tetsujin28
First Post
Yay! My favourite Angels are back! Since I have no time for gaming right now (exams, *ugh*), this is as close as it gets, for me.
Wild Stewardess Action! - And Madness Followed COMPLETE!
- Thread starter barsoomcore
- Start date
tetsujin28
First Post
Creepy man-transformed-into-lizard BBQ! Now that's good eatin'! 
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
"Wei-Yong, what do you think? Can we get past them?"
"Sure, as long as Shan doesn't try to barbecue any of them."
"Mm, barbecued raptor. Hey, is anyone else hungry?"
Li Fa gritted her teeth as she considered their options. Their mounts grew more and more skittish as the big predators closed in on both sides. Wei-Yong held her bow down by one side. She refrained from lifting it, still worried about unseen watchers who might notice that the daughter of the upper-class merchant she was supposed to be looked awfully practiced with a hunting bow. Ming-Wa groaned.
"I don't know how helpful I can be, Fa. I'm pretty worn out."
The battle against the dragon had cost Ming-Wa dearly. The slender woman clung to her saddle horn to keep herself upright. Fa looked forward.
They'd followed the dry canyon floor from the elevator for another few hours with no sign of pursuit. Even Wei-Yong was unable to catch a hint of anyone following them. This worried Fa deeply. And now it seemed they had stumbled into a pack of raptors, big two-legged beasts, agile and ferocious and smart. With Shan badly wounded, Ming-Wa out of commission and Wei-Yong unable to use her skills. And as so often happened, Li Fa's skills with the dangerous forces of the Shadow Realm would put her friends in more jeopardy than the predators ever could.
The pack closed in on both sides, heads low, gauging the reaction of the prey. Fa urged her mount forward, sternly controlling its desire to bolt. The others followed but she could tell it was only a matter of time before either the pack attacked them or one of the mounts panicked. Either way, disaster.
Two of the creatures approached Tong Shan, sniffing loudly. Her wounds would attract their powerful sense of smell. Fa gestured to Wei-Yong.
"We have to protect Shan! I don't care if that assassin sees. Do something."
Shan swung away from the stalking predators. At first Fa thought her injured friend had collapsed, but Shan grabbed a heavy rock off the ground and then levered herself back into her saddle. She gave a casual heave and the rock cracked one of the beasts across the skull with a hollow clonk. Shaking its head, the creature retreated. As did all the others.
Shan grinned at Fa.
"Protect me? Hah."
Fa rolled her eyes.
"Let's move on. We can make another good march before nightfall, I think. And keep an eye out in case those things come back."
"Hey, Guang Ling. You got any food in that fancy bag of yours?"
*****
"Shan! What are you doing?"
The big woman looked back into the cave where Ming-Wa stood glaring at her.
"Collecting firewood."
"Because...?"
"Barbecue...?"
"Fire...?"
Shan stood thinking for a minute. She scowled.
"Right. No fire."
She stomped back into the cave they'd found. The canyon darkened quickly as night fell, and though the peaks above them still glowed with the last rays of sunset, the canyon floor lay indistinct and gloomy. Inside the shallow cave Fa and Wei-Yong arranged sleeping furs. Fa looked up as Shan's silhouette blocked what little light had been coming in through the cave mouth.
"Shan, will you lie down? You need to rest."
"I feel fine."
Guang Ling scuttled away as Shan swayed in place. The clerk watched nervously as Fa and Wei-Yong took their injured friend's arms and guided her to the furs.
"Just lie down. You'll feel better in the morning."
"Fine. I feel fine."
"Yes, we know. Just lie down now."
Once the big swordswoman was snoring quietly, the others sat and studied each other's faces in the growing dark. Wei-Yong dug the heel of her boot into the sandy floor of the cave and scratched behind the ears of Dau Li, her wolf.
"What if they catch up with us in the dark?"
Guang Ling's eyes radiated worry, but Fa just shrugged.
"We'll handle it, Wei-Yong. You know we will."
"But Ming-Wa needs sleep, and Shan's no good-- "
"I heard that."
"Go to sleep, Shan."
" -- and I can't use my bow..."
Fa looked the cave over. She nodded towards the opening.
"If there is trouble, get everyone to the back of the cave. I'll handle it."
"Fa..."
"I'll handle it."
*****
Dawn came late to the canyon floor. Burogerk studied the landscape before the cave opening. He noted the traces of passage on the sand and rock that indicated five figures going inside. Five mounts tethered behind the scraggly shrubs that did little to screen the entrance. Without looking back, Burogerk made two quick gestures with his left hand and scurried further down the canyon to take up a position beyond the cave entrance, just out of the line of the opening.
He did not take his eyes off the dark cavern opening as his compatriots filed into position. Maliss himself slithered across to only a few feet from him. Burogerk controlled his uneasiness. The pay was good, and the chance to kill Lohanese was always welcome, but a boss whose lower body coiled and rippled like a giant serpent's was hard to get used to.
Maliss looked over his group. Burogerk's powerful sword arm at his right side, Alrughf's sorcery by his left. The other two sorcerers arranged near the cave, and the archer up above, ready to pick off that troublesome psion. The fools slumbered in their cave. Not even a lookout stood to warn them death had arrived.
He smiled and nodded to Alrughf.
"Wake them up."
*****
"Goddess preserve us. There's... six of them out there. And that one's got to be this Maliss character. Look at him. He really is half-snake."
Wei-Yong peered through the shrub as their enemies arranged themselves out front. Fa listened carefully.
"I'll look later. Where are they?"
"The snake guy's right in front of the cave, with a swordsman on his right and a scrawny little bastard on his left. They're all gwailos. Two more unarmed folk over to the right, about... twenty feet out."
"In a line? How far apart are they?"
Wei-Yong craned her long neck.
"They're coming along this wall of the canyon, yeah, one ahead of the other."
"You said six."
"There's a gwailo with a crossbow hanging from the cliff wall about twenty feet above the snake guy."
Shan muttered.
"We can take them."
"It's been one day, Shan. We need to keep them occupied for two more days. We can't just kill them all."
Shan muttered some more. Ming-Wa looked away.
"I'm feeling better, Fa. Maybe I can --"
"You stay back. Everyone, get back."
Nobody questioned Fa's command. Even Shan retreated to the rear of the cave.
Fa stepped outside.
The snake-creature sneered at her.
"What are you supposed to be, a nun?"
He was bigger than a man, hairless, with dark green scales and a long serpentine body. His disdainful expression carried nothing but contempt. Fa matched him sneer for sneer.
"I am a divine servant of the Goddess. She Who Rules Over All. From her court in the Imperial City of Zuyang she has sent us forth to protect this woman. Return and report failure to your master, or else die here and now. I will speak no more words with you, inhuman assassin."
Maliss grinned.
"Or not."
As he drew breath to command his minions to attack, very complicated calculations took place inside Li Fa's skull. Inky tendrils swarmed up around in a sudden blossoming of darkness as she sent her mind down the precise pathways of sorcerous logic, forcing her will upon the deadly power even as she summouned it into existence. Dark energy shrieked at her and hungered to destroy, but her mind stood unclouded and performed the complex operations that bound the Shadow Realm to her desires.
Sorcery was a dangerous and difficult path to follow. Just attempting to learn the basics was more often than not fatal to the student. Very few ever lived to acquire Fa's degree of mastery. From the back of the cave Fa's friends watched in horror as the black nimbus around her expanded towards them, killing everything it touched.
One of Maliss' companions squeaked a terrified oath as Fa unloaded. Twin explosions of earth and rock and dust rippled outwards from where she stood. One tore along the canyon wall to blast the two sorcerers there up off the ground, tearing them to shreds as they screamed. The other blasted straight across the canyon floor to where Maliss, unprepared for such sudden violence, stared.
The rumbling wave slammed into the creature, sending him flying against the rock wall, and he watched in disbelief as his bodyguard, Burogerk, was thrown headfirst into a boulder. Maliss screamed.
As soon as the bolt struck, Fa knew her second attack had not been good enough. The crossbowman had gotten off a shot and she spun from the impact, falling to her knees with a painful grunt.
"Fa!"
Wei-Yong made to run forward, but Fa threw a hand up and her tall friend pinwheeled backwards into the cave.
"Get DOWN!"
She'd missed the scrawny little gwailo sorcerer. Fa gritted her teeth as his spell went off.
The cave erupted in a sudden fury of noise and darkness and choking dust. Fa felt herself lift off the ground and slam into some hard rock. She heard her friends yelling, Shan cursing of course, and their mounts dying noisily. Spitting out dust and shaking her head, Fa got to her feet and looked out what was left of the cave entrance.
The canyon floor now looked as though ambitious farmers had tried to plow the solid rock, with surprising success. Dark furrows of blasted stone and dirt crossed the defile and dust hung in the air in the aftermath of sorcerous battle. She saw the sorcerer, stumbling and choking. There was no sign of Maliss.
She noted the crossbowman in his high perch frantically trying to reload his weapon. She gestured and he shrieked, clawing at his chest as his ribcage flexed outward. His chest tore open and his bloody heart flew across the canyon to slap into Fa's hand. She dropped the sticky, dripping organ into the dust at her feet as his torn body plunged earthward. Glowering with poorly-held-in rage, Fa stalked across the canyon to Alrughf.
Alrughf looked up as the sorceress came towards him. He'd heard that Lohanese women were expert sorcerers but the frozen ancestors of his tribe could not have warned him strongly enough. She was a demon. She'd cast two spells before he could even get off his first. She'd taken hold of the Shadow Realm as though it were something she did every day.
He cowered as she held up a bloodstained hand.
"Don't hurt me."
She slapped him.
"You're a very bad barbarian."
"Sure, as long as Shan doesn't try to barbecue any of them."
"Mm, barbecued raptor. Hey, is anyone else hungry?"
Li Fa gritted her teeth as she considered their options. Their mounts grew more and more skittish as the big predators closed in on both sides. Wei-Yong held her bow down by one side. She refrained from lifting it, still worried about unseen watchers who might notice that the daughter of the upper-class merchant she was supposed to be looked awfully practiced with a hunting bow. Ming-Wa groaned.
"I don't know how helpful I can be, Fa. I'm pretty worn out."
The battle against the dragon had cost Ming-Wa dearly. The slender woman clung to her saddle horn to keep herself upright. Fa looked forward.
They'd followed the dry canyon floor from the elevator for another few hours with no sign of pursuit. Even Wei-Yong was unable to catch a hint of anyone following them. This worried Fa deeply. And now it seemed they had stumbled into a pack of raptors, big two-legged beasts, agile and ferocious and smart. With Shan badly wounded, Ming-Wa out of commission and Wei-Yong unable to use her skills. And as so often happened, Li Fa's skills with the dangerous forces of the Shadow Realm would put her friends in more jeopardy than the predators ever could.
The pack closed in on both sides, heads low, gauging the reaction of the prey. Fa urged her mount forward, sternly controlling its desire to bolt. The others followed but she could tell it was only a matter of time before either the pack attacked them or one of the mounts panicked. Either way, disaster.
Two of the creatures approached Tong Shan, sniffing loudly. Her wounds would attract their powerful sense of smell. Fa gestured to Wei-Yong.
"We have to protect Shan! I don't care if that assassin sees. Do something."
Shan swung away from the stalking predators. At first Fa thought her injured friend had collapsed, but Shan grabbed a heavy rock off the ground and then levered herself back into her saddle. She gave a casual heave and the rock cracked one of the beasts across the skull with a hollow clonk. Shaking its head, the creature retreated. As did all the others.
Shan grinned at Fa.
"Protect me? Hah."
Fa rolled her eyes.
"Let's move on. We can make another good march before nightfall, I think. And keep an eye out in case those things come back."
"Hey, Guang Ling. You got any food in that fancy bag of yours?"
*****
"Shan! What are you doing?"
The big woman looked back into the cave where Ming-Wa stood glaring at her.
"Collecting firewood."
"Because...?"
"Barbecue...?"
"Fire...?"
Shan stood thinking for a minute. She scowled.
"Right. No fire."
She stomped back into the cave they'd found. The canyon darkened quickly as night fell, and though the peaks above them still glowed with the last rays of sunset, the canyon floor lay indistinct and gloomy. Inside the shallow cave Fa and Wei-Yong arranged sleeping furs. Fa looked up as Shan's silhouette blocked what little light had been coming in through the cave mouth.
"Shan, will you lie down? You need to rest."
"I feel fine."
Guang Ling scuttled away as Shan swayed in place. The clerk watched nervously as Fa and Wei-Yong took their injured friend's arms and guided her to the furs.
"Just lie down. You'll feel better in the morning."
"Fine. I feel fine."
"Yes, we know. Just lie down now."
Once the big swordswoman was snoring quietly, the others sat and studied each other's faces in the growing dark. Wei-Yong dug the heel of her boot into the sandy floor of the cave and scratched behind the ears of Dau Li, her wolf.
"What if they catch up with us in the dark?"
Guang Ling's eyes radiated worry, but Fa just shrugged.
"We'll handle it, Wei-Yong. You know we will."
"But Ming-Wa needs sleep, and Shan's no good-- "
"I heard that."
"Go to sleep, Shan."
" -- and I can't use my bow..."
Fa looked the cave over. She nodded towards the opening.
"If there is trouble, get everyone to the back of the cave. I'll handle it."
"Fa..."
"I'll handle it."
*****
Dawn came late to the canyon floor. Burogerk studied the landscape before the cave opening. He noted the traces of passage on the sand and rock that indicated five figures going inside. Five mounts tethered behind the scraggly shrubs that did little to screen the entrance. Without looking back, Burogerk made two quick gestures with his left hand and scurried further down the canyon to take up a position beyond the cave entrance, just out of the line of the opening.
He did not take his eyes off the dark cavern opening as his compatriots filed into position. Maliss himself slithered across to only a few feet from him. Burogerk controlled his uneasiness. The pay was good, and the chance to kill Lohanese was always welcome, but a boss whose lower body coiled and rippled like a giant serpent's was hard to get used to.
Maliss looked over his group. Burogerk's powerful sword arm at his right side, Alrughf's sorcery by his left. The other two sorcerers arranged near the cave, and the archer up above, ready to pick off that troublesome psion. The fools slumbered in their cave. Not even a lookout stood to warn them death had arrived.
He smiled and nodded to Alrughf.
"Wake them up."
*****
"Goddess preserve us. There's... six of them out there. And that one's got to be this Maliss character. Look at him. He really is half-snake."
Wei-Yong peered through the shrub as their enemies arranged themselves out front. Fa listened carefully.
"I'll look later. Where are they?"
"The snake guy's right in front of the cave, with a swordsman on his right and a scrawny little bastard on his left. They're all gwailos. Two more unarmed folk over to the right, about... twenty feet out."
"In a line? How far apart are they?"
Wei-Yong craned her long neck.
"They're coming along this wall of the canyon, yeah, one ahead of the other."
"You said six."
"There's a gwailo with a crossbow hanging from the cliff wall about twenty feet above the snake guy."
Shan muttered.
"We can take them."
"It's been one day, Shan. We need to keep them occupied for two more days. We can't just kill them all."
Shan muttered some more. Ming-Wa looked away.
"I'm feeling better, Fa. Maybe I can --"
"You stay back. Everyone, get back."
Nobody questioned Fa's command. Even Shan retreated to the rear of the cave.
Fa stepped outside.
The snake-creature sneered at her.
"What are you supposed to be, a nun?"
He was bigger than a man, hairless, with dark green scales and a long serpentine body. His disdainful expression carried nothing but contempt. Fa matched him sneer for sneer.
"I am a divine servant of the Goddess. She Who Rules Over All. From her court in the Imperial City of Zuyang she has sent us forth to protect this woman. Return and report failure to your master, or else die here and now. I will speak no more words with you, inhuman assassin."
Maliss grinned.
"Or not."
As he drew breath to command his minions to attack, very complicated calculations took place inside Li Fa's skull. Inky tendrils swarmed up around in a sudden blossoming of darkness as she sent her mind down the precise pathways of sorcerous logic, forcing her will upon the deadly power even as she summouned it into existence. Dark energy shrieked at her and hungered to destroy, but her mind stood unclouded and performed the complex operations that bound the Shadow Realm to her desires.
Sorcery was a dangerous and difficult path to follow. Just attempting to learn the basics was more often than not fatal to the student. Very few ever lived to acquire Fa's degree of mastery. From the back of the cave Fa's friends watched in horror as the black nimbus around her expanded towards them, killing everything it touched.
One of Maliss' companions squeaked a terrified oath as Fa unloaded. Twin explosions of earth and rock and dust rippled outwards from where she stood. One tore along the canyon wall to blast the two sorcerers there up off the ground, tearing them to shreds as they screamed. The other blasted straight across the canyon floor to where Maliss, unprepared for such sudden violence, stared.
The rumbling wave slammed into the creature, sending him flying against the rock wall, and he watched in disbelief as his bodyguard, Burogerk, was thrown headfirst into a boulder. Maliss screamed.
As soon as the bolt struck, Fa knew her second attack had not been good enough. The crossbowman had gotten off a shot and she spun from the impact, falling to her knees with a painful grunt.
"Fa!"
Wei-Yong made to run forward, but Fa threw a hand up and her tall friend pinwheeled backwards into the cave.
"Get DOWN!"
She'd missed the scrawny little gwailo sorcerer. Fa gritted her teeth as his spell went off.
The cave erupted in a sudden fury of noise and darkness and choking dust. Fa felt herself lift off the ground and slam into some hard rock. She heard her friends yelling, Shan cursing of course, and their mounts dying noisily. Spitting out dust and shaking her head, Fa got to her feet and looked out what was left of the cave entrance.
The canyon floor now looked as though ambitious farmers had tried to plow the solid rock, with surprising success. Dark furrows of blasted stone and dirt crossed the defile and dust hung in the air in the aftermath of sorcerous battle. She saw the sorcerer, stumbling and choking. There was no sign of Maliss.
She noted the crossbowman in his high perch frantically trying to reload his weapon. She gestured and he shrieked, clawing at his chest as his ribcage flexed outward. His chest tore open and his bloody heart flew across the canyon to slap into Fa's hand. She dropped the sticky, dripping organ into the dust at her feet as his torn body plunged earthward. Glowering with poorly-held-in rage, Fa stalked across the canyon to Alrughf.
Alrughf looked up as the sorceress came towards him. He'd heard that Lohanese women were expert sorcerers but the frozen ancestors of his tribe could not have warned him strongly enough. She was a demon. She'd cast two spells before he could even get off his first. She'd taken hold of the Shadow Realm as though it were something she did every day.
He cowered as she held up a bloodstained hand.
"Don't hurt me."
She slapped him.
"You're a very bad barbarian."
ledded
Herder of monkies
Simply fantastic man.
You write some very good character interaction, setting some very nice scenes.
Then the battle, starting with a bang and reaching a furious climax culminating in the tearing out of a mans heart, which ends with:
Great stuff.
You write some very good character interaction, setting some very nice scenes.
Then the battle, starting with a bang and reaching a furious climax culminating in the tearing out of a mans heart, which ends with:
I love it. I laughed my @ss off.barsoomcore said:
Great stuff.
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
"Okay, so a one-armed candlemaker and the Goddess walk into a bar..."
"Shan."
"But it's funny, Ming-Wa."
"Shan."
"I never get to have any fun."
Fa sighed and looked over at Wei-Yong, who was trying not to laugh at the never-ending squabble between their friends. The lanky woman lay in the bow of the rowboat, one long arm resting across Dau Li's fearsome muzzle. Overhead, the dark roof of the natural cavern hurtled by as their boat slipped silently down the underground river that led out of Lang-xia-gu and would, according to Guang Ling's directions, bring them directly under the village of Liao-chung.
Somewhere in the darkness behind them the spirit creature Maliss followed them, Fa was sure of it. They'd encountered no sign of him yesterday, but still Wei-Yong had to maintain her disguise as Tang Fei Liu, helpless daughter of Merchant Tang, whom the Angels were supposedly escorting to Liao-chung for her wedding. The outdoorsy woman was uncomfortable in expensive silks, but she did her best not to complain too much. After two full days and nights, however, her patience was wearing thin.
"How do people wear this crap? I can barely move."
Ming-Wa switched her disapproval from Shan's levity to Wei-Yong's outfit.
"The Goddess smiles on modesty. Excessive displays of wealth are repugnant to Her. Like earrings."
Wei-Yong sighed.
"Let the earrings drop, okay? I have to dress up like this."
"You could take off the earrings."
"I LIKE the earrings. They're mine. They're pretty. The Goddess likes us to be pretty, doesn't she?"
"The bartender looks at the one-armed candlemaker and he says -- "
"Shut up! Both of you just shut up!"
Wei-Yong smacked Ming-Wa across the back of her head, driving her friend down into the bottom of the boat.
Just in time to avoid the black-feathered arrow that shot out of the darkness behind them.
Ming-Wa flopped over onto her back and glared at Wei-Yong.
"What do you think -- "
She stopped, following Wei-Yong's horrified gaze to Li Fa, who stood above them.
With an arrowshaft protruding from her chest.
"Her Big Holy Boobies."
Fa's oath drew a shocked gasp from Ming-Wa. Ming-Wa gasped again as Fa convulsed, let out a deafening shriek, and collapsed into the bottom of the rowboat, twitching and shuddering. Wei-Yong jumped on her spastic friend, shouting to the others.
"Get down!"
Another arrow whined through the darkness, just missing Shan as the big woman dropped prone across the thwart where she'd been rowing. A steel arrowhead splintered the hull near Guang Ling's head.
"I guess he swims faster than Shan rows."
Another twang of a bow in the nearby darkness, and another arrow buzzed past. Wei-Yong edged upwards for a bit of a look.
They had mounted a torch on the bow of the rowboat, where it burned and illuminated a dim sphere around them. The ceiling overhead drifted in and out of view as it sometimes dropped down low enough that if she were standing, Wei-Yong could reach up and touch the slick stone. The black water on all sides was smooth, looking deceptively solid and reflective, like dark polished glass around their boat. To either side, dimly visible rock walls offered the only sign of movement as they slid past.
Somewhere behind them in the darkness their enemy lurked, obviously able to see in the dark and obviously able to catch up with them at his leisure.
Fa went limp, her breath rattling in her throat. Shan hefted a throwing axe. She looked to Wei-Yong for guidance.
"See him?"
"Nothing. He's behind us somewhere. He's in the dark and we're in the light. This isn't good."
Ming-Wa grinned.
"Let's's switch those conditions."
She concentrated briefly, and the torch lifted up into the air and scooted backwards thirty feet along the river, suddenly illuminating their surprised foe. Shan leapt up, the boat rocking dangerously, and hurled both her axes, each one scoring deeply on the upright body of the snake-man. He shrieked in rage and pain, and then shrieked again as Wei-Yong, lying flat with her bow horizontal, drove two arrows into his torso.
Water thrashed and the torch bobbed up into the air as he clawed at it, heedless of the wounds he'd just suffered. Shan brandished her sword.
"We got lots more of that for you, you snake... guy."
"Look out!"
Wei-Yong's warning came too late, as Maliss let go with an arrow of his own, just catching Ming-Wa enough on the shoulder to make her fall backwards. And forget about the torch. It plunged into the water.
Sudden darkness enveloped the women. Shan swore creatively.
"He can hear you, Shan."
"Right. Sorry, Wei-Yong."
"So can the Goddess."
"Right. Sorry, Ming-Wa. Sorry Goddess."
"Ming-Wa, have you any way to give us a little light?"
"Yeah, hang on a second."
There was a scraping and a few sparks, and another torch flared into life. Ming-Wa held it up warily.
Fa suddenly convulsed and got to her feet.
"What's going on?"
Shan tackled her.
"Stay down!"
Another arrow shot past. Ming-Wa again sent the torch flying down the river cavern. They heard a muttered curse, and a sudden splash. Only ripples were visible on the surface of the water.
"He's gone."
Shan helped Fa to find a seat, and then set about industriously rowing them ahead of the current. Ming-Wa and Wei-Yong gathered at the rear of the boat, watching. Without really thinking, Wei-Yong shed most of her "Tang Fei Liu" finery and plopped it on Guang Ling.
"We need my bow more than we need to fool him, I think. You'll do for now."
Ming-Wa nodded her approval of her friend's less ostentatious appearance. Wei-Yong frowned.
"Do you hear something?"
"No, Wei-Yong, I don't have ears the size of palm fronds, I'm not a -- wait, yeah. I do. Sort of a roaring, rumbling sound. Like a... a... "
"Like a waterfall."
They scrambled to the front of the rowboat, Maliss forgotten. Wei-Yong leaned forward, listening intently.
"We have to get in to the side, try and stop before we go over."
"Is it a big one?"
"I don't know, Ming-Wa. How would I know that?"
"Well, excuse me for asking. I'm a little worried that we're about to plunge to our deaths in some forsaken cavern beneath the Western Mountains."
"Don't panic."
"I'm not panicking. I just don't want to drown at the bottom of a waterfall."
Ming-Wa's anger evaporated at the sudden confusion on Wei-Yong's face as her friend turned away. The smaller woman followed Wei-Yong's gaze again, this time to Tong Shan.
Who was cheerfully rowing with all her might as they approached the unseen cataract.
"Shan! Back water! Get us to the edge. Weren't you listening?"
"Huh? What?"
*****
"My shoes are ruined."
"I thought the Goddess frowned on ostentation."
"Look, it's my shoes that are ruined. Not my earrings."
"Maybe there's a cobbler in that town. Or whatever it is."
The Angels had narrowly avoided a deadly plunge and found a ledge carved into the wall of the river cavern. That cavern opened up dramatically after the waterfall into a vast underground lake, and rather than try to find their way across the trackless water, the five women had decided to travel along the ledge, which seemed to run all the way around the vast cavern. They'd been travelling this way for over an hour when Wei-Yong saw lights up ahead.
The lights, as they drew nearer, appeared to be from a small collection of buildings perched on a high pier mounted above the lake. Not far from the pier, which stood twenty or thirty feet up from the water level on a forest of sturdy wooden pilings, the stone path they'd been following had turned into an oozing mud flat. Which was currently ruining Ming-Wa's shoes.
Shan grunted with the effort of carrying Li Fa, who still hadn't completely recovered from Maliss' arrow. She snarled at her friends.
"Less yelling, more walking. We're almost there."
"Why don't we call for help?"
Guang Ling put her suggestion into action, waving at the buildings and calling out a greeting. Wei-Yong, Ming-Wa and Shan all winced.
"It's probably different for you, but when we do that..."
A half-dozen crossbow bolts smacked into the mud around them.
"...People usually start shooting at us."
Wei-Yong grabbed a shocked Guang Ling and the four women ran as best as they could through the mud towards the pier, more crossbow bolts whistling through the air around them. They ran in among the pilings beneath the pier, shallow water sucking at their heels. Up against the rock wall of the cavern, a roughly constructed ladder led up to a hole in the platform above. Shan set Li Fa down tenderly, checking her friend's health. Li Fa managed a smile.
"Go get 'em."
"Shan! You can't go up that ladder!"
Ming-Wa stood between her muscular friend and the ladder.
"Sure I can."
"You'll get shot. They can just stand there and nail you with crossbows. It's certain death."
Shan picked Ming-Wa up and set her carefully down to one side. Wei-Yong strung her bow and peered up through the slats of the pier overhead. She caught a hint of movement and sent an arrow blurring upwards. It ripped between two planks and there was a startled cry. Wei-Yong nodded to Shan.
"Go."
The big woman leapt for the rungs of the ladder and raced upwards. Two crossbow bolts came rocketing down at her, one creasing her shoulder, but she disappeared through the hole at the top. Ming-Wa growled and ran to follow.
Wei-Yong sent two more arrows up through gaps in the planking. A couple of scattered bolts came downward, but obviously nobody could see her in the darkness beneath the pier. Guang Ling curled up in a ball and prayed quietly while Li Fa laboriously got to her feet and moved away from the ladder and Wei-Yong.
Up top. Shan popped up like an energetic child's toy, sweeping out her big sword with a ripple of confident laughter. She found herself facing at least a dozen uncertain fellows in rag-tag armour with swords and clubs of dubious quality. Behind them, glowering with reptilian menace, coiled Maliss.
Shan waved.
"Hi. Hope you didn't lose my axes, you slimy little worm."
Maliss hissed.
Outnumbered by more than ten to one, Shan charged.
She veered right and plowed into one end of the half-circle her enemies had formed around her. Sword flailing, she roared, shoulder-checked, spun, kicked and head-butted incautious opponents, sending them staggering backwards into each other, lopping off limbs and heads as the opportunities presented themselves. Her constant, ferocious pressure kept them from surrounding her and she left a trail of bleeding, thrashing, screaming bodies in her wake.
Ming-Wa clambered up the ladder and emerged at the top just in time to see Shan drive her opponents back just a little too vigorously. For a second she was alone, with no enemies nearby, and Maliss released an arrow at her.
Shan staggered back from the impact and fell to her knees with a scream of agony that tore at Ming-Wa's ears. Her sword clattered forgotten on the planks.
As the ruffians closed in on her friend, Ming-Wa turned her furious gaze on the smirking Maliss. To see that he had another arrow nocked, pointed straight at her. She saw his fingers come off the string and noticed how his hand flew back after releasing, saw the shaft propelled forward, spinning as the tail vanes took hold in the air, straight at her.
Ming-Wa's brain did whatever it was that Ming-Wa's brain did. It caught hold of that strange power her mind knew how to control, and with a purple flash, it changed reality.
The arrow stopped. It hovered directly in front of her burning eyes. She and Maliss stared at each other for a few seconds, the air between them crackling.
"No."
Ming-Wa lashed out with her thoughts. The arrow vanished in a burst of splinters and Maliss convulsed, dropping his bow, his long serpentine body thrashing as Ming-Wa held his mind captive to her power, delivering unbearable pain to him as he clutched at his head, shrieking. His minions hesitated, uncertain, looking between their screaming boss, the screaming swordswoman who'd just butchered so many of the their friends, and the slight young woman dressed in a simple robe who was apparently standing perfectly still doing nothing at all.
They gathered up what courage they had left after Shan's fearsome assault, and charged Ming-Wa.
Underneath the pier, Wei-Yong was still sending up the occasional arrow, unaware that Li Fa had drawn away from her. The sorceress concentrated, and again the swirling black field of Shadow formed around her. She withdrew a small statuette from her robe and, even as the Shadow energy collapsed around her and the statuette began to twitch in her hand, she staggered back to the ladder and threw it straight up into the air.
The little terra-cotta lion sailed up through the hole at the top of the ladder, barely noticed by the goons closing in on Ming-Wa.
Until it transformed in mid-air into a real live, full-size, angry lion. A great tawny beast that crashed onto the planks and snarled, pouncing on the startled ruffians in much the same manner Shan had done only seconds ago.
Two ferocious assaults within a minute were too much for the assembled goons. Wei-Yong's arrows sprouting from nowhere to pick off anyone who strayed too near a wide enough gap (and not very wide was wide enough) only served to amplify the panic, and soon the lion was roaring at an immobile Maliss, still locked in a grim contest of wills with Ming-Wa.
Shan got to her feet, still clutching the arrowshaft where it protruded from her side. The creature's arrows were somehow magically enhanced to cause intense pain, she reckoned, since no blow she'd ever suffered in her life had caused her such searing agony. Shan groaned with the effort of each step, snatching up her sword and using it as a crutch as she hobbled forward. She neared the snake-creature and spat onto its gleaming scales.
"Go explain yourself to the Goddess, reptile. Tell her Shan's sorry for the joke about the candlemaker."
Shan screeched as she brought her sword up over her head and down in a tremendous cut that split Maliss' upper body from his shoulder to his waist. Viscera slithered out of the gaping wound and without a word the snake-man collapsed.
As did Shan. As did Ming-Wa. As did Li Fa (as did her lion at the same moment).
Wei-Yong called up from beneath the pier, "Is everyone okay? Hello?"
*****
"Liao-chung, huh? Nice place."
"What do you mean? It's filthy. Look at these houses, they haven't been painted in years. And is that a shrine back there, behind all those empty barrels?"
"Empty beer barrels, I think. Yep, I'm going to like it here."
"They do seem to take their weddings pretty seriously. This is going to be a huge party."
"A jeweler's! Hey, Wei-Yong!"
Ming-Wa tried to protest but sighed and gave up as Tong Shan and Muen Wei-Yong rushed over to a stall to examine the jewelry offered in anticipation of the upcoming festivities. Surrendering the battle, Ming-Wa turned to smile ruefully at Li Fa, who was still hobbling a little from Maliss' arrow.
"A party should be fun, huh? We can take it easy for a while."
Li Fa smiled back.
"Remember the last party we were at?"
"Right."
Smiles broadened.
"It wasn't really Shan's fault. Those dancing bears provoked her."
"Ming-Wa, did you just defend Shan?"
"Nope. Look, clowns!"
The mountains hedging in around the town echoed back the music and voices of the excited folks preparing for the wedding of Xue Hark and Tang Fei Liu. Musicians tuned their instruments and housewives gossiped while coins changed hands, wine flowed and everybody insisted that they had the best story of the whole affair. The Angels kept quiet about their role in it all.
Mostly.
"So the one-armed candlemaker says, 'If that's where I dipped my wick, what's this candle made out of?'"
"Shan!"
"Shan."
"But it's funny, Ming-Wa."
"Shan."
"I never get to have any fun."
Fa sighed and looked over at Wei-Yong, who was trying not to laugh at the never-ending squabble between their friends. The lanky woman lay in the bow of the rowboat, one long arm resting across Dau Li's fearsome muzzle. Overhead, the dark roof of the natural cavern hurtled by as their boat slipped silently down the underground river that led out of Lang-xia-gu and would, according to Guang Ling's directions, bring them directly under the village of Liao-chung.
Somewhere in the darkness behind them the spirit creature Maliss followed them, Fa was sure of it. They'd encountered no sign of him yesterday, but still Wei-Yong had to maintain her disguise as Tang Fei Liu, helpless daughter of Merchant Tang, whom the Angels were supposedly escorting to Liao-chung for her wedding. The outdoorsy woman was uncomfortable in expensive silks, but she did her best not to complain too much. After two full days and nights, however, her patience was wearing thin.
"How do people wear this crap? I can barely move."
Ming-Wa switched her disapproval from Shan's levity to Wei-Yong's outfit.
"The Goddess smiles on modesty. Excessive displays of wealth are repugnant to Her. Like earrings."
Wei-Yong sighed.
"Let the earrings drop, okay? I have to dress up like this."
"You could take off the earrings."
"I LIKE the earrings. They're mine. They're pretty. The Goddess likes us to be pretty, doesn't she?"
"The bartender looks at the one-armed candlemaker and he says -- "
"Shut up! Both of you just shut up!"
Wei-Yong smacked Ming-Wa across the back of her head, driving her friend down into the bottom of the boat.
Just in time to avoid the black-feathered arrow that shot out of the darkness behind them.
Ming-Wa flopped over onto her back and glared at Wei-Yong.
"What do you think -- "
She stopped, following Wei-Yong's horrified gaze to Li Fa, who stood above them.
With an arrowshaft protruding from her chest.
"Her Big Holy Boobies."
Fa's oath drew a shocked gasp from Ming-Wa. Ming-Wa gasped again as Fa convulsed, let out a deafening shriek, and collapsed into the bottom of the rowboat, twitching and shuddering. Wei-Yong jumped on her spastic friend, shouting to the others.
"Get down!"
Another arrow whined through the darkness, just missing Shan as the big woman dropped prone across the thwart where she'd been rowing. A steel arrowhead splintered the hull near Guang Ling's head.
"I guess he swims faster than Shan rows."
Another twang of a bow in the nearby darkness, and another arrow buzzed past. Wei-Yong edged upwards for a bit of a look.
They had mounted a torch on the bow of the rowboat, where it burned and illuminated a dim sphere around them. The ceiling overhead drifted in and out of view as it sometimes dropped down low enough that if she were standing, Wei-Yong could reach up and touch the slick stone. The black water on all sides was smooth, looking deceptively solid and reflective, like dark polished glass around their boat. To either side, dimly visible rock walls offered the only sign of movement as they slid past.
Somewhere behind them in the darkness their enemy lurked, obviously able to see in the dark and obviously able to catch up with them at his leisure.
Fa went limp, her breath rattling in her throat. Shan hefted a throwing axe. She looked to Wei-Yong for guidance.
"See him?"
"Nothing. He's behind us somewhere. He's in the dark and we're in the light. This isn't good."
Ming-Wa grinned.
"Let's's switch those conditions."
She concentrated briefly, and the torch lifted up into the air and scooted backwards thirty feet along the river, suddenly illuminating their surprised foe. Shan leapt up, the boat rocking dangerously, and hurled both her axes, each one scoring deeply on the upright body of the snake-man. He shrieked in rage and pain, and then shrieked again as Wei-Yong, lying flat with her bow horizontal, drove two arrows into his torso.
Water thrashed and the torch bobbed up into the air as he clawed at it, heedless of the wounds he'd just suffered. Shan brandished her sword.
"We got lots more of that for you, you snake... guy."
"Look out!"
Wei-Yong's warning came too late, as Maliss let go with an arrow of his own, just catching Ming-Wa enough on the shoulder to make her fall backwards. And forget about the torch. It plunged into the water.
Sudden darkness enveloped the women. Shan swore creatively.
"He can hear you, Shan."
"Right. Sorry, Wei-Yong."
"So can the Goddess."
"Right. Sorry, Ming-Wa. Sorry Goddess."
"Ming-Wa, have you any way to give us a little light?"
"Yeah, hang on a second."
There was a scraping and a few sparks, and another torch flared into life. Ming-Wa held it up warily.
Fa suddenly convulsed and got to her feet.
"What's going on?"
Shan tackled her.
"Stay down!"
Another arrow shot past. Ming-Wa again sent the torch flying down the river cavern. They heard a muttered curse, and a sudden splash. Only ripples were visible on the surface of the water.
"He's gone."
Shan helped Fa to find a seat, and then set about industriously rowing them ahead of the current. Ming-Wa and Wei-Yong gathered at the rear of the boat, watching. Without really thinking, Wei-Yong shed most of her "Tang Fei Liu" finery and plopped it on Guang Ling.
"We need my bow more than we need to fool him, I think. You'll do for now."
Ming-Wa nodded her approval of her friend's less ostentatious appearance. Wei-Yong frowned.
"Do you hear something?"
"No, Wei-Yong, I don't have ears the size of palm fronds, I'm not a -- wait, yeah. I do. Sort of a roaring, rumbling sound. Like a... a... "
"Like a waterfall."
They scrambled to the front of the rowboat, Maliss forgotten. Wei-Yong leaned forward, listening intently.
"We have to get in to the side, try and stop before we go over."
"Is it a big one?"
"I don't know, Ming-Wa. How would I know that?"
"Well, excuse me for asking. I'm a little worried that we're about to plunge to our deaths in some forsaken cavern beneath the Western Mountains."
"Don't panic."
"I'm not panicking. I just don't want to drown at the bottom of a waterfall."
Ming-Wa's anger evaporated at the sudden confusion on Wei-Yong's face as her friend turned away. The smaller woman followed Wei-Yong's gaze again, this time to Tong Shan.
Who was cheerfully rowing with all her might as they approached the unseen cataract.
"Shan! Back water! Get us to the edge. Weren't you listening?"
"Huh? What?"
*****
"My shoes are ruined."
"I thought the Goddess frowned on ostentation."
"Look, it's my shoes that are ruined. Not my earrings."
"Maybe there's a cobbler in that town. Or whatever it is."
The Angels had narrowly avoided a deadly plunge and found a ledge carved into the wall of the river cavern. That cavern opened up dramatically after the waterfall into a vast underground lake, and rather than try to find their way across the trackless water, the five women had decided to travel along the ledge, which seemed to run all the way around the vast cavern. They'd been travelling this way for over an hour when Wei-Yong saw lights up ahead.
The lights, as they drew nearer, appeared to be from a small collection of buildings perched on a high pier mounted above the lake. Not far from the pier, which stood twenty or thirty feet up from the water level on a forest of sturdy wooden pilings, the stone path they'd been following had turned into an oozing mud flat. Which was currently ruining Ming-Wa's shoes.
Shan grunted with the effort of carrying Li Fa, who still hadn't completely recovered from Maliss' arrow. She snarled at her friends.
"Less yelling, more walking. We're almost there."
"Why don't we call for help?"
Guang Ling put her suggestion into action, waving at the buildings and calling out a greeting. Wei-Yong, Ming-Wa and Shan all winced.
"It's probably different for you, but when we do that..."
A half-dozen crossbow bolts smacked into the mud around them.
"...People usually start shooting at us."
Wei-Yong grabbed a shocked Guang Ling and the four women ran as best as they could through the mud towards the pier, more crossbow bolts whistling through the air around them. They ran in among the pilings beneath the pier, shallow water sucking at their heels. Up against the rock wall of the cavern, a roughly constructed ladder led up to a hole in the platform above. Shan set Li Fa down tenderly, checking her friend's health. Li Fa managed a smile.
"Go get 'em."
"Shan! You can't go up that ladder!"
Ming-Wa stood between her muscular friend and the ladder.
"Sure I can."
"You'll get shot. They can just stand there and nail you with crossbows. It's certain death."
Shan picked Ming-Wa up and set her carefully down to one side. Wei-Yong strung her bow and peered up through the slats of the pier overhead. She caught a hint of movement and sent an arrow blurring upwards. It ripped between two planks and there was a startled cry. Wei-Yong nodded to Shan.
"Go."
The big woman leapt for the rungs of the ladder and raced upwards. Two crossbow bolts came rocketing down at her, one creasing her shoulder, but she disappeared through the hole at the top. Ming-Wa growled and ran to follow.
Wei-Yong sent two more arrows up through gaps in the planking. A couple of scattered bolts came downward, but obviously nobody could see her in the darkness beneath the pier. Guang Ling curled up in a ball and prayed quietly while Li Fa laboriously got to her feet and moved away from the ladder and Wei-Yong.
Up top. Shan popped up like an energetic child's toy, sweeping out her big sword with a ripple of confident laughter. She found herself facing at least a dozen uncertain fellows in rag-tag armour with swords and clubs of dubious quality. Behind them, glowering with reptilian menace, coiled Maliss.
Shan waved.
"Hi. Hope you didn't lose my axes, you slimy little worm."
Maliss hissed.
Outnumbered by more than ten to one, Shan charged.
She veered right and plowed into one end of the half-circle her enemies had formed around her. Sword flailing, she roared, shoulder-checked, spun, kicked and head-butted incautious opponents, sending them staggering backwards into each other, lopping off limbs and heads as the opportunities presented themselves. Her constant, ferocious pressure kept them from surrounding her and she left a trail of bleeding, thrashing, screaming bodies in her wake.
Ming-Wa clambered up the ladder and emerged at the top just in time to see Shan drive her opponents back just a little too vigorously. For a second she was alone, with no enemies nearby, and Maliss released an arrow at her.
Shan staggered back from the impact and fell to her knees with a scream of agony that tore at Ming-Wa's ears. Her sword clattered forgotten on the planks.
As the ruffians closed in on her friend, Ming-Wa turned her furious gaze on the smirking Maliss. To see that he had another arrow nocked, pointed straight at her. She saw his fingers come off the string and noticed how his hand flew back after releasing, saw the shaft propelled forward, spinning as the tail vanes took hold in the air, straight at her.
Ming-Wa's brain did whatever it was that Ming-Wa's brain did. It caught hold of that strange power her mind knew how to control, and with a purple flash, it changed reality.
The arrow stopped. It hovered directly in front of her burning eyes. She and Maliss stared at each other for a few seconds, the air between them crackling.
"No."
Ming-Wa lashed out with her thoughts. The arrow vanished in a burst of splinters and Maliss convulsed, dropping his bow, his long serpentine body thrashing as Ming-Wa held his mind captive to her power, delivering unbearable pain to him as he clutched at his head, shrieking. His minions hesitated, uncertain, looking between their screaming boss, the screaming swordswoman who'd just butchered so many of the their friends, and the slight young woman dressed in a simple robe who was apparently standing perfectly still doing nothing at all.
They gathered up what courage they had left after Shan's fearsome assault, and charged Ming-Wa.
Underneath the pier, Wei-Yong was still sending up the occasional arrow, unaware that Li Fa had drawn away from her. The sorceress concentrated, and again the swirling black field of Shadow formed around her. She withdrew a small statuette from her robe and, even as the Shadow energy collapsed around her and the statuette began to twitch in her hand, she staggered back to the ladder and threw it straight up into the air.
The little terra-cotta lion sailed up through the hole at the top of the ladder, barely noticed by the goons closing in on Ming-Wa.
Until it transformed in mid-air into a real live, full-size, angry lion. A great tawny beast that crashed onto the planks and snarled, pouncing on the startled ruffians in much the same manner Shan had done only seconds ago.
Two ferocious assaults within a minute were too much for the assembled goons. Wei-Yong's arrows sprouting from nowhere to pick off anyone who strayed too near a wide enough gap (and not very wide was wide enough) only served to amplify the panic, and soon the lion was roaring at an immobile Maliss, still locked in a grim contest of wills with Ming-Wa.
Shan got to her feet, still clutching the arrowshaft where it protruded from her side. The creature's arrows were somehow magically enhanced to cause intense pain, she reckoned, since no blow she'd ever suffered in her life had caused her such searing agony. Shan groaned with the effort of each step, snatching up her sword and using it as a crutch as she hobbled forward. She neared the snake-creature and spat onto its gleaming scales.
"Go explain yourself to the Goddess, reptile. Tell her Shan's sorry for the joke about the candlemaker."
Shan screeched as she brought her sword up over her head and down in a tremendous cut that split Maliss' upper body from his shoulder to his waist. Viscera slithered out of the gaping wound and without a word the snake-man collapsed.
As did Shan. As did Ming-Wa. As did Li Fa (as did her lion at the same moment).
Wei-Yong called up from beneath the pier, "Is everyone okay? Hello?"
*****
"Liao-chung, huh? Nice place."
"What do you mean? It's filthy. Look at these houses, they haven't been painted in years. And is that a shrine back there, behind all those empty barrels?"
"Empty beer barrels, I think. Yep, I'm going to like it here."
"They do seem to take their weddings pretty seriously. This is going to be a huge party."
"A jeweler's! Hey, Wei-Yong!"
Ming-Wa tried to protest but sighed and gave up as Tong Shan and Muen Wei-Yong rushed over to a stall to examine the jewelry offered in anticipation of the upcoming festivities. Surrendering the battle, Ming-Wa turned to smile ruefully at Li Fa, who was still hobbling a little from Maliss' arrow.
"A party should be fun, huh? We can take it easy for a while."
Li Fa smiled back.
"Remember the last party we were at?"
"Right."
Smiles broadened.
"It wasn't really Shan's fault. Those dancing bears provoked her."
"Ming-Wa, did you just defend Shan?"
"Nope. Look, clowns!"
The mountains hedging in around the town echoed back the music and voices of the excited folks preparing for the wedding of Xue Hark and Tang Fei Liu. Musicians tuned their instruments and housewives gossiped while coins changed hands, wine flowed and everybody insisted that they had the best story of the whole affair. The Angels kept quiet about their role in it all.
Mostly.
"So the one-armed candlemaker says, 'If that's where I dipped my wick, what's this candle made out of?'"
"Shan!"
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
And that, folks, is the END of "Racing the Snake" -- the Angels managed to triumph over their fiendish foe and are now enjoying the celebrations in their own inimitable style. Obviously they were great fun to DM and everyone had a blast, and I am pestered with demands for another session before too long.
Only so much resisting I'm likely to do on that one...
Thanks to those who posted their comments. Very encouraging indeed.
Only so much resisting I'm likely to do on that one...
Thanks to those who posted their comments. Very encouraging indeed.
Desdichado
Hero
The second adventure seemed much more like it belongs in the same campaign setting as your other story hour. I'm really starting to see the correspondances more.
As for a character that's in both, although under different names, that's a bit more tricky, isn't it? My guess is that either Li Fa or Ming-Wa is the Demon Goddess back when she was young and innocent.
As for a character that's in both, although under different names, that's a bit more tricky, isn't it? My guess is that either Li Fa or Ming-Wa is the Demon Goddess back when she was young and innocent.
Similar Threads
