumans? Anything about what's actually living there?”

“No one who has encountered the enemy has returned.”

Yep just like you thought. You're all fucked. All you can do is grumble to yourself as you shovel more meat on potatoes in your mouth.

“Ah come on enough work talk, we can worry about that junk later. Let's have some fun while we can! Ooh, how about stories!? I'm sure you girls, and Dick, have some good adventure stories, right!?”

The shadows seemed to swirl around your table before being sucked into Nocta’s form. She had already struck a dramatic pose, or as dramatic a pose as she could while sitting down, her left hand covering her face but one one all black eye and the corner of her mouth turned up in a smug grin.

“If its a tale you wish, then allow me to regale you mortals with the grand adventure of how my master stole life from the very jaws of the Abyss itself.”

Merry giggles and begins listening intently while Heady seems to ignore them, all you can do is groan and endure it as Nocta loudly begins to tell her stories.

>>237496

Well that wasn't as bad as you expected it to be. Nocta had gone on and on about her master, a necromancer named Adele, for awhile but despite her constant embellishment it was actually quite interesting hearing her go into detail about how her master could animate the dead. You played with a few ideas of how to apply your own magic to replicate her results but you doubted you get the chance to try them out. Merry’s stories were especially exciting. You had to give her credit, she was one hell of a storyteller. She even jumped on top of the tables at the action heavy parts of the stories and reenacted the battles, even playing multiple parts at once. She had pulled out two masks at some point for the performance, a golden mask for the part of her former teammates and a black one for the role of their enemies, though you had no idea where she had hidden them this whole time. Even Heady joined in and shared some stories of her favorite fights, pulling the opponent's skull from her belt and showing it off as she proudly boasted about how she defeated them.

You tried to join the party as well, but when you started telling the story of how your first party died everyone just got all quiet and sullen until Merry interrupted you to start her next tale. Plebeians can't appreciate a good tragedy when they hear one.

Once storytime had ended the four of you filed upstairs to where your rooms were. They had only been able to rent two rooms so you’re staying with Heady, she insisted to “keep you out of trouble”. Luckily there's two beds to each room so you didn't have to take her up on her earlier offer. Merry still giggled when she saw you both going into the same room though. Damned clown.

The rooms weren't much but the beds were comfortable at least. The fatigue of the day started to overtake you as you climbed into your bed and you quickly drifted off into sleep.

---

You wake the next morning as the sun pours in through the window. Heady is sitting at the table next to the window cleaning one her skull trophies with a little brush.

“You're awake. We will leave for the Convergence in a few hours. It is still early morning, I believe the others are eating breakfast now if you wish to join them.”

>You have a few hours to kill, what do you do with them?

>>237497

Holy shit it's been two weeks since I updated. Didn't mean to let it get away from like that but at least I’m not abandoning this.

I don’t plan to keep you guys from the actual dungeon crawl much longer, hopefully it will just be one or two more updates until you get there and the plot actually begins.

>>237497

Grab some food, stick close to Heady while we're still in town. No point in taking chances with the Danuki around.

>>237499

It's cool. Delays happen.

>>237497

Spend breakfast going over our trip preparations. Get a feel for everyone's strengths and weaknesses, then talk battle strategy. Light conversation wouldn't hurt either, get to know the girls a little better.

We don't have much experience working together, so operating on the side of caution would be best. Especially since we have no idea what we'll run into.

You climb out out of your bed and stretch out your sore muscles, yawn loudly, and scratch some places you probably shouldn't with a lady present.

“I think I’ll grab some breakfast then, want anything?”

“I have already eaten, thank you. If you wish I can join you however.”

“Nah it's fine I'm sure the clown and the shadow can keep me company.”

“I don't think they would like those names. The Merry does not like being called a clown.”

“So? She should stop acting like a damn clown then.”

Heady stops her cleaning for a moment and shoots you a stern look.

“You said yesterday we should act more like a team so you need to be nicer to them.”

Shit you did say something like that didn't you?

“Alright I won't call her a clown anymore. At least to her face anyway.”

Another stern look from the giant owlbear burns through.

“Fine fine fine I get it I'll play nice with the clo-Merry.”

“And…..” She says still staring through you.

“And…..oh right I’ll be nicer to Nocta too, but if she starts that ‘Dark Destroyer’ crap again then no promises.”

Heady nods then returns to her trophy cleaning. “Go eat. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

You turn and head for the door, mumbling “thanks Mom.” under your breath on the way out.

---

After making triple sure you were dressed properly you headed back downstairs to find the others. You found Merry easily enough, she sitting alone at a table in the center of the inn picking at her plate. Nocta was nowhere in sight, though she could be lurking in the shadows you suppose. You order some food from the innkeeper and sit down next to Merry who seems to brighten up a bit now that she has some company.

“Goooooooood morning Dicky, you and Heady have plenty of fun last night?~”

“Fuck off nothing happened. And don't call me Dicky.”

Merry huffs and goes back to picking at her breakfast “Oh you’re no fun Dick, if you're going to be like this the whole time this is going to be a dull adventure.”

“Well sorry if I’m taking this suicide mission too seriously Merry.”

“It's only a suicide mission if we die stupid.” She says then blows a raspberry at you. “We’ve all survived where everyone else died, I’m sure we can take whatever is waiting for us.”

If only you could be that optimistic.

“Actually now that you mentioned it how did you survive all that shit? Some of those stories you told last night were pretty crazy, you said you were only an actor back at the outpost.”

Merry giggles “I said I was an actor but I don't remember saying I was only an actor. I am certified guild rogue after all. Didn't you see me in action when we got attacked by the bandits?” She says as she puffs out her chest with pride.

“I was a little too busy trying to not die. Did you distract them with a song and dance?”

Merry pouts and points her fork at you “Nooooooo Mr. Smarty Pants. You really didn't see me?

“Uh, I think I saw you toss a knife at one point or something.”

That seems to perk her up a bit as she puffs up with pride “Yep! I'm the best knife thrower in the whole empire! My Auntie Caroline taught me how when I was still little and couldn't act so good. She would always say “If you wanna eat tonight you better make the troupe some money.”

“Ok…..so you grew up in an acting troupe?”

Merry swells up with even more pride and a smug grin spreads across her face “The Dancing Sisters’ Traveling Variety Show, the world's greatest collection of harlequin performers. Mama and papa are their best actors, they would even let me open for them on the slow days. Here watch this!”

Merry grabs a piece of meat from her plate and tosses it high up in the air, nearly hitting the ceiling of the inn. As it reaches the height of its arc she flings her fork upward at it skewers the meat chunk and starts spinning back down where Merry catches it in her mouth. She then looks at you with a smug expression, obviously waiting for praise. You oblige her with a forced smile and token applause. Merry gives you a mock bow and spits the fork back out on her plate.

>>250867

“You shouldn't play with your food.”

Heady suddenly sits down at the table carrying the large sack she brought with you from the outpost.

“Where is the Nocta?”

“She went back upstairs to grab our stuff. Probably.” Merry says with a smile.

Heady shrugs then unrolled the map out on the table. “We will be heading out in one hour, the guild will have another cart ready for us at the town gates and it will take us to the fort. After that they say someone will brief us on any further details they have unearthed.”

“What about supplies.”

Heady taps the bag by her feet. “Food rations, torches, rope, and other tools we may need. We can break it all up into individual shares later.”

The three of you go over the route once more to be safe, or rather you and Heady did as Merry groaned and complained about how boring all our planning was. Nocta came downstairs a few minutes later with two satchels and hands one to Merry. After spending a few minutes finishing up breakfast the four of you grab your things and head for the town gates to catch your ride.

-----

The ride was largely uneventful, though you swore you saw fluffy ears peeking out behind a tree now and then along the way. You told yourself it was just your imagination but found yourself sliding a little closer to Heady every time it happened.

The fort came into view after a few hours and you were already noticing red flags. Like you were still in the woods when the map said the fort was few miles outside the woods. There was about hundred feet of clearing between the walls of the fort and the trees, but otherwise the area was still densely covered in woodland.

Also there are crossbowmen along the walls all pointing their weapons menacingly at you.

“Halt! Who goes there!?”

The driver flashes his guild badge at the guards and they seem to relax a bit, a moment later the gate swings open.

Inside the fort walls a large, red haired man wearing fancy robes was waiting for you.

“About time you four showed up. We sent for new search party weeks ago. These damned legionnaires have practically kicked us out of the fort while we sat on our asses waiting for the next search party to arrive.”

“Well we were only told yesterday and…..wait did you say legionnaires?”

The man grunted and waved his hand behind him directing your attention to a building on the far side of the fort. By the building’s entrance where two knights in grey full plate standing guard.

“We figured when word reached of this place to the capital they’d send a few officials to oversee things but then the damned legion rolled in and took over our whole operation.”

The four of you climb down from the cart, you had divided the supplies during the trip so your bag was significantly heavier but still manageable.

“Did they say why they were sent here?”

“Their captain had a few snide remarks about the guild but otherwise they've been very tight lipped, you'd swear the legionnaires were all mutes. Anyway I'm sure you have a few questions about mission. The answer to all of them is we don't know shit. As I'm sure you were informed none of our search parties have returned and after the legion showed up we haven't been able to do anything but sit on our asses waiting for you.”

“Well where is the legionnaires captain? He might know something if they've taken over.”

The man sneers and waves at the building guarded by the knights again “You're free to try but she's a bit of…..well she's a bitch.”

With that he leads you over to the building, the knights wordlessly move aside as you approach allowing the man to start slamming his fist on the door.

“I swear if that's Mikeal again I'm going to shove my sword up your ass!” A woman’s voice yelled from behind the door right before it swung open, an arm shot out through the doorway holding a very annoyed looking head.

“I knew it, bend over and wait there while I grab my sword.”

>>250868

“I thought you might like to know the new search party has arrived. I believe they also have some questions for you.”

The arm turns the head side to side so she can get a good look at the four of you before sighing and withdrawing back inside “Come in I guess. I'd like to get this shit show over with as soon as possible.”

You take the lead and walk inside following the captain into her office. The building seems to be quite bare as inside their is only a few stools and a makeshift table made from a couple crates with a piece of canvas draped over them.

The armor clad dullahan takes a seat at the table and starts idly looking over some papers “I'm Captain Kelly of His Holiness’ Forty-Eighth Legion. And you are?”

“Dick Sanus, cleric of The Holy Empire.” You paused to allow the others to introduce themselves, a decision you now feel you might regret.

Merry takes your que and jumps up onto one of the stools and bows deeply “Merry the Harlequin, actor extraordinaire at your service!”

Well ok that wasn't the worst thing that you expect-

The lamplight in the room starts to dim as all the shadows in the room seem to stretch out towards the dark figure standing to your right.

“I am the Reaper of the Abyss, the Dark Wanderer Who Feast on Nightmares. I am Nocta, Destroyer of Light.”

All you can do is groan and shake your head as the light slowly returns to the room. The captain no longer looks annoyed, though you're not really sure what the look on her face now could be called.

Heady thankfully clears her throat and pulls Captain Kelly’s attention away from Nocta “I am the Headtaker of the Red FeathersClan, but if you wish you can refer to me as Heady.”

The captain looks at each of you in turn with that same strange look before sighing heavily.

“I knew the Adventurer’s Guild was run by a bunch of dumbasses like Mikeal but this is ridiculous. We tell them we need an expert group of adventurers and they send me a clown, a child, a savage, and a eunuch.”

“Hey I am NOT a damn eunuch!”

“And I’m not a clown!” Merry yells while pouting again.

“And I couldn't care less. You four had better be the best damn team in the whole guild or I'm going to sword sodomize the whole fucking guild.”

“Um about that…..”

“What is it eunuch?”

“I'm not a eu-uh, look, the guild scrambled us together yesterday. The four of us have never adventured together which is why we were hoping you may have gathered some more information regarding the dungeon before we begin.”

The captain’s eyes open wide in surprise before before narrowing in barely contained rage. She then closes them and takes a long, deep breath before continuing.

“Alright, I will tell you what little we know. After that you will go directly to the dungeon to begin your exploration, and I will violently purge this entire fort of guild officials for wasting my and the empire’s time. Agreed?”

You shrug and look to your party who don't seem to have any complaints.

“Agreed.”

“Alright then.” Captain Kelly seemed to relax a little, though you feel like she's ready to snap at any moment “The guild has already sent three search parties into the dungeon but none ever returned. Because of that we will be giving each of you a mage stone charged with a tracking spell so we can follow your progress. We aren't aware of what beasts live in the dungeon so we can't help you much there, you'll be going in blind. We’ve had our mages probe the area with their magic and they say they feel a strong magic presence deep below, though they cannot say if this is coming from a powerful mage or an artifact.”

>>250869

“What about the fort itself?”

“Empty when the guild arrived, the building were completely bare as well. Everything here now was brought in by us or the guild. This is everything we know about this place which is why we need you four to scout out the dungeon. You don't need to explore the entire dungeon, but we need you to learn as much as you can about the dungeon’s ‘natives’ and we would like you to try and locate the source of that magic energy. If it's Mage don't engage them if at all possible, going by our mage’s readings they would be too powerful even for a seasoned team of adventurers, understand?”

You and Heady nod, Merry gives her an impish grin, and Nocta chuckles menacingly. Well she tries to anyway.

“Good, let's go then. The sooner this shit is over with the better.”

-----

True to her word the captain brought you directly to the entrance of the dungeon, a massive iron gate sitting in the basement of the largest building in the fort. On her order the soldiers watching the gate pulled off the bar holding the gate closed and with a bit of effort pulled it open revealing a dark hallway. You just barely felt a small wave of magic energy pass through the entrance then torches lining the hall suddenly sparked to life.

Captain Kelly passes each of you a glowing yellow crystal “there you go now get to it. When you return pound on the door three times so the guards now it's safe to open.”

And with that the captain turned on her heel and left. She had a death grip on her sword and you're afraid you know what she's about to go do.

The four of you took your first cautious steps into the dungeon, then you heard the creaking metal of the gate as the soldiers closed it behind you. With nowhere left to go, you all begin the long trek down the seemingly endless hallway.

After twenty minutes of walking you all finally come to the end of the hall. You step into a rounded room with two other exits. The room itself is made of stone, just like the hall you came from and what the other two passageways appear to made of as well. The is empty, but is large enough to easily accommodate the four of you.

This was all you could see however as the moment you all set foot inside the torches in the hallway blew out, robbing you of your only light source.

A menacing laugh pierces through the darkness.

“Knock that shit off Nocta.”

“S-sorry…..”

You fumble through your bag and find the torch Heady gave you but in the pitch black it's too difficult for you to find the flint you need to light it.

A low, predatory growl comes from behind you.

“I said knock it off already.”

“T-that wasnt me.”

At that moment the room lit up again with a dull green glow. The light came from a lithe figure clinging to the wall and you heard another growl. You couldn't make out many features but appears humanoid and has large claws on its hands and feet it's using to hold onto the wall.

The light in the room grew more bright and you saw another one of the creatures appears from nowhere.

Then another.

And another.

The light grew brighter once more and you heard the growl behind you again.

>What do you do?

>>250871

Shit and I was worried about a two week space between updates last time.

Basically work got really busy with the holidays and afterward I just had a hard time getting back into writing. With this I’m going to try and update regularly, I sure as hell won't let months pass without updating again though.

Wanted to rewrite some of this before posting but at the same time this shit was on page 23 and I didn't want to risk it dying.

>>250872

Real life happens, glad to see you back op. Was worried you had given up.

>>250871

Time to see how well we work as a leader. Order Heady to take the brunt of the pack and keep the attention off the rest of us. The fact the monsters light up is useful, it gives us something to aim at. Tell Nocta to use her shadowbolts and pick them off one by one. She's a shadow, she can see in the dark anyway. Lets see how good Merry really is with her throwing knives and have her to keep our tank from being overwhelmed and help Nocta on the side. Use our own energy to keep everyone healthy and direct our groups attention as needed.

Ok.

Stay calm.

No need to panic.

We can do this.

“We need to-”

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Without warning shadow bolts start flying in every direction. You're forced to dodge to the side as one flies past your ear. The lights in the room dim as the glowing creatures disappear, then brighten again as they reappear in new positions.

“Ok let's not do that again.”

You pull your cudgel from your belt and swing it at the creature that had been behind you forcing it to jump back. The creatures hadn't attacked yet but were inching closer, snapping their teeth and swiping at the air between you.

You, Heady, and Merry have grouped together in the center of the room. Nocta has backed up against the wall and is still freaking out but at least has stopped firing her magic at random. The monsters have encircled your group and are blocking Nocta off from the rest of you. On top of this, they keep pulling that disappearing act then popping up a few feet away making it impossible to count how many there are.

“I have a plan.”

Heady and Merry both turn their heads slightly towards you without taking their eyes off the creatures surrounding them.

“Heady, you smash through the line dividing us from Nocta. Merry, support Heady with your knives and try to get Nocta to stop flipping her shit. I’ll keep you alive if these fuckers get their claws on you.”

Heady nods and turns toward Nocta. With a deafening roar she takes a swing at the glowing monsters only for them all to blink out of sight. They reappear surrounding Heady, claws at the ready, teeth bared in wicked snarls, and their attack begins.

One of them charged low and swiped at her ankles, only scoring a glancing blow, then vanishes before Heady can retaliate. Another then leaps forward and makes a shallow cut across her right forearm and is gone before it hits the ground.

Merry spins around in what seems more like a dance move than an attack to you but then you hear the metallic ringing of two small blades hitting the wall, their target having blinked away before they could hit them. Suddenly some of the creatures broke the circle they had around Heady and appeared around Merry. One after the other they lunge at her attempting to use the same hit and run strategy they're using on Heady but with a few practiced spins, twirls, and flips she narrowly avoids their attacks.

“Dicky your plan isn't working!” Merry calls out in a singsong voice as she spins away from another attack, another knife bounces of the stone floor as the attacker disappears before it hits.

Damn it man think! The creatures are prioritizing the two attackers which gives you a moment to come up with a new plan. These things didn't look to be intelligent, at least not human or demihuman intelligent, but their tactics were definitely smart. Using their vanishing trick they were keeping you constantly guessing which of them would strike next and from where, then the attacker would slide back into the mass of pulsating lights before you can counter. You could try cornering one maybe, they didn't look very strong which might be why they favored group assaults and misdirection, but if you couldn't finish it off in time you'd be blindsided by the rest of the group or the little fuck would just vanish on you. As you tried to think how to fight them you remember the battle is missing somebody.

Nocta.

Still cowering by the wall the shadow girl has regained some of her composure, holding her hands out as if to cast a spell but never doing so, only darting her eyes back and forth between the glowing creatures.

You slip along the wall as Heady and Merry keep the monsters busy to where Nocta is flipping her shit.

“Hey snap out of it! We could really use The Destroyer of Light right about now!”

“A-are they real?”

“What? Of course they are! Now will you please start blasting them!?”

“But I c-couldn't sense them. T-they were in the shadows and I didn't see them.”

Fear and confusion clouds her eyes as she presses herself harder against the wall. You take a glance behind you to see how the others are holding up. Merry is still dancing around her attackers but her knives keep hitting the walls and floor harmlessly. Heady has taken a defensive stance and is getting better at dodging their attacks judging by how the fresher cuts on her body look to be only superficial.

>>254676

“Come on pull your shit together Nocta, you can see them now right? So you can help them kill these things?”

She nods and shakily brings her hands up again. The shadows swirl around her arms and into the palms of her hands, but the spell never fires.

“Look I get your freaking the hell out but those two could really use your-”

A bestial roar makes you turn around again and you see Heady swing at the empty air to her right, a moment later a bright flash comes from the wall as one of the creatures appears crumpled against it. She lunges forward and strikes again, the creatures in her path vanish but the sound claws rending flesh from bone, the sudden spray of blood, and an inhuman screech show she hit her mark. Another bright flash and the monster appeared lying in a pool of its own glowing blood.

The glowing creatures start moving and attacking faster, the pulsating glow of the mob quickening like a heartbeat, but the owlbear had discovered some pattern to their movement. Another one of the creatures throws itself at Heady only to be bashed aside with a swing of her massive paw, the next tried to strike low but its arm was torn away from its body by her talon-like claws.

The monsters attacking Merry shift their focus and quickly rejoin the others. A blade slams into one of their backs and it skids across the floor, a bright flash signaling its death. A grin stretches ear to ear across Merry’s face and she flicks her wrist, another blade sings through the air into the glowing mass surrounding Heady and another creature screeches in pain before dropping to the ground. Another monster was torn apart before your eyes, another one fell to the floor with dagger in its back, another was broken as slammed into the wall.

The lights in the room grew dim. You reached into your bag and grabbed your flint while you could still see and quickly lit your torch, the grisly scene of the battle now visible in full detail.

The last of the creatures dangled lifelessly in Heady’s claws, the look of fury and bloodlust you saw on her face in the rooms previous eerie glow now back to her normal emotionless expression. Dark green blood and viscera decorate the once empty room along with what's left of your attackers. It was hard to count them in their current state but you're pretty sure there was twelve or thirteen of the things.

You kick one of the corpses over onto its back and take a closer look. Without the green glow the creatures were pale white, their eyes were small black beads and heads lacked noses or ears, only having two thin slits in the center of their face serving as nostrils and a small indention on either side of their head. They were hairless, and you also found a stubby, useless tail akin to a lizard's sprouting from their backs.

“So what are we gonna name them?”

You glance over your shoulder and see Merry pulling daggers out of the bodies. Just how many of those things was she hiding anyway? You could've sworn she tossed over thirty of them around during the fight you only saw around ten in her hands and around the room.

“We get to name them right? Its not like they can tell us what they were called back home.” She giggles. Well that actually was guild procedure you suppose, of course you’d have get out of here alive first.

“I was thinking something like the Creepy Crawlies, or maybe the Glowing Ghoulies. Oh they look kinda like lizards don't ‘cha think? How about the Lantern Lizards?”

Before you can respond your startled by the headless corpse of one of the monsters hitting the floor next to you and a bloody claw poking you in the cheek.

“Heal me.”

The owlbear was splattered head to toe in green blood, mixed with her own red blood. Cuts covered her arms and legs but luckily most didn't look too serious. She sits down cross legged on one of the few clean patches of the floor and looks at you expectantly, palming the head of one of the monsters in her left paw.

>>254677

Not wanting to keep her waiting you crouch down next to her to begin your work. To start, you take out the roll of bandages in your bag and cut off a length of it and use it to wipe the blood of her arms.

“So why are you carrying the hea-”

Before you can finish the thought she digs a claw into each of the head’s eye sockets and scoops out the monster’s beady black eyes. She tosses the eyes away and digs her claws back into the flesh of the face and starts peeling it back.

Ok that answers that question. You try not to watch as she flays the creature’s head and hold your palms over the many cuts covering her arms and start focusing your energy into your hands. You then channel the energy across the short distance between you, in seconds the cuts start closing and the bleeding stopped. Within ten seconds her right arm is completely healed, not even a single scar marring her chiseled muscles. You shift to her other side and repeat the process on her right arm.

“So how did you do that anyway? The fight I mean. One second you couldn't touch the little fuckers and the next you were ripping through them.”

Heady shrugs and peels off another strip of meat from the head, the entire face had been removed revealing the bloody skull beneath.

“I just observed the prey to learn their tactics. It was difficult to follow their movements at first but they always attacked in the same patterns. Once I learned the patterns predicting their movements was simple. They were clever to attack in groups and camouflage their movement, but overall they were very weak.”

She flicks another strip of flesh away and you move to heal the cuts on her legs. You hold your hands over her thigh and begin channeling your energy again. Into those thick, muscular thighs…..

No! Bad cleric! You’ve been over this. Your head. Ripe melon. Splat.

You finish up with Heady then check up on Merry. Despite her impressive acrobatics before you did find multiple cuts across her arms and one big one across her back, though she seemed more concerned with the damage to her clothes.

“How about Shiny Scratchers?”

“What?”

“The name dummy, we gotta think of something cool to call them.”

“Or we just kill them all and forget about it.”

“Hmm…..nah, that sounds hard. I'm still leaning towards Glowing Ghoulies.”

Emperor save you. You held your hand over her back and started channeling your magic. You know this was probably the first time you took a good look at her. She had a very lithe form…..and not to mention her flexibility…..

Bad cleric! Damn it why couldn't the guild have let you relax a bit before sending you to this shithole?

“U-um…..”

You look over to Nocta who's carefully stepping around the blood and bodies towards you.

“I w-wanted to apologize for earlier.”

“Yeah what the shit was that Nocta? You nearly took my head off with one of those panic shots.”

Nocta shrinks back from you and Heady shoots you a dirty look as she adds the bloody skull to her string of trophies. Right, you gotta play nice.

“No really, I’m just worried about. What happened?”

Nocta straightens up a bit but still doesn't look you in the eye.

“Normally I can see anything in the dark, and even if it's invisible I can still sense it as long as we're touching the same shadows. But I couldn't sense them, and when they appeared it scared me. It…..i-it reminded me of when…..w-when my master…..”

Fuck. You weren't expecting that.

Think, what can you do to cheer her up?

“Um…..there there?”

You reach out and lightly pat her on the top of head. She doesn't shrink away but the shadows surrounding her creep up and hide her face. Merry giggles at the display and Heady nods approvingly.

Emperor fucking save you.

>What do you do?

>You're a little tired from healing the party

>Is there anything you want to do in this room before you leave?

>Which path do you take?

>You can see scratch marks in the floor and along the walls on the right path.

>The left path is clear but you can faintly her a sound like howling wind from deep within.

Strange unknown dungeon that no one has ever returned from alive. This is tricky. Assuming it's not like a labyrinth that constantly changes I'd suggest this room be set up as a base camp before moving further into the interior. Perhaps call in additional help and supplies later on. I'm curious about the claw marks as that makes me think someone tried to fight down into the hallway or these things were running to and from somewhere else.

the shadow is cute though

>>254678

Holy shit, I completely missed the last update. Good to see you're still going, I'm loving your writing, and that fight scene in particular was really well done, I thought.

Ask Heady if she can tell the pattern that was used to attack, everybody knowing that is a good thing. Also, she said she's the Headtaker of the Redfeathers clan. Ask her what the significance of taking the heads is.

I'd say follow the path with the scratch marks. Hopefully they're from the things Heady just figured out how to murder.

You stretch out your muscles and slump against the wall.

“Mind if we rest a moment? Or better yet lets just turn around and get the hell out of here.”

Nobody responds but they don't look to be in any hurry so you slide down the wall and sit down. You set your torch down to the side and Merry lights her own torch which she then uses to poke one of the corpses.

Nocta still looks a bit shaken up but at least isn't literally shaking anymore. She's wandered over to Merry who starts bouncing more name ideas off of her. Heady is nearby examining the bodies.

“Hey Heady?”

“Hmm?” You glances up at you for a moment but never stops working. She digs a single claw into the chest of the monster and starts dragging it down making a long, jagged cut in its abdomen.

You move over to her and fumble through your pack to find your scalpel.

“Here, let me help you with that.”

The cut had ripped through the flesh straight down to the sternum where you could see a long scratch from Heady’s claw in the bone. You take the edge of the torn flesh in your left hand and delicately begin cutting away the muscle tissue, slowly pulling back it as you go.

“This only good for cutting away the flesh, if you want to check out his innards you’ll need to pull out the rib cage by hand. Or paw, I guess, or just go in through the stomach”

Heady nods and sits quietly, watching you work with a great deal of interest.

“Oh right, what I was going to ask was if you could tell me how you killed these little fuckers again. You said there was a pattern they kept using right? Figured it might be useful to know that before we meet more of them.”

Heady leans in a little to get a better look as you finish cutting the left side of the chest off and peel it back like the cover of a book. You switch the scalpel over to your left hand and start to repeat the process with the right half.

“They always would move in the same direction as one another, it's hard to notice at first but they all moved in a clockwise circle around their target, both I and the Merry. They also could only stay hidden for two seconds, another fact they hid well. Those that attacked would only stay hidden for one second before striking, so I only needed to wait until I could see the one light that blinked faster than the others to know which was about to attack and prepare to counter. Even when they became frenzied they still held to the same pattern, just with shorter pauses to hide.”

You peel back the right half of the torso and lean back. Heady then reaches in, grabs the rib cage by the sternum, and with pulls it out with a quick yank, breaking large pieces of the ribs off in the process.

“Now may I ask you something?”

“Sure Heady, what you wanna now?”

“Where did you learn to cut with such precision? I know you are no warrior, and you do not look strong enough to be a hunter either.”

“Oh that? All imperial clerics are trained in non-magical medicine before they teach us how to do it the magic way, so I'm a trained surgeon on top of all the cleric stuff.”

Heady's expression remains mostly neutral but you can see her brow furrow slightly in confusion. You guess owlbears just relied on their tribal shamans then.

“Basically I cut up a bunch of dead bodies in school so I’d know what makes them work. That way I could use that knowledge in the future to heal people better.”

She nods and turns back to the dissected corpse and starts pulling out the organs one at a time, looking each over in turn before setting it aside.

“You're not looking for more trophies are you?”

She shakes her head slightly, “I wish to know what makes them work. So that I can kill them more easily in the future.”

You stretch out a bit as you watch Heady study the viscera of her prey. You glance over to Merry and Nocta to see how they're doing. Nocta definitely seems to be in higher spirits, she looks to have brought back her Dark Avenger personality as she and Merry take turns making up dumb names for the monsters you all had slain.

“Hey Heady, I got another question for you.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“You mentioned your tribe earlier, when we met the captain, and it just made me a little curious about your name. Is there some kinda special meaning to it or something?”

Heady pauses for a moment before setting down the organs in her paws and looking you in the eye with her usual blank stare.

>>256913

“In our tribes we do not have ‘names’ as you put it. We have titles. When we are born, our mothers give us our first title, the one we are normally referred to by others. The first title is considered to be very special, as it tells us what our mothers believe we will become.”

“So if you don't mind me asking, what does your title mean? The Headtaker?”

Heady pauses again before continuing on.

“The Headtakers are hunters, but we do not hunt for food or pelts. We hunt to grow stronger. We seek out powerful prey that challenges us, then take a trophy to prove our victory to the tribe. The Headtakers normally become advisers to The Chieftain, especially in times of war, but otherwise live solitary lives always hunting for new prey. It is rare for a child to be given this title as their first, but my mother believed I would become an excellent hunter.”

You see the smallest hint of a smile curl up at the corners of her mouth as she absentmindedly strokes one of the trophies on her belt.

“Alright, what about other titles, you can get more than one right?”

“Yes, The Chieftain will award them to those who earn them.”

“Do you have any other titles?”

Heady pauses once more, the small hint of a smile disappearing as fast as it appeared.

“No. I only need one.”

Heady stands up and turns to the others.

“We have rested long enough. We should continue forward”

-----

After a short deliberation the four of you chose to follow the right path. Unlike the left path this one was marred with countless scratch marks across the walls and floor which had piqued your interest.

Heady leads the party forward with Merry close behind her carrying her torch, you followed behind her with your torch, and Nocta took the rear.

The marks are varied and show no clear pattern. On close inspection you find that there are shallow marks that look like they were made by the claws of the glowing monsters mixed with deeper cuts possible made with a blade, leading you all to believe at least one of the search parties took this path. The marks were heaviest around the start of the path but began to thin out the farther down you go until they stop after around a hundred feet. The lack of blood, bodies, or any other sign somebody had come through here worried you but you press on.

Occasionally you found a room as the path spiraled downward, the four of you check over every inch of them but found nothing. No scratches on the walls, no evidence of the other search parties, no more glowing creatures. The rooms were as barren as the captain said the fort had been when they arrived, and the deeper you go that emptiness only makes makes you more worried.

After what feels like hours of searching rooms and following the path further down you reach its end. A large iron door blocks your path with a wooden bar holding it closed.

“Okay I can't be the only one who thinks it's weird the door is barred on this side.”

“Stop worrying so much Dicky, you've been getting really jumpy.”

“Sorry but shits been really quiet after we killed those things earlier. I refuse to believe those little fucks killed three search parties and then some how disposed of all the bodies without a trace.”

“Caution can keep you alive, too much caution can get you killed.” Heady chimes in. She then reaches for the door and pulls the bar away, grabs the metal ring serving as its handle, and pulls the door open.

As the door swung open your torches briefly illuminated a figure standing in the doorway, right before it fell forward at your feet.

“FUCKING SHIT!”

You leap back in surprise and nearly knock Nocta off her feet.

Heady rolls the body over onto its back giving everyone a good look at the poor bastard. He was wearing the standard guild guardsman's armor. Plain steel gauntlets, greaves, breastplate, and helmet over leather and padded cloth. The breastplate was crushed in on the chest and covered in dried blood, an empty sword sheath hangs from his belt. The man has a plain face except for the curdled moustache under his nose.

“See Dicky, nothing to worry about. I knew we’d find one eventually.”

>>256914

Merry pokes the body with her foot before Heady grabs and drags it out of the doorway.

“It's unfortunate he died but not unexpected, we keep going.”

Past the door the the stonework of the fort gave away to a large natural cavern, and once again you could see the scratches made by the glowing monsters claws once again covering the ground and the walls around the door. The other side of the door was coated in dried blood and more scratches. The cavern itself was too large for your two torches to illuminate completely but you could see several more corpses nearby, this time of the monsters you met earlier.

“At least he didn't go down without a fight.”

‘’Thump’’

You turn around and see the door shut itself, the guardsman’s body somehow moved back into the cavern. You then hear the wooden bar slide into place on the other side.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

“I TOLD YOU THAT SHIT WAS FUCKED UP!”

You desperately try to pry the door open but it doesn't budge. For a moment you think hear somebody giggling on the other side of the door. No, it was probably just the fucking clown again.

“So what was that about being too cautious Heady?” You spit the words out like poison while giving the owlbear your best stink eye. She just shrugs and walks of into the darkness with Merry in tow.

“Nothing we can do about it now but keep going.”

Yep your gonna die down here.

The four of you explore the cavern a bit and find more bodies scattered throughout. Some monsters, some guardsmen, enough to make up at least one of the missing search parties. You found several tunnels going in different directions, all covered in claw marks but one, though looking down it you could see it was caved in. The most interesting find however was at the center of the chamber.

A massive figure made of stone kneeled in the center of the cavern. Rather than being carved, the figure was made of several slabs of stone held together with magic bonds you could barely since even standing directly beside it.

“Looks like a golem, the creator must be powerful to make one this big.”

“I-is it dangerous?”

Nocta looks up at the golem with fear in her eyes and trembles slightly.

“Not unless we trigger whatever trap wakes it up. You sense any other magic around here?”

“No b-but I don't think I even could…..”

“You could if it was nearby, even I could if I was close enough to it.”

Nocta doesn't respond, she looks up nervously at the golem again but follows the rest of you as you continue to search. With the main cavern explored you begin searching the tunnels, but each one you walk down leads to a dead end or tapers off until it's too small for you to continue. After searching the last tunnel you all return to the main cavern.

“Are we sure we searched every tunnel? There's gotta be some place we missed.”

You hear giggling come from your left.

“Something funny about this shit Merry?”

“Hmm? What are talking about Dicky?”

You turn to your right and see Merry giving you a confused look.

“BAHAHAHA! Aaaaaah why'd you have make me laugh?”

You spin back around to your left and see a glowing figure sitting on top off the golem at the center of the cavern. From a distance it looks like another of the glowing monsters but there was something off about it. Rather than the animalistic movements of the others this one was sitting calmly, a long tail the others lacked flicking back and forth. It idly clicks its long claws against the large stone serving as the golem’s head.

“Man I was hoping to bring some more playmates for you guys first but I guess this could be fun.”

You can barely make out it, or her it would seem, smiling at you wickedly through her glow and giggling at you.

>What do you do?

>>254903

Thank you! I was honestly a little conflicted on the fight scene but its good to see you enjoyed it.

>>256915

At least she can talk, what's her name? Other than that is she a monstergirl or one of the creatures that is just able to talk? As to what to do I say we keep her talking and hope we dont need to fight, speech implies sentience, which implies she won't use the same pattern as the other creatures did.

>>256915

>>256950

I'd say this isn't a bad idea. Try to keep her talking and get much information from her as we can. Warn the party not to hit the golem, that might set it against us. I guess right now we're playing for time. If worst comes to worst, I guess Nocta can try blasting her off the thing without hitting it. I just don't want to end up in a fight with a creature big enough to be wearing this lady like a hat.

>>256915

>>256980

Oh, and we should probably ask if anybody else heard her giggling before her reveal, seems odd that we're the only one to have noticed it.

>>256918

The opening with Nocta flipping out was hilarious, the action felt good and well paced, and you worked some characterization into each of the party members during the fight that made them all feel really distinct from one another. I'd call that good.

Ok.

Stay calm.

EEEEE-

“DON’T!” You quickly grab Nocta’s arm before the spell can fire. Thankfully this shocks her out of it and the shadows swirling around her quickly dissipate.

“BAHAHAHA! Ah, you guys are a lot more fun than the others were!”

The glowing woman disappears in the blink of an eye and reappears a moment later at the foot of the golem.

“All the others were so dull, ‘Aaah monsters! Save us! Oh gods what happened to Steve?’ uuuh, boring. And why are so many of you named Steve?”

Another blink and the woman appears a few meters away, slowly walking towards you. As she gets close the bright green glow surrounding her starts to fade. She stops just on the edge of your torchlight and her own light snuffs out.

She shares the same lithe figure as the other monsters but is obviously feminine compared to the androgynous builds the others have, a fact made very apparent by her complete lack of clothing. On closer inspection you notice her claws on her hands are shorter than the other monsters and the ones on her feet are more like curved talons. Her eyes have black sclera with an emerald green iris, and where the others were hairless a mane of matted white hair flows down just below her shoulders. Her tail was similar to a lizards in shape but is thinner and lacked any scales.

“Who the hell are you? Are you controlling those glowing things we fought earlier?”

“Eh, kinda? They don't always listen so good, ya know? I think it's the lack of ears.” She says tapping her own human-like ears.

“Oh and I don't really have a name, not in the human tongue anyway. Uuuh…..how about Sheila? One of the Steves kept yelling for them when the little ones caught him.”

She flashes you a wicked grin showing off a mouthful of razor sharp teeth.

You take a quick glance at your team. Nocta was still shaking beside you, though she looked better than she had before. Merry was watching the monster intently but was rocking back and forth on her heels like she wasn't worried. Heady looked calm and uninterested in the monster but you could feel the killing intent radiating from her, she was probably sizing up her skull right now.

“Alright Sheila, I don't want to fight if it can be helped.”

She cocks her head to the side and folds her arms under her breast.

“Aaah you don't want to play with me? Maybe you want to play with him instead?”

She motions with her head to the giant golem behind her.

“Just kidding! He's still tired from the last fight, it was kinda funny watching him chase the other guys.”

She points to the door you came in through and you remember the body that you left by the door, his breastplate completely caved in and covered in blood.

“So you killed the other groups? All of them?”

“Me? No. The little ones and the big guy here did all that. I just sat back and watched the show.”

“Where are the others then? We sent three parties in but none returned, we assume they're dead.”

“Well…..yeah probably. I wasn't really keeping count and the little ones dragged most of them away when they were done playing with them. They were probably just hungry though.”

“Why?”

She just shrugs.

“Like I said, they were hungry. A couple weeks ago a bunch of tunnels collapsed so they can't hunt much anymore, they pretty much live on spiders and centipedes these days the poor things.”

Oh for fucks sake.

Was this really it?

All the shit you put up with getting here and it's just a few monsters trapped in a cave starving to death?

At first you were worried about what Captain Kelly was doing to the guild bureaucrats above ground but now you're pretty sure her actions are justified.

“Okay let's make a deal here. You let us go back and we’ll make sure you and ‘the little ones’ get plenty of food. Hell if you want we can probably get some wild animals down here so you all can hunt them for shits and giggles.”

She rocks her head left and right as she mulls over your proposal. She turns away from you and starts walking away slowly, her hips swaying with each step and her skin beginning to glow again as she exits the range of your torches.

“I don't know, the little ones need to eat…..but I don’t think I’m done playing with you yet.”

>>265985

She turns and flashes you her wicked grin again and then vanishes.

“There's one exit out of this chamber, if you guys can find it maybe I’ll let you go. Better hurry though, the little ones are almost here.”

You hear a loud rumbling sound coming from the center of the chamber.

“Oh yeah, and the rock guy is waking up from his nap. Have fun!”

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT

“WE NEED TO FIND THAT EXIT NOW!”

All four of you instantly ran off in search of the exit.

You just wish you had all ran in the same direction.

Heady charges straight for the golem with a roar, Merry giggles and races off to left, and Nocta runs north disappearing into the darkness. You run to right passing by the golem. You didn't get close enough to see it but you hear Heady roaring and bashing away at it, a rumbling like a small earthquake sounding out with each strike.

You quickly begin searching the tunnels on this side of the chamber again but aren't having any better luck than before, and what's worse you can hear scratching coming from the small tunnels. It's distant, but steadily getting closeHOLYEMPERORSSHIT!

You collide with Nocta as she appears out of the darkness running at full speed. You hit the ground hard and get the breath knocked out you but otherwise feel alright, you look up to see Nocta laying on the ground rubbing her forehead.

“Please tell me you found something.”

You pull yourself back up then grab her hand to help her stand.

“Y-yes…..maybe…..I-I don't know…..”

She jumps nervously as another clash between Heady and golem rings out from the center of the chamber.

“Hey focus, what did you find?”

She points to the north end of the chamber “I could sense a path over there, b-but it's in the collapsed tunnel. I couldn't see anyway past.”

You grab her hand again and drag her along as you run towards the collapsed tunnel. You call out to Heady and Merry telling them follow you, Heady doesn't respond but you can see Merry’s torch on the other side of the chamber start moving towards the tunnel.

It doesn't take long to reach it even with Nocta stumbling every few steps. Merry is already there and waves at the two of you as you approach.

“Heeeeey, did’ya bring Heady with you?”

As if on cue a thunderous smack rings out and a moment later Heady tumbles out of the darkness. The owlbear stumbles back to her feet, brushes off her arm feathers, then turns to the three of you with her usual emotionless expression.

“We should run.”

A massive boulder slams into the ground in front of you kicking up a cloud of dust that blinds you. You raise your torch up high to get a better look and see another boulder stacked on top of it. And another, and another, and another…..

“That's a good idea.”

The four of you scramble into the tunnel and a moment later the arm of the golem crashes down, taking part of the tunnel entrance with it. A blast of air caused by the attack blows you off your feet, throwing you towards the rubble blocking the tunnel.

-----

You come to a few minutes later face down in the dirt with your entire aching. You groan, roll over on your back, and wipe the dirt from your face.

Well, at least you're not dead.

“Have a nice nap Mr. Sleepyhead?” Merry says and pokes your cheek.

Though you kinda wish you were.

You slap her hand away and sit up. The entrance is caved in but when you look down the tunnel you don't see the rubble blocking the path anymore.

“Huh, did Heady clear the passage? How long was I out?”

“Nooooope. Here, look look look.”

Merry grabs your arm and pulls you back towards the entrance then spins you around. The rubble had suddenly reappeared and you could no longer see The tunnel beyond.

“When you got knocked out we saw you fly through the rocks. Nocta freaked out and thought you gotten eaten by a Living Wall.”

“N-no I didn't!”

You take a cautious step back through the illusionary wall and see Nocta fidgeting off to the side, Heady is sitting next to her and looks seriously injured. You lean down next to her and quickly examine her, just from a quick look you find at least twelve broken bones and her entire body is one huge bruise.

>>265986

“Fucking hell you're banged up bad. Why the fuck did you think you could take on golem?”

She only shrugs which causes her to grimace.

“You know it doesn't have a skull you could take right?”

She opens her mouth to respond but pauses, a look of confusion slowly spreads over her face. You sigh and fish a health potion out of bag, uncork it, and hand it to her.

“Here, damage this extensive is too much for me to do at once. I’d pass out just fixing your bones.”

She takes the vial from you and downs the potion in a single swig. After a moment she grits her teeth and you see the bruises covering her body start to fade. Sickening pops come from her arms and torso as her bones reset and mend themselves.

“Ooh cool, this is almost as good as watching her fight the golem.”

You jump away from the voice talking in your ear and nearly trip over Heady's leg before catching yourself on the wall.

“BAHAHAHA! Aaah did I scare you?”

Sheila materializes in front of you holding her sides and lazily flicking her tail side to side.

“Anyone ever tell you you're easily amused by the dumbest shit?”

“Sounds like somebody doesn't want me to show them the way out.”

She flashes you her wicked grin again which is starting to get on your fucking nerves.

“Don't worry, I’ll show you. Will have to take the long way though since the big guy blocked us in here. I’ll even make sure the little ones don't give you anymore trouble.”

“Bullshit.”

Sheila just covers her mouth like she's suppressing another laugh then vanishes again. You feel a slight breeze and hear her claws clicking against the stone floor as Sheila runs past you down the passageway.

“You better keep up now, I’d hate for you all to get lost down here!”

All you can manage is a frustrated groan before picking up your torch and chasing after her, the others not far behind you.

-----

Fucking hells she's fast. Your legs ache, your lungs are burning, and you're sweating like a succubus in church confessional. It also doesn't help her voice echoes and you keep heading down the wrong tunnel then have to double back, which you're pretty sure she's doing on purpose.

“Come on, we're almost at the halfway point! You can rest when we get their!”

Emperor fucking save you.

After another ten minutes of chasing Sheila’s voice you hit a dead end.

You want to be mad but you're too tired to care at the moment and just flop down on the ground. It's honestly taking all your willpower not to fall asleep now.

“Heeeey no sleeping were not there yet!”

You look up and see Sheila’s head poking out of the wall giving you a dirty look.

Another illusionary wall. Great.

“Why the hell are there so many of these damn walls?” You grumble as you slowly pull yourself back to your feet.

“Dunno, some wizards put’em in a while back. You can ask Mama, she’ll know. Probably.”

“Wait who?”

She doesn't answer and just ducks back through the wall. You grumble again and follow her through the illusion.

The moment you step through you have to shield your eyes from the blinding light coming from the other side. You take a few cautious steps forward as your eyes try to adjust but the light only gets brighter as you go forward, which you now realize should have been common sense for you. Fuck it, you're tired.

“Sorry I'll go calm them down. Kinda my fault there all riled up anyway.”

You hear some loud hissing and the light dims to manageable level. You blink a few times as your eyes finally adjust and lead your party through the tunnel.

On the other side was an army of ‘the little ones’. You expect there's nearly if not a hundred of them running around. The chamber was a bit smaller than the golem’s and the entire chamber is coated in layer of a green moss-like plant. Looking around you see a few other demihuman versions of the monsters like Sheila just lounging around who are all looking at you now. You can't see their expressions from here but if they're anything like Sheila you don't want to know.

>>265987

“This is the Birthing Chamber, I’m sure you can figure out why we call it that.”

You can hear Merry stifle a giggle and you can practically feel the heat from Nocta’s blushing cheeks.

“This is also where Mama stays so it kinda doubles as her throne room.”

Shelia points towards the center of the chamber where another of the demihumans was sitting on top of a moss covered boulder staring intently at you all. She raises a staff and points it towards you, instantly the chamber falls silent as even the little ones stop and look in your direction. A low hiss echoes around the chamber and you see Sheila lose her confident posture.

“Ehehe…..I guess Mama isn't happy I brought home friends without asking. No worries! I'm sure she’ll let you guys pass through. Just don't make her angry and everything will be fine.”

Sheila walks forward and the horde splits apart to make a path for her. She turns and waves for you to follow her and not many other options you lead your party through the crowd towards ‘Mama’.

After dodging a few nips at your ankles from the monsters surrounding you you make your way to the center of the chamber where Sheila and ‘Mama’ are already talking in their strange language that just sounds like a series of hisses and growls.

‘Mama’ definitely stands out from her daughters. Where Sheila and the other demihumans have slender figures with small breast and slightly flared hips, ‘Mama’ was completely different. You're pretty sure her tits are bigger than Heady’s, thighs too. If it wasn't for the glare she was giving you you'd probably be unable to stop staring.

“I smell blood on you outsiders.”

Fuck.

“Tell me, why shouldn't I kill you?”

She points her staff at you again and you feel a wave of magic rush out of it, smoking later and the monsters surrounding you all took aggressive stances looking ready to pounce on you at a moment's notice.

>What do you do?

No excuses for the delay this time, just got lazy and kept forgetting about it. Kinda wanted to rewrite a few parts but I wasted enough time procrastinating on this I want get back into regular updates again.

>>265988

Well, fuck. Reading it over, we're the ones who actually attacked first with the other ones we killed, so let's skip saying that they started it.

Probably wouldn't hurt to apologize for the earlier violence, but the best reason that she shouldn't kill us is that we can arrange for food, which they apparently need. Might be worth explaining that they've been displaced if they don't already know that.

>>265989

I find that the wait is worth it. It doesn't hurt that you post fairly long updates.

>>265988

Take it's skull for the skull throne tbh

>>266094

>by the way are you the dude that proposed to have is adventure be set in aces cannon to fuck with him?

You mean the Barbarian/Warrior Quest guy? Nope, though you should check his stuff out if you haven't already his writing is top notch.

>if yes then do it, you might now write often but it is really good and would complement the cannon very well, you could say that your empire is set on a bigger island nation not far from the delenor mainland.

I love Ace's world but I don't feel that comfortable messing with it. That being said I'm not against referencing it, the whole Convergence thing means i can always steal a piece of Deleor if I feel like it.

>>266207

no i ment the guy that postet this >>263043

well so far ace seemd to enjoy people writing "fanfiction of his fanfiction" and some anons were thinking about expanding his canon.

Well talking worked last time. Explain that the last 3 groups all died and the little ones had an aggressive stance. Perhaps offer to speak with an official about bringing food down in exchange for peace or some other goods they may have/produce

>>266284

That sounds like a real mess waiting to happen.i love it

“I'm running out of patience human.”

Mama waves her staff again and the monsters take a step forward tightening the circle around you.

“Wait wait hold on! Like I told Sheila we can get you food and…..other stuff probably.”

“Who is Sheila?”

You immediately point towards the pale woman standing by Mama’s side. Sheila recoils from your accusing finger and Mama’s glare. The two of them then began hissing and growling at each other.

You use the brief distraction to turn back to your party.

“Ok be honest, what's our chances of surviving this shit? If she doesn't take the deal I'm pretty sure we're fucked.”

“You worry too much Dicky, it'll all be fine! This would be a pretty lame ending to the story anyway.” Merry says while idly scanning over the crowd surrounding you, apparently oblivious to the danger your all in.

Heady just shrugs and subtlety adjusts her stance and tenses her muscles. She's obviously expecting a fight, or rather she's just hoping for one. Nocta has wrapped herself in shadows in a failed attempt hide from the monsters but the bright glow coming from them has robbed her of most her cover so she's really just covering her face and pretending nobody can see her.

The two finish arguing and Sheila slinks away towards a room behind Mama’s throne. You're pretty sure she just got grounded and sent to her room.

“What authority you have to make such a deal human? You do not look like a Kingsman, though you share their love for killling.”

“First of all we’re sorry for that but let's be honest here these little monsters would scare the shit out of anyone if they popped out of the dark next to them, okay? And when something scares you like that you instinctively punch it in the fucking face. We just used claws and knives instead of fist.”

Mama doesn't look pleased with your explanation and shakes her staff causing the monsters to inch forward again.

“WAIT wait wait, we really are sorry about it! We made a snap judgement and assumed they were aggressive, we fucked up. So please, we would like to end this without any more bloodshed. Right guys?”

You turn around hoping to see your party back you up on this claim. Nocta is still hiding her face in shadows while Merry is staring off into space not paying attention. Heady looks a little disappointed but manages a nod of approval.

“See? And I'm sure the earlier groups made the same mistake we did. None of us came here to fight you we were all sent here on fact finding missions, nothing more.”

Mama leans forward on her boulder and leers at you.

“Fact finding? So you are spies then?”

“What!? Nononononono, we’re adventurers! By contract anyway. Your cave popped up in a Convergence and we've just been trying to figure what the hell is down here that's all.”

“You try my patience again outsider, what is this ‘Convergence’ and what does it have to do with Kingsmen invading my home?”

“Right, okay, well cutting out all science magic bullshit basically…..your home USED to be in whatever world the ‘Kingsman’ are from, but now it isn't. Your home was picked up and dropped in our world while a chunk of ours was dropped in the empty space you left behind.”

>>270875

Mama stares impassively at you as an awkward silence hangs between you, only the hissing and snarling of the lesser monsters filling the empty void. Finally after what feels like an eternity she leans back and answers.

“You expect me to believe that our home was torn out of the earth and taken to another world without us noticing?”

“…..Yes?”

The creatures seem to sense their leader’s rising anger and start clawing and snapping their teeth at the air between you.

Emperor save you. All you ever wanted was to have a little adventure before settling down, probably get a job at the Great Cathedral or some university. Now you were going to be eaten by weird glowing monsters in some forsaken hellhole in the middle of nowhere.

“Come on Dicky, if you want to play the ambassador at least play it well.”

Merry bounces out in front of you and strikes a confident pose followed up by a overly optimistic dramatic bow.

“Forgive us O’ radiant queen of the underground, but our manservant speaks the truth.”

Manservant?

“We come from a kingdom of a hundred worlds of which your home and your children have now become a part of. We know not how it is you have come to us but it is not a unique tale either, we seek only to help your people adjust to your new surroundings.”

Well it's nice to see the clown putting those acting skills to good use but you can't see how the shaman would be any more receptive to her pleas for peace than yours.

Mama leans back on her boulder-throne and fixes a stern gaze on Merry.

“If you come seeking peace why then do I smell my children’s blood on you and the large one?”

Merry responds by holding up one finger with a sagely expression.

“Tis true we spilt their blood, as our manservant said we believed it to be warranted.”

Again with the manservant shit, you're going to have to get her back for that later.

“Three parties of men of entered your domain and not one ever returned. Again I say your tale is tragic but not unique for not every home that finds its way to our kingdom hold happy families like your own. Nay, most bring horrible beast and abominations that devour all that come to them without question. Surely one as wise as thee can understand how we would be wary entering your home then after losing so many of our own families to your children's hunger.”

The monsters around you start calming down and Mama’s expression softens a little.

“Perhaps there is some truth to your words. What is your name outsider?”

Merry's face lights up with a huge grin as she bows dramatically again.

“Merry of the Holy Kingdom, and these are my compatriots, Heady of the Red Feathers Tribe and Nocta the dark mage. Of course you have already met our manservant Dicky.”

Yeah keep it up see if you get any heals bitch.

Mama stands up and waves her staff once more in a big sweeping motion and the chamber falls silent, the monsters surrounding you quietly start backing away.

“For now you are welcome here in our home. I will not tolerate any further transgressions against my children, is that clear?”

>>270876

“As crystal. If I may, is their a name we can call you and your children?” Merry says and follows it up by barely audibly mumbling “glowingghouliesglowingghouliesglowingghoulies…..”

“Our names do not translate to your language well, however the Wizardmen called us Brightclaws and the Kingsmen called us Anklebiters.”

Merry visibly deflates, then a massive pout spreads over her face. Even Mama is taken aback by the sudden change in the ‘ambassador’s’ posture.

“Is…..is she alright?”

“This is going to sound crazy but would you mind if, and I can't believe I'm saying this, we called your people Glowing Ghoulies?”

“…..I suppose that wouldn't be a problem.”

And just like that the pout was gone.

As Merry barely contained her glee you step around her to speak with the shaman again.

“Thank you for your hospitality ma'am and again I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot with the whole killing business. Would you mind if we rest here for while? Heady was beaten pretty badly by that golem outside and while her physical wounds are healed she still needs to rest.”

That's complete bullshit, Heady could probably wrestle a dragon right now but this will give you some time to question the shaman. You might be able to find that magic source the captain asked you to find. With any luck it's just some shitty little bauble of hers and you can finally put an end to all this.

---

Oh fuck you.

After speaking with the shaman she told you her tribe would often make deals with mages, in exchange for the mages adding magic defenses around their territory her tribe would safeguard artifacts for them. You were able convince her to let you take a look at the “vault” they kept it all in. On one wall were piles of magic tomes and scrolls, across from it a pile of enchanted amulets and armor. The room is filled with just about anything an aspiring wizard would ever need.

But the piece that worried you was in the center of the room. A suit of black armor with silver trimming knelt there on one knee. In its right hand it held a spear with a black metal shaft and silver head, in its left a matching kite shield. The whole thing was twice Heady's size so it easily towered over you but what worries you is it doesn't seem to be entirely…..stable.

Ghostly copies stretch off from the armor before snapping back and the whole set seems to constantly waver and ripple like it was just a reflection in a pool of water. Your no mage but even you can feel the massive aura of magic power emanating from the armor and Nocta’s uneasy reaction to it confirms this is what you were looking for.

“What the fuck is that?”

“They were brought in a few months ago, the Wizardmen gave us the rockman in exchange for allowing him to stay here in the vault room.”

Wait, ‘him’?

Well it was kind of hard to tell but if you look really closely you think you can see the armor’s chest rising and falling as if it was breathing.

“So there's a man inside that armor?”

“Yes, he did not speak when he arrived and has been like that ever since.”

You stare into the helmet trying to see the man underneath it but have no luck, but you get the uncomfortable feeling whoever is in there is staring back at you.

>what do you do?

>>270878

Try to talk to whoever is inside, if there is no response try to cast a minor healing spell on it to try and wake it up. All else fails ask the shaman if you can try hitting the thing or removing the helmet

>>270878

>>271018

I'm good with trying to talk to it, but why don't we ask Nocta if she can pick anything up from it first? She said earlier that she can usually sense people with her power, so she might have some insight. Also, she is actually a mage, so she might have some general knowledge as well.

Aside from that, fucking around with that thing feels like it would be poking a bear, and I'd rather we kept all our limbs on.

You wave your hand in front of the armored giant but get no response as you expected. The menacing aura coming from this guy was really starting to unnerve you.

“Nocta you're the mage, what the hell kind of magic is this?”

The living shadow standing next to you is hesitant at first but once she begins studying the giant her timid nature melts away. Though you expected her to start the whole ‘Dark Avenger’ shit again instead you see a new side of her, something that reminds you of the university academics pouring over old tomes in the library. Her eyes watch the man intently as small tendrils reach out of the shadows to probe him yet never actually touch him.

“So strange…..the magic surrounding him is like nothing I've ever seen. Um, well, what my master had seen. Most my knowledge of magic comes from her memories I retained when she created me.” She says while blushes. Seriously how does a fucking shadow blush?

“Magic is mostly defined by its power source, like how my shadowmancy draws energy from darkness or how Dick’s healing uses his own energy. This strange aura around him has no clear origin…..unless…..”

Nocta flick her wrist and another round of tendrils probe the giant again, her eyes light up and a look of surprise quickly spreads over face.

“Amazing…..this might actually prove her theory…..”

“Got something you wanna share with the class?”

“EEEP! R-Right, um, my master was a necromancer but that was mostly because she enjoyed the challenge of it. Her real passion was studying magic as a whole, specifically what ‘magic’ is and how we use it. Her theory was that most magic we use actually draws power from other dimensions that are in some way connected to us. Using myself as an example again my power wouldn't actually come from the shadows around us but from some ‘Plane of Darkness’ using these shadows as a conduit.”

The shadow girl starts pacing back and forth as she monologues, the shadows surrounding her trail behind her as she walks giving her an otherworldly look as if to help make her point.

“Her theory was mostly conjecture though based entirely on the Convergence Phenomenon proving these other worlds exist, however this man here might prove her theory. I think he's created some kind of cocoon out of raw dimensional energy, which far as we know would be like the building blocks of the universe, the foundation of all life as we know it!”

“Don't you think you're making a pretty big assumption there? You're talking like this guy has god-like power.”

“Eh? N-No no, this is all just wild theories, it's more likely harnessing dimensional energy is no different from typical magic. It would be like taking a small ember out of a raging inferno, still powerful in the right hands but mostly harmless. Hopefully.” She says then shoots a nervous glance at the armored giant.

Well, what can you do about this? Obviously trying to haul the fucker back up top is out of the question, and frankly you don't want to mess with this guy at all. The mission was only to identify the source so maybe you could just leave the asshole down here and just let the captain know about him once you were out of here. Still, you couldn't help being a bit curious about the stranger. You're no academic but this is obviously not something you see everyday. There was this one idea you couldn't get out of your head though. You wanted to see what your own magic might do to the giant, and going against the other voice in your head telling you not to you reach out and place your hand against the armored forearm of the massive knight.

Thankfully, nothing happens. The place your hand touches is no longer affected by the strange distortion but otherwise there is no change in him.

“Um Dick I d-don't think that's a good idea.”

“Yeah probably, but I gotta try something…..”

>>274103

You force your energy out through the palm of your hand into the giant’s forearm. You've never done this to somebody who you hadn't searched for injuries beforehand so you were a little lost as to what to do. You slowly start snaking the energy up his arm into his chest then spread it out through his torso, eventually spreading it out through his entire body. Without any wounds to heal the energy just sort of sits there so you use it to start poking and prodding around inside of him.

As expected of a huge giant, he has huge guts. His organs are all at least twice the size of normal men, as well as having three hearts and two stomachs. There are also a few organs you don't recognize. There's something else here, behind his lungs…..a tumor? No, whatever it is it's inorganic. Hmm, could be a-

He moved.

You jump back, breaking the connection between the two of you, as the giant rises slowly to his feet. The distortion becomes more wild and chaotic as he stands then suddenly stops entirely when he reaches his full height. The menacing aura has become overbearingly oppressive as he slowly scans over the room as the five of you stare in stunned silence. Well, three of you, a clown oblivious to all danger, and an owlbear who looked ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

”I seem to have overslept. You, mortals, be you friend or foe?”

“By the Emperor I hope we're friends.”

A chill runs down your spine and you feel a rush of magic wash over you.

”Hmm, foe it is then.”

“WHAT!? NONONONONO I said friend! FRIEND, ASSHOLE, FRIEND!”

You feel the side of his spear collide with your ribs before you see it. What comes next is mostly a blur. Heady charging forward, knives flying through the air, the shadows springing to life and lashing out.

And the giant shrugging it off without a care.

”Such a poor display. Save for you girl, A for effort.”

The knight casually says as he grips Heady by the neck, then tosses her to the side. She lands with a heavy thud and quickly rolls back to her feet to charge him again. The man turns to face her, ignoring the knives and shadow bolts bouncing harmlessly off his armor, and thrusts his spear toward her abdomen. Heady dodges to the side but it still grazes her abdomen. She doesn't even react as the spearhead leaves a long red gash in across her stomach and continues barreling forward towards the giant, dropping down to run on all fours to steady herself and gain a burst of speed. She lunges at his chest but he bashes her aside with his shield. The owlbear collides with a pile of books and disappears from sight for a few seconds before exploding out in a shower of tomes and scrolls to charge him again.

You try to stand but a blinding pain keeps you on the ground. Multiple broken ribs, almost guaranteed internal bleeding, and you're pretty sure you bit your tongue. At least you hope that's why you're tasting blood. You fish a healing potion out of your bag and chug it down, the taste is horrid like drinking strawberry flavored mud and burns your throat. The pain of your bones forcibly mending themselves almost makes you blackout. As you shakily stand back up you search the room for the others.

Merry has given up on her knife throwing and is digging through chest of enchanted weapons looking for something she can use, at one point finding a golden axe she likes, throwing it at the giant, then starts digging through the chest again with a frustrated expression. You're pretty sure she has no idea how magic weapons work.

Mama is nowhere to be seen, hopefully she ran to call her children to help.

Nocta has stopped her barrage of shadow bolts as well, instead she's gathering all her energy together for a single high powered shot. You've almost lost sight of her in the tide of darkness that has consumed nearly half the room as she pulls all the shadows together.

Ok, you appreciate her enthusiasm but you're pretty sure a blast that size will take out more than the knight. Like the whole fucking vault you're all standing in.

You try to voice your objections but she fires before the words can pass your lips. Rather than a shadow bolt, the darkness surges forward in a stream. The knight sees it coming but can't raise his shield as he's using it to hold back a very pissed owlbear so instead he thrust his spear into the oncoming darkness. The moment his spear’s head connects you feel a powerful wave of magic wash over you, his spear now once again rippling like water and Nocta’s shadow stream vanishes at its point.

>>274104

==”Hah, perhaps I spoke too early. It seems you have some fight in you after all.“

While keeping his spear level with Nocta's shadows he forces Heady back and slams her with his shield again and then uses the opening to grip his spear with both hands. The wavering effect doubles in size and the air around the spear starts to ripple and distort, forcing the stream of shadows back even further.

”A shame we're out of time, just as things were getting interesting.”

The rippling continues to slowly spread out from the spear until the knight is once again covered by it entirely. The colors of everything touched by the wavering air starts to distort, becoming more vivid and bright. Then everything starts to be pulled inward, like it was all being sucked into the head of a pin. There was a deafening boom and rush of cold air that knocks you back on your ass, when you look up the man is gone and the ground he stood on has been turned into polished green glass.

-----

“Alright let's go over this one more time.”

Mama had returned shortly after the knight vanished with the horde at her heels. She looked pretty shaken by the whole ordeal, guess she felt like the “Wizardmen” betrayed her by leaving that asshole with her and was happy to see he was gone.

The trek back to the cave’s entrance was long and dull, made extra annoying by Mama ordering Sheila to act as your guide. She was ecstatic to be ungrounded and to see the new world outside. She talked off your ear the entire way with questions about your world, though you have to admit you like her more as an excited kid then a sadistic bitch who nearly got you crushed by a golem for a joke.

Captain Kelly was relieved to see the four of you alive, but you're pretty sure that wasn't out of concern and was just because your safe return meant this clusterfuck of a mission was over.

“So the disappearances were caused by the displaced monsters, that much was expected, but you're saying that was caused by the monsters starving to death and the guild’s men attacking them first?”

“If they're to be believed, yes. While we can't speak for all of them…..”

You shoot Sheila a dirty look. She's being kept in the corner of the captain’s ‘office’ behind two legionnaire guards. She gives you a toothy grin and waves.

“…..their chieftain seems to be trustworthy. She also has telepathic control over all the lesser monsters so we know they can't do anything she doesn't allow them.”

“So she orders them to patrol their territory, they try to scare off intruders, the guild boys freak out and attack on sight just like you did, and they're forced to defend themselves.” The captain lets a long, frustrated sigh “Why am I not surprised this all comes down to the guild fucking up first contact again. It's just like the Shelfield Incident all over again.”

“The Shelfi-”

“Long story, classified. Let's just say integrating the Mindflayers was a lot more difficult than it should have been.”

Captain Kelly leaves her head sitting on the table while her body gets up and walks to a cabinet on the other side of the room. She pulls out a glass and a bottle of amber liquid, pours it into the glass, then dumps it into her neck before pouring another glass. You can hear Sheila trying to not squeal in delight at seeing a dullahan display her unique talents for the first time.

>>274105

“Securing a caravan of supplies won't be a problem, cleaning up a botched guild mission is nothing new to us but what worries me is the giant knight. You say he attacked first but disappeared just as quickly? If he's as strong as you say having a wild card like that on the run will be a problem. Our mages are trying to track where he went but the residual energy he left behind…..they've never seen anything like it.”

And now Nocta is squealing.

“Well, I thank you for your report and your service but I'm sure you would all like some rest and I have reports of my own to write. We’ve set up a few cots for you, these men will show you the way. You all look like shit so sleep as long as you like.”

You all stand to leave, the guards escort Sheila to the door and beckon you all to follow.

“Wait, not you eunuch. I have something else I'd like to ask you.”

Fuck, that's never good. You sit back down across from Captain Kelly’s head as her body walks back holding two glasses with the bottle tucked under her arm.

“Want a drink?”

Oh sweet merciful Emperor yes.

“Sure, why not?”

Her body sits down and pours you a glass then slides it across the table. You do your best to not snatch the glass the moment it's in reach and down it in one go but fail miserably.

Aaah, Brownville Whiskey. An imperial classic. You could use about ten more of these.

“Feeling better cleric?”

“Oooooh yeah.”

“Good, I thought you'd that after all this shit. I’ll me be frank with you, I was curious what brought an imperial cleric out to this shithole and on the guild’s payroll to boot. Had the guild mages call in you and your friend’s records after you went down. So if you don't mind me asking, how did such a prodigal student become a guild lackey?”

“Not a great story really, just a dumb kid looking for an adventure. And like a dumb kid I didn't read the contract before signing it.”

“You're shitting me, really?”

Her body sits as if she’s resting her chin on her hand, you're not sure if that's on purpose or she just forgot her head isn't on her shoulders.

“Yes, really. And I'm hardly a prodigy, I was fifth in my class. A prodigy would've read the fucking contract.”

“So what if I could fix that for you?”

“…..I'm sorry what?”

“Despite some hiccups you did good work down there. The guild has already written you off as dead, you go back to them they're not going to bother with the paperwork to bring you back to life. They have a secret group we call The Deadman Company, a bunch of poor bastards like you they throw at task deemed too dangerous for anyone else. You go back to the outpost they put you on a DC team and forget about all this.”

Her body pours you another glass before dumping what's left of the bottle down her neck.

“I can pull a few strings, make it so Richard Sanus never had a contract with the Adventurer’s Guild. You can return home to Watchtower, get back to your studies, I'm sure all the time you've spent out here left you a bit behind the others from your class.”

“What's the catch?”

“The Fourty-Eighth Legion could use a talented cleric, and we always do good by a patriot who helps his nation. That's why we're having this conversation.”

“So you free me from the guild contract and I start working for you?”

“Of course, fair is fair. What do you say eunuch, want to serve your country?”

>What do you do?

>New Spell

>Diagnosis - use your energy to examine a single target internally

>>274106

Hate leaving it on a binary choice like that but oh well.

First mission is finally completed, only took me 5 months to do it. Never intended for this mission to be the whole story like >>266094 thought so I'm sorry if this felt too short.

>>274108

The real question is if this would include our party. Since we went as a group, I'm guessing the whole party was written off? Sounds like we'd be treated as a little bit less disposable working for the Legion. So, find out if that's a thing, or if they'd even want to. Overall, I'd pick the option that let's us stay with our group.

>>274108

Shortcomings aside our team did some good work, if there is a chance to do so lets see if we can vouch for them to leave the deadman company. Else take her offer but not before respectfully bid farewell to our team and thanking them for the good work.

You want this. No, you need this. If the captain is telling you the truth this could be your only chance to break out of the guild’s contract, but something was nagging at you.

“You're only offering me this deal? What about the others?”

“What about them? The legion requires discipline, the shadow is young so we might be able to work with her but the owlbear is a loose cannon and the clown is…..well, a clown.”

Yeah you can't really disagree with her there.

“Still, I don't think this mission would have worked out so well without them. Plus having everyone stay alive was a nice change of pace for me.”

“Hmmm, is that so? I suppose I could extend the deal to them as well, if for nothing more than to spite the guild. However you understand this is no small favor you're asking of me right? I'm already pulling a lot of strings to save your ass eunuch.”

“I'm not a fucking eu-…..yeah I know captain.”

“Don't mention it, it's not like I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart now. Far as I'm concerned the more you ask from me now means the more you owe me down the line. So, anything else I can do for you?”

Captain Kelly flashes you a smug grin as she fixes her head back on her shoulders.

“Yeah no thanks I've made enough deals for one night. I'm gonna get some sleep and hope this doesn't bite me in the ass come morning.”

You stand and head for the door, the fatigue of a long journey and getting the shit kicked out of you finally setting in.

---

As the captain said one of the empty buildings had been made into a makeshift barracks for you and your party.

“BAHAHAHA! How do you guys sleep on these things!?”

And also for one annoying cave guide who was bouncing on one of the cots.

“Why are you still here?”

“Why not? It's not everyday I get to see a brand new world!”

“Technically we’re still on your world’s land. Fuck it, just don't try to kill us again and you can stay I’m too tired for this.”

“Oh come on it's not like you were in any real danger…..well mostly.”

She's full of shit but whatever, you need sleep. You drop your bag and fall backwards onto one of the cots. You close your eyes and try to block out Sheila’s giggling.

…..

You sense somebody standing over you. Just ignore it, they'll fuck off eventually.

…..

And now they're poking your face.

“Diiiiickyyyyy, you awake?”

“No fuck off.”

“Ha got you! Sleeping people don't talk!”

“Damn it what do you want Merry?”

“What did’ya talk about with the headless lady?”

You set up and open your eyes to find the clown inches away from your face. You instantly notice she’s shed her velvet top and the only thing covering her upper body is a set of bandages wrapped tightly around her chest.

“W-what the hell are you doing!?”

Merry looks confused but then follows your gaze down, then she looks back up at you with a smug grin.

“Oooooh what's the matter Dicky? Your face is all red, are you feeling okay?”

She giggles and inches closer to you, arching her back and biting her bottom lip.

“F-fuck off already, I'm trying to sleep here.”

She giggles again and hops back to sit on the cot next to yours. She leans back on her hands and starts ideally kicking off her shoes.

“So come on, what she say?”

“Hmm what?…..oh right, she offered to trash our guild contracts if we join the legion instead.”

That makes her perk up, as well as the others.

“And before anyone ask I didn't accept the deal yet, officially anyway.”

“Why not Dicky? I thought you hated the guild?”

“I do, I reeeaaalllyyy do. But I kinda wanted to wait…..so I could see what you all wanted to do.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW” Merry squeals and brings her hands up to her cheeks.

“SHUT UP, damn clown.”

Well that killed her mood. Good, maybe now you can have a serious talk with everyone.

“So, um…..what do you guys think?”

The room goes quiet except for the creaking springs on Sheila's cot. Heady, leaning against the wall, is the first to break the silence.

“Will we still get to fight?”

“Sure, don't know what the Forty-Eighth fight but there's always heretics to hunt.”

Heady shrugs “As long as there is something for me to fight then I’ll go.”

Merry jumps back to her feet “I'll go to if you promise to take me to the theatre, it feels like years since I've seen a play!”

“Fine fine, we’ll do that if we have the time.”

You won't, you’ll make sure of it.

The lights dim and you already know what's about to happen. You had hoped she was passed this but you guess that was too much to ask.

“If the minions of light are so drawn to the flame of the gods then I, the Guardian of the Abyss, will have to follow as well!”

Emperor save you why didn't just take the deal and run? Well, at least they’ll keep things interesting. That's probably not a good thing actually.

>>278431

“Ooh me to, me to!” Sheila yells and bounces even higher and starts to glow.

“Fuck no I'd feel safer with the golem.”

She pouts and glows as bright as she can to blind you out of spite. You rub your eyes and once they recover you see she's gone invisible, which is rather pointless as she's still bouncing on the cot.

Whatever, the three you cared about agreed to come with you so she can go back in her cave tomorrow. And you only cared about these three because they were able to stay alive…..probably. Fuck it, you need sleep. You lay back down and close your eyes again.

---

The morning was surprisingly fun. You told the captain your decision and she made a show of burning your guild contracts. Well, copies of them anyway. Then you got to see them force Sheila back in the dungeon. That gave you some peace of mind but you feel bad for whatever poor bastards get assigned to play diplomat with the ghoulies. The ride back to Pale Rock was even made more enjoyable by the bottle of rye the captain gave you as a “welcome to the legion” gift.

Truly, today has rekindled your lost hope in the world. Things we’re finally starting to look up.

Until your cart pulls into the stables and you see a danuki manager overseeing a supply shipment and nearly jump out of your skin.

Oh, right, this is the city of fluffy rapists.

Heady bumps your shoulder, snapping your attention back to your group.

“Where do we need to go?”

“Hm? Oh yeah…..”

You reach into your bag and pull out letter with a golden eagle pressed into the wax seal.

“We’ll need to get these orders to the local garrison to be recognized as new recruits to the legion. Until then we’re technically still guild stooges.”

You hop down from cart and look around for somebody to ask for directions. Unfortunately the Danuki is the closest to you.

“Uuuhhh…..excuse me!”

You walk over to the raccoon who looks up from the shipping manifest she's reviewing and smiles once she sees you.

“Well hello there handsome, how can I help you?”

“I just need some directions, you know where the local legion garrison is stationed?”

The danuki looks disappointed but happily tells you where to go.

“If you're in need of supplies do stop by my store later, I'll make sure you get a good deal.” She then gives you a wink then returns to her work.

You sigh and signal for to your party and they follow you into the town. As per the coon’s instructions you make your way toward the city center.

The city is chaotic as you seem to have arrived during the last minute rush of the city’s many export companies trying to get there wares shipped out on schedule. You see dozens of bushy tailed managers frantically shouting orders to larger demihumans hauling crates and sacks around. It becomes noticeably harder to push through the crowd of workers the closer you get to the city center. You're pretty sure a couple danuki were brushing up against you on purpose, a few oni and other workers to. For fuck’s sake how desperate are the women here?

You finally push through the crowd in the city center, where a huge bronze statue of an impossibly fat raccoon sits in the middle of a fountain in front of the city hall, you find a small building with the imperial eagle hanging over the door. The danuki fund the city’s defenses to protect their assets so the legion has never had a strong presence here. You push open the door and a bell rings announcing your entrance, a sleepy looking sheep girl sitting at a desk opposite the door looks up from a book she's reading.

“Hellooooo what can the legion do for you today?”

You wordlessly hold up the letter and she nods, or maybe just dozed off for a moment, and points you to the room to her left.

“Honeeeyyy, you have visitors!”

You hear the sound of papers flying and chair being knocked over, followed by muffled cursing. You walk into the office and find a large man sitting at an oak desk. You can only assume you just woke him from a nap as his blond hair is sticking up on the left side and there is a pencil stuck in his beard. He yawns into his hand and straightens out his red doublet before finally meeting your gaze.

“Hey there, Sergeant Hunt of the His Holiness’ Forty-Eighth Legion, what can I do for you fine folks?”

You pass him the letter and he looks it over briefly before he breaks the seal.

“Ah, looks like the captain’s mission bore fruit! And she picked up a few recruits along the way, eh?”

He gives you all a warm smile and stands up, spreading his arms out to greet you.

“Welcome to The Emperor’s Legions my friends! It's always great to welcome new patriots into our ranks!”

>>278432

Oh shit he wasn't greeting you, he's walking around the desk to hug you. He wraps his tree trunk size arms around you and pulls you into a bear hug. Your back pops loudly under the pressure, you slap his arm to try and tap out but he either doesn't feel it or ignores it. You feel like you're about to pass out when he finally lets go of you. He then repeats the process with the other three. Heady isn't bothered by it, figures, but doesn't look happy about it either. Merry looks fine up until he pulls her in then you have to keep yourself from laughing at her pained, bug-eyed expression. You're pretty sure Nocta made a shadow buffer to protect herself after watching him nearly break the two of you.

“Good to have you all aboard! ‘Fraid we don't have much work for you at the moment though, Pale Rock’s a pretty peaceful place after all. ‘Till then you can just enjoy yourselves while we get the paperwork sorted out.”

He goes back to his desk and opens the bottom drawer and pulls out four small shields on thin chains and tosses one to each of you.

“These are temporary badges ‘till we can issue you some real ones. Take good care of them now, only got five of ‘em. And I shouldn't have to tell you to be on your best behavior while you wear those.”

He waggles his finger at you like a parent disciplining a child but his smile never leaves his face.

“Uh not to be rude but the captain mentioned sending us to Watchtower…..”

“Oh don't worry lad it's all here in her letter, but ‘till we get this mess with the guild sorted out and get your papers pushed through you'll just have to sit tight. Don't worry though, with all the magic mumbo jumbo we use these days it shouldn't take more than few days. Tell you what, if you go see Annie out front we’ll give you an advance on your first paycheck to make your wait a little more enjoyable.”

He gives you a playful wink then sits back down at his desk and starts scribbling something on a blank piece of parchment. You can't tell for sure but you're pretty sure he's just pretending to work so he looks busy.you sigh and head back into the first room where the sheep girl, presumably Annie, is reading her book again and tell her what Hunt said.

“Aaaaaw that's so sweet of him. Just wait here a moment, okay?”

She stands up and walks down a hallway to her right. While you wait you look over the badge the sergeant gave you. It's shaped like a small bronze kite shield with the golden imperial eagle on both sides. A simple yet effective design to show the authority of whoever holds it.

“Never took you for a jewelry guy Dicky.” Merry says with a smirk.

“Fuck off clown, it's a great honor to work for the legion. Only a filthy heretic would disparage a holy symbol of The Empire.”

Merry mumbles under breath and you can feel Heady’s gaze burning a hole in the back of your head. Fuck her, you're not apologizing.

Annie comes back a few minutes later with four small sacks of coin.

“Heeeeere you go guys! Twenty silver eagles each, that's your first month's pay up front plus s little sign-on bonus. Welcome to The Bloodhounds!”

“The what?” Merry says while counting her coin.

“Every legion is divided into companies, battalions, etcetera. I'm guessing that's the name of our company.”

“Bingo!” Annie pulls out her official legionnaire badge, one side has the company's symbol, the head of a stoic white hunting dog facing the left with a drop of crimson blood in front of it’s nose. The other side depicts a woman’s head with an eerie green smoke coming out from under her chin and a silver sword lying horizontally beneath it. Wait, shit you recognize that symbol.

“Oh fuck the Forty-Eighth Legion is…..”

“Yep yep yep, you're now, or at least going to be, an official member of Saint Macaria’s Vanguard!”

Well, you guess it could be worse. SMV was the occult legion tasked with chasing down old legends, solving supernatural mysteries, and hunting heretics using dark arts. Now that you think about it's not that odd they'd be the ones sent to fix the bullshit the guild caused since they were selling it as a big mystery. Even so you're not looking forward to sleeping in haunted houses and hunting rogue mindflayers.

Nocta on the other hand looks ecstatic.

“Uh is that supposed to mean something?” Merry asks with a visibly confused expression.

“It means we will be hunting the unknown.” Heady chimes in, surprising you with her knowledge of the legion. Guess tribal education is better than you thought.

You thank Annie and lead the party back outside into the hectic streets. Well it looks you’ll have have some free time to kill, it feels like years since could just decompress an-

“Sooooo where to Dicky?”

Oh right, you still have these three. Well, you're sure they can't cause too much trouble. Surely.

>what do you do?

>Gained 20 silver

>Now aligned with Saint Macaria’s Vanguard

>>278433

We should find and inn where the group can bunk, and then celebrate. It'll be good to unwind a bit after what we went through. Let's be smart and ask the girls to please keep an eye on us though and to stick with them, since we nearly got screwed by a danuki once already, and now we're in a city of the fluffy tailed rapists.

Also, I love your characterizations for the party. It was nice to see it touch a bit more on Merry since I think she's had the least that I've noticed, which is still a decent amount.

>>278433

>>278449

I agree on the celebration. Find a place to kick back and have some fun with the girls. Our group definitely earned it.

Afterwards we can spend the next day taking a trip find that shop the danuki mentioned. Now that we're official members of the legion we should stock up on supplies. An equipment upgrade is probably in order as well, considering most of the party's gear got trashed in the dungeon.

“Well, I guess the reasonable thing to do would be to find an inn.”

You can see three inns from where you stand. The Red Ox, The Dreaming Dormouse, and…..

Bingo!

Gertrude’s Bed, Bar, and Breakfast.

I mean, sure, it looks run down but this way you can kill two birds with one stone. You push open the creaky wooden door to the dimly lit inn and make a beeline for the dirty bar covering the left side of the room.

“A-are you sure about this place Dick?” Nocta looks around the empty inn, using the abundant shadows to cloak herself “I think the other two inns we passed were probably just as good.”

“What are you talking about? This place is great, it's got…uh…..character?”

Whatever, you sit down on a barstool and look around for a server. You can't see anyone so you pull your cudgel from its belt loop and tap its bronze head against the bar.

“Oh? Is someone there? Hold on I'll be there in a moment!”

You hear a tapping sound come from a back room behind the bar then the door connecting the two swings open slowly. A short, blonde haired monoeye wearing a simple black dress covered by a dirty pink apron steps out and gives you all a warm smile.

“Hello I'm Gertrude, how may I be of service?”

Something feels off about her, it takes you a moment to notice but her big blue eye looks vacant and she isn't actually looking at you or your party just in your general direction.

“Oh, uh, we'd like to rent a few rooms for a couple days.”

“Wonderful! For how many?”

“For four.”

“Excellent, just one moment please.”

The blind innkeeper reaches under the bar and pulls out four keys, each hanging from a wooden tag with a room number carved into either side.

“Here you go, luckily we still had a few rooms available.” She softly giggles and hands you the keys “To be honest we rarely rent rooms, their mostly used be or nightly patrons who drink too much and need to sleep it off. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Uh, no thanks we'll just check out the rooms for now.”

Merry then plops down on the stool next to you with the smuggest look you think she's ever given you.

“Come ooooon Dicky, I thought you wanted a drink?”

“Uh, nah on second thought it's way too early in the day for that.”

“Really? That didn't stop you from drinking that whooooole bottle of rye on the ride in this morning. You were so thirsty you wouldn't even share it with the rest of us.”

Oh so that's what this is about you damn clown.

“It wasn't the whole bottle I only drank, like, a fourth of it. Half at the most. Ok maybe three-fourths but it was really watered down.”

The innkeeper giggles into her hand “If you would like a drink don't hesitate to ask sir. Our bar is open all day to our guests.”

“Well may as well now,” you shoot Merry a dirty look that only makes her smug level increase “I’ll just have a beer.”

The short monoeye bows her head and grabs a pewter mug from the shelf behind her and carefully brings it underneath one of the taps attached to the bar. She pulls the lever on the tap and you hear the sound of something pouring into the mug, a moment later she hands it to you filled to the brim. She then asks your party for their orders but Merry and Nocta just order a glass of water, only Heady chooses to drink with you.

“Here you are! Don't worry about paying now, I’ll just total everything together when you check out.”

You thank her again and gulp down half your drink in one go, sighing contently as you enjoy the peace and quiet you've missed for so long.

“Diiiiickyyyyy…..”

If only for a moment.

“What now?”

“I'm bored, let's go find a theatre. Ooh or a circus!”

“There aren't any.”

“Aaaaah…..hey Gertrude is there anything fun to do here?”

The innkeep tilts her head and taps a finger on her cheek as she thinks “There's a small gambling parlor in the business district, but I think it's technically illegal. There's also a fight club but They only meet at night.”

“Yeesh what kind of company do you keep Gerty?”

She giggles again “Most of my customers are old mercenaries and and caravan guards, they're old friends and acquaintances of my business partner.”

“We’re fine right here, just order a real drink and celebrate our freedom. Emperor knows when we'll get a chance like this again.”

“Oh are you all celebrating something? I think we might have some champagne in the back.”

“You know what? That sounds perfect. Bring us four glasses, you're all drinking too."

>>283743

You throw back your mug to finish your drink as the innkeeper heads back through the door she came from. You see her pick up a cane before the door closes then hear a tapping sound fade away as she moves farther away.

“Alright, so, I know I've been a bit of an ass but now that we’re out of the guild I'm hoping to change that. Believe it or not I was a nice guy before I got suckered into that contract.”

“Sooooo does that mean you’ll pay for the drinks?”

“…..fine.”

Nocta perks up a bit “Ooh can we go shopping? I saw an occult store earlier, I'd like to see what they have.”

Heady nods “I could use some new leathers as well, they barely survived our mission.” She raises her arm and shows you her side where multiple crisscrossing claw marks have left the leather strips covering her bust extremely frayed. It looked like they could break at any moment…..

Merry coughs to pull your attention from the owlbear’s leather-bound chest.

“RIGHT, ok, we can go shopping tomorrow and grab supplies and whatever. We could probably all do with a change of clothes anyway.”

Though as you say this you remember Nocta is made of shadows, black robes included. And when you look at Merry her outfit is surprisingly pristine. Even the the cuts and tears you saw during your mission have vanished, did she stitch those back up herself?

You hear the tapping of Gertrude’s cane as she returns and a moment later the monoeye appears behind the bar again carrying a green bottle and has a small bag on her waist that she pulls four wine glasses out of. She carefully fills each glass and hands them to you, then you pass each one down the line until you're all holding a glass.

“Alright, well…..here's to happier days ahead! Praise The Emperor!”

You punctuate your half-assed toast by gulping down the sparkling wine. It's not bad, but not that good either. The four of you spend the next few hours sharing the champagne and chatting with each other and Gertrude.

Merry quickly jumps on the opportunity to tell another epic tale of her past adventures with the guild but seems a little disappointed in the lack of audience. Heady then follows her act with an incredibly graphic story of how she got the Grimlock skull hanging from her waist. Gertrude looks surprisingly interested in her story, guess that's proof she wasn't lying about all her friends being old mercenaries. After the alcohol loosens her up a little Nocta starts talking about her life with her master. You're once again enthralled by her description of her master’s research, you're no magic scholar but it sounds like she was incredibly talented and was close to obtaining lichdom before her demise. You try telling a few stories yourself, this time avoiding the gruesome tales of your time with guild and instead focus on the happier times during your university years. Those stories go over a lot better, though when you mentioned the names of your old friends that ended up dying on your first adventure it seemed give the girls flashbacks to when you told that story on your first night in Pale Rock and they'd get real quiet. It was a good story dammit! Maybe it was the way you worded it? Hmm…..

As you're thinking of ways to to improve the tragic tale of how you joined the Adventurer’s Guild the door to the inn swings open.

“Yo Gertrude I'm back! Get out here and help with the groceries!”

A dark gray skinned woman stumbles through the doorway holding several large sacks in her arms that blocks her vision. Gertrude chuckles and walks around the bar to help her.

“No need to shout Rummy I'm right here. And be nice we have guests.”

The woman sounds surprised and quickly puts the sacks down to see for herself. You almost mistake her for a dark elf at first with her gray skin and pointed ears but the the little tusks poking out of her mouth and the obvious muscle mass show her to be some type of orc.

“No shit? You guys know there's a real inn just down the street right?”

She laughs at her own joke and stands proudly look you all over, like she's waiting for you to laugh too. She's wearing black leather pants with thick brown boots, a black sash acts as a belt and her torso is covered only by a brown leather vest that leaves her scarred midriff exposed. Her black hair is pulled into a single long braid and her eyes are blood red.

“Rummy I said be nice.” Gertrude sounds a little annoyed but otherwise ignores her friend as she carefully feels around inside one of the sacks before picking it up and carrying toward the back.

>>283744

“Sorry, sorry! I'm Rütgash, the bar’s co-owner. Gertrude let me set-up here a few years back to help her out since her inn was failing.”

“Rummy~” Gertrude calls in a sing-song voice from the back and the gray skinned woman jumps in surprise.

“T-that is she wanted to expand her business and graciously rented out this space to me!”

She looks nervously towards the door where you hear Gertrude humming a tune.

“Uh, well nice to meet you I guess. This is Nocta, Merry, and Heady. Oh I'm Dick by the way.”

“PFFFTTT DICKHAHAHAHA! What kind of name is that!?”

Fuckin’ knife-eared, big toothed little…..

“It's short for Richard, the fuck kinda name it Rütgash?”

She just shrugs and sits on the bar “It’s Uruk-Hai, we all got names like that. It’s why Gertrude calls me Rummy, says it's too ugly for me.”

“Well that and your weakness for rum.”

The blind innkeeper reappears and grabs another sack of groceries “Now are you going to help with these bags already or will I have to do it all myself?”

The orc immediately hops off the bar, grabs a sack, and quickly follows her boss leaving the four of you alone again.

“Maybe we should unload our gear in our rooms while they work?” Nocta says while standing up from her stool. Huh, she's not stuttering or making things weird. Maybe it's the alcohol? She does a bit more chatty, just like the first time you all came through this town.

You wordlessly stand up and head for the stairs across the room on the other side of the dining area and your party follows suit. Upstairs you hand each girl a key, taking room number one for yourself.

The rooms are plain, just a single cot with a chest to hold your things. There's also a shelf next to a small window with a nice vase of flowers. You throw your bag down and sit on the bed.

It's been a quiet day all in all. Merry’s been (mostly)behaving herself, Nocta is opening up a bit which means less headaches for you. And Heady…..well she's just Heady. You lay back and raise your left hand over your head. You move the energy in your hand around, shifting it between your knuckles, swirling it around in your palm, spreading it out like a spider web on your fingertips. For the last few years you've been little more than a walking health potion for idiots too stupid to live. You're afraid to jinx it, but you're getting excited to finally return home to the capital and do the Emperor’s work again. You had joined the church hoping to help keep order and remove heresy, of course, but once you started you became deeply fascinated with healing magic. Truth be told you're still little more than a novice with it. Graduating from the university really only proves you can use basic healing spells and your time with the guild has put you far behind your old classmates. Still, you feel there's a lot you can do with this power and you can't wait to return to the university archives and see what new tricks you can learn.

You hear a knock at the door and Nocta pokes her head into the room.

“H-hey, we were going to go back downstairs and get something to eat. You hungry?”

You clench your hand into a fist and feel the energy return to its natural state and let your hand fall back to your side.

“Yeah sure, I'll be there in a minute.”

You roll off the bed and stretch out and walk over to the small window and peek outside. The streets were starting to empty out with the setting sun. Looks like the day kinda got away from you. You lock the door as you head downstairs to join the girls but that's a little harder than you expected as the once empty dining area has suddenly filled with rowdy mercenaries and caravan guards. You finally spot them at a table by the bar and worm your way through the crowd.

-----

Oh, your head…..

The fuck happened last night?

You remember eating dinner with the girls…..then having a few more drinks…..

Oh then there was that guy the bought you a couple shots. Then the other guy who bought you a beer. Then the demon girl who bought you a few drinks. Fucking hell how much did you drink yesterday? How are you still alive!?

You lazily roll out of your bed and rub your pounding skull to try and chase away the hangover but that just pisses it off and the throbbing pain gets even worse. You're buck naked, thankfully you have this room to yourself so it's not a big deal. You find your clothes on top of the chest. Though it does kind of worry you they've been washed and neatly folded.

BANG BANG BANG

“DICKY TIME TO WAKE UP!”

Fucking clown did that on purpose.

>>283745

You throw your robes on and head for the door but stop when you feel something slip down your pant leg and hit the floor with a metallic clang making you stop to pick it up. Huh, looks like two chain links twisted into hearts. Oh right the demon girl gave you this last night, she was a chain devil. Wait shit you didn't make a contract with her did you!? No, no, if you did you sure as hell wouldn't have woken up alone. You throw the, what is this thing a charm?, into your bag and head downstairs.

“Mooooorniiiiing!” Merry waves to you with a smug smirk.

“Clown.”

“No bullying.” Heady chimes in. The girls are all waiting for you by the inn’s door.

“Come on Dick, you said you'd take us shopping!” Nocta says with surprising enthusiasm. Your now very aware of the fact you're the only man in a group of women.

“Okay were to first?”

“Clothing first, then the Nocta wishes to see the magic shop.”

Of course they'd choose clothes first.

“Right then, let's go. You guys even know a good tailor around here?”

Merry's eyes flash with a predatory glint “Don't worry Dicky I found the peeeeerfect place!”

Oh shit.

-----

OH SHIT

Silverleaf’s Tailored Goods.

Merry drags you through the door into the spacious shop filled with racks of clothes ranging from cheap linens for commoners to fine silks for the upper classes. Even a few leather armor pieces here and there. Actually now that you look there's a lot of adventuring gear for sale here too, kind of odd for a tailor to have a stock of grappling hooks.

“You came! I was worried you weren't going to take my offer.”

The danuki you met yesterday appears from behind a clothes rack.

Shit.

“Um, yeah the girls here wanted some new clothes so I'll leave them with you and-”

“Oh don't be silly!”

She snaps her fingers and suddenly three girls with big floppy mouse ears burst out of nearby racks with tape measures in hand. They surround the girls and take their measurements with blinding speed before grabbing them by the wrist and dragging them off to different corners of the store before they have a chance to protest.

“Now, while they help your friends I can see to you personally.”

SHIT

The danuki walks over to a mirror and motions for you to follow her. You briefly consider making a run for it but decide against it and follow her.

“Would you mind taking off the robe? It will make it difficult to take your measurements.”

“Well uh…..I'm not exactly wearing anything under them.”

The danuki’s face goes red as a tomato and she tries to hide her face behind her tape measure.

“WAIT SHIT I mean I don't have a shirt on! I'm wearing pants I swear!”

“O-oh well, let's see…..” she turns to a neatly folded stack of shirts and grabs a plain white one of the top “This should do for now, it will be a little loose but that won't matter.”

She turns around to give you some privacy while you change, though you still swear you feel little raccoon eyes on your back as you strip off your robes.

“Ok now let's take your measurements, is there any style in particular you're looking for mister…..”

“Dick”

There's a moment of silence, and you're pretty sure you heard a laugh being muffled in a fluffy tail.

“Sorry, is there anything particular you're looking for Mr. D-Dick?”

“Not really no.”

“That's fine I'm sure I can think of something that suits you. Alright then let's get to work!”

---—

Well that could have been worse, other than some wandering hands on the tailor she was very professional. The whole outfit only cost you around five silvers, she wasn't kidding about giving you a good deal. Of course you're also weary of this being a danuki trick but their was no paperwork so you think you're in the clear. You look over the brown parcel holding your new outfit one more time when the girls finally return.

Pfffft

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?

Nocta does her best to hide her face, but that does nothing to hide the ridiculous black and white gothic lolita dress she's wearing. The skirt is so poofy it's almost sticking straight out to her sides. Not to mention it's so short it doesn't even reach her knees. Though she does have nice legs…..

Heady wears her usual blank expression but you can feel the murderous aura coming from her. They've forced her into some lime green monstrosity of frills and ribbons, complete with a matching ribbon in her hair. The whole thing is made even more ridiculous by her trophy belt of skulls still hanging around her waist.

>>283746

Merry is the only one who looks happy at all as she skips up to stand between the others and strikes a confident pose. She's wearing a red and gold top with matching jacket and a red skirt. Even her makeup has been changed with ruby red lipstick and a little heart on each cheek. At first you thought she was the only one with a reasonable outfit until she pulls a big floppy hat out from behind her back with a rose in the brim and puts it on.

“P-please stop looking, this is too embarrassing…..”

“Yeah no way this is too funny.”

“Look. Away.” You feel the aura of death surrounding Heady grow stronger.

“I'll just wait outside.”

A few minutes later the girls join you outside. Heady refused to buy her’s and only bought a bunch of leather strips she used to fashion a new top for herself. Nocta and Merry bought theirs, but after Nocta covered herself completely in shadows again you couldn't even tell she'd changed.

“Right then, still want to see the occult shop Nocta?”

She nods, but can't seem to bring herself to look at you.

“Alright let's go, the faster we get this shit done the better.”

-----

You have no idea how she saw this place yesterday. The building is squeezed between one of the inn’s you passed over and a pottery shop, it's so tiny the building is barely wider than its doorway. The only thing that lets you know it's a store is the wooden plaque over the door with a picture of a fuming cauldron.

“There's something very familiar about this place, I think my master must have been here once before she created me…..”

Nocta takes the lead opens the door and you all follow her in. You're immediately stricken speechless as you enter. By some kind of enchantment this tiny, alleyway sized building on the outside was actually a huge two story building on the inside. The store is divided into various sections from alchemy ingredients to fucking flying broomsticks, and the entire second floor looks like a library of magic tomes and spell books.

“Holy shit it's like a magic store of holding.”

“Ooooh broomsticks! You think I could ride one of those, or do I gotta be a wizard first?”

You turn around and see Merry messing around with a very expensive broom.

“Eh, I'm sure you need to know some magic to work it. And I know you're no wizard.”

Merry scoffs and shoots you a look of mock offense “And why not?”

“Well for one you'd have to be a virgin.”

“And who said I'm not!?”

“…..Fair point, you’d have to catch a man before he ran away first.”

Her face flashes with shock for a second before settling in a smirk. Heh, looks like you actually out smartassed the clown.

“Careful Dicky, I know where you sleeeeep~”

Or maybe not. You're gonna make triple sure the doors locked tonight, you doubt she’d try anything like that on you but you wouldn't be surprised if she tried to prank you while you were out. Hey,

wait a minute…..

“When the hell did you change back into your old clothes?”

She just shrugs and goes back to playing with the broom “the door was small I thought they'd get caught on something.”

That doesn't…..fuck it, if you keep asking questions you know you're only going to get even dumber answers.

You leave Merry, whispering a quick prayer to the Emperor she doesn't break something expensive, and start wandering the store. After a few minutes you run into Heady, staring intently at a human skull covered in runic sigils that faintly glow with magic power.

“You know they probably carved those into it after they took the skull right?”

“Of course. I'm just wondering why they would mark their kill in such a complicated way.”

“Nah, the poor bastard was probably long dead before they found him. Things like that usually come from grave robbing amateur necromancers.”

She looks the skull over again with a small hint of disgust creeping into her expression before turning away from it to browse the other artifacts. Hm, you never expected the girl you watched peel a monster’s head like a ripe orange would take issue with such things. Must be that tribal mentality or something.

>>283747

Wandering the store again you ascend to the second floor and look through a few of the books. Hydromancy For Dummies, The Alchemist’s Cookbook,Miss Lovely’s Guide to Seduction Magicks, etcetera, etcetera. Ooh here's something good, Healing Arts and Other Bullshit. Yep, this was definitely written by a fellow cleric. You flip through the aged yellow pages and find details on a number of spells and rituals, though some of it is so faded you can't read it very well. The price is surprisingly cheap so you tuck the book under your arm and continue on.

While browsing you find Nocta tucked away in a dark corner reading a black leather bound book.

“Fine something interesting?”

The shadow girl jumps nearly a foot off the comfy chair she's sitting in and barely stops herself from dropping the book.

“S-sorry, I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings.”

“No worries, must have a good book then?”

“Hm? Oh right, yeah it is. I think I'll buy it.”

Nocta carefully shuts the book making sure she doesn't crease any pages and scurries off down the stairs. You quickly steal a glance at the book as she walks past you to see what she's been reading.

The Origins of Magic by A. Kilgrave

Hmm, sounds like the stuff she was talking about in the cave. Might be interesting to borrow that sometime. You keep looking through the shelves but nothing else catches your eye so you head downstairs and rejoin your party that have all gathered by the front desk being manned by a clay golem. You and Nocta ring up your books, only costing you half a silver and her five. Merry tries to buy one of the broomsticks but they're way too expensive and Heady buys a little paper charm meant to ward off evil spirits for some reason.

“Alright everyone done shopping?”

“Come ooooon Dicky it's still early! We’ll find a blacksmith or something, guys like that right? Oooh or a sweets shop!”

Emperor save you, how did you get stuck in this situation?

…..

Well, you guess it's still an improvement so you don't really have much to bitch about.

“Yeah fine, let's get moving then.”

You stick your new book in your bag and head down the street with your party in tow. A blacksmith huh? Well you're legionnaires now may as well look the part, though you doubt you can get anything too fancy with fourteen silvers.

-----

After the girls finally had their fill of shopping you returned to the inn for lunch. Once you'd finished eating and chatting with the innkeepers you decide it's about time you checked with the sergeant and see if the paperwork was done, which it wasn't but he assured you it should be finished by tomorrow night. With nothing else to do you start heading back to the inn. Business for the day seems to be winding down, you're sure it'll be busy by the time you get there. A few blocks from the inn, just past the occult shop, you hear a rustling from a nearby alleyway making you stop for a moment and look down it.

That was a mistake.

You eyes met with a familiar danuki, covered in dirt and grime digging through a trash bin. She quickly recognized you and a look of manic glee spread over her face.

Oh don't worry girls, I won't be gone long! No no you don't have to tag along I'll be fine! What's the worse that could happen?

The crazy danuki takes a step towards you and you take a step back.

You fucking idiot, a few good things happen and you throw caution to the wind. THIS IS WHY YOU CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

Before you can turn tail and run the coon leaps forward and latches on to your ankle with a death grip.

“HUSBAND!”

>what do you do?

Additionally:

>What outfit did you buy?

>What else did you purchase while you were out?

Few bits I probably should have went back and rewrote but whatever, I take too much time as it is.

Also, I'm going to try and make an effort to stay active in this thread between updates instead of staying completely silent for weeks on end, so if you have any comments or criticisms please feel free to post them.

>>278449

Thanks for the feedback mate, and I'm glad to see your enjoying it.

Throw a coin down the alleyway hopefully her jew instincts will overpower her danuki ones allowing us to flee.

>>283749

Well, I guess we should help her. It's kinda our fault she's like this isn't it?

>>283749

I say we got a short sword. Nothing fancy but something to atleast let us protect ourself.

>>283749

>>283780

I say go with the coin toss, or some other distraction if that doesn't work. Going by the last time we dealt with this lady, we managed to run for over five minutes without her catching us, and our inn is only a few blocks away. So, get clear of her, group up at the inn.

I'll give the outfit and gear a think and see if there's anything I can add. A short sword like >>283875 mentions seems reasonable, though.

I do have some hopefully constructive criticism though. I'm not sure how you handle suggestions, but back in >>278449 , I recommended that we make a point of sticking with the girls so we didn't get fucked up by danuki or anything else, and nobody disagreed with that course of action. In story though, we split up, and now we're in a much worse situation because we have no backup, which is something I explicitly tried to account for. Either way, I fucking love this CYOA, and I was really happy with the huge update. I'm amused that Dick is almost begrudgingly distracted by the sexy where the girls are concerned, and it's nice to see them all starting to really open up to one another.

>>283998

Honestly I just forgot that part of your post by the time I got to the end of writing this update. I apologize for that. I'll take better care not to fuck up like that in the future. And thank you again for the kind words, I always feel like the character writing is my weak point so its good to hear somebody enjoys it.

>>283942

I go with what this anon said, let's see what happened to her, maybe if we help her she let us alone.

>>283749

Gave it a think, and the end result is that I don't think I'm good at picking shit out.

>outfit

Some nice dress clothes are all I can think of.

>other stuff

I've got nothing aside from making sure we're stocked up on the basics, and the short sword from >>283875 still sounds good.

Okay, there is no need to panic.

“EMPEROR’SFUCKINGSHITGETOFFMYLEGASSHOLE!” You shout while flailing your leg around attempting to shake off your fluffy tailed assailant.

The little coon holds on for dear life with the finger strength only a penny pinching Danuki could possess.

Wait, that gives you an idea.

You fish a copper coin out of your pocket and toss it down the alley. Her grip loosens as the shiny coin sails over her head and you take the opening to yank your leg free. You watch the dirty danuki carefully, she's still close enough to grab you again but if can get a few steps between you while she's distracted you should be able to leg it.

The raccoon loses all interest in you however and takes off down the alley, digging through piles of garbage frantically in search of the coin.

HA! Dumbass danuki! Alright now you need to get the fuck out of here while you have a chance…..

You watch the danuki dig through the trash frantically searching for the copper coin. Fucking hells, what could have happened to reduce her to this in just a couple days? I mean, yeah she tried to rape you and you're still pissed about that but this is just such a pitiful sight.

You argue with yourself for a minute as you keep watching then finally sigh and walk down the alley. You pick the coin up from the gutter next to the crazy coon, the shine on the metal quickly grabs her attention and she lunges for it. You pull your hand up and she flies past you landing in another pile of garbage. For fuck’s sake lady…..

You carefully inch closer to the danuki who is laying on her back in the trash now, arms and legs splayed out to her sides. She stares vacantly into the sky with a look of utter defeat. Seems she's regained at least a little bit of her senses.

“Hey, danuki.”

She slowly looks over to you “You're still here? What, you want to laugh at me too?”

“Maybe a little. The fuck happened to you?”

The danuki just groans and rolls over. You jab her with your foot making her groan again and peek over her shoulder at you.

“You hungry?”

Her stomach growls loudly in response.

“Fucking hells…..look come with me and I'll buy you a meal. As much as it pains me I can't leave you here like this.”

She looks like she's about to protest but her stomach growls again even louder so she just stands and meekly follows you back to the inn.

“Yo welcome back Di-whoa the hell happened to you lady?”

The orc bartender stops lazily wiping down the bar to gawk at the filthy raccoon behind you.

“Eat a dick Rummy, and while you're at it grab something for her too.”

You guide the danuki to a table while the orc heads to the kitchen.

“I never did get your name. You know, during the whole attempted rape thing.”

“Goldie.”

Figures.

“So how the fuck did you turn into a dumpster diving hobo in just a couple days?”

She winces at your words and hangs her head in shame before answering.

“I told you my competitors were making moves on my company right? Well seeing the head of the company frantically running through the streets trying to rape somebody into marriage was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. After that they threw out all subtlety in trying to take over and completely dismantled my company by the end of the next day. Bitches must have been waiting for a moment like that all along to screw me.”

Rummy comes back out and drops a plate in front of Goldie who quickly starts stuffing her face.

“Then they used some legal loopholes to tie my personal assets to the companies so they could take all my money with it. And my house.”

“You're not telling the full story here, I can't imagine the other danuki would be that aggressive in taking you down just because you're not married.”

She polishes off what's left on her plate while trying to avoid eye contact.

“I might have shit talked them a bit when I first moved here.”

“And?”

“…..And I might have used some dirty tricks to steal business from them to establish my company's brand. Mage Stone is a cutthroat business okay? You have to be aggressive if you want to come out ahead of the competition!”

“Just how aggressive we talking?”

“Uh, what would you call political blackmail? An eight out of ten?”

>>288986

Shit lady, no wonder they all hate you. You sigh and scratch at your chin.

“I thought danuki were supposed to be smart?” Rummy chimes in, having given up on her cleaning and just eavesdropping on your conversation.

Goldie takes exception to this “I am smart! I started working in my momma’s bank when I was only four!”

“Really? In what position?”

The danuki pauses, then slumps over the table and buries her face in her arms “Momma’s paperweight.”

You sigh heavily and lean back in your chair. This was getting depressing but you couldn't bring yourself to feel sorry for the raccoon woman. Between the shit she put you through and the shit she's pulled with the other danuki she's brought this on herself. Still, you guess as a holy man you're supposed to help people in need or something. Unless…..

“Hey, random question but are you a heretic?”

“Eh? No.”

Damn it.

“Ugh…..fine, I'll help you.”

Goldie looks up at you confused “What?”

“As an agent of the empire I cannot turn my back on someone in need, yadda yadda, some shit like that.”

She frowns and buries her face again “I don't need your pity rape bait.”

“Too bad bitch because you're getting it whether I like it or not.” You slide a silver eagle across the table “That's to pay for the food and rent a room for the night, I advise you take the remainder and get the hell out of this town before one of the other danuki decides to take your tail as a trophy.”

Goldie stares longingly at the coin but stops herself from snatching it up, a bit of that danuki pride returning to her expression.

“No, a danuki accepting charity would be even worse than digging through the trash for food.”

“Oh for the love of-fine, then just work for it then. What can you do for me that's worth a silver?”

“Well I can think of one thing tha-”

“Not a chance trash rapist”

She grumbles with frustration “Then I've got nothing to offer you.”

“…..Then how about you trade it for your gold?”

The danuki’s swishing tail freezes and stands up straight “W-what are talking about boyim?” She hisses.

Heh, you weren't expecting that to actually work. You're sorry you ever doubted those Keket priests.

Rummy looks back and forth between the two of you confused “Gold? I thought she was a hobo?”

“Oh you didn't know? Every danuki has a little bag of-”

Goldie quickly grabs the coin from the table and and bows repeatedly “T-thank you! Thank you kind priest for your generosity! I am in…..” Her face twist in disgust as she practically chokes on the words “I am in your debt.”

Oh this should be good.

You ask Rummy to show her to the wash room so she can get cleaned up and turn towards the stairs. Immediately you notice Heady waiting by the landing, her piercing black and yellow eyes lock with your own.

“I smelled danuki. I told you we should have stayed together.”

“Yeah, yeah you did. I don't think we'll have to worry about her now though.”

She glances over to the dirty danuki being ushered away by the orc bartender and nods

“Possibly, can you be sure she won't try anything again?”

“No, but a danuki always pay their debts. To them being in debt is incredibly shameful and they'll do anything to get out of it.”

“Then would that not mean we need to keep a closer eye on her? If she would do anything why would she not try to force herself on you again? Or worse?”

“Because now I’m not going to be an idiot and walk off alone again. I'm sticking to your side like glue until we are far outside of this damn town.”

Her expression doesn't really change but you swear you see the smallest hint of a smirk form at the corner of her mouth.

“That's good, The Dick is finally using his head.”

Damn it is the clown rubbing off on her? No, she probably didn't even mean it like that.

“Anyway where's the other two? I wouldn't expect them to sleeping so early.”

“The Nocta is reading in her room, The Merry is in the kitchen with our host, she offered to teach her how to cook.”

“Really? How the hell did that happen?”

Heady shrugs “They got into a discussion about ‘knifemanship’ and eventually ended up there.”

You run out of things to talk about and just standing there awkwardly with her for a minute, then the two of you head upstairs silently and retire to your separate rooms. With nothing else to do you look over your spoils for the day.

>>288987

The outfit you bought was simple, yet still a step up. Clean white tunic, black button-up vest, matching black trousers, and black canvas shoes. Probably best not to wear these while traveling or on a mission but they'll be a lot more comfortable then you robes when you have some more downtime. Though you think the danuki cheaper out on the materials, would explain why they were so cheap. No way this vest is genuine arachne silk.

A steel shortsword lay across the trunk in a simple leather sheath. It wasn't anything fancy but it would get the job done. You know clerics are supposed to use maces and shit like your cudgel, something about it being good for bashing undead or whatever, but you feel safer with a trusty blade on your hip. Even if you had no idea how to use this thing.

Beside the essential traveling rations and a few more healing potions you only purchased one other thing which you pick up. You flip open the yellow pages of the old book to read the introduction.

Greetings to whichever asshole finds this book. My colleagues in the academy are starting to hound me about not working hard enough so I’m writing this book to prove them wrong. Or to just pretend to be busy, I haven't decided yet.

Well at least it won't be a dry read. You turn the page to see the table of contents.

''Chapter One: Controlling the flow of your energy

Chapter Two: Controlling the flow of other’s energy

Chapter Three: Maximizing your potential

Chapter Four: Ideas for defensive applications

Chapter Five: Ideas for offensive applications

Chapter Six: Misc. ideas and applications''

You've got nothing else to do so you flip open to the first chapter, seems like basic stuff but it'll kill some time.

Alright asshole, I bet you thought this chapter was going to retread the basics right?

Well he's got you there.

Wrong! I'm going to get into some advanced techniques here some little novice like you could never handle.

You swear if this is just those stretching exercises you learned in your second year…..

So first, gather energy into your hand. Enough to cast Minor Heal should do.

Done.

Now run that energy up your arm, across your torso, and to your other hand.

Ok…..done.

If that took you longer than half a second you're too damn slow. Keep doing this exercise until you reach the correct time, loser.

Damn it. Fine, you've still got time to kill, may as well kill it improving yourself.

-----

After doing exercises for a while you rejoined the team for dinner.

Despite what you told Heady you still slept with one open. And a chair jammed under the door’s handle.

You were awakened in the morning by your legionnaire badge buzzing loudly just like your guild badge would do. You gather your things and head downstairs, you all have a quick breakfast and settle your tab with Gertrude while turning over your keys.

“Thank you for your patronage Mr. Dick, if you find yourself in Pale Rock again do come see us again!”

You smile and nod to her as you leave, joining your party outside.

“Not going to bring your fiancé with us Dicky?”

Every time you think this clown’s smile couldn't get any smugger she proves you wrong again.

“No, and if I never see a danuki again it will be too soon.” You say as you walk past a group of danuki who give you dirty looks. Fuck’em.

You hurry ahead to the legion building, ready to get the hell out of this city once and for all.

-----

“Honeeeyyy, they're here!”

You hear a bang and a crash from the sergeant’s office and the sleepy giant appears a second later.

“Oh hey! Just a minute guys.”

He ducks back into his office again and comes back with a polished wooden box.

“Normally there's more of a ceremony and all for this but given your unique circumstance I'm sure we can forgo all that.”

You don't mind but you're pretty sure he just wants to skip it so he can get back to his nap faster.

Sergeant Hunt opens the box and pulls out the first badge and reads the inscription.

“Richard Sanus.”

You step forward and take the badge. You turn it over in your hand and look at the intimidating visage Saint Macaria.

“You are now a private in Saint Macaria’s Vanguard, bear this badge with pride as you strike out at the darkness that threatens to swallow the light of our kingdom! I think that's the right line, right?”

He turns to Annie who nods.

“Okay, who's next here…..The Headtaker? Wait that was your real name!?”

>>288988

He gives each of the girls their badges in turn. Every time he delivers that line Merry giggles, which then makes Annie giggle. Once everyone has been formally inducted to the legion Annie hands you a letter with the imperial seal.

“Aaaaand last but not least, your first orders!”

You take the letter and break it open. Let's see…..

“We’re are to report to Captain Yu in Watchtower to collaborate Captain Kelly’s report on ‘recent activities’, then receive a briefing on a classified mission.”

Well this could be…..good? You don't know but you're at least hoping this isn't another suicide mission.

The sergeant salutes you as you head out the door.

“Alright, anyone need to make a pit stop? No? Good let's get the fuck out of here, which way is the stables?”

-----

“NONONONONO!”

It took you a while to find a ride that would take you straight to Watchtower, skipping over the guild outpost. Unfortunately there was another passenger who'd already paid for their passage.

“Hey you're the one who told me to leave this city as fast as possible!”

Goldie gives you an indignant look was she throws her meager belongings into the back of the cart.

“There's a thousand places you could go why do you have to go this way!?”

She hops into the cart and crosses her arms as she sits down.

“Because my sister lives in the capital and she's the nearest family member I can turn to. Now shut up and get in the cart rapebait!”

Emperor save you, why must this raccoon haunt you so?

You toss your bag into the cart and sit opposite the danuki. You do your best to ignore the smug aura coming from the harlequin to your right.

Goldie smiles courteously at the girls as they climb into the cart with you.

“Well I've sort of met one of you” she says while nervously eyeing Heady “I'm Goldie.”

“Merry, legionnaire extraordinaire. So where are you two having the wedding?”

“I am the Watcher of The Abyss, the Avenger of the Damned, the-”

This is going to be a long ass ride.

-----

Oh Emperor fucking save you.

Thankfully the stupid marriage jokes ended shortly after you left the city. Unfortunately after that was just hours of awkward silence. Nobody really talks until about midday when the driver pulls off to the side to give the horses a break. You all climb out of the cart to stretch your legs as break into your travel rations for lunch.

“So, Goldie.”

The coon looks at you quizzically while gnawing on a stick of jerky.

“You're not going to, like, follow us around once we get there right?”

She rolls her eyes at you and shakes her head.

“I told you already, I'm going to go see my sister as soon as we get there. I'll probably beg her for a job and a place to stay, not like I have much dignity left anyway.”

You feel this is the part where you're supposed to console her or something, so you turn around and start talking to Nocta instead.

“So that book you bought any good?”

You hear annoyed mumbling coming from behind you.

“Hm? O-oh right. It's very interesting.”

“It's about the same kind of stuff you were talking about before in the cave, right? I was thinking of borro-”

Thunk

It took a moment for you to register the arrow in your shoulder. You kind of wished you hadn't as that's when the pain set in.

“Found you assholes!”

You snap your attention to the elven archer who just FUCKING SHOT YOU as she comes out of the nearby woods. Several other archers spot the trees and bushes, as well as armed men slowly inching closer to you waiting for a signal to attack.

You notice the lead elf only has one ear. Well, more one and a half.

Great, first the danuki and now the knife ears are back. Come on you even made sure to take a different road this time.

Emperor save you what did you do to deserve this punishment?

“Normally we give a whole speech about taking your money or your life, but for you guys I think we can make an exception.”

The elf notches another arrow in her bow and takes aim as her friends in the trees behind her do the same. The men start moving to surround your party, a look of cold hatred in the eyes of everyone of the bandits.

>What do you do?

Fucking hell so happy finals are over with, I couldn't find any time to write. Was really debating with myself over wither I should bring the elf bandits back right after I brought the danuki back but I needed to finish this and didnt want to waist more time.

>>288989

Put out the arrow and heal our shoulder, then battle positions and take them out or find a chance to clear the path and tell our driver to go as fast as he can.

>>288989

Well, they're obviously going to kill us, so fight back. Stay grouped up, and try to use Heady to break their line so we're not surrounded.

>>289324

Hey that's why I gave y'all the cudgel for a starter weapon, but they wanted a sword.

So we're going with the basic "try not to die" strategy. Guess we'll see how well that works out…

>>289423

Well, let's at least stick with the cudgel right now. Might as well wait on the short sword until we have some practice with it.

You grab the arrow and take a deep breath. This was going to hurt but you had an idea to help with that. Your power condenses around the hole in your shoulder, you feel a slight numbness as you cast a small healing spell to dull the pain. You take another deep breath, hold it, then force the arrow through the other side of your shoulder.

“RAAAAAGHFUCK!”

You quickly heal the wound as best you can which at least stops the bleeding as you yank the arrow from your back.

Alright, you're angry now.

You almost reach for your new sword but think better of it, best to stick with a weapon you're familiar with for this. You pull your cudgel from your belt and point towards the cart.

“CLEAR A PATH WE’RE GETTING THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

On que the bandits charge forward and open fire. The surrounding shadows jump up and create a wall to protect you but the hastily made barrier doesn't stop the bloodthirsty bandits. It does however takes most of the momentum from the volley of arrows which tumble harmlessly out of the air.

Five men come for Heady, all looking to take out their most dangerous foe first. The first to reach her is back handed so hard he flies back and takes out the second. The other three stumble over them and leave themselves open to the charging owlbear.

Two come for Merry, who dances and tumbles between their attacks. A knife flies from her sleeve and grazes one man's cheek giving her an opening to spin and flip away. Two more knives fly through the air but are easily dodged, much to the harlequin’s annoyance, as the men renew their attack.

Two others go for Nocta, who is forced to drop her shield blocking off the archers for a second to protect herself. Two shadow bolts erupt from her hands, one bandit is able to dodge but the other is hit square in the chest. As the last man closes in Nocta brings both hands together and fires an extra large shadow bolt, he dodges again but is left unbalanced and can't avoid the smaller follow-up bolt that strikes him in the temple.

Only one bandit comes for you. Good, you doubt you could handle two at once. You're no warrior but you've picked up a few tricks in your time as an adventurer.

The bandit swings his sword high, aiming to take your head. You swing low and feel his kneecap shatter against the bronze head of your cudgel.

He stumbles forward crying out in pain. You sidestep him and bring the cudgel down on the back of his head. He crumbles to the ground unconscious. Or dead, either works.

You whip around to find the driver, who's shielding Goldie and hurrying to the cart. Another pair of bandits are charging them down. Shit none of you can reach them in time this is ba-

An explosion rings out through the clearing and everyone flinches for a moment. You frantically look around and realize the explosion came from the driver, who was pointing a smoking flintlock pistol at one of the bandits who falls to the ground. While the other one is distracted he holsters the spent pistol and quickly draws a second with his free hand. Another explosion rings out.

Okay never mind, looks like he can take care of himsel-

An arrow strikes him in the chest. Another appears in his neck. A third pierces his skull just above his right ear.

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT

Nocta quickly brings her shadow wall back up before the archers can fire again. You rush over to try and help the driver but the moment you reach him you know it's useless.

“Is…..is he?…..” Goldie looks down on the driver who stares back at her with vacant eyes.

“Don't worry about him just get to the cart!”

Your yelling snaps her out of her shock and she runs for the cart, which thankfully is still their. Thankfully these horses don't spook easily. Your adventuring instincts kick in and you grab the dead man’s coin purse and his spent pistols and say a quick prayer for him before following her to the cart. It always makes you feel dirty doing this but you tell yourself it's better than leaving his valuables for the people who killed him.

You jump into into the cart and turn around to see where the others are.

>>294384

Nocta is slowly backing towards you while carefully keeping her shield up. Merry has taken down one of the bandits attacking her and is easily dancing around the others clumsy attacks as she moves towards the cart.

Heady has finished with the last of her opponents and is dragging him by his leg. She comes up behind the one attacking Merry and clubs him with his own comrade before hurry to the cart with the clown in tow. The three of them reach you at the same time and all climb in as fast as they can.

“Alright let's get the fuck out of here!…..But first does anyone know how to drive one of these things!?”

They all shake their heads and look back at you.

Shit.

Okay how hard could this be?

You climb into the driver's seat and grab the reins. You give them a quick snap but the horses just snort at you. You turn back to see some of the bandits getting back up, the elves are also starting to push through the shadow wall.

Come on, move!

You snap the reins as hard as you can. The horses neigh loudly and finally start moving.

At a slow trot.

An arrow whizzes past your head.

You start snapping the reins as fast as you can and the horses slowly pick up speed until they're at a steady gallop. You pull the reins hard to the right to steer them back onto the road towards Watchtower.

You look back to see the elves not giving chase this time, instead they stop to tend to their friends.

Thank the Emperor, you won't have to go through that chase bullshit again. Wait, the half-ear one is drawing her-

“EVERYONE DUCK!”

On instinct you and your party get as low as you can.

Goldie on the other hand,

“Wait wha-”

The danuki turns around in confusion. The arrow pierces her left eye and she falls to the floor of the cart in a shower of blood.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

“Somebody take the reins!”

Merry quickly switches places with you and you jump into the back of the cart.

“Wha…..am I…..”

The danuki’s good eye looks around frantically, unfocused. One hand weakly grasps the arrow shaft. She's in a state of shock you're sure, but she's not dead yet.

You carefully place one hand on the side of her head and start pouring your energy into her, then grab the arrow with your other hand. Pushing the arrow through isn't an option here, you're going to have to pull it back out. If you were a better cleric you might even be able to save the eye but that's definitely not happening.

You condense your energy around the wound to kill the pain and begin gently pulling the arrow free, pouring more energy in to heal the wound as you go.

The arrow pops free, spraying your arm and chest with blood. You quickly drop it and cover her wound with your hand and heal as much damage as you can as fast as you can.

When you take your hand away all you see is is an empty eye socket with a pool of blood. You look down and see what's left of her eye skewered on the arrow.

She's alive though. She's going to be okay.

-----

The ride from there on was quiet. Goldie passed out shortly after you healed her.

Heady was her normal stoic self, staring off into space with a emotionless expression like nothing happened.

Nocta is being quiet and has mostly stared at her feet for the past hour.

Merry was humming to herself as she drIves the cart with ease.

“I thought you said you didn't know how to drive one of these?”

“I don't!” She says giving you a goofy smile over her shoulder.

You sigh and check Goldie’s eye again. A bloody bandage covers where her left eye used to be. You gingerly pull it off then use the clean portions of it to wipe up the remaining blood.

With her eyes closed like this you couldn't even tell she was missing an eye.

Oh, there's a speck of blood on her cheek you must have missed. Hmm? Another drop just appeared. Are you bleeding? Now that you think about it you feel a burning sensation coming from your forehead…..

Heady reaches across the cart and backhands you, knocking you down to the floor. As you tumble down you catch sight of an arrow buried in her forearm.

You sit up and see a single elf with half an ear chasing after you. She notches another arrow as she runs and fires. A moment later you hear a heavy thwack as it strikes Heady in her right side just above the hip.

FUCKING KNIFE-EARS

>>294385

“MERRY!”

The harlequin snaps the reins and the horses take off again.

The elf fires another shot without breaking stride. It passes under Heady's outstretched arm and grazes Nocta’s neck.

The shadow girl drops back into her seat losing the shadow bolt she was preparing to fire. The cut doesn't look deep but a large amount inky black liquid starts bleeding out.

You quickly jump up and place your hand over the wound and cast Minor Heal. Something is wrong though, as you try to force your energy into it keeps dissipating and being swallowed up by something…..dark.

Damn it, of course. Living Shadows are constructs. Imperial healing magic can only heal biological life forms.

You keep trying but every time you think your energy is starting to take root it's swallowed by the darkness again. With no other option you grab your bandage roll and bind the wound as best you can.

You search around looking for some cover Merry could pull the cart behind. As you crest the next hill you spot something even better.

It's still quite a distance but from here you can see the white walls of Watchtower. And on the road below a legion patrol riding back towards the city.

“Faster! We need to catch that patrol!”

You feel the cart lurch forward as Merry spurs the horses on.

Another arrow flies past your heads and you turn to see the elf slide to a stop at the top of the hill looking warily at the legionnaires below.

After a moment of conflict she scowls and starts shouting at you.

“CLEEERIIIIIC! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME! I'LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!”

With that the half-eared bandit turns and runs back to the woods.

You signal for Merry to slow the horses as the threat has passed.

Fuck elves.

You hope you never see another dirty knife ear as long as you live.

-----

“Geez you guys look like shit.”

The elf legionnaire watching the gate looks over you and your bloody and bandaged group.

“The hell happened to you lot?”

“Bandit attack.”

She sighs and shakes her head.

“Not another one, we’re gonna have to send out extra patrols now to deal with them.”

She keeps grumbling about the increased workload as she and another legionnaire check your bags before waving you through.

Merry coaxes the horses through the gateway and you’re assaulted by a wave of nostalgia.

Cobblestone streets, red brick buildings, stained glass windows. The grotesque yet endearing gargoyles watching over every street corner. The steeple of the Great Cathedral looming in the distance but greatly overshadowed by the incredible tower that gives the city its name.

You're finally home.

But you can't celebrate just yet. You need to find the legion headquarters to be briefed on your new mission. There's also the matter of an unconscious danuki laying on the floor of your cart. You were supposed to go your separate ways once you reached the capital bit she's not waking up anytime soon.

Oh yeah, and this damn cart. You never got the driver’s name so it's not like you can find his family or friend’s to drop it off. Of course you could ask around, you might find somebody who knew him. Or you could keep it, you’d need to take care of the horses but you’d wouldn't need to pay to travel long distances anymore.

Then again you could just ignore it all and go sightseeing. It'll be nice to see the city in all its splendor.

>what will you do?

>New Spell: Painkiller

>modified Minor Heal used to dull pain

>Gained Flintlock Pistol x2

>Gained Horse-Drawn Cart

>Gained 2 Horses

>Gained 4 silvers, 12 coppers

I RISE FROM THE GRAVE ONCE MORE

Honestly I just got lazy after finals.

I had hoped the death seen and Goldie losing an eye would've been a bit more grim. Oh well.

Also working on a character sheet for Dick to help keep track of inventory and shit, hopefully I’ll finish that in the next couple days.

>>294387

Nice to see you again OP.

>>294386

Wake the raccon and explain what happened the best way we can, while she is a monster she is not a heretic so ask if she needs help before we go to the legion headquarters when we go there report what happened on the way and about the dead driver, worst case we lost the horses and best case we gain a fast travel.

>>294392

Oh yeah I forgot when we have the chance read the next chapter of the book we bought, since we got a crazy elf behind us we better start amp up our healing.

>>294386

It's not mentioned what condition Nocta is in, aside from the fact that her wound is bound, so making sure her and and the others are okay should be our top priority.

The best way to do that is to check in with the Legion here, since they can hopefully provide us with aid, or rooms. If not they can probably point us to a place to get set up. Either way, we should tell them what happened. I guess we should turn the wagon over to them too? We're a bit of an asshole, but I don't take us to be a thief.

Oh, and let's (reluctantly) keep and eye on the Danuki long enough to make sure she's okay.

>>294386

Take care of the party, now that things are calm heal Heady, check Nocta's bandages and ask her if we need to find a mage to heal her or if she can recover on her own, and check on Merry. I'm not sure I buy her getting through every fight so far with just a few scratches from the lizard things, she might be hiding wounds to keep things cheerful.

Let Punished Goldie rest for now, losing an eye takes a lot out of someone.

Well you guess there's no reason to delay the inevitable. You point to the great tower looming overhead.

“Take us there, the legion headquarters is near the base of the Watchtower.”

Merry nods and begins guiding the horses towards the tower. While she drives you take another look at Nocta’s wound.

The bandage around her neck is almost completely stained black with her blood. The bleeding has actually slowed significantly but the wound hasn't healed any. You reach into your bag and grab your needle & thread.

“Now you're going to feel a small prick here…..”

Nocta winces as you push the needle through her skin. You stitch her up in seconds and bite through the thread, tie it off, and cover it with a fresh bandage.

You check Heady over next to make sure she's fine. You'd pulled the arrows out of her before you rolled up to the gates but it seems you missed some of the smaller cuts. Easy fixes though.

Goldie is still sleeping soundly on the floor of the cart. You shake her shoulder a little to see if she'll come to but to no avail. She never even stirred during the chase with the half-ear elf so you imagine she's not going to wake up for quite a while. Frankly there's not much more you can do for her now, once you reach legion HQ you plan to leave her with the infirmary staff to finish recovering.

You sit back down and watch the city go by. You don't remember this street but the architecture and the bustling crowds remind you that you're home again. Seriously what's it been, two years? It felt a hell of a lot longer than that. If he wasn't already dead you'd kill that asshole Martin for convincing you to leave this place. Dumb bastard.

There's more demihumans mixed into the crowds than you remember, though you grew up in the north end of the city by the Great Cathedral. It's mainly just priest and other holy men their with a few nuns. You really only traveled outside of the north side when you went shopping. Still, no matter where you went in the city the buildings and streets all looked the same. It made it easy for travelers to get lost but even in these less familiar areas you could easily navigate through the capital. This city is your home after all.

“Take this next right, it'll take us straight to it.”

Merry nods and guides the horses around the corner onto a wider street lined with various shops. As you get closer to the city’s center you begin to to recognize a few of the places you drive past. There's the bakery Father Sanctus would go every Sunday after he gave the morning sermon to ‘celebrate’. On the other side of the street you pass the tailor who’d fix any rips or tears in your robes at a discount. Hmm, looking down at the bloody tear in shoulder you it might not be a bad idea to stop by and see her later. The baker too, that son of a bitch makes amazing cinnamon rolls.

“This city is bigger than I remember…..” Nocta muses as she takes in the sights.

“You've been here before?”

“W-well no. My master came here occasionally for business though.”

“I have never seen a city like this,” Heady chimes in “I do not like it. Too little of nature here, and it's too loud.”

A small frown passes over her lips before returning to her neutral expression.

“Ooh I've been here before! The troupe performed here a bunch when I was a kid! Auntie even let me have a part when they performed The Queen in the North!”

“What part?”

“Dog with Mange.”

“Uh…..I don't think there were any dogs in that play.”

“Well there was in this one!”

Merry giggles and gives you all goofy smile before turning back to the road.

About half an hour later the road gently curves to the left and the base of the great Watchtower comes into view, legionnaires and scribes moving about between the administrative buildings surrounding it.

“Sooo which one is ours?” Merry looks at you quizzically.

You point to a large building on the right “The Imperial Legion & Inquisition Administration Building.”

She pulls the cart into a stable a block away. A couple stable hands come to unhook the horses while you all climb out.

>>300354

“Hey Heady, would you mind?…..” You nod your head towards Goldie who's still sleeping in the back.

Heady grunts her acknowledgement and grabs the danuki, unceremoniously tossing her over one shoulder as she slings her sack of supplies over her other.

At the door two legionnaires in gleaming armor block the door. A gold pauldron on their right shoulder with the insignia of a silver shield tells you their members of the fifth legion, The Emperor’s Shield. A black pauldron with a red shield covering their left shoulder signifies their company but it's not one you're familiar with.

“Halt. What's your business cleric?”

You pull your badge out from under your robes and flash both sides to them before putting it back. Damn you've always wanted to do that.

“We’re here to see to Captain Yu, she’ll be expecting us.”

The man glances over your party before waving you through.

“They’ll just let anyone in these days…..” You hear him mutter as you walk past.

Jackass.

You give your information to a short rabbit girl working the front desk. She passes it along, now you just have to wait to get buzzed in. Until then you can take care of a few other things.

First you ask where you need to go to report the bandit attack. The rabbit points it out on a map for you. You leave the girls to wait in the lobby while you head up the stairs to the second floor to an office with bronze plaque reading:

’’Inquisitor Erickson’’

’’Criminal Investigations’’

You knock on the door and a gravelly, annoyed sounding voice answers.

“Come in, and make it quick.”

Inside is small office dimly lit by a large glowing mage stone hanging from the ceiling. A man sits behind a small desk covered in stacks of papers overflowing from his in/out trays. He is middle aged, black hair streaked with two lines of gray coming from his temples. Tired blue eyes ignore you as he quickly reads over the form in front of him before signing it and slapping in onto the closest stack of papers. he wears a tight fitting gray shirt, the signature black coat of the Inquisition hangs from the back of his chair.

“What is it cleric? I don't have time to waste.”

“I was attacked by bandits on the way to the capital, our driver was killed and one passenger was maimed. I was told to report it to you.”

He sighs heavily and puts down his quill.

“Damn elves have gotten too bold lately. What was the driver’s name?”

“Never got it.”

“Shit, any personal possessions?”

You hand him the pistols and tell him about the cart down the block.

“We’ll keep them as evidence for now, see if we can't locate any next of kin.”

Damn, there goes the free cart. Oh well, you'd have probably felt guilty keeping it anyway.

“We’ll also send someone to try and recover the body, give him proper burial if possible. And the passenger?”

“Downstairs. She's unconscious but stable, I'll be taking her to the infirmary once we're done.”

He nods and pulls out a fresh form and passes it to you.

“Write down a statement for me and sign it. Damned bandits are becoming a headache.”

You finish writing the report and hand it back to him. He reads it quickly before adding it to his pile of work.

“Worry not, these heretics won't last long once the might of the legion descends upon them. Emperor protect you on your journey cleric, try not to piss off anymore elves.”

“Same to you inquisitor, happy hunting.”

You close the door behind you and head back downstairs to find Merry trying to start an impromptu play with Nocta using shadow puppets to fill the other roles.

“Just when I thought I could leave you alone.”

“Perfect timing Dicky! We need a handsome prince for this one but you’ll have to do.”

“Knock it off clown.”

You feel like one day she's going to toss a knife at your head for doing that. Oh well, that's not your problem now. The owlbear shooting you a dirty look is your problem now.

“No bullying.”

“Yeah yeah. Come on we need to get her to the infirmary.” You nod to Goldie who Heady had laid down on a nearby bench. She nods and picks up the danuki, once again slinging her over one shoulder. Seriously how is she still asleep? She didn't die did she? You walk close to Heady and send a small pulse of energy through the danuki to be safe and confirm she still has a heartbeat. Guess she's just a heavy sleeper.

>>300355

This is the part you're dreading. Crossing the street to to the infirmary you keep a close eye on the people coming in and out. Without a doubt you're going to see one of your old classmates or teachers here.

Saint Milka’s Infirmary was one of the most sought after assignments by young graduates do to its location allowing them to rub shoulders with the most powerful men in the nation. Most wouldn't turn down the chance to earn a duke’s favor just for curing his foot fungus.

You try to keep your head down as you enter, passing a statue of the holstaurus healer that gives this place its name. You approach who looks to be the head nurse, a mature angel with short blonde hair. You do your best to explain the situation to her while she checks over a patient's chart. Once your finished she nods and points to a room down the hall.

“There's an empty bed in there she can use. We probably can't do much else for her but we can at least insure her condition won't worsen.”

You thank her and Heady takes the danuki to the empty room with Merry in tow. Even amongst the noise of the small crowd on here you here a heavy thud come from the room, like an unconscious danuki being roughly dropped onto a cheap cot. Honestly at this point Heady's probably done more damage to her than the bandits.

Thankfully it looks like you’ll able to get out of here without running into anyo-

“Dick? Is that really you?”

FFFFFUCK

You slowly turn around and see the smiling face of a young man roughly your own age, though you know he's only two months younger than you. He wears his chestnut hair in the same goofy bowl cut you remember.

“Hey Lawrence, how ya been?”

“HEY CHET GET IN HERE!”

Oh Emperor save you.

A man with long blonde hair pokes his head out of one of the rooms.

“What now Law?”

“Dick’s here come say hi!”

“No shit? HEY LYNETTE!”

Oh hells just make it stop.

A few more rounds of that and you're now surrounded by old classmates, some working here and others like Law just happening to be visiting.

“So how was life as an adventurer?”

“You guys find any treasure?”

“Nail any hot monster babes?”

Please Emperor save you. Wait maybe you use Nocta to get out of-

She's gone.

You look around and find here pressed up against the wall using the shadows to hide her presence.

“Come on Dickhead you gotta give us something.”

They want a story? Fine.

“Alright, it all started when that asshole Martin said “Hey let's go be adventurers when we graduate!”…..”

---

After ten minutes the crowd has completely dispersed. Those that couldn’t think of a reason to leave have drifted off to different parts of the waiting room, all doing their best to avoid looking at you.

You still say it's a good story damn it.

BZZZZT

Whatever, looks like you need to leave anyway.

“Heady! Merry! Let's go!”

The two finally return from the patient's room they left Goldie in.

“What the hell took you guys so long?”

“I wanted to leave Goldie a ‘get well soon’ gift!”

You look at Heady hoping to get a straight answer.

“She was drawing hearts on her bandage.”

Oh, alright. You were expecting something a lot worse there.

“Anyway we just got called in so let's get this over with shall we?”

---

After climbing a few flights of stairs you come to large oak door guarded by two more of the Emperor's Shield. The quickly check your badges to confirm your identity and let you through. On the other side of the door is a large room that looked like it could hold dozens of people at once but currently only houses ten. Five are legionnaires, three inquisitors, and a pair of scribes. Though they all come from different companies you notice all of the legionnaires bare Saint Macaria’s sigil on their right shoulder.

“Aah our guests of honor are here, now we can begin!”

A short stocky man sitting with the inquisitors claps his hands and waves you all to come closer to the long table that they're all sitting along one side of.

“Welcome cleric” a blue oni legionnaire salutes you “I'm Captain Yu, Wraith Warriors company.”

You nods to the male legionnaire beside her and he places a green gemstone near the center of the table.

“Do you remember why you were called here recruits?”

“To receive are next mission right?”

Though this is looking a little too formal for just that.

>>300356

Yu nods “We'll get to that private, first we need you to collaborate Captain Kelly’s report of your last little outing.”

The gem suddenly starts to shine, filling the room with green light. A rainbow of lights spring out of the gen next and begin to wriggle and twist in the air before the slowly begin taking a humanoid shape. The light seems to vanish as quickly as it appeared, leaving a shadow hanging in the air. The image of a black knight with a shield and spear gazed down at you.

“Do you recognize this man?”

You nod.

The image fades away, you still feel like the knight is watching you even as he vanishes into the air.

“Perfect! That will make the next part easier.” The stocky inquisitor claps his hands together and leans back in his chair.

“And that is?”

“You're going to catch him for us my boy.”

Oh fuck you all.

Captain Yu clears her throat to redirect your attention “What he means is this man has been labeled a hostile invader and thus an enemy of the empire. As the only ones with any experience dealing with him you will naturally have a part in the manhunt to catch him.”

The gem lights up once more and paints a map of the empire in the air. You can see a mark on the map roughly near the location of Pale Rock.

“This shows where you first encountered the enemy.”

Another spray of lights from the gem and three circles appear on the map. One to the east in the Eurus Province, one up north in the Nord Province, and the last to the west in the Columbus Province.

“And this is where our mages have detected the same residual mana signature as he left behind in the caves. Unfortunately since this magic is completely unknown to us they can't narrow the locations down any further than this.”

“Are you sure these are actually connected to him?”

“No, but what are the chances of someone else knowing this unique magic of his? It has to be him or someone he brought with him that we missed.”

“Okay, so what now? You just want us to check out these areas and hope we run into a giant heretic?”

“I don't like this.” Heady growls “This quarry wouldn't leave such obvious tracks.”

“You think it may be a trap?”

She shrugs “I think these are not the prey we seek. Distractions.”

A bald inquisitor seated next to the stocky one nods his head in approval “Exactly our thoughts miss…..”

He looks to the shorter man beside him who just shrugs and shakes his head.

“…..Owlbear, however it's a distraction we’ll have to fall for. We don't know who this man is, what he's capable of, or what he wants. All we know is somebody a lot higher up than us says he is a heretic and needs to be dealt with.”

Yu cuts in before he can continue “So while the Inquisition searches high and low looking for any real leads the Vanguard will chase these shadows and do what we do best.”

A small murmur passes through the group legionnaires seated around Yu as they all beam with pride.

“Oooh what's that?” Merry perks up, finally looking interested in the conversation.

Yu is caught off guard and stumbles for words for a moment “Uh, that's…..we fight unknown magic threats. You are one of the new recruits aren't you?”

“Yep!”

“…..And you didn't know what it is we do?”

“I knew!…..sort of…..”

The inquisitors start snickering.

“Anyway,” You chime in as the legionnaires all shoot dirty looks at the inquisitors “You still haven't told us what we, the four of us, need to do.”

“Right, unfortunately your company the Bloodhounds will not be apart of this operation, not in the beginning anyway. Captain Kelly is still tied up with cleaning the guild’s mess so for the now you will be temporarily reporting to me. We’ll be investigating the Columbus Province since it's the closest. We'll head out in the early afternoon tomorrow. Meet us at the west gate then, for now you have today to rest and prepare. Anymore questions recruits?”

>questions?

>concerns?

>what to do with your free time?

Kinda regret not adding anything too interesting to this update since it took so damn long. Felt like a big nothing update when I proof read it so hope it aint too shit for you guys.

>>294777

I was tired when I wrote that and I got dead set on adding vid related to the chase for some reason.

>>300359

Oh right forgot that character sheet I promised

https://pastebin.com/ATBh33Wi

>>300359

Still alive OP good to know.

Anyway no questions, for now we should continue the reading of that healer book we got, we just started so lets keep going, after that we should prepare some countermeasures to both our incoming target and the crazy elf who is targeting us.

>>300357

>OP isn't RIP in peace

I vote we (all of us) go and buy supplies like a fun shopping trip, if we meet any other friends from our past and they ask us what we do now just tell them you're a flagellant and you being with these monsters is to test your faith. Make sure to pick up a treat for the cyclops danuki, she's been through a lot and ask her what she wants to do now

>>300379

This sounds good, maybe we can get her a nice eyepatch, or a real estate brochure for offshore drilling platforms.

She's going to need some way to cope with the fact that she still has no money and now owes us her life, which is not a debt I imagine Danuki take lightly.