Brann sailed ever closer to Everlight. He took a pair of binoculars from a minion to inspect the island before landing, Gnarl provided his usual commentary as he did.
"Everlight is where elves go when they get sick and tired of the world." Brann then focused his binoculars, only to get an eye full of imperials getting wasted on the dance floor.
"It is rumored to be an island paradise, where elves go to meditate and be spiritually one with nature."
"Well, it looks like your information is a little out of date. The empire has turned the place into a fuck hut from what I can see." Brann then turned to his view to find a good place to land, only to land his eyes onto something more enticing. An imperial woman surrounded by soldiers, all of whom were blatantly ogling her, and she was loving the attention.
"Ah, yes. Everlight has some wonderfully stimulating examples of natural splendor!" Gnarl said in as perverted a way as he possibly could have.
"Brann! Eyes on the road!"
"YES, SINDRA!" Brann then turned his view, only to find something much fouler. A giant spider firing web at the Nightmare, dragging it onto the rocks before Brann had any time to react.
"FUCK MY LIF-" Brann screamed as he was smacked onto his ass by a crashing wave.
...
Brann walked out of the ocean, his mood entirely soured by his recent experience.
"Welp, it's official. I'm not too fond of the water. Gnarl, girls, anyone read me?" Brann could not hear the usual voices in his head. Typically, such news would be good, but he just led one of those exciting lives where that was a bad thing.
"Well fuck. It looks like I'm going solo." It did not take Brann long before he found something tangled up in spider web. Taring the web open, he found a minion.
"Thank you, Masta!"
"Hopefully, you're not the only survivor. Let's go look for the others." Brann then led his little expedition deeper into the jungles of Everlight, fighting spiders the size of wolves and rescuing minions. Soon enough, a Netherworld gate popped up, and the connection to the others was active.
"There you are! I knew you'd make it! Apologies, sire, we lost your signal for a while there. Glad to see you're not dead! Now, head for the gate Grubby set up for you!."
"On my way." Brann then began to trek his way through the jungle, rescuing more minions and squishing spiders along the way. Even getting to stick some elves as well, confirming in his mind that they were in league with the spiders. As he made his merry way through the hot, humid elven hellscape, he came across an obese elven woman in an equally funny hat.
"These females are the height of elven beauty. They force-feed themselves to look like their Mother Goddess deity. Hell of a wobble these ladies have... Hell of a wobble!" Gnarl said in as lustful a tone as he could ever muster, making Brann so turned off that he thought for a moment about self-castration.
"Hello, madam. Don't mind us, just passing through."
"You interrupt the feeding!" The fat ass elf said as she used magic to jump onto a pedestal, and summon spiders to kill Brann.
"OK, WE'RE DOING THIS!" He yelled as he killed spider after spider. He then moved to attack the large woman, but she used magic to avoid his attacks.
"My body is a temple!"
"It's certainly big enough to be one!" Brann then landed the finishing blow, slicing open the blubbery mass from crown to crotch. He then moved on from his kill, finding his way to the Netherworld gate. He rebuilt his minion horde and moved out, locating a stone wall emitting a green cloud.
"You won't be getting past those poison barriers with regular minions. You need greens. And if that Luna wench was telling the truth, they should be around here somewhere. Go deeper into the jungle, sire, and see if you can sniff them out."
"Normally, I would point out that we have rockets that could do the job just fine. But I might as well go look for the greens anyhow." Brann then collected the forge stone that was just lying around for some reason, before moving across a small lake to the deeper jungle. What he found shook him to the very core of his being. It was a bear, but with black and white splotches all over it. The horror of it was how sickeningly cute it was.
"By my scales, what kinda teddy-shaped monster is this? I've never seen anything like it... Even in the lands around the old tower! Ewww, it's just so fluffy... It's repulsive... MY EYES! MY EYES!" Gnarl screamed, echoing the fear and dread the fluffy beast sparked in Brann's own heart. Kelda seemed to have a much different reaction.
"What fabulous fur that beast has. I bet it would look better on me, though!" Without saying a single word, Brann turned and ran from the piebald bear beast. He slashed his way through the bamboo to escape, angering the monster. Another charged in from the side to attack, making a rather feminine scream come from Brann's mouth.
"OH, DEAR LORD, THERE'S MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE THINGS!?" Brann then ran as fast as he could away from the fur monster as fast as he could. When he was sure that the nightmare monster was no longer chasing him, he composed himself again.
"When I get back to the tower, I'll just tell everyone it was an epic fight and that I won."
"Oh, sweetie, we saw everything~." Sindra's voice echoed in Brann's mind, soon followed by chores of hysterical laughter from everyone he knew and loved. Brann slumped as he walked alone in shame until he stumbled upon his query. Some green minions were interacting with a woman in empire robes.
"Look, greens! Ah, I've almost missed their smell! Hmmm, look there, sire. At least they don't seem foolish enough to try and attack you. Must be a fan!"
"Unlikely, but I've learned never to dismiss anything outright." Brann walked up to gather his minions, only to find that one of the hell bears was in his way. Fear once more gripped his heart, the snickering of his so-called friends and lovers rolling in his mind as it was clear how to get past the beast. He just wouldn't like it. He then slashed his way through some bamboo, igniting rage in the monster as it chased him. Brann screamed and waved his arms as he ran around, outwitting the beat and making it give up the hunt.
"Perhaps the greens can subdue the beast with their stealth attack!" Brann nodded. It was time he be the one to inspire fear. He noticed that the monster's back was turned, its last mistake, all it took was three greens to bring it down. He then took care of all the other ones for good measure, laughing as they died. After killing the beast that would still haunt his nightmares, Brann and his stinking horde moved on. Soon finding themselves in a place where two more of the fat elven harlots were chanting and feeding.
"Remove yourself from this sacred place!"
"If you were half as pretty as you think you look, you would be talking about your ass right about now!" Brann sent a magical bolt at one's face and willed his minions to mob the other one. As they commenced the attack, a massive swarm of spiders came to defend the blubber buts. It was a challenge, but Brann defeated them in short order. After slaying the elven women, he fought his way through some stragglers, both spiders, and sanctuary soldiers, back around to the Netherworld gate. After clearing some walls, he found something rather shocking, another spell stone.
"Amazing what people will just leave laying around." When Brann brought the spell stone back to the Netherworld gate, Gnarl was kind enough to explain what it could do.
"Ah, you've found the halo spell, sire. You can use that to buff your minions, or turn yourself into a ticking bomb of magical energy!"
"I'm sure that will come in handy later. For now, let us get going." Brann said as he willed his minions to clear the path. The green lead then led him deeper into the jungle.
...
The Last Sanctuary, the name alone made Luna's case, but apparently Fay still didn't see it that way. Luna walked into her mentor and friend's throne room, ready to make her case yet again.
"Queen Fay, I am honored that you have accepted this audience."
"You should be thanking me for much more than that. After what you pulled, the advisory council wanded you imprisoned at the least."
"I am thankful for your continued mercy, despite how much it strains you, both politically and emotionally."
"By the Goddess Luna, this is not an official meeting. You can drop the gracious queen bit." Luna rolled her eyes as she walked up to the thone. Despite how familiar she had become with Fay, there was still protocol for how one queen talked to another.
"If you wish for me to cut to the chase, so be it. You're a fool for not reaching out to the Overlord for aid against the empire. And those sycophants on the advisory council can eat cock for all I care." Fay moved her hand to her face, groaning as her friend said such things, even if it was still in her civil tone.
"Luna, you directed that psychopath to Everlight. We were already having enough trouble on that front without adding more enemies to the mix!"
"He wouldn't be another enemy if you didn't order your forces to attack him! We were losing the island long before you decided to attack the reinforcements!" Both women locked eyes, their friendship having been strained by this disagreement, now close to ending.
"Luna... Have I not humored you enough? Minotaurs, harpys, centaurs, and trolls. Drunks, cannibals, and rapists I have let into our Sanctuary on the grounds that you could keep them in line. That was hard enough, but the Overlord... The very champion of evil on the mortal plane... You ask us to bend too far!"
"Have the refugees from the Heartlands not added our forces? Have they not proven their worth to our cause? What makes him different?"
"Because, when your collection of monsters finally steps out of line, we can take care of them. But the Overlord, the moment he senses weakness, were dead."
"Look, I'm going to break it down for you in simple terms. We, are, losing, this, war! I know we can't trust the Overlord, but I have been keeping an eye on him. The worst that can happen if he turns on us in enslavement. The empire is not even close to as merciful. We can get our enemies to kill each other, Fay. Then when we have dealt with one, the other will be weak enough to finish off." Fay got up from her throne and walked over to Luna, laying a hand on her shoulder and looking into her eyes.
"Dear Luna... You have been through so much already. I can see why your past tragedy would cloud your judgment, but to side with the lesser of two evil's is still siding with evil."
"So what are you saying, Fay? That it is more important to hold to our principles than save lives? That the death of every man, woman, and child under your protection is preferable to getting your hands dirty!?" The compassion faded from Fay's eyes, rage being all Luna could see in them now.
"Mind your words, Luna. I have been keeping my eyes on the Overlord as well, and I've seen what he has done to my people he captured. The men enslaved, the women made whores, and the children conscripted into his demonic army! Are you telling me that existence would be better than death? Because I'm not certain it is."
"That fate is not guaranteed! We can still manipulate him into a position we could gain from. Allying with the Overlord is not a death sentence. It is the only hope we have left of getting out of this alive." Both women were tired of this struggle, tired of fighting, but both knew that they were the ones in the right.
"I will take my leave of you then, have a good night, Fay."
"You as well, Luna." The queen of Evernight then walked to her chambers, she knew why Fay acted the way she did, but she also knew that if they were to stop their extinction, they needed to act fast. She had just gotten into her room when a harpy landed on her balcony. The creature had the face and head of a woman but the body of a vaulter three times bigger than average.
"The minions are leading the Overlord to the empire death camp, just as you had foreseen, my queen."
"Thank you. You have proven a voluble servent. It will be hours before he reaches the temple. Ensure he has reinforcements when he gets there, gather any volunteers from the Evernight forces that are willing."
"It will be done, your grace!" The harpy then flapped off, and Luna only hopped that her gamble would pay off. They didn't have much to lose, but it was still more than they could afford to lose.