BOOOOWWWWWWAAAAARRRRRR!
The roar echoed around the mountains, making them all jump. It was the roar of something large, and powerfully angry. Leőn slipped back into the firelight. He wasn't his normal casual self.
"Orc, we have a Chenoo problem." he said urgently, "Gob, this is a swig first ask questions later type situation."
"A Chenoo? Here?" asked the White Orc, "What kind of Ice Princess are we dealing with?"
"At the moment we're dealing with a Chenoo. And it's very big and very hungry. Gob! DRINK!"
BOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!
The creature that came crashing into the camp was something from a winter nightmare. It looked like a stooped and wrinkled old man who had grown to a size(15) monster and sprouted downy white tufts of fine hair all over his body. It was entirely naked. The face of the creature was horrific. It snarled through human-like teeth but the skin of its face that would usually have covered it's teeth had been eaten away, with only a wide bloody ring around the jaw where lips should have been. The remaining skin of its face hung loosely and deathly pale from its skull as if it were in the final stages of falling off, and it had sunken bloodshot eyeballs that glowed a deep angry red in the hollowed sockets. It's finger nails had grown to long jagged points, but they looked bloodied and loose at the end of its fingers, less like claws and more like a creature who's hands were falling apart.
"It looks like it's in pain!" gasped Kylie.
"Seriously? That's the first thing that comes to mind?" Leőn shot back, "Gob, now would be a great time to get big!"
Gob had his flask out, raised it to the sky,
"TO KRUNCH!" he declared for the second time tonight, and this time took four measured swigs. He felt the swelling and strengthening, but felt a little bit more like he knew what he was doing this time. And his tummy didn't wrench like before.
+1size +1size +1size +1size +1size +1size +1size +1size +1size +1size
Within moments he was the size of the Chenoo beast.
BOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!
RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!
He answered, charging past the others to engage.
The beast, though large, actually gave the impression of frailty and degradation rather than power. Probably the stooped form and loose skin. But when Gob took a wide swipe at it with his slicehooks he didn't get the soft penetration he was expecting. Rather, the creature blocked him with a great rock solid forearm, and then delivered a powerful punch to his stomach that sent him sprawling backwards with a ground rumbling
Thuddddddd!
sprawling on to his back. The White Orc and Leőn had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed.
"THAT WAS A DEBUFF GOB!" shouted Leőn, "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CHARGED IT!"
Gob was stunned and winded, and not feeling receptive to advice. The Chenoo didn't let up either, immediately springing forwards onto him, it started pummeling his face with powerful punches that made Gob's head ring. The White Orc, Leőn and Kylie all threw themselves into the fray, pouring hammer blows, knife strikes and bolts at its thick hide; seemingly with little effect.
But Gob knew how to take a beating, and he knew how to give one. He brought his hind legs up under the beast and pushed him off with a powerful kick, threw it reeling backwards, and in moments, Gob was back on his feet and charging at it again.
"REMEMBER THE DEBUFF GOB... YOU JUST GOT UP, IT'S HIS TURN..." shouted Leőn as Gob charged, "STACK YOUR SAVES!"
Gob was listening this time. He was determined to improve his hand to hand technique, and what better chance that one on one with a naked ice giant?
"GOB YOU'RE ABOUT HALFWAY UNTIL THE TOAST RUNS OUT! MAKE IT COUNT!" yelled the White Orc.
The Chenoo drew back to punch him again, but this his time rather than a wide sweep, Gob plunged forwards with one claw outstretched. Again he was blocked by the Chenoos powerful arm, but this time he was ready for it, and when the counterpunch came he bashed it away with his other hand, then kicked one of his footclaws up then downwards in a raking slash that drew four deep gashes straight down the beasts belly. His slicehooks had cut deep, but the jagged flaps of skin only oozed clotted frozen blood, and the creature seemed to suffer no further effect.
"TRY FOR IT'S HEART GOB!" yelled Leőn "ITS THE ONLY PART OF A CHENOO LEFT ALIVE"
"GOB, YOU'RE NEARLY OUT OF TIME!" yelled the White Orc. Gob drew back and with all the strength he could muster
STCHAK!
He plunged his claws towards the creatures chest….
but all he got was another powerful block, followed a resounding blow to the side of his head causing him stagger back a few steps before feeling the tingling of the Toast wearing off. With an angry bellow the Chenoo charged in at him. As he came on, Gob dropped to his back in a last ditch effort, and with a thundering
thwump!
took the weight of the incoming monster on his hind legs, and bodythrew it backwards over behind himself just moments before he started shrinking back to size, his head pounding as he did.
The giant Chenoo sailed through the air as it was was flung headlong
CRASH!
colliding with the trunk of a pine tree that cracked and splintered under it's weight and momentum. It crashed to the ground in a great cloud of pine needles, broken branches and snow. There was stillness and silence for a heartbeat, before...
The beast picked itself up out of the snowdrift, pulled some splintered tree trunk out of its shoulder where it had been impaled, and
BWWOOOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!
Bellowed a challenge just as angry and loud as before, looking around somewhat confused for the giant troll it had just been thrown by. It spotted the White Orc and Leőn instead, and started towards them.
Kylie intervened.
The tiny red fairy hovered between the massive beast and her party, and with some deft hand movements summoned a small tornado-like swirling ring of blue fire.
"Careful Kylie!" called Leőn.
The fire grew slowly, but seemed to mesmerise the beast, who paused his attack to stare into the flame. Soon the fire tornado was bigger than Kylie, then double that, then double again, then again.
"I'm sorry." she breathed, and flung the fire at the Chenoo.
The swelling conflagration enveloped the creature who howled in pain as his hair burned, and his loose skin shriveled and crackled. Kylie, an intense look of concentration on her face, kept her arm firmly extended towards the beast, pressing the flames close around it. It beat at the fire on its body, turning in frustrated circles trying to quench the hot blue flames. The fire continued to seethe about it, a spinning blue storm, thickening into a frenzied blaze they could all feel even from the distance between them. There was a magic in the creature resisting the spell, insistent on prolonging it's un-life as long as possible, but soon the flames where so dense and so high that the giant figure was completely engulfed and no longer visible from the outside. The bright blue rising pillar lit up the night sky and the valley around them.
With a groan the body of the Chenoo sank to its knees, and as the flames started to recede they could see that all that was left was a kneeling blackened husk,
Thaaaaaaannnnkkkkk yyyyyyyyoooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu......
A deep sad but relived sigh came from the creature, as its shoulders and head slumped down into its chest. A shudder ran through its body, followed by a raking wet heaving coughing fit. It fell forward into its burnt arms and vomited a still beating heart out of its burnt chest cavity that thumped even as it glowed a malevolent bloody red on the white snow.
Kylie was crying. "Leőn, help." she wept.
Leőn flickered forward, pulling his obsidian dagger from its sheath as he covered the distance between them in an instant. He plunged it into the heart. In a bloody gout, the giant heart stopped beating, the glow faded and all was still.
The blackened, burnt Chenoo fell flat on its face in the snow.
Kyle fainted, slumping in the cold air, drifting on the wind.
Gob, himself recovered, ran and caught her, cradling her carefully in his hand.
The White Orc and Leőn came over.
"i neva see kylz do anyfing lik dat befor" said Gob gently.
"I'm impressed." said Leőn "For a minute there I was concerned. A Chenoo that big isn't the kind of thing you want to fight unprepared. She's a lot more powerful than she lets on, that one. Dangerously powerful. How would Gervais even have let her play with Bright fire?"
"He probably didn't know." said the Orc, "Faeries can be like that."
----------------------------------------
Kylie came to before long. She sat up groggily.
"Did we get it?"
"fanks to yoo" said Gob, relieved to see her back.
"That was some dangerous and powerful magic Kylie." said the White Orc respectfully, "We didn't know you had it in you."
"I practice when no one's looking" she said quietly, almost ashamed. "That poor man, to think what it must have been like."
"wot man?" asked Gob not following.
"That creature was originally a man. A Chenoo is a cursed human. It's a dark curse often cast in revenge by a jilted lover, that turns a man against his own flesh and blood. He eats his own kind but his hunger is never sated, and his appetite and his size grow ever bigger and harder to satisfy. A creature that size would be ravenous enough to eat anything in its path in desperation to stop the gnawing hunger. Did you see its face? It had even chewed its own lips away." she shivered.
"They can't die, even is their body is rotten and broken because their heart is shielded by powerful and malicious magic that keeps it beating no matter what happens to the rest of the creature. Fire was the only thing I could think of to stop it, and even that couldn't destroy its heart."
"He thanked you at the end." said Leőn.
"I heard that. What a way to go."
"I think we have all the insight we need into our 'Ice Princess'." said the Orc, "It would seem wise to move quickly today to the end of the pass where the path splits to the east and west and take whichever route we can to get out of these mountains before we meet her in person. A Mage who is summoning elementals, breeding packs of wolfmen hybrids and cursing villagers is someone we best get out of the way of as soon as possible."
The sun was rising again now, so they doused the camp fire and watched a the mornings bright rays lit the horizon. Sharing some of the dwarf bread that still tasted surprisingly fresh. Gob was just as concerned by the sunrise as he had been by the sunset the night before.
"You look worried Gob!" said Kylie laughing at him despite herself.
'dat fing, mak me nervos' he admitted to her.
Kylie started to laugh out loud,
"Ha ha ha ha!
"Wait! Let me get this right! You've conversed with a disembodied troll, you've befriended a vampire, ha! ha! …eaten a phase arachnid and adopted her babies, accepted a personal quest from Dwarf royalty, ha! ha! battled elementals, wolfmen and a cannibal giant... haa! …and it's a SUNRISE that bothers you??!!"
The fairy was in breathless hysterics. The White Orc and Leőn laughed along, but more at Kylies laughing fit than at Gob.
He just scowled at her. He wondered whether something was wrong with her after her magical outburst. He thought his concerns about the sun were fair. It was very big.
"So, spiders." said Leőn firmly.
"Gob!" said Kylie, recovering, "We've had so much going on that haven't looked at your stats in a while. I think maybe we should have... I think we might have missed something. Having spiders in your belly is a bit off. Do you mind if we all have a look together?"
The White Orc pulled out a long pipe and packed it with dried leaf, then lit it and blew a few thoughtful and intricate smoke rings. Gob found the thick spicy scent calming. His tummy had settled. He pulled out his parchment. They all looked intently.
MUNTIN TROLL, LEVEL 2
QUEST: GET TO CRAGTOP.
Time remaining: Gervais has not yet arrived at Cragtop.
QUEST: Deliver the Vampire Count into eternal preservation.
XP 1527
SPIRIT 363 will 31 stability>instability 28 connection 35 courage 35 determination 33 drive 42 tenacity 28 neuroticism 32 humour 12 darkhumour 6 ferocity 53 arcane elightenment 6 masochism 8 manners 1 selfcontrol 5 selfassurance 5 fortitude 3
MAGIC
etherealblessing(unaligned):TOAST OF KRUNCH!
etherealfamiliar(unaligned):phasearachnidbrood
MIND 372 perception 68 memory 35 awareness 25 intelligence 88 literacy 10 introspection 42 (x5)initiative(5) 25 strategy 12 conversation 18 pun 3 negotiation 3 insistence 5 comprehension 12 problemsolving 4 lateral thought 4 visualisation 12 persuasion 3 diplomacy 3
BODY 696 heart 21 form 22 gut 22 brain 72 size 3 hunger 8 coordination 15 constitution 25 toughness 25 strength 22 dexterity 14 agility 14 speed 13 endurance 26 stamina 19 skill:run!!! 6 skill:bodifrow 18 skill:miteybitey>gear:tuskybite 35 skill:tooclors 35 skill:clorclima 5 skill:multifita 18 skill:clorkika 3 skill:stomp! 3 trait:trollhide>shagpilehide 28 trait:regeneration 95 trait:trolclors>slicehooks 28 trait:teef 9 trait:neurogenesis 92
feeling 7 fate 21 purpose 25 luck 16 trait:crapstatz! 12 trait:sucker! 15
"Whoa, gross!" said Kylie.
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"Interesting." said the White Orc
"There it is!" said Leőn.
"wot?" asked Gob.
"Have a look" Kylie pointed.
etherealfamiliar(unaligned):phasearachnidbrood. You ate baby phase spiders. They hatched. You were the first thing they saw. Now they love you like a mother, and protect you like their lives depend on it. Which they do.[spawn by puke.] passive tummy buff.
"That has got to be THE most disgusting and random familiar I have ever heard of." said Leőn with a whistle. "You actually have to vomit to spawn your new familiar?"
"yoo ar wot yoo eet." retorted Gob, "at leest i not a borin veg-tebal."
Leőn laughed at him. "Also, well done on levelling up... you're two now! You must have got good gains from that spider-biting!"
"i wonda wot ganes i git from elf-bitin..."
----------------------------------------
They moved off, travelling at a substantially greater pace than they had the previous day. It wasn't too much further to the crossroad, and they wanted to get through the domain of the 'Ice Princess' before night fell again. The White Orc suggested they would be there by midday at a push, which would give them the afternoon to descend the path to either the East, back down to the northern reach of The Realm, or West, to the Shadowlands, depending on how clear the paths looked.
As they climbed over the final crest, the highest point of the pass, where the air was paper thin and the sun surprisingly harsh, the mountains were laid before them and they could see the world from an amazing vantage extending out beneath them; to the East were the dark barren plains of the Shadowlands, to the West the lush distant green of The Realm, and behind them the jagged ridges they had just ascended. Before them however, where they expected to see a fork in a deserted road, was instead an ornate but massive, sparkling palace of ice.
It twinkled and glared, surpassingly beautiful in the bright mountain sunlight, and planted exactly in their way, or in fact in the way of any traveller who came this way, considering this was the only way.
"Hmph" said The White Orc. "There's no getting past that one. Last time I came through here, which was, admittedly a very long time ago, this was a meandering goat track that lead down to the bottom of a pleasantly grassy valley there," he pointed to a black chasm that seemed to swallow the base of the ice palace "and then split into two, one goat track heading East and the other heading West"
Now, instead of meandering into a pleasant grassy valley, the pass had been built up high on an ice bridge that lead direct to the raised front gate of the palace, over what was now a dark chasm filled with sharp upward pointing icicle spikes. Similar ice bridges spanned out from the palaces sides to the East and West. It was clear that the palace had been created specifically to straddle the crossroad, forming an impassable waypoint between the three routes. It's towers were a translucent white and sliced up into the air in a way that only a structure made of crystalline icicles could. The perimeter towers were formed of sheer, impregnable ice walls that rose ten times as high as a person, and the wall surrounded a central keep that was the shape of an ornately faceted crystal, five times again the height of the walls. It glowed in colours between bright translucent white and pale blue, and was hard to look at with the sun shining full on it. They had to squint to be able to see it. The structure defied any degree of engineering good sense. It was clearly a magical palace made of magical ice that wanted anyone that saw it to know exactly what it was; a powerful marvel created by a powerful Mage.
"Well so much for sneaking down the pass undetected" said Leőn "I think it's either meet our Ice Princess or go back the way we came"
"Back the way we came is probably advisable" suggested the Orc.
"Back the way we came may not be a better option," said Kylie. She had turned from the ice palace and was looking back behind them. They all followed her gaze as she pointed to see Gervais' unit wearily trudging up the pass. Still a long way off, but coming surely and steadily. Their armour flashed and glinted in the sun.
"They must have marched through the night" said Leőn.
"wy don we juz try an go pass da carsel?" said Gob "mibby no wun sees us".
They looked at him doubtfully.
"iz worth a try"