The narrow alleyway became darkened by the evening sky before long, as the party made their chase after Darrien, or rather the creature that he'd become. Only the faint light of hearths and candles inside of nearby homes helped illuminate the way, though they could all see well enough.
“You alright, daggers?” Oriax asked concernedly, “Covered in blood…”
“Oh—I’m okay.” Seku nodded embarrassedly, but said with a steely determination, “We just need to find Darrien before he does anything stupid.”
“Tell me what that creature is.” Orcus replied over his shoulder, “You're familiar with it, no? Do things like this happen often in your village?”
“Not at all.” Seku shook her head, “I’ve never heard of a pit stalker mutating from a human before. They're a fully amphibious creature, and typically lay their clutches in the late spring. For a human to morph into some hybrid variation, well, I can't even begin to imagine what kind of blood magic is involved. He must be so scared…”
“Assuming he’s still in there.” Orcus added pessimistically, though he was more or less inclined to agree.
It was a mild annoyance that things had turned out this way to begin with. But at the very least, it was something that the Prince of Demons hadn't been expecting. In that regard, he supposed the party would be better suited to deal with such similar occurrences, should they arise in the future. He wondered if all Garimor's followers suffered the same fate? Or just the impressionable ones.
“Remember when I said that we couldn’t possibly upset anyone more than we have already?” Terminus squawked woefully from the edge of Oriax’s shoulder, “That wasn’t an invitation to try, just you know!”
“Darrien…?” Oriax mumbled, “Do I know who that is?”
“The prisoner.” Orcus sighed, who otherwise tried to focus as he led his party down the street.
Seku was doing their tracking, but he wasn’t about to let her take the lead. For some inexplicable reason, the Prince of Demons was feeling a twinge of regret for almost letting a party member die on him. He couldn’t determine why. Orcus never felt a drop of remorse for any of the countless soldiers he’d lost in battle through the ages. Why should a mortal be any different? Why did he feel the sudden need to protect his party?
“Ah… right on.” Oriax said belatedly, “Didn’t know he could do that. Pretty neat.”
“Don't flatter him, Oriax.” Orcus gritted his teeth, annoyed by everything all of a sudden, “There's nothing fascinating about that boy's pathetic life whatsoever. This is simply one more inconvenience I could really do without.”
“Whatever you say, hands.” Oriax clapped Orcus on the shoulder, “But you really need to lighten up a little. I don’t know a lot about demons, but… you got to live loose! That’s the way I do it.”
“Hands off me—ugh.” Orcus groaned, “And try telling that to yourself before the next time you rage... idiot.”
“Water on the bridge, boss man.” Oriax smiled, raising a hand in the air in earnest, “Sorry. I’ll do better.”
“It’s water under the bridge, Oriax.” Terminus chipped in, “Anyway, I’m getting biological data here: Darrien can’t have gotten far… this could be a tough fight, Your Highness.”
“It’s high time you stopped underestimating me, bird.” Orcus pouted, “I am not about to let this creature get away. It was the only thing I was looking forward to today. And anyway, we can't just leave while it's still out here. The townspeople may deserve it for their cowardice, but I'm not in a spiteful mood.”
“Water under the bridge…?” Oriax murmured, but the Prince of Demons ignored him.
“Look, mister Orcus, the trail stops here…”
The party of three halted in front of a large wooden building, akin to a barn or warehouse. One of the two heavy doors was hanging partially off its hinges, still swinging slightly. Fortunately, given the town’s apparent aversion to being out at night, the street was relatively empty.
“Wonder why he chose this place?” Seku pondered, “Maybe he knew it was empty?”
“Oriax, to the front.” Orcus directed quietly, “Seku, seeing that you’re injured, make yourself sparse to forward attacks. Bird, to me.”
The party advanced as it was instructed, and Terminus fluttered over to land on Orcus’s shoulder.
Quietly, Terminus said, “Be advised, Your Highness. I don’t have any further information for you currently. I don’t foresee any real issues now that Oriax is with us, but I still advise caution.”
Orcus nodded.
Stepping inside the rickety building, shadows clung to every surface. Crinkly pieces of refuse were sprawled across the ground, while crates and barrels of all sorts and sizes sat grouped in various areas around the open space along the floor. A second tier of flooring wrapped around the open area as well in a square shape, and sturdy ropes could be seen dangling from above, affixed to the second story railing in a kind of rigging system.
The sounds of whimpering echoed faintly near the middle of the warehouse, as the party moved forward. Seku had already disappeared into the darkness, leaving Oriax and Orcus to take the lead out.
As they rounded toward the center, Oriax held out his arm, gesturing to the mass of greenish-gray that sat slumped over several crates, and it was clearly hurt. However, the Prince of Demons’ armor was a bit too clunky, and the noise spurred on the creature’s attention.
“Harg—” The pit stalker resounded gutturally, and its head craned toward where the two of them stood. Barking several times, the monstrous form of Darrien scrambled to its fee quickly, though it seemed unsure of itself.
However, it was at the moment that Orcus and Oriax were about to proceed, in which something fast suddenly darted out of the shadows, launching itself at the two of them!
--- critical failure! ---
Oriax caught the slithering creature by its head, and both he and Orcus glanced at the dark-colored snake writhing around in his hand.
“… Snakes?” Oriax grumbled, but said with a grin, “Better watch out. It sounds like there's more in here.”
“Rage only as A last resort, Oriax. I mean it.” Orcus insisted, and prepared for combat as the sound of multiple hisses rang throughout the open area.
“He’s not a real pit stalker.” Seku’s voice echoed in Orcus’s head, herself hidden in the darkness somewhere, “We can still save him. I know we can.”
“What about the snakes?” Orcus replied hastily, “There are multiple of them, by the sound of it. His doing?”
“The mayor mentioned moles, didn’t he?” Seku said, “These creatures are little more than familiars, but maybe Darrien was drawn to them? It would be best to kill them, regardless. If we wear Darrien down, I have an idea.”
“Seku…” Orcus groaned, further annoyed by her insistence, but said to Oriax, “We need to get in close to that creature. Clear us a path! Kill everything but the large one, understood? We're going to—give Seku an opening.”
Oriax groaned amusedly, “Ah, hell, but I’m good at killing the big ones. Oh well—”
Tossing the snake into the air, Oriax grasped his maul, reeled back, and swung.
[Oriax's Target] --- Takes 8 points of bludgeoning damage ---
A splattering of snake innards doused a nearby section of barrels, as the tiny creature was mushed. In the same motion, Oriax was off his mark and heading straight for the pit stalker.
“On your right, your Highness!” Terminus said, as he lifted into the air.
“Necrotic Bolt!” Orcus shouted, raising his hand in that direction, where another snake was on course to intercept them.
[Orcus's Target] --- Takes 3 points of necrotic damage ---
The tiny beast was completely consumed by a shadowy tendril of necrotic energy, and was pulled apart almost instantly, leaving it dead in the blink of an eye.
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Frantically ahead, the injured monstrosity of Darrien stumbled backward as Oriax came within ten feet of him. The creature let its jaw fall slack, its tongue twisted around in its mouth as if it were trying to find some words to say, but all it could do was shout.
[Orcus] --- fail versus Screech ability ---
--- Takes 1 point of psychic damage ---
--- Status: deafened (1 minute) ---
Orcus winced in pain, and all sound suddenly ceased. Furthermore, his sense of hearing was replaced by a gradual ringing noise. Orcus watched as the pit stalker scampered up onto its feet and wildly threw himself toward Oriax.
[Party Target] --- Reckless attack; chance to hit doubled for six seconds ---
One swipe of its claws sunk into Oriax’s arm, but the other was shrugged aside easily.
--- Health (Oriax): 10/14 ---
However, due to the Prince of Demons’ lack of hearing, he was suddenly caught off guard, and two more snakes flung themselves from either side of him!
He barely had time to realize what was happening, and could only thrust himself around with instinct alone. The snake on his right clambered into the shield still slung over his back, as he easily brushed the other one off with his mace in hand. Orcus could still feel the impact of the vibrations though, but was otherwise witness to a muffled smattering of unintelligible noises.
[Seku's Target] --- Takes 6 points of slashing damage from main hand, offhanded attack failed ---
Orcus regarded his system overlay for a single moment, recognizing the damage output as that of Seku’s. Though he couldn’t hear or see where she was, it was good to know that she was still eager to carry her own weight in the fight. He may not have agreed with her sentiments, but her will was impressive.
Out of the corner of Orcus’s vision, he regarded the skirmish between the pit stalker and Oriax for a moment. The flailing creature had left itself completely exposed in its careless attack, and Oriax was sure to capitalize.
--- chance to hit doubled from [Target] active ability, Reckless ---
[Oriax's Target] --- Takes 12 points of bludgeoning damage ---
Oriax’s maul came crashing down across Darrien’s elongated skull. And though the Prince of Demons couldn’t hear its cries, he was certain that the creature had felt every bit of that strike.
As Orcus flicked his gaze back ahead, he surged forward with his mace-wielding hand and struck at the snake ahead of him.
[Orcus's Target] --- Takes 6 points of bludgeoning damage ---
The animal’s body fell away, and Orcus pivoted on his front foot to face the second of his bestial attackers, which lurched out to bite him. However, the creature’s mouth was only able to get a mouthful of vambrace, and Orcus shook it from him.
--- Health (Oriax): 2/14 ---
Orcus glanced over to his left quickly, seeing the violent sight of Darrien’s maw clamped down on Oriax’s shoulder.
Fool! All out offense is going to get you killed! Orcus thought to himself, and bolted off in that direction as he swung his shield over into his free hand.
However, the second snake still engaged with him lashed out as a result.
[Orcus] --- Takes 1 point of piercing damage, 4 points of poison damage ---
--- save versus poison, -50% of total poison damage ---
--- Passive ability active, poison damage resisted!. -50% of total poison damage ---
--- 1 point of poison damage ---
The Prince of Demons hardly noticed the stinging of the snake’s bite, simply gritting his teeth as he rushed forward to help Oriax.
[Seku's Target] --- Takes 5 points of slashing damage from main hand, 1 points of piercing damage from offhand, bonus to damage not applied ---
Another spot of damage from Seku filled the system feed, but Orcus continued forward.
Thud!
His mace attack glanced off the pit stalker’s thickened hide.
“Curses—” He hissed, suddenly realizing the severity of their situation, as Darrien lurched up onto his hindlegs.
Oriax was dangerously low on overall health, and Seku was not too far behind. Furthermore, Orcus was all out of healing for the day, and if he didn’t think of something quick, things were going to turn very poor for them. But what…
--- Shield Mastery: engage bonus ability? ---
A blinking flash of text in Orcus’s upper-right hand view caught his attention briefly.
“Shield mastery?” Orcus wrinkled his nose, but there was no time to think about it. Oriax was right, it was time to live loose! The Prince of Demons shouted, though largely due to his loss of hearing, “Engage!”
Boof!
Darrien’s gangly body met the cold, steel bulwark of Orcus’s shield as it shimmered with a brief spell of energy. Instead of finding Oriax's flesh, the pit stalker's mashed face bounced back with a sickening thud, before the rest of his body was shoved five feet away, crashing into the nearby crates.
Suddenly, a small pocket of space was opened up out of nowhere, giving Orcus all the room he needed to impose himself in between the creature and his party member.
“Now or never!” Orcus shouted, allowing Seku all but one opportunity to make good on her desire.
If it was her wish to save the common people of this mortal land, then this was to be her first test on that path. The Prince of Demons cared little for which mortals lived and died. His patience was paper thin. So if she wanted to save this one, it was on her.
Oriax twisted around, standing back-to-back with Orcus has he swatted wayward snakes away with his maul. He even kicked one with his boot, and caught another and bit its head off. The Prince of Demons didn't hear his laughter, as he shouted, “Hell yeah, come on!”
Dazed, the pit stalker scrambled furiously to its feet and leapt across the gap. Darrien's left arm swung wide, but Orcus parried with his shield. However, he was suddenly exposed, and the desperate stalker snapped with his jaw and his right claw.
--- Reckless attack; chance to hit doubled for six seconds ---
[Orcus] --- Takes 4 points of piercing damage, 3 points of slashing damage ---
--- Health (Orcus): 2/12 ---
“Guh—” Orcus relented a painful groan, but kept himself grounded. With enough effort, he shoved Darrien back ever so slightly, giving himself enough breath to shout, “Seku!”
In that moment, a silhouette descended from the ropes above, two glimmering daggers spiraling downward towards their target.
[Seku's Target] --- Takes 4 points of piercing damage from main hand, 6 points of sneak attack damage, 4 points of piercing damage from offhand, bonus to damage not applied ---
“Boss man, switch it up!” Oriax shouted, though Orcus had no idea what was said, and was thus spun halfway around without knowing, swapping places with the maul-wielding lunatic.
“Hyaaaah!”
--- chance to hit doubled from [Target] active ability, Reckless ---
[Oriax's Target] --- Takes 11 points of non-lethal damage ---
With an arcing surge and a shit-eating grin, Oriax swung his maul in an upward motion. In one fell swoop, the weapon's iron head cracked the lower jaw of the pit stalker with a nasty sounding crunch, propelling the creature’s body through the air as it went flying into the far wall of the warehouse.
Dust settled, noise stifled, and the tiny carcasses of snakes littered the floor.
--- Target Condition Status: Charmed, Exhausted, Frightened, Unconscious ---
----------------------------------------
“Weird.” Oriax said bluntly, as they all looked down at the naked, now very human body of Darrien “Is he like... shedding his skin? The way he went all crazy back there was pretty cool.”
“Indeed.” Orcus glanced across at Seku, “Satisfied now?”
“Mm.” She nodded, “…Thank you. And well done, Oriax. This was all thanks to you.”
“Don't sweat it, daggers.” He replied with a smile, but furrowed his brow, “You think he'll be okay?”
“I don't know...” Seku murmured, “I'm still not really sure what happened to him. I'm just as surprised to see him turning back to normal as you are.”
“Now might be a good time to visit that healer, Your Highness.” Terminus suggested, “I think this constitutes an emergency.”
“You have ulterior motives, bird.” Orcus replied, “Don’t play games with me. A priestess of Mercury will only cause trouble for us.”
Terminus squawked awkwardly, “Eh… I get nothing past you, do I? It’s just—it would be a good opportunity, is all I’m saying. Besides, this man does need help. Obviously.”
Orcus smirked, “Am I to presume that you’ll be providing the funds for his aid?”
“…No.”
“I thought not.” Orcus shook his head, “We are a penniless party, so I’m afraid this man has to suffer—”
Shing!
Seku’s daggers were out in a moment’s notice, ready to strike at the Prince of Demons.
“Ugh…” Orcus groaned; he couldn’t possibly work under these conditions!
“So, uh… I got some money.” Oriax mentioned offhandedly, “Don’t know if it’ll help, or… guess I’ll just put it in with the rest of the party stuff?”
*************
Party Loot: +60 galerius
Party Loot: 60 gp | 20 sp | 0 cp | 25 bc
*************
“Saturn’s bounty, Oriax!” Terminus cawed, “Where’d you get 60 gold pieces? And how didn’t I notice this! Wait, I need to check something…”
“Don’t know.” Oriax shrugged, “It’s like… I didn't have it a couple days ago? Saw it in my stuff this morning. Isn’t that weird, hands?”
Orcus glanced up at Oriax suspiciously, “…Just where the hell were you today?”