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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 4899566" data-attributes="member: 2205">Scritch's talents didn't extend to the manual labor side of things; he stayed atop his perch, keeping his eyes on the Mist-shrouded edges of the mountain peak. As the noises echoed across the now-silent tableau, he rose to his feet and nocked his bow.Lash breathed, "Back to the ship, now, Master Gustav, but slowly. Make us ready to cast off."  He shouldered the last of the needed parts and walked calmly toward the ship, with no sudden movements. Gustav was pale and sweating, despite the chill. "If we cast off now, we'll just sink right into the Mist. We can't cast off until we fix that superstructure, and that's another good hour of work to make it usable." "Master Gustav, you do as I say. If we are to be overrun by Mist demons, do you fancy your chances here on this rock, or airborn below the Mistline with the Lady's good potions to help us live long enough to effect repairs, hmmm?" Lash responded much more calmly than his expression showed. Vuukran backed slowly towards the ship, intent on letting his comrades board first. He peered through the Mist with grave intent as an ebony blade materialized in his hand.Within moments all of them saw four strange creatures bound out of the mist, moving extremely fast. They were vaguely houndlike, although there was a strange suggestion of almost humanoid shape to them, as if they were once people who were corrupted and mutated into these soulless creatures. Huge, dead-black eyes, like those of a shark, stared unblinking from their heads and their mouths were gaping maws filled with jagged teeth that looked like grimy shards of broken glass had been jammed into their gums. They were very gaunt, and grayish skin covered their thin, bony bodies. They moved quickly to attack before anyone could get aboard the ship.[sblock]<img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f158/jdyal/Hound.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />[/sblock]Ricardo had been chatting with Nix all this time, utterly absorbed. He looked up when he heard Lash speaking calmly.  That only happens when things have gone very, very bad. Lash dropped the part he was carrying, drew his cutlass in one hand and a pistol in the other, and stepped to the north side as to be the closest to that... thing."Changelings!!!" Vuukran spat in disgust at the sight of the wretched creatures and stood his ground, waiting for them to strike.Scritch allowed his feral side to erupt forth; as he did so, he loosed an arrow at the nearest of the Mist creatures. He then quickly scrambled down and sprinted towards the ship. "To the ship!""If you don't get out of my way, you may end up with a sling bullet in your head and that's really not my preferred way of saying 'hello'." Nix said sharply to Ricardo, pulling our her sling and a small stone bullet."I'm sure we can come up with something far friendlier, my dear."Ricardo kept one eye on the approaching creatures and another on the young woman's shapely ankles.  "But why don't we get to the ship and carry on getting to know each other there?""Ricardo! Fighting first!" Lash growled Scritch and Nix both hit the same Mist thing. As the arrow and stone hit it, it thunked hollowly, as if the creature were made out of wood. The arrow stuck in its flesh, but it did not bleed. It was clear that it had any permanent effect, although the creature did flinch briefly from the blows, at least. Two of them bounded like demon-cheetahs towards Scritch, their claw-like appendages throwing gravel behind them. They leapt up to his sitting position, scrabbling on the rock and debris, and snapped at him with their jagged jaws. One of the jaws snapped like a bear-trap just out of reach, but the other one chomped down on his leg. The ragged teeth tore a chunk of flesh from the shifter and as it pulled its teeth away, shadowy tendrils of icy darkness continued to worm their way like maggots through the wound.The other two leapt forward, but instead of closing and biting, their mouths gaped open really wide, like snakes dislocating their jaws, and a stream of hideous shadowy little figures flew out of their mouths. These little tiny creatures were all teeth, glowing eyes and nasty temper, and they swarmed over Ricardo and Nix, biting and clawing at them. <img src="http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28773&d=1225224803" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ricardo shivered with disgust as he brushed the creatures off his cloak.  "Are you alright?" he called to Nix.  "Get to the ship, quick as you can!"  He immediately turned to brush the remaining creatures off Nix's clothes, keeping to the shoulders and back, of course. Of course. Shautha bellowed incoherently and charged the nearest one.   She suddenly seemed much larger than she did a moment ago. Her clothing ripped in such a way that no naughty bits were revealed, but pretty much everything else was. She swung the morningstar with ease, bearing down on the Mist creatures.  The morningstar bashed the head of one creature, turning it completely around. With a creaking sound, it re-aligned it's head and did that clicky growl again, and pressed its attack."You want to help? Grab a side!" Nix snapped at Ricardo as she grabbed one of the handles of the small trunk."Of course. Just a moment. I don't feel so--"  Ricardo reached for the chest and then collapsed, bleeding from hundreds of bites as the creatures swarmed over him. Lash's whip snaked out at the Mist thing that Scritch and Nix had already shot and snapped across its body like a thunderclap. The creature seemed to melt into a fetid pool of oily vomit. Gustav screamed like a little girl and ran for the ship. Dr. Livingstone did pretty much the same. Francesca backed away towards the ship, trembling in fear, her eyes wide, but she still popped off a shot at the thing Shautha and Vuukran had attacked with her flintlock pistol, and it too dissolved into vomitous goop.Scritch growled angrily as the Mist-creature savaged his thigh. Slipping upwards on the outcropping, he nodded once as Lash came to his aid, taking the hobgoblin's distraction in stride as he vanished from sight...... and reappeared on the other other side of the creature, short sword in hand, bow in the other, and stabbed it. Shautha savaged the fourth beast with her morningstar. Her inhuman screaming continued unabated, as if she didn't even need to take breath. *Trouble seems to follow the foppish dandy around like a social disease. Still, it would seem like a waste to let him die on this rock; he might prove useful yet.  Vuukran willed another black blade into existence, then bounded deftly along the rock and debris until he stood above Ricardo, his blade cutting a menacing swath in front of him.  "Filthy changelings! You'll not have the chance to feast on our hearts this day. You'll taste our blades instead!"One of the Mist critters breathed his blasphemous breath all over Scritch and Lash while the other one snapped at Shautha, savaging her with a sound like crunching glass. The maggoty shadow tendrils bore into her body.  Lash turned from the beast he had destroyed and caught a faceful of the other's evil breath.  Staggering for a second, he reoriented himself into a flanking position with Skritch, and swung his cutlass at the vile demon, scoring a hit and dealing a solid blow.  "Back to the Mists with you, demon!"Nix propped Ricardo on the top of the trunk (like over a saddle), made sure his head didn't hit the ground, and started dragging the trunk towards the ship. "No, sweetheart, I like the black ribbons..." ... pausing only to stuff his hankie into his mouth.  But by that point, the four demon-hounds were all dissolved into oily black vomit.  The black ichor started to flow together. When it joined, it rose up and started to take shape. Within moments, a figure stood before them. A figure of femininity gone horribly, horribly wrong.The figure was a naked woman; tall and fit, with a monstrous face split by a wide mouth with needle-like teeth. Between her legs was another... orifice... of some kind, also with needle-sharp teeth and a lolling, greasy tongue hanging down nearly two feet in length. She had large breasts... six of them, stacked in three rows, and her face had two sets of eyes."HOLD, MORTALS!" she called, and when she spoke, her voice sounded like four women, an eagle, a snake and a walrus all speaking at once. "Ricardo, wake up! Your services are needed."  Vuukran shook him desperately."We make no bargain with demons." Scritch hissed angrily as he sheathed his kukri and began backing away towards the airship. The demon-woman looked at him curiously after he spoke. Then she looked at all of them, especially Nix and Francesca and Shautha. "IT SEEMS MY MEMORY OF THE MORTAL FORM HAS FAILED AFTER SO MANY AGES." She stopped for a moment, and her form shimmered and changed. Suddenly she was a searingly beautiful woman with pure silver hair and piercing gray eyes. She was clothed in only a diaphanous gauze of pale red, wrapped loosely around her body.Gesturing at the flag flying from your airship, she spoke again. "YOU BEAR THE SYMBOL OF THE ALLY OF SAMYASSA. I WISH NO QUARREL WITH SAMYASSA." She gestured again, and everyone was completely and fully healed of all their wounds. "WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE, ALLIES OF SAMYASSA?" <img src="http://demonsinthemist.wikispaces.com/space/showlogo/1240431196/logo.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ricardo, stay asleep! Your services are the last thing we need right now! Vuukran immediately stopped shaking him.This was definitely above Scritch's paygrade. The elders forbade trafficking with demons, lest we lose our souls... He looked to the others, then back to the shapechanging demoness, then back to the others. But as the magical healing went into effect, Ricardo was immediately awake, alert, and formulating plans. His mind was razor-sharp, his focus clear and his purpose... purposeful. He pulled his hankerchief from his mouth without any sign of concern as to why it was there, and stuffed it back in his sleeve as he studied, with a growing smile, the vision before himSilver hair? Pale eyes? Diaphanous gauze?  Ricardo bowed. THIS he knew how to handle.  "Most beautiful enchantress, we are nothing but poor refugees from the storm, seeking a safe haven where we can repair our vessel and be on our way. If we have trespassed, my friends and I, please allow me to offer any service within my power as recompense.  I am in every way your humble servant, my queen. I wish only to please you." "YOUR OFFER PLEASES ME. I WILL ACCEPT YOUR SERVICE AND YOU WILL BE MY EMISSARY IN THE MORTAL WORLD." With that, the woman turned transparent and gradually faded away. The only thing left was the faintly blowing wind. "Did you just sell your soul to a Mist Demon, Ricardo?" Scritch asked, amazed."Mist take me, I hope so."  Ricardo sighed, straightened his collar, and looked around with a bright smile. "What, aren't we ready to go yet?"Shautha was staring where the enchantress stood, yet again facing away, but no matter. The human girl was right here. Ricardo turned and gave her a big smile and bent to pick up the chest.  "No problem, my dear, allow me." Scritch repeated himself, a little louder. "Did you just sell your soul to a Mist Demon, Ricardo?" "Hm? A mist demon? What gives you that idea? No, no, just some disembodied spirit, I'm sure. Nothing to worry about. Mist demons look all horrible and such. Nasty teeth, I understand.""The chest was a little heavy for him, but he managed to struggle up the ramp onto the ship. He turned back to wink at Nix.  "We'll have to find you a cabin, my dear. I hope you don't mind sharing." Watching Ricardo walk away, carrying her trunk, Nix commented to Scritch, "If so, I hope it's the only soul he sold. Who knows how a... person.. like that exactly thinks." She looked at Scritch and raised her eyebrows. "We know her memory of how we look is a rusty.. who knows what she may have forgotten about our languages or words."  She sighed, shook her head, and continued to follow her trunk. Scritch moved quietly past the two hobgoblins and muttered quietly to them before examining his leg. The wounds had healed themselves, but he feared the taint would linger. "Watch him. If the demon has taken him, he will show the signs soon enough."  He hurried onto the airship to find Dr. Livingston. The chirurgeon would be able to help, wouldn't he? Vuukran muttered, more to himself than anyone else, "By Dog, the only way we'll ever have any hope of him thinking with the right head is if we castrate him and shove it into his ear."Lash stared into the space left by the apparition for a minute or two after it disappeared. Then slowly looked at Ricardo's back, then at the Calça jack flying at the stern, then back to Ricardo, and back to the now empty space. He also shook his head, and said, "Who the Mist is Samyassa, why are we it's allies, and DID RICARDO JUST SELL HIMSELF TO A MIST DEMON?!?"*  Another running joke was that Shautha, when she raged, turned beautiful, just for a few moments.  Kinda like a sexy She Hulk.</blockquote>

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