Some people might take advice to 'stay close' as a suggestive phrase, or balk at what might be perceived as an order. Genny knows better in both cases and adjusts the hook that holds her whip close to her body so that she can draw quickly. She's fully aware of just what kind of nastiness lurks in the dark places of the Dream. Just look at who she sleeps with.

They don't get too deep before the whispering starts. Little things that notice their passage and talk. Smart little things that scent that Chago is a much bigger predator than they want to deal with, but they talk none the less. Deeper and deeper they go before Genny jerks to a halt, her ears twitching slightly. She touches his shoulder, peering into the semi gloom.

"We have visitors."

Yeah, look at what she sleeps with, and somehow think it wasn't an order. Still, order or not, it was also done from concern. Just like how he stops dead when she does and nods slightly. "I know. Been pacing us for the last few minutes." Mister One Eye does have sharp ears. "I been wondering when they'd get up the balls to try something." His head turns slowly and his lips curl back from wicked serated teeth. "Remember, stay on the f-ing path. It'll be a serious bitch to get it back in this place, and these are just the damn guard dogs. The serious shit is deeper in the shadows." he warns as his hands flex. "We can fight, but we can't take it to them if we do." he warns as something can be seen rippling in the darkness, blacker than the shadows and lost in that gloom almost as suddenly as it was glimpsed.

Genny nods, her breathing even for all of the threat. Sad when life is such that something shadowy and ugly threatening you is just par for the day. She gestures absently towards the path. "May as well gain ground til they decide what they're gonna..."

She only gets that far before a tendril lashes out from the shadow, sticky and foul smelling even from there. Genny stomps on it as it flashes by, twisting and letting the tendril rip under hoof before letting it retreat.

"Never mind... It's comin' again."

"D'uh." Says Chago with a slightly amused tone and an almost eager glint in his single eye. "It's the next one I'm figuring more trouble with. Ever see that movie with the bald guy and the weird eyes? What's his ass... Diesel something or something Diesel. What the hell ever. The one where those winged nighthags were eating everyone?" Pitch Black, in other words. "I hear those caused enough nightmares to be roaming the dark places. I'm hoping to maybe catch one. It’d be a good pet." Only for a redcap, but still.

"Anyway, I'm expecting to run into those too, but..." but what will have to wait though as he twists and drops to avoid one tendril and then snap at another, just missing it with his teeth. "Want Quicksilver, or ass kicking, babe?" he asks then as he rises. "I can do either one."

"More pets? Where ya gonna keep this one? An' the kitchen isn't an option." As though they're not under attack at all. She's still calm, darting over another strike. "Mmm...quicksilver I think. Ya got ta be fast last time." She's good, she doesn't even put innuendo into it. Much. Then again the attacks also speed up, coming from both sides of the path. Genny is kept busy for several seconds, ducking and spinning the whip out to sever one of the tentacles. She hisses as another one catches her across the cheek. "Damn...that burns."

Chago seems more like he's having fun that battling as he swings a backfist to rip one tendril as it came at his blind side. He's used to using his ears as much as his eyes and that helps a lot. "Careful doll." He notes casually. A few more snaps of teeth and high swipes with his Gauntlets and the attacks against him start going lower, about the same time they start getting higher on Genny to avoid those hooves more.

"Quicksilver it is." Chago says at last as the attacks change, like he was waiting for it. He stops trying to hurt those tendrils for a bit then, as he begins to hop over them quickly while chanting a child's jumprope routine and then releasing the glamour burst after that quick, no pun intended, bunk.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mmm...nice." She ducks other attacks more easily now, which gives her a chance to reach her free hand into a pocket, coming up with a tangle of thread. "Let's see if we can bring ya a playmate huh?" The words are a quiet mutter that go with the movement of her fingers in the thread, lacing it around itself, twisting and twining and giving a sharp little trilling whistle that almost sounds like the notes themselves are being bound.

When she releases the bunk the glamour flows quick and the tendrils start to tangle much like the thread, in, over, around through. Once well bunched she snaps the whip forward, wrapping it around the bundle and pulling hard, bringing the body of the beast, all tendrils and teeth onto the path.

As Genny works her cantrip and dodges, Chago goes on the offensive again. Instead of Gauntleted rakes and near misses, he starts grabbing tendrils and hauling them to snap off with his teeth. Well, until she starts tying it up. Then he hops over closer to her. "Damn. We forgot the white wine. That would make a hell of a calamari platter." he jokes. Then he turns on the beast and lunges in, ripping and tearing with Gauntlets and teeth and trusting her to keep its tendrils tied up enough that he won't get grabbed and pinned before he's done his damage.

"Jus' don't spoil yer dinner." Like that's possible...hah!

She manages to hold the beast, which proves to be only one but a really really big one. It's phenomenally pissed at being on the path, much preferring the shadows where it can lash out without a redcap munching on it. The sad part is that it’s only a baby in the big scheme of thing. The cry it makes is a terrible noise, one that rakes at the spine and soul and makes Genny's musical ears flinch. "Good hell. Hope it don't taste as bad as it sounds."

Chago continues to rip and tear for a bit longer before leaping back and spitting a brackish gray fluid off to the side and scowling at the still struggling but clearly badly hurt beastie. "Tastes better'n Max's cooking." he mutters as he eyes the beast. Then he flicks his hand toward Genny before he starts to stalk toward the thing, going fully into the raw fury and terror that is a redcap. "Get the hell away from us." he demands as he approaches the thing, hands ready for a battle. "And leave us the hell alone!" he adds with a near roar.

Genny releases the magic holding the beast, sweat dripping down her skin from the effort, as Chago goes after the beastie. There are many things in this dark part of the Dream that would likely at least TRY to stand up to the rage of Chago, and many others that could give him a run for his money. This is NOT one of those things. As Chago said, it's a guard dog and it knows when it's whipped.

The sound it gives off this time is much like a whimper and as Genny's hold on tentacles and whip release it bounds back into the darkness, leaving a trail of ichor behind it. Like as not it's going to become dinner for something else bleeding like that, but it did rather ask for it.

Once it's gone Genny tucks her string back away, approaching Chago and giving him a grin. "I do believe ya hurt its feelbads."

Chago flashes a grin back at his lovely mate and then dips his fingers into the travel pouch on his belt to pull out an only mildly soiled cloth for wiping away the gunk on his face. "Sucks to be him. Gonna be a while before I get that taste outta my mouth." he grouses good naturedly. Well good naturedly for a redcap anyway. He looks at the cloth once he's cleaned up to his satisfaction and then balls it up to tuck away with some things for cantrips instead of in the more general belongings. That taken care of, he takes a moment more to do another easy cantrip, using an old cowboy trick for picking directions as he studies the path for a bunk. A bit of the tarnish seems to fade from the path and he nods that direction. "Ready?"

He doesn't wait for the answer either. Just starts down the path. After a little though, he suddenly says "I didn't say I was gonna try and catch one. Just that it would be cool to have one. We'd probably have to keep it in the basement if we did get one. Hard to keep anywhere else dark enough." See? He didn't ignore her question earlier. He was just distracted by the fight.

Really.

Honestly.

He certainly wasn't taking the time to try and think of a good spot for something that can't stand any light. Of course not.

Genny laughs at that, a light sound that pushes back the dark briefly. There's legends about satyr laughter and song defeating darkness...maybe if it came from a satyr that didn't have a leaning towards being rather dark herself. "I'd be fine with the basement. If ya did catch one anyway, and if we had a basement."

Mmmhmm...reasonable mate. This is one of the keys to happiness...compromise and letting the man have his toys. As long as he keeps them out of her kitchen.