Wizardquest 3 Part 6: Ties that Bind You

Chapter 15

                Unable to make heads nor tails of the clue, you’re left with one option before just searching anywhere tangentially related: Go see Otit.

                The large man is busy when you find him however, his bulk sleeping in a hammock outside his inn as a gentle wind and warm sun lull him further into sleep. You can’t help but notice that machete of his stowed within arm’s reach, however. When you approach, he opens an eyelid and murmurs, “Hey there brotha man, it’s nap time.”

                “I can see that.” You say, feeling like a nap yourself. “We just need to bother you a teensy little bit and then you can go back to sleep.”

                “Mmm, I dunno, I’m feeling myself slip back to the sweet embrace of sleep~.”

                A groan escapes you as Sylphie walks up to the man and clasps her hands together before sticking out her lower lip in a pout. “Mr. Otit, it would really help us out if you could spare a little bit of time.”

                The man’s eye opens again and he sighs. “That’s not fair, you can’t just use such a cute tactic on me.” Sighing, he opens his eyes fully and places his hands on his belly. “Well, what do you want?”

                Handing over the note you just found, the man reads it before frowning. “Your poetry isn’t very good. Have you heard of a haiku? It’s simple enough, even for you.”

                “Please.” You sigh. “My poetry is fantastic, but there’s no way I could write this nice.”

                “Hmm, fair enough.” Otit says in a way that states this as obvious fact, even if the only thing you’ve written is your signature. To be fair, it’s basically illegible but his words still sting! He sighs and hands it back to you. “Well, I’m thinking maybe we’re lookin at some ships, eh?”

                “Yes, very good.” You sigh, figuring that’s what “masts” meant. “What about the armed part? Is that any kind of slang around here or anything?”

                “Well, arms can refer to the things connected to your torso, or weapons so-“ At you flat look he chuckles, “You’re a smart man! I’m just having a little paluhu. Listen, why are you asking me if you figured that out? I’m a simple man!”

                “Because this islander Kikimora found wherever this is so we figured maybe an islander’s perspective would be helpful.” Sylphie says before you can embarrass yourself further.

                “Ahhh, you raised yourself a little charmer there, eh? If only my daughter was as sweet.” He chuckles while you blink at Sylphie’s response. You’d expect this sort of thing from Sophie, but your little bookworm who cared nothing for manners, Sylphie? She really has grown without you realizing it.

                “Well, there’s nothing inherently islander about this message. However, given the mindset of an islander, I’d be thinking of course somewhere with ships. Of course, we’d stand out less in the docks, but the armed part is weird and unless you think about it too hard, you’d be thinking about that naval base, eh?” He pats his stomach. “See, we islanders also like to take it easy, you know? Go with the flow. We don’t like to think too hard on mindgames. This might fool a smart man like you, but I’d go with the simple answer.”

                “I… see.” You say, looking to your party. They nod their heads as if accepting this as reasonable before you turn to Otit. “Alright, thanks for the insight.”

                “You going to make a ruckus eh? I suppose I won’t be seeing you at dinner then.” He laughs, “I think you need a little more meat on your bones though. Your wife would love having something to hang onto!”

                “She has plenty of… anchors.” You say, trailing off at the end as you watch Sylphie cock her head to the side, blinking pretty at you.

                “Whatever do you mean, father?”

                Blanching, you nod to Otit. “Anyway, thank you.” The man laughs and waves at you before promptly falling back asleep.

                Walking away from the inn back toward the city, you do your best not to look at your daughter as she walks in a circle around you, a questioning look on her face. “Hmmm? What was that Dad? Hmmmm?”

                “Harmony, help me.” You say, doing your best not to meet your daughter’s gaze. The constructs merely snicker at your misery, and this continues until Mr. Ed snorts and then licks Sylphie’s ear, making the girl squeal, her tails lifting up before she hurriedly pushes them down and then rounds on the horse, huffing.

                “Thank you Mr. Ed, I’m glad someone is an adult aro-GAH!”

                You cut off as he licks your ear too, giving you one wicked wet willy. Chaika and Harmony squeal in laughter as you do so, eventually both you and Sylphie glaring at the other three. Both of you huff before snickering and then joining in the laughter. Gods, how long as it been since you’ve had a laugh like this with your family? If only Sophie, Saya, and Selene could be here…

                “Alright, hah, okay.” Sylphie says, wiping tears from her eyes. “So, the naval base, huh? I suppose it’s somewhere no one would look.” She references what Myra had said earlier. “But how do we get in and what will we find?”

                “Not sure.” You say, rubbing at your beard. “We can probably sneak in and do some scans with [Mage Sight]. If there’s magic pervading the area, then we can formulate a plan.”

                “And if not?”

                “We’ll try the docks.”

                Sylphie nods her head. “Well, what are we waiting for?” She makes to mount Mr. Ed when Harmony coughs into her hand.

                “Forgive me, but don’t we look a tad suspicious?”

                “Huh?” You ask. “I think we’ll look suspicious no matter what we do trying to break into a naval base.”

                “I didn’t mean that, what I meant is if this is truly the base of operations for our foes, then we should look how they expect us too. Besides, the Mindflayer already knows what we look like, a make-over would be appropriate.”

                Sylphie’s ears go flat. “Ugh, you sound like Sophie and Saya.”

                “Do we have to?” You sigh.

                “By Dollora, she really is your daughter.” Harmony sighs. “Listen, you two need to change your attire. Chop chop!”

                Groaning, your party heads for clothing stores within the city. Due to Hudson’s size and being a port city, there’s a multitude of clothing from both domestic and foreign nations. You consider at first looking for clothing to fit in at a naval base, but decide not to as anyone who questioned you anyway would see through the clothing. After that, there’s the option of dressing like islanders, but you couldn’t pull that off at all, even if you painted your skin.

                “Oh!” Sylphie says, pulling something from a rack at an outdoor stall. “Hey dad, check this out!”

                She holds up a scarlet robe of excellent make as well as a pair of dark, shaded spectacles. “You’d look fantastic in this!”

                Your eye twitches as an unbidden memory and the scent of crispy bacon comes to you. Controlling your expression, you calmly put it back on the rack and say, “I don’t think it’s my color.”

                “Hmmm.” Sylphie says, going through more racks. She pulls out a burgundy dress which looks like it belonged in the old Sanctifrond courts. “They’d never guess it was us if I wore this.”

                “Hmmm.” You say as well, rubbing your chin. “You’re right, the disguise would work perfectly. If I could find a similar outfit in the same style…”

                Mr Ed snorts and walks up, casually taking the clothing from her and placing it back in the rack with delicate care. The store clerk looks at him with a mix of shock and wonder as the horse noses through the racks and pulls out some standard, but well-made clothing in the Deleorian style. He neatly places a pair of rough brown pants, a white shirt and vest, and a cap onto the counter. After a second thought, he takes the spectacles that Sylphie had before and places them on the counter too. He does the same with an outfit for Sylphie, building an ensemble of a simple spun, blue dress with a hooded cloak to hide her tails and ears, though it’s impossible to hide her hands and feet.

                You just hand over some coins to the stunned shopkeeper, taking your purchases out of the store. It’s about five minutes after leaving that you ask, “Wait, are these even our sizes?”

                The horse gives you a flat look and you turn to Sylphie who shrugs. “He’s a magic horse, I’d trust his eye for fashion.”

                Unable to say anything else to this, you change your clothing to find it fits perfectly well and shows off your arms. Damn, you need to work out more. Sylphie’s clothing fits her too and you feel a sense of fatherly pride as you behold your cute daughter in her city girl attire.

                “Woah, ho, watch out there.” Chaika says, nudging you in the ribs. “She’s catching attention from a lot of boys.”

                “What, where, I’ll kill them.” You say on reflex, magic channeling through you.

                “Woah, calm down there.” The construct says. “Besides, she’s a grown woman and frankly should be on the hunt for a husband already. I’m actually surprised at how well she keeps her lusts down. I remember being that age and horny as fuck.”

                “Is… that so.” You say, not sure how to respond to that. This was always something that you worried about as your daughters grew up, them having their Monster urges awaken, but you never saw it much in Sylphie so you just thought her more reserved. This is neither here nor there however, and as the sun begins to set, you figure you need to get your plan in motion.

                The naval base is on the far end of the seawall, surrounded by a stone wall with only one gate in or out. The only other entrance would be from the water, where a disturbingly small number of ships are docked. The setting sun shines down over the ships, casting long shadows over a large complex of buildings, though you can’t be sure what’s where.

                Standing outside the base in your disguises, you scan the area with your [Mage Sight] and sigh in annoyance as Sylphie does the same. The area is saturated with magitek devices, you assume mostly low energy ones such as torches, etc. but all the same, it overlaps remarkably well at hiding other magical signatures.

                “Damnit.” Sylphie curses. “We’ll have to get inside to differentiate anything.”

                “Yeah.” You agree with a sigh. “What I don’t understand though, is how that Kikimora would have gotten in here.”

                “Maybe she said she was hired as a maid.”

                “That’s retard-“ You stop before thinking that over. “Shit, you’re probably right.”

                “I don’t think you can pull off the maid look.” Chaika chuckles. “You’ll just have to break in like normal folk.”

                “Makes sense.” You say. “We’re only going in to check things out. It will be easiest if it was a single person but…” Your words trail off as you see a defiant Sylphie next to you and the memory of seeing her defiled corpse comes unbidden. Shuddering, you say, “It will just be me and Sylphie. We can at least fend off any illusions if she’s here.”

                “Alright, just contact us if you need help.” Harmony says, to which Mr. Ed nickers.

                “Yes, yes.” Sylphie says, waving a hand. “I’ll be careful.”

                With both you and Sylphie disguised and only carrying your [Sack of Holding +1] which is holding your staves, you head off toward a far section of the wall as darkness comes over the city and the magitek lanterns come to light all around the wall, making the building shine in the night. It will be difficult to approach them normally, but…

                “Why does everyone keep making me use this spell.” Sylphie mutters as she hides you with [Trick of the Light]. Moving up the wall slowly, none of the guards along the walls notice you in their patrols, not that there are very many of them due to the deployment.

                “Because it’s very useful, that’s why.”

                “I guess. I just feel like a tool sometimes.”

                “Well, from what I understand, that Rommel guy found you to be a very useful part of the team.” As you say this, she blushes and a realization comes to you.

                “Did you have a crush on him?”

                “D-Dad!” She says, her spell flickering for a moment. “This is not the time for this!”

                “It’s okay if you did, he seems like a nice guy. I mean, there’s an age gap, but there’s one for your mother and I so it’s probably okay.”

                “By the Gods, I can’t believe this is happening.” She whispers, cheeks bright red. “We could be killed and you’re talking about my love life.”

                “I knew that headpat was a little more significant than he was leading on. Damn, well I’m sorry he went with Tabitha dear, he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”

                Sylphie, red as a beet, places her hand against the wall as you reach it. She takes a shuddering breath and whispers, “Dad. Please. Shut the fuck up, you’re so embarrassing.”

                “It’s okay. You’re growing up and I trust that whoever you end up with will be someone you love very much.”

                “Just get us inside, I can’t keep this up any longer.” She mutters something about being so embarrassed she could die when you raise yourselves up to the top of the wall with [Build the Wall] and [Privacy Barrier] before lowering the earth and crouching there, waiting for anyone to notice. Fortunately, no one does and you’re able to slip into the base without incident.

                Hiding behind some crates, Sylphie drops her spell and lets out a sigh of relief before pulling out a vial of white liquid and downing it in gone go as she watches for danger, licking her lips afterward. “I think the coast is clear for now. Now many guards around.” She mutters to herself.

                “Yeah. Wouldn’t be a bad place to hide then. Probably pretty empty inside the main buildings due to the deployment and no one would check the place out because they assume a well-functioning naval base wouldn’t be housing criminals.” Frowning, you shake your head. “I’m getting a stronger signature from inside this building, but I can’t tell what it is, there’s still too much interference.”

                Sylphie follows where you point and nods her head. “Wouldn’t a place like this have a magitek generator? Maybe that’s the source of the interference.”

                “Possibly…” You say, considering that. With advents in magitek, having a power source which can efficiently process mana from leylines and surrounding mana saturating the area is essential, especially in a military environment. Something like that can easily confound [Mage Sight] and would be a great way to hide an aetheric signature.

                “Let’s check it out then.” You say, moving in the shadows on your way inside the base. Most of the patrols are around the perimeter and the walls, so slipping inside the nearby building is a piece of cake; you don’t even need to use Sylphie’s spell.

                The structure you entered appears like an academy of sorts, with hallways filled with classrooms and sets of stairs leading up into what you assume is a dormitory. Thankfully you came at night, when any cadets would be on curfew, so you only have to hide from a few sailors on patrol, shining magitek torches through the dark halls.

                Following your [Mage Sight] toward the large source of power, you move through the hallways, leap frogging with Sylphie in tow until you reach another section of the building, a series of offices you assume are for the higher ups in the navy. Given Deleor really only has the one true naval base, the top brass have to be here. You even see an Order sigil on one of the doors- guess there’s a attaché here like there is at the forts. Your [Mage Sight] pings something, but it’s not the same signature as the Mindflayer. Perhaps there’s a sorcerer from the Order here as well?

                The lights are on in some of the offices and you have to combine your magics to stealthily make your way through and out of this building, over to the next one which is connected by a breezeway. This building is close to the water and you can tell why: It’s a dry dock.

Ships in various states of repair are present, with crews still working despite the hour. You enter the room, your curiosity getting the better of you when you see movement. Caught off guard, you’re noticed by a worker who calls your attention.

                “Hey! Who are you?”

                “Uh.” You say, looking to Sylphie. Your daughter shrugs and you gulp, pulling on your hat. “Magitek engineers, here to check on the generator.”

                “Eh? The generator?” The man says, narrowing his eyes. You gulp, preparing your magic when he lets out a big sigh. “Thank the Gods, that thing is on the fritz again. We didn’t think you’d be coming so late but it might be better than during the day when everyone is busy.” Licking your lips, you start to head toward a set of doors on the far side of the room where you detect a swell of magic when he grabs your shoulder.

“Woah now, that’s toward the barracks. The generator is right over there.” He points to a nearby set of doors with the word, “Generator” painted over them. A much, muuuuch larger source of magic pulses nearby, so aetherically loud that you actually didn’t even notice that it had saturated everything at first.

                Nodding to the man, you head toward the room and open the doors to behold a truly wondrous sight. In front of you is a massive piece of magitek that hums softly as it glows a soft blue, transforming the energies of the land into something usable to power this base. Stacks of back-up mana crystals sit in cases nearby as well, under lock and key of course, but with this beauty they’d probably not need them beyond portable devices.

                “What an absolute beaut.” You say, running a hand over the device. “An A-7 Raiju-type. Oh, listen to her purr when I pet her. Come on, don’t be shy.”

                “Uh, Dad.” Sylphie says, looking embarrassed. “This is kind of weird.”

                “Your father just appreciates magitek.” You say, patting the machine softly. “I’m a little miffed the country took the contract from The Manufactorum in Loveura over our G-41 Homete, but what are you going to do.”

                “Well, it looks like they aren’t here.” Sylphie sighs.

                “Who might you be looking for?” A voice says beside both of you.

                Reacting instantly, both of you turn and pull up your [Inner Guardians] to find an islander woman in naval dress standing beside you. She takes both of you in and cocks her head. “You two are magitek engineers?”

                “Who’s asking?” You reply, wary.

                “Hahaha, who indeed?” She says, chuckling. You scan her with your [Mage Sight] but are unable to find any traces of magic on her. “I’m just here to watch you as you work on the generator is all.” She lifts an eyebrow,

                “Unless of course, you’re not really here for the generator?”

                You narrow your eyes and study the woman carefully. You’re sure you could see through an illusion if there was one being cast, but as far as you can tell, she’s clean. Certainly the Deleorian navy would accept islanders born in Hudson in the navy, but this is a little too convenient. Not certain what to do, you pull from your bag some magitek tools you store for working on Harmony and Chaika, then go to the generator, doing some basic maintenance.

                The woman watches you with a careful eye before quickly becoming bored and looking away. Thankfully this machine is pretty basic, for magitek anyway, and finding that it actually does have a short in one of the three converter matrices is an easy fix.

                “So, how’d this get broken?” You ask, doing your work.

                “I don’t know, that’s your job.” She says.

                “Well, I know WHAT broke, but now how or when. Anything funny been going on around here recently?”

                “Nothing more funny that some bad jokes and a war.” She says, flippant.

                “Huh, well I’ve heard some strange stories going around, about some folk looking for ‘eternal glory’ and such around town.” Without looking at her you say, “Sounds kind of interesting, if you ask me.”

                After a few moments of receiving no reply, you look up to find the woman studying you critically again. She opens her mouth for a moment before closing it and then turning around. “Excuse me, I need to speak to my superior.” Without any further words, she walks out the doors and out of sight.

                “Gods, Dad that was super risky!” Sylphie says, handing you the appropriate tool with you asking.

                “Well.” You say, still working on the machine. “I had to know. This is all starting to seem rather strange, don’t you agree?”

                “Well, yeah, I mean I don’t think the mana is supposed to flux like that in this kind of device if I remember correctly.”

                “While true, not what I’m talking about.” You frown at where the woman left. “I can’t tell if we just met a recruiter or an actual sailor.”

                “We can stay and find out.” Sylphie shrugs.

                “Or.” You say, slapping the device, which hums a little louder now. “We can leave and search on our own more. Only place we haven’t checked are the barracks.”

                “Wouldn’t that be suspicious?” Your daughter asks, worry on her expression.

                “Well, probably.” You concede. “But we probably should make this decision quickly.”

                “Isn’t that usually your thing though?” She sighs. “I read your book you know.”

After a few moments of consideration you say to Sylphie, “I think we need to stay put.” She frowns until you follow-up with, “Well, at least one of us does anyway.”

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, she snaps her fingers and says, “Ah, right. Well I’ll wait here for you to return and-“ She stops as she notices your smug look. Sighing, she shakes her head and flicks a hand in annoyance as she mocks you. “Oh gee my dear and lovely daughter whom I would never want to see hurt, let’s send you off to go explore on your own.”

“I mean, you’re the one who can turn invisible.”

She gives you a sidelong glance before sighing again. “Well, what are you going to tell the creeper when she returns?”

“You ate islander cooking.”

“Ah, and I’ll be indisposed for the next week, fair enough.” Rolling her shoulder, she prepares to cast her spell when you fold your arms around her. She gasps and looks up at you with confusion as you hold her tight. 

“Hey, I know we were joking before, but please be careful. You, your sisters, and your mother all mean the world to me. If anything were to happen any of you I…”

She places a furred hand on yours and closes her eyes. “I know, dad. I’ll be fine, okay?” Her feline ears twitch, “I’m kind of good at locating threats.”

“I know you will, it’s just-“

“Yeah.” She nods her head pulls away from you, walking toward the door before snapping her fingers and becoming invisible. “As long as I don’t have to block anymore magitek rifle shots with my body, I’ll be fine.” 

You feel that last statement was both in poor taste and incredibly ominous. Still, you went on about trusting her and her being an adult, you can’t exactly go back on it now. Without much else to do, you casually lay on the ground and stare at the ceiling, the low hum of the generator threatening to put you to sleep. 

“Sleeping on the job is not a good way to fulfill your contract.”

Looking up, you see the islander woman from before, standing at your feet. How she got in here again without you noticing, you have no idea. 

She looks about and frowns, “Where is the other one?”

“Islander cooking, you know.”

A look of confusion comes across her face. Clearly she doesn’t know or doesn’t consider it anything out of the ordinary. You choose to believe the first part because what a way to live otherwise. 

“Diarrhea.”

She narrows her eyes at you and you shrug. “Severe diarrhea. Very messy stuff. Shouldn’t have eaten that canned ham on rice.”

The woman rolls her eyes. “Is the device fixed?”

“Yep, works like a charm.” You rap the generator with your knuckle. “Smooth sailing now.”

Clearly she doesn’t take well to humor or she would have gotten your amazing pun. Sighing, you push yourself up and ask, “Everything satisfactory then? Can I go now?”

“What about the other one?”

“She’s a big girl, she can find her way home.”

The woman looks at you strangely before asking, “What would you do for eternal glory?”

The hairs on the back of your neck stand up as she says this. Licking your lips, you ask, “eternal glory, you say?” Looking over to the generator, you slap it and say, “I don’t know much about that. I just know my magitek is all.”

“Hmm.” She asks, walking around you. “You know, no magitek engineers signed in at the entrance. How exactly did you come to be here?”

Ah shit, she caught you in your ruse. Who even checks the sign-in lists, eh? Shaking your head, you say, “Well if you must know, the Order attaché let us in, said that the interference in his lighting was quite unfortunate and that he just wanted this done quickly.”

The woman’s expression becomes smug, smugger than you’ve ever seen, smug. She leans down, face to face with you and says, “Liar.”

Keeping on a poker face, you run through the possibilities. Should you kill this woman now before she reports anything? No, she already did report you bet. Which means that she’s either toying with you before arresting you, or there’s something else going on. Either way, best to keep playing with her. 

“Oh? If I’m someone who broke into this naval base in order to cause havok, then why would I fix this generator and then lay here, waiting for you to return?”

“Either you’re incredibly cunning and did something to the device which will cause irreparable harm, or you’re here for something else.” She leans back against the generator and folds her hands over his stomach as she shrugs. “Either way is fine with me.”

“Huh? What the hells are you-“

“Did you bring the calling card?”

You blink in surprise at being cut off. “The… calling card?”

“Don’t be daft. It’s obvious why you’re here. You’ve be lured by the call of eternity. The siren song of destiny. How have the unbelievers wronged you?”

Ah, damn. There’s no doubt in your mind any longer, you hit jackpot on the naval base. Normally this might be a good thing since you can infiltrate their ranks but you’re afraid that you’ll be recognized if you’re not careful. Even worse, Sylphie is currently gone searching the barracks. Barracks which very well could be controlled by the Mindflayer you seek to eliminate. 

Your eyes drift over to a shovel in the corner of the room and you entertain the thought of smashing her against the back of the head and being done with it. It would be easy, just lure her away into a dark corner and BAM!… however, that wouldn’t solve much of anything, at least not at the moment. Still, it’s a good backup plan. 

Reaching into your pouch, you pull out the paper you took from the Kikimora and the woman looks it over before chuckling. “I knew it. A magitek engineer who wishes to join the ranks. How useful you will be.”

“Eh, who are you by the way?”

“Just someone who wants to see that damned city fallen.” She nods her head. “But you will learn more once you’ve spoken to Mun’teca. Come.” She waves for you to follow as she heads out into the drydocks again. You walk after her and prepare to turn toward the barracks when she instead turns back to the administrative complex. Off balanced, you blink in confusion before trailing behind, worried. 

No one blinks an eye as you walk behind her and into the dark offices. You keep your [Inner Guardian] up, ready to manifest it in a heartbeat if needed. Though you pass by the admiral’s office, thankfully, you find yourself in front of the door with the Order sigil, the only one with lights on through the window. Before you can say anything, the woman opens the door and ushers you inside. 

The room is more spacious than expected and actually encompasses both a waiting room and a an office with three desks in the back. The furniture is sparse, spartan even, and you get the feeling that whoever was assigned here is some hardass about protocol. Still, a shudder goes down your spine as you step in, and your eyes are drawn to the back of the room where the Order member sits. 

Your stomach drops as you see a familiar sight. The woman behind the desk has the tanned skin of an islander and the long, black hair. When she looks up at you, eyes which have a restrained insanity look back at you coolly. There’s no doubt about it, she’s the Mindflayer. A quick [Mage Sight] confirms this, though the Monster before you frowns and examines you. 

“You have brought me… another one?” She asks, though her eyes drift back down to the papers in front of her, uninterested. 

“Yes, my lady.” The woman says, bowing. 

“After the failures of the others…” The Mindflayer murmurs. “Gone, left us, taken away.”

“Unfortunate, my lady. But the calling cards are working, there are more coming.”

The Mindflayer murmurs, “He stinks.”

The woman blinks and cocks her head. “M-My lady?”

“Magitek engineering gets you sweaty.” You say quickly, not sure what else to do. “Begging your pardon, but are you this… Mun’teca?”

“No.” She says flatly, surprising you. 

“Uhm. What she means to say is that she has borrowed the name from the great island spirit.” The woman says, coughing into her hand. “Her mind is often burdened with the voice of the great mother.”

The Mindflayer, still keeping her illusion up, grinds her teeth and crumples up the paper in front of her. She hisses out, “She promises vengeance to us.” Her eyes shoot up to yours and she searches your expression before saying in a low voice, “Why the fuck are you wearing shaded spectacles at night?”

Honestly, you thought she was just insane, but apparently she’s both insane AND perceptive. These little bouts of lucidity make for an incredibly potent combination with her abilities and you feel that she was once an incredibly intelligent person at one point in time. One begins to wonder if she truly was an Order member or just took up the role after disposing of the old one. Ah, if only you had that Tobias kid’s information on illusionists!

Licking your lips, you say, “They’re corrective- spending time with magitek can hurt your eyes you know. Only pair I have.”

“Remove them.” 

You pale. Will she remember your eyes if you remove them?

A silence descends over the room at this and you see the Mindflayer’s eyes narrow further and further. Will she attack you if you don’t? Would you be able to fend off the assault with another person nearby as well? This might be your best opportunity to strike at her, take her by surprise! If you can kill her now, the rest will be easy, but… 

If you should die, then Sylphie will be in danger. 

Gulping, you remove your glasses slowly and look up at the Mindflayer. Her eyes widen for a moment, as if in recognition, but then it passes and she shrugs. “Boring…” With a sigh she leans back in her chair and says, “Do you have what it takes?”

“For what?”

“To bring low the city of the unbelievers?”

“And to gain eternal glory in the eyes of the great mother?” The other islander woman says. 

The Mindflayer, this Mun’teca gives her a sidelong glance before looking back to you. “What injustice fuels you? What chronic pain and agony drives you to my feet? What forgotten relic of the past claws at your memory and writes your future in blood?”

“Uh.” You say, not sure how to react. Should you make up a grandiose lie? No, you doubt an illusionist, even an insane one, wouldn’t see through that. So, better tell the truth. 

“They turned me away as my world is crumbling around me.”

The two look to each other before nodding. The Mindflayer chuckles a low, deep chuckle before her illusion drops, revealing her in her full, Monstrous glory. They both blink in surprise when you don’t show any reaction, your [Mage Sight] already seeing through it. Blinking for a moment as you realize it, you jump up and shout, “Woah! What the hells?!”

Mun’teca narrows her eyes and says, “Yes… I am more than humanity. The great mother has blessed me to carry out her work.” She extends a purple hand toward you. “It is now too late to run. You are one with us.”

“Huh? Hey-!” You shout as the woman grabs your arms from behind you and shoves your face onto the desk, hard. Surprised, you struggle against her to find that she’s surprisingly strong. Fucking sailors. As you struggle, you look up to find the tentacles on the Mindflayer’s head writhing. She titters as two reach down toward your head. 

Shit, you don’t have any choice. Summoning up your magic, you prepare to blast this place apart when the door flies open behind you and an out of breath islander sailor says, “My lady! There’s been an incident in the prisoner’s quarters!”

The tentacles stop in place and Mun’teca growls out, “What do you mean?”

“A Monster attacked us out of the nowhere! We think it’s the Dark Avenger and-“ He cuts off as a siren rings out throughout the complex. Rustling motion is heard as trained naval sailors and marines dash through the complex toward the administration to find the source of the disturbance. 

The Mindflayer’s illusion comes back up and she strides out of the room, grabbing a sword in the corner before growling out, “Damn you, I told you never to sound the alarm!”

“We- we wouldn’t!” The man says. “It must have been the dirty Deleorians!”

Mun’teca pauses and looks down at you, still being held in place. She lets out a low sound, almost like the [Irate Frog Song] before shaking her head. Distract them, I will head for the barracks to deal with the intruder.” A wicked some comes over her face. “I will play with her, ehehehe! This time, I’ll break her mind into pieces and give her gibbering form back to her father!”

She rolls her head back to you, grin widening as she speaks to the woman pining you down. “Stay put and don’t let him leave. He has a good mind, I wish to taste of it.” Before you can react further, she leaves the room and out of sight. 

“Hmph.” The islander woman says, reaching back to pull a knife from her belt that she places at your throat. “I suppose you’re mine until the lady returns.” She leans down and breathes into your ear, “frankly, I prefer Deleorian men over islanders.”

Ah, see, you missed this. Mortal peril, being threatened with intercourse, danger to your loved one. This is the kind of adventure you missed. This is what really gets your blood pumping! Of course, should you not want this adventure to end in abject misery and your daughter a dribbling psych-ward patient, you better figure out what to do. 

 

Chapter 16

                “Are you a sorcerer?” You ask as the blade touches dangerously close to your neck.

                “No, why do you ask?”

                “Because your charm is magical.”

                The woman snickers, but doesn’t remove the knife from your throat. “That’s cute. I like that.” Her tongue traces along your ear and she whispers, “One of the perks of this job is being around the naval base is having all these strong men around. But you look like you have… experience.”

                “Is it the beard that makes you think that? I bet it’s the beard.” You say, planning your escape. In all honesty, it would be hard for her to rape you and have that knife at your throat, though by the way she’s fumbling at your pants, you might rethink that a little.

                “Damn, are you a Monster?”

                “Is this another one of your ways to come onto me? I’ll bite.”

                “I ask because you seem to have a ravenous sex drive, a trait common to Monsters that-“

                “Shut it.” You cut off as she presses the knife closer, drawing a little blood. “Turn around, nice and slow.”

                You acquiesce, but decide you should probably get started on your little get away plan. Sighing, you channel your power within you and open your [Mage Sight]. The woman’s humors light-up as you [Fast Scan] and you easily overpower and imbalance them in her gut. It’s almost pathetic how easy it is to cast [Indigestion] upon her.

                The effects are near instantaneous. She clutches at her abdomen and wavers, though her knife still presses at your throat, albeit shaky. Her breathing grows faster and labored as she obviously struggles. She grits her teeth, but you can see she’s in incredible discomfort. Well, shouldn’t be too long before-

                The woman shudders and then retches before vomiting all over your brand new clothing. Surprised, you pull back on reflex and she swings the knife. Fortunately for you, her swing only catches your vomit soaked clothing, and she staggers to the ground with a little cry of pain before you snap up a [Privacy Barrier]. She struggles on the floor, a mix between wanting to slash at you and needing to hold her horribly cramping belly. Sometimes you wonder if this isn’t the cruelest spell you ever came up with.

                Either way, you kick the knife out of her hand before reaching down and jamming your fingers next to her neck and using a low voltage [Lightning Bolt], effectively using [Taser] to quickly knock her unconscious. You do your best to not notice the smell that comes as her struggles against your spell begin to fail, but you have the decency to roll her onto her side if she vomits again. Ghosts, you know? Ah well, it’s not a shovel to the back of the head, but you can still use [Ice] to fashion bindings around her before you leave.

                Now freed from your captor, you pull the vomitus off you with your Plagamancy, though it does leave a stain. Unfortunately you don’t have much time for anything else here, you need to get to Sylphie!

                You peek your head out from the door and into the administration hallway, thankfully seeing no one around. Using a few [Remote Sentries], you find the way back toward the barracks to be empty, thankfully. As you make to go that way, you reconsider. The Mindflayer is insane by nature, but she isn’t stupid. You didn’t learn that [Trick of the Light] spell from Sylphie so you can’t become invisible, or whatever it does, which means it’s highly likely that you’d be spotted by the sailors and you’d rather not hurt them unless you can tell that they’re enemies.

                So instead… you head outside and behind the building. Making sure no one is watching, you retrieve your staff, a piece of rosewood you had carved a few years ago with multiple enhancement runes, from your [Sack of Holding +1] and use it to help you climb to the top of the building with [Build the Wall]. Once there, you hunker down and make sure you’re all alone.

                Good thing no one really checks the roof, so you’re able to walk toward the dry docks and then use a bit of Aeromancy to propel you over to the next roof and soften your landing before heading toward the barracks.

                Down around you the siren still blares as sailors wielding various weapons, including a few magitek rifles, secure the area while heading into the dry docks of all things. Seems that the barracks was already secure maybe so they wanted to check out each place piece by piece? Kind of makes you wonder though, why exactly did the alarm sound-

                A door bursts open at the roof access nearby and two sailors, one armed with a glowing magitek rifle, step out. Spotting you, they shout, “You there! Halt!”

                Ahhhhhhh shit. Not knowing what else to do for it, you hurriedly throw up a [Shield Circle] behind you as you dash for the edge of the roof. They shout again and you hear a discharge of energy followed by a violent wave of disorientation as your shield is shattered. Holy fuck, how powerful did you make those fucking rifles?

                Thankfully it didn’t pierce through, it just merely broke the shield. Unfortunately, this made you stagger at exactly the wrong time, and you hit the edge of the roof. Before you can stop yourself, you flip and fall off, plummeting to the ground. As the ground races up toward you, you create a rush of air with your Aeromancy to slow your fall until you find yourself hovering with your nose almost touching the ground.

                Sighing, you drop the magic and hit the ground just as a magitek rifle shot explodes the ground next to your head. Cursing, you pick yourself up and scramble over toward the barracks. Thankfully no other sailors are outside at the spot, but the barracks are too far away in open terrain. It’s probable that he’ll be able to pick you off unless you do something!

                The man charges up another shot and you consider throwing up a wall, but opt for something else instead. A bold, incredibly daring plan forms in your mind as you quickly form a circle in the air and attach the anchor points. You can almost feel the mana charging in the rifle as another shot comes toward your back. Flipping about, you thrust out your [Counter Circle] and deflect the shot right back at the firer.

                Most people could never hope to pull this off, the time required to see and formulate the response is too great for a projectile like this. You, on the other hand, developed these damn things and you know the aetheric frequency of the shot fired by this model. Since the rifles are essentially enchanted items firing concentrated mana bolts… it’s basically a spell.

                Which means you can counter it.

                The bolt hits the rifle and destroys it, sending the wielder backward with a shout. Using the time gained by the distraction, you dash off toward the barracks and enter from behind. Surprisingly no one comes to greet you, not immediately. Wouldn’t they have the barracks on lockdown? Or did the Mindflayer ensure that the normal guards have nothing to do with this? Either way, they’ll be coming now so both you and this Mun’teca have a deadline before this place is crawling.

                Dashing through the halls, you see open doors, but no sailors present- they must have left in a hurry. You open up your [Mage Sight] and are surprised to see pulses of magic ahead. That must be Sylphie using her magic but… is some of that from the Mindflayer? Worried, you continue down the hall until you run into a group of islander humans and Monsters dressed in a motley of maid outfits, sailor uniforms, and a shipwright. They stare at you in surprise before asking,

                “Who the hells are you?”

                “Uhhh.” You say before staggering to the side. Damn, still feeling some lingering mana drain from that battle outside.

                “Ahhh, poor puha is drunk.” One of the islander maids giggles. “Mun’teca won’t like that.”

                “How are you so sure he’s one of ours?” A man next to her asks.

                “Please, he’s probably the new guy. Hey new guy, the whole base is searching for you, you know?”

                “Uhhh.” You say again. “Is that what… that’s about?”

                “Yeah! But you should be fine here. The great Mun’teca has kept those idiots out by saying she’ll secure the place. I suppose being some Hero gives you that power.” She shrugs. “Told us to wait here though while she takes care of some pest in here.”

                The shipwright cocks his head. “Hey, wasn’t he supposed to be with Kelahu?”

                “Uhhh.” You say for a third time as they look at you critically. Licking your lips, you just shrug and say, “Ah fuck it,” before letting loose a torrent of [Lightning Bolts] from your fingertips, the electricity coursing through their bodies and dropping them into spasming heaps. Thank the Gods you’re just dealing with run of the mill people and Monsters here. Imagine if one of them was like those plant infested from before?

                You look toward the source of that magic from before and frown as you realize it’s stopped. Cursing, you dash forward through the halls again until you reach a large room with row after row of books lined with shelves around the perimeter. A sign knocked onto the floor says, “closed until further notice” and you realize with perfectly clarity that the best place to hide in a barracks is the damn library under their noses. Ingenious!

                You’ll pat the Mindflayer on the back later, first you need to pat her ass. Violently. You know like, kick it and such and- okay you’ll stop.

                Inside the room, you can tell things are at a difficult impasse. While quite large for a library in a damn barracks, even having a second floor connected by a ladder, there’s still little place for them to hide beyond a room in the back, where you assume the hostages must be held. In the center of the room, with books lying on the floor and tables overturned, you see Sylphie, teeth barred, tails raised, her [Inner Guardian] behind her, warding off illusions.

                Despite doing fairly well for herself, as evidenced by the unconscious (or dead) forms around her you can tell she’s being pushed to the brink. She should have fled long ago, but at this point her retreat is cut off. Anything less than focus on the Mindflayer would be suicidal- she’d play off those emotions cause havoc. If only Chaika and Harmony were here… actually, better not as they have no defense against these illusions.

                Using [Manifestation], your [Inner Guardian] appears, eastern sword drawn and ready to defend you. Activating your [Mage Sight] and gritting your teeth, you throw out a [Lightning Bolt] at full intensity, not taking any chances. The electricity zips across the room faster than you can see, but before it makes contact, the Mindflayer steps to the side and then seems to blur in your vision before appearing next to Sylphie, her eyes wide and wild.

                What the- how is she doing that? You have all of your mental defenses up! She can’t seriously be-

                “Dad!” Sylphie shouts before dropping to the floor. “Remember what happened before! She’s playing on your expectations!”

                Playing on your expectations… Wait, did you expect that attack to miss? If you did then… perhaps? Turning to your Inner Guardian, he shrugs. Good Gods, if that’s the case then-

                You start chuckling, about to say something witty when the Mindflayer appears upon the bannister of the small second floor space. She cocks her head and says, “You… are the engineer? You… didn’t wish to join us after all?” It takes her a moment before she gasps, “You’re the Wizard! You… you tricked me!”

                At this, a distressingly large smile plays over her face and she barks out a laugh. “YOU TRICKED ME EHEHEHEHE! I WAS MADE A FOOL AHAHAHA!”

                Confused, you watch as she hammers on the bannister with her fist until it eventually cracks and she stops as suddenly as it began. She looks down upon you with those red, glowing eyes as if you were nothing more than walking garbage.

                “I will not be made a fool again. The great mother sings to me a tale of your demise and I will see it through.” With that, she drops down to the floor in front of Sylphie and grabs her face with one of her tentacles in one, smooth motion.

                Crying out, you throw out more lightning, but before it reaches, Sylphie yelps and leaps to the side, the Mindflayer suddenly a few steps to the side. Oh fuck your bolt was going to hit Sylphie! Pulling back, you curse to yourself. She’s only been using little tricks, nothing massive or showy yet, but if you don’t concentrate you’ll slip on the little details. Remember what Sylphie told you and what happened before.

                Taking a deep breath to steady yourself, you put away your shaded spectacles and hold out your staff to begin channeling your will. Fleeing is no longer an option. The base is swarming with sailors who will quickly fall under her illusion and take her side, while she now knows your face. There’s nowhere to run and if you’re not quick, then your operation here in Hudson will have failed. Whatever nefarious plot Phallia has cooked up through this Mindflayer for Fillothia will come to pass as well.

                “Ready Sylphie?” You shout to your daughter for encouragement.

                She nods her head, quickly drinking a mana potion before throwing the vial on the floor. “Ready, dad!”

                It’s now or never. Let’s kill a Mindflayer.

                Mun’teca steps back from Sylphie as your daughter explodes with power, a corona of electricity playing around her which pushes the Mindflayer back, a frown on her face. You follow it up with a [Lightning Bolt] of your own, though once again, it seems to miss, with her moving merely moments before the bolt strikes.

                That’s fine though, the entire point of that exercise was to get her away from Sylphie and allow you to reach your daughter. With [Mage Sight] flaring and your guardian manifested behind you, you dive toward your daughter and throw up a wall that crashes through the floorboards using [Build the Wall].

                “Huh? Dad, we can’t see her!” Sylphie shouts.

                “No shit, that’s the point!” You reply before casting out [Remote Sentry]. The devices appear on the four walls of the library, giving you nearly total vision of the place. The downside to using four of these, however, is that it takes up a great deal of your concentration, though thankfully Sylphie notices and shields you, her tails rising.

                You see her immediately standing on the other side of your wall, her head cocked as if in confusion. She looks up at your sentries, her innate magic allowing her to at least get a vague impression of where they are. As she looks-

                “Sylphie, bombard right behind the wall!” You shout.

                Not wasting a moment, Sylphie leaps into the air and fires a swath of fire, scorching the flooring and burning books scattered on the ground. Her area of devastation is large enough that even someone with quick reflexes shouldn’t have been able to dodge it! Quickly turning back to your sentries, you see-

                Her standing right next to you.

                Gasping, you leap backward as the sword she was carrying beforehand cuts through your already abused shirt and makes a furrow in your already abused chest. Blood flies crimson through the air as you throw up a spike of ice in front of you in desperation, but whether or not she used an illusion, she steps to the side and makes to strike at you again.

                Your staff intercepts the sword and she leans down, eyes coming near yours as her tentacles writhe. She hisses as magic flares up around her, “This time, I’ll turn your fear into reality.”

                Cold shock runs down your spine and you panic despite yourself. Oh Gods, she isn’t going to make you relive that again, is she? Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck you have to-

                Mun’teca cries out in pain as Sylphie’s tails impale her tentacles, and throw the Mindflayer to the floor, sending her sword clattering. Unfortunately she’s stronger than she looks and the tentacle hair grabs Sylphie’s tails and THROWS her into a nearby table, throwing up a shower of books and a cry of alarm.

                This snaps you back into reality. No… no, you REFUSE to allow that vision to come true! Roaring with anger, you tuck your head and barrel into the chest of the Mindflayer, driving her back into a bookcase and eliciting a grunt as the wind is forced out of her. Pulling back your hand as you charge lighting through it to pierce her chest, you blink in surprise as suddenly she’s not in front of you. Though it takes you a moment to understand that you’re being tricked, your guardian destroying the illusion, but that’s all it takes for her to slip from your grasp and smash a book into the side of your head, sending you crashing to the floor, stars in your vision.

                Something slimy grabs your leg and you let out a cry as you look up to see Mun’teca fuming with anger. “YOU WILL NOT STAND IN MY WAY. SHE PROMISED ME! PROMISED ME I’D SEE THEM BECOME FERTILIZER!”

                “The fuck are you talking abou-“ You shout before being thrown as well into the recovering Sylphie. The two of you push to your feet as the Mindflayer, seething with anger, splits into five, all of them encircling the two of you. They make no immediate move to attack, but you can’t be sure which is the real one as they all radiate the same magic power. If you take a moment to analyze their signatures, you’re sure you can figure it out but…

                “GUARDIAN! STRIKE!” You shout as your [Inner Guardian] manifests before you and slices through one of the Mindflayers, reducing it to nothing. The others press on, closing in faster and faster as your daughter pushes her back behind you, her guardian doing the same. Unfortunately she must be using multiple illusions over and over each other, because for every one your guardians destroy, another takes their place. The strain this causing must be immense, but from what you understand of Jackor’s little rejects, they can keep going until they pass out or go entirely insane. Unfortunately for you, this Monster passed the latter’s threshold ages ago.

                “Sylphie.” You say as the Mindflayers about close in, their tentacles flailing and ready to grab you. She looks over her shoulder at you, sweat on her brow as you pull her staff out from your bag. Taking in a deep breath, you breathe out,

“Clockwise.”

                As soon as you say this, both of you turn, blasting power from your staves. Explosions of fire and electricity detonate around the room. The time for playing nice is over and so is the time for subtlety. She needs to go down and go down NOW.

                The circle of destruction you form with Sylphie leaves a swath of destruction, obliterating any of the Mindflayers you see. They don’t reform, possibly because your mind doesn’t allow that possibility and possibly because your [Inner Guardians] also destroy them until they all suddenly vanish as one of the Mindflayers drops under your barrage, her teeth chattering as a stray explosion of electricity courses through her.

                “F-Fuck you.” She says through gritted teeth.

                Directing yourself at her, you point your staff and both yours and Sylphie’s guardians appear around her, striking in unison to shatter any illusion she may be casting. At this, her eyes widen in shock as she drops onto her hands and eyes, twitching while searching around frantically.

                “No, no, no, it’s not supposed to happen. Why does it hurt? I’ve hurt so much already, please don’t make it hurt anymore! They’re all dead, oh by the spirits, they’re all dead! Please don’t let them be dead and- I have to avenge them? Oh but it hurts!”

                She babbles incoherently there as you do a [Fast Scan] and get a hold of her humours. Raising your staff, you prepare to imbalance them and cast a spell you’d promised you won’t use anymore. But desperate times call for desperate measures. As you begin, however, you hear Sylphie let out gasp and fall down next to you, breaking your concentration.

                Her [Inner Guardian] vanishes from next to the Mindflayer as the glow of magic around Sylphie dissipates. She curses and fumbles at her belt. “The se- the mana potion wore off, I need to-“

                Mun’teca’s head snaps up in that instant, a horrific lucidity in her eyes as she screams far louder than even your [Amplify] and [Irate Frog Song] can reach. The very library seems to quake around you and you stagger to the ground, covering your abused ears while she screams as if to tear out your very soul. Actually, you’ve heard that kind of screaming beforehand, so at least you know this isn’t it… but it still hurts.

                And then it stops. Surprised, you look up to see her gone from before you. Gasping, you flip about as Sylphie finally drinks her potion but find her nowhere. What the-? Where did she go?! Did she run away? That’s the worst possible outcome for you, in truth, because she can just hide again!

                “Sylphie.” You say, getting close to your daughter again. “Did you find the captives?”

                “I think… they’re in the librarian’s room.” She points behind you to a small door inset in the back of the library. “But when I was about to investigate, she attacked me.”

                “Damnit. It’s not ideal, but we should try to rescue them until we find her.”

                “Right.” She says, getting her bearings back.

                Despite hurting all over, you limp toward the back room, supported by Sylphie, your sentries searching. Where could she have gone? You reach the door and Sylphie places her ear next to it, listening. She gasps and says, “there’s someone in-!”

                The door cuts off her off by bursting open and slamming her into the wall. You blink in surprise as the Mindflayer rushes out. Mun’teca gives you no time to respond as she drives you forward into another bookcase, a reversal of your earlier situation. In her hand is a pen-knife she must have picked up from the room. Her tentacles grab your head and she cackles as her red eyes glow with malevolence.

You do your best to grab her wrist and keep her from impaling your eye with the knife. For some reason it slips off her skin like it’s covered in oil and you can’t be certain if it’s an illusion or not! Before the knife can give you a back alley enucleation, you knee her in the gut and she pulls away long enough for Sylphie to throw into the air a spell you’d rather she didn’t.

                [Daylight] floods the room, blinding both you and the Mindflayer, the latter screaming in pain while pulling away from you. For your part, you stagger against the wall of books, trying to get your bearing as white light clouds your vision until you remember something very important:

                You still have [Remote Sentries]!

                Tapping into just one of them, you can see despite your blindness. Cackling in a mix of rage and triumph, you cast [Ice] to trap her, though your aim is a little off seeing as you’re a little blind. Unfortunately, Sylphie casts [Fireball] at the exact same time and the end result is her leg becomes horrifically burned from steam. The Mindflayer screams in pain and drops to floor, holding her abused leg.

                Seeing this through the sentries, you curse and prepare to send out electricity when Sylphie jumps upon her and prepares to jam her tails into the other Monster’s body. A bold plan of attack, but your daughter forgot one thing: Mun’teca likes to play tricks.

                Whether or not as a planned assault or just dumb luck, Mun’teca grabs Sylphie with her tentacles and the girl stops moving. 

                Snapping back to reality, you furiously blink, trying to clear your vision enough to use [Mage Sight]. As you vision clears you see the Mindflayer stabbing Sylphie over and over again, her blood coming out in spurts that cover the purple skinned Monster.

Crying out in agony, you stumble your way over and manifest your [Inner Guardian]. When you go to annihilate the bitch and save your little girl, your guardian strikes first however, destroying the illusion before you. Surprised, you stagger to your knees, tears in your half-blind eyes as you sweep your vision before finding a source of magic to your right, behind the wall you’d created earlier. Clenching your fist, you drag the wall back down.

                The Mindflayer, holding an unconscious Sylphie in her hands, tumbles backward as the wall vanishes. She gasps in surprise, but you’re in no fucking mood. Power roils over you as you create a spear of [Ice], ready to impale this bitch for good. As you prepare to run her through, you pause just an instant and notice something strange: Mun’teca’s eyes look… confused?

                Steeling your resolve, you stop your charge and send out your guardian, who cleaves through the illusion, revealing the positions of the two to be reversed. Sylphie stares at you with wide eyes filled with tears as tentacles attach to her head while the Mindflayer growls next to her.

                Oh that fucking bitch. She tried to have you kill your own daughter.

                Perhaps everything else she did was forgivable, but this? No. There is to be no mercy for this. Rage filling her heart, you latch onto her humours, using the burns on her leg as leverage to infiltrate her system.

                “Stop!” She says, pulling Sylphie’s face next to her own, knife at the ready. “You make one move and I kill her. She’s going to die and it will be YOUR fault!”

                “D-Daddy…” Sylphie whispers.

                Something breaks in your heart, but you keep your resolve, intensifying it maybe. The Mindflayer searches your expression before gasping and trying to slit Sylphie’s throat. But it’s too late. Her arm shudders and the wrist goes limp. She looks on in surprise and horror as your Plagamancy begins its dark work.

                The arm begins to roil and grow in size. She, a creature with the ability to make other see anything she could imagine, screams as the unthinkable happens. Faster and faster, the arm swells until a sickening crunch is heard as the bones in the arm snap from the pressure.

                Oh but it doesn’t end there.

                The burned leg undergoes the same process as well as her breast until her entire body is a seething mass of [Cancer]. The only place you leave alone is her mouth. Even if she used an illusion on you, you know for certain she’s dead. There’s no way to stop this any longer, even if she did carry those plants Phallia likes to put in everyone. She’s dead and just waiting your mercy to kill her.

                “I could have made this easier on you.” You hiss, dropping next to her as you swat away one of her tentacle hairs. “But you had to push it. You had to threaten my damn daughter.”

                “I… I wanted to bring them to justice.”

                “Those Sahaugin? How are you so sure they even were related to Filliothia? They could have just been pirates. But you can just ask them in the Hells.”

                “Heh…” She chuckles. “Even if… even if it is not by my hand I… I will wait for them in the Hells. I will wait for them and they will arrive soon.”

                “What does that mean?” You ask, concerned.

                She gives you a smile before something vital breaks and her eyes lose focus. Her head lolls to the side and she drops dead.

                You watch her corpse for a long while, making certain with all your spells that she’s dead and not using some illusion. This whole shit makes your head hurt, though the massive expenditure of mana didn’t help either. It’s a struggle to keep yourself from passing out as you turn to Sylphie, who had passed out after being dropped by Mun’teca, and check her humours with a [Fast Scan].

                She seems relatively healthy, if beaten up some. Using [Soothe], you fix her cuts and scrapes before trying to wake her up. She stirs briefly and gasps, leaping forward to grab your throat with her furred hand, her nails drawing blood as she growls, tails poised behind her to impale you. Despite yourself, you feel a stab of panic as you remember just how monstrous her race can be.

                “Sylphie.” You say in a low voice. “Sylphie, it’s me, daddy.”

                She blinks a few times, tears still coming down her eyes as she whispers, “D-Dad?”

                Though her tails don’t lower, she loosens pressure on your throat. Gently, you pull her to you in an embrace as you stroke her hair and say, “It’s okay. It’s okay. Nothing she showed you was real.”

                “I… I didn’t know where… I thought I was…” She begins to cry in earnest.

                You hold her like that until shouts are heard from behind as sailors and other personnel flood the library, leveling magitek rifles and other weapons at you. Tired, you turn your head to them and say,

“Gentlemen. I’m the Grand Wizard and I’m having a tender moment with my daughter after a traumatic incident. Could you please be quieter?”

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

                Admiral Ulysses, the highest ranking naval officer in Deleor sits at his desk, palm over his face as you, Sylphie, and your constructs sit quietly in his office. Despite feeling like trash, you were rushed over to him following a brief interrogation until someone amazingly recognized you. Or at least your daughter as most people know that there are only three of such species in existence at the moment.

                “So uh.” You say, rubbing at your chin but are cut off as the Admiral holds up a hand. Tense silence fills the room for a few more minutes before the man breathes out and finally looks you in the eyes.

                “Let me get this straight.” He says in a way very familiar to a certain other military commander you met in the past. “A Monster infiltrated our base as our Hero, formed a cult within the walls, and kidnapped people, hiding them in our library.”

                “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

                The man groans. “That’s stupid, you know that?”

                “Yeah, but she was able to mess with your perceptions and cast illusions.”

                “Doesn’t mean it’s not stupid.”

                You shrug, not able to argue that. The man sighs again and says, “Well, what do we do about this now?”

                “Not much to be honest.” You say. “She’s dead and most of her cult is rounded up. The prisoners are freed and minimal damage was done to the facility.”

                “The library is ruined.”

                “Do sailors even fucking read?”

                The Admiral pauses before conceding the point. “Anyway. Why was she doing this?”

                Sylphie turns to you and looks for your response. You consider it for a moment before being honest. “She wanted to gain access to Fillothia and destroy it.”

                A snort comes from the Admiral. “Are you insane?”

                “No, but she was.” You say. “She truly believed she could do that and was gaining hostages for some ritual. We’ll never know what, but they’re freed now.” Rubbing at your cheek, you ask, “Speaking of which, among the hostages was there-“

                The door bursts open as a grizzled old far with white hair and an eyepatch walks into the room like he owns the place. He slaps his hands on the table and says without preamble, “Ulysses you ol’ bastard, what’s your secretary doing making me wait outside?”

                Your constructs exchange looks while Sylphie cocks her head. For your part you blink in surprise at the familiar old man.

                “Baha?”

                He pauses and turns to you, eyeing you up and down critically before asking, “Who wants to know?”

                “Holy hells, you haven’t aged at all.” You say, chuckling. “I didn’t actually think it would be you, I thought you’d be dead by now.”

                The man narrows his eyes and rubs his beard. “Do I know you?”

                “You sailed myself, the Hero Blake, and our party to Derrick about twenty years ago.”

                “Hrmmm… doesn’t ring a bell-“

                “I froze a Crab Girl’s pussy and then frogs beat up her Lobster Girl sister.”

                Baha snaps his fingers. “Oh rrriiigghhht! You’re the one who fried that poor Sahaugin.” He shakes his head. “Sad business, but good to see you’re looking well. What have you been up to?”

                “Uh, I helped stop the last Monster Invasion and an married to the Monster Lady.” You put a hand around Sylphie’s shoulder. “This is one of my daughters.”

                Sylphie gives him an awkward wave as the man chuckles. “Oh ho! Darling thing. Makes me pine for the fruit of my own loins!” He turns back to the Admiral, who just looks tired. “Speaking of which, when can I get out of here and head back home?”

                “We just need to process things a little more, ask a few questions and-“

                “Home? Filliothia? Can we go along? I’d like to talk with your wife about something of import.” You ask.

                The Admiral gives you a flat look as Baha turns to you again and chuckles, “You want to go there? Sorry, but my wife would never allow-“

                “I just saved your ass from a calamari headed Monster.”

                “Oh well in that case you have passage.”

Without further discussion, he turns to the Admiral as they discuss returning the other captives home as well. You just look to your party and sigh out in relief. Despite all it took to get here, it was surprisingly easy to get passage to Fillothia. There’s still some thing to finish here in Hudson, you’re sure, but you just hope that from this point on, it’s smooth sailing.

Heh. Puns.

————————————————————————————————————————

                “Ey there brotha man. I hear from some of the pahu that there’s some big celebrity in town. Hear he’s a really popular person, did some big things down at the naval base. Wonder where that man could be staying, hmm?”

                You sigh as Otit nudges your ribs. Again.

                The man has been incessantly bullying you since you returned from the base, haggard and just wanting to sleep. Apparently news of “The Grand Wizard” being in town made the rounds far faster than you’d have expected and despite your hiding you find people in the inn whispering as the innkeeper pesters you.

                “Yes, Otit. There certainly is important people in places.” You sigh, staring at the plate of food in front of you, though you don’t really feel hungry.

                “Ah, I’m just giving you a hard time.” He chuckles and slaps his belly. “Well now, since everyone knows you’re here, what are you going to do?”

                “Leave.” You say, nodding to Harmony, who is sitting next to you. Chaika is looking after Sylphie who is still a little out of it after her encounter with the Mindflayer.

                “Leave? Awww, but you’ll miss the next luau!”

                “I’ve had my fill of those.” You say, a shudder going down your spine. “We’re due to meet with Baha later today and make ready for our journey to Filliothia.”

                “Hmm.” Otit says, rubbing his chin. “So it was that old fart in town. Good thing you found him, we’d have some pretty rocky seas if anything happened to him and his wife found out.”

                “She’s that terrifying?”

                “Oh no, no brotha man! She’s beautiful, one of the most gorgeous Anahie I’ve ever seen! But she has as temper, and if she gets mad ain’t nothing good going to happen.”

                “I see.” You say, not knowing what to make of that. Let’s just hope her husband coming back home will put her in a good mood, huh?

                “Well, I’ll go check on Sylphie and we’ll check out.”

                “Ah, well, that’s the nature of these things.” He slaps you on the back this time, about making you fall face-first into the food. “You come on back then! And bring your whole family for some fun in the sun!”

                You can’t help but chuckle at the man. “Alright, alright. We’ll return someday.” You go to stand up but he puts a hand on your shoulder and pushes you down.

                “Hey now.” Otit says, leaning in close to you. “You better eat your breakfast.”

———————————————————————————————————————-

                Sylphie sighs in bed, placing a hand to her head. When you enter the room she looks to you and gives a weak smile before saying, “Breakfast good?”

                “I… am glad I still have some potions.” You say, feeling ill already. Damn if it doesn’t taste good though. Kneeling next to Sylphie, you place a hand on her and feel her humors. At least she’s still physically fine but…

                “How are you feeling?”

                “Tired.” She says. “But I’ll manage.”

                “You want to talk about it?”

                “Not really.” She says, looking to the side. “Either way, we need to be going to Baha, right?”

                “Yeeeeep.” Chaika says, placing hands on her hips. “No sense waiting around here anymore, lets head to the bottom of the ocean!”

                “We don’t even know that it’s at the bottom of the ocean.” You say, waving your hand in dismissal.

                “Please.” Chaika says, giving you a flat look.

                “Anyway.” Sylphie says, pushing herself up. “I’ll be ready to go soon. Mr. Ed is getting a little ansty outside so we should be ready.”

                “How can he be ansty, he’s a horse…” Chaika mutters while finishing packing, not that it takes long to do so. All of you meet outside after you finish up with Otit and make your way to the docks. Being that your cover has already been blown, you don’t even bother with a cloak, it’s just too hot anyway.

                People watch you as you walk, muttering to themselves. Sometimes you forget that you’re technically a celebrity. Sometimes you just wish to be a nobody in your room. Of course, when you look over at your daughter you remember how silly that is. You’ve been to enough formal meetings with Selene to be used to this shit.

                You reach the docks with the sun high in the sky, the light off the salt sea making your face feel like it’s burning already. The people here don’t have time to gawk at you, or they don’t care. Either way, you’re fine making your way to a small ship you’d seen before but didn’t have much of a reason to pay much attention to.

                About the ship you see people walking about, loading it with goods, checking the vessel, and going about making sure they’re ready to set sail. You’re not surprised actually to see multiple acquatic Monsters working alongside the men to fix the ship while some pop their heads out of the water, calling things out. It all seems fairly routine until you see two familiar, yet surprising figures.

                Sitting next to the dock, the wood wet around them, are the Ocean Priestess you met before and Myra. Both of them are speaking with Baha, the Mermaid seeming perturbed despite her earlier calm while the Eel Girl just chuckles. As you approach she notices you first, a smirk coming to her lips.

                “Well, well, if it isn’t our mysterious guest.”

                “Please Myra, you knew exactly who I was.”

                “Maybe~, but it’s fun to play around.” She giggles. “What brings you here?”

                “I’m pretty sure you know that as well.” Sylphie sighs, to which the Eel Girl smiles.

                “Ah, our very own superhero, in the flesh. My, I should have brought my autograph book.” She chuckles and holds up a hand. “But you are correct, I do know, though I was merely reminiscing with a friend.”

                “Aye.” Baha says, arms crossed. “Myra is the most incorrigible Monster I’ve ever met. Keeps temping my crew into terrible things. Sylvester is her best customer you know.” He narrows his eye. “She keeps trying to get to me too, but she damn well knows it won’t work.”

                “It’s amusing to try.”

                A deep sigh comes from the Ocean Priestess as she puts a hand to her head. “Please, can we not speak of infidelity so lightly? It is an affront to the Gods.”

                “Aye you damn stick in the mud.” Baha says before turning to you. “You lot look like you want to go somewhere.”

                “Uhhh.” You say, not knowing how to respond to that.

                “I apologize for the man, he is a rapscallion, no matter how old he gets.” The Mermaid says. “However, he has called me out here today because he wishes to grant you transport to Filliothia. Normally I would object, however I hear you saved both his life and the lives of many believers.” She sighs, “Fillios wishes to grant you such passage.”

                “Oh? Hey, if you can just ask a favor of Fillios for us, we don’t need to go to-“ You cut off as she touches a hand to your forehead and you take a sharp breath, as if being dunked into cold water. A shudder runs down your spine and you gasp, feeling like you just came up for fresh air.

                She does the same to Sylphie before she can react and then tries it on Mr. Ed, but the horse steps back and bares his teeth at her. She cocks her head and then clacks her tongue. “Ah, I apologize. I should have explained myself.”

                “Damn right you should have!” You say, still shaking. “What the fuck did you do?”

                “I have given you the blessing to enter the city. Without it, you would never make it.”

                “I thought Baha would give it to us!”

                The grizzled captain shakes his head. “Not exactly that simple. But at least she listens to me if I ask.”

                Mr. Ed accepts the blessing while the constructs merely get sigil painted on them, which glows faintly before vanishing. Well, they didn’t explode so you guess the sigil acts a little differently than other ones when interacting with magitek.

                “There.” The Priestess says, nodding her head. “They may freely enter the city now.”

                “Huh.” You say, feeling yourself before scratching your cheek. “Well, thanks. By the way, what’s the city like anyway?”

                She smirks, “It is beautiful. Grand in scope and always cast in the colors of the ocean. Structures you couldn’t believe made or stone and coral of colors that you can’t describe. The bounty of the sea sits right at your fingertips while the calm of Fillios seeps into you and makes you feel almost transcendental.”

                “It’s nice.” Baha says, ruining the moment and making the Mermaid give him a flat look. “Anyway, we better finish preparations. You board the boat and we’ll get ready to shove off.”

                “So soon?” You say, looking to the boat. Well… most don’t want to leave at night, if you recall.

                “Aye, it’s not that long a journey, but I’d rather get out of sight of port before nightfall.”

                “Hmm. Maybe we should have interrogated more of those cult members.”

                “Arr, won’t do much good.” Baha says. “Ol’ Ulyssess has them under heavy lock and key. I tried to knock some sense into them myself, but they just seemed despondent without their tentacle head or whatever she was. Some kind of Kraken maybe?”

                “Not… quite.” Harmony says. “Are you certain we shouldn’t check? There is a danger to Filliothia from them.”

                “As you told me, aye.” He nods is head. “But you stopped the threat and the captives are coming home. Some probably made it back already.” He taps his head, “We’re fine.”

                “I hope so…” Sylphie says, worry on her face.

                “Well now, I’ll keep an eye on things, don’t you worry your pretty little head.” Myra says, before sighing. “Are you sure you don’t want to try at least one patron? I’ll make sure it’s a gentle event the first time… you won’t regret it.”

                “None of my daughters are becoming whores, thank you very much.” You say, putting a hand on Sylphie shoulder and glaring at the Eel Girl.

                Her eyes merely sparkle. “You have more than one daughter? Well maybe the other isn’t such a prude…”

                “No. Bad Eel. Bad.”

                She giggles, “Well, I just wanted to confer with Baha before he left. There’s many things happening in this world, much more than we expect.” She pulls her pipe out but doesn’t ask you for a light. “I’m sure your adventure in Filliothia will be more than you suspect.”

                You frown before nudging Sylphie. “Come on, let’s board.”

                She looks back to you and nods before the five of you board the ship. While not overly large, there’s a small cabin for you which is decent enough. Two beds works just fine for you as the constructs can just sit, or go up deck if they need to. Which they do, leaving you along with Sylphie as you wait to leave.

                Your daughter sighs and lays back on her little bed, staring up at the ceiling. She hasn’t yet talked about what was forced on her back in that battle, but she still seems a little out of it. You can’t exactly force her into anything though, might as well give her as much time as she needs.

                Or… you could try to cheer her up another way.

                “Hey, what do you say we practice some magic?”

                Sylphie cocks her head. “Huh?”

                “You know, we’ll be going into a cool new place, but it wouldn’t hurt to go over some notes on magic, you know?” You shrug. “Besides, I think it’s finally time I learned that invisibility spell of yours.”

                She sighs, “It’s not invisibility, it’s… ugh it’s annoying to explain it.”

                “Well.” You say. “Why don’t you teach me what it is?”

                She turns to you and furrows her brow before cocking her head. “What’s this about?”

                “Can’t I want to learn a cool spell?”

                “Dad…”

                You sigh and hold up a hand. “Fine, fine. I mean, that’s also true, but I just wanted to do a little father-daughter bonding. It’s… it’s been awhile since we practiced magic, huh?”

                She looks at you and then looks down, a curious mix of emotion on her face before she closes her eyes and shakes her head. “Is that so? Well… alright then.” She pushes herself up on the bed and says, “Alright, well, first thing you have to understand is that it’s not invisibility, it’s just changing how the light reacts to obscure you from view…”

———————————————————————————————————————————–

                You barely notice the time when Baha knocks on your door, opens it, and says, “We’re shoving off! Are you ready to-“ He pauses as he looks at the water floating in a ball in front of your face. “Uhhh.”

                “I’m a Wizard, I don’t have to explain shit.” You say, to which Baha just scratches his beard and closes the door. You and Sylphie exchange looks before snickering.

                “That wasn’t nice.” Sylphie says, though she still giggles.

                “Well.” You say, shrugging. “It’s true! Besides, what else was I going to say? I’m practicing Hydromancy.”

                “I still don’t know why you asked, don’t you know Hydromancy?”

                “Some. Mostly basically stuff like [Water]. Never had much of a use for it, you know Fulgromancy is my elemental specialty.”

                “Right, right.” Sylphie says. “Well, at least you’re still good at it. I swear, Wizards can pick up spells so fast, like [Trick of the Light].”

                “Oh please, little miss, ‘I’m a Monster Witch but I can cast any kind of magic.’”

                “It’s just a Cat o’Nine Tails thing, you know that.” Sylphie says, sniffing.

                “Is that so…” You murmur before changing the subject. You forgot that Selene doesn’t want the girls thinking too hard about that. “Anyway, I’ll have to practice [Water Spout] more outside, but that could be useful.”

                “Mhm. I even learned a great spell called [Tidal Wave].” Sylphie says, looking a little smug. “Though I’m not sure how it will work underwater… might not be a great idea to use.”

                “That means it’s an excellent idea.” You say, nodding your head. A sudden inspiration comes to you and you snap your fingers. “What if I made sudden pockets of air in the water that immediately collapsed and made shock waves in the water?”

                “Uhhh, wouldn’t that cause some severe damage to wherever that’s aimed?”

                “Yes!”

                Sylphie chuckles. “Dad, you’re incorrigible. Next thing you know, you’ll say you’ve found a way to use whale shit for your Copromancy.”

                “Can’t, water dissolves the feces too badly so I can’t use Copromancy underwater.” You sigh. “Twenty years and I still can’t do it.”

                “I don’t know whether to be happy or sad.”

                At this the two of you laugh again, fully bodied and happy. Sylphie wipes her eyes and says, “Thanks dad, I needed this.”

                “No problem.” You say, rubbing her hair. “I love it when you smile, much better than frowning.”

                “Gee, thanks.” She says, rubbing her hair. “So how long is it until we reach the place?”

                “Dunno, but we’ll find out.”

                Going upstairs, you find Baha commanding his crew as the ship moves along the sea. You notice a few others like you who are on deck but aren’t working- you recognize them as the other captives you rescued from the library. Looks like Baha is giving them transport, isn’t that night. Turning your attention to Baha, you wave to him and he nods as you approach.

                “Smooth shove off. Wind is good. I think at this rate we might reach the ol’ city in about three days.”

                “Seems like a fairly short voyage to be honest.”

                “Well it’s not… ah, you’ll see.”

                “Hmm.” You say, looking out at the ocean. “What’s your wife like anyway?”

                “The most delicate flower in the sea, but she’ll break your spine if you anger her. Filled with power of Fillios and the absolute ruler of the seas around Deleor, perhaps the world. She is terrible, and yet calm. A manifestation of the sea itself.” He smirks,

                “And she makes the cutest moans in bed.”

                The two of you smirk at each other, understanding each other perfectly.

                “Well.” You say as the calm seas play around you. “I suppose there’s no changing course now. I just hope your wife is in a good mood when we arrive.”

                Baha merely laughs.

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