Chapter 34
We met Towa at the door of her house. She didn't invite us in, so we had to tell her outside as well as describe the strange fiend to her. She informed us that it was a bearded devil… Makes sense. As she told us… I got the impression she was glaring at us, as if she wanted to meet it and she lost the chance... A little creepy, but… she is a half-devil. So… makes sense? Then, she made us promise to bring her along on the off chance of meeting another fiend.
When we finally reached Okayu's house, we met Coco. She said she had some interesting news, so we hurried inside to hear it.
"Alright, there is this house in the southeast slum area that some people had seen mysterious figures going in and out of," she told them, "It might be a cultist base. Perhaps you can check it out."
"We could, but Okayu is busy at the noble's mansion..."
"Ah, so Dobery was with the cult?" interjected the dragonborn, "Ah-ha! So the nobility Are involved. At least some are."
"...At the very least his faction is involved," continued Subaru, "With the raid on his mansion, no doubt his allies are on guard."
"And maybe Dorgriaz as well," muttered the latter, "Hmm… alright, while it is still light, you can check out the house. Cults would meet in the dead of night to hide their activities, or so they say."
"Makes sense," agreed Choco. Turning to the fighter, she advised, "Let's do it. With them being absent, we should be able to get some clue as to what his plans are."
"...Alright, we're going," decided the former guard, "We need to get Towa to tag along again, just in case." Then, addressing Coco, "What are you going to do while we go in?"
She grinned and stated with a flourish, "I will try and get an in with a local gang. We may be able to find a group that is powerful enough, far above the others, that a possible cult may endanger their operations."
"...Are you sure your idea can work?" asked Subaru, the idea sounding a little suspect.
"Trust me! I'm sure this will work!" she exclaimed.
"Okay..."
"So, this is the place?" asked Towa.
"It's abandoned, so potentially the best place to have a hidden base," replied Choco as she pushed the unlocked door open.
The dilapidated house was a dirty, dusty mess. A thick layer of dust covered every inch of the place. Rushia sneezed the moment she stepped inside. Subaru blew out of her nose and waved her hand in front of her face, pushing bits of flying dust balls away.
"Here," said the tiefling as she pointed the way, "It's faint, but there are footprints leading here."
She walked over and pulled a tattered piece of cloth aside, revealing the rusty handle of a trapdoor. Pulling it open revealed a ladder. She went down first, followed by Subaru, Rushia, and finally Towa. There were wooden boxes and barrels strewn about accompanied by a musty, rotten smell. She started chuckling.
"Subaru, help me with this," she requested. As the both of them pulled the heavier boxes out of the way, one could see a slight light coming from a crack at the bottom of the wall.
"A fake wall," she muttered as she tapped around for a way to open it.
"Allow me," Towa said after waiting several seconds. She sauntered up to the wall and pressed a hidden button that was next to the door, saying, "Here. You were too focused on the door. I accept any form of praise."
The door swung open, revealing a passageway lit by a torch on the wall. They carefully walked through the hall, wary of traps. The wooden door swung open easily, leading to a large torch-lit room. The nearest wall had a wooden shelf bolted to it with several books. There were two tables near the center of the room, one empty and one with a pile of dark-colored robes on them. There was a display case on the side that seemed to have ingredients of some sort. All around were six other doors. Five were iron prison doors, leading to small holding cells. The sixth was a set of large double-doors.
Towa and Rushia were immediately drawn to the books while Choco went to look over the ingredients. Meanwhile, Subaru went over to check the robes. They were black in color with a very strange sigil in the middle of the chest area. She assumed that it was the dragon's personal sign. There were ten sets of robes in all.
A strange sound pricked her ears. It sounded like a growl. A very deep growl. She noticed that the tiefling had also looked up from the display case to look around.
"What was that?" she finally asked, unsheathing her longsword.
"I… don't know..." the cleric muttered as she stepped away from the case and pulled out her new mace.
"Well, the holding cells seem locked up pretty well, so… might be in one of them," she stated, "We should be safe but we better be armed just in case."
"Well, those books were sort of worthless," declared the half-devil as she and the young necromancer walked over to the tables, "So, shall we see what's behind the big doors?"
"Alright. Just be careful," she stated as the party walked over to the double-doors.
The doors pushed inward, revealing a medium-sized room. It had two lit braziers that flanked a stone altar. Blood caked its surface, as if seeing frequent use. Other than that, the room was empty.
"Yeah... I think we have enough to get the guards here," stated Subaru, visibly disturbed and not wanting to stay any longer than she has to.
Suddenly, the doors slammed shut. They ran over and tried to pull them open but to no avail. Then, a magic circle began forming and glowing in the room.
"Out!" she shouted, the whole party hurriedly running out of the circle.
A fetid stench filled the room as three creatures suddenly appeared in the circle. One looked like a humanoid vulture sporting grey feathers while the other two were short, squat, and ugly with white, rubbery skin. The short ones had a cloud of green gas around its body.
"A vrock and two dretches!? Fascinating!" exclaimed Towa, who then grinned eagerly, "Poison studies time!"
"Wait! What!?" exclaimed the fighter, who immediately struck one of the dretches when it started roaring at her.
A voice suddenly echoed in her head, "Gems! Trinkets and baubles! Give me!"
"There are no gems here!" retorted the half-devil.
The vrock screeched and flapped its wings. She could see faint motes of green being spread around it. She flinched as the dretch she attacked retaliated. Its teeth and claws crashed against her shield.
"Its spores are supposed to be painful," the half-devil informed as Rushia and Choco let out pained exclamations. She then killed the dretch attacking Subaru with her eldritch blast. Its body was flung into the air and crashed against the wall, disintegrating to ash as it fell to the ground. The gas remained in its former space, heavy in the air.
Steeling herself for what she was about to do, Subaru charged through the gas and attacked the vrock, her longsword slashing its wings. Strange enough, it ignored her. Instead, it attacked the tiefling, its beak actually piercing her shield and its talons raking across her stomach. An eldritch blast exploded on its wings. Choco fought back, summoning the spirit mace and together they attacked its head and wings. Meanwhile, Rushia threw necromantic energies at it, trying to drain the life out of it.
The fighter and the vrock continued to wail on their respective targets, while Towa went on a different approach. "You need a break. Time to Be Still," she shouted as she grabbed her arcane orb with both hands in a grasping motion. Its entire body became tied down with red bands of energy, fully restricting it.
The tiefling took this chance to get away, moving behind the nearest brazier. She sent the spirit mace to continue attacking the vrock while she chanted and cast a spell on herself. The others continued to attack the vrock, slashing and peppering it with spells. However, the longer Subaru stayed in the fetid cloud, the smell slowly started getting to her. Her head and vision started to swim. Blinking away the tears in her eyes, she continued swinging and attacking.
The red bands suddenly shattered and the vrock stretched and flexed, intent on retaliating. Towa, however, didn't let it and recasted Hold Monster, bringing back the red bands. Thanks to her, they were able to continue wailing on it until it fell when the fighter took its head off its body. She then retreated out of the fetid cloud and took in a large breath of clear air.
"Urgh, that was horrible," she muttered.
"Worse than the sewer?" asked the half-devil.
"Not as bad as that… but almost," she replied as she shook her head and blinked.
Choco stepped towards the doors slowly so as to not disturb the spores. Pulling the handle, the door opened easily. Air rushed in and dispersed the foul-smelling cloud almost immediately.
"Alright, let's get out of here," declared Subaru, "I don't want to be around when those cultists come back." Everyone agreed they made their way out of the hidden base, save for Choco, who paused to gather up some of the ingredients that were in the display case.
Rushia and I helped to carry Choco's ingredients back to Okayu's house. Honestly, I don't really know half the stuff she asked us to bring with us, but she asked us to trust her with this. So, I went along with it. Towa went back home. She seemed to be… happy? Battling those… demons? She had this look… a very devilish look. I guess that is to be expected…
After getting back to Okayu's house and Choco pretty much taking everything we brought back to the guest room, she shooed us out to examine them. At the same moment, Rushia was able to bring her spellbook out with her for some studying, where she went to Okayu's room to do so. A few seconds later, Coco showed up again.
"Hello again!" Coco greeted jovially.
"Hello," replied Subaru with a smile, "So, we found demons in that base. They were doing more than mercenaries and cultists. Just… how far is… Dorgriaz? Dorgriaz is going too far."
"He was seen as a leader beforehand," the dragonborn stated, "I believe that there are still dragons who follow him, even after his exile."
"What about your plan?" she continued to question, "Did you find a gang willing to listen?"
Much to her surprise, the dragonborn grinned and said, "Yup! I actually did."
"Hah?" she uttered as her jaw fell open in shock, "How?"
"I'm very persuasive," stated the latter with a grin, "I had to start from the bottom though, and work my way to the top. I finally got a meeting with the current leader of the River Dragons. Tonight."
"...Scary fast," she muttered. If Coco works this fast… she did say she's a spy… scary good. "So, do we go along with you?"
The dragonborn nodded and said, "You have to. You are the ones that discovered it and alerted the guards. Your newest discoveries would definitely help persuade them to help us. I highly doubt that blood magic and demons going about in the city is good business for them."
"Well, I'll definitely come… Choco and Rushia would follow too," she mused, "Okayu would be busy sorting stuff out. Towa… no, she wouldn't. I guess it's just us."
"Not a problem," the dragonborn assured, "When have I steered you wrong?"
Coco led the party of three to one of the finer inns of the capital. Going up the steps of the inn and entering, the dragonborn headed straight for the main table and stated, "Dojima is expecting us."
The innkeeper nodded and motioned for an attendant and whispered some instructions. The attendant nodded and motioned them to follow. He led them to a large set of double doors. Opening one, he motioned them inside. As they stepped inside, Subaru noticed that it was a tavern-like place. The bar was being seen to by a finely dressed bartender. The place was empty except several people scattered around the place. They were armed and wary. She assumed that these were the protection detail of the leader of the gang.
The man in question was seated at the center-most table, playing cards with several others. The former guard assumed they were his three lieutenants. They were of lean build, not too thin, not too muscular. Well, except for one guy; he was thinner than the others, with an eye patch and a bandolier of knives running across his chest. He was dressed in fine dark clothes. Another had two short swords sheathed to his belt and wore expensive-looking leather armor. The third had no visible weapons and wore a fine robe with no visible hood. The leader himself had a thin mustache and neatly trimmed hair, dressed in fine clothes of a rich merchant.
"Hah, Shackle Flush," declared the leader as he presented his cards on the table. The other three half-groaned, half laughed as they threw their cards down.
"Hah, looks like you win again," the second one.
"Che, I could have beaten that if I had a free hand," grumbled the first.
"Hah, if I let you use magic, you'll be sharking us out of our gold, you dingbat," retorted the leader good-naturedly. Then, he suddenly turned serious, "Now, before the next round, let's see what our guests have for us." With that, everyone turned to pay attention to the group.
"Good evening. I am Coco Kiryu and I come seeking help," started the dragonborn as she stepped forward, "You see, I am from Draconerica and..." She then spent her time telling them about Dorgriaz and the cult activities, including what we found out. The whole while, they just sat there and listened. Subaru couldn't tell if they were leaning to helping them or throwing them out for wasting their time. Eventually, the dragonborn's little explanation ended and she stood still, waiting for their response.
"You bring forth an interesting speech, Miss Coco," stated the Dojima leader. Turning to the others, he asked, "Patches, what do you think?"
"I think it would be an interesting fight," said the first lieutenant.
"Diamond?"
"If plans for the upheaval is true, then whatever trust our clients have in our protection will be broken. We should help," stated the second lieutenant.
"I see… what about you D-"
Before he could finish asking, the doors burst open and a group of five walked in with swords drawn. The party moved off to the side, wanting to avoid a fight, while all three lieutenants stood up and faced the intruders. Subaru blushed when it was revealed that all the third lieutenant wore for upper body wear was an open robe that she saw… and nothing else. His muscles were very clear and present.
"Ooh, six-pack..." she heard Choco mutter behind her. Inwardly.. she had to agree. That man is quite handsome.
"This is a private function," declared the gang leader as his protection detail closed in around the central table, "You had better leave now."
"Ha? Screw you, Dojima," the apparent leader retorted, clearly looking a little under the influence, "Weakening your hold here will give our gang a fighting chance. You will die tonight."
"Huh, inebriated fools," he muttered as he shook his head, "Dragon. Take out the trash."
"Yes, Dojima," the third one said calmly and respectfully. "If you would please leave now," he warned, "I will only say this once."
"Shut up! You and your boss will die now!" shouted the lead intruder as they rushed straight at him.
"Very well," he replied as he took a fighting stance, "You have chosen poorly."
AN: Hello, readers. Coco was right! And the cult was summoning demons. For real. Hmm, maybe should have put more dretches? Normally, one would put in more dretches, but... its more likely because Towa was there. She has Hold Monster, so after getting rid of the dretches, that spell pretty much sealed its fate. And normally, you would have a horde of dretches to accompany a rock. Still, Towa with the demonologist background finally gets first-hand experience with dretches and vrocks.
Then, we get a gang meeting. I am wondering... if you can guess what I am referencing here, dear readers. Coco. About to get a really happy dragon.
Alright, this is it for this chapter. Next chapter, the result of the altercation will be seen. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.