Aside from that weird bird-thing, those are some oddly normal animals the pelagics had. Kinda wonder what they'd even use the storks for.
Babies.
Three young drows, two women and a man, were sitting together in a café, talking to each other in drow sign language.
"...I never actually learned his name, I'm just lucky he was well known in the noble circles." The man signed, and at the same time kept checking if no one was watching. "In the end even the grand matriarch herself acknowledged his transgressions publicly. But..."
"There's always a 'but'." The taller of two women commented. "Have you ever finished a case for good, Five? How long have you been in this business now?"
"Officially? Exactly zero days. I'm just a simple potter's apprentice, remember, Scourge?" ZM5 winked as he reminded Scourge about his profession. "Anyway, he was simply stripped of his nobility. Granted, he lost the privilege of living in the Palace District, and will probably have to actually work to support himself, but I wanted him out of the picture."
"He won't be taking any more money from those who need it, isn't that enough?" SQ asked, completely confused. She didn't understand why the investigation had to go on. She had enough of ZM5 disappearing for weeks without prior warning, and him getting tangled into aristocratic plots.
"You know, baby doll, influential people have influential friends, and that means they never work alone. I can't touch the great noble houses, and I know as a fact that at least one of them has something to do with the case. "ZM5 got serious, his eyes started burning with determination.
"That's the point, you can't do anything, so why not just give up?" SQ still didn't understand.
"The thing is, if they know I'm involved, they may try to hunt me down. My only chance is to try to stop them before they stop me stopping them. They will resort to dirty tricks, though, so that's why I called you both here." ZM5's face became even more serious. "I know how people like that operate - they will try to destroy everything and everyone I love to break me. That's why I have to leave you until I solve the case."
"Leave? What do you mean leave?" Scourge signed. If she was talking, she would have shouted it out loudly. "You keep coming and going all the time! You know how much we worry about you?"
"This is the last time. I either get the collaborators or die trying. Don't try to contact me under any circumstances, it's for your own safety." ZM5 stood up and headed towards the door. The women watched him leave, shocked by this sudden decision. ZM5 finally left the café, leaving SQ and Scourge to their own thoughts.
Scourge soon snapped out of the initial shock, and ran outside to catch ZM5, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
SQ woke up in her bed. The vision of the events from twenty years ago made her realize - she needed to see ZM5 as soon as possible. The overseer put on her clothes, including her new piwafwi...
...and headed to ZM5's room. She knocked on the dolomite door, expecting to wait for a while, since it was still very early in the morning. To her surprise ZM5 opened the door almost immediately. He was dressed and ready for the day. "Oh, SQ! Did you have a bad dream and need comforting?"
"ZM5, I think I got it! I've solved the case from twenty years ago!" SQ was whispering not to wake everyone up, but at the same time she was shouting out of excitement. The resulting sound was as loud as her usual voice but raspy and awkward.
"Hmmm? Tell me about it, baby doll, who is the culprit? Without knowing that, you surely wouldn't be able to go any further." ZM5 had an ironic smile on his face. Was he not taking SQ seriously?
"It's none other than Fred the Mitey, our administrator. He was forced to work in the mines after losing his nobility, and ended up in prison for starting a protest. Check."
"Good job, SQ, but I knew that from the start, I just didn't know his name back then. To truly end this, you'd have to know which of the great noble houses assisted him. Where was he redirecting the money?" ZM5's relaxed expression hasn't disappeared even for a moment. SQ was getting worried.
"House Drilledterror, Lunardog's family. They own most of the capital's plantations and breweries, so no one would ask questions if they started opening hospitals, museums, and other businesses that get funded straight from the treasury. Since they worked with Fred, those places only needed to exist on paper. Checkmate." SQ grinned widely, proud of herself for solving the case that ZM5 has been struggling with for twenty years.
"You're awfully hasty with your 'checks'. If I didn't know about this, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. I've already finished the investigation. Checkmate."
"WHAT?! You knew about all of this? Then why haven't you done anything?" SQ forgot about being quiet. The case didn't seem closed to her.
"Fred was already punished for his crime and then some more, and Lunardog's mother is out of reach. Everything that could have been done has already been done." ZM5 shrugged. "Honestly, I've grown tired of it all. Since we're both up, how about we get breakfast together?"
The two drows went up to the Mahogany Hall to eat some mussels in peace, but there was one thing they didn't know:
'Some' was an understatement - it was nineteen drows, mostly male, loafing around in the tavern. They must have arrived at night, when everyone was sleeping, because SQ had no idea they were there.
Suddenly a woman came up to SQ and ZM5. She was easily the most beautiful drow the two have ever seen. She had snow-whie waist-length hair, smooth skin the color of polished obsidian, slender, yet well-shaped body, and delicate facial features accented by her gentle and innocent expression. She did a graceful courtsy, and asked politely: "Excuse me, could I speak to the overseer? My friends and I would like to settle in this fine town."
"I'm the overseer, but I'm not sure if we can accept this many..." SQ started, but she didn't finish, because the beautiful migrant looked at her pleadingly with her big black eyes, sending chills down her spine.
"SQ, stand by your decision, I don't like the look of this." ZM5 whispered. He was leering at the woman suspiciously.
"ZM5, we don't even know what these people have to offer to us, and we could really use some workforce." SQ broke under the woman's gaze. "You and your friends can stay... umm... what's your name again?"
"Nunore Riddletunnels, pleasure to meet you, mistress SQ. Thank you very much for letting us stay." Nunore grabbed SQ's hand enthusiastically. "That's true that most of us have no skills whatsoever, and we're not fit for soldiering, and we didn't bring any riches beyond our crossbows, but I promise you won't regret your decision."
ZM5 looked at SQ in a way that said 'I told you'.
"Let's check out what animals they brought with them." SQ suggested, pretending she didn't notice her friend's stern look. "I assume they left them outside."
"Oh, a riding lizard! I always wanted to try riding one." ZM5 tried to pet the creature, but it snapped its jaws just an inch away from his hand. "Yikes! They were supposed to be easy to work with!"
"You should never touch someone else's lizard, they are trained to attack strangers!" SQ warned ZM5. "If we just let them be ridden by anybody, we would have all our enemies riding lizards."
"Whatever you say..."
"Sporewing, we had them in the bird section when I still worked in the menagerie." ZM5 said. "Nasty stuff, once you get into a swarm, you're not coming out."
"Why were they in the bird section? Those don't even resemble birds."
"Someone must have confused one with a fungal crow. It doesn't take much for them to take over.
"Who... who are you, stranger? Why... why aren't you saying anything?" SQ said to the menacing armored figure. She didn't get an answer.
"Maybe she's shy? Or maybe she's a magical construct, not a person?"
"She could at least answer my questions. Being a fancy golem isn't a reason to be rude."
"And this is..." SQ couldn't even guess. It was a large bipedal insect with impressively large mandibles. "ZM5, I have no idea what this is, but I feel like I won't be able to have out of body experiences when I'm around it."
"You say the wierdest things sometimes. If you're right, then maybe it's an ethereal slayer? Ha! As is a bunch of good for nothing slackers could bind a powerful outsider. It's probably just an uber hulk nymph."
"I don't know..."
"...and this is a spike rat. They spike your drinks when they get into the tavern, so watch out." ZM5 chuckled at his own joke.
"They do? Thanks for the warning! This could end really badly really fast!" SQ seemed completely serious. She looked at the rodent suspiciously as if she thought it was up to something. Maybe she did.
"Are you making fun of my jokes or..."
"What jokes?" The overseer looked clueless, but ZM5 still had no idea what was going on in her head. "Nevermind, let's go tell all those new guys to get to work. We can't let them eat our mussels for free."
"Now you're talking like a real overseer, maybe you've grown as a person after all." It took some time for ZM5 to realize what he just said. "Having said that, I'm sure you'll prove me wrong by having a mental breakdown talking to the migrants."
"Thanks for believing in me."
The two drows went down to the tavern to give orders to the newcomers, but instead of a crowd of useless bums, they only met Nunore digging through the tavern's chests.
"Now what do we have here..." ZM5 crossed his arms, looking down on the woman.
"I'm just checking the stocks, I can't be a good tavern keeper if we don't have enough cups, mister Five." Nunore winked at ZM5 flirtatiously, hoping to wrap him around her finger.
"Baby, only four women can call me 'Five', two of them I've known all my life, one won't ever call me that, because she's kind of a bitch, but she's still perfect in every way, one is a living goddess. You'll never reach their level, so stay in line. Who made you a tavern keeper anyway?"
"I did. This place needs some loving touch." Nunore answered. She wasn't upset in the slightest by ZM5's rejection, and she wasn't going to give up at the first sight of resistance. "It pains me so much that you don't trust me, but maybe you'll appreciate my work one day." The barkeep put on the most pleasant smile she could muster, which was
extremely pleasant.
"ZM5, could we focus on the main issue?" SQ interrupted. "Nunore, what happened to your 'companions'?"
"I told them to find the manager and ask him for assignment. We can't have this many drows doing nothing all day."
"You still think Fred wasn't properly punished for his crimes?" ZM5 asked SQ. Although this was a joke, they both shuddered at the thought of being woken up by a crowd of nineteen drows pouring into their bedrooms.
"Ah, one person started screaming for no reason, just to let you know. I think he went... you know... fey." Nunore added.
"What does it mean to be 'fey'?" SQ asked.
"It's when a man likes men or a woman likes women." ZM5 explained, with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Scourge has been 'fey' all her life, and nobody ever made a big deal out of it."
"She likes men too, in fact she's engaged to one. She's 'fi', not 'fey'.
"Ooooh..."
It didn't took long for the wood burner to finish his work. He emerged from the workshop with a perfectly made jet mechanism:
Engraving of giant rats was a strange design choice, but the craftsmanship was beyond masterful.
Unfortunately it was not the only unusual thing to happen that day. Someone outside started screaming, which reached SQ's ears. The overseer grabbed the eri from the tavern's coffer, and blew as hard as she could.
Freshcannon must have understood what that meant, because the second sound that echoed through the settlement was her shouting "Snakes out!".
The snakes gathered outside to see a hideous kangaroo monster slaughtering a giant longboar.
It was a horrible sight - the monster was ripping chunks of flesh from the giant beast's face, covering itself and its surrounding with blood. The sound of snarling and crazed squealing was terrifying in and on itself, but the snake knew they would have to face the werebeast sooner or later.
"Petrel, you idiot! Go inside!" The priestess shouted at the fisherman. MottledPetrel obeyed the order without complaining. "Snakes, hide among the rothe, they will distract the monster... I hope.
"Mistress, I'm scared. Rattusites and abrians are one thing, but this..." Imic mumbled. He was shaking uncontrollably, but his grip on his sword wasn't getting any weaker.
"I'm gonna tell you something, kid: we're all shitting our pants right now, you're not alone, but if you let the fear overcome you, you'll never become a hero." Freshcannon looked him straight in the eyes. The vigilante thought the priestess was lying to get him to obey, but Freshcannon's eyes were as full of fright as his.
"Looks like this might be our final hour... Not how I imagined it, but all things considered, it could be much worse... I guess..." ZM5, unlike Imic, looked calm. He was staring straight at the red morning sky. "Freshcannon, It will be a pleasure to fight and die by your side. Too bad you never got to warm up to me. Heh... heh..."
"This is not the time..." Freshcannon tried to sound stern, but she was moved in a way. The words got stuck in her throat.
"If there ever was the time it's now. Someone will die today, I can feel it."
The growling continued, but the squealing was cut short. The longboar was dead, and the kangaroo monster turned towards the drows hiding in a herd of rothe.
"Ready your weapons, Helmet Snakes. We either become heroes or leave our loved ones to die, so you better give this freak everything you got!
The drows started the battle by blinding the monster with faerie fire, before Biretha chopped its leg off with a single swipe of his scimitar. To add insult to the injury, Imic decided to cast another faerie fire.
Then the werekangaroo made its only successful move - it grabbed one of the Helmet Snakes by the toe, but it recoiled after Biretha crippled its other hand. Imic later chopped off this hand.
ZM5 apparently wanted to take the monster's thumb as a keepsake, but unfortunately the fight wasn't over yet. Meanwhile Biretha continued his chopping up of the kangaroo, taking its remaining leg.
Turns out ZM5's weapon is too small to penetrate a werekangaroo. Poor guy.
In the end the marsupial menace was put to rest by Freshcannon's heavy steel axe striking the upper body with all its weight.
"Huh, so much for drama..." ZM5 looked somewhat disappointed. "Checkmate, I guess?"
"Yeah... I have to admit I expected something more from a monster like this. "Freshcannon said, pulling out her axe from the werekangaroo's mangled corpse. "If anyone asks, this was a difficult fight, and we barely came out of it alive. Biretha, we gotta bandage you up like there's no tomorrow."
"Boss, I'm not even hurt!"
"That's the point, fool! Others don't have to know the moster was a wimp!"
First random migrant wave (full of mechanics, gem cutters, and an accomplished soaper), first artifact (a pretty lame one), and a first real threat (not really). We're becoming a proper fort!
If only the tavern and temple worked it would be neat. People are distracted, but won't pray or relax in the tavern, and there are no visitors, even though we have three free rooms for them. Is there a minimum size for dance floor in taverns and temples or what?
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Topic: LCM - Dungeonevened - The End (Read 41204 times)