Jimmez awoke to a heavy sting to the cheek. He could feel his head spinning and had trouble focusing due to the pain in his head. His vision was a soft blur and for a second he thought an angel had revived him.

"WAKE UP!", shouted Sammy , and slapped Jimmez hard to the face again.

The young demon hunter held his hand up as a sign of mercy and painfully scrambled to his feet. They were in an alley, well and away from the Porlock's Menagerie. He could see both Lally and the small long furred creature staring at him hopefully . Sammy's chain coiffed face was streaked with tears as he sighed relief . Then in a move that shocked Jimmez he gave the shorter boy a most unwelcome hug. Despite his wooziness , Jimmez pushed the taller boy away from the embrace.

"What's with the hugs and the tears ? Are you queer or some sort of crybaby or something ? ", Jimmez snorted ignoring the pain . He touched his head and felt a nasty bruise on his forehead.

"I just rescued, you ungrateful wretch. Is this how you repay me? " scolded Sammy in disbelief.

Jimmez wasn't sure what his rival's problem was, but he dismissed it as simply first time battle nerve jitters. "I guess my plan worked eh? The creature was knocked unbalanced and fell to the ground, thus giving you a chance to escape. ", he grinned proudly.

Sammy sighed but nodded. "Yes , the creature overextended itself when it clocked you so to speak. I push from the rear was all it took for it to crash to the ground. It struggled to rise again, but by that time we made good our escape. Your plan worked perfectly except for the part that it clocked you in the melon.", he snickered.

Jimmez nodded and wondered why the taller Sammy seemed so disjointed from the whole affair. He expected him to brag about how he rescued him , but no boasting of that sort came. Instead he sensed a genuine worry from the taller boy. Jimmez wasn't sure how to react to that. Since he left the Barony of Veb to apprentice under Martinez he made few friends that were of his age. Truth be told , even when he was in the barony he had few companions or playmates . Jimmez didn't consider himself a loner, but circumstances always seemed to force him into solitude. From working long hours at Baroness Stille's keep to training under his current formidable masters, Jimmez had little time to form any lasting friendships. Even when he met Sammy, who was most likely similar to age to him, he had an easier time accepting him as a rival rather than an ally. Now after that harrowing experience against the mechanical guard, could the two be considered friends now? He heard from Raoul and Sir Jose, that battle often had a way of forging unlikely alliances and lasting bonds, was this such a case? Even though it was his idea that had bought Sammy enough time to escape, the taller boy did take the time to rescue him as well. Was that act enough to consider him a friend? He admitted he was a bit jealous of the taller boy in many respects, even though his skin was darker than his own, he had a clear complexion rather than Jimmez's muddy one. Height was also a big factor, since Jimmez had known the scorn for being a runt all his life. Finally the fact that Sammy was given armor and weapons seemed to piss Jimmez off the most. The young demon hunter had faced off against everything from stirges to ogres and was still not allowed to carry anything more than a dagger around. He was sure Sammy was allowed to play guard simply to keep him out of trouble, but the entire notion seemed so unfair. Jimmez knew Sammy wasn't a bad guy , and most of the faults that he had found in him wasn't his fault, but was this enough to make them friends? Espeically after knowing him a few scant hours?

"Thanks…for saving me. ", blurted Jimmez suddenly. He wasn't sure why he said it , but when he did it felt right.

Sammy smiled and attempted to hug him once again, but Jimmez took a step back and evaded his grasp. "Look , no hugging ok?", he demanded once again. He could accept the taller boy's friendship, but not his hugs.

"Ok. ", laughed Sammy lightly. "That's enough excitement for the night I think. Let's get Lally home before my shift starts. ", stated the taller boy .

Jimmez agreed. Sammy was definitely an oddball, but the young demon hunter admitted he enjoyed his company. Martinez told him once that you can pick your acquaintances, but you can never really pick your true friends. Jimmez never really understood that statement till now.

Sir Jose could not understand the emotions he felt as he rode on Greenpaw with the Baroness holding on tightly at his waist . Now for some reason he felt a strong desire for her that he never knew he was capable of.

He always regarded the Baroness as an ally, a beautiful ally but that was all. Despite his Lord Rollo's objections, Jose had courted many pretty girls in secret during his training as a knight. The charismatic was no stranger to the attentions of a fair damsel, but unlike Martinez he often kept his many trysts discreet. The Baroness was quite lovely , but there was something about her, beyond her generous physical characteristics, that he found alluring . Of all his companions she was the most aloof and distant from him. Martinez was an old friend, while Raoul was a drinking buddy. The Baroness on the other hand was someone he didn't see or associate with unless they were on the trail of a demon. Ironically, from his talks with Raoul he knew she herself had some fiendish heritage of some sort. He assumed that her mutation or taint was simply her odd color haired, but he suspected she might have had a patch of scales or perhaps some other unsightly blight she kept hidden. Despite the fact he was a demon hunter and she was a tiefling, he never held that against her . After all , one of his Order's most important past Champions was a tiefling . It had always been one of his Order's tenets to judge people by their actions rather than their appearance.

As an adventurer he had a high opinion of her skill. Jose always respected her healing ability , it was not earth shattering power she possessed, but her skill in restoration was quite remarkable. She was more competent than most priests in skill at arms and he knew what she was capable of in combat, but tonight was the first time they had fought back to back in a desperate situation together. He always knew she wouldn't flee if things got rough, but it was reassuring to see her stick by his side when things got desperate.

Although the Baroness often claimed to be a minor noble adopted by humble parents, the information he gleaned from Admiral Edmund and Sardar Milan was quite eye opening. Apparently she was the daughter of the "The Warmaster ". "THE WARMASTER", he corrected himself. A hero so famous, that even in his home land of North Darokin they had heard and were inspired by him. She was also quite famous in her own right it seems, the Sardar had heard of her exploits from far off Vinnraj. Sir Jose wondered if she was truly that humble or simply enjoying some private joke at everyone's expense. From Martinez's constant attentions to her, he guessed his cocky friend either knew or suspected this as well. The paladin admitted that he was a bit dense sometimes, and he wondered why he couldn't see past the Baroness's seemingly harmless deception.

Jose pondered why his feelings for this woman had changed so drastically tonight. Did he somehow like being deceived? Did the danger of battle brought out hidden desires that he wasn't aware of ? Was he star struck by her famous heritage?

No, he corrected himself. That wasn't it. Maybe it was the fact that they both hailed from the bottom strata of society, yet despite this they managed to rise somewhat to a respectable level. He could respect that even as an orphaned tiefling she somehow made something of herself. A lot of course had to do with her father, but Jose knew her strong will helped as well. It was quite an accomplishment for her, but was it a feat that could bring out his desire for her? Somehow he was smitten with her during the battle with the Rakshasa back at the inn. He wasn't sure how or why it happened, but it just did. He knew he was unworthy of such a noblewoman's attentions, but it grated on his mind , especially since she was holding on to his waist so tight at that moment. He regretted dancing the forbidden dance with her earlier, but the temptation was too great given the circumstance and opportunity presented to him.

"Near the harbor in a hidden alley by the old bricked tailor shop….that's not exactly accurate directions. ", commented Sir Jose as he attempted to make talk to distract himself.

"No it isn't. Believe it or not, I know many of the tailors in town. There are not that many in the harbor, but I suspect it won't take long to find them?", replied Stille scandalously close to his ear.

Jose's hairs on his neck stood on end, as he felt his hot blooded North Darokin impulses demand that he exact a kiss from her. "I assume you have a spell to locate them?", he asked calmly despite his passions.

"Not quite. I suspect that either Greenpaw catches their scent, Raoul catches our scent, or most likely we just follow the signs of battle . I suspect the third option, since Matinez and Raoul aren't exactly known for their restraint.", she laughed merrily.

Jose's desire spiked at her mirth. Even though he heard her laugh before, mostly at Martinez's antics rather than with him, it never had the effect it was having now. Sir Jose however was a disciplined knight and forced himself again into a calm state. "Aye, Martinez is a good hunter, but restraint isn't one of his virtues."

The pair fell silent as they reached the harbor. As expected Greenpaw caught the trail of either Raoul or Martinez and was swiftly tracking them down. Though the half giant and duelist took pains to hide or mask their smell, Greenpaw was quite familiar with their scents . Eventually they reached a bricked tailor shop , opposite an odd looking pool of blood that seemed to be flowing from an unremarkable wall.

"I think we found our friend's handiwork. ", declared Sir Jose. Battle was at hand, he was able to push aside his other emotions in preparation for it. The knight easily hopped off his large War Husky and offered his hand to the Baroness to aid her dismount.

Stille took his hand and smiled directly at Jose . Despite his resolution to ignore his emotions for her , the knight felt his knees go momentarily weak. "I like a man who can show restraint. ", she said, commenting on his earlier remark, with an alluring impish smile.

The pygmy hairless mammoth spirit showed no restraint as it bellowed as it charged the trio. A drug dazed slave was trampled underfoot even as the demon hunters scrambled to evade it. Martinez flipped to the side, while Raoul seemed to blink out of existence. The Ivory Lady seemed eager to test her might , and she grew to over twelve fell tall to challenge it.

The creature slammed into her, even as she attempted to grab its tusks. The self admitted frost giant seemed to hold it for a second, but the still larger spirit would not be denied . It gored her in the stomach with one tusk and threw her to the side of the room .

Several more slaves were struck by the hurtling giant, but they seemed more battered than crushed.

"Are you ok Ivory Lady? ", asked Raoul as he blinked back into existence next to her. The Ivory Lady clutched her side, and nodded. The blow would have skewered anyone else, but her ornate blue gold armor had held. Blood still trickled from her side, but Raoul knew it could have been much worse.

"Call me Ivy please. ", she grunted as the half giant helped her back to her feet. Even though he was only a mere seven feet tall, the half giant's frame was powerfully built, and he easily hefted the twelve foot tall frost giant back to her feet.

At the other side of the room, Martinez was busy evading and dodging his foe. Occasionally his daggers would flash towards it but curiously they bounced off the pygmy hairless mammoth's spirits hide.

"It has a stone skin spell or something akin to that up. ", commented the duelist as he dodged a two handed strike from the monster. The duelist cartwheeled over some cushions and landed next to a pretty youthful looking elven slave with distinct pale skin and red hair. The duelist smiled graciously at her, but suddenly it shifted into a fox headed spirit and pounced on him with teeth and claws. The duelist grabbed one of her paws, and twisted it painfully behind her back, as he danced and weaved away from her bite. The creature howled in fury , but Martinez swiftly released it as its much bigger cousin swept a fist at him. The duelist broke contact quickly and tumbled to the opposite side of the room where the arch was initially destroyed.

"There might be more Rakshasa hidden amongst the slaves.", Martinez shouted to the two giants as he continued his evasive dance.

"This incense makes it hard to sniff them out. ", shouted Raoul in return. Instead of readying his force staff the half giant instead opted for his blessed spear. It looked small and out of place in his hands, but it should suffice in this battle. He doubt he would be able to set up Martinez so he could sneak attack their foes, so he might as well make each strike count.

"I'll handle the slaves, till I recover a bit. ", coughed Ivy. She then turned her attention to a cluster of them , and surrounded them with a circular wall of ice. She repeated this process a few times, till the slaves were all secure.

Raoul attempted to charge the larger spirit, but the revealed fox woman intercepted him. She drew two curved machetes and spun them menacingly , as if to challenge him. The half giant saw his boss was in trouble and attempted to push past her to aid him. She easily evaded his rush, and slipped to his side, slashing him once for the effort. Raoul knew that he wouldn't be able to slip by her so easily so he turned his attention towards her with a sweep with his spear. The half giant had some skill with the spear, but he handled the weapon more like a pointed staff. The fox creature easily blocked it with one of her curved knives and attempted another slash at the half giant with her free weapon. Raoul leaned back just in time and the pair broke off their exchange, if only temporarily.

The larger spirit swung again at the duelist, but he missed by mere inches as the man scuttled away. The duelist lashed out with his dagger once again, but the creature's twice enchanted skin easily deflected it. Martinez saw that his allies were currently of no use to him in this battle. The hairless mammoth man was too great for him to fight directly, and too fast for him to escape from. Although he was successful in dodging its attacks, Martinez knew it was only a matter of time before he was caught and hammered.

"Use an adamant tipped bolt. ", grunted Raoul as he circled the fox snarling fox woman.

"I would if I had time to reload one, ….", grunted Martinez as once again he was forced to dodge . " It's on me like ugly on orcs, stink on goblins, and stupid on giants. ", chuckled the duelist .

Just as the battle seemed to swing towards the Rakshasa's , a barrier of ice formed around Raoul's lithe opponent. The silhouette of the fox woman growled again and it appeared she was going to dispel it but she was intercepted by the large shadow of a tall woman. Raoul tipped his head in thanks, before turning his attention back to his boss's foe.

The hairless mammoth spirit attempted to charge Martinez , like it had tried earlier, but this time Raoul intercepted it. He did not try to meet it head on like Ivy, but instead slammed it mid charge into its side. The room shook from the impact, and the large spirit veered slightly to the side, allowing the duelist time to slip away , while the creature crashed clumsily into the wall.

"That frost giant is quite remarkable…we don't meet too many giant women on our travels, you two should hook up. ", joked Martinez, as the two demon hunters regrouped .

"Chronological she's around my age, but physiologically she's like 16 or 17 in human years. We giants frown upon those kind of pairings. That's the type of stuff that gets you exiled from the tribe. ", snorted Raoul bluntly.

"What? Something wrong with dating younger women? I do it all the time, it hasn't hurt my reputation . For the record, I love teenage girls! I keep getting older, they stay the same age. ", declared Martinez in genuine surprise as he got into position.

Raoul simply snorted again to prove his point, as he moved in for the kill.

"We need to take down his stone skin, before we take this creature out. ", noted the duelist in a more serious tone.

Raoul grunted at his suggestion and pointed to his barren neck. Martinez shook his head, but the half giant pointed again . With a sigh, Martinez grabbed his own necklace and palmed it into his hand.

At that moment the hairless mammoth had extradited itself out of the wall. Raoul then jabbed it with his spear with all his might. It was a powerful blow that seemed to penetrate even the creature's enchantment. The large Rakshasa spirit returned the attack with a goring blow with its tusk. Raoul's psychic inner strength was already pushed to its limits, and he could not stop it from piercing its shoulder. The creature pushed the half giant to the ground, when suddenly its color turned from straight stone grey, to a more natural greyish black. Martinez stood atop the creature, balancing on its back while pressing something onto its skin. After the creature's protection seem to have faded, the duelist dived and rolled towards its rear flank.

That was the signal that Raoul expected, and the half giant grabbed hold of the creature's monstrous tusks. The spirit had the advantage in leverage and strength over the relatively small half giant, and prepared to gore him again, but its lapse in concentration and the slight restriction of its movements was all the duelist needed. Martinez landed two blows to its neck with his daggers, swiftly slid them out to once again stab the creature's right ear, and slashed the other along its back. He released the dagger embedded in its ear, to force with two hands his remaining dagger between the vertebrae of its spine. For good measure, the duelist nimbly ran up the dieing creature again, and flicked out his hidden arbalest. Though they weren't adamant bolts they were blessed and he assumed the creature's protection was gone. He fired both bolts point blank into the monster's head before he flipped backwards away from it . The large black creature trumpeted in pain before it wobbled and collapsed to the ground. Raoul easily rolled away and looked pleased at the result, but Martinez sighed as he noted his newly replace Stone of Almarth necklace had once again shrank from its usage.

With the main threat vanquished the demon hunters turned their attention to the Ivory Lady. Before the pair could assist their new ally, Raoul held out his hand and pointed up the stairs they had entered from. Martinez's hearing was good for a human, but was nowhere near as good as his half giant retainer's. The duelist struggled to hear anything, then he noted the sounds of footsteps from above.

"Ivy? Are you ok? ", shouted Martinez as he and his companion braced for another wave of attackers. Despite the fatigue of the long battle, the pair were game for more violence.

"I'm fine . The fox headed Rakshasa escaped though. ", responded a muffled voice behind the ice wall.

Martinez pointed at Raoul and indicated where he wanted him to position himself. Raoul promptly went to one side of the stairs while Maritnez waited before it. Raoul knew it would better if their positions would be reversed, but he also knew Martinez had a flair for the dramatic.

"I've vanquished your hairless mammoth, and scattered the rest of your spirits. Come face me! " , declared Martinez defiantly.

"It's called an elephant! ", responded the muffled voice from behind the ice wall.

Rajah Mogombo slammed the militia man into the wall. The blow broke his back as he gurgled and die before the Rakshasa lord. Mogombo took great pleasure at the fear , pain, and suffering of those dying and dead from his wrath. He had suffered enough indignities in this city . The attack on his home was the last straw. If he was to be denied, then he would exact revenge on these human cattle before he made his escape.

If he failed today, he wasn't sure where he would be able to get another virgin heart from the Royal Line of Nashput, but he put those thoughts aside as he reveled in violence and bloodshed.

A patrol of militia had attempted to stop his rampage, but Mogombo simply released a bolt of lightning into their midst. Whomever wasn't killed outright, the Rakshasa lord was taking great pleasure in torturing them to death.

"Hail Mogombo!", shouted a subordinate as he attempted to distract his lord who seemed gripped In madness. Unlike his transformed lord, he was still in his silken robes pretending to be a human.

"You dare interrupt my entertainment!", roared the Rakshasa lord. "You better speak, and pray to our dark gods that your message is worth it."

The subordinate Rakshasa gulped . "The Ivory Lady was spotted assaulting our lair. ", he said meekly.

Mogombo stopped his carnage and smiled. "The Ivory Lady is here and in my lair ? Great gods, maybe something good can come of this. My old foe is talented, but doesn't realize my whole court is here. Even she can not withstand our combined might. Send everyone, including our thralls and make sure she doesn't live !", the Rakshasa lord declared with a bit of mirth back in his speech.

Mogombo knew it was folly to act so openly, but at this point he didn't care. His best course of action was to escape this cesspool of a city , and hope his minions destroy one of his most hated enemies. Most of his court would either perish form the Ivory Lady , or more likely the city guard , but that was acceptable to the Rakshasa lord. If he was to be denied his ability to transform into a greater state, than his soldiers should be denied the right to live. If they somehow survived, they would be absolved of their failure, but if they died ….well incompetence has a price. Regardless of the outcome, the only thing worthwhile in his lair, the black scroll, could be summoned if he so desired.

The subordinate knew the nature of his lord's plan but bowed and proceeded to gather the troops. Better to die by humans, then death by his lord, he most likely thought. Mogombo's wrath was legendary and was to be avoided . The last time he vented in such a state, was when he failed in Barkwark ten years ago. He burned down the manor and a good chunk of the town in his rage that night.

Suddenly Mogombo stopped. The fire in Barkwark so many years ago, and the smell of his young prey that night. The mists clouding his memory were suddenly dispelled as he recognized the strange scent that had been troubling him for most of the night. He sniffed the air again, and confirmed his suspicions. The hunt wasn't over, it had just begun! He vowed they would not escape again. Though most of his troops had already been committed to hunting the Ivory Lady, he still had his magic if more soldiers were needed. The Rakshasa lord's own personal power was formidable enough and he roared into the night as a challenge to his foes.