Chapter 40

"Heh… these guys again?" asked Botan as she shot at one of the scarecrows that stepped out of the darkened shadows along the walls. It creaked and shuddered as one of the arrows went through its eye.

As Nene sang and strummed her lute, Aloe got her throwing daggers ready. The two scarecrows began glaring at them with their glowing eyes. The bard was able to concentrate on her song while the succubus froze up.

"What happened to the hag?" asked Lamy aloud as she summoned her spectral weapon, a sword this time, slashing the scarecrow that the archer tagged. She then followed up with her frost ray, caking its legs in ice.

Suddenly, two horrid looking stone statues burst out of the shadowy wall and headed straight for them. Their targets were the archer and the bard, clamping their teeth on their arms and clawing on their arms.

"Argh, what are these things?" yelled Nene as she slammed the blade of her rapier on its face, forcing it to release. Botan did the same, except slapping the top of its head with her bow.

"Tch, they look like the temple gargoyles," said their cleric.

"Coming through!" shouted Polka as she ran straight at the tagged scarecrow and went on the attack. However, she got attacked from behind, the shadow mastiff biting her arm as she turned around. Its surprising weight suddenly brought her down to the ground before disappearing into the shadows again.

"We need to take these out first! Let's do this!" encouraged Nene as she put away her lute and drew out her sword. Then, she and Botan, who dropped her shortbow and triggered her transformation, started fighting back in melee. A moment later, Lamy joined in, helping the lion girl with her gargoyle. Unfortunately, Aloe was still frozen in place as the scarecrow that glared at her started approaching and attacking.

Flat on her back, she quickly dug into her pouch and pulled out the driftglobe. Closing her eyes, she raised the globe and shouted, "Shine on!"

As daylight filled the cave, the shadow mastiffs bayed and howled as their shadowing invisibility melted away. They immediately ran away into the shadowy walls, which surprisingly did not dissipate in the light.

"Hover."

The driftglobe then shot up to the ceiling.

"Damn fox!" shrieked the hag, who was revealed to have been standing further away from the party. She then began chanting, "Power of three, come to me, pain and suffering, released on thee!"

Three glowing darts of magical force appeared over her and shot straight at the monk. They struck her in the arm when she brought her arms up to shield herself.

Hissing in pain, she flipped to her feet and looked around. The hag was a bit too far away, so she ran over to the gargoyle that was attacking Nene and pummeled it from behind.

"Thanks for helping," said the bard as she focused down on the gargoyle, "Hey, you! You're as dumb as a pile of rocks."

All it did was snarl and continued to attack her.

"Eh!? But that was supposed to be a joke!" she exclaimed as she hastily dodged out of the way of its mouth and claws.

"But that didn't even make sense," muttered the monk as she punched downward several times, the gargoyle crumbling around her glowing tattoo.

"Yosh, let's help the others," encouraged Nene.

They split up, the bard helping the cleric and the archer while the monk heading to the succubus.

Aloe shook off the feeling of terror that continued to wash over her. The scarecrow's gaze and claws made her feel like curling up into a ball and hoping everything goes away. And she shouldn't be feeling this. She snarled at the construct as she got over it. She then gasped as a black beam slammed into her chest, courtesy of Lola. She hissed, glaring at her.

"Need any help?" asked Polka as she joined her side.

"Yeah, I have some payback I need to dish out," she growled as force darts started peppering her. She hissed in pain and suddenly ran past the scarecrow, who raked her side. She lunged and tried grabbing the hag, who shook her head while sporting a creepy grin. Suddenly, the fiend disappeared and she grabbed empty air, almost falling down on the ground before keeping her balance.

"Wha-?" the succubus muttered in surprise before figuring out what the hag did. She snarled out a curse in her native language and immediately jaunted to the Ethereal Plane after the hag. As the colors bled and gave way to black, white, and gray, she chased after the hag after catching sight of her skirting around the fight along the cave wall.

"Get back here!" she roared as she made another attempt to grab the corrupted fey.

"Try again, little girl," jeered Lola as she shifted back to the material plane.

"Damn it!" shouted the succubus in frustration as she shifted back after her.

As the color came back into her vision, she grinned wickedly as she spotted Polka's dart sticking out of the hag's neck. A flurry of arrows rained followed, with only one arrow striking its target. And then, something unexpected happened.

"Nene? What are you- no, no, no, no… AAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Anya's blade sank into the hag's shoulder.

"-AAAAHHHHHHHHHH. EW, WHY'D YOU DO THIS!?"

"Thanks for helping, Anya!" yelled out Aloe as she tried to grab onto anything. An arm. A leg. Anything. No purchase. She was pushed back and slammed into an uncovered wall. She was able to stop herself from going into it face first and turned back for another go. But, she didn't have to.

The fennec fox monk had run forward and grabbed a hold of Lola's arm, her own arm snaking around it to keep her in place. She drove her fist right into the hag's gut, causing the fiendish fey to double over.

"Hurry! Keep her from struggling!" called out the succubus.

"On it!" shouted Nene as she and Botan ran up to hold the hag down, pausing only to wrench Anya and Polka's dart out of her shoulder and neck respectively.

"Ew, ew, ew, why did you have to do that!?" complained the sentient dagger.

"She has a point," thought the succubus as she searched the hag, finding a pitch-black octahedron-shaped stone.

"What!? How dare you! Give it back!" shrieked the hag as she struggled to get out of their grip.

"If you want it back, tell us what happened to the tiefling," offered the succubus as she started throwing the stone up in the air with one hand.

"That is not a toy! Give that back!"

"First, the tiefling!" she fired back.

Lola growled and glowered for a few seconds before relenting loudly, "Bah! Fine!"

She confirmed the existence of the coven. Well, former coven. They had been trying to subvert the shrine for months. They had their minions waiting in the forest while they made their nightly visits. However, the tiefling cleric had shown up one day and somehow unearthed what they had been doing. Even after all their precautions. So one night, they had decided to send their minions in to attack them in order to draw the stronger ones out to fight while they sent others to sneak in to kill the weaker ones. At the same time, they were supposed to be waiting in the forest while they pooled their resources to blanket the place in darkness.

However, before they could cast the spell, they heard a loud, draconic roar. A white dragon had landed and blanketed the area in ice, freezing the defenders coming out of the shrine as well as most of the enthralled kenku. As the young-looking dragon ate its fill, it suddenly looked towards their hiding spot and a second later, she was running away, leaving her other two sisters behind. They were surely in the dragon's stomach by then. As she ran off with the rest of their forces, she could hear the dragon roaring loudly as it flew off towards the higher mountain range in the north. From afar, she could see someone clinging and hammering onto its back.

"Woah, Choco sounds bad-ass," spoke Polka in awe.

"Bah! I've told all I know. Now give back my heartstone!" said the night hag angrily.

"Fine. We got what we came here for," stated Aloe.

Then, Nene said, "I guess we can let her go now." She and Botan then released the hag and the succubus tossed the stone at her. "Let's go rescue our tiefling. I hope she's still safe," she said as she motioned the others to leave.

"I wish your friend dead," retorted the hag as she gathered herself together, "Leave and never return!"

"It's not like we want to be here, witch," the succubus retorted as the party left the cave and into the passage, the driftglobe hovering after the monk.

As they stepped out of the cave into the sunlight, Lamy commented, "You were quite… rough with that one, Aloe."

"I know," muttered the succubus, "But, that's how it is. If you don't have an advantage over people like that, you'll be backstabbed easily."

"Will she hold a grudge?" asked Botan.

"Maybe," she replied. She then shook her head and continued, "No, we have other things to worry about."

"Yeah. We still need to rescue Choco from a dragon," added Nene, "Let's go."

Crossing the small forest and ending up back at the shrine path, they headed in the opposite direction and found themselves at a rock cliff face that stretched out along the coast. It looked beautiful and peaceful, especially when you take a few steps back to fit the small waterfall in the view. After trying to search for a way to traverse the place, they discovered a goat's path going deep into the mountain range. It was a little unexpected but a welcome one. Even though they had to go in a single file.

Keeping in mind the dragon, they kept their eyes open for it, frequently looking skyward just in case. They had been walking for quite a while under the cloudy sky when they heard a roar coming from above. They looked up, the mountain blanketed in clouds. They clearly heard something roaring up there, but what?

"Do we climb up and check it out?" Nene asked the party.

"Hmm, I think we can make it? There's plenty of outcroppings for us to grab on to as we go higher," mused Botan, "I think we should try for it."

"Ah, if we are going to do that, we better tie this to our bodies," said Polka as she took the coiled rope from the side of her backpack, "Botan leads, then Lamy, then me, Nene, and Aloe as the last one. We won't have to worry about people falling."

"That is surely a good idea," agreed Lamy.

And so, they tied the rope to themselves according to the fennec fox girl's precautions. They tried their best to follow Botan's lead as the party climbed the mountainside. However, they weren't used to climbing mountains; the monk…

"Eep!"

"Got you! Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Aloe."

"Yeah. Watch yourself."

...and the cleric…

"Urgh, you're heavy in your armor."

"...Are you trying to say something?"

"No, I'm not! Come on, get a grip already."

"Alright. Alright. There is no need to tell me twice."

...almost fell a few times but thankfully, the rope held and the succubus was able to swoop in to hold them up until they got a better grip. Strangely, or thankfully, there were no wyverns or griffons, heard or otherwise.

The higher they went, the colder. Soon, they could see the signs of snow formation. The lion girl eventually reached a mountain path that was partially snowed up. The rocky way was still visible but visible frost was slowly forming in patches.

"Ah, there's a path here," called out the archer to the party behind her, "We can rest here."

"Nice!" exclaimed the monk cheerfully.

As she propped herself on the edge and pushed herself in, Botan got up and pulled on the rope to help them get up faster. As she was doing so, she became distracted and not aware of her surroundings. However, she did get a whiff of something strange. The smell of rotting meat. But by then, it was too late.

"What!?" she shouted in surprise as she was grabbed by the waist. She glanced behind her and saw a large, horned monster covered in snow-white fur except for its angry face, clawed hands, and feet exposed. She was then lifted over its head and thrown to the ground. Thankfully, she knew how to cushion herself from a fall, but she still landed on her back.

However, the rest were pulled up as well when she was grabbed, while Aloe carried Nene up the rest of the way when she noticed them getting pulled up roughly. Luckily, the two that were pulled up got to their feet quickly and prepared to save their friend. The yeti took one look at them and roared loudly, beating its chest at the same time. Two more jumped down from above to join it. All three of them roared and the battle was joined.

Polka was cold. They were not as prepared for the cold. Not like the previous adventure where they went around the mountains with Kiara. The sight of snow didn't help. But, the prospect of the fight warmed her enough that she hoped that it would be a good one. Also, the fact that a yeti had taken her friend unprepared and was getting ready to kill her made her fire burn hotter.

As a thrown dagger sank into the yeti's shoulder from the back, she yelled as she ran through the snow, "Oi! Your fight is with me!"

She started pummeling several punches on its leg as it turned to roar at her. A spectral sword appeared and it moved out of the way of its swing.

"What!? The ice does not affect them?" she heard Lamy exclaim in disbelief.

The yeti in front of her then turned back to Botan. "Oi! Fight me!" the monk shouted, trying to draw its attention back to her. However, she yelled as frost suddenly spread all over her back and her legs.

Stumbling as she turned around, the ice on her cracking and breaking, she found a very angry yeti staring back at her. As its razor-sharp claws fell on her, she muttered, "Ah." She couldn't move… more like barely move and she wouldn't be fast enough to dodge this. She tried raising up her arms and stifled a cry of pain as its ebony claws raked over her arms, coloring the ground red. She felt something stabbing her in the stomach and saw the same claws.

As she fell forward, the yeti caught her. She was a little surprised, but not much emotion as she was filled with pain. She could feel herself being picked up and roughly thrown on its shoulder, causing her to groan. She could feel the yeti moving up. A loud explosion followed and she could feel tiny bits of stone showering in her face. Then, she could hear the yeti roar followed by Aloe shouting. Suddenly, she felt her body falling. She felt someone's hands brushing against her waist. More of Aloe's shouting. It was like she was floating on air. Then, she felt her body being jerked all around the place and felt arms around her waist and back.

It was after all that, she heard Botan ask frantically, "Polka! Polka! Are you alright!?"

AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.

This time, we have Aloe and Lola playing tag in the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane. On the other hand, a bit unfortunate for Anya as she got night hag blood splashed on her. So much for being suddenly awoken by this travesty. So, after capturing the hag and interrogating her, they finally have the full picture. They know where to find Choco (Happy Belated Birthday to her btw). They were going to have to track down a young white dragon that had just moved in. How annoying. They ended up going down the other way and up a goat path.

So, after some time, they started climbing up. Into an unexpected encounter. Botan is not in an advantageous position. Things are also not looking good for Polka right now. Chilling Gaze is... I am a little surprised that Polka failed her CON save. That is how the dice roll, I guess. Don't worry, Mummy Lamy is here to heal her.

Next chapter, we shall follow them as they continue searching for the dragon. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.