Heroica RPG - Quest #79: Fading Spark

[Kintobor]

"First you insult me, then you ask me to leave the forest? Why should I take your advice? As far as I know, your lot could've set up an ambush. Give me one good reason to believe you."

[Endgame]

The groans, as if frustrated by the party's incompetance. How he saw it, at any rate...

"You don't get it, do you? I am an Oculoid, Witch. Born to strike fear into the hearts of humans and drive them to madness, corrupting and possessing everything I touch. I could pry into each and every one of your many insecurities - all of you, such unstable beings! I could lecture you on your inferior appearance, dig up your worst memories and force you to relive them, reveal to you that your boyfriend is an absolute maniac who loves you only out of desperation. I could haunt the Raider of memories of his past, and the necromancer is doing a plenty good job of torturing himself to begin with. I could break you. All of you. And my brethren will try, before killing you outright. You've taken my mercy gracefully enough, heroes, so take my warning as well: get the hell out of this forest, and live whatever amount of your meaningless lives you have left. Because it won't be long before they're over, especially if you linger here."

Edited August 17, 2013 by Endgame

[Kintobor]

"Are we done with this thing, or can I stab it repeatedly? I really feel like having calamari tonight."

Karie patience was through with the Oculoid. She would rather see this thing on a skewer over a fire than roaming about the woods.

[Endgame]

"...You're still not goin to listen, are you. Was it the boyfriend comment, or the physique one? Either way, your eventual fate just makes no difference. You're going to die either way, so might as well just shishkebab the demon, eh?"

[Kintobor]

Karie swings Sexy about before returning the comment to the Oculoid. It was still startling in appearance, but she'd been through worse. She just had to hold everything back...

"I suppose it was a mixture of the two."

But she couldn't. Karie violently rushes forward and repeatedly skewers the Oculoid with Sexy.

[Endgame]

Karie goes in a ballistic fit, rushing the already wounded Oculoid, stabbing him repeadetly through the eye. The inky creature falls to the ground as the rapier plunges through its bodty again and again, venomous ink spurting out of every thrust of the sword. Karie pulls back after violently stabbing the oculoid almost a dozen times, the demon now just a bubbling mass of plasm. The glow of its eye dims and flickers, and it stagger sna d struggle sot get aloft even in inch. Blobs of plasm fall off from the wounded beast, some tentacles even gone from the creature. One more stab would kill it.

"Heh... heh heh... You'd only stab me that many times if it was true... And you know it, don't you, Karie? You wouldn't be angry otherwise... Allllll true... Heh heh heh...

Now, gentlemen. Any last words for me before your gallant leader scoops out my retina?"

Edited August 17, 2013 by Endgame

[K-Nut]

Althior attempts to stop Karie's repeated stabbing, but it is no use. As she finishes, he looks at the Oculoid. "Enjoy hell," He spits on it.

Edited August 17, 2013 by K-Nut

[Endgame]

It would seem the Oculoid required one more stab to kill it.

"Heh... I'll be seeing... you folks there too, I suppose."

[Endgame]

QM Note: You just have to deal the fatal blow to the Oculoid, and then you can continue digging. The key is in a space adjacent to D6.

[Bricksandparts]

"Get out of our sights if you value your life at all." Johon says, pointing his sword at the glob.

[Endgame]

"And betray... what I was made to do? Not likely. Two oculoids will probably take my place soon enough - in the grand scheme of things, I am useless. Do your worst, Raider!"

[K-Nut]

"Enough of this," Althior thrusts his scepter into the eye of the Oculoid, twisting it. "Let's just find this damn key and get the hell out of here,"

[Endgame]

With its eyes shattered, it gives one more malignant look to the party before the Oculoid dies. With its eye gone the beast is reduced to black plasm, now just an inky blotch on the turf. It begins to dissolve, the gelatinous mass soon fading away to nothing. The demon was dead.

Which spot will the party dig up next?

[Bricksandparts]

C6, then D7, then E6 (unless something stops us first)

[Endgame]

C and E 6 give no results, Johon simply succeeding in scooping up a small mound of dirt. Howeve,r his shovel clunks on something while digging up D7 - getting down to his knees and sorting through the excavated dirt, he finds an old silver key, caked in dirt - the spare key to Taurost! Picking up the key and wiping off any spare bits of plasm from the Oculoid that might've gotten on it, the part heads Northwest, back to the locked gate. Jack, Jill, and Geoffrey perk up upon their appearance, their eyes instantly darting to the key they held.

"The... key!"

"You three are heroes - thanks a ton!"

The irony occurs to you that you never actually identified yourself as heroes of Heroica.

"Thank you, Althior, Johon, Karie. We can get to the bottom of this because of your efforts - I hope retrieving this old thing wasn't too hard."

The party hands the key over to Geoffrey. The older man goes over to the sturdy gate, slotting the key in. With a twist and a click, the door swings open, granting the six people entry to Taurost after a handful of trials.

"Let use see what is going awry in our little settlement..."

The six travel down a short wooden path, only walking for a couple of minutes before arriving in a clearing. A well stands front and center, looking pristine and better than new - whoever this Mr. Cour was, he knew his way around things like that. Hooked fish sit on a rack to the side, four people sitting around a campfire in the corner of the clearing. They hear the footsteps of the six coming towards them, sitting up at a brisk pace. menacingly, the nord among them picks up his axe as the four people approach the party. They regard the heroes with mere curiosity, but seem hostile to Jack, Jill, and Geoffrey. The conversation gets heated, fast.

"Back with friends, you three?"

"Yes, thanks to them we managged to un-evict ourselves - and we demand an explanation!"

"That's odd, lad; Because we demand one as well!"

"What are you blabbering on about, Erick? Were you among the people who threw us out?"

"We all were, you demon summoners!"

"Demon summoners... What?! I have no idea what you're talking about? What is going on here?"

"Don't even bother lying, Geoffrey! We know that it was you who summoned that demon to our woods!"

What was going on here?!

[K-Nut]

"Sorry, hello!" Althior scoots past his party and the other three. "Hello there, I'm Althior Emorith, Dragonslayer, Hero of Heroica. This demon you speak of, when did it start appearing, and what does it look like? My companions and I may be able to help,"

[Endgame]

"Well then, "hero", you can help by showing these three the gate they came through, at the very least. We don't need their kind here."

"What are you talking about, Margaret?!"

"You may have managed to fool these heroes for maybe a minute or two, but I witnessed it, Jack. You, Jill and Geoffrey... You were in your cabin, summoning a yellow-eyed demon! I exited as soon as I saw it, went back to my hut to get something to knock you out, and rallied the rest of the villagers. By the time we knocked you out cold and threw you out, that disgusting, inky thing was already running amuck in the forest.

"It must've been that Giant Scorpion you fought, heroes."

"Margaret, Erick, Silver, Seymour... Have you all gone mad?"

"Demons? What?! I had no clue about any demons, let alone brining one here!"

It seems the heroes would have to choose who to believe...

[Bricksandparts]

"How can we believe either of you? For all we know this entire thing could be a setup to get us tangled in this mess."

[Endgame]

"What reason would we have to lie?"

[K-Nut]

"Tell me, sir. How exactly did you know we fought a giant scorpion? We haven't even mentioned the encounter..."

[Bricksandparts]

"And how can we possibly trust you? I just said why you might be lying..."

[Endgame]

"Tell me, sir. How exactly did you know we fought a giant scorpion? We haven't even mentioned the encounter..."

Seymour recoils as Althior points out the flaw in his words, at a lost for them. In his consternation his eyes flash red momentarily...

"...!"

And with that one logical slip, the charade is shattered. "Silver" and "Erick" stare at their comrade silently, dissapointment in their eyes. Only Margaret speaks, her eyes glowing pink like Jack, Jill, and Geoffrey described... Her voice is calm and collected, but underneath were sinister tones that showed the word's true meaning.

"And our tactical advantage, shattered in a single sentence."

"Sir, I'm sorry, I -"

"I do not need to hear your pathetic whining, Red. You're far more likely to give me a headache than to gain any mercy from me with that. And you'd think you'd be adept by now, considering this is yet another resounding failure to add to your alarmingly poor track record."

"..."

"Silence. Perhaps you do have a few brain cells in you, Red - a wise decision. Now, let us review your sad past. First, you quite nearly crush an entire battalion on duty while carrying a piece of the Citadel. Next, a single day after securing the trust needed to enter my squad, you ruined the entire Ciretako operation in the course of 15 minutes. That incident has not been forgotten by the Master, nor by me. And, rest assured, Red, the Master doesn't blame me nor your comrades for that fiasco."

"...*gulp*."

Margaret was practically showing an aura of pitch balck at this point, every word causing it to amplify and gorw more and more visible. Having whatever demon was inhabiting you mad at you might as well as been signing your own death warrant.

"I hope you understand me here, Red. I was this close to personally tearing out your retina and recycling your plasm, so a being that is at least partially compotent could use the resources your puny mind is so happily wasting. The Master even gave me the clearance on the operation, you know. But against all better judgement, I chose to spare you. And yet.... Here we are. You compromising us yet again due to your own staggering idiocy.

Your oppurtunity to save your sorry self is fleeting, Red. I expect you to give it your all in this upcoming battle. And if you fail - or your "all" isn't enough, which I suspect it is - I will personally run you through for good, Red. And I'm sure I'll have The Master's blessing while doing it."

"Red" stammers nervously, terrified of his superiors' wrath.

"Y-yes, s-sir..."

Margaret straightens her posture and leans away from "her" lackey, looking satisfied with "her" subordinate's answer.

"Very good, Red. Do not fail me."

Edited August 18, 2013 by Endgame

[Bricksandparts]

Johon rushes over to Erick, dodging any attacks he tries and wrenches his axe out of his hand before throwing it as far as he can away.

"Stun them!" Johon shouts to Althior. "Help me take these imposters down Karie! Remember you're training!" Johon says attempting to kick Erick away.

[K-Nut]

"Oh I love it when people think they can outsmart me. I find it remarkable how stupid demons can be," He pulls out his scepter, "Now, let us begin..." His somewhat comical expression melts away to one of pure seriousness, "How long have you been here? Oh, don't think that you can outwit us and win. We've already beaten one of your kind without breaking a sweat, Oculoid's." He watches Johon try and take charge, "Quiet you fool!" He grabs Johon by the shoulder and pulls him back with great force. He throws his gloved finger in the Raider's face. "Just, wait."

"Ooo! Can I grab one of those fish? I've always wanted to fish slap someone!"

"Not now, Finnegan! But anyways," He turns to Margaret, "You're the Oculoid Alchemist they were speaking of, weren't you? You should know I hate Alchemists. Always trying to find logical reasoning to ethereal manipulation. Just can't grasp the fact that people are born with a gift..."

Edited August 18, 2013 by K-Nut

[Bricksandparts]

Johon whispers to Althior "We can't kill these people, they have lives outside of this, and this isn't their doing. I'll try and find a way to fix this."