*/*/*


Brackish Water

The Heir was planning yet another big announcement today. The various teams of the Hamlet were gathering to see who was being sent to kill what this time around. Vesli mused over the 'hit list' as it was. The Hag was dead due to the Holy Duo and their team, his team had taken out the Necromancer, Face – the absolute showoff – had been part of the teams that took out both the Flesh and the Swine Prince, Caillot's friend Darcy had helped take down the Siren he'd help piss off – Vesli had been sure to apologize for that, Face had mentioned a Whelp Three, whoever that was, being part of taking out the Sodden Crew – which was apparently a ghost that had to be exorcised three Light-cursed times to finally get rid of, and he couldn't recall who had taken out the 8 Pounder, the weakest of three Brigand Cannons, but that had been done as well. Vesli couldn't help but wonder what it was with the evils haunting the Hamlet and coming in threes. It had something to do with dark Eldritch things and too many tentacles, he just knew it. They were now moving on to tougher foes, which was a whole new can of tentacles Vesli was not eager to have on his plate. Besides, the ever increasingly wild parties the townspeople threw in celebration these events made his ears ring. Rir was not amused. There was some time yet before the reveal and Caillot was working on… something. The magic he was using had Rir growling in unease. Aela was scowling openly at the unfortunate man.

"Caillot." For once, the Hellion didn't sound like she was about to proposition someone.

"Yes, Aela?" The Occultist looked up from his work.

"Please explain why you have a tiny cauldron practically infested with evil Spirits," Aela pointed at the thing in Caillot's hands. Vesli had been wondering much the same, if he was honest. The cauldron was maybe the size of Bird's fist, if not smaller. It was attached to a leather chord so that it could be carried around like quite possibly the strangest trinket the man had seen in the Hamlet yet.

"Remnants of the Hag's Cauldron," Caillot answered, his hands sparking with arcane powers as he worked over the small lump of metal.

"Do I even want to know how it went from being pulled on a cart to pocket sized?" Vesli eyed the thing a little more warily now.

"Eldritch magic is a strange fickle thing. Sometimes it has unintended results," Caillot seemed unconcerned.

Jingle. The group looked up at Bird's arrival. "Does not look like the Hag's Cauldron. Didn't have those little red spikes before."

"That is because it has mutated from our arcane efforts. Myself and the other Occultists have come to call it a Demon's Cauldron instead."

"A? Singular? As in there's more of those things?" Aela scowled further.

"Does not explain why you are carrying it," Bird chirped, even as she set to work harvesting some red flowers she'd spotted into a neat little bouquet, muttering about blood thinning properties.

"In truth, the experiments on the original cauldron created several of them," Caillot looked sheepish "And it they have this strange ability to focus our energy, allowing for more effective combat magic."

"Caillot. It has a face," Vesli pointed out.

"Well. Yes. Unfortunately, they came out as very dark entities. I am currently trying to ward the aura in hopes of preventing… negative side effects." These words had two pairs of eyes and one pair of lenses staring at the Occultist. "If I promise I'm not about to turn into some Eldritch horror and murder us all, will that be satisfactory?"

"No." Said in unison.

"I also took other precautions," he revealed a ring on his finger "It helps ward my mind."

There were grumbles. Vesli finally spoke "Very well. You are the magic expert after all. But Caillot?"

"Yes, Vesli?"

"Just be careful, alright?"

"I always am."

Commotion announced the Heir's arrival. Silence fell as the carriage door opened. "Good evening one and all. I am glad to see you celebrating that yet another menace to these lands will be eradicated." The Heir's words had the crowd practically vibrating like a small dog. "I'm sure you're all wondering what nuisance we shall be rid of this time, hmm?" The crowd gave an affirmative noise. "Well then, it is my pleasure to announce that tonight, brave adventurers will be sent off to kill the Alluring Siren!" The crowd gave appreciate cheers. Vesli noted in his head that if this succeeded there would only be one more Siren, the original one the Ancestor was responsible for according to rumor, left. "Now, to announce who shall be given this honor!" The Heir's hand was suddenly pointed at his team and Vesli sighed. Well, he couldn't claim he was surprised that they'd gotten the first on the list of the tougher creatures. Why wouldn't they get the first one?

As one, his team approached the Heir. They shared a look to decide whom would speak. "We thank you for this honor," Caillot said, bowing with a small flourish.

"Do not disappoint me," the Heir effectively dismissed them. The group quickly left to go get their things and supplies, not wanting to risk punishment.

*/*/*

Caillot was flushed when he arrived at Supply Store. Vesli smirked, unable to resist "Get a kiss goodbye?"

"What? How did you-?" the Occultist was practically flailing.

"That is adorable," Aela cooed.

"If you had wanted to hide it, should have waited for the blood flow in your cheeks to resume normal levels," Bird examined the levels of her poisons.

"Et tu, Veci?" Caillot whined.

"Besides, even if you weren't practically wearing a sign on your neck, your scent would give it away," Vesli tapped his nose, "Or should I say the foreign scent on you would." Actually, the other scent was not so foreign, and Vesli was this close to placing it. It would likely bother him the whole mission.

"I detest you all," the Occultist put his face in his hands.

"Need to work on skills of deception," Bird patted his shoulder cheerfully.

"Must've been some kiss to get your Spirits so worked up," Aela's smile was wolfish "Details Caillot. I need them."

"Absolutely not!" Was the firm denial.

Vesli just chuckled, having mercy on the poor Occultist and changing the subject. "Do we have everything?" The packs were checked, amount of supplies carefully measured by cost and necessity. They were as prepared as they could be. "Let's get going then. I'm sure we wouldn't want to disappoint our date." Okay, maybe he couldn't resist one last slight tease.

*/*/*

They'd made their way through the salty caverns, deeper and deeper, encountering more and more fish men as they went. Faint singing had gotten louder and louder. They were clearly going in the right direction. The party settled in a side cave. Caillot's warding their campsite never got any less hair raising. In fact, Vesli was sure that last round had been just a hair creepier as the Occultist's revenge for the teasing. But now, fully rested and with Rir pacing in the back of his mind, Vesli eyed the last stone door from which the singing came. "Alas, I don't think we can replicate our dramatic entrance from the Necromancer. This would likely break Aela's foot," he mused.

"So, we open it like civilized beings?" Caillot arched an eyebrow.

"But that's boring," Aela sulked.

"Not fixing a broken foot gotten by stupidity," Bird warned. The Hellion pouted further.

"This will take some muscle to move, like all the other doors," Vesli sighed, cracking his knuckles "Either Aela or I will be delayed in the fight by a few seconds. That needs to be accounted for."

"If we each take a door, that will speed us up," Aela offered. Vesli considered and nodded.

Gripping one of the massive doors, Aela taking the other, he growled and began to shove, the ancient stone grinding and scraping along the floor as they entered the lair of the Alluring Siren. The good news was that she was asleep, the singing sound reverberating from her throat even in slumber. The bad news was that the doors scraping was causing the Siren to wake up. Lifting her head, the creature glared at them all hatefully, webbed hands clutching at a large conch shell. With the opening now wide enough, Caillot rushed in, sky-ghost tentacles lashing out at the aquatic monstrosity to attack and restrain while Bird prepared toxic mixtures to throw at it.

Ignoring Aela's battle cry once they were in the room as well, Vesli drew upon Rir's essence and felt his chains shatter, bones splinter, and muscles tear as he became the Abomination. Roaring in challenge, he charged at the Fish-Wench, head lowered as if to ram her while Aela readied her glaive.

Quickly, the Siren readied the conch horn at her lips and blew, the sound echoing out into the caves. From the murky pools that surrounded them, a creature rose to defend its Queen, one of the oversized jellyfish like creatures that roamed the caverns, its tentacles crackling with lightning. Reacting rapidly, Cailot summoned his sky-ghost tentacles which lashed at the flesh and blood tentacles of the Queen's loyal attack beast. Ignoring the fight, and the sounds of flesh ripping and lightning arcing, Vesli and Aela continued their charge.

Roaring angrily at them, the Fish-Wench blew into her shell once more, a wave of solid energy, almost like a shadow given purpose, slammed into them. The energy was weak, not meant to wound, merely to stagger, and in that it fulfilled its purpose well. His body protested, his muscles strained from the spine chilling sensation that was the Queen's magic.

A third, and again different, song, played as Vesli threw back his head and roared, tiny mouths shooting out of the conch horn to lash out and bite him and Aela, the needle like teeth digging into their flesh and drinking their blood. Their grip was broken by Caillot using his tentacles to throw the dead jellyfish into the mouths, breaking their connection to the Queen as they faded away. Snarling angrily, Aela mimicking the sound, the two charged again, closing even more of the distance between them and the Siren who was running out of options.

Hissing at them angrily, the creature slithered back a step and suddenly her song changed its tune. Her visage warped into that of a fair mermaid crooking her finger with a seductive smile on her face, purple magic reaching out like ensnaring tentacles. The spell latched onto Vesli and encircled him. His mind went blank. Wait, why was he fighting her? The music was so nice. Her voice so lovely. She was a Queen and deserved his loyalty! Slowing to a stop, Vesli swayed where he stood, enthralled by the seductive tones of the music. His eyes went to the others here, daring to interrupt his time with his Queen. He focused of the one with the glaive and snarled, intent on being rid of that one first as she was the closest to his beloved majesty. His Queen assisted him by blowing into her conch like horn, sending out toothy barbed tentacles to lash out and cut into the intruders. In the trance like state and intent on Aela who was quickly having to go on the defensive to parry his blows with sparks produced by the meeting of bone and metal, the beast never saw the tensing of Bird's shoulders, the enraged shine of her eyes from behind her mask, the hissed threat of needing to "Excise the tumor," the clenching of her fists as she rushed over and drove her knife into the distracted Siren who let out a scream at the impressive injury. This was quickly followed up by more of Caillot's sky-ghost tentacles lashing the aquatic creature backwards.

With the Fish-Wench suitably distracted, Vesli gasped and shook off the remaining daze of the seduction spell, unable to look the others in the eye, murmuring an apology to the Hellion in Rir's unintelligible speak. He was very grateful his skin was naturally red like this to hide any blushing. Rir snarled in humiliation. Together they roared and vomited up toxic bile at the Wench who slithered out of the way before pulling raising her voice and trying again. This time, the spell encircled Aela who was close to the cursed creature, causing Vesli and Rir to growl in unison, not liking this monster messing with their minds. Before any of them could save their barbarian friend, the massive warrior just gave an uninterested shrug before swinging her axe, catching the Wench in the chest and sending her flying.

Feeling even more humiliated now, Vesli and Rir charged, planning to finish off this manipulative monster. Roaring they swung their clawed hands, rending deep gouges into the flesh of the Light-cursed Siren. Spurred on by Rir's anger at what had happened and his own embarrassment, they tore and maimed, intent on the slaughter. Pausing briefly at one point to get their breath back, the Fish Wench started singing to entice him again. Eyes wide, he took a nervous step back only for the Siren to let out a gurgling cry as Bird buried her knife in her throat.

There were some final choking attempts at notes before the creature fell with a thud. She was dead. Vesli regained his mind and body. "I… am sorry," he spoke, now able to produce coherent sentences. This was directed at the group in general. The man wanted to disappear into a hole and not come out. But he made himself stand firm.

"It was not you, Vesli. All of us could see the magic," Caillot assured "Though, I admit I am surprised Aela was able to resist the spell."

The Hellion was busy carving the Fish Wench's head off. "The Spirits about her were foul. Besides, even I don't want to sleep with a fish." Vesli held no desire for such things either, but he slinked further into himself. The slight jingle at his side was the only warning before he found himself getting checked over by Bird.

"No injuries." Was she angry? She sounded angry.

"Please don't stab me to fix that," he attempted dark humor.

"Counterproductive to checking for injuries to add them." Yep. Bird was angry. May the Light have mercy on his soul. He watched the Doctor warily as she went to check the others for injuries as well.

Caillot had his 'thinking face', tapping his chin even as Bird looked for injuries. "I believe I may have a theory." This gained the attention of the rest of the group. "Perhaps it was the dual nature of your mind Vesli that put you more at risk to the spell than Aela was."

"Huh?" Vesli was hardly stupid but sometimes the Occultist's logic was not easy to follow.

"Sverrir is a beast. And you've bemoaned that he is quite proud of how straightforward and simple his thoughts are compared to ours," Caillot explained.

"That true," Vesli nodded. Rir snorted in his mind. It wasn't Rir's fault weak prey-things were too complicated!

"And while that simplicity functions in typical situations, arcane spells that focus on the mind find less resistance in the same simplicity. As such, I believe that same spell would have kept Sverrir ensnared much longer without your presence, Vesli." Rir grumbled at that. Vesli offered to resume attempting to teach the beast. Rir grudgingly considered it.

"Thank you for your insight, Caillot," Vesli spoke at last. His wounded pride felt slight soothed now, though would take time to heal all the way. He went to help carry the Wench's severed head, now more focused on how to soothe Bird's ruffled feathers. Because the Doctor was still clearly considering stabbing him. Vesli would like to not spend the rest of his life worried about a knife in the dark.

Then it came to him, like the Light splitting the darkness. Vesli had a way to fix this.

*/*/*

Back in the Hamlet, Wench's head safely delivered, Vesli was digging out his bunk. Where was it? Miscellaneous objects flew, threatening to hit anyone that came too close. Where did he – Aha! The man's fingers touched cool glass. From the depths of his bunk Vesli resurfaced, holding that vial he'd spotted while with Face, Brix, and Courci. Vesli had kept meaning to give to Bird. He'd always had one reason or another to delay though. Now he was glad that it remained in his possession. Perhaps this would help soothe Bird's ire. He hoped so. Vesli would really like to avoid the sharp end of Bird's blade.

He found Bird in the 'garden' as some of the Hamlet tended to call it. It was really just a patch of the few herbs and medicinal plants that could be convinced to grow near the Sanitarium. Ignoring his unease for the nearby building, Vesli coughed to get her attention. When ignored he spoke up, "Veci?" This felt too serious for his usual nickname. Veci rewarded his efforts by looking at him. Vesli really wished he had an expression to go off of instead of the mask. "I have something for you," he offered, hoping that this worked. Veci stood and made her way over to him, seeming to not care about the dirt on her clothes. Her silence was unnerving and very not like her. She truly must be angry at him.

"I… uh…" Vesli sighed. He steadied himself with a breath. "I promise, despite Rir's influence on me, that that situation will never happen again," his eyes were locked on her lenses to convey his sincerity. If there was heat and blood rushing to his face, he would never admit to it. His hands moved, gently taking one of her and pressing the vial into her palm. "For you," finally he couldn't help looking down and away.

Veci opened her palm to see the intricate glass vial with a figure of some sort of tentacled deity's head adorning it. Vesli noted that she immediately transferred something – was that liquid glowing orange? – into it and capped it with a cork. "Understand that it was not your fault," Bird spoke at last as the man dared to meet her gaze again. "Still not sorry I stabbed her."

Vesli offered her a crooked smile. "Nor did I expect you to be," he assured. He got the sense that Bird was smiling back. Hey, he was getting better at this whole interpreting expressions through a mask thing.

The moment was ruined by the sudden onset of noise. It wasn't a loud noise. No instead, it was most a faint buzzing whine. Like a fly trapped inside a room. Loud enough to be heard, soft enough that even Vesli's ear couldn't pinpoint the exact source. It made both Vesli and Bird stiffen in some previously unknown instinctual response to the unnerving sound. But nothing seemed to come of it besides a general sense of unease. "The Hamlet gives us something new every day," The man sighed, offering a faint smile, opting to ignore the buzz.

"Tolerable, though attempting to relax with it will be a challenge," Bird nodded in agreement. All was well between them.

*/*/*

Meanwhile, up in the estate the Caretaker chortled as he approached the Heir, a silver tray in his hands. "It would seem, that they are awake," he offered extended the tray in offering.

"Indeed," the Heir accepted a glass of dark red wine from it, some of the liquid sloshing over the rim and staining a few red droplets on the carpet. This was ignored as the Heir raised the glass to drink, "So it would seem."