Martini tittered at Riley's suggestion of suitors swarming around outside her shop. "Oh please, darling, you're exaggerating," she flicked her hand dismissively. "I mean sometimes there are one or two, or rather there usually are but-"
While Marti gushed, Brandu was busy trying to hold back from facepalming at Song and Avian's little argument, if it could even be called that. It was more akin to what one would see between two children- he would be sure to check the contents of Song's flask in the future.
Riley seemed to have given up on making sense of the mermaid's ramblings turned to Brandy, who had dragged Song away from Avian and was currently making sure the item hunter didn't trip over a vine and skewer himself on an errant branch somewhere. He blinked at her, tilting his head in thought.
"He's met many Nobodies without question, but as for juicy details... You'll have to ask him." He poked the drunken Song with a sigh. "Does him getting inebriated before fighting witches count as a story of some kind?"
"I kissed a frog once! It was squishy!" Songbird hollered, shaking his fist at the skies as several birds were startled out of their roosts by his loud voice. Avian blushed at having received both Ace and Riley's attentions, but he had to correct an assumption of theirs.
"I wasn't named after a bird! I mean... My name doesn't mean
bird bird, it means
dragon bird! You know, because I grew up in Aven," He gestured with his hands while speaking as if to punctuate his words. The soldier seemed pretty riled up at his name being mistaken for some petty fowl, although there really wasn't much difference. It was his creator's fault for not thinking up a creative name. She was probably a preadolescent weeabo when she first thought him up.
They arrived on the site and the Lost Souls brought their guards up. Avian moved on to the middle of the group while Songbird blearily looked at the surroundings. As the item hunter was searching through his pouch Leon approached him and asked a question. The nobody fished out an icky brown stick and bit half of it off, cracking sounds coming from his jaw as he chomped down on the substance. "Don't think so. Never looked for witches in the first place," He finally replied. This time, his speech seemed more coherent and he didn't look as dazed as he was earlier. Looks like that little stick was a medicine of sorts.
Harper inquired if anybody had ideas where the dragon would be hidden and Avian raised an eyebrow. "I don't have any idea. You don't hide dragons where I'm from," He replied with his arms crossed over his chest. "Snowflake, this is your expertise, isn't it? You tell them where to search," The dragoon turned towards Songbird and directed the attention to him instead. While he was waiting for the other nobody to respond, Avian felt someone approach him from his blind spot and immediately reoriented himself, only to face a human. Inadi started slinging a few questions that made the soldier stiffen up, as if he was nipicking details from a mission directive.
"Well, first of all... There is only one type of witch. A human told me that you have black and white witches in your games, but here it's just magic users and witches. When you say "witch", all everyone will think about are those evil old ladies. They're the worst," He scowled. "Asides from that, they live only in the deepest bowels of the Dark Side so there's only a few things we know about them, but I'm sure they don't absorb magic. Temeraire, that dragon from before, was my cousin's companion. They encountered a witch once and the only reason they escaped was because one of my cousin's spells hit the hag on the face," The dragoon sighed before shaking his head.
"Hey beefcake, go with the cleric. This group's the strongish one," The item hunter rolled his eyes before Avian glanced up, nodded and then trekked after Jasper and Ace. If that group ran into trouble, it would be a big hassle for everyone.
Brandy and Martini watched Jasper, Ace, and Avian slowly make their way towards the run down hut, the latter having fallen silent when the stone came into sight. The bunny was also quiet, frowning as he stared at the hut. He had a hunch that what they were looking for would indeed be inside the building- perhaps in some sort of basement. Even juvenile dragons could fly, and it would be hard to keep them in any kind of cage if they didn't want to be there.
So where were the guards? The witches surely wouldn't leave prisoners just like that. He tugged at one of his ears, disliking the unnerving silence. Martini had gone back to clinging to Lesley, wincing as the sound of the door creaking open scratched through the silence.
"I- I guess we wait for them to... Huh?" A rustle behind them made the mermaid turn in fright, giving a small shriek when some small and furry shot out of the bushes. "Ahaha, it was nothing... Thank goodness." Martini pressed a hand against her chest, sighing in relief.
Brandu was less relieved, peering into the darkness of the forest. The rat almost seemed like it was running from something-
CRASH!He swore loudly, tackling Song and another human down as something crashed through the group, narrowly avoiding being hit by whatever it was.
Meanwhile, Avian caught up to Jasper and Ace, the former of which was now in front of the cabin door. He grimaced at the rickety porch, more so at the darkness skulking inside the dubious one-room building, and told the two girls to stay behind him. The uneasy atmosphere was heightened by the fact that the cabin was nestled in a darker part of the area, with the gnarled branches and thorny vines snaking along the walls as if the wilderness had claimed the rundown structure eons ago.
Ace provided them with the smallest light source she could make as Avian opened the door. The aged wood swung open with an ominous creak and blurry outlines and shapes met their eyes. The soldier already had his weapons unsheathed and he was looking around, bewildered by something. Tiny portions of the room were revealed as she swung her light to and fro in an attempt to show them what they were dealing with. There wasn't anything in here, but the dragoon's instincts were screaming. Was it just him or was there something
bubbling in the rafters? He tilted his head up and squinted at the shadowy ceiling, but even with Ace's light near there wasn't anything in there to be seen.
Still...
"Let's leave," As Avian turned around to see if they had left the door open,
something dropped down from above, landing but a meter from the trio. The sound of squelching and bubbling liquid intensified and the figure slowly became visible from its rotting feet, protruding waist and massive torso to its stump of a head. Viscous pus ran in rivulets down its bloated body, and the creature staggered from side to side as it reached for the Lost Souls and their guide.
Thankfully the monster was as slow as it was big, so they had enough time to turn towards the exit."A magic cloak. That was why I couldn't see anything!" The soldier hissed as he covered for Jasper and Ace, crossing his blades over his face when the zombie spat out a glob of....
"Agh!" Avian snarled as he wrung his right hand up and down. Steam rose from his wristguard, and when he stayed still long enough the humans could see that a part of his armor had melted off, and the skin where some of the suspicious liquid had splashed was burning a warm red. "Don't let that hit you! Come on, you two, let's get out of this.... !?" When the dragoon turned towards the duo his eyes glanced on something happening outside the cabin.
Something that may just be worse than the one they were escaping from right now.
The unicorn-esque monster skidded to a halt, clods of dirt and grass crumbling beneath its sharp hooves as it turned to stare at the fearful group of humans and Nobodies, yellow eyes surveying the group before it tossed its limp mane, lips pulling back to reveal sharp teeth in a grin. A sound, somewhere between a whinny and a cackle rose from its throat as various foul smelling liquids oozed from the wounds and festers on its belly.
Brandy took a step back, tome open in one hand and fireball forming in the other while Martini gripped her trident tightly.
"Unicorns are pure beings," he muttered as he glared at the beast. "How could one have been corrupted like this? Where would the witches have gotten their hands on one in the first place?" The rabbit gritted his teeth tightly, not liking what this meant for them nor what it said about the witch they would have to face.
That's nasty. Songbird's face was twisted in an expression of disgust at the undead unicorn's appearance, and when he saw that his groupmates were getting ready he assumed a fight-or-run stance too. That is, of course, before muffled squeaks burst from within his bag and two fluff balls poked their head out. It was the fuchsia and orange duo he had brought along on the SSF, Fluffy and Stuffy. Upon zoning in on the threat they immediately bounced out and up the item hunter's arms, snaking up and around his limbs until both fluffs were perched across each other on his hat. Funny, they looked more like weapons instead of pets this time around.
"What do we do, then?" Songbird shook his head at the sudden appearance of his beloved babies, but it was hardly the time to focus on that.
