"Welcome to my island," said a withered voice from the shadows. "You'll be joining your friends soon."
"What do you want? Where is the crew of the ship? " asked Whelp towards the waiting shadows.
Kalikekeztra wasn't sure if the withered voice was offering an invitation or initiating a threat, but it didn't matter. She didn't like the tone of his voice, and it had been a while since she tasted violence. Like a match, her instincts were suddenly lit. The song of blood filled her veins as fire and destruction clouded her vision. She leaped at the first shadow, even as Whelp attempted to talk to them, cutlass raised above in a wide overhead swing, as she kept her gaff hook ready at her side.
Keke wasn't sure what she would encounter, but it didn't matter. Her blade came crashing down onto a strange greyish humanoid's head. Shards of bone, blood, and slime splattered her, even as she landed a powerful knee onto the large creature's chest, followed by a quick swipe of her hook across the monster's neck even before it fell reeling backwards.
To the creature's credit, it attempted to swat her with its long claws, but Keke was too quick. One of the claws she ducked, while the monster's other hand wielded a large tangle of fiber which weighed down its movements allowing her to easily slip past.
"Watch out, they have nets!" she shouted to Whelp, though both the sight and sounds of the warrior woman was obscured by the mists by now. Keke thought it prudent to duck back to her companion so they could fight back to back or at least support each other in battle, but another net similar to the one she just warned about, burst from the mists at her side unfolding and threatening to trap her.
A lesser Asura would have been entangled and at these slimy humanoid's mercy, but Kalikekeztra was lightning incarnate. She dashed towards the center of the net, slashing a cross pattern with her cutlass, before rolling quickly into a ball, crashing through the mesh and into the thigh of one of her attackers.
While Keke bounced off her very solid opponent and landed flat on her behind, her opponent was stunned or perhaps confused by the recklessness of her attack, allowing her to recover and spin with both arms outstretched, slicing the creature's calf and tearing at his tendons.
Her opponent made some sort of loud gurgling sound, a warcry perhaps? before it clutched at its leg as it toppled over. Keke skipped towards her foe, effortless switching her hook for a belaying pin and finished it off with a cruel smash to the face.
Though she saw more movement in the mists, she took a moment to survey her foe. It was a large creature, similar to a hairless ogre, but covered in slime and bore some minor fish like characteristics like gills, fins, and some spots of scales. Were they merrow? Aquatic ogres that roamed the seas. Perhaps Sahuagin? Sharkmen known known for their propensity to breed oversized mutants. The degenerate Kuo Toa? No they had much larger eyes and their slime would be much stickier than the gunk that this creature had splattered her with.
Before Keke could determine what these creatures were, her opponents charged again. While her vision was both keen and magically enhanced, the strange mists blocked her foes' movements until the last second. A large driftwood club came crashing behind her, narrowly missing, while she barely leaped over a great coral tipped spear aiming for her legs.
Keke roared. Half in anger and half in delight, as her fury consumed her. This was going to be a great battle. The strange slimy fish ogres, were taken back by her wrath, even as she spun again, smashing her pin into one of her attacker's head while slashing at the arm of the other. Neither blow was fatal, but her attackers seemed unsure of what to do against this strange spinning and slicing creature. The one who's arm was slashed took little damage, its slime seemed to seal its wound even as it stumbled out of Keke's range, however the one struck by the pin, dropped its club and seemed dazed by her attack.
Keke wanted to jump on the creature and tear its throat out with her fangs, but despite her demonic power she didn't trust the strength of this mortal body's teeth. Instead she leaped at its head, striking it solidly with her knee, stunning it again. As the creature fell on its haunches in an attempt to recover, she then drew back her cutlass and stabbed the beast straight through the face.
While her strike was true, quickly ending the fish ogre's life, to her disappointment her blade was stuck inside the monster's thick skull. At first she thought it was the monster's slime gripping her weapon, but she quickly realized it was the shoddy nature of her weapon. It's poorly maintained nicks and dents got stuck in the mass of bone and viscera of her opponent's skull, and though she could have worked it out eventually she opted to drop it instead and drew her whip, lashing it wildly at the remaining shadowy mists that surrounded her.
Though she could not see her foes clearly, muffled cried of pains told her that not all her strikes missed. While the whip was a poor weapon for a heated battle, it was a good tool to harass her foes, and Keke figured that was what she needed right now. Given that her opponents could sense or possibly see where she was, and she could only react when they attacked, it seemed like a good tactic to keep her foes off balance, allowing her to fight a few at a time until she could find Whelp.
As she cracked the whip again at the shadows, three more of the fish ogres disproved her theory as they charged towards her from all angles in a semi coordinated attack. One was unarmed, relying on its long claws, the other was the one carrying the spear that she wounded earlier, while the last used a ridiculous two handed club that resembled a stone pillar. Keke leaned back, dodging the spear once again, while shooting her foot out and smashing the creature's knee. Though the force of her blow wasn't enough to break its bone, it did have the desire effect to send it crashing to the ground. The one with the pillar as a club attempted an overhead chop like the one she used earlier, but Keke managed to block it with her club, dropping her whip and using both hands to resist it. The strength of the monster however was overwhelming. Its strengthened threatened to overpower her and bowl her over, but it merely buckled her stance. Keke held her ground and summoning all her demonic power and managed to push the creature's weapon back. As the creature readied for another strike, Keke darted forward, striking the monster hard in the gut with a club. The fish ogre bent over from the strike, clutching its stomach in pain, even as Keke landed her other club squarely on its ridge nose.
The beast bellowed as it fell to the ground, babbling in pain. Keke attempted to finish it off with a shot to the back of its skull, but the clawed ogre jumped in and interrupted her attack with two slashes to her side. While Keke managed to dodge one swipe, another tore at her arm and would have probably severed her wrist except for the cursed manacles that bound her. The heavy iron braclets stopped the attack and even snapped one of the monster's long nails off. Keke and the ogre were both surprised at the turn of events, but Keke was the first to recover. She smiled at her good fortune and smashed the heavy manacle towards the creature's head even as the ogre pressed its attack with another slash at her gut.
As the ogre flayed wildly, she picked up her whip and slipped behind it. Before the monster could recover she coiled her whip around its thick slimy neck. Giving both ends of the whip a quick twist, she tightened her hold and pressed herself against its back for leverage. The ogre thrashed about trying to dislodge her, but this was Keke's specialty, she would not falter. Though she often used her own snake like torso to coil about her enemy, the principal was the same for using the whip. Weather its struggles, cut off its air, and watch her victim suffer.
Before Keke could finish off the clawed ogre, the spear ogre that was wounded earlier finally recovered and positioned itself for a strike. It jabbed directly at Keke, but she was readied for it. She simply shuffled in a half circle, swinging her gurgling foe in the way as a shield. Though she didn't see exactly what happened, her trapped victim's shuddered briefly before going limp. As her meat shield fell to the ground, Keke rolled to the side, using its body as cover and sprang to the attack once again.
The ogre creature to its credit saw through her ruse and jabbed its spear directly at her. The ogre's blow was true and lifted Keke off the ground with its force, but she managed to stay on her feet by grabbing onto the spear. She then wrapped the remaining portion of her manacle's chain around the weapon's haft and pulled. While the ogre was stronger than Keke, demonic strength or not, her surprise attack caught it off guard as she unexpectedly yanked the trapped spear out of its hands. Seizing the initiative, she smashed the ogre's chin with her other heavy manacle, snapping its head backwards in another spray of slime.
She readied for another strike, but she didn't need it as the ogre stiffened and fell with a muffled thud on the ground.
As Keke seethed over her fallen opponents, she glanced down at where the ogre had struck her. She had taken a pretty deep slash to her arm from the claw ogre earlier, but the spear had made a gory mess of her side. It was a fatal wound. She could feel pain wrack her mortal body, but she remained standing…for now. She wasn't sure if it was her caged demonic power or perhaps the pure adrenaline and ecstasy of combat that kept her standing.
As she waited for another opponent, the din of slaughter began to leave her, and she felt her knees go weak. Her mortal body had reached its limits. She refused to fall though, and simply grabbed the spear she had tugged away and leaned on it for support. It was too big for her to easily wield, but she didn't care. She just wanted to face death standing on her feet.
She was still unclear what would happen if she was to die right now. Typically a demon would be banished back to the Abyss or Abaddon if it was slain on the Prime planes, becoming one with the plane or perhaps rebirthed as one or multiple larvae. Most evil denizens become nothing but primal chaos matter, being reformed on a whim by the plane or its demonic lord, but greater demons like herself through sheer force of will could reform themselves from the primordial mass. However, given that she was both trapped in a mortal's shell, her power sealed away by some uniquely powerful arcane manacles, and of course the magical inhibiting mists that surrounded her, she did not like her chances of coming back. In fact as she continued to bleed and began losing her strength, she slowly slipped down from her spear. She faced the very real prospect of her own mortality. Was she going to die? Was this the end of Kalikekeztra? General of Abaddon, and slayer of hordes? Would she be sent to some deeper unknown pit to be tormented or simply cease to exist when this body died?
Oddly, she felt no fear for what was to come, but she did find herself consumed by an odd emotion. Regret. As her vision faded, she wanted to hold her scimitar one more time, to remember the golden haired Archon that danced on the edge of her memory, to feel his embrace once more before….
"There you are Keke," said Whelp as she ran to her side. "Look at this mess. They were everywhere and I couldn't see you. I had to deal with two, but there's like a half dozen here. Holy Puranas, look at that wound….hang on."
In an instant, the pain was gone and Keke found her strength fully recovered. She looked at Whelp in shock. While Divine magic was not unheard of in the lower plane, most evil clerics she had the displeasure of working with concentrated on summoning hordes of undead or sheer destructive spells. She had encountered healing magic from evil priests before, but not of this magnitude. At best they could cure perhaps light or moderate wounds, but she was completely healed by Whelp from just one spell.
"I don't…I mean….thank you," said Keke at last, bowing her head towards the warrior woman.
Whelp smiled and helped her up. "I think the boat is in that direction," she said pointing towards the msits. "We are at a disadvantage here, they can split us up and this mist hampers my magic. I was barely able to save you, let alone best those fish ogres aberrations. They have a caster somewhere, canceling my spells. We should leave …now."
Keke wanted to stay, but Whelp seemed insistent. All the bravado and hints of her power she sensed earlier on the canoe seem to vanish from the warrior woman. Were these aberrations really that terrifying?
Aberrations? Keke paused and took time to examine one of the bodies of her twisted looking foes. As she looked at its deformed face and slime covered features she realized what they were. Skum. Transformed slave thralls of the ancient Aboleth, Dagon worshipping fish psychics that have a penchant for illusion and millennia long schemes. She dealt with a few on the river Styx, but never directly fought them in battle. They often appeared as benign looking tiefling boatmen, or even as fair looking humanoids of some sort, but given Keke's true sight, she knew that their true forms were large bloated creatures, covered in slime and tentacle. She was repulsed by their disgusting alien nature and had little to do with them. Despite her disdain for them, she knew that they often just sold information, or scavenged the battlefields, biding their time for unknown eons, until the stars were right and their eldritch masters crawled out of some dead star or some other crap like that.
"We should leave quick," said Whelp again, scanning the mists as she lead the way.
Keke agreed. Fish ogres were one thing, but fighting the Aboleth was another, at least not here. She was fairly confident she could best one or two , even in this body, but fighting one of those fish mages on a battlefield of its choosing was unwise at best. Keke liked to fight, but winning was always better than losing.
As the pair attempted to retrace their steps back to the ship, it soon became clear that they were lost. After passing the same ruined building three times, and finding the same trail twice, they found themselves at the battleground they had just left. Undeterred, the pair attempted to find the ship once again, and once more they began retracing their steps until they found themselves at the bloodied battlefield once more.
"We're lost, we're lost…." Mumbled Whelp as fear settled in.
"I think this is what happened to the rest of the crew," said Whelp as the mists closed in slowly. It would be dark soon, and what little visibility they had would be gone, true vison or not. While the warrior woman projected a strong front, Keke could sense despair creeping in on her.
"Be prepared for another attack," said Keke as both women positioned themselves back to back with their spears ready. Though her spear was a bit too big for her tastes, it would serve well enough as a shock weapon for the initial rush if the ogres charged again.
"I don't want to die here," whispered Whelp." I'm not even sure where this is, exactly…."
Keke wanted to add, that dying would be their best option. Given the situation, you didn't want to be captured by the Aboleth, transformed into a Skum, and exist as a slime covered minion till the stars aligned themselves. She considered explaining to Whelp the true nature of their enemy, but the last thing she wanted was a panicked partner if she was going to have any chance to get out of here. As she considered this, Keke looked at her partner and saw the sweat beading around her. Perhaps she was already under the influence of the Aboleth, that is if her prediction was correct. While the fish mages were powerful casters, their magic was more focused on the erosion of will rather than fireballs and lightning bolts like other mages. Could it be that Whelp's mind was already under its influence?
"Let us go, or show yourselves!" shouted Keke. Though it wasn't much of a threat, she needed to bolster Whelp's morale before she cracked. Make her snap out of the Aboleth's clutches.
Keke didn't really expect an answer, but to her surprise, an old man in a pure white toga stepped through the mists. Whelp took a step back, but it took all of Keke's power not to laugh. Though the old man had all the aspects of an ancient Alphatian mage, someone that you would expect to find in an Alphatian ruin, Keke's magical eyes saw straight through him. He was an illusion. Not only was he an illusion but an advanced form, that was projected from another point. This image before them was nothing more than a puppet for some other caster lurking in the mists.
"You have caused enough problems for my servants. I will suffer no more trespass," said the old man with the same withered voice they heard earlier. While he said the words, Keke noticed he really didn't…say them. His lips moved, but they didn't match the words, or at least not exactly.
Whelp however either did not notice or did not care that the old man was out of sync. At first she pointed her spear at the man, but her courage faltered and she slowly began walking backwards. "What ..what do you want from us?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"Long have I toiled and forged my servants…and they have failed me when put to the test. However, I sense a great power from within you two. Perhaps we can…."
Keke shook her head, and took a step backwards. Before either the old man or Whelp could attack, she swung her spear backwards, and smashed the blunt end into the back of Whelp's head. Knocking her senseless.
Whelp squirmed in pain on the ground attempting to rise, but Keke quickly took a step above her and smashed her spear again squarely to the back of her head, rendering her unconscious.
"I think we can cut a deal here. Her life for mine," said Keke to the surprised old man.