Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

Joanne blinked. What was that?

"Uh, Emil, you're good with words," Jerry glanced at the bard, "Talk to it."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil nodded. "Right..." He raised his voice to avoid getting too close. "Ah, excuse me. We're not looking for a fight if one can be avoided. Are you corrupt or are you sane?"

There was a pause before the centaur peeked around the corner. "Corrupt or sane by what definition?"

"Ah... Corrupt being tainted by this place's curse. Sane being the opposite."

"Mmm.... No, I am protected from this place's influence."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Are you hostile?", Joanne demanded.

 

[Fangs9090]

The centaur flicked an equine ear. "That depends. Are you?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"That depends on you," Jerry called, "You gonna give us trouble or not?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Only if I have to. Honestly, I'd rather not. I've had enough trouble just getting to this point, and there's probably more up ahead."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Good," Jerry nodded. "You got a name?"

 

[Fangs9090]

The centaur nodded as she stepped back into sight. "I am Corona, Paladin of Chaos."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well, Corona," Jerry gestured to the rest of the party, "I'm Jerry, this is-" She named off the rest of the party. "We're heading to the bottom of this hellhole to kill the curse. Care to join us?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona shrugged. "May as well. Getting to the furthest depth is my goal anyway. Just one thing." She pointed her spear their way and her expression hardened. "No one gets on my back."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry gestured to the hodge-podge of carts and mounts the party was already working with. Everyone without a mount was either too heavy or sat on a cart. "Does it look like we needed another mount in the party?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona lowered her spear. "Just making sure. Some people assume anything horse-shaped is a free ride."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Believe me," Adran shook his head, "If we needed a horse, I'd summon a herd."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Good. Let's move on then. I haven't found anything in this area, and there's more tight spaces than I'd like."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry gestured onward. "You can take the lead." Best to keep new people that hadn't proven trustworthy up front where they could be quickly taken down if they tried anything.

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona dipped her head and stepped fully out of the alleyway, glancing around a bit before walking onward.

Emil spoke up. "Well, glad that didn't end in a fight."

Shuffle nodded, wagging her tail. "It ended with a new friend."

 

[Darkling0096]

Up ahead wasn't much. More signs of recent construction, probably interrupted by a ffeeder eating the workers. As they neared the entrance to another cave, music began to reach the party's ears. Loud, boisterous, an orchestra. "Someone's having a good time," Emfa noted.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil nodded. "Indeed. I hadn't expected to hear music down here, but so long as it's not goblins it's a welcome surprise. Judging by the quality, I'd say it's not goblins."

 

[Darkling0096]

As they got closer, the melody was easier to hear. "There's gotta be a bunch of 'em." Halfway through that sentence, for some reason, Jerry had started singing. It must have been as odd to her as it was for everyone else, because she looked very confused. She was especially confused because that was in tune like she'd been singing her whole life, and Jerry couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. "What was- the fuck?" Anyone else that tried to talk as they got closer to the orchestra's source found themselves singing in some manner as well, as though they were trained vocalists despite the lack of training for the most part on many of them.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil furrowed his brow. "My friends I do not believe, that this is normal music we perceive. As we approach be prepared to use force, for there may be enemies at the source." He seemed to be taking to it rather well.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry scowled at the bat, but decided she didn't much like singing and shut her mouth for now. "Maybe we should speak like Emil is?", Veo offered. His speech pattern seemed to agree with the singing compulsion much easier than Jerry's, anyway.

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina tilted her head. "Would that truly help?"

Niudisa just shook her head. "I think he's just showing off."

Emil gave a bow. "Guilty as charged. I am still a bard."

Shuffle hearing everyone else doing this singing thing, wanted to try it for herself. She had nothing to contribute to the conversation, but that didn't stop her. "Aaaaaahhhhh."

 

[Darkling0096]

"He's good at what he does," Veo smiled and put a hand on Emil's shoulder.

"Whoever's doing this, I'm going to turn them into a grease stain on the ground," Jerry growled as they came into an enormous ampitheater. It was fully constructed, with stone seats all filled with the skeletons of the audience. on the stage was an orchestra. Only one instrument seemed real, though, a violin in the string section. All the rest seemed to be made of mana-turned light, like when Jerry Etched using her stylus. All the musicians seemed to be almost at death's door, almost ready to join the audience. Only the player of the only real instrument seemed healthy at all.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil smiled back at Veo before looking to the matter at hand. "Oh, what a piteous sight. How could such grand sound be such a blight?"

Niudisa glanced at him. "Can the drama, man. We need to silence this band." She paused. "Dammit..." He was rubbing off.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Just... shoot the conductor." Jerry drew her bow and fired at the conductor, who crumbled like he was held together by dust and good fortune. The orchestra stopped playing and several dozen heads all turned and snapped in the party's direction, the one with a real instrument standing up and starting to play again.