[Episode 66841] [Episode 66841]"It looks like they managed to escape only to run into some orcs, we're... interrogating the survivors. They so far speak of some human warrior who fought bare handed. A Sorcerer perhaps as he apparently cast some odd weather related spell during the combat." The woman kneeling knew better than to look directly at the Matron of the House. Life in Menzonobarren was not for the weak of heart.
Matron Redwidow eased her thick frame onto the throne, idly stroking the thighbone that served as one armrest. One of her favored mates, he'd been, and continuing to serve her now. "I've already got a few looking for them. How they managed to get past my wards, I don't know. How many of the others are still missing?"
"Twelve, but they have left trails we can follow," said the soldier. "The two are more concerning because their trail vanishes abruptly."
"Then he likely was some powerful Sorcerer or Mage," said the Matron. "In which case the clerics may be needed to track them down."
"We have contacted our best mage tracker," admitted the soldier. "A minor demon we've used before. The book and the traitor's heads will be returned to you if Felsx will suffice."
"Good, it would be best to deal with this problem with our own resourcesonly," said the Matron. "Oh, and Lessika? If at all possible, capture this sorcerer. If he has mastered such magic, then he would be a useful tool in the Games of the Houses."
Ranma sat back in the furo, relaxing as the sore muscles of yet another day were soothed by the hot soak.
"(Ah. Here he is. Look. They are civilized. A hot bath.)"
Ranma stared as the two black-skinned, white-haired, elves stripped off their costumes and put them to the side. "uhm. excuse me?"
Sanri looked over the area where suds and water still covered the floor. "(How do you suppose... oh I get it! Look, you turn this knob here and the water jets out of this metal hose. How clever!)"
Unri nodded. "(I'll get your back first.)"
"uhm... excuse me?!"
"(Master seems distressed about something.)" Unri noted.
Sannri nodded. "(I'll go get that Kasumi girl.)"
Ranma's eyes tracked the one girl leave the bathroom, while the other seemed to be singing some wordless tune as she figured out how to lather and rinse.
"EEEK!"
Ranma heard Akane and figured that his pounding would commence at any moment. Why him? Even when he was doing what he thought was the right thing, he'd get punished.
"(We need you to translate for us,)" said Sanri as she led Kasumi into the room.
"Oh my," said Kasumi as she stared at a bathing Ranma.
"RANMA YOU PERVERT! HEY! Would someone get out of the way so I can pound Ranma?"
"Bwee?" said P-chan.
Akane finally got past Nabiki and Kasumi. "What do you think you're... are those burns?"
Ranma sank lower into the bath as Unri and Sanri began scrubbing each other's backs.
Kasumi asked Sanri a question and heard a fairly long answer back.
Everyone who saw that twitch knew that Kasumi was about to reveal something that could shake her calm.
Kasumi swallowed and tried not to stare at the tiny pale lines that briefly showed as the one girl twisted to tighten the skin so that the marks would show better. "Sanri says the new burns are from the Uruk-hai that Ranma rescued them from. The old burns are from where Unri had been working as kitchen help and accidently broke a plate. She says the burns have mostly healed and when they began whipping her and breaking her fingers, they used healing potions to make sure the scarring was minimal."
"They were tortured for breaking a plate?" Akane asked.
Kasumi translated this and began to look quite ill when Sanri replied.
"If the priestesses hadn't planned on sacrificing them upon their reaching adulthood as unmarked twin virgins," said Kasumi, "they would have fared worse. Others that they knew took days to die if they so much as chipped a cup of the good dining set."
"Well, at least if they were wanted as virgins, they couldn't have been abused much," noted Nabiki. "Shouldn't they take that jewelry off?"
"aw c'mon," pleaded Ranma. "It's drafty in here."
Kasumi translated Nabiki's comment and heard a short reply. Kasumi responded more in depth and turned pale.
Nabiki didn't need a translation and her thoughts about the gold were momentarily stalled. "They were?! How old..."
Sanri apparently guessed the question as she made a gesture to indicate something that only came up to her knee.
Akane wandered off, all thoughts of punishing Ranma for staring at naked elfgirls booted out of her head by this development.
P-chan took off to try and comfort Akane. Naturally he found himself in the Furinkan High Gymnasium fifteen minutes later.
Nabiki clutched her stomach. Yes, she was a soulless mercenary. THIS was enough to momentarily distract her from what was going on.
Sanri and Unri pinned their hair back, finished washing, and climbed into the furo.
"(What's got them all upset?)" Unri asked as the other humans seemed to go into shock.
"(I don't know, I was just telling her about our childhood. Maybe humans do it differently?)"
"(Hey, Master's got a better physique than most of Matron Redwidow's flunkies. I bet I could bounce a gold piece off of that stomach.)" Unri smiled suggestively.
"oh hell," said Ranma, aware of two curvaceous girls in the tub with him. Now he couldn't sneak out. Not with this little... problem. At least they hadn't noticed.
"(Well, it's about time,)" said Sanri. "(I was beginning to wonder if it was dead down there.)"
"(Nice. A bit larger than I'd like but that's fine.)" Unri sat back in the hot water and "accidently" rubbed her leg against her Master's. "(Any idea why he acts like that?)"
"(Maybe he's heard about how the upperclass drow, particularly priestesses, routinely kill and mutilate their sexual partners?)" Sanri went with the most logical explanation, the concept of "shyness" being completely beyond them at this point.
"(That would explain a lot,)" admitted Unri.
"(I'll tell Kasumi that we're not the upperclass and we're his servants, so he doesn't have to worry about that,)" replied Sanri.
Kasumi had been reeling from one shock to another when Sanri began explaining something to her.
It took a few moments to penetrate what the girl was telling her in the language they shared even if neither was an expert at it. She was really beginning to get rattled.
"What is it this time?" asked Nabiki with some dread. She'd steal their gold tomorrow. Right now she was feeling a bit ill.
Akane stuck her head in the door, not really wanting to hear but also morbidly curious about what horrors Tolkein had NOT put in any books dealing with elves.
"According to Sanri, errr. I'm not sure but I think she's stating that the members of the ruling class of the city she came from..." Kasumi stood up abruptly. "Excuse me. I'm going to be ill."
The statement was enough. Nabiki, Akane, Soun, and Genma all filled in the blanks with torture and horror beyond imagining.
In other words they were mostly right but tailoring it out of their own personal nightmares, therefore it had more impact.
Ranma sighed in relief and tried to find a towel as enough of that penetrated that he no longer had to worry about any soldiers standing at attention as he left the tub.
Streetlamps exploded, darkness bubbled up in midair like an eruption of molten tar from an invisible volcano. The darkness streamed together and a form uncurled from that darkness.
Felsx sniffed the air and made a gagging noise.
The two drow were here, so was some magic-using little human worm. The problem was that the worm was here with hundreds of other pathetic mortal worms.
As a Retriever, Felsx didn't care for its drow masters. Not in the slightest. If it had a way to get back at them, it would take it. The bindings were pretty thorough though. Careless summoners did not last long among the Drow.
The huge spider scuttled away from the landing site. It was bound to try and capture the sorcerer who had taken the two slaves, and return with a particular book to the summoner. It could not stop and feast along the way on those screaming little mortals who saw it as it moved.
All in all it shouldn't take long. It had taken the precaution of enchanting itself especially strong with anti-magic wards, which lowered its defenses against nonmagical attacks but that was hardly a concern. Powerful mages never had anything nonmagical to defend themselves with, they always relied on spells. That's why Felsx had the Reflect Magic and Volley and Anti-Magic Shell spells running. Just pump the sorceror full of venom and return with him to the summoner before the sorcerer's heart beat one last time.
What could go wrong?
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(Posted Sat, 06 Sep 2003 12:18)
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