Manson (finale)
9:15 a.m., along the edges of Wheat Creek, near the village of the same name
Jawbreaker sighs contentedly and picks at his teeth. With a grunt he pokes his small fire with a stick. The remains of his breakfast- a hare, and a delicious one at that- lie at the edge of the coals. With a grunt, he rises and turns, stretching in the morning light. Looks like a nice day. Grinning to himself, he tromps up the little ridge that shields him from view from the town. He’ll wander over it and down to the river to wash the grease from his fingers- what he can’t suck off of them, anyhow- and-
He stops, eyes goggling.
Is that one of his friends, sprinting along the far bank of the creek?
Jawbreaker squints. Yep, looks like it’s that silly lass, Lita. And who is she chasing? She keeps looking at the creek... His gaze wanders over the waters. Hmm, someone in a boat.
Jawbreaker guffaws to himself. All right! Time for some action!
He runs down the ridge at an acute angle, hoping to cut off the human in the boat, and leaps out across the water, his prodigious leg muscles propelling him like a javelin. Unfortunately, a blackberry vine snatches his legging, throwing him off course, and with a yell he lands in the water, not really anywhere near the boat. Spluttering, he swims towards shore after only a momentary attempt at pursuit. Lita looks like she’s out of wind, and she’s giving up too. Jawbreaker pulls himself up on the bank on the creek and shakes himself. Water streams from his beard.
“Jawbreaker?” exclaims Lita.
“Hi,” he grunts, and bellows laughter.
“We’ve got to stop Manson!” she cries, and his laughter stops abruptly.
Manson.
He remembers that name. That was the one name he was listening for that night in the Asylum- the one he wouldn’t have let out. He spins, his gaze taking in the figure in the receding boat. “That him?” he grunts, fists clenching and unclenching.
“Yes,” Lita says, “but don’t worry- he won’t get away! The Sheriff’s commandeering a boat!”
“Sheriff?!” exclaims Jawbreaker. That’s one bit of news he did not need. He glances at the approaching rowboat. Damn it- it’s the same guy who tried to take him in before. He glares at him, and the Sheriff, surprised to see him, glares back.
With a stern look, Sheriff Barleybrew declares, “We can settle our affairs later. Right now I have more important things to deal with. Come on, Lita!”
“He can help,” she insists, gesturing at Jawbreaker.
”Whatever. But hurry!”
The two halflings join their friends on the boat.
***
The group follows in their boat, trying to catch up but not really making any progress. Then, rounding a bend in the creek that obscures their vision of their target, they find that his boat has been abandoned. Sheriff Riley rapidly finds the murderer’s trail, and it leads to a medium-sized, apparently abandoned house. Weapons bared, our heroes advance.
The interior of the house looks to be fairly spacious, but as our heroes start to open the door something bursts from the packed earth directly before the entry- some sort of freakish-looking insectoid. Our heroes cry out in surprise and dismay as it bursts forward, grappling Naomi in its mandibles!
Sandy rushes forward with his small longspear, thrusting at the monster, but he rebounds off of its formidable carapace. Shaking his head, he moves back towards it. Arrows sink into it from the Sheriff as Naomi screams while she tries to hammer it with a mind thrust. She fails; perhaps it is the pain, or perhaps the monster is immune to her powers.
Jawbreaker maneuvers to a position from which he can strike at the creature, which- due to the presence of his friends around the monster- takes him within the house. Unfortunately, a shadowed corner of the room suddenly gives birth to Manson, whose dagger seems to have materialized in Jawbreaker’s kidney. The barbarian screams in agony as the wicked human grinds his steel into the halfling’s body, and then he goes into a terrible scarlet rage. His axe whistles as he swings at Manson, and the mass murderer sprays blood across the room, stumbling and crying out. But he takes up a wavering fighting stance and suddenly his dagger is in the barbarian’s belly, and Jawbreaker backs off, knowing he can’t take another blow like that. He staggers back out of the house, leaving blood everywhere.
Manson laughs maniacally, but he’s weak on his feet. Jawbreaker’s blow dealt him tremendous damage. He glances at the insectoid creature battling the others. It has dropped Naomi and moved onto the Sheriff, and Riley is now bleeding from several vicious wounds. He’s barely standing. Federico’s dog Ethel rushes in, barking and savaging the bug, while Federico himself hangs back and japes and jabbers, inspiring our heroes.
Sheriff Riley stumbles a few paces back from the bug, desperately laying hands on himself. Naomi, dragging herself up from where the creature dropped her, again feels her mind thrust fail to deal any damage, and she starts cursing quite inventively. If only the party knew the half of the insults she could hurl, the cruel jokes of her folk! What might they think of the tubby little psionic girl then?
In any event, Manson hurls some sort of magic at Federico, but the shivering little kobold resists the effects. “I have a strong will,” he moans fearfully yet somehow gloatingly to Manson. The murderer snarls at him.
Lita tumbles in on the side of the bug, flanking it with Ethel, and swiftly she runs it through. It shudders and stops moving.
Jawbreaker, outside the house, quickly quaffs a potion. Then, with a bellow, a few of his wounds healed, he charges forward, barreling into Manson with the business end of his axe! Manson shouts in pain, then stabs Jawbreaker directly in the face.
Freeze frame for a moment and look at the irony, as Manson’s dagger strikes hard on Jawbreaker’s chin, and- yes, you guessed it- breaks his jaw.
The barbarian falls, unconscious.*
“Oh crap!” cries Sandy, as Manson’s wicked dagger draws a line of red across his face. “Aggh! Back off, dammit!” He staggers away, bleeding profusely.
Then a greenish, smoking arrow hits Manson. Acid bubbles into his skin, and he shrieks in pain. Boddynock, illusionary mirror images flickering around him, glares at the killer. “You won’t get away!” he cries.
Indeed not, for- weakened by the axe blows from Jawbreaker, burning from the acid- Manson cannot resist Lita’s psionic charm. “You should surrender,” she tells him gently. “It’s the only way to save yourself.”
And though he hesitates for a moment, Manson gives himself up to the law.
***
11 a.m.
Jawbreaker’s eyes snap open. Federico is crouched over him, his little tail whipping back and forth. “Are you all right?” the kobold cries.
Jawbreaker tries to talk, but it doesn’t work very well. It just hurts.
***
1 p.m.
After lunch the Sheriff thanks our heroes and tells them he’ll meet them in a week’s time with a reward in Wheat Creek. Then he leaves, taking a manacled Manson with him. The party watches him go and debates for quite some time whether to go after him, but the majority doesn’t really see any benefit. “We can’t catch up,” points out Boddynock.
“Well, I’m going,” she huffs, and Naomi goes with her.
“Oh great,” Sandy says snarkily, “the fine chick and the fat chick. Whatever, he’ll be back here in a week. You’ll never catch him, besides- he has mounts for both of them and you’re doubled up.” Glancing at the chubby Naomi, he adds, “Almost tripled.”
“I can’t help it if I like to stay healthy,” Naomi calls from a dozen yards away.
“We’ll ride hard,” Lita retorts, and the girls depart.
“I guess we should follow them,” comments Sandy. “We don’t want them to get in trouble.”
“We’ll never catch them, any more than they’ll catch the Sheriff,” says Federico ironically. “So it’ll be like a big wagon train of spread-out halflings. Except without the wagons.” He scratches Ethel under the chin. “Just dogs.”
8/21/370 O.L.G., 7 p.m., on the road west of Wheat Creek
Naomi and Lita, having ridden her dog to death, proceed to cook and eat it. They get a lot of good girl time in together, talking a lot, and Lita’s flighty personality is easily swayed. Normally morally neutral rather than good or evil, Lita is starting to really enjoy the company of Naomi; she’s refreshing and thought provoking.
“I mean, really,” Naomi tells her at one point, “what’s wrong with eating human? I personally can assure you, it’s delicious. Confidentially, I feel that if any of the humans we run across die, we should eat ‘em. Maybe help them along. It’s kind of the same thing as hunting a pig, really- a little dangerous, but mmm! –delicious.”
***
Several days pass, with the group split up. Finally, the main contingent connects with the girls again. Together, they all head west, following the presumed direction the Sheriff took. Along the way they fight some strange creatures, almost like a cross between insects and some sort of mechanical creature. The battle is ruthless and hard; when all is said and done, our heroes are bruised and bloodied but victorious. Unfortunately, the bug-things don’t look like very good eating.
Then they come to the crossroads.
Next Time: The crossroads! Hilarity ensues!
*At this point, even if stabilized, Jawbreaker was as good as dead once his rage wore off.