Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne didn't recover from being punched in the throat for a bit while Jerry kept shouting at her. When she finally did recover, she decked the rogue. "I let the reflection get away with that," Joanne wheezed, "You, will not."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked at them again. “You’ve both hit each other, can you stop now and call it even?”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry gave a "no" and Joanne gave a "yes", the latter turning to Beri with the bag as Jerry got back up to stab her, getting backhanded by an arm of steel. "I will give you the same lecture I gave Veo, thief," joanne said without turning around, "You can behave, or you can reside in the bag until you are needed."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle shook her head. "Please, just stop fighting..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It would not be a fight," Joanne replied as she took the bag and began collecting things into it while Jerry choked on the ground, on account of getting backhanded in the throat. Beri rolled his eyes and nosed Jerry's hand out of the way to see if there was any damage to her throat that would require medical attention. There wasn't, so Beri took off to go find something to do.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle whined. "That's not the point..." She wasn't really arguing since it seemed the conflict had more or less ended, for the moment.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It is alright," Beri flicked Shuffle's nose with his tail, "Conflict is natural, to suppress it is to invite it."

"Oh, fuck off Khangi!", Jerry wheezed.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked and glanced at Beri before sitting down. "But can't we conflict with the monsters instead of each other?" She pronounced "conflict" like the noun form of the word.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We can fight the monsters," Beri replied, "But often the best solution to problems within is also a fight."

"It would not be a fight," Joanne repeated, the pile now very tiny.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle still looked dissatisfied. "Mmmm.... I still don't like it. It makes my chest feel tight..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Beri chuckled. "As my master would say, 'Something tells me your chest is always tight.'" He shook his head and padded away to head back to the camp. If Shuffle looked back where Jerry had been, she was gone, having done what Jerry did best and gone elsewhere without being detected.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle tilted her head, confused by Beri's comment. Jerry's disappearance distracted her though, and she went to try and find her.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry had vanished into one of the burnt shells of a goblin tent, sitting on the burnt frame that was once a bed with her hit laying across the dresser as she rubbed at her tailbone, holding a mirror with her clawed hand to get a look at the bump that was now more of a horizontal spike sticking out of her rear. She looked annoyed as she poked it and winced.

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli spoke up. "Is it sensitive?"

Shuffle was trying to sniff her out, but there was a lot of other smells to sift through. Her ears flicked as Poli spoke and she headed that way.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It hurts," Jerry shook her head, "First my hand, now I'm growing a tail, what's this crystal doing to me?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"My only guess is it's trying to turn you into a dragon, judging by the scales."

Shuffle soon found the structure where Jerry was and peeked inside.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's stupid, though, there's more efficient ways to- what do you want, Shuffle?" Jerry looked up as Shuffle peeked around the door, unconsciously reaching for the goblin strongbox like it was precious.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle blinked before shrinking back. "Sorry. I just wondered where you went... What are you doing?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Don't worry about it," Jerry shoved the box under her cloak. "Can this wait? I'm kinda dealing with something."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded and stepped away. She wandered off a bit before running into Fia. Fia, wanting to cheer Shuffle up, suggested doing something to help everyone. Shuffle, in her wisdom, figured a good way to help would be to scout ahead so the group would know what to expect. And thus the two of them headed on to see what lay deeper into the ruins.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

This area appeared to have been heavily defended by the goblins, there were several fortifications Shuffle and Fia had to get through, which was pretty easy as they could both fly. There was a winding area they had to get through, before it opened into a large underground cavern.

----------

Soon after Shuffle left and Jerry stood up to leave, she doubled over and cried out in pain on the bed as the end of the "tail" split open, bone visible underneath, Jerry's skin no longer able to contain the newly appearing vertebrae.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle and Fia looked around as they came to the cavern. Shuffle shook her head before igniting her horns to shed a bit more light on their surroundings. Fia looked over at her. "Ooh."

----------

Asta cringed at the sight. "Ooh, that's not pleasant..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The cavern was massive, occasionally a geode similar to what Joanne had gathered for light crystals could be found on the floor. From the watter dripping down from the high ceiling, this was directly under the open ocean or some other pocket of water. Occasionally, water would drp from the ceiling down onto Shuffle's horns and make the flames briefly flicker and steam, or land in Fia's feather. It was like it was raining underground the further into the cavern they went, the watter running off into a shallow pool.

--------

"No shit!", Jerry hissed as she gripped the bedframe and tried to ride out her skin peeling off of the bones, whimpering whenever the slightest movement of air touched the raw nerves. "I hate this place..."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle shook her head at the stray drops, though as it became more consistent, she put out her flames altogether, going off the geode lights and her own dark vision. Fia seemed able to do about the same, if to a lesser extent. She kept shaking herself off. "Why's it so wet in here?"

Shuffle shrugged. "I dunno."

----------

Asta shifted around, wishing he could help but knowing he couldn't.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

There were some loud thuds from above as the rainfall became more of a waterfall. Saltwater, and a lot of it. If they were smart, they'd start running before there was a cave-in and the ocean flooded in.

------------------------

Eventually, the main part of the pain passed. Unrestricted by the limits of Jerry's skin, the bone was growing at a more visible rate, but still slow. There were no muscles on the tail yet, so it was just a hanging thread of vertebra and the nerves that connected them, dropping to a stop four inches down from where it started. Jerry ripped off the crystal necklace and wrapped it up in her kit, disgusted with it, before hugging Asta.