Session 16: The Brood Mother and the Iron Maiden Arc 2

After a hard-fought battle, the fog of war and the adrenaline started to dissipate inside the warehouse, but danger still lurked in that desolate place.

Botas, hanging by a single hand to the collapsing floorboards, felt his remaining strength wavering, forsaking him after such a ferocious display of despair-fueled heroics. He fell from the second floor, landing back first on the pile of rubble blocking the front entrance to the building. The sound of the impact echoed for all to ear, and the feathered soldier laid motionless and broken, as his life started slowly creeping away from him.

The rest of the adventurers took quick action: Rhyia attended to the wounded, Valsali ran to fetch his magic chest to place the wounded inside and Cats and Minerva ran to the second floor as fast as they could, intending to retrieve the sensitive documents they came for.

Rhyia climbed a pile of rubble before she could reach Rufus, his body still laid spread in the same place where he was struck down by a bolt of radiant flames, his fur now singed all over. As the she Elf reached her comrade, her exhaustion finally was made felt. With her body now frail, and her magic nearly drained, she decided to heal the warlock manually.

Cats and Minerva climbed to the second floor, but their path was now in ruins. In order to reach the other side, they would have to jump from gap to gap, and so, in a mighty display of athletics, the mighty minotaur warrior fumbled the jump and came falling down right beside Rhyia and an unconscious Rufus. Such misfortune was short lived however, since she landed right next to the dark sword of the crimson knight, now adorned with glowing cracks along the blade, imbued with the radiant flames that plagued them all throughout the battle.

Cats was luckier, for the bloodhunter was still holding on to her beastly shape. With unnatural agility, she leaped graciously until she reached the remains of the office. She searched for the documents but to no avail, for little remained of the room she standed in.

Valsali returned from the basement, Rhyia was having difficulty staunching the gaping wound on Rufus chest, and Minerva went to rescue the now passed out Botas, but with each passing moment it was becoming more evident that the building was starting to give out.

Cicie leaped and crawled up to the office, aiding Cats in her search, while Rufus being finally stabilized, and was not so carefully put inside Valsali´s chest, whereas Minerva tended to her companion´s wounds utilizing an old family recipe, licking the wounds until they got better. Despite the inexistence of scientific evidence proving the effectiveness of such treatment, added with the fact that her patience remained unresponsive to said treatment for the longest time, in an unexpected twist of fate, Botas´s breath returns to a steady pace, and so, into the chest another goes.

After some difficulties, Ciice and Cats manage to find and open a safe hidden behind a portrait of the late Marta. With the documents and a generous amount of gold in their possession, the party wasted no time in running back to the basement, leaving the building the same way they came in.

The warehouse fell in itself, causing great commotion outside, as a wave of people, civilians and guards alike took interest in finding what had caused such a tragedy. The adventurous tried to blend into the crowd, but no amount of chaos could possibly conceive the presence of such strong personalities as Valsali or Cats. Naturally it didn’t take much time for a chase to ensue, which lead our adventurous to the poorer and shadier sides of Duskmire. Where once there was a purposeful arrangement of buildings, an organized layout bathed in the aroma of sea breeze and fish—now stood a wild jungle of black marble, roped bridges, and jagged rooftops, cramped over each other. For now, they found themselves in the desolate farming district.

Reaching the dilapidated houses that decorated this new landscape, they soon found what seemed to be a crop field of sorts, and beyond on the horizon, far away, a towering mansion, seemingly forsaken. They entered the fields, still with guards hot on their tail, but strangely, none of the rooks dared to step into the crops. Our adventurous soon figured why...

Hidden by the crops, there was what seemed to be a giant spider net, made of a metallic wire instead of webs. None dare to touch hit, but Minerva tested her surroundings, ripping a crop and throwing it to the net, but not much had occurred, for the crop didn’t get stuck to it, simply bounced off, slightly cut by the wire, as much as one would expect.

What did surprise them was that they were now hearing movements coming from within the field, slowly approaching them. Quick witted, Valsali proposed to reach for the houses instead, using his magic to create movement in the field, attracting the attention of the guards who remained just at its edge. The group of adventurers fled into the urban jungle, running into a dark alley. What little lights emanated from the open windows were quickly snuffed out and the shutters closed as the group approached. And yet, our heroes where not completely short on company, for from between the buildings they had passed through, they could still see the edge of the field, being disturbed by movement. Slowly from the leaves, a child in a black short uniform came out, softly speaking “Hello? Is anyone there? I heeeaaaarrrdd yoouuuuu…”

To wounded to take any risks, the party opted to hide from this suspicious child, seeking shelter in an abandoned building. They found one without a front door, a straight and tall structure. They reached the second floor and hid inside a bath and a bedroom that were side by side. They heard the child on the ground floor, creeping into the house, looking for them “Are we playing hide and seek?” He stopped for a moment, and all the adventurous ear was the sound of metal wires being stretched out and tied together… ”No matter, I will fiiind yoouuu…”

Rhyia saw the child skittering off into the dark alleyway, and with regained relief, the party chose to rest and recollect their thoughts. Inside the house they discussed the plan. Naithis, the shady merchant that proposed this job, was very secretive regarding whom they would deliver these documents to, all they knew was that they would need to venture deep into the farming district, the poorest most desolate rejoins, only then would someone find them and escort them to where they would need to go. Furthermore, they also came to conclude that traveling through the rooftops could prove to be a safer option. And so, as the night settled in, they ventured deep and high into the broken district, bathed in the sickly green dim light they eyes had started to become accustomed to. But there was another light, brighter, more isolated, and for some, more familiar, for where once was once Drodak´s Warehouse now laid a beacon of light, three golden threads protruded from the ground and floated high and mighty into the air.

They advanced further into the district, spotting a cut of section of land, an amalgamation of decrepit makeshift buildings, forming what seemed to be a colossal hivelike structure. Unfortunately, their presence didn´t remain unnoticed. The sound of a hundred skittering legs crawling approached with speed and it had ground into deafening. An arm reached the top of a roof, then another, and a leg, and soon did the child reveal himself once more. “I told you I would find you” he said, “Mother will be pleased”. As he finished his sentence, his back arched back, his limbs rip open by the middle with a violent tearing sound, leaving behind eight gory legs. The Child´s face now upside down, smiles one last time, only to twist to the side to open his mouth in an unnatural manner. Its jaws separate beyond the humanly possible, flesh rends and blood gushes out, leaving behind a maw of broken bone and teeth.

Its brethren approached from all sides, silking their webs in the gaps among the buildings, circling and surrounding the party. They ran, as fast and desperately as they could, hoping that in reaching the structure ahead, they could find salvation. With a wave of spiders behind them, they made waves of their own to stop the creatures, using a magical jug to push back or drown their pursuers. This gained them some time, enough to reach the edge of the strange building, segregated from the rest of the district. But they were stopped before reaching the Gap, as a loud bang crashed the roof ahead of them. A long leg of amalgamated flesh clawed over the building, then another, then six more… They now gazed at the Brood Mother.

The image before them was one of a towering woman in a Victorian black dress and a white ball mask, with her several legs now concealed by a veil of feather´s and dark leather, giving the elusion of an elongated skirt, a twisted perception of elegance being cringed on by another twisted soul.

Botas feathers ruffled as a sense of familiarity struck him. The monster in his nightmares was not a coincidence, but a premonition, now coming into being right in front of him. And as suspected, this creature didn’t possess but one shell.

The towering monster stayed still as an echoed of a woman started walking from her and closer to our heroes. The eco materialized in similarity to Drodak, but unlike him, these two sides of the same coin didn´t seem to share physical space.

Now walked towards them her human side, but little remained of human in her, for her black tethered dress and her long black locks could not hide the metallic sound of her metallic dark legs and right arm as she walked towards them. “You have grown bold!!” Her rough voice boomed with anger “But now that you have stuck out you neck far to out, the worms come crawling back to their hole once more…I will never forgive you for what you´ve done”

Before our adventurous had time to explain the misunderstanding that seamed afoot, the conversation was cut short, as the spider materialized for a moment, its human torso missing her right arm was now replaced with the decrepit corpse of a child attached to her legs, holding a wooden violin close to her shoulder in her stead, while the remaining limb held the bow.

Metal webs sprung from the instrument, creating a wall of sharp wire between her and the intruders, as her symphony of sorrow and wrath was displayed for them, a final act of kindness, a soothing melody to accompany their extinction.

A moment later came the iron maiden, precise and cold like a viper, but moving gracefully throw the wire like a swan, her metal feet locked like clockwork in Pointe, dancing towards Rhyia, launching towards her prey with a magnificent Sauté. One moment there was elegance, smoothness, a butterfly, then came the sting of the bee, as she pulled back her prosthesis, the blackened mineral began glowing brightly. Each piece of her arm compressed into one another, when suddenly…Bam!! Shot like a piston, the arm hit a vicious punch in the druid’s gut, sending her body flying off the roof.

All tried reaching her to no avail, until a mysterious figure in black robes and a crimson mantle pushed against her to stop her fall. Without a word, he threw a small pot against the wall of webs, breaking and leaving a wave of flames in its place. The grenade startled the spiders, including the two-faced monster, giving them enough time to run and jump the gap into the hive like building.

“Kept you waiting?” Asked the man before unbuckling a belt full of grenades and tossing hit against the abandoned building in front of them, engulfing it in flames.

“Sorry for the lousy introduction, comes with the job im afraid”. “Who are you? Were you sent by Naithis” Valsali asks. “I know you must have questions, but these is not the place to discuss such sensitive things. Rest assured you are in the right place, now please, follow me, I will take you somewhere more hospitable”

The party is guided by the hooded man into a maze of mangled houses, avoiding various fire traps, and finally reaching the heart of the structure, an under-underground lair, an irregular structure stitched together, a group of wooden towers connected by rope and bridge, chaotically entertaining, but blooming with life and the excitement of hundreds of people living within it, most of which dressed in similar red robes.

“Sorry for the secrecy” the man spoke “but I hope you can understand. My name is Variel, spy and scout by trade, so keep it between the family, and this…is the Worm´s Den…Welcome to the Scarlet Worms”.