Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

Morning's approximation found the party in much the same state they'd been previously. Emil and Veo woke up to their tent being a mess, Emil in particular feeling as though he might have some trouble if Veo ever wanted another night like that again in the near future.

Down in their cave Jerry and Asta were likewise a mess. There wasn't much furniture to have been destroyed, Jerry had at least thought that far ahead. Asta was back in his true form, the two sound asleep with satisfied grins on their faces, if a little sore. They didn't wake up at the same time as the others, per usual.

"Head count," Adran called as he started setting the breakfast table, "Sound off."

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona, Raine, Erina, Poli, Fia, and Shuffle called their names, in that order. Emil, Asta, and Niudisa were not present.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne, Beri, Emfa, Lyak, and Nalla called their names in turn. Veo and Jerry were the remaining two not present. "Well, shit," Adran shook his head, "Who wants to go find them?"

"Jerry and Asta are not in their tent," Beri shook his head, "Veo and Emil are bolted in."

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina shook her head. “Sounds like neither pair wants to be interrupted... What of Niudisa?”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Haven't seen Niudisa, either." Adran shrugged, "I saw her fly off in that general direction last night, but..." He gestured to where he'd seen Niudisa flutter off last night. "Haven't seen her since."

Joanne facepalmed, "Of course. Because why would the plan matter?" She got up and shook her head, "I am going scouting, who will accompany me?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle raised her hand. "I can!" She made sure to grab a large piece of meat before getting up.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne nodded and went to retrieve her armor. They weren't ready to leave until after breakfast so Joanne could put on her tarrasque armor, so the table was cleared by the time they left. Once they were well out of earshot seeking the exit, the paladin glanced at Shuffle. "Shuffle, has Jerry not been acting strangely since the encounter with Urodor?" Down in their cave, Jerry sneezed partially awake before she settled back down.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle tilted her head as she looked at Joanne. "What do you mean?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne frowned, "Do you recall Jerry's general attitude in the early ruins?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Hm..." Shuffle considered it before nodded. "Yeah, she was always complaining about things and groaned about every fight."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne nodded, "And how has that changed recently?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Mm...... She doesn't complain as much. I guess she's happier now. Isn't that good?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I do not know," Joanne shook her head, "Recently her affection towards Asta is becoming more disruptive than I would have thought Jerry capable." Jerry had been pretty hellbent on doing absolutely nothing remotely feminine well-before Urodor first appeared, and now here she was wearing a dress and pursuing romance with Asta. As far as the paladin was concerned, especially since currently that pursuit of romance was taking part in stopping the group from continuing, it was both a drastic and unwelcome change.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked at Joanne. "Does Asta make Jerry happy?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I do not know, and it is not my concern," Joanne gave a shrug before peeking around a corner to see if there were any feeders. There a few blight hounds but they hadn't been detected yet. "It only becomes my business when it halts my mission, and it is. There are feeders ahead, prepare yourself."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle went down on all fours before peeking around the corner as well. A wisp of flame escaped her mouth as she hyped herself up for a fight.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Blight hound heads snapped in the direction the light, hackles being raised and poison smoke billowing from their mouths as they came running to eat Shuffle and Joanne.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle hopped out from around the corner and blasted a four of fire towards the blight hounds.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Almost exactly like when Shuffle had spit fire into the clouds of previous hounds, the fire ignited the poison smoke they were breathing, traveling rapidly back into their bodies to the organs that generated the smoke, and the hounds momentarily looked shocked before they exploded, spreading gore everywhere.

"You are becoming quite proficient at dispatching blight hounds," Joanne noted, "Set fire to the remains so nothing will come to feed on them."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle gave a proud smile, tail wagging as she went to burn what was left of the blight hounds.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The air shimmered and flexed to announce a greater blind hound had appeared, which howled at Shuffle while she burned the Blight Hound wallpaper off. Joanne drew her sword and severed the beast's head as it lunged. "Burn this one too," joanne nodded as she wiped the blood off her sword on its fur.

Back at camp, Beri was trying to sniff Niudisa out, following her smell on the ground.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle turned as the greater blight hound appeared, but she relaxed as it was quickly dispatched. They really were getting stronger. These thing used to be something of a threat. She went ahead and started burning that one as well.


Niudisa’s scent trail was hard to follow since had been flying across the water, but it generally led across the springs away from camp.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

With the corpses burning, Joanne sheathed her sword, gesturing for Shuffle that they should continue. Further onward led through a system of connected and convoluted tunnels, it would probably be best to come back to this with the rest of the party. "We should return and relay this information."


Beri frowned, trying to keep the scent and not go in the water, until eventually he found the trail again across the springs. This pixie had to be around here somewhere, Adran was the only one that had any kind of access to other planes or teleportation, even if the gate scrolls were defective. "Where are you, fairy?", the leopard growled as he started to find evidence of Niudisa's magic activity in charred and slashed trees. What had this fairy been doing?

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle gave a nod. “Alright. This was fun.”


Some of the trees were even warped and decayed. She’d been using some serious magic. It wasn’t much longer before Niudisa and her reflection came into sight, the two of them channeling some kind of vortex of blood magic between them.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne smiled and turned on her heels to head back to camp.


Beri knew better than to be on the receiving end of an unknown spell effect, so he sat and waited silently to watch.