//------------------------------// // Chapter forty-nine, Mountain and Molehills: Rocks. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Mount Aris, Hippogriffia, buggane den, Fortitude- We were let through the stone door which was being guarded by a large number of hippogriffs, the cage was ready and we were ready to go in and assess the danger. There were five Diamond Dogs led by a female wearing a mining cap and holding a shovel standing off to the side and drinking water from a cup while leaning on said digging implement. She watched as we entered the mountain with what looked like a frown. Flamberge pulled his sword out and lit our way as we walked down the steps, Ryu and Sweetcakes were behind me taking up the rear. “Dangerous this air, something deadly is ahead, I am quite unnerved.” Aside from being able to create gills for herself, Sweetcakes couldn’t actually take on the properties of whatever her form was shaped to look like. Currently Sweetcakes was trying for an attractive looking yellow dragoness, my brother just simply scoffed at her attempts to beguile him. Sweetcakes had the ability to mimic fire breath with her fire magic, but it would never match up to a real dragon’s fire under scrutiny. She also didn’t have the same protective scales that a real dragon does and any attack would definitely pierce her soft hide. The wings she made might work as something to glide with, otherwise they were vestigial and her dragon appearance was easy to recognize as being fake given enough time. All that and she certainly didn’t smell like a dragon. Still, she was making an honest attempt to get my brothers attention and wasn’t forcing the issue. Plus she could be a help with her abilities, hopefully Skelly didn’t mind staying behind and missing the action. Flamberge offered the use of his fishing pole to her, but told her to not to let any little sea ponies go near the fishing hook. Here we were, delving into dark depths once more, two brave Vikings, a Neighpon fighter and a kitsune in the shape of a dragon that’s shorter than my brother. There weren’t numerous monsters this time… just the one and it had a chilling effect on the surroundings the closer we got to it. Soon the steps ended and then it became rough terrain, this is where the Diamond Dogs stopped working and the chill in the air was worsening by the second. Not too far from this point we saw our quarry come into view, its gaze was already upon us as soon as we were in sight of it. Its orange lamp like eyes narrowed and stared at us with a calculating gaze, I’m quite sure that we could all tell this was no rabid beast. The intelligence in its eyes was far too telling, we were certainly in for a bad time if this thing was as smart as the hippogriffs thought it was. “So we passed by the area they are going to set up the fountain in, they want to fill this whole area with water so that sea ponies can come and go at will! We’re right where they want to place that emergency flushing system would be aren’t we?!” Flamberge didn’t take his eyes off the monster once and neither did the rest of us. “What are the chances that this creature can swim and even if we did try to flood it out, it’d attack the hippogriffs to spite them?” “Pretty good.” Ryu stated calmly as he stared into those watching eyes without fear, the closer we got the more defined the creature became. It was large, estimate to be about ten to twelve feet tall, standing on its hind legs and seemed quite capable of bipedal motion. It flexed the four long blades that were its claws on its left limb and waited patiently for us to do something as the chill in the air got worse. Flamberge was the first of us to make a move, he inhaled and spat a fireball at the creature. This Buggane thing didn’t move and the fireball quickly dissipated before it could even reach its target. While the fireball didn’t do much it provided us with a few new bits of information. It had tusks in various angles sticking out of its mouth to gore and rip things apart with. Its nose was stubbed and looked to have been covered in long since dried flaking blood above its massive teeth incisors, its thick black coarse mane shimmered in the light of the dying fireball. The rumpled skin looked to be as thick and hardy as one would see on an elephant. The cold sense of dread continued to permeate the air, one that was actually physically there considering it just snuffed out the fireball Flamberge spat at it. The creature was inherently unsettling in how still it stood. Aside from unnerving us greatly, I’m sure we’d find out what it could truly do soon enough. I lifted my shield in front of me and held myself firm, even as I did this I didn’t think we were ready for this creature despite the time we had to prepare for the coming fight as it studied us. I was a proud yak shield bearer and with Sekhet as my possible witness, I would protect my friends and family while driving the darkness from this very deep hole they were going to fill with water afterwards. -Glassing Grove, Sekhet- I stopped my studying of the area for a moment and looked to the sky. I had been quite busy untangling the various magic Jaded left here that warped the area. The area wouldn’t change, but I would eventually get the magic flowing freely around here. It was disturbing how many dark artifacts were destroyed in this one spot and yet none of it could corrupt the Sun Priestess Jaded in the slightest. “Fortitude, you are a loyal and true friend. You are also as strong as you smell, in heart, body and mind.” That he even asked me to be his patron goddess was a bit out there, but I could feel him offering me a prayer. I held it close to my chest, he was keeping me humble just by remembering my motto. “I don’t think you really need my help mortal, of the fantastically fragrant variety, but you should always remember one thing if I’m to continue being your patron.” -Mount Aris, Hippogriffia, buggane den, Fortitude- Souls are sacred, even the bad ones. The destruction or tearing of one’s soul is a horrible thing. A bad soul just needed a little bit of cleaning like the one in front of me obviously did, to be fair even good souls get cleaned too. I wonder if I’m still allowed into Yakhalla despite following a goddess outside my culture. The creature obviously didn’t bathe and it was competing with me in the smell department. There was the horrid stench of evil upon it, it was not comparable to my smells of justice! “Are you going in Flamberge?” My brother nodded and took one step forward. Immediately his flaming sword started to flicker weakly, this wasn’t exactly a good sign to see. “I’ll be going next.” Ryu whispered. Sweetcakes would be bringing up the rear, even if she didn’t seem like she was going to be helpful in a fight. She had healing powers, whereas I’m thinking her fire and shapeshifting abilities weren’t quite as helpful. My brother started to move forward and picked up speed in his approach to the monster while taking a strong grip on his sword, it looked like he was going to try some kind of new technique. I turned to Ryu with an important question. “Can you even do that glow thing you do before a fight right now?” If I was correct we were going to have problems because three of us were primarily fire focused entities. “Hmm… I understand and will see to your concerns.” Hopping and stomping his hooves, Ryu started to glow orange and then the glow faded out within seconds. “This… is very bad.” “What’s bad?” We heard a crashing noised and various chunks of large rock fell from the ceiling. Looking back towards where my brother was, I could see the sparking sword of fire trying to stay strong under this unseen building pressure. The arm holding the sword in a death grip dangled from where my brother was painfully embedded into the ceiling. The mole monster, this buggane, wasn’t scratched in the slightest. It was even grinning at my brother’s current discomfort, it was enjoying his suffering. Like any yak, I got angry at the creature for taking enjoyment in its actions and the suffering of others. “I can’t heat up or ignite.” Ryu glared at the monster. “The aura that creature puts off is strong enough to stop me from heating up, but it doesn’t deny me my natural strength… though my blows will suffer somewhat without the boost heating up gives me.” “Sweetcakes can you help get my brother out of the ceiling?” The fake yellow dragon nodded to me and then started to claw her way up the wall towards the hole Flamberge was embedded in. Ryu started forward to face the buggane in the dim flickering light from above and I followed closely behind him. He wasn’t going to fight it bare hoofed and at a disadvantage, at least not alone and without me supporting him. The buggane waited for the longma to make his first move, Ryu did so by pickup up small rock and then he chucked it into one of the monsters eyes. The most the rock did was made it wince as its right eye was hit, otherwise it didn’t even blink as it continued to stare as Ryu charged for it and launched a flying kick with his rear hooves. After Ryu bounced off the beast’s chest doing some minor damage and causing it to waver backwards slightly, it then tried to slam all its sword like claws down right on top of Ryu. I immediately lunged forward and took the blow to my new shield to be pushed back a bit. It raise its right claw and I moved back into position and planted the shield, even Ryu getting to his feet to help me brace for it did not stop the impact from knocking us back. This thing surpassed a Draugr in raw strength, I didn’t think something like that was possible. The shield was at least proving its durability as it took the blows quite easily, I however was shaken. Its eyes narrowed on me and Ryu, it turned its head slightly to Sweetcakes busy prying Flamberge out of the ceiling. It turned back to us and tried to prepare a swipe only for Ryu to land a flurry of blows on the monster, the damage was minimal and it didn’t stop the monster from performing his swipe. I tried to block it, only it stopped mid swipe. With impressive agility for a evil mole that moved in a mostly bipedal fashion, it jumped to the side and stabbed its claws into my shoulder before I could reposition the shield. My new shield was good, but it was a bit heavy and I had yet to get used to it in an actual combat situation. There was also the fact that this was a deceptively fast beast and it swung its other claws for my side and created a shallow gash as I staggered away from it. I turned to it and then kicked off the ground with my shield held out for it, I caught it in the chin and knocked it onto its back. I tried to bash it again, only for it to roll over and dig into the ground faster than a diamond dog could and disappeared. Within a second it shot up out of the ground spiraling towards Ryu. He rolled out of the way and only for Flamberge and Sweetcakes to fall on top of him. Ryu was accidentally knocked senseless. “I suggest we make a tactical retreat!” Flamberge groaned out, he had a large bruise on his head and chin. He was shivering with unnatural fright, Sweetcakes looked like she would bolt any second and would take Flamberge with her. “Agreed, I’ll bring up the rear.” I blocked the lunging left claw coming at me and then his right angled around the shield to stab my face. Pushing the shield upwards knocked it off balance and then I rammed its belly harshly sending it backwards. Even Ryu broke out in a cold sweat as he stumbled up toward the entrance of the place. I started backing away and back up the stairs. This first encounter had not gone well and something was very wrong with us retreating from it. It launched constant attacks against me as I continued to back away. Once we got close to the entrance, the creature stopped its assault and went back to waiting for someone else to approach it. It was eyeing us as we backed out of the gate. It wasn’t until this point that I realized that an unnatural fear took a hold of me as well as it had everyone else. Ryu was the least effected, but he still chose to flee. -Hippogriffa Outdoor Bar, Sweetcakes- “A weird fear took hold, we were not exactly bold, what will stop that cold?” I had never felt a fear of dread like that before. Kitsune were powerful… I am now unnerved by a number of things outside of Neighpon and the world at large. Still… I didn’t let my fear make me abandon Flamberge or the others. “Good question Sweets, that creature sucked all the warmth from the air and gives off this large sense of dread!” Flamberge shivered. “Not only that, it’s physically strong enough to possibly match an Ursa Minor. It blocked my sword with its claws and slammed into the ceiling before I even knew what was happening to me!” “My fan may help us, the magical wind is strong, need help to prepare.” With a twist of my body, I went from a dragon to my normal self with one of my tails holding the Tengu Fan coyly in front of my face. I hadn’t needed to use it since I acquired it from the Cat and Hawk. “Get me close to it, the wind magic takes some time, I won’t last alone.” “It’s a sound idea as any, we will try tomorrow” Agreeing with Fortitude, the fear was making me feel like I wouldn’t be able to go in there again with that maiming monster. “That effect persists?! We need to learn to resist. Cowardice controls us!” I shivered even now and Ryu started to pet me with a warm burning hoof, it made the fear go away and my courage return. “Hmm… hopefully the tengu fan will at least weaken that powerful aura somewhat.” Ryu didn’t show fear, but the fact that he even sweated at all would probably have Dodgy laughing at him. While Ryu and Blade would stay in a residence in Hippogriffia this relatively fine evening, we went down to the beach to see a giant sand castle and a curled up skeleton in it sleep peacefully. The boat was within the sand castles walls and the skeletal pony looked kind of adorable with the way one of her legs kicked and she hugged her scarf in her sleep. We didn’t disturb her slumber.