"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do I do?" chants Gank, walking in place. The unconscious child on the floor continues to bleed from her arms in front of Gank. "Right, blood. I have to stop the blood," she says to herself.
Gank begins running around the room looking for anything that could help her situation. As she paces about, she licks the blood from her own claws.
J: I can see you struggling to keep your mouth shut, Mum. L: I wasn't saying anything.
"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Gank searches frantically for the salve she knows is somewhere in this room. "I know ya keep it somewhere here; ya suck at healing, mom." She spots a box sitting beside a shelf, and throws it open. "Jackpot."
The box contains potions, powdered medical herbs, and other supplies. "I'm going to get caught the next time she checks this thing." She grabs the salve and a towel and races back to the bleeding child.
J: Why didn't you grab the potion? G: You were bleeding; I was panicking. L: She was, like, fourteen.
Gank slathers it over Jevoi's arms, desperately trying not to cut her further. She then wraps the towel around the limbs and pushes gently on them. She feels the slowing rhythm of Jevoi's heart.
"I think this was how it worked. How'ya feeling?" she asks and receives no answer. "Yeah. That makes sense." She looks at the blood drying on the floor and has an idea.
Dipping her claw in the blood, Gank begins painting a magic circle around Jevoi. "It's like this, and this," she says to herself. Her claws shaking, she manages to etch the runes she knows. "Okay, okay, okay." She slaps the circle, the spirits of the cave answer the call and pulse life through Jevoi's body.
"All I have to do now is..." Gank looks at the bloody evidence still around here. She sighs.
Gank begins licking the blood off the floo-
D&J: EUAGH L: Why? G: Ya don't have room to judge me. I know where ya put your tongue. J: No, eeegh.
To repeat: Gank begins licking the blood off the floor and a primal urge rises within her. The soft meat of a helpless animal is right there. It must taste so good. A rare cut from so far away.
"No, focus." Gank throws those thoughts away and keeps at the floor.
L: So, on the topic of rituals: outside we were blessing the land.
The three geckos remain sitting around the old brick house. The empress on her conjured throne, her daughter on the conjured stool, and her mother, the wizard, on her molded dirt chair.
"So, what happened next?" asks Dalini, "What did Gank do?"
Ling tips the brim of her violet wizard hat up to eye her daughter. "Yeah," she asks in a mock tone, "Who can continue the yarn?"
Jevoi rolls her eyes, "Oh, that would be-"
"ME!" yells a specter bursting out of Jevoi's body. The ghost of a four-armed lizard woman leaps into Dalini's face.
"A GHOST!" shrieks Dalini, running out of the room, crying.
"Gank!" yells Jevoi, "You said you were going to do something cool."
"That was cool," says Gank, floating back to Jevoi, "Look."
The adults peer over to Dalini hiding behind the doorframe. The young gecko is shivering in her tattered brown dress.
"No, Gank," says Jevoi, "What would have been cool was you saying, 'Hey,' from the doorway or while sitting next to her. Walking up from the wrong angle. We've been over this."
"I saw an opportunity and I took it," says Gank, crossing all of her arms smugly.
"Gank?" asks Dalini, slowly sneaking back to the group, "You're her friend?" Dalini looks the ghastly charda up and down. "Are you dead? ...Are you my other mother?"
"Yes. Yes," Gank says with a nod, "And NO." Firm head shake. "Your mom's already told you where she is. D'ya forget?"
"Why were you in my mum?" ask Dalini.
"That's where she lives now," says Ling. She waves to Gank, "How's unlife in my daughter treating ya? Speaking of, how's the missus feel 'bout it? Sharing her wife's a**e?"
"This is not an appropriate topic," says Jevoi, raising her hands in offense, "For several reasons, Mum."
"Same old, same old, Doc. Ling," says Gank, "And that's not a problem since-"
"STOP!" says Jevoi, clamping Gank's ghost mouth shut, "We're not talking about this!" She points at Ling. "You are the worst."
"So, what happened when you beat up my mum?" asks Dalini, now on the stool again.
"Yes, continue the story," says Jevoi, sitting down, "Please, anything else, right now."
J: Let's not forget whose story this is.
The training room is much larger than Jevoi had been expecting. Numerous training targets of various sizes stand around the spacious chamber. Along the walls, several weapons (swords, axes, polearms) are kept sorted in stands. A few grindstones sit next to shelves of materials and a small forge in the corner.
Jevoi's eyes dart across the room; scanning the weapons, she finds her target: knives, daggers. Little blades that can fit in little hands. Her hands. She rushes to them and begins testing their handles. Forward, backward, reverse-grip. She has to find one that fits.
"Oh, ya're into this," says Gank with a smile, "Anything clicking?"
Jevoi stops, holding one sleek dagger in her hand. "YES," she exhales, swinging the runic blade a few times, listening to it sing as it cuts through the air, "Perfect."
"D'ya think?" asks Gank, she points to a humanoid dummy, "Go on, then. Give it a whirl."
The little gecko walks around the dummy and slices at it. The blade cleanly cuts through its soft plant-like material. Jevoi coos at the damage, but the gasps in realization.
"Don't worry," says Gank, as the dummy stitches itself back together, "Nobody'll see nothing."
Jevoi licks her eyes and stabs the dummy as many times as she can, as fast as she can. She twists the blade and begins slashing wildly into it, desperate to outpace the regeneration.
"Okay, slow down," laughs Gank as she walks up to another one, "Let me ya how the big girls do it!" Gank unfurls her claws dramatically and swipes at the dummy in a practiced concert of blows. Her four arms tear, rip, and shred it that it flops about as if it were alive. She throws in a few twirling slashes and kicks as well.
"That's not fair," says Jevoi, "You've got four arms."
"Sorry," says Gank, her tongue hanging from her mouth, "But that's why I'm a warrior and ya're just a rogue."
"Oh yeah?" says Jevoi, running back to the daggers, "I'll show you." She grabs another and racing toward another dummy.
Gank's slit eyes widen. "Woah, kid, wait, no," she steps in front of Jevoi, "If ya get hurt, I'm getting in trouble. Put that one back."
"You don't get to call me a kid," says Jevoi, she looks at her weapons, then up at Gank, "Try and take them!"
L: Trouble from day one.
The developing rational part of Gank's brain attempts to conjure a means of handling this situation. Unfortunately, the emotional threat to her ego prevents the teenager from having any ideas more complicated than, 'Take them.' Some may also claim that her species, hard-wired for a short life of constant violence, may also be a factor in this spur-of-the-moment decision, but that hypothesis's largely irrelevant when faced with the far more accepted theory:
L: Kids are so f*****g stupid.
Gank suddenly lunges at Jevoi, who reflexively holds the blades in front of her. Gank grabs onto Jevoi's wrists, but the gecko squirms and the weapons come dangerously close to the charda's face.
"Let go!" yells Gank.
"Make me!" yells Jevoi. She kicks Gank in the groin. Both girls gasp in pain and Jevoi almost loses balance.
"Why would'ya do that?" says Gank, she then kicks Jevoi right back, "How d'ya like it?"
Jevoi emits a long squeak, but continues struggling to pull her hands out of Gank's claws. Blood begins dripping down both of their arms.
Gank bends her empty hands inward and uses the back of her wrists to slap Jevoi's face and punch her in the gut. "LET!" Hit. "GO!" Slap. "OF!" Knee. "THE!" Clunk. "KNIVES!" Punch.
"Noooo," squeals Jevoi weakly. One blade hits the floor, but she her grip on the other. She shoves her bloody hand into Gank's face, feebly slapping her. "Let me go."
The last thing Jevoi hears before passing out is Gank's desperate voice repeating, "Oh s***e!"
Gash opens a portal to the edge of the cave and Gish helps him drag the trolley of salt through.
L: Once they crossed over, I had to have faith in them. That's all I could do.
"Now what?" he asks, "Do we drag it around the cave? You think there's enough salt to go the whole way."
"Probably not if we're just pouring it," says his sister, "But I've got an idea." The worms nearest to them begin oozing in their direction. "You protect the salt; I'll make the circle."
Gish draws her scimitar and channels energy through the blade. She reverses her grip and runs, dragging the blade through the ground behind her. As she races around the edge, the worms from the mass launch their bile from the sky. Gish deflects the few in her path with a small energy shield and keeps moving.
Ahead of her, more worms crawl forth to block her path with mouths wide open. Gish channels energy through her gauntlet and punches blasts of energy right into the open maws. "Get!" Fire. "Out!" Acid. "Of!" Ice. "My!" Lightning. "Way!" Sound. The energy attacks stream out from her fist and explode inside of each target, disorienting them.
L: Gish once taught me her 'Five Fist Power Punch'. D: What's that have to do with the salt? L: I just mean, I knew she could defend herself.
As she continues to run, she thinks hard. What does she have that could draw attention away from herself? ...Herself? That could be it. She reaches into her shadow, faint as it is in the dim cave, and rips it out of the wall. In an instant, her shadow multiplies and scatter about; each 'her' racing off in a different direction, leading most worms away.
The majority of the undead horde's attention remains on the tower and its defenders, witnessing the desperate flinging of spells infuriates the tallgoblin. She has to work faster, she has to BE faster. She channels more energy into her legs, Stomping up a storm, ripping through the ground, leaving a trail of flame behind her, Gish pushes herself as far as she can.
She can see her brother's position again. He swings his axe, launching cleaving waves through the cretins approaching him. More crawl over their writhing split open brothers and some attempt to burrow under them; the latter being stopped by the metal plating that has covered the ground in Gash's location. There's still enough room behind it for Gash to complete the almost-circle.
As she approaches, another worm lunges for her. She pulls a pillar of earth up into it, the force flinging it head over tail back where it came from.
Gish keeps running, dragging her blade to complete the loop. As her blade reconnects with its starting point, she stumbles, trips, and rolls along the ground.
"Gish!" yells her brother, "Are-"
"DO IT NOW!" yells Gish.
Gash stabs open the bag of salt and as the salt pours into the crack in the ground, he enchants it into a two-headed snake. The senseless salt serpents separate and slither through the scar, spreading symmetrically around the circumference. As it flows, Gash screams a forceful wail at the worms still attempting to navigate the still-living (unliving?) wall, pushing them back off.
Gish stands and opens a portal back to the tower. The duo fling themselves back through and yell, "Circle's ready, Boss!"
L: I don't how they did it, but they ran like the clappers to get it done.
Outside of the tower, the spellcasters continue to hold off the undead tide.
"Don't you have anything more offensive, Ling?" asks Oighrig, still floating, still maintaining a barrier above, and now gesturing to have her storm spider rain acid spiders onto the mass.
L: What she was attempting to do was have her acid react to the basic bile of some of the worms, but basic worm bile was pretty rare.
"Sorry," says Ling, sarcasm dripping from the word, "I was told to prepare for an ecological disaster, NOT AN UNDEAD ABOMY!"
Melandria winces, "I mean, it's both of those things..."
"Would have been great to know before I brought my daughter down here," yells Ling, conjuring a giant lemon inside of the wormsworn, "Thought it was just going to be some sick plants or the mold flood came back, but no, it's zombie wormageddon." The lemon explodes. "And then ya've got the nerve to talk about my mum."
"What is wrong with your daughter wanting to know her grandmother?" asks Melandria, her shadow arms fling several worms on the ground into the air.
"My mum's a f******g assassin, Mel," says Ling. She slaps the earth and the worms attempting to burrow under the teeth wall turn to solid stone. "She has killed a s***eton of people. Why do think she moved from the surface?"
"Is this really the right time for this?" ask Oighrig, as she and her storm spider launch bolts of lightning into the airborne worms.
"The sun'll go cold before I let my daughter go down that path!" says Ling.
L: Didn't mean that literally, but good work making it true, Jevoi. Guess I can't stop ya from living your dream now. J: At this point, assassin is a step down, but thanks so much for your permission, Mum.
"I am almost out of things to throw at this," says Oighrig, conjuring a web to trap more worms attempting to burrow.
"Mel, don't ya have another Dark Hole?" asks Ling, conjuring a phantom chef that slices, dices, and juliennes several worms.
"I'm running on empty now, too, Ling," says Melandria, her shadow arms skewering worms onto adamantine spears, "Killing the previous ones took too much out of me."
"How many of these things have you fought today!?"
"This is the fifth," says Oighrig, continuing to order her storm spider's blitz.
"Why did ya wait this late to call me?"
"I thought we could handle this," says Melandria, her shadow arms grabbing and tearing the worms open, "I wasn't expecting it to be this incessant."
"I'ma kick your sexy a**e, Mel!" yells Ling, "If it's not dead the third time ya kill it, it's not staying dead!" Gravity reverses for a group of worms and they are brought helplessly up to the phantom chef's cutting zone. "I'm going to make ya watch me destroy Oighrig."
"What did I do?" asks Oighrig, almost taking her eyes off her spider.
"No, positively!" says Ling, "Ya're doing lovely! Keep not-f*****g-up!"
"Boss, we've got the salt!" says Gish and Gash, hauling a large bag on a makeshift trolley.
"Gash, I'ma kick your a**e, too!" says Ling, pulling a book out of pouch, "I gave you one b****y job, you b******d!" She has the book turn itself to the right page. "F**k it, Gish, help your idiot brother make a salt circle around the entire cave."
"The entire cave?" asks Gish, "You cannot be serious."
"Ya heard me!" says Ling, inducing a relative increase in speed to the group, "We need to sanctify this entire place."
"Go on," says Gash, pushing Jevoi into the room, "Say 'hello.'"
Jevoi freezes; the older reptilian's eyes stare into her. Gank puts her tome down and slides off the side of the bed and slowly walks toward Jevoi.
"Hello, there, pinky," says Gank. She turns her attention to the tallgoblin, "Shouldn't you be helping your boss, old man?"
"Boss said-" Another explosion and Melandria's voice echo up the tower interrupting Gash. "On second thought, keep an eye on Ling's kid." He leans down to Jevoi and asks, "Are you going to be okay?"
Jevoi nods and Gash takes off back toward the stairs.
L: To be fair, we were just about to call him back anyway.
Gank quickly slams the door shut and turns to Jevoi. "Alright, pinky let's play a little game." She grabs the gecko by the shoulders with one set of claws and the waist with the other, and sets her on the bed. "I know your weird mom can regrow her limbs," she says with a smile. Her three rows of sharp teeth shining in the low light. "Let's see if you can do it, too." Jevoi continues to stare into Gank's eyes, transfixed. Gank hesitates. "Aren't you scared, pinky?"
Jevoi's voice squeaks out, "You're so cool."
"No fear at all," says Gank, "You're as weird as your mom."
"No, I'm not," says Jevoi, snapping out of her enamoration, "She keeps bringing women home and putting them in her bed." Jevoi looks to her side. "You put me in your bed; you're the weird one."
"I'm going to eat you," says Gank, bluntly.
"She says things like that, too," says Jevoi, equally blunt.
L: When have I ever said that.
D: You said that to that lady who needed a new arm last week.
L: That- Th- Nevermind it.
Gank pushes herself off the bed. "You're funny, pinky," she says, "What's your name?"
"I'm Jevoi." She sits up and spots Gank's tome. "What were you reading?"
"Just magic rituals," says Gank, trying to be cool and aloof, "Old man says I have to learn something here and this is the least boring thing they've got."
"Mum wants me to study magic too," says Jevoi, "But all she has is her dumb plants and animals. I want to learn blades."
An idea worms its way into Gank's brain. "Blades, huh?" she says, "I know where my 'mom'-" Airquotes. "-keeps her swords." She leans toward Jevoi with a coy smile. "Want to see them?"
"YES!" Jevoi jumps off the bed and almost into Gank's naturally armored face.
L: Reminder: I was fighting the abomy outside.
J: And?
L: I just think Dalini would like to know the other side of this.
J: Fine, make it quick.
Gash leads Jevoi up the stairs to the safest part of the tower, behind the shell of the Tarasque. Feeling her bitterness of being led away, he asks, "Who is your 'nana'?"
"You really want to know?" Jevoi's voice is sudden and loud. "Nana Ning's the coolest. She's super-fast and has all of the knives."
"Is that so?" asks Gash, looking over his shoulder, "What can she do with them?"
"She's a super sneaky acrobat and kills bad guys," says Jevoi running ahead of Gash, "I want to be just like her!" She turns back toward him. "But Mum hates Nana, she'll never let me."
"Yeah, I get it," says Gash, "My ma was against me learning magic." He manifests and twirls a knife before banishing it.
"But you did anyway?" asks Jevoi looking up into his eyes, "How did ya do it?"
Gash hesitates, but decides to answer, "My sister and I ran away from home."
L: I'ma kill him.
"But you shouldn't."
"Why not?" whines Jevoi.
"Your ma's a wizard; she'll catch you," he leans down and whispers, "So you should study all her tricks first; that way she can't catch you." He stands up and continues on as roaring and explosions occur in the distance.
L: Death threat rescinded.
Jevoi gasps, "You're really smart, Mr. Gash!"
Gash laughs, "That's why Boss Mel trusts me. Now right through here is Gank."
"Who's she?" asks Jevoi, as further explosions sound from outside.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" He opens a door, and says, "Hey, Gank, got someone for you to meet."
The bedroom's walls are decorated with stars and crescents. The plum bed is almost as big as Ling's. Lying on the bed, idly kicking her feet and reading a large tome is a teenage reptilian with a spiky armored body and four clawed arms. She's wearing a black wig with a magenta stripe in its bangs and tiny black trunks.
D: Is that why you wear that wig? J: It looks great, right?
Jevoi hides behind Gash's leg, too nervous to approach.
"What d'ya want, old man?" asks Gank. She looks up from her book. "Need me to babysit for ya?"
Melandria, the Shadow Queen, oozes out of the darkness into the sleeping town of Rankedge. The sun, what the Inner Glowians call that weird rock floating in the center of the planet, shines its light on the lands to the east. No matter how many times she sees this inner world it still unnerves her; the bending of the land into such an unnatural state.
The goblin town has recovered since last she was here, but one building is largely unchanged: Dr. Ling's brutalist brick apothecary. The placards on the side identify it as the Wizard Lizard's Pharm.; they also direct people seeking the Lizard Wizard, Lang Cantor, to the other side of town, by the Gizzard King, a local restaurant.
Melandria, as beautifully dressed as ever, takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. While she waits, she looks about the empty roads, at the the simple stone huts that line this side of town. Her mind drifts into nostalgia, only to be pried back to reality by the sound of the door unlocking.
The door creaks open and a child peers out. The little gecko, almost a miniature Ling wearing a pink smock, stares at Melandria for a second, then says, "Mum's not home." She closes the door suddenly.
J: The end. D: What that's it? J: I'm kidding. There's more.
Melandria knocks on the door again. When the little one opens it again, the darkness grabs it and holds it open.
"Let's try this again," says Melandria, "I am the Shadow Queen and I am looking for Dr. Ling, who I assume is your mother."
"Yes," says the gecko puffing out her cheeks, "She's not here."
"Then, where is she?"
"Get out of my house."
Melandria conjures her magic orb, black like all her things, to her hand. She calls Ling and hears a faint buzzing come from within the house. "Did she leave her orb here?" asks Melandria, pushing her way into the building. "Ling, I need you."
The apothecary is in a sorry state. Contraptions of various types line walls, while a cluttered counter blocks the way into the backroom. The backdoor is actually several threads of beads. A small hammock hangs near a messy dresser in the corner.
"Get out of my house," says the gecko, "You, big titty w***e."
"Child," gasps Melandria, " Where did you learn that word? You shouldn't say things like that."
"Jevoi, what's that racket?" calls a groggy voice from the backroom.
"Ling, it is I," says Melandria, "The Shadow Queen."
"Bl'ell, Mel," says Ling, audibly rummaging around the other room, "Why didn't ya just call?"
"I did," says Melandria firmly, "Several times." She enters the backroom.
The super king sized bed takes up most of the room. It's blankets are crumpled to the side and the pillows are scattered. There are a ludicrous number of shelves along the walls, most of them supporting water bottles. So many water bottles. The rest of the shelves hold an assortment of wands, amulets, scrolls, and books. There is a second door in this room with a plush alligator sitting over it.
Ling is sitting naked on the side of her bed, flicking her magic orb. "What's the problem?" she asks without taking her eyes off it, "So I can prepare."
"Ecological disaster."