So you're saying it was a bog unicorn, right?Yep. Ever since it drooled on it, there's been grass coming out of it. I didn't think it mattered.Well, you're right. Bog unicorns are connected to swamps, so you can't get anything more interesting than grass. It doesn't even carry liquid all that well, it's mostly just magic. The stuff just disappears if you pull it out. So there's nothing much to add, I suppose?No. She clicks with her tongue as she looks the shield over one more time.
You haven't been cleaning it too well, though, I think you've got some rust under the grass.How would I even clean it? There's grass in the way!It's still flammable. Or inflammable. I forgot which, doesn't matter.It's both. Eveline and Sucy say at the same time. Although Sucy adds a "dummy" to the end of the sentence. Meandra rolls her eyes with a smile as she hands the shield back to you. The road isn't too annoying, although you don't have ankles to twist, so maybe you're just kind of privileged. You're far enough from the heart of the jungle (most of it) that the moisture isn't so all-encompassing. People had real bad cases of the sweats when they were outside the city, and after an hour of walking you're completely soaked in your own sweat. This is ultimately the most comfortable you've been walking through a forest in about four years.
Of course, that didn't take long to go wrong, of course. You had the flanks covered quite well, even scaring off the errand porcupine or wild boar, but the thing about the (pseudo)jungle is that things are still quite busy above. The trees are massive and covered in all manner of vines and plantlife.
So you don't notice it when there's a proper rope among those vines.
You only noticed something went wrong when you hear Eveline call out. You see a blur of movement, and that blur snatches up Sucy before you can stop it. She doesn't scream at all on the way up, only grunting in minor pain as the figure lands on a thick branch. You hear a distinct accent as the figure begins showboating. He looks to be an orc, tall and long-haired. He wears brown pants and no shirt, letting his green skin help hide him up there. He is far above you, but his voice carries far.
HI-DIDDLY-HO, MY DEAREST ADVENTURERS! YOU NEEDN'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR FRIEND, SO LONG AS SHE DOES NOT STRUGGLE, AND YOU MAKE NO MISTAKES, NOBODY WILL HAVE TO TAKE A MOST UNFORTUNATELY TUMBLE!You see Sucy next to him, and his hand has a tight grip on her robe. She seems to be calm about the current situation, although you can only guess at her expression.
PLEASE MAKE A DEPOSIT OF FIVE-HUNDRED COINS AT THE NEAREST TREE, AND I WILL SEND THIS DASHING DAME ON HER WAY AFTER YOU LEAVE.Meandra is quick to capitulate, and pulls out her purse.
Alright, we need to come together on this one, I don't have everything on me... She's talking quite fast, clearly trying to keep calm in this situation. The others are, of course, a bit more used to these situations. Although you'd personally prefer to climb up there and give him a piece of your mind, you can't risk Sucy's life.
When the money is put together, which was quite easy. There's quite a bit of spending power between all of you, you prepare to put it all in a bag when you suddenly hear the sound of the hostage-taker yelling in pain. You look up, and see him convulsing on the spot. His legs almost miraculously find a place to stand, but he himself is swinging his arms and and yelling in blind pain. Sucy is laying down, clamped around the very thick branch the both of them were standing on. From this distance, you see that she is making small shocky motions of her own, almost as if she's sobbing. Of course, that's enough staring. You rush up the tree as fast you your legs can carry you, and quickly find a way across. Your spidery body almost instinctively carries itself across the web of branches, spreading the weight enough to prevent any from cracking. As you get closer, you realize the man looks... swollen. His entire body is grotesquely growing larger, like a balloon. It's enough to make you slow down just a tad.
Then, he ruptures. He doesn't even scream as his torso finally rips from the pressure, sending his innards flying. It's a geyser of blood and organs, covering the surrounding leaves and splattering down below. The body, what's left of it, flops off the branch as Sucy is completely covered in blood from where she's lying. You're just out of range, merely getting some on your front legs. You stand there for a time in disgust and shock, even as Meandra can be heard screaming and retching down below. Eventually, Sucy says something, still in her eternal monotone.
Would you mind carrying me down? I don't much care for this height.You pick her up, as careful as you can now that she's...
slick. You hope for her she brought some extra clothes, and on the way down it finally occurs to you to ask:
What just happened?While he was swing up, I used one of my hip-flasks on him. Well, the syringe, at least. He didn't feel it at first, considering the stuff has a bit of a delayed reaction. She laughs to herself, between her teeth, making it come of more as halted hissing.
I may have overdone it on the dose, though.Oh my gods I'm going to have nightmares about this. Meandra says, as you walk past the splatter zone on the road. Blood is still raining down from the leaves, and the grisly sight of the freshly hollowed husk of warped flesh and cracked bone does not help any in making the picture any less horrific. You briefly consider cleaning the body up, but creatures will come soon to eat it, regardless. If another traveler sees this, that's their problem.
The rest of the journey was far less exciting, although Meandra keeps a bit of distance between herself and Sucy. She still looks a little pale in the face, borderline sick from the sight she has seen. Still the forest starts clearing up, enough that you can just barely catch a glimpse of a fire between the trees. It's just about noon right now, so it's probably some people cooking their lunch. Of course, the road has been getting more and more dangerous...
Keep walkingThe fire's not on the main path. Ignore it, and it will go away.Carefully check it outThere might be some shenanigans going on here. Better check first.Enter openlyThey're not surprising you.OtherBasic Stats
Level: 9
HP: 25/25
Mana: 50/50
Stress: 10/75
Thirst: Sated
Items and equipment
Equipment:
Carapaced leather armor
Sword
Gardener's Shield
Bolas(x5)
Items:
Spare clothing (x14)
Fancy clothing
Blood Vials (x10)
Poisonbox
Journal
Spellbook
Cookbook
500 coins
Skills and spells
Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(invests 2 of your max mana) (no mana cost)
Resurrect average beast: Allows you to resurrect creatures such as dogs, cats and other similar-sized creatures.(invests 7 mana) (no mana cost)
Resurrect Humanoid: Allows you to resurrect humanoid creatures. (Invests 10 mana) (Costs 15 mana)
Reshape minion plus!: Allows you to majorly change the appearance of your resurrected minions.
Minion Vision: Allows you to see what a minion sees. The minion must have eyes.
Animate Piece: Allows you to animate just a piece of dead tissue. It requires your constant attention, and cannot act independently. (Drains 1 mana per three seconds)
Graft: Allows you to use dead tissue as a replacement limb. Requires a lot of mana. (2 per second) (average limb takes around 20 seconds to properly graft)
Gather Soul: Allows you to make a soul visible. You could try putting it in a flame of some sort to keep it around. (10 mana)
Soul battery: Allows you to use a soul-infused flame as a small mana-boost. This snuffs it out, however
Undead flashbang: Allows you to blow up a minion for a flash-bang effect. (10 mana)
Stitch: allows you to close a wound and stop bleeding as fast as you can stitch. Costs very little mana, but requires something to stitch with.
Siphoning Cloud: Breathe out a cloud that drains the life from victims and gives it to you. Adds a LOT to intimidation (5 mana)
Smoke Cloud: Breathe out harmless but thick smoke. (2 mana)
Deathbolt: A bolt that hurts the body's connection with it's soul. Causes minor wounds to appear over the body as it attempts to compensate (2 mana)
Doombolt: A more powerful version of the above (5 Mana)
Familiar (has no upkeep)
Tiny Skeletal Dragon
Skills:
Poison Stinger (Stings a bit)
Oral Fixation: Can cast spells spells from the mouth.
Draining Limbs: Can drain blood using pedipalps.
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: Excellent
Corpse Cutting: Quite Decent.
Animal handling: inexperienced.
Necromantic knowledge
Soul Sniffer
Mutterstew doesn't keep that well, as it kind of congeals unpleasantly over time, and the magical boost is gone after an hour. It's a stew that mumbles to you, after all, this stuff doesn't make a whole lot of sense.