The Party: Outskirts of Sha Laial

The swamp Mr. Beans had indicated wasn't far off the beaten path. The road leading to it was poorly maintained but traveled just enough that it was clear where wagon wheels had passed over it. As they approached, they came across a small hut, and a rugged older man sat outside it. His skin was dark, tanned by the midday sun till it was near burnt brown. His wrinkles were deep fissures in his face. A bunch of fishing line was spooled up beside him, and he looked to be weaving a net of it.

"Ah, hello there," he said and waved to them. "Don't oft get travelers this way, especially not so well-armed ones. What brings you here to the ghost of Lom-Sewes?"

"Lom?" Mavec asked.

"Yessa, there used to be a village, but between the war and the encroaching swamp, it's a ghost town now. Most of the houses have sunk below the waterline. It's why I made my little hut as light as I could. Even this bundle of sticks won't sink below the loose mud."

"We've come looking for a child of Akrixi," Naya stated.

"Ah, you're not the first people today. Saw a group of three that passed me by at a wide berth earlier today. Couldn't get a good look at them," he confided. "Now, why the interest in those strange spirits?"

"My village, Lom-Itoti, was transformed into plants. Not the buildings, but all of the people," said Naya.

"You think it to be the work of a spirit?" he asked.

"I do," she replied.

"The child of Akrixi is here alright," he nodded. "You're going to want to head to the center of the swamp. There's an old trail that leads there. To be honest, it's more of a footpath with railings. When there were people still living here to worship them, they maintained the paths. Now, only a handful of people ever travel here, period. Mind yourself when you pass by the abandoned houses down that way. I've heard a lot of commotion coming from them of late. Lots of bats, some of them bigger than usual, too."

"Thank you for your warning," Naya said, slightly bowing.

"Just be telling it I say hello," he said, bidding them a short wave. Naya smiled; the people of the hinterlands were so much nicer than city folk, she found. Alvec wrapped himself in magic. His standard ghostly blue chainmail appeared over his clothing. Mavec did the same but on Piccora instead of himself. The armor she wore looked like a glass-like veil of yellow energy.

"Strange old swamp, man!" Bait shouted. "You know any cheese ingredients? Secret swamp cheese ingredients?"

"I have heard tell of something called swamp tea," said the man. "It's made from the bark of the trees. However, I suspect you can also find exquisite mushrooms and moss here. The damp waters and the decay feed them well."

"Tree bark sounds gross, mushrooms good. Mushroom cheese should also be good. K Bye," Bait said as he left the man abruptly. The group followed the man's instructions, passing near two houses with weathered paint slowly sinking into the ground. Large open barn doors and tilted windows were a strange sight. This was a place that time seemed to have forgotten and nature reclaimed. A chorus of squeaks emanated from within the old barn. A swarm of bats rushed forward, with two giant bats circling overhead.

"Any chance we can avoid fighting them?" Illaria asked.

"Maybe if we just run," Mavec said, gesturing forward.

"Bats usually just eat bugs; what the hells are they thinking?" Naya asked.

"Somethings got them on edge," Alvec said. "I don't think we can run far enough or fast enough. Maybe they'll back down if we hold our ground."

"Bait shoot." He confirmed as he took aim at the giant bats. He squeezed the trigger, striking the beast twice before frantically reloading his musket bigger than he was. The swarm of bats descended onto Alvec and Rem, buffeting them with their wings, tiny fangs, and a cacophony. No matter how he tried to defend himself, they were there, striking every angle; not even his magic could protect him from an omnidirectional attack. Naya, Illaria, and Echo rushed in to help Alvec, but they were so small it was difficult to land a solid hit on any of them. They were merely taking a few bats out at a time.

"This isn't working. Mavec, help Bait try to take down the big ones. Maybe they're riling up the smaller bats?" Naya suggested.

"Oh, with pleasure." Mavec aimed, the air around his hand shimmering with a heat shear. He let out a red hot ray, which slammed into one of them, leaving a scorched mark and burnt flesh and fur. The two giant bats split up; one dove down at Bait. It bit into his shoulder and, worse, lifted the goblin off the ground before rocketing forty feet straight up. Bait squirmed in midair and struggled to position his musket so he could squeeze a shot off. He pulled the trigger with the muzzle of the musket pressed right against the Direbat. The bullet ripped through the creature's heart, ending its life. Both the corpse and Bait plummeted out of the sky. Alvec, seeing this, grabbed a vial out of his belt pouch and dove out of the swarm of bats, running as fast as he could toward where Bait was falling. With his best guess, he hucked the vial at the ground. The glass shattered on impact, and a thick layer of pink foam covered a patch of ground beneath Bait in seconds. The goblin landed smack dab in the center of the foam and bounced out of it. Alvec winced; even with some padding, that had been a rough landing.

Mavec pointed at the swarm, and Piccora dashed in, igniting itself with electricity as it ran into the sun-blotting cloud of bats. The electricity seemed to fry several, but the magic had no better effect than Naya and Illaria's swords. Bait collected himself from the ground, covered in a frothy pink foam, and tried to aim. His first shot went wide, but his second slammed into the second dire bat, knocking it from the skies. It plummeted to the earth with a loud thump and did not move. The swarm of bats lingered for only a few moments before dispersing into the sky. Naya's theory looked to be correct. The dire bats were riling up the swarm.

"Bait, you okay?" Illaria asked, going up to the goblin, shaking his gun at the bats dispersing from the area.

"Bait, kill more bats! Bats no kill Bait!" Illaria gently grabbed the gun's muzzle and pushed it toward the ground.

"It's over, Bait; we won. The big ones controlled the small bats, and you murdered both of them. They should return to normal bat activities, eating blood-sucking bugs and stuff like that."

"Fine, Bait watching, though." He said as he motioned towards his eyes and then the bats.

"Yes, that's fine and lovely; let's get you healed and moving again. The sooner we find this child of Akrixi, the sooner we return to Sha-Laial and visit Ben."

"Alvec, bring wand; Bait's head hurt," he said eagerly as he dashed over to Alvec.

Naya crept into the barn; perhaps there had been something magical or otherwise to hint at why the dire bats had attacked them. The barn was deteriorating but would likely hold together for many more years. The only thing she could see of note was an immense amount of guano. Alvec and Mavec carried a small amount of it with them, something about it being good for fire magic. Nothing seemed like it would have either caused the bats to become dire or caused them to become aggressive. The only thing this barn held was a lot of guano. She approached Alvec as he was finishing up with Bait.

"Hey, thought you and Mavec would want to know that the farmhouse is loaded with bat shit. I know that's valuable to you arcane casters."

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"We'll mark it on the map; if we're ever truly strapped for cash, we can consider coming to harvest it," Mavec replied.

"Right now, I think we're already carrying enough wealth," Alvec replied. "Besides, that job would kind of suck."

The group set out for the pathway. It was exactly as the older man described—a narrow footpath with railings on either side. The water looked deep as if it would threaten to swallow Bait up whole and quickly go waist-deep on everyone else, save maybe Illaria, who would still go up to her mid-thighs. They had been hiking this shallow pathway for about forty minutes when Bait suddenly darted to the front of the line, held his hand up, and motioned for everyone to get down. The group did as he instructed quietly. He pointed ahead of them and held his hands up, one flat and the other he used to make it look like his other hand was "walking" over it. He then held up three fingers and finally put both hands up to his head, mirroring horns.

Alvec moved to the front and sent a message to Bait with magic. "Three devils walking towards us?" He asked to confirm.

"Ah, why wizard in head if he know what Bait say?"

Alvec fought to suppress a chuckle and crept past Bait. He spoke infernal; perhaps if he could get close enough, he'd learn their purpose and then see if he could bluff his way past them. This encounter didn't need to be a fight. The group wasn't well suited for a battle with devils. Immune to fire, resistant to non-blessed weapons, resistant to acid and cold, not to mention magic itself. It was a bad matchup for the party at present. Three of them could be immensely difficult. The narrow pathway would also make fighting them more challenging. They at least outnumbered them, but it still wasn't a gamble Alvec wanted to take. He could hear the chatter in infernal from further on ahead.

"How the hell does she expect us to negotiate with that thing? It doesn't desire anything?"

"It does seem impossible; these spirits are such a pain in the ass."

"Why does she even want its power?"

"Imagine how much stronger or stealthier we could be if we could just be anyone. We could infiltrate anywhere; not even the Gold Banner and their cats' paws could find us."

They approached swiftly. Coming into better sight, Alvec could see that they were entirely red with long, slick tails, each carrying a sturdy spear. Alvec stood up alone and stepped forward, activating his defensive barrier first. The three devils suddenly stopped, startled by Alvec's sudden appearance from around the bend.

"Did she send someone to babysit us?!" The first one asked indignantly.

"She thought it might be prudent to send a specialist to help negotiate with the child of Akrixi; they can be... particular," Alvec hissed back in the native tongue of his ancestry. It was a bluff, one he hoped they would buy. If they did, he might be able to convince them that the others with him were paid escorts. None of them looked like they couldn't be evil mercenaries. Hell, the Blue Banner had started by actively bringing pirates under its control by paying them to join. So Bait and Illaria already looked half the part. The devil in front laughed.

"Nice try, kid. Can't have any witnesses that we were here." He dove forward, thrusting his spear at him. Alvec moved with it, and it glanced off his ghostly blue arcane armor.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill me," Alvec said in common.

"CHARGE!" Bait yelled as he stood up and took aim.

"An ambush only works if you don't say anything until you attack, you shit-eating goblin," the devil in the back hissed. The terrain was immediately an issue. Forced single file, with Alvec at the front, was fine for the moment, but the Devils all had spears with enough reach to strike at him while he had no other recourse but to fall back and trade out with someone else. Another spear point came at him; this one connected, drawing blood. A third spear swept in from the side, but he maneuvered his buckler in the way, glancing the tip off into another direction. He couldn't retreat, he realized. Moving backward now would only open him up to a bunch of attacks. Without some countermeasure first, he wasn't going to be getting anywhere. Casting defensively was difficult, but it was the only option he saw available. Usually, he'd trust his high defenses to take care of any attacks made at him while he was distracted by casting, but with their weapons providing so much reach, it wasn't an option. The pain of a sudden stab could make him lose the spell entirely, a possibility he wasn't prepared for.

He selected his spell carefully. There were ways to bypass a devil's innate spell resistance. Choosing spells that affected the world rather than them was one option. This spell created a bright golden glitter known to blind opponents, either by physically getting in their eyes or being so bright as to reflect too much light. He could catch all of them in it, so he cast it. The devils attempted to take advantage of his split attention, stabbing forward at him; he warded off their attacks and finished casting the spell. A 10-foot circle of blinding glittering golden dust erupted into existence. It didn't look to have blinded all of them, but the one in the front, the most important one, was rubbing at his eyes wildly. With that, Alvec ran backward, allowing someone else to engage them. Naya rushed in, swinging both swords, which easily connected with the devil in front. Both blades bit into him, but as Alvec had suspected, neither did more than break the devil's skin. It laughed off the attacks.

"If that's all you've got, you'll be dead and dying soon," he chortled.

Naya whispered a word, and Echo, standing in the muck on the other side of the guard rail, enlarged till he towered over the devils. He bit down, his fangs easily puncturing the devil and leaving blood-seeping wounds on him. The laughter stopped abruptly as the devil's mood began to sour. While Naya's blades may not have been a threat, her companion Echo was. Gunfire drowned out whatever the devil attempted to say, and both bullets struck him. The first one bounced off as it only clipped him. The second hit him at center mass and punched a hole clean through him.

Illaria leaped onto the railing and raced past the devil, easily parrying a spear thrust at her feet and retaliated with a swooping slice towards their shoulder. The wound was shallow but had raked across the devil's right eye. She landed behind it and swung again, striking it once more shallowly.

Mavec raised his hand and froze. "These things are immune to fire, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Alvec confirmed.

"Fuck, other than shocking grasp, I've got nothing good to hit them with."

"Grease?" Alvec suggested.

"No... but maybe this one will work." He pushed a spell through Piccora. The rabbit dashed forward, quickly weaving through everyone's legs, and slammed into the one in the front. There was a slight flash of light, but it hadn't overcome the devil's innate magical resistance. "Damn it, that would have been cool."

The devils each began their assault; the one in front of Naya stabbed at her wildly, but its blade missed her due to the glitter in its eyes. Illaria found another spear coming at her and once more deflected it aside, punishing the attack with a gash across its throat; this one went deeper than the first, drawing a look of panic from the creature as it grasped at its bleeding throat with one hand.

"Alvec, make me bigger!" Naya shouted back towards him. If it worked for Echo, it might just work for her. Alvec did as instructed, rushing forward and touching her back. The magic flowing through her was an unusual experience as she and her gear grew to almost double her original size. Alvec's magic wasn't all she had in mind. She channeled some of her inner connection with Echo and forced the thought of strength through her magic. She swung at them again; neither cut did too much, but both had done more than before. Echo more than made up for it, snapping his jaws down onto the creature, leaving a second set of jagged puncture wounds.

Bait reloaded quickly, slamming alchemical cartridges into his musket. Another pair of shots rang out again, targeting the one Naya and Echo were facing off against. Both shots connected again; each bullet punched bloody holes through the devil's chest. The creature was starting to look much worse for wear. With four bullet holes, four slash marks, and two sets of bite wounds, he was practically weeping blood. Yet it stood and wildly thrust its spear at Naya, only striking her once. The spearpoint went in deep, and she cried out in pain. It wasn't a life-threatening wound, but another few like those, and she wouldn't be walking away from it.

The one behind it, though, not currently engaged with Illaria, leaned forward and thrust twice more, both digging in deep. Naya's knees buckled and threatened to give out under her as the pain washed over her. The one fighting Illaria sensed the opportunity and desperately lunged at Naya. Alvec grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward as he stepped in to intercept. The spear point slipped past his shield and got him good in the side. He winced, knowing he'd just saved her from what could have been a near-fatal blow. It made its second blow against Illaria, who parried the tip again and scored a slash against its neck. It was a solid swing, with more power behind it than the more practiced cuts she had made before. The blade bit very deep into the devil's neck. Had their anatomy been the same as humans, she was sure she'd have taken their head clean off with that swing.

"Fuck it, Piccora, let's try this again!" Mavec said as he cast through her once more. Electricity shimmered across her frame as she slammed into the devil in front of Alvec. Energy pulsed through its body, and it went limp, falling to the ground. Alvec hoped that this would be the turning of the tides. Bait refocused his fire on the one in front of Illaria, peppering it with two more shots, both of which hit their mark and struck hard in soft spots. Echo moved forward, got onto the pathway behind it, and bit down hard. With a sickening visceral snap, Echo ended the life of this devil, splintering its spine in his teeth. The third devil, having witnessed his two allies murdered, made a mad rush into the swamp, hoping to swim away.

It was a bit of a longshot, but Alvec aimed, firing off another ray of green energy at the fleeing devil. It struck, and suddenly, the devil was thrashing around, trying to stay afloat. As it struggled to stay above the water, Bait took careful aim. He waited uncharacteristically long to fire, readjusting his sights a few times to ensure he had it lined up perfectly. He squeezed the trigger once, placing the shot right between its eyes, killing it instantly.

"Bait good at dis," he said as he placed the butt of his gun into the mud.