Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked around for the creature as it hid before she just started blasting ice at her feet, aiming to freeze the whole thing over.

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"We were attacked by some kind of insects. One of them bit Jerry and Turac bit a piece off one. Neither of them are doing well."

Poli spoke up. "We tried giving them healing water, but it doesn't seem to have done much."

 

[Darkling0096]

Shuffle's ice coated the surface of the hoard, before a portion underneath her cracked, a large spike shooting out in another attempt to impale her.

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Veo didn't stop to question who Turac was, just hurriedly pulling Jerry off of the saddle and laying her on a table, "Oh, this isn't pretty," the venom of the centipedes had turned Jerry's leg completely purple in an area around the bite the size of Asta's paw, with spiderwebbing veins spreading out from there. It was swollen and writhing like Raine's injury. "Poli, hold her down," Veo ordered before looking for a knife to cut the bugs out of Jerry.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle glanced towards the crack jumping out of the way. She dug her claws in and jumped at the spike, aiming to grab and bite it with her lethal venom.

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Poli hopped over to the table and carefully set Turac down before getting on Jerry to restrain her. "If you need a knife, here." It seemed Poli had figured out the location of at least one of Jerry's knives, offering it to Veo.

 

[Darkling0096]

When Shuffle's fangs sank into the spike and her venom took effect, the affected mass of the mimic just sloughed off and fell uselessly to the ground. Bringing up other spikes, the treasure mimic tried to completely encase Shuffle in its mass to crush her.

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"Thank you," Veo turned the knife to Jerry's thigh and made a long cut down it, where the centipedes within quickly fell out scattering to look for food, purple pus and blood coming out with them.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked around as she was surrounded before focusing on her ice cloak to fully encase herself in a ball of ice, with spikes sticking out all over.

Niudisa opted to step in, using one of her blood vials to create a number of spears before sending them down into the treasure around where it was fighting Shuffle, where she assumed most of the creature was hiding.

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Asta had to look away as Veo started cutting. He and the others made sure to avoid the scattering bugs as well, or destroy them if they could manage.

 

[Darkling0096]

Niudisa's blood spears proved much more effective than Shuffle's venom, flames, acid, and ice, which cracked and was crushed under the pressure exerted by the mimic until it was stopped by Shuffle's armor enchantment. The blood spears penetrated the outer layer of mimic mass and stuck, not easily shed by the mimic despite its efforts.

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"I did not realize corruption made the worms parasites as well," Joanne looked at the crushed bugs on the bottom of her boot with disgust, "Sickletail worms are deadly, but they are supposed to be carrion feeders, not this."

"Well it doesn't matter what it's supposed to be," Veo shot back, "What matters is that if a big one hits you little ones come out!" She couldn't do anything about the venom, but with the little ones out of her and a potion running through her, hopefully Jerry could overcome the toxin. Little Turac, on the other hand, wasn't looking very good himself. The healing water had soothed his stomach, but the poisoning he'd gotten from eating sickletail worm wasn't going away.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa smiled before giving a wave of her hand. The blood spears shortened as the mass moved down to where they were stuck into the mimic before they all burst to deal even more damage.

—————

Poli spoke up. “And what about eating one? The turtle here took a bite out and ended up throwing up. No telling what’s still in there though.”

 

[Darkling0096]

The explosion surprised the mimic well enough that it fell apart like a popped water ballon, spilling back over the hoard in a wave. A metal container fell out of a portion of its mass, jingling like it had something inside it.

-----------------

"I..." Veo looked at the sick turtle, "I don't know," she looked around, "I need a... Poli I need a long tube and Jerry's flask."

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa summoned a magic hand to snatch the container, just in case there was something useful within, before turning her attention back to the mimic.

Shuffle staggered back as she was released before shaking herself off. Well, that cooled her head a little bit. She took her fighting stance again, now aware that this wasn't an enemy she could just rip to pieces.

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"On it." Poli retrieved Jerry flask and set it down before shifting into the form of a long tube, taking a moment to hollow out and harden.

 

[Darkling0096]

The mimic was reaching for the container as well, but Niudisa's magic hand was faster. On inspection, it was actually just a metal frame surrounded by reflective mesh, with a latch on one side, full of what anyone familiar with monster anatomy would recognize as slime cores, and a lot of them, along with a strange looking bell. Without the cores, the mimic couldn't control nearly as much mass as it had, and its true form was revealed. A small golden blob that suddenly looked very afraid now that its cores were taken from it. Deciding to hide again, it dove into the hoard and blended back in. A Creeping Coin slime.

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"Open your mouth, little one," Veo coaxed the dragon turtle into opening its beak and carefully put Poli down its throat, pouring water down. She was trying to pump the turtle's stomach, getting it to regurgitate what was ailing it.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa watched the mimic hide before looking at the box she'd stolen from it. "Interesting. Nalla, you know what this is? Seems like it was important." Niudisa was only familiar with the anatomy of things she could reanimate and make use of. Slimes didn't qualify for that, as far as she was concerned.

Shuffle went digging for the slime. She wasn't about to just let it run after that.

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Poli maintained form, flexing as needed to avoid giving the turtle too much discomfort.

 

[Darkling0096]

Nalla glanced over and came out of wildshape to investigate, "Slime cores." The goliath frowned, "They are not part of the creature." That means it had taken them from other slimes, "This is a cannibal." She looked over at the hoard where Shuffle was trying to pursue the mimic through the hoard, which was making a mess but wasn't very successful. Mimics knew how to hide, and once one had hidden they were very hard to detect if you didn't see them hide.

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Eventually, the turtle's stomach started lurching and out came more pieces of bug and small yellow spheres, in a puddle of purple bile.

 

[Fangs9090]

"So it ate other slimes and that let make a larger form?"

Shuffle tried sniffing out the mimic, but she mostly smelled blood, thanks to Niudisa's magic.

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Corona raised an eyebrow at the spheres. "What are those? Eggs?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Something to that effect, yes," Nalla nodded, "Keep those cores away from it."

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"I would think so," Joanne nodded, "If they spread their young to all they touch, they would need an abundance to disperse."

"Well they've got a baby sick," Veo grimaced as she pulled Poli out and put a potion to the turtle's lips, "Who else had contact with one of these things?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa nodded. "Will do."

Fia spoke up. "Shuffle, I think it's gone..."

Shuffle kept searching a little longer before she huffed and just gave up.

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Asta spoke up. "I made contact with a few of them, but I don't seem to be showing any sign of them...in me." He looked himself over. "No nasty wounds or pain."

Corona glanced. "I stomped some with my hooves, but no wounds from it."

Emil looked at Veo. "The one that was in Raine's foot touched your hand."

 

[Darkling0096]

"We should seek the rest of the group," Nalla said. Lyak had, much like Raine, vanished when the fighting started.

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Veo looked down at her hand, but Joanne spoke up, "Do newborns of your species produce young?", she asked the bat. "A hatchling is likely less dangerous than an adult in that regard, but dangerous nonetheless."

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa nodded. "Yeah, they probably ran into more of those bugs."

Fia looked around for Lyak, concerned for where she'd gone and when, for that matter. She thought she'd been holding her, but her focus was on the fight.

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"Fair point. But it's good to be cautious."

Corona spoke up. "If they get into wounds, it makes sense why I'm fine since they can't wound my hooves. But if Asta was in the middle of them like he said, how'd he get out unscathed?"

 

[Darkling0096]

About the only hint of where Lyak had gone was a very out of place partially rotten tree that had sprouted in a corner. "Lyak?", Nalla called.

"Lyak's not here right now!", the tree responded.

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"Asta has proven quite durable," Joanne patted Asta on the shoulder, "And chimeras are strange creatures. If he is not suffering any ill effects of the worms, then there is likely some quirk of chimera anatomy that counters the worms' nature."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked over at the tree. "Did you see where she went?"

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Corona huffed. "Lucky."

Asta shook his head before looking at Veo. "How are they doing?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"I believe she has polymorphed into a tree," Nalla shook her head and smirked, "Sorcerers." She looked down at the ground, then at the tree, "You can come out now, Lyak!" The tree rumbled, and then poped and vanished, Lyak appearing in its place.

"Is it gone?"

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"Well," Veo looked over at Jerry, "I can't do anything about the venom, but if she can overcome that she'll survive." She looked at the turtle, "And your turtle's just got a bad tummy ache if the eggs didn't hatch."

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa glanced around. "It's somewhere, but it can't do shit without these." She held up slime cores in her magic hand. "So, it's relatively safe for now."

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Asta sighed. "Alright. Jerry is strong. She'll pull through."

 

[Darkling0096]

"O-okay," Lyak scooted over and hid behind the biggest one in the room, which was Nalla.

"We should seek the others," Nalla assumed bear form again, letting Nalla climb onto her back before she started towards the path she and Niudisa had come out of.

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Veo nodded and put another swig of potion down Jerry, Turak, and Raine's throats to help them heal, "Who's turak?", she asked once she was done, "When you came in, you were panicking about someone named Turac."

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia landed and beckoned Shuffle before the two followed after Nalla. Niudisa fluttered along with them as well.

—————

“Ah, right. Turac is what Jerry and I decided to name the turtle.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Coming back up the path Nalla and Niudisa had come, they'd come back to the split that had led Niudisa and Nalla down the path where they'd encountered their bugs. "Wow," Lyak looked at the carnage from Niudisa and Nalla's battle.

------------------

"It is a strong name," Joanne nodded, "I am sure he will be a strong turtle." She wasn't really sure how to compliment normal children, let alone monsters adopted as children.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa nodded. "Nasty buggers got what they deserved."

Fia spoke up. "Those are the things that chased into that pit."

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Asta nodded. "I hope so."