Prickly

  Fergus is having a rge payday soon, or at least he better have. The dwarves that gave him the package were incredibly rude, ahe usual barrage of insults dwarves reserve for elves his way. Loading the shipment on the armored carriage was easy enough, and the rge bull-like creatures that pull it are deceptively quick. Fergus may favor pnts over animals as an elf, but he appreciate the human taming abilities as of now. His party that protects this caravan sists of two brothers who use long spears and teamwork to keep things at bay, a currently depressed priest, a runaway noble from Ri who bines feng skills with magid lizard-kin assassin from gods know where, who also happens to be their sole female teammate. Fergus himself wields a bow like many elves, but he see the reason why Malencia is buying a rge shipment of guns when he is forced to shoot at his enemies in the dark.

  "Fergus! Six ing from ahead!" Fergus shoots a few arrows ahead of them, just because their bulls charge through the enemies doesn't mean they afford for them to slow down, not now.

  "Good callout!" The screams of the creatures seem to intensify as their wicked bodies bee visible uhe ntern-light of the carriage. It's night outside, and the creature's oily carapace bees visible uhe faint light as the carriage rushes past. Cws of some metallic substance, and it chitters in the dark if their rear is correct. Walks-the-moon, or Walks as she's called by her teammates, has always had good night vision, and currently her skills are best put to use spotting for her team.

  "Jules! Bst our pursuers! Aim to distahem! How are the Bretti brothers?" Jules nods, and zily throws a fireball behind them. These creatures are certainly dangerous, but their affinity for the dark leaves them easily hurt by bright light. The fireball doesn't eveo hit for the shrieking to intensify and the things chasing them to back off in fear. Bram and Beluscie Brettie wipe the sweat from their brows, they had been posted in the back of the carriage and the eide of creatures finally seem to relent, they aplished what aire squad of spearmen wouldn't have been able to aplish by holding those things back.

  "We're good! No wounds here, so it looks like Father De Vries will have it easy!" De Vries is their priest who for safety reasons is located within the carriage with the guns, he's not the greatest batant, but his excellent healing capabilities are bined with the generally slippery man to make an annoying threat otlefield none would want to deal with.

  "Good! Let's try to keep it that way!" Hope begins to bubble within Fergus, as the unnatural dark that pgued their st enter begins to lift. They exit from the trees, ahe moons shining above them. There's plenty of light thanks to the moons, and that forest should not have been as dark as it was.

  Their enviro shifts from a dark forest to ft terrain, hope melts off their faces as they get to see their foes thanks to the immense light, crude imitations of flesh charge at their wagon, aiming for their steeds. Fergus and Jules attack the ining creatures, needing to keep them away from their lifeline. If the bulls fall, they will be stranded here. At first, it seems that the Bretti brothers and Walks won't be of much use here, until the brothers leap from the back of the caravan unto the bulls, and begin using the bulls as a new defeform. Their faith in whoever tamed the creatures is great, but the bulls have still built up wounds from disgusting things.

  "Walks! Get De Vries over here! We hose bulls in top dition!" Walks-the-moon throws a hasty mock-salute, before doing some impressive acrobatic stunt to ehe moving carriage.

  Walks ehe carriage, ahe depressed priest watg out of the window. There isn't much to see there other than ugly looking creatures getting shot in the face by the people on top of the carriage. De Vries doesn't seem like he sees them, even while looking at them.

  "What have we doo cause this?" De Vries looks saddened by the state of the world.

  "The gods work in mysterious ways, now get topside, you bum. Fergus needs you to save our ride out of here." Walks knows they don't have time for aential when their existence is actively being threatened by things that will probably eat them at the very least.

  "It wasn't the gods..." De Vries keeps muttering, but doesn't waste time as he climbs out of the carriage towards the bulls, the Bretti brothers are doing an admirable job deterring the flesh-creatures, as it seems that they somehow have a better survival instinct than the night-creatures. De Vries mutters some more as he heals the bulls, who find a road to charge over, the poor cows have been charging non-stop for a while now, but it seems they will have to go on for a while longer.

  Fergus was now seeing why that odd-looking emplave them so many stamina potions, the bulls are in an endless sprint and the party 't afford to slow down, so that means no sleep either. It wasn't this bad orip over here, but there were certainly signs. Up ahead is the most visible sign, and the predicted greatest obstacle. The terrain itself here is made of flesh, not pletely uhe skinless creatures of the pins, but certainly simir. The grass has a red veiure, while the trees here... have skin.

  The entire party gets ready for the onsught, only for it not to e. Their treck through the flesh-ridden forest is only interrupted by a light from the distano, a glow. It's right on track from their exit, and there they see mutated animals throwing themselves at a group of demons, who are cag maniacally as they burhing around them. her party seems ied in the caravan. They are left pletely stumped as they see the lights of civilization in the distance.

  "Gods... someone... anyone... what the fuck is happening?" Fergus colpses oop of the carriage clutg at his heart. Caravan duty is usually the most b part of any adventurer's job, and his team had to plough through at least four different forces capable of causing serious damage to a city alohe only reason they made it through was the sheer inexperience half of those monsters had with anized resistance, and the other half was too busy killing each other.

  *K*

  A massive bolt ing from the city pins pears to be a mutated bear to the ground, it was surprisingly silent while charging at the carriage. On the wall Fergus sees his salvation in the form of their employer, a massive mermaid wielding something far te to be a crossbow. She's been around on the occasion dealing with the tent incursions of creatures, and the local taverns have started pg bets reted to her. The most popur of bets is usually started by the more depressed alcoholics, a bet oher the monster incursion will win or Malencia's monster will.

  Fergus isn't a betting man, but if he was, he knows where he would put his money.

  Prickly