Logan flourished his wrist and flicked his arm, the lightning surging around it quickly dissipating and zapping out of existence as he cancelled casting his spell against the fenwahlash.
In response, the demon fell to its rear as it began to rub its face, the place where its eyes were now a mush of red instead of beads.
“You’re accepting his surrender?” Marcus asked, a bit bemused.
Logan nodded. “Not many monsters surrender, and a lot of demons have the sense to know when they’re out.”
“So much for a good deal”, the fenwahlash spat.
“Where’d you even go”, Amalia asked as she got to the pair, Drustan at her heels.
Logan looked back, “Celsius found the demon’s new employer, thought I’d pay a visit to not have any more surprises.”
“Huh? They stayed back, ay?” the fenwahlash asked, pained.
“That they did. I am curious as to what they offered and what you saw.”
The fenwahlash pulled its hands away, revealing the wounds where its sight used to emanate from. Alongside its lack of eyes, the amber deposits across his body had dimmed to almost the same colour as his skin. “Said they’d give me power, spells, material goods, and a permanent residence on Avanar. Started listin’ a few benefits and some blue parchment appeared in front of me, told me to touch it to accept.”
“So it was a System window. How’d he see it? Is it something only Below PCs can do?” Logan thought to himself.
Marcus inched towards Logan and leaned into his ear, “That sounds like something you mentioned before.”
Logan replied in a whisper, “Yes. It’s worrying.”
“Seen’ as I’m livin’ another day. Guess that makes you lot my new masters.”
Logan looked back at the demon, “You were already going to revive Ratbert. What else would you be offering?”
Drustan took a step forward, “Were you not going to do that!?”
The fenwahlash chuckled a bit, “Nah, I was. But my debt is a step ‘igher now.”
“I should think so”, Logan replied tersely.
“Hey. Can’t blame a demon for tryin’”
“I think we can. But let’s move past this infraction”, Logan replied before turning to Drustan, “your thoughts?”
Drustan thought for a second, rubbing blood from his face, “If creatures from the demon realm have a sense of honour, law, or whatever would keep them honest to a debt, then it’s most likely fine to trust him now.”
“So. From one Oracle to another. My last days are quite exciting”, the fenwahlash admitted.
“I heard you say that earlier. And then… that skill of yours”, Drustan replied as his gaze wandered to Logan.
Logan bit his lip and turned to face Drustan with an imposing stance and aura, like a headmaster flaunting his position over a student who was primed to do a disservice. “Drustan. Speak nothing of what happened on this battlefield. I was already going to let you attempt a revival of your brother. Now I’ve saved your life to boot. Don’t make me regret this decision.”
Drustan’s body shook all over, both thankfulness and fear caused the Devout to accept the terms as he nodded his head.
“I really hope he won’t make me regret this”, Logan thought to himself.
“So”, the fenwahlash continued slowly as he pointed at his mangled face, “that include me?”
Logan looked at the demon, it was a good bet half of the people who spoke with him would accept his words as truth. “Yes. Do not mention this battle nor the instigation of Oracles on either side.”
The fenwahlash titled his body to nod, his neck being too fatty to rotate like that, “Got it. Jotted in the ol’ brain dome.”
“I take it you don’t need to see to bring back Ratbert?”
“My eyes will return by then, I wager.”
“I suppose a lot of creatures will have some form of regeneration at this level”, Logan thought to himself.
“I guess plans have changed”, Drustan began as he looked at Logan with almost pleading eyes, “The ritual didn’t revive Ratbert, but what it did bring to us might be able to. May I trouble you for more time?”
Logan looked at his quest, “A day of leeway.” Turning to Amalia and Marcus he said, “I’ll have to rely on you two if we are to find any more confrontation. But I feel like we can Teleport around to get this done quickly.”
Amalia was first to reply, “I don’t like it. But I accept your decision. Just keep an eye on that demon.”
“Hah, an eye indeed”, the fenwahlash retorted.
Logan turned back to the demon, “What was the failure penalty for the parchment you touched?”
“Huh. Oh, that thing. ‘Ousted from PC interaction.’ Whatever that refers to.”
“Anything about rules? Your would-be-employers mentioned something along those lines.”
“No? No rules as far as I could see. Just an assignment.”
“Then what was she going on about? What rules weren't I following?” Logan thought to himself.
Drustan moved to the ritual circle, though now mostly destroyed, to sieve through the rocky remains. “No good, nothing’s left”, he tutted.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“So, you took just one or two more than necessary?”
Drustan picked out a small silver rod from his cloak, “This to hide me, and an extra in the circle.”
“Oh? I thought I felt something off”, the fenwahlash admitted as he phased his meaty hand through the upper part of his chest as if diving into a fondue bowl. A few moments of shuffling later, the demon brought out a necklace of varying metals shaped into pendants.
“There’s the high ticket item”, Logan thought aloud.
Marcus moved up to take the necklace from the demon and looked over it, “No damage far as I can see. The guild will be more than happy to see this returned.”
“Ten platinum, wasn’t it?”
“At least”, Marcus replied with a laugh.
“Hey, how much does that buy of my freedom?” the fenwahlash asked cheekily.
“Shut up”, Logan replied, half-jokingly. Placing the necklace within his inventory, Logan took stock of the situation and resources at hand. “Drustan, you remember the location of Ratbert’s death? Anything remaining at all?”
Drustan scratched his head as he puzzled over the question, “This whole event was because there was nothing left. But, if this demon needs something, even a smear of blood…”
“Blood, hair, a speck of his remains’ all I need”, the fenwahlash admitted.
“Yes. There will be.”
Logan pulled out a large map and instructed Drustan to point out where they were going. A few moments later, the party grouped up, with the abnormal addition of the fenwahlash towering over them, and all placed their hands on Logan’s back.
“Teleport”, Logan chanted. With their bodies shining with a bright purple light. Black lines wrapped around the Spellthief and then the party members. As they were constricted head to toe, the lines cut them all to ribbons, the remains of essence shooting upwards and disintegrating.
----------------------------------------
Covering double the distances of Dimensional Jaunt, with no barriers of sight to deal with, the party shifted twice and appeared within a dark-brown rocky cave with parts of man-carved marble walls and columns. A strange set of ruins within natural terrain.
Appearing with little noise, the party spread out while the fenwahlash was hunched over, his back grazing the roof.
“Coulda died in a less cramped spot”, the fenwahlash demanded.
Drustan just shot the demon a glare, it was not like the demon could see him. “It’s this way”, the Devout instructed as he led the party deeper into the caves.
“Do we need to worry about monsters?” Logan asked.
“No. Two of our members fought the hordes further in so we could escape. It was a dire situation for a few of us. Thankfully we all regrouped at the exit. Except for my brother.”
Logan clicked his finger and flicked open his vaskt eyes, “Seems safe enough”, he informed as he walked ahead of the team.
The fenwahlash crawled behind the rest, following the sounds they made and directions they gave. Eventually, the whole group entered a larger chamber with a ceiling high enough for the demon to stand up.
“Here”, Drustan said as he pointed at a swathe of red and broken metal scraps against a wall.
The fenwahlash wiped his face, revealing a single eye having returned to his face. “Would ya’ look at that? This’ll work.”
“How long—”
“Gimme a few minutes.”
“That’s quick”, Logan replied slowly.
“One of my specialities.”
Drustan’s face was gifted a smile, probably the happiest he had looked in some time.
Amalia looked around with a sense of worry, still conflicted about the whole debacle. Marcus did the same, but more out of a defensive measure than anything else.
The amber deposits of the demon started to glow once again, their sloshing aberrant against the normal designs of humanoids. As if reacting to the amber, the blood on the wall began to moisten, returning to the state they were when they lived inside a body. Flaking off the wall, the blood coalesced into a small orb.
From the orb, more blood was formed, then muscle, bone, and organs. In a minute, the body of a man draped in a simple brown robe was created, landing soft feet on the rocky floor. A blank expression was painted across the man’s face, soft, newly cleaned and dried black hair drooped over his ears. Grey eyes with soulless irises stared at the floor.
“Ratbert?” Drustan called, walking towards the new babe.
Air billowed out of the man’s slightly open mouth, raspy with no emotion.
“Ratbert, c’mon. It’s me. Drustan”, the Devout continued, placing a hand on Ratbert’s shoulder.
Ratbert, or whatever it was, moved its body in tune with Drustan’s shuffle, guided by the weight of the hand.
The fenwahlash looked at the creation with a muddled expression, “May be missing an eye, but don’t need both to see. This thing’s just a homunculus.”
“A what?” Drustan asked as he looked back at the demon and then at his brother.
“Whatever was left of your kin’s sense has diluted. Gone to wherever it goes. This is just the body with what the brain can recall.”
“No, c’mon. Ratbert, answer me”, Drustan declined, shaking the body which moved with his intent.
“It’s as much as your brother as it can be. But for all intents and purposes, you’re better off thinking of it like a twin who was just born, or a copy ready to experience life”, the fenwahlash informed rather formally.
“You said—”
“I did. But, it’s been too long. There’s a chance his sense will come back, but if it hasn’t yet, that chance is as small as nobody dying tomorrow. Been too long.”
Drustan turned to look at Ratbert, or what was made up of his remains—a zombie with hopes of turning into a real boy.
“Looks like we can’t escape that seven-day timer”, Logan thought to himself with a sad look on his face.
Marcus then spoke up, “What about their knowledge? Language, skills, survival instinct.”
“They keep ‘emselves livin’. It can understand us, but speakin’ll take some time.”
“Does it know what it is?”
“He’s got some recollection o’ that. He is Drustan’s brother. If yer askin’ after combat? Probably not.”
Drustan fell to his knees as tears fell to the floor beneath him. “All for nothing”, he cried under his breath.
Logan waved his hand to the others, “Give him some time.”
At the instruction, the trio left the brothers in the chamber. Not wholly unprotected, but at least granted some privacy.
The only response given in return by this new “Ratbert” was a slowly raising hand that was placed on Drustan’s arm in a comforting manner.
----------------------------------------
Back in the Gerro Guardhouse, one day later.
“That’s everything. Here’re the two artefacts we could recover”, Logan ended a long explanation, handing over the necklace and rod to Jirango.
The old half-hand let out a small puff of green smoke as he looked at the items, tapping the end of his quill on his notebook. “Sorry end to a somewhat understandable, if regrettable, scene. Where’s this demon now?”
“After we failed to get there in time, we had them at our mercy. Defeating both the demon and Drustan, we allowed an attempt at revival as it didn’t mean much to the hunt. After making that homunculus, the demon gave us the slip. Drustan surrendered after that”, Logan lied.
Jirango leant back in his chair, “So we got a demon on the loose somewhere. We’ll make a request to the adventurer’s association. Maybe someone else can take on the task of killing it.”
“Understandable.”
“As for this hunt. We can count it as a success, partly. You apprehended the thief. No bonus since you didn’t get all the items back, though. 100 gold as your payment.”
Logan split the gold three ways, giving himself 34. “Thank you. The guild should at least be happy the most expensive artefact was given back.”
Jirango nodded, “We’ll take care of this new Ratbert too. He acts like a shy child, but he shouldn’t be punished for what happened. He’ll be granted an audience with Drustan while he serves his sentence.”
“Thank you for understanding”, Logan accepted with a smile.
Jirango puffed on his pipe, “Sad day indeed”, he spoke under his breath.
As the trio exited the guardhouse, Logan looked to his side as a new window appeared.
“Quest - To Revive a Brother, has been completed. You achieved 4 additional objectives during the mission and as such your rewards will be increased. Distributing rewards…”
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