“Easy Peasy, right Bea?” Chelsea asked her friend, as the Pekeketua brawlers smashed the remaining troll crewmen to the deck with their oversized clubs.
“Only because there were only two sets of staff, and the boss was in our dungeon,” Bea replied, as she speared one of the trolls that didn’t derez immediately. “That makes things much easier.”
“That’s true, but don’t worry, we can prove ourselves on the next floor.”
As they finished off the remaining crew, everyone was directly shunted into the next rest room.
“Well… that was sudden,” Chelsea muttered, as she picked herself off the ground. Most of the others, the Pekeketua and Anthophilans, made a more dignified landing, so she did her best to recover before anyone noticed. “Is anyone injured?”
“No,” croaked one of the smaller Pekeketua, as he fiddled with his blowpipe. As soon as Chelsea turned to look at him, he hid behind one of his much larger cousins. The small ones were always shy.
“Good, then let's keep moving then. Since that was our third victory Talia was going to bring Voss back, along with the Mycelium, to cover the Gardens while we’re pushing, but I’d still like to get back as soon as possible,” Chelsea announced. She stretched out, transformed into her true form, and stepped through the portal to the town before anyone could disagree.
Bea sighed. “Well, I would have preferred to have a little bit more time to rest, and plan, but I guess there’s no time for that.” She stood up and gestured to the other Anthophilans, who formed up with her. “Everyone on your feet, we can’t let Chelsea get too far ahead, or she’ll get overwhelmed.”
She stepped through the portal, and into a ramshackle village built into the side of a cliff. Just ahead of her, Chelsea was brawling with a small group of pirate buccaneers. As soon as she saw the skirmish Bea zipped forward, extended her whip blade, slashed one of the pirates in the back. The other buccaneers barely had time to react, before the rest of the Anthophilans fell upon the group, ripping them apart.
“You didn’t need to do that Bea, I could have handled it,” Chelsea whined, still in her full Chimera form.
“Maybe, but we don’t have any healers with us, so all that damage you’re taking will slowly add up. It’s better to be cautious than run in. Remember, this is the floor that Talia was most worried about,” Bea replied, scanning the ricketty shanties surrounding them. “She suspected the boss, Kenaya the soothsayer, would definitely have a few tricks up her sleeves.”
“Fine… I’ll take it easy. At least, until we engage Kenaya,” the chimera pouted. She fell into line, shoulder to shoulder with the Pekeketua brawlers, and waited for everyone to catch up before beginning to advance once again.
The town was quiet, more like a ghost town than a busy pirate port. There were blind alleys, bridges between buildings, and cliffside overhangs. Plenty of places to set up an ambush.
“Should we send some of the other Anthophilans out to scout?” Chelsea asked, as she poked her head into a particularly dark, and empty alley.
“I’d prefer to keep everyone close,” Bea replied, “I feel like splitting up in enemy territory would be a bad idea.”
“Come on… we’ve taken out one group, plus however many were used in attacking, there can’t be that many left. We could be a little more aggressive,” Chelsea growled.
Just as she said that, the sound of gunfire echoed down one of the side streets, knocking one of the Anthophilans out of the sky; There was barely enough time for the bee girl to cry out in pain, before she derezed. Bea spun in place, just barely catching sight of a group of mer-pirate musketeers running away, before Chelsea let out a roar and chased after them.
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“Chelsea, stop!” Bea cried, but the chimera was already gone. “After her!” Bea yelled, diving to street level to gain speed and catch her friend. Behind her the other Anthophilans, and Pekeketua, rushed to keep up. By the time she reached the corner where the musketeers had been standing, Chelsea was already halfway up the street, still chasing the mer-people. Strangely enough, she hadn’t caught them yet.
Bea pushed herself, attempting to gain upon her friend, when everything went to shit.
Just as she was about to fly under a particularly ornate bridge between two buildings, a net dropped down in front of her. She dipped further, managing to slip underneath the falling obstruction before it hit the ground. The rest of the Anthophilans were not so lucky, they slammed into the net at top speed. Bea twisted, tried to come around to free them, but before she could only to watch the team of sharkin hidden above drench her people with pitch, then light the net. It only took moments for everyone to be consumed in the inferno, forcing all her people to de-rez.
Thankfully the Pekeketua were a little further behind, and evaded the trap. They leapt up the bridge, and fell upon the sharkin from behind. A rain of poison darts, and blows from their massive clubs ended the ambush, but the damage was already done.
“Chelsea, behind!” Bea yelled at her friend, more than a little upset at losing two full squads of her people. The chimera, to her credit, did pause for a moment. Bea watched her turn, and start back, only for a massive boom to echo down the street. Something caught Chelsea in the side, and smashed her straight through the nearest building.
Bea turned her head slightly and stared, in shock, at the far end of the street. The cannon sitting there was still smoking, but the crew was already reloading. Standing next to it, dressed in a ratty, multicolored, gypsy-style dress, was a half troll woman. “I rarely roll out the full welcome mat for guests,” she said, “but unfortunately my associates haven’t been carrying their weight, so I need to step in.” The musketeers, which had been retreating up to this point, turned and started reloading.
“We need to retreat, before we lose anymore…” Bea started, but before she could finish Chelsea erupted out of the ruined house; She was battered, and bleeding, but alive. The chimera sprinted up the street, rushing the half-troll woman. The woman didn’t even flinch. Instead, she stared down the raging chimera, raised her hand, and snapped her fingers, smirking the entire time. As soon as she did, Chelsea slowed.
It wasn’t like she stopped running, it was more like she was suspended in molasses, and everything she did was half as fast. After that, the half-troll woman simply stepped aside, and let the cannon crew finish reloading. Bea briefly considered going out, to try and cover for her friend, but the writing was on the wall. If she went out there, it would only result in her getting gunned down by the musketeers, or grounded by the mage. “Retreat!” she told the Pekeketua, who were still up on the bridge.
As the frogs jumped away, Bea took one last look at her friend. Chelsea was still struggling against slowing magic, struggling to move forward. She could see the fear on her friend’s face, Chelsea had obviously realized how futile her charge was at this point, and was regretting her decision. Bea shook her head, then took off, flying back towards the entrance. A few streets later she heard a deafening boom, then silence.
—
“Did you expect it to go that badly?” Bella asked, as we watched the disastrous attack.
“Of course not,” I replied, zooming in on the half-troll. “I expected Kenaya to have some tricks, something that might slow Chelsea and Bea down. I didn’t expect her to completely devastate half our force in a couple seconds. She also played Chelsea like a fiddle, got her all riled up, and forced her to make mistakes.” I sighed, “We’ll have to talk about her anger issues later.”
“You can’t really blame the girl, she’s still learning. Besides, you JUST used a similar trick to deal with that troll.” Bella laid back, reclining on the air, “I’m just glad you were able to take care of him by yourself, I didn’t have much left after fighting that hag.”
“Yeah,” I replied with a frown. “We’re in deep trouble the next time they attack. We’re down to a single group of spectres, and a single vampire. Even with both of us here, we’ll be hard pressed to hold off the next attack. I may have to request backup from elsewhere.”
While I was pondering, Bella took the tablet out of my hands and swapped it over to another channel. “We’re still ahead, but our attack has stalled. What’s next?”
I turned, and stared at her for a moment. “Considering the situation, it might be best if we take matters into our own hands.”
Bella’s face drooped. “I hope you’re seriously not suggesting what I think.”
“Pick up Bea and go on the offensive,” I replied with a nod. “It’s better than waiting around to get overwhelmed.”
She sighed, “Fine, but if things go south, you’re buying me lunch.”
“Deal.”