Leonid frowns faintly. "Yes. He will want a full report."
"No, no, I mean…" I stamp my right foot twice. "The cart. He likes to be fully prepared at all times, but at no point in our training were we stuck in a cart for hours. Hey Abednego, the booby trap spells you were talking about. Do they go underground?"
Seriously, OL. I know you like to rush things, but learn some patience...
"They do not. The maggots do, but the spells do not."
"If we negotiate a settlement of some kind, I'll build you a tunnel network before we leave."
...Tunnel network as in subways? Or just rig some Dolmen gates tuned for the local thaumic weave?
"I think perhaps that no agreement could be wide-reaching enough for that to be-."
The blurred landscape around us winks out, replaced by a dull blue emptiness. The runes on the cart ignite, radiating out of the wood and metal with enough intensity that I blink and try to look away. Abednego and Mistress Butler have witch-signs in hand, and the tone of Mr. Tao's humming has changed.
Oh, another random encounter. At least this one didn't start with a death ray attack.
"Cunning." Abednego's signs shift, twisting and moving. "'Tis a while since I have seen such a thing."
I consider asking what happened, but it's best to let them work through… Whatever just happened. I could offer to help, but Mr. Tao knows what I can do and will ask if he thinks it would be useful while the other two don't know how their magic interacts with my constructs. Leonid looks at me curiously, but I shrug and shake my head.
Probably a good idea not to distract the people dealing with..
whatever this is.
Mistress Butler glares at the nothingness. "A wrinkle in the fabric of the world. Warp and weft twisted aside-."
"I be having the gist of it, Mistress Butler. I pray you have patience."
Presumably something he's familiar with, then? A Warlock-breed trap for people using tricks like his?
MALEVOLANCE.
Oh.
"Did anyone else feel that?"
...Oh, dear...
Abednego nods. "They're not so foolhardy as to let things like that into the world, but they'll bait a line with us if it stays in the river."
A vaguely… Cone-shaped distortion is.. growing larger. I'd say 'in the distance', but I've got nothing to use to judge scale by. Construct armour and charge an energy pulse.
Just in case. Though if whatever's out there is as big as it's emotional resonance suggests, it may treat it like a gnat's fart.
Mr. Tao looks at my left hand with concern.
"I'm not shooting it, I'm just getting-"
Our surroundings… Bubble, patches of rocky scrubland appearing and vanishing in an uneven mess-.
Funky. Does not sound like a pleasant ride.
The springs screech as the cart drops onto the stony ground, wherever we were vanishing back to wherever it was. Mistress Butler staggers off the front board to touch the ground and even the taciturn Abednego looks relieved.
"Was that..?" Leonid looks mildly bewildered. "Bad..?"
At a guess, yes.
All of the yes. But thankfully it's gone now...
Hopefully.
"Yes it was." Abednego nods. "Yes it surely was. Though I suppose to one who knows aught of magic it would merely seem-"
I release my blast, the giant mosquito shimmering into being and being torn apart by the orange energy! A warbling note from Mr. Tao highlights another two, which swiftly join their colleague in oblivion as Leonid leaps from the cart and pulverises them with his fists!
Welp, a backup trap, huh? Sneaky bastards.
The witch-signs etched into their carapace fade and fail as they bleed out, and I start scanning. Yes, Sheeda creatures, the signature biological markers are all there.
"Hid in the eddies of the spell." Abednego nods. "Cunning. Mayhap this is their perimeter watch, and they will bear us no malice?"
Don't cross your fingers, No way would you be that lucky...
I spin out filaments, running them along every surface and up into the air-.
I grip and pull an object unseen but still tangible.
Sloppy, very sloppy. But it works in the heroes' favour.
"GAH!"
Orange light grips a humanoid outline and slams them to the ground as Abednego steps up and thrusts a burning witch-sign to their face, particles of illusion flaking away and revealing… Black armour, in a shape nearly but not quite human.
Sheeda? Warlock-Breed? Something else?
Abednego lifts his brand away and steps back.
"We do not come here for war, but you'll not find us lacking."
Warlock-breed, then. And they managed to craft that trap? Talented...
"Aye, witch-man, you being here while we are at our weakest is the devil's mischief alone."
"You live far from our towns and villages and we know little of you. Even should I want to, I could not act on knowledge of you I do not have. Pray tell, what malefactor is it which afflicts you? For you are far from the only afflicted in these lands."
They're a teenager, aren't they? No adult could have
that level of persecution complex...
I lean closer to Leonid. "I could see through that. Our attacker's concealment was much better."
He nods, keeping his eyes on the newcomer. "Yes. I could feel the wing-beat of the insects. And I think Physician could hear them."
Not allied with the Sheeda from earlier, then. Assuming they were
actually true Sheeda.
Mistress Butler steps up beside Abednego. "Speak, girl. I know Abednego as I knew his master; he bears us no malice."
The helmet turns our way. "And what of them?"
That's a girl? Nice armour, then.
"W-."
"Yes, we are hear to help as well."
Hold your horses, OL.
And he kneels down and hums at her I remember that Physician is in charge of this, and bite down my intended introduction. I've got out of the habit of acting under someone else's direction in the field. On team missions I lead a squad, and when I work independently I direct myself. I.. don't think I like this, but I suppose that if I wanted a Justice League slot then I should have handled Nabu differently.
Ooh, sub-harmonic 'friendliness' charm? Sneaky, and not something she'd likely recognise. Too much soloing, OL. When you're running in a group, you do what the leader says. Or you lose out on loot rolls.
Avoiding the mild irritation wouldn't be worth it.
"That-." The figure in armour shakes slightly as Mr. Tao's pitch changes, and then a degree of tension leaves them. "Thank you."
Charm successful. She's feeling a bit friendlier now, isn't she.
"Please. We came here because we wish to fight the Sheeda, who threaten our world with a Harvest fleet. When it comes, we will have to fight millions of invaders. We must learn all that we can of them before that occurs. If you do not trust our word, at least believe that we are interested in our own people's wellbeing."
"They're here."
...Crap. Crappity crap in a hat.
"By that, do you mean 'right here'-?"
"They came to our village months ago. We thought they were outcasts as we are, but the creatures of the Sheeda obeyed them more readily than they ever obeyed us. We should have-." She snarls, then pulls herself upright. "They wanted to know about Melmoth, about our history. Seemed to be a natural enough thing to question. We showed them the Old Town. I did not myself see… What happened, but my-. They got into one of Melmoth's armouries. Took his weapons for themselves and announced that we would be their slaves in the name of their Queen."
Typical. Probably minor scouts who got a little taste of power and got well drunk on it.
Yes! They're actual Sheeda!
"Those who resisted or fled, they slew. Our only freedom comes from when they hunt for others."
Oh, hoo-bloody-ray. So these warlock-breed are
reluctant collaborators... Serve or die. Some choice.
Mistress Butler scowl.
"And what do they do with them?"
"They do not invite us to join them. But we do hear the screams."
Living up to the finest Dark Elf traditions, I see.
Abednego nods. "I wonder, child, how it is that you escaped to be here?"
"I did not. I hoped to find something I could trade to them."
As expected, she's out for herself. Probably doesn't know better, after all...
"So that they might leave your people in peace?"
"So I could become more like them. Strong and powerful, not an ignorant savage living in a forest."
...Well, fuck her, then.
There's a moment of silence.
"If you help us kill them, I can augment you using their corpses."
OL! Do not offer to help the clearly
bad girl!
Mr Tao, Mistress Butler and Abednego turn their heads to look at me.
"What? I can."
...Damn the lack of a proper facepalm emoticon! This deserves a double helping.
