The room was consumed in the utter chaos that was a battlefield. Marius had seen it many times, if not any so absolutely disgusting as this one. The monstrous flesh hag, Stinoga, sat in the center of the enormous cavern, her entirely in-human visage looming over the six of them. Demonic swarms of centipedes skitter across the disgusting human flesh that covers every surface of the cave. Pulsing sacks of pus and filth bulge from the skin in irregular intervals, waiting to burst and cover an unfortunate soul with their rancid contents. Marius shutters at the memory of being doused on multiple occasions by those sists as they had fought and clawed their way down here. The refuse still stained his armor in most places.
The smell of body odor which had grown ever stronger as they descended was nearly overpowering. With his Dhampir scenes it was especially hard to focus on the battle. Yorgrim wrenching on their entangled arms snapped Marious out of his thoughts.
That was the worst of it all. Not only were they fighting an enormous, disgusting creature in an equally disgusting fleshy cavern, they had all also been cursed into twisted abominations of flesh. It had gotten steadily worse as they descended, first Yorgrim had sprouted two more arms on his shoulders that attacked and flailed at random. Marious had tried to cut them from him but upon doing so two more had sprouted.
Then Farryn and Jericho had fused, their arms twisting together like a fleshy rot iron bar. Any magic they tried could not separate the two and throughout the travels the two had become increasingly intertwined where now their legs and hips were fused as well.
Soon Briggsy's arm had went limp and upon examination they discovered all of his bones were either gone or jellified. And Lethica's arm was not far behind his. Marious had held out, no doubt thanks to the intervention of Lathander himself, but in a place like this there is only so much a god can do. He'd found himself joined to Yorgrim in the same way that Farryn and Jericho had. The twisting process was slow thankfully and they were in the chamber of the hag herself. On top of that his luck had truly run out when painful boils and blisters sprouted on nearly every inch of his skin. They made even the tiniest of movements painful, if he hadn't known so much pain in his long life before then he suspected fighting would have been out of the question. As it stood, he was beginning to feel woozy as the fight dragged on.
Marious glanced back at the raised ledge in the cave wall where he could see a large, fleshy purple object. The hag's liver. The only way to reverse the curses that afflicted their bodies, or so the hag clams. They had to try it at least, there was no way they would be able to defeat this monster and her horde of centipedes while stuck together or without the use of vital limbs.
His eyes darted around, taking in the field, and noting all of his friends' positions. He and Yorgrim were right under the hag, alternating cuts of his sword and Yorgrim's shovel. Briggsy, Jericho, Ferryn and Lethica were back at the base of the hole they had all fallen out of. Many centipedes surrounded them, but they looked to be doing alright.
As he looks towards them a movement at their feet catches his eye, but he is unable to shout out a warning. A disgusting tongue slithers from the ground at Lethica's feet, wrapping her in its sticky grip for a moment before whipping itself around. Lethica lets out a surprised scream as she is flung through the air. She hits the far wall with a sickening splat, directly under the ledge with the hag's liver. She hits the wall dead on to one of the many pustules dotting the wall. Upon impact, instead of falling to the ground her body is wrapped into this pustule and she becomes half absorbed into the wall.
"Lethica!" From across the room Marius can see the way her head lilts to the side, her limbs fall limply. Whether she was simply knocked unconscious or worse he could not tell at this distance.
Rage fills Marius and he instinctually pulls toward her fallen body, but his arm is still intertwined sickeningly with Yorgrim's and the weight of the orc holds him back. From the other side of the giant hag monster, Jericho's voice rises above the skittering of the centipede legs.
"Oh garsh, this stinks!" Twang, a single chord of his banjo rings out far louder than it should have.
It reverberated through the room and a wet explosion emanated from the back of the cavern. Turning his head to look Marius can see bits of the giant purple hag liver go flying around the room.
"Brilliant Jericho!" The liver is what they needed to dispel these hideous transformations they had all undergone. With it now scattered, it would be much easier to obtain in the midst of combat. A large chunk lands a mere thirty-five feet from where Marius and Yorgrim stand, he can reach it.
"Together Yorgrim!" Marius pulls again trying to move toward the piece of liver and to his relief the large orc steps with him.
They dash around the hag, every step painful to Marius as the wounds caused by the curse rub against his armor but he pushes through. He needs to be unstuck from Yorgrim in order to help Lethica. In one swift motion he scoops up the piece. The fist sized piece of purple liver ungulates in his hand, Marius can smell the fresh blood even through the filth that surrounds them. His fangs twinge, growing slightly as his hunger flares. Blood was one thing but being able to take whole flesh and not feel guilty about hurting anyone.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this…" he whispers as his fangs pierce the flesh and he begins to eat.
The taste is disgusting as it slides down his throat and for a moment his mind flashes back to Lethica in the tunnel above. How her soft flesh and rich, warm blood had tasted. This repulsive liver chunk was nothing compared to that and for an instant he feels like he was going to throw it up. Stealing himself Marius chokes it down and as the flesh fills his stomach a warmth blooms out and through his entire body. Abruptly his arm is tugged, and he watches as it untwists itself from Yorgrim's, freeing him from his friend. He can feel the wounds all along his body that had been causing him so much pain as he moved, close-up and heal.
"I am whole!" The rush of adrenaline overtakes him and triumph courses through his veins. A tentacle, exactly like the one that had flung Lethica, strikes out at him but his shield is ready and strong. He blocks it and with this new energy exclaims, "Give me your best shot Hag!"
Stinoga screams in distress as the tentacle misses. Centipedes swarm at her call, moving between Marius and where Lethica still hangs limply from the pustule. It lunges at him but once again his shield is faster as the horrid jaws clamp down on the metal. Kicking it off Marius looks up to his goal and his eyes find Lethica's body where she is trapped within the fleshy wall. He can clearly see her body jerk violently as the pustule clamps down and inflicts even more damage on her unconscious body.
A pit opens in the base of his stomach and his heart plummets. No, I'm coming for you, just hold on! His jaws clench and he kicks off in a dead sprint towards her. A flash of lightning briefly illuminates from somewhere behind him and he can just barely hear the pained screams of his friends over the pounding of blood in his ears. He can only help one person at a time and Lethica needs him.
From the corner of his eye Marius sees Yorgrim grab another hunk of liver from the floor. "Get this to Briggsy, it healed Marius!" his orc voice booms through the cavern. A single coil of worry loosens from the pile in his chest, see they'll be fine. This thought was immediately shattered as Yorgrim's large body is flung against the wall to Marius's right, landing with a loud crash. Marius whips his head around to look but though his friend seems to be grappling with the tentacle he doesn't seem injured.
He turns back to Lethica and his eye catches sight of the ledge above her. Sitting there, slightly damaged but still mostly whole, is the liver. There. He might be able to heal her with his magic, but the hag was still fighting behind him, he would need all his power to kill her. Remembering the warmth it had filled him with, Marius fixes his eyes on it, he just needed to get some to Lethica and she would be alright and they could finish the hag off once and for all.
Knowing his Dhampir abilities will sustain him, he dosnt even slow down as he takes a running leap, lands feet first on the wall and begins to run vertically up the cavern. As if it were a regular floor Marius dashes up the wall and soon alights on the ledge containing the liver. It's large purple flesh pulses and a bit of blood dribbles down where Jericho had blasted the flesh away. Quickly he digs his hand into the flesh and begins to pull.
"I'm coming, Lethica and Marius!" Jericho's voice reaches his ears a moment before the scarecrow himself lands next to Marius, two large black feather wings sprouting from his back.
Marius blinks for a moment, taken aback but quickly shrugs the sight off. In a land of magic and horror an animated scarecrow sprouting wings and flying is not much to take note of. As Jericho lands he too begins to dig into the liver, taking a bite in the strange way he does.
"Man, this never tasted so good, no wonder Virgil likes eating folk's livers"
Marius doesn't spare another look at his friend as he takes another piece of the liver just in case. "Lethica I'm coming, I'm on my way." With one piece stowed away in his armor and the other in his hand Marius jumps from the ledge, digs his armored gauntlet into the wall and slides rapidly down to where Lethica is still absorbed into the pustule.
"Lethica, Lethica, I'm here, don't worry." with one arm he pulls her from the grip of the wall and kneels with her un-moving body in one arm. "Lethica?" He looks down at her form, shakes her a bit but she does not move. His gaze sharpens as panic rushes through his veins, no. Her chest isn't rising, he can't sense the blood pumping within her. He's seen this before, over and over and over again through the decades he has been alive. Not her, not her, not her! Marius knows when a body is dead. "LETHICA!" a scream tears itself out of his throat and tears sting his eyes. "Lethica you can't die on me, no!"
Panic overtakes Marius as he clutches onto the lifeless body of Lethica. The liver. He takes the piece in his hand and brings it up to her face, but her mask blocks her mouth. With a growl of rage, he rips the mask off of her face and flings it away. The beauty of her face shocks him for a moment as he stares down at her. Her dark fair skin is unblemished, her expression serine, as if she were only sleeping. As he cradles her in the crook of his arm Marius's heart skips a beat. Time seems to freeze as he looks at her uncovered face. The Duchess had been ravenously gorgeous, seducing him with her looks and charm only to reveal the poison under her veins. But Lethica, her soft and simple beauty radiated peace and security, kindness. And though it had been blocked by a physical and emotional mask for much of the time they had known each other, Marius knew, looking down at her in this moment, that she was pure and good. And dead.
No.
His heart thumped loudly in his chest, bringing the moment slamming back into him. Marius hurriedly tilts her head back, opens her mouth and begins to shovel the liver down her throat. All of his being screams out the prayer, this has to work, she can't die, not while he still draws breath.
Lethica wakes into a world of twilight. Gently floating, pulled by the magnetism of the stars and the moon. There is a peace in this darkness, and she breathes out a soft sigh. Home, I'm going home. She gives into the darkness and floats, at peace.
And then one of the stars begins to burn a little bit brighter, a little bit yellower than the others. She turns to watch it as a halo of rose red light surrounds the star. The pull shifts in her body as she is drawn to this star in particular. She knows in her heart that there is a choice to be made. She could continue to float here, peacefully among the stars. Or she could swim through the celestial bodies towards this one bright light that casts such a warm glow all over her.
She looks at the night sky all around her, the stars and the dark night between. Behind her she sees the moon, a silvery white orb in the sky. She thinks back to where she had been, in that land of night with the vicious hag moon scowling down upon the land. This moon was pristine, but it reminds her, she has a job to do.
Lethica turns back to that yellow glow, the bright star in the distance and wills herself to move towards it. The moon glows behind her as a stream of silvery celestial magic propels her forward towards this bright beam of sunlight with its rosy halo.
As she nears it there's a sudden pull forward and the lurching of it makes her feel almost sick for a second. Right before being absorbed into the light of the sun, she turns back to look at the moon and she sees the horrible image of a hags face. She has no time to process it as a strange voice she had never heard before calls out to her.
"There will be a price to pay for what you have done today, Lethica. But help your friends." the cackle fades into the rushing of blood into her hears as she gasps a breath and lurches upright.
The liver had made its way down her throat and there was a second, a heartbeat of time in which neither of their hearts actually beat. Marius, holding his breath and praying with his entire being that it will work. Then Lethica jerks violently and takes in a gasping breath as her eyes fly open.
"Oh! Lethica!" Seeing the life return to her, tears will begin to fall down his face. "By Lathander- By Shar!" Marius exclaims as he pulls her into a deep and genuine embrace. Clutching onto her, he can feel the breath, the heartbeat, and knowing that she is alive fills him with such joy he begins to see stars in his vision.
Lethica's arms wrap themselves around his back as she leans into the hug. She pushes herself into the crook of his neck and she begins to tremble. Marius can feel the fragility in her now, an odd sensation when she had been nothing but strong and confident before. In that moment a strong pulse of protectiveness rages through Marius. His mind flashes back once more to the cave above and how gently she had held him just before allowing herself to be fed upon. How she had given her own strength to him in that moment. She deserves so much better…
Then the moment is broken as Lethica steals herself and gently pushes him away to sit back against the wall. She looks at him and once again he is struck by her beauty, even more radiant with the life that had been restored. They lock eyes and now, without the shadowy presence of the mask he can see the depth of them. It was like staring into the beautiful void of space on the clearest of summer nights.
"Thank you, Marius," She blinks and seems to notice him staring. She reaches up to feel for her mask and when her fingers touch skin she seems startled.
"I-I'm sorry about your mask," Heat floods Marius's cheeks and he looks away hurriedly. Only now realizing how far away he had flung it with his inhuman strength during his panic to feed her the liver.
"That is alright," her soft voice draws his eyes back to her, but she isn't looking at him. She's moving her arm, testing it, and he remembered that the curse she had been inflicted with had made that arm limp and unusable.
A loud crash behind them causes both to flinch and abruptly the rest of the cave comes crashing back into focus. The enormous, disgusting Hag is still fighting with their friends, screams and the skittering of the centipedes is nearly deafening.
Marius looks back at her, grim determination stealing his features. "Alright, we need to end this."
"Agreed." with the single word Lethica's eyes glow with her magic, her face hardening with anger and concentration.
He's about to ask what she's planning on doing when a small voice above them rips his attention from her. Jericho is standing on the ledge above them, his expression strangely blank even for his burlap face. Marius watches as he reaches for the key at his neck with one hand and with the other, he pulls aside his shirt to reveal a cage. Marius had only ever seen it once before, but Jericho talked so much about it that he knew that something was very wrong.
"Well, come on out… Raum…" Jericho says in an uncharacteristic monotone before he presses the key into the lock and twists it open.
Marius reaches for his shield with one hand and Lethica with the other to pull her into his protective embrace. Whatever was going to happen it wasn't going to be good for anyone. With my life and soul, I will protect her…
They are both looking up now and see as two small orange lights shine from within the pitch black of the cage. They flit around for just a second before shooting upwards. In the same instant Jericho's sack cloth head falls limply back like a hood and from where his head should be is the incorporeal head of a demonic looking crow made out of fiendish orange magic. Suddenly large black feathers materialize and begin to swirl around Jericho's body, faster and faster. Two enormous black crow wings sprout from his shoulder blades and then, two more erupt downwards. Where arms once were, the same orange translucent magic elongated into fiendish looking talons with black feathers running up the arms. The creature where their gentle friend Jericho had been unhinges its jaw and calls out in a rasping demonic voice.
"Hag." The single word from that demonic mouth sends Marius's blood racing in primordial fear. He pulls Lethica closer, and he can feel her trembling again. The red eyes flash for an instant down at them and Marius knows in the depth of his bones that if that thing attacked them there would be no saving Lethica. They would both be consumed. He shrinks back but the eyes move away from them and lock onto the horrific hag that sits in the center of the cavern. The voice speaks again to her directly as the enormous wings jostle and shed inky black feathers.
"Give. Me. Your secrets." It rasps out every word. "Give. Me. Your. Flesh." The body tenses, "Give. Me. Your power!" and it lunges toward the hag, throwing itself into the air faster than a blink of an eye. Whatever the creature was, it should not have been large enough to bite down around the form of the hag, but the jaws unhinge, it stretches and stretches and stretches and it does. It is not able to consume the hag in its entirety, but the beak sinks deep into her flesh and rips a massive chunk out of her form.
Marius can see the razor-sharp beak glide through her putrid flesh. The hag screams and it is deafening. In the instant after the blow was struck Marius's eye is drawn to movement on the crow demon's chest. The horrid familiar, the centipede with a human face and hands crawls out from within the open cage. The insect creature twists around Jericho's puppited body and slams the door to the cage shut before undulating and turning the key that was still in the latch. The instant the key is turned the demonic crow form shrinks back into Jericho then flares back up again as if fighting to stay on the outside. The rasping voice screams with such ferocity Marius could feel the blood trickling from his ears.
"NOooOOooOooo!" the demon's form shrinks back, the wings, the orange magic, all of it is sucked violently back into the cage within Jericho's chest. Two vicious, evil eyes stay for a moment in Jericho's eye sockets as his head flops back up to its normal position, looking down at all of them with contempt and hunger, before disappearing, replaced by Jericho's familiar soft yellow lights.
Suspended for a second in midair their gentle friend looks down at all of them. "I'm sorry…" he whispers into the silence before going limp and crashing into the floor.
A heavy moment follows in the wake of the demon's presence before being shattered by the hag's wicked laugh.
"Is that all that you have to fight me with? A half-starved demon in a box?" Despite her words and air of superiority she is obviously severely wounded.
Marious can see she's close to her end. With a swift glance around he spies Farryn and Briggsy behind a mound of flesh, both looking hurt and frightened. Yorgrim stands beside the hag, but a tentacle has grappled him and he's struggling to get free. Jericho's limp body lays at the hag's feet, no sign of life within it. And Lethica, cradled in his arms still reeling from her death. A hard stone of resolve forms itself in Marious's chest. It had to be him.
Gently he pushes Lethica away so she can lean against the wall. He locks eyes with her, drinking in her beautiful face still uncovered by her mask. "I have to end this," He nearly whispers the words, staring into her eyes, pleading with her to understand. "Will you be alright?" He had to be sure.
Lethica held his gaze and gave the shallowest of nods, "Yes, go."
A moment passes between them, with the threat of death all around they stare at each other. Then Marius stands, breaking the moment as he lifts his sword and shield into a ready position.
"That's not all we have!" he calls loudly to the Hag. "By Lathander's light I will SMITE THEE!"
Like a flash he kicks off the ground and is sprinting, with unbelievable speed and strength he flies across the battlefield and towards the hag. With a mere thought, the power of his god blazes through him and he begins to glow with the magical yellow light of the sun. A second after his sword bursts into flames, a deep blood red rose color that coats the blade. He raises the sword and for just an instant from where Lethica still sits behind him, he looks like a blazing yellow star with a rose red halo around it.
Marius swings the sword down; rage fills his heart at what this foul creature had done to the people he now loves. The light of Lathander blazes white hot as his blade cleaves her from one side of her head to the base of her opposite hip. Wherever the blade touches her skin begins to bubble and pop with holy fire.
She lets out a hideous wail. "NOOO! I could have been a daughter!"
As the fire consumes her, she explodes into heavy chunks of gore and viscera. Everything in the cavern is drenched in the sticky rotten blood of what once was Stinoga the night hag.
Marious stands in the center of the carnage, watching the fat and pus burn into nothing. His tongue flits out of his mouth to lick some of the blood off of his lips, it's foul taste a bitter perversion of Lethica's sweet, innocent life blood. Blood that this hag had spilled, life that this hag had taken for a moment. The resolution to do whatever was necessary in order to keep her safe from monsters like these forms in his chest.
Whatever. It. Takes.