Psycho could do nothing other than stand there as Lilith approached. Because the squid that held him was alive and not an inanimate object like shackles or ropes, it was constantly putting him in a Helpless condition, and he wasn’t given a chance to wrestle free after a given number of rounds. His legs and left arm were stretched wide, and his right hand hung limply by his side.
The sea druid had a sick look in her eye, and despite her undeniable physical beauty, the elf was repulsed by her. The emerald nightgown left little to the imagination and shimmered in the moonlight as if covered with fish scales. Psycho bet it had defensive properties.
“I knew you would come back to me,” she said, reaching out to touch him when she got close. “Rangers and druids are attuned to nature, and we belong together.” Her fingernails looked like shark teeth, and as she dragged them down the front of his leather vest, the cut through the bindings and the clothing opened, revealing the cotton shirt beneath. Her cold, clammy hands pressed against his chest and caressed his torso. “Oooh, my. Impressive,” she cooed. “How does an elf get a body like this?”
Psycho stiffened and tried to look straight forward over the shorter woman’s head as she pressed against him, her hands exploring liberally over his body. Eventually, the woman pulled back and looked up at him. “What? No answer for me? Kraken got your tongue?” She smiled and stroked one of the tentacles that held him fast. It pulsed and tightened, straining the elf’s body even further.
“You want me to release you, don’t you?” she leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You want to ravish me, don’t you? Right here, on the ship's deck, amidst all this chaos.” The cages all lay askew, half on their sides and some with open doors and bars bent. “You’ve killed my crew so no one can watch us; how thoughtful.”
She stepped back from him further and lifted a hand to her temple. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to talk. I can read your thoughts.” She half closed her eyes, and a mental sonic blast hit Psycho. It was similar to the type of echolocation sea mammals used, but it penetrated his mind before he could erect a barrier.
Lilith stepped even further back after only a moment of scanning him. “One-quarter orc,” she gasped. “That would explain it.” She recovered from the shock of the revelation, quickly took two steps back toward him, and ripped open his shirt, tearing it and the vest from his body. With his limbs under strain, Psycho’s taut muscles were even more impressive than usual. It looked like Lilith might melt into a puddle of seaweed. “You are too much,” she said. “I assume the racial benefits extend beyond a muscled torso.” Her hands once again caressed his body, and she looked up into his tensed face. “Think your dirtiest thoughts for me.”
Psycho felt the mental blast hit him again, and instead of trying to fight against it, he let his mind run wild with erotic suggestions, giving the druid what she wanted. “Oh, my,” she gasped again. “I would have never thought . . .” She looked again at the squid arms that held her prey tight. “Anyone can think dirty thoughts,” she said, stroking the tentacles again. “I want to hear you say them.”
The Grappling hold on Psycho loosened ever so slightly, dropping him into a Securely Grappled condition, allowing for speech and slight mobility. His body heaved up and down as he took deep breaths and shifted his position against the uncomfortable metal behind him. “Oh, this is much better,” Lilith said, rubbing her body against his more animated form. “Tell me what you want to do to me?”
“You’re wearing too many clothes for what I want,” Psycho whispered between gasps.
She giggled and stepped back, still within arm’s reach. “What, this?” she tugged at a thin shoulder strap of the nightgown, the magical scale pattern glistening along her every curve. As she eyed up his exposed body, she eventually shrugged. “I suppose it is only fair.”
The druid crossed her arms, reached to the bottom hem of the garment, and pulled it up slowly. As soon as the fabric rose above her waist and her forearms were crossed in front of her face, Psycho struck. His free right hand pulled the knife from his belt and stabbed forward into her exposed abdomen, just under her ribs. Lilith shrieked with pain and fell back, releasing her gown and tripping to the deck.
The tentacles holding the elf slackened as well from the shock of the pain, and with a few jabs of his blade, they released him entirely. Psycho stumbled forward, catching himself with his right hand on the bars of a nearby cage before he collapsed to the ground. The heavy metal prison shifted, and the vibrations brought the squid arms back to attention. They gripped hard on opposite sides of the cage, mistaking the bars for limbs. Psycho stepped back gracefully and watched as the monster tore the box in half with a tremendous heave, glad it wasn’t him.
He looked desperately in the dark for his dropped sword and found it just as another searching arm brushed against his leg. He Dodged the attack as he dove for the weapon. His hands closed on the hilt, but his motion on the deck gave his location to the squid, sending more arms toward him. Psycho hacked and slashed at the tentacles as he scampered away.
“Oh, you orc bastard!” Lilith screamed as she picked herself off the deck and rolled away from the commotion. “You will pay for that. I will defile your corpse in ways you cannot imagine.”
Psycho didn’t take the bait and kept quiet as a squid arm chased him around a wooden crate where he could hide from the druid’s view. He didn’t think a simple dagger would defeat a level 20 druid, and her healing magic had probably already taken care of the wound.
“Did you come alone?” she called, stalking through the jumbled mess on the deck. The squid had knocked down barrels and overturned crates in its search for the elf, and the cages clogged any natural walkways. “Tell me you brought the mage. How I would love to quench her flames with a torrent of seawater. Like this.”
Psycho dreaded what spell might be coming and felt the hairs on his arms tingle from a massive outpouring of mana. It was as if a storm had hit the ship, and a tremendous wave crashed over the deck. The mini tsunami originated from the druid and slammed into the crates and cages, pushing them back and slamming them into the forecastle. Psycho had been hiding between a crate and a cage and was crushed as the two massive objects smashed into each other. Wood splintered against his hip and shoulder, and his bones nearly did likewise. The crate spun off to one side, exposing the injured elf to the furious woman as he crumpled to the deck.
“There you are!”
Psycho struggled to a knee and looked up as the druid extended her hands toward him, and seaweed vines lashed out like angry vipers. He gathered enough strength to dive out of the way, slashing at a trailing vine that almost snagged his leg. Instead, the spell latched onto the cage the broken crate had smashed him into. Lilith heaved on the natural ropes connected to her fingers and swung the heavy metal toward the elf.
The bars bludgeoned him, dropping his health again and sending him flying into a pile of barrels. Those also shattered under his weight, marking his location to the persistent squid. The ranger hacked at the slimy appendages and rolled to safety, trying to find a clear spot on the deck where he could move more stealthily.
He couldn’t keep this up for long. The druid was deadly from a distance with her mighty spells; without his bow, he couldn’t match her. He had to get up close and hope she wasn’t a good melee fighter. Light on his toes, Psycho sprinted around a few more shattered crates and piles of extra sales toward where Lilith had last been. The elf turned the corner and found the woman standing in a clearing, holding a whip.
“I prefer close quarters with you as well,” she cooed, snapping the whip beside her.
Psycho advanced, careful of any more tricks but also aware the squid would know his location since its mistress could see him. He judged the range of the whip accurately, and as soon as he was in range, he dove to the deck, rolled forward under the snapping weapon, and slashed her across the midsection. The non-magical weapon glanced off the enchanted scales of her nightgown and didn’t do much damage.
She lashed at him with her free hand, and her sharp fingernails sliced him across his bare back before he jumped out of the way. Lilith turned toward him and glanced down at where her armor had protected her. “I’m betting you wish you had let me take this off completely before striking, don’t you?”
Psycho felt the intrusion of her mental barrage again, but now that he wasn’t Helpless, it was easier to defend against. Still, he let an image of him hacking apart her naked body with his weapon flash through his mind. “Oh, you dirty orc. What am I going to . . .”
The speech was just a distraction as a tentacle wrapped around his ankle from behind. Psycho spun his weapon down, cutting off the limb and slashing back up high, successfully defeating another arm reaching through a bent cage. However, that left him unable to evade Lilith, and the whip bit into his knee, ripping half his pantleg off. It stunk like a jellyfish, numbing his leg and forcing him to limp away from the woman. His uncoordinated gate brought the attention of the sea creature again, and he had to swipe at two more tentacles before finding cover behind a few barrels.
The ranger tried to calm the pain that screamed up his leg and used one of his healing spells to push the poison out of him and regain most of his agility. It was enough to let him move quietly again, but he could tell his Dodging ability was impaired.
He knew he couldn’t keep this up. If Lilith coordinated a strike from her whip with an attack from the squid, he would be rendered immobile and Helpless again, and this time, she wouldn’t let him go. He needed another strategy. As squid arms searched the area around him, he explored the jumbled deck for a better hiding place. That’s when he saw it: the crossbow. It was out in the open, but he had to try for it. He dropped himself into the shadows and scampered toward the weapon. Picking it up took him from the shadows, and Lilith spun toward him as she caught the motion in her peripheral. Psycho was able to clip the crossbow to the back of his belt, out of sight before the druid focused on him. She released a more concentrated jet of water, and he found his assessment of his Dodging ability correct as he failed to avoid the attack and was tossed backward like a cork in a river.
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Psycho almost flew off the ship completely, but his limbs got tangled in the rigging, spinning his body at awkward angles out of the stream of water and crashing back down to the ship. He hit the forecastle railing, bounced to the starboard side, and landed in a pile of smaller crates holding root vegetables. His hit points were below 100 now, and he didn’t have the mana necessary to heal himself. Instead, he rolled into a more comfortable position and dropped back into the shadows.
“I almost have you now,” Lilith sang into the night air. “Just one more hit should do it. Your equipment is locked away in my cabin, by the way. Too bad you are useless without it. Don’t worry; when you are gone, and I’ve fed you to the fish, the smell of your cloak will keep me busy for many nights thinking about what could have been.”
“Keep talking, sea wench,” Psycho mumbled. He moved silently about the ship, trying to track her location by the sound of her voice. He just needed one clean shot.
“And I know you didn’t come here alone,” Lilith continued, moving through the collection of junk strewn across the deck. “When I am done with you, the Captain and I will have fun with whichever woman you brought. It certainly wasn’t that orc you follow. No way he could have climbed the rope to the ship. Is he your father? Did he ravish your elvish mother and then eat her dead body after you tore your way out?”
Psycho didn’t take the bait. Esther would have felt compelled to shout out a pithy comeback and ruin her sneak attack, but the elf held his temper in check, sensing the arrogant druid was close. “Or did your elf father keep a half-orc slave to satisfy the detestable fantasies his wife couldn’t-”
Her voice ended suddenly as a bolt pierced her temple. Psycho had taken the shot from twenty feet away as the woman walked around a crate and into view. The close range allowed him to add his Point Blank ability to his Death Shot and Sneak Attack. Lilith didn’t have a chance. Her body stayed erect for a moment as the shudder of death passed through her, the nightgown shimmering one last time in the moonlight before she crumpled to the deck.
The whole ship shuddered and cracked as the squid reacted to its master’s death. Beside him, Psycho watched as a tentacle wrapped around the foremast and wrenched it from the ship with a fierce explosion of wood and metal. The ranger had forgotten about the guard in the crow’s nest but now watched as he screamed all the way down as the pole fell like a tree and the top hit the water, where the squid ripped it apart in rage.
“Uh oh.”
----------------------------------------
Slap!
Esther was bent over the table and winced as Potiphar walked up behind and struck her firmly on the rear. “You like that, don’t you.”
She really did not like that, but she also noticed that when he hit her, her hand moved ever closer to her equipment. “Oh, yes,” she said, trying to put as much emotion into it. “Harder, please.”
“See,” Potiphar said, snickering to himself. “I knew you were a flirt from the moment I saw you.” He spanked her again.
Esther lurched a little on the tabletop, the two wooden golems holding her firm. Her hand gained another half inch on the table, but it wasn’t enough. “Is that all you’ve got,” she grunted, not having to fake her frustration with the situation. “I thought you were a man.”
He didn’t say anything this time and smacked her again. Esther felt her Hit Points drop, but it still wasn’t enough. “Is that how you hit Lilith?” Esther taunted. “No wonder you don’t have . . .”
“Why you little . . .”
Esther heard him take a few steps backward and braced as much as she could. The next slap stung, and her whole body flopped forward on the table, her right hand resting fully on her scale armor. She smiled as the entire pile of her equipment disappeared into her inventory.
The captain didn’t notice. “Enough fooling around,” he said, focused on only one thing. “I’m going to show you who’s captain of this ship.”
Esther couldn’t blame Potiphar for being clueless about what was happening. She shouldn’t be able to do what she was doing. Storing items in your inventory took a full round, and since she was Securely Grappled, she could touch her equipment all she wanted, and it should stay right there. Only because of her advanced occupational levels did she have the skill to pick up a collected outfit instantly and then change into it without ever entering her inventory.
The captain’s first clue that something was up came when her skirt suddenly changed from gray to black. He stepped back, seeing now that her whole outfit had transformed. With her Athletic boon necklace, she got a +6 bonus to wrestle free from the animated clothes hangers and reduced her condition to Grappled. This allowed her to extract one of the Athletic boon spells stored in her diamond bracelet, and she freed herself completely. Now, when she reached for her rapiers, they were there, and she executed a strike in either direction, cutting the wooden poles in half.
Potiphar took another step back, seeing the woman before him as more deadly than beautiful. “Now,” Esther said, “you were going to show me who’s captain.” She reached up to her hat, tugged on the brim, and disappeared.
The man swore, leaped toward his bed, and shouted a magical command word. Just behind him, Esther crashed painfully into a force field. She bounced back a few feet but sensed the barrier had weakened when she hit it. After two more strikes with her weapons, it shimmered faintly, and after another pair of attacks, it disappeared. However, Potiphar had time to pick up his swords, don a leather vest with gold embroidery, and turn to face the angry woman before she broke through.
The captain was a level 22 swashbuckler, an expert in two-weapon fighting. He wasn’t as well-rounded as Esther. He couldn’t cast many spells, hide in the shadows, sneak attack, or grapple anything. He couldn’t escape from traps or disarm them. He definitely couldn’t level drain or Enthrall anyone. But when fighting with swords, there were few better at his level.
Esther was pressed immediately, taking two hits right away. Her armor gave her slashing immunity against an attacker level 20 and below. Unfortunately, Potiphar was above. Still, she had the Slashing protection ring on and could absorb his first four attacks. This allowed her to cast Haste on herself, and soon, her attacks got through as well.
The man was the more skilled fighter, but her weapons were better, and each strike from Char and Chill brought fire and ice. Potiphar saw his disadvantage early. He could hit Esther, but she had so many protection items that each hit did very little damage. Meanwhile, her strikes were whittling away his health quickly. The captain changed tactics and started interacting with the furniture in the room, sacrificing one attack per round but making it almost impossible for Esther to operate smoothly.
The swashbuckler spun near the bed, picking up a sheet and flinging it at his opponent. Esther felt his blades cut above and below the cloth barrier, but her weapons got tangled, cutting up the fabric but missing the man. Then he kicked a chair at her feet, causing her to trip and fumble her Dodge, so his next two strikes earned him critical damage. Potiphar knocked his shelf over, and the rogue felt compelled to swipe at each book as it flew toward her while his swords wove between them, scoring two more hits.
Esther’s ring had long since expired, but her Damage Reduction was at 24, so even though she felt like she was losing, her Hit Points were still well above 200. Meanwhile, Potiphar was barely above 100 and getting desperate. He twirled amidst the drapes in his room and fooled Esther as to which direction he was going. The pommel of her right weapon crashed through the window, cutting her hand as her left struck home. She tried to engage her Disarm ability, but he had too many protections against it, and she would need multiple criticals.
Potiphar got daring and rushed the woman. Esther backpedaled and swung above his crouched form. He rolled to the floor, past the large table, and came to his feet beside it. Esther took a break in the action to cast her web at him. The magical strands climbed to his waist, holding him firm, but he still had full access to his weapons. He had Parried as often as he had Dodged during the fight, and now that was his only option. Their blades wove a complex pattern in the air as if tracing the lines of the intricate web below. Sparks and drops of blood flew through the room as the two skilled fighters went at each other.
Potiphar could see he was on the losing end of this exchange and couldn’t afford to trade blows with the powerful woman. When he got a lucky 20 on his next escape attempt, he stumbled backward and swiped a hand at the table to pick up a pulsing ruby. It was one of the gems Esther carried around that Draya had infused with dragon fire. It wasn’t part of her outfit, so she hadn’t been able to pick it up from the table for free. The desperate swashbuckler held it aloft threateningly. If he dropped it, they would both die.
“Stop!” he said. “I will use this.”
Esther caught her breath and analyzed the man before her. Yes, she agreed. He had nothing to lose. He was closer to the open door, and with a shove from his left hand, he toppled the table before her. She could still reach the exit, but it would cost her seconds and probably wouldn’t beat the fireball out of the room.
“You would run from the fight?” she asked.
“I will survive,” he replied and tossed the gem over her head. It was too high to grab with a jump, and her only chance of survival was to turn and run away from the door to catch it before it hit the floor. At least, that’s what Potiphar expected. Instead, Esther dropped her left-hand weapon and leaped high with her right extended, almost touching the high ceiling. Her supreme athleticism ensured she hit the ruby with the narrow blade and batted it back toward the captain halfway out the door. Esther landed in a crouch with her left arm forward and funneled mana into her bracelet, summoning the dragon shield Gromphy had made for her. The fireball exploded in the corridor outside, and she heard the cry from the captain as he was consumed. The heat wave raced into the room, but the woman hid behind her shield, and it flowed around her without effect.
Esther stood a moment later and saw multiple items in the room on fire. Ignoring the flames, she searched the floor for her party’s items, which Potiphar had scattered across the room when he flipped the table. She wasted too much time entering and exiting her inventory, and the room was engulfed in fire by the time she was finished.
After climbing over the table, Esther found the hallway blazing, Potiphar’s burnt corpse halfway to the stairs. The door to the room across the hall was blown open, and she raced inside. By the feminine décor, Esther assumed this was Lilith’s room, and she found Psycho’s cloak and weapons, with Leah’s wands lying next to them. Her inventory was full, but Gromphy had built numerous pockets into the ranger’s enchanted trench cloak, and she loaded it to bursting. She turned to retreat but found her escape route impassible. She knew the shield would protect her from directional fire attacks but didn’t know how well it would do if she ran through the fire. By now, it probably burned the entire hallway and stairs. She couldn’t risk running through it at her current health level.
The whole ship trembled as she contemplated her choices, and a loud crack echoed through the night. That wasn’t the fire, was it? Was something else attacking the ship? Esther saw a window opposite the door that looked over the main deck. Everything was dark outside, but she knew she couldn’t stay in this room. With a running start, she held the thick cloak before her and jumped through the window.