Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry smiled, 'I Jerry, this Asta,' she gestured to the chimera, 'This Poli,' she gestured to the mimic covering her body, although it looked like she was gesturing to herself again.

----------
Adran folded the alchemy set into its palying card form, setting it off to the side as he started putting potions and plants away. "Oh, Jerry's gonna hate us," he realized halfway through the potions, Jerry was the one that identified everything, and she already had a huge workload with the translation of everything. He shook his head, that really couldn't be helped, honestly. "I wonder what kind of pact this warlock had..." Adran had suspicions, based on his way with monsters, but unless he found the Pact Signet he wouldn't be able to tell for certain.

 

[Fangs9090]

Raine seemed confused when Jerry introduced Poli, but when the mimic waves with a small pseudopod, she jumped and leaned back, pointing at it. ‘What! What! What!’

—————

Niudisa shrugged. “I mean, she probably doesn’t have far to go to get to that point. I hope no one else wants that alchemy deck, because that’s so much better than the few things I’ve been able to carry with me so far.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry broke out laughing at the response. Truly, being in this dungeon had warped her, if a mimic wasn't terrifying, and wearing one was normal. They hadn't gotten to the word for mimic yet, so Jerry asked Poli to make a small chest, and said "Mimic."
----------------
"I hope you and Veo can share, she keep complaining she can't produce enough potion at once to keep Joanne and Beri alive." Adran stood up and bumped his head on a rafter, knocking something loose. When it fell, it took him to floor with it. A length of chain, which Niudisa could see was heavily enchanted. "Pact of the Chain." Adran shook his head and untangled himself, "I knew it!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli did as told, forming into a smaller version of their usual chest trap and opening the lid to show their mouth inside.

That didn't seem to calm Raine down. Now that she knew what it was, she was even more confused as to why Jerry was wearing it.

----------

Niudisa looked over at the sound and nodded in understanding. "So, he's a kinky fucker."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry shook her head, this wasn't working. "Poli's a friend," Putting her arm back down, she fished out her map book to try and explain, figuring showing how they got where they were would help. "Gods, I forgot how massive this was."

-----------
"Pact of the Chain is for controlling beasts, actually," Adran shook his head, "Well, the signet is. It's magic, like my Book of Secrets." He gave the chain a jerk, and it shrank to something more akin to pair of bracelets connected by a length of silver chain. "That explains how he controls the tarrasques, but not his patron." Adran shook his head, "He's definitely not working with demons, or he'd have a copy of his contracts somewhere. Can't be a hexblade, he can't even stand on his own, and that cane could be broken. That leaves Great Old Ones and Celestials," but which one would ever work with a goblin? "You didn't see any kind of tentacles running around here, have you?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli melted down to their true form, a harmless little blob.

Raine still looked cautious, but she understood that the mimic wasn't actively eating anyone at the moment.

----------

Niudisa shook her head. "No, I haven't. But that could be useful, assuming anyone else can use it."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Poli,", with Poli down on the floor and not on Jerry, with Jerry facing Raine and away from Asta, the gashes and their stitches on her back were pretty much in Asta's face. The smell of blood was much stronger now that they weren't covered. "Fuck."

-----------------
"It's just an item, it has to be attuned, but that's it, like my book. Anyone can cast a spell with a Book of Secrets, as long as it's got the right spell scrolls. Anyone can tame anything with a Pact Chain." No tentacles probably meant it wasn't Great Old Ones. That left, "Oh shit we're looting a priest."

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli looked over at Jerry. "...oh. Oops."

Asta slowly got to his feet. "What...happened?"

----------

Niudisa shook her head. "First, that doesn't make much difference to me. Second, if any of the priests I've met heard you compare them to that thing, they would start setting up a stake to burn you."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry facepalmed. "I guess you're not gonna believe me if I say he got a lucky stab in, huh?" She shook her head and turned to face the chimera. "Yidi cut my wings out. Lyak tried to stitch me back together, but I terminated the polymorph and the stitches didn't expand with me."

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

"I didn't say it was a benevelent got," Adran shook his head, "Goblins worship the Buried Shadow, we call it the Traitor. Lolth took off with the Drow, the Traitor took off with the first goblins. That's why there's two courts, they split over which pantheon was still correct."

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta's wings shifted as he had to visibly restrain himself from running out to rip the goblin apart. "I...see... And you kept this from me?"

----------

"Mm. I never got much into religion. Too much work, not enough reliability."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yeah, because I knew you'd do exactly what you're doing now." Jerry groaned and looked towards the hut with Fia and the goblins. "I fully intend to kill him, and he's gonna die in agony, but I have the presence of mind to know that it'd be better and more satisfying if I let him contemplate what I'm gonna do to him first."

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

"Well," Adran shrugged, putting the bracelets on and looping the chain around his back. Ease of access. "I'll have to desecrate this place, but we should be fine as long as we don't invoke the rest of the pantheon."

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta hesitated before lowering his head and taking a breath. "I'm sorry... I just want to protect you..."

Raine was looking around at the hut awkwardly. She didn't quite know what they were saying, but she could feel the tension.

----------

Niudisa shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Let's see what else we can find."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Asta..." Jerry shook her head, "You're doing a good job, but this isn't your fault. I'll have Veo take a look when we're done, I promise." She turned back to Raine, this was something they'd have to work out later, hopefully after she'd made sure the chimera wouldn't try to eat Adran's face.

'Would you like to come with me and friends?', she asked the kobold.

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

Adran nodded, putting away the remainder of the loot, "I think everyone's at the big hut," and he left to go to that big hut, bringing the card with him.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and laid back down, doing his best to calm himself and not look at Jerry's back.

Raine looked at Jerry and thought for a moment. 'Where?'

----------

Niudisa gave a nod and fluttered on to rejoin the rest of the group.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Good, she understood that. 'We try escape.'

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

Jerry, Asta, Poli, and Raine were still in the separate hut with Lyak's work, while Fia, Lyak, and Yidi were still in the closest hut to the big hut, and Nyah was still tending to Emil in the big one. They were fairy spread out, but still within shouting distance of each other.

"How's it going, Emil?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Raine seemed confused about that. 'You trapped?'

----------

Shuffle was sitting on the floor across the table from Emil, just idling for the moment.

Emil glanced over as he was straightening out a deck of cards. "It's going well. I think I've got all of these sorted. Do you think they should have the same number of cards?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry nodded, pointing to the starting point of the map. 'We come in here, can't go back. We go deeper.' She traced the party's route, giving a summary of events so far.

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

"They should, they come in decks of fifty two," he handed Emil the card they'd found, "You might be missing this one."

 

[Fangs9090]

Raine looked and did her best to follow along. She was quiet for a moment before looking at Jerry again. 'You strong?'

----------

"Ah, thank you." Emil took the card and checked the back before putting it into the proper deck. "There, now they're even."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry shook her head. 'Strong together.' Even if half the time the second Jerry turned around 'strong together' turned into 'idiots together stupid'.

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"Good," Adran nodded, "Have you seen where Jerry went? She's gonna need the bag for the stuff she's found"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Mm..." Raine thought about it a little longer before she nodded. 'I follow.'

----------

Emil leaned over to look out towards the huts before pointing. "Last I saw she was in that hut."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry smiled, 'Good.' She turned back to her work to continue translating.

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

Adran thanked Emil and jogged the bridge to go give Jerry the bag. Seeing Poli on the floor and how tense Asta was, "Oh, fuck," came out of his mouth before he even realized what he was seeing.

 

[Fangs9090]

Raine looked at what Jerry was doing before looking over at the sound of footsteps approaching.

Poli spoke up. "Don't worry, she already talked him down."

----------

Niudisa stayed behind in the other hut, fluttering over to the pots to investigate them.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I'm just gonna," Adran stuck the arm with the bag through the window, which Jerry took.

"Thank you, Adran." Adran gave a salute before turning and running back the way he'd come.

------------------
The enchantments on the pots took a lot of mana from the environment around it. Niudisa's flight magic faltered and weakened when she was near. It used magic to ensure that whatever was planted in the pot continued to grow healthy and ready to harvest every morning. Considering it was currently used to foster a Goodberry bush, that was probably one of the goblins' main sources of food.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta huffed and laid his head down on his paws.

Raine looked between Asta and Adran until one of them had gone.

----------

Niudisa grumbled and kept her distance, but still she interested. She fluttered around at a distance to examine it as best she could.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Alrighty," that was going to be an issue Jerry could already tell. "Might as well get started," she started putting things into the bag. Jars of Sprites, the tweezers, all of the books, and the contents of the desks. These goblins kept trying to kill them, and one had amputated Jerry, some looting was in order. Once that was all put away, Jerry stood up and stretched, pushing off a piece of the roof thatch that fell off into the water.

'Come, meet the others,' she said to Raine, offering her a hand while she picked up Asta with the other.