A study in the eldritch (Lunaraia;Pervy;MortalitasBorealis)

[Pervy]

"Yeah screw that." Was about the only warning given, before a swift lance of liquid fire rushed out towards the cloaked figure from Fey, her eyes burning as her crossed arms. "Absolute Incineration."
She declared, spinning her hands clockwise and raising a circle of fire around the claw-happy moonbeast, spinning upwards and growing more intensely heat colored. "If everyone just accepts it, of course no one's gonna stop them."
Fey'd stopped paying attention the moment her own inner hot flame burned with a similiar idea to Shiroi, but nearly none of her self control, as Fey made a gesture of closing her first, and in turn, closing the flames around the creature.

"I've had to learn to control my flames quite a lot. It'll be easier to use them outside, where there's enough oxygen to strengthen them."
She explained, watching the spiralling flames and raising one hand, little fiery spheres floating up from it. "The harder part is aiming to incinerate every last one of those beasts without hitting any bystanders."
She gritted her teeth, fiery disks spinning on her palm, slowly growing larger. Her other hand however, was occupied flipping off any Moonbeast looking over to her. Granted, Fey'd been the one pushing for the rescue of her mistress most, but what point was there if she accepted such things happening along the way?
"Come on you little shits." She taunted, her fiery dress flickering with more dangerous heat.

 

[Lunaraia]

Erfek scratched his chin as he pondered Kuroi’s question, thinking rather closely about it. “Hmm, I can’t say I know of any weaknesses, hmm… No wait, they don’t like-” Whatever the Zoog was about to say disappeared from the sudden explosion of flames and the roar of pain from the Moonbeast. The massive burst of flame that Fey caused as she set the Moonbeast ablaze. The resulting conflagration incinerated the targeted Moonbeast. The beast staggered back and forth, before it fell over the edge of the pier and into the river itself.

The fire on the pier itself was now spreading through the oiled wood, and fast at that, several of the slaves backed off, while others had no choice but to run into the boat. The entire episode was causing more chaos on the dock itself as several other Moonbeasts exited the galley and investigated the uproar. The moon beasts had not taken notice of Fey just yet, as they were far more concerned about the fire threatening to set their ship ablaze.

This didn’t last too long, however, as a strange and burnt frog-like creature emerged from the water and screamed something in a gurgly and antediluvian language that none of the girls could understand. The effect on the Moonbeasts was immediate as one immediately looked around and upon potting Fey let out a yell and literally jumped from the burning pier onto the ship.

The beast was nearly 3 meters tall, and one of the far too long arms stretched out of its robe, revealing a grey rubbery, mucus covered skin, akin to that of a toad. As its clawed hand rose to take a swing at Fey, its hood fell back, revealing a face that had no eyes, but had red tentacles growing from it like some kind of beard that was twitching wildly, like some kind of sensory apparatus, underneath the tentacles something moved, obscured from sight, though it didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was as the Moonbeast opened its mouth fully, revealing yet another toad-like anatomical feature, a massive maw, though the beast’s maw was filled with dagger sized, razor-sharp teeth. The thing roared something and swung at Fey.

 

[Pervy]

"They're weak to concentrated point blank incineration!" Fey proudly proclaimed. Although her flames seemed to have gotten more.. intense, at least to the view of those that had known her for long. Furthermore, with just a stare and a handwave, it seemed as if the flames avoided the flames, whilest menacing more of the moonbeasts To be fair, she'd been pushing herself past her exhaustion limit time and time again on this journey, so perhaps that was inevitable.

As was the rage filled response of the companions of the creature she'd incinerated. "Crap, there's weird frog-things coming to back them up."
The Phoenix noted, before adding.. "Damn are you ugly.. woah!"
As the creature swung at her, smashing into her arm, and in turn, her against a wall, Fey holding her arm with the other, whimpering slightly. "Aaah.. tatata.. shit that hurt.. plus my Amazing Phoenix Flamecloak should have burned it way more before it even made physical contact, these things are tougher than they look.. errr.. not that they look like anything particular actually.. that said."
She lifted her hand, forming another flame ontop of it. "Guessing by its apperance, perhaps these flames will work better."
She theorized, one eye squinted in pain as the fireball in her good hand crackled, before turning a deep green, as Fey recreated the flames from the Master with relative ease by now.
"Eldritch Fire Mode: Cthonic Spear! Good luck extinguishing that one with normal river water!"
She chanted(did she have to give her fireshaping names? No. Did she want to? YEEEES), before accelerating a spear formed from green flames towards the tentacle-creature.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

Right as Shiroi and the wyvern girl were about to return below deck and as Kuroi waited for an answer, the three turned and could only watch aghast as Fey did the unthinkable. “Fey, what the FUCK?!” was all Shiroi could exclaim in the shock of the moment, and Korrie didn’t even know what to say, just looking on in horror as the pier began to burn and the source of the fire was very quickly identified by the rest of the Moonbeasts.

But what was done was done. As the gigantic monstrosity leapt from the pier onto the ship in a single bound, revealing the horror hidden beneath the cloak, Erfek would feel someone unseen grab him and quickly spirit him away from the immediate combat zone, as a terrified Korrie backpedaled and tried to get her wits together. Shiroi, though still livid and in shock, leapt into action much more swiftly. “Welp, it’s on the ship, that means it DIES!” She declared, her wings of energy erupting from her back as she charged up energy around one foot and slammed it down, sending lines of light resembling a fissure towards the Moonbeast which sprung up under it as spears of cosmic energy, aiming to tear the creature apart or at least impale the legs and immobilize it. Her training has given her better control over the flow of her power, allowing her to perform a trick like this without having to put her palms to the ground anymore. At the same time, she was already forming a sword and shield, though the sword itself hovered on its own, ready to attack at range.

The slam that Fey had received was enough to shake Korrie from her fear as well, the wyvern mustering up courage and anger both, taking a deep breath and unleashing a gout of searing flame at her target. It occurred a little late to her that with the creature’s amphibian appearance and slimy skin, physical attacks would probably be ineffective against its hide. Good thing everyone here had non-physical means of attack.

Kuroi meanwhile, having whisked Erfek away to another part of the deck, glanced urgently at the pier. “Quick, what were you saying about their weakness? The rest aren’t gonna stand by and watch, and we can’t brute force all of them. There has to be something we can do to deter a siege!” She asked the critter.

 

[Lunaraia]

As the flames hit the Moonbeast it let out a horrible screeching roar as it staggered backwards from the impact of the fireball. While the fire could not set the Moonbeast ablaze, as it was still soaking wet from its stay in the river, the green flames were having an impact. The Moonbeast let out a threatening hissing noise as its tentacles carefully caressed the places where the fire had burnt its arms. The mucus from the tentacles healing the less crispy parts of its skin while soothing the pain. However, whatever corruptive effect the fires seemed to have on most beings, they didn’t seem to work on the Moonbeast.

Or maybe they did, but didn’t instill any loyalty towards Fey. Either way, the horrid thing took a staggering, lumbering step forwards once more and raised its arm to slam down on Fey. Just before the strike found its mark Shiroi’s power exploded from underneath, sending it reeling back once more. The energy spikes tore away at the burnt remains of the cloak it was wearing, revealing strong sinuous legs that once again were toad-like in build. Deep purple blood poured out from several lacerations from where the spikes had cut through its tough hide.
Just as it was about to move forward a third time it another gout of flame engulfed it, this time from Korrie. The first Moonbeast took a few steps back, clearly less sure of this cause of action after taking such horrendous hits. Its skin had serious burns all over after being the repeated attacks. Its tentacles couldn’t reapply the mucus fast enough to keep up as it withdrew a few steps. The Moonbeast let out another pained roar, but this time there was a response from the pier.

A second Moonbeast jumped onto the ship, causing it to rock back and forth from the impact. This one ignored Fey and instead seemed to look around. It then moved towards the Shiroi, Korrie and the invisible Kuroi as a high speed as it swing its claws at Kuroi. Her invisibility had seemingly no effect against the Moonbeast, though it missed by a hair, as if it had been aiming for something else, like the Zoog. “As I was trying to say earlier, while I don’t know of any immediate weaknesses, their tentacles are rather sensitive. I suspect they are what they use to sense the world round themselves.” The Zoog mentioned just as the attack whistled past mere inches from taking the Zoogs head clean off. The second Moonbeast hissed angrily as it readied a second strike. This attack was aimed at Korrie.

There was also another noise behind the ship, as another Moonbeast had attempted to jump onto the ship. However, since the ship continued to move forwards it was out of range to jump on instantly. Though that did not stop the monstrosity from swimming after the ship with frightening ease. The third Moonbeast would be upon them soon.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

Shiroi grimaced, her attack hitting its mark but doing markedly less damage than she had hoped. Perhaps she was still a bit too optimistic about her strength, or rather, the Beast was just stronger than she thought. In hindsight, it made sense a creature able to leap a distance like that would have suitably strong legs, and suitably dense muscles. They couldn’t just fight it willy-nilly, they need a decapitation strike.

Still, as resilient as the beast was, it was not invulnerable, and the party’s strength combined was successfully repelling it, hurting it more than it could heal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t alone, and soon a second Moon Beast joined the fray. This one ignored Fay and charged for a different target instead, Shiroi sidestepping and telekinetically swinging her sword at it is it passed, but it had a different target in mind.

“AAHHH?!” Kuroi shrieked as she dived out of the way with the zoog, getting away safely this time. The beast’s aim itself had been off; were its senses inaccurate because of her invisibility, or was it targeting Erfek? Why would it go after the two non-combatants rather than the obvious threats? While the ravenette scurried to reposition, the attack ignited Shiroi’s wrath. “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!” She screamed, her sword morphing into a javelin that burned twice as bright with renewed power. Before she could throw it, the beast made a second swipe targeting Korrie instead, but the scared wyvern girl had already scurried away, quickly taking to the air with a flap of her wings, easily able to keep pace with the ship after her training and now well out of range of melee. It was from the air that she spotted the third Moon Beast making its jump, thankfully missing the ship, but it’ll correct its mistake as a matter of time.

At the same time as the beast whiffed the second hit, Shiroi sent the searing bolt hurtling towards the beast’s back, stabbing into it. Before she could follow up however, a yell from her sister made her stop. “Sis, wait! Go for its face, the tentacles! You too, Fey!” Kuroi shouted. Shiroi changed her plans, telekinetically pulling out her spear instead, and as the beast spun around to retaliate, launched it at its faceful of tentacles, the javelin exploding violently on hit. The albino’s wings shielded her from the blast, reabsorbed some of the energy that came her way, and with an outward burst, sent several more infused wind blades at the target.

Meanwhile, Korrie began to spit fireballs at the swimming Moon Beast, hoping to at least slow it down and buy time for the others to get rid of at least one of the monsters on board. Despite her strength, she was still too afraid to engage up close and personal if she had any other choice; she was strong, but still so fragile.

 

[Pervy]

"What, would you just ship by and let these monsters do their thing?" Fey was never one to let the reasonable course of action hold her back from doing the right thing.
"Yee spear it!" She also cheered.

"Damn, finally something I can go all out against." Fey grinned, extending one arm, before annoyedly remembering the state of the other, shrugging, and just creating two green fireballs, floating over the first one and around one another at the same time. "Oh.. who am I to be selfish, let's tripple strength this one.. pfew should practice green flames more..."
She noted, adding a third sphere of green flames, all circling around one another as she sent an angry glare over at the Moonbeast.. luckily it seemed to be just attacking empty air, and none of her comrades, dumb thing!

"You pull on the tentacles or whatever, I'll just burn mine faster than it can regenerate. Flame spiral- Burial Lance!" Fey enthused, shooting a hand forwards, towards the already pretty bruised beast, her eldritch fire spheres cascading around one another, before she held up her hand, grinning and stopping the ball in mid air. "And Just in case you want to dodge because you see this one coming.. double speed Mwahahahaha!"
Fey laughed, releasing the ball again after halting it and speeding it up, sending it at one beast.
"Y'all frogs don't know what fire control means, eh?"
She mused, deciding to not waste a lot of energy maneuvering flames around Shiroi and instead lifting her other hand.. damn it, this was annoying. She could just focus on Korrie's flames and infuse them with eldritch energy too, but it was way easier if she could point at it and shout something cool. Oh well, perhaps the fireballs in water would at least provide a steam-screen. She wished she could just blast this toad-thing with all the eldritch-fire she could conjure, but she has to pace herself and her flames, endangering her friends, even in this dreamworld, was a bit of a problem.
Well, endangering them more. On a certain level, Fey was aware she was a bit the cause of this, then again, the mean beasts were to blame, really. Why weren't more people doing anything about them, anyway?

 

[Lunaraia]

The Moonbeast didn’t even seem to notice as Shiroi stabbed her spear into its back. Its thick rubbery hide somehow diffusing most of the impact from the hit. The moment the spear exploded in the Moonbeasts’ face, however, she got the first proper reaction out of it. The beast reeled back while letting out a horrendous and pained roar, its tentacles shriveling and falling off from the heat of the impact. It swiped around randomly, clearly no longer able to perceive the world around it. Though whether that was from pain, anger or if it had actually gone blind was still not entirely clear.

The burnt beast, seeing its companion targeted in such a fashion, charged Fey, heedless of the fire aimed its way as it crashed into it with a roar and tried to grab her only to miss by an inch. Meanwhile, the third beast was still gaining on the ship, the heated water apparently not bothering it in the slightest as it finally got close enough to attempt another boarding.

As the chasing Moonbeast landed on the ship with a resounding crash and slowly moved towards Shiroi and Kuroi, it’s wet skin allowing it to all but ignore the fire that Korrie was spitting at it from that distance. The burnt beast didn’t care, it was still too busy trying to get its claws on Fey, though it seemed to have issues actually landing a blow. It was almost as if something was forcing it to miss the eldritch fire that Fey had shot at it, perhaps? Unfortunately for Kuroi, the blinded beast took notice of its companion arriving, however. It let out a guttural sound that had the third beast focus its attention to Kuroi as it charged towards her at a shocking speed with a horrifying roar.

 

[Pervy]

"Woah, pretty tough those boys." Fey noted, a brief glance.. between backing off from claw-swipes a little, revealing there were more coming. Damaged as two were, and much as she wanted to pace herself, perhaps not was not the time?
"Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, burn, burn again. I hate this fire personally but it worked wonders against resistant folks."
Also, this one was a bit draining, but now she was almost curious to watch it. She lifted her hand, focusing for a moment, crating another fireball, which began flickering blue, before, with an almost physical push of exertion, turning into a blue, flickering orb of frozen fire. With one wave, Fey unleashed the cold-burning fireball, a little smaller than her usual attacks, but she had to slow down how she circled through fire-types a bit, this extended fight against an opponent that could take her flames forcing her to observe and adapt rather than just.. pour on more fire, as usual.

"Also, guys, they aren't regenerating, at least not fast, they are just tough." She cheered. Although they still couldn't risk an extended fight, only she could heal.. and not too fast either.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

The unearthly shriek that came from the blasted Moonbeast was terrifying, but at the same time, so very satisfying. Shiroi grinned, excited to see some actual damage done to the bloody things, and prepared another explosive lance when the third beast managed to leap out of the water and onto the ship.

“Another one?!” She grimaced, the earlier victory quickly dissipating, and to both siblings’ horror, the monster went after Kuroi again, forcing the invisible (not that it mattered) catgirl to narrowly roll out of the way of another lunge. “Why me…?!” The ravenette muttered in a mixture of confusion and terror, before realizing a possibility: Could it be because of the power within her? The power of the Mask… The power that she really should be using right about now. No, she promised not to until she was fully trained, but that was only about willy-nilly usage, right? Doesn’t this count as an emergency worthy of emergency measures?

As a furious Shiroi quickly charged up another explosive lance to blow the third beast’s face off, a guilt-ridden Korrie decided she had to do something to make up for her failure at even slowing the reinforcements. Noting the maimed beast as the least dangerous target, the wyvern girl angled herself for a dive attack, building up as much force as she could with a flap of her wings before flipping around to crash into the creature’s head foot-first in a full-force dive kick, aiming to punt the monster overboard. Hopefully, this one would have difficulty getting back on board.

At the same time, Kuroi mentally reached into herself, reaching not for the Mask, but for something related. The dagger that could kill anything with a single cut. It was kept in hammerspace by the Mask’s power, but the dagger itself… wasn’t technically the Mask’s power, was it? Then it’s fair game, isn’t it? She can’t just sit here being deadweight. She has to defend herself.

Assuming she managed to summon the weapon, Kuroi would attempt to run at the Moonbeast herself, hunched and keeping low to avoid its arms, and try to slash at it as she ran past. It was a small, precise cut, just a scratch, the cautious catgirl not wanting to perform any grandiose, exaggerated movements with a weapon so dangerous… and she knew that little cut should be enough. A half-second after she goes by, Shiroi would launch her charged lance at the Moonbeast’s face, aiming to maim it just as she did the first, not even aware yet of what her sibling had done.

 

[Lunaraia]

While the Eldritch fire had seared the Moonbeast and caused some pretty hefty damage, the Coldfire seemed to be shockingly effective. The moment the flame contacted the mucus covering its body, it froze solid, slowing the beast down. As the fire and ice spread, the ever colder Moonbeast gave out a pained gurgly noise, even as the cold flames froze its tentacles, turning them into icicles as its mouth froze open.

As the Coldfire covered the Moonbeast in a thin sheet of ice, it ignited on the ice, behaving as if the ice itself was firewood for it and soon entombing the Moonbeast in an icy prison. The monster was well and truly dead, allowing Fey to turn her attention to a new target, now knowing that the icy flames would be far more effective than the eldritch flames. A side effect of this newly kindled blaze, however, was that the temperature on the deck was quickly dropping. Fey would quickly find her breath coming off in frosty clouds, and the water and mucus that had dropped on the deck was rapidly turning into ice.

Korrie’s drop kick turned out to not be as effective as she hoped. While she had the strength to most likely lift and toss one of the Moonbeasts off the ship, she lacked the mass to cause more than a mild annoyance to the blind, but solidly planted monstrosity. The strange legs of the creature easily kept it in place despite the pained scream it made as Korrie’s clawed feet hit it square in the face. If it was any consolation though, her angle had been so sharp that the retaliatory swipe from the blind beast missed her cleanly, and it wound up hitting the newly arrived Moonbeast instead.

This proved most fortuitous for Kuroi, as the impact distracted the new arrival long enough that it didn’t notice Kuroi until she gave it a small round with Ribtickler. The effect was as immediate as it was gruesome. Immediately the Moonbeast staggered back as a green viscous liquid poured out of its mouth. It gave a guttural half choked noise as the wound that Kuroi had inflicted also seeped and new wounds popped up all over the monstrosity, all leaking the same horrid puss. The beast also gave off a horrid stench as it struggled back a few steps. Then it fell over, twitched a few times, then went very still.

The Blind beast, having heard the death knell of both its companions, swung blindly for Korrie another time before it made a beeline for the water. It crashed into the railing, then used it to hoist itself over and into the river and relative safety. This now left the girls with two dead Moonbeasts, a pyre of Coldfire. And probably an incoming earful from Aya when she came back up on deck to investigate the commotion. If they wanted to avoid that, they would have to get rid of the evidence and somehow bribe the Zoog into keeping shut about it.

 

[Pervy]

"Oh hey this stuff works." Fey noted, happily. Now if only she could use it proper. The best analogy she could tell someone was that the coldfire felt about ten times as heavy as the normal one, as if one was a glass of water, the other a bucket.
"Brr.. almost too effective.." Not only that, but the stuff was dangerous to herself as well. Fire wasn't an issue, but freezing temperatures and her did not get along well at the best of times.

"Oh well, victory for now... Fehiiiild SHATTERPUNCH!" She shouted with enthusiasm, smashing into the frozen beast with her good hand.. resulting in it joining it's damaged companion, as she made a slight squealing noise, pointing out: "Oww.. fuck.. cold and solid.. this works way better in games..."
She grumbled, knowing better than to waste her energy throwing ice-fire into the water.. huh.. moderation. A strange concept.

"Oh well, that should teach 'em." In hindsight, there was the fact that they propably needed to stock up on supplies and everything, so this attack may have been a bit.. Rash.. but Fey took a subtle step backwards and used her innocent phoenix-eyes.. This had been a snap-decision, plus.. yeah! The wrong call would have been to -not- show these mean beasties whatfor!

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

There was little time to be distracted by the burst of sheer cold coming from Fey’s direction, the twins could only assume that was the phoenix’s doing (as counter-intuitive as it may be to assume a phoenix was responsible for ice) while they dealt with their two Moonbeasts.

What followed was a very fortunately timed series of events, as Korrie dived from the air and landed a mighty kick straight to the blinded beast’s noggin; to her great dismay, it was insufficient to throw it off, but that turned out to not be a problem, as the blind beast lashed out in rage, completely whiffing against the wyvern who had already kicked off back into the air, and instead striking its own ally, distracting the third beast long enough for the invisible Kuroi to dash in and slice her target in relative safety. The effect was immediate, and Shiroi barely had time to register the monster’s rapid liquefaction before she launched her own, at this point excessive attack.

“Holy shit?!” Shiroi exclaimed and recoiled in disgust as the monster rapidly rotted from the inside out for seemingly no reason, and Korrie nearly averted her gaze from how nasty the sight was, though at the same time she was transfixed by morbid curiosity. “Kuroi?? Did you-”

“Yeah. I used the knife.” The catgirl answered, actually having to look away from her own handiwork as she immediately sheathed the weapon back into wherever it came from. A monster so powerful, ended just like that. Just like that gigantic monster back in the arena, though messier this time. This was just one aspect of what she could now do. The kind of power she now possessed… it was both terrifying… and exhilarating.

With the third beast’s sudden death, the twins and Korrie could confirm at a glance that Fey had also successfully dispatched hers, the ice-fire killing the beast just as effectively, having turned the amphibian’s slimy defenses against it. Though blinded and maimed, the last survivor had realized its allies have been successfully slain, and made an attempt to escape a lost battle. Shiroi charged up another bolt, intent on finishing it off, but the beast had already vaulted off into the water by the time she was ready. Sighing, the white-haired girl allowed the energy to disperse, her wings fading into wisps as she powered down. Kuroi also deactivated her invisiblity prompt, wiping the sweat from her brow, while Korrie cautiously landed back on the deck. The battle was over.

“Well, we made it. We should be out by the time reinforcements get called, I just hope they don’t send hunting parties.” Shiroi remarked, looking about at the sheer mess on the deck. “So, how are we gonna clean this up?”

“We should at least get rid of this one…” Kuroi said, gesturing at the pus-covered rotted heap. She would still like to get rid of the evidence she went anywhere near her Mask powers, just in case. How they were going to throw it away though was a good question, as Korrie quickly backed away.

“Korrie is NOT touching that.”

“Is there a clean spot for you to write something on it? Maybe you can make it disintegrate or something. Though that won’t clean the pus still. Ugh, it reeks!” Shiroi decided to keep her distance too, while Kuroi had no choice but to go inspect the thing herself and hopefully find a way to get rid of it. An idea did strike her after a moment of thought, and she drew a spear on the ground that she manifested.

“Korrie, I’ll owe you later but please give me a hand here. Just stab it and use the spear to throw it overboard. You’re the only one strong enough to do it.”

“...Fine. But you owe Korrie.” The wyvern girl furrowed her brow, but relented, attempting to do as much without actually coming in contact with any of the gunk. She had to try to hold her breath too. Just what the hell happened to it? She was too far away to hear when it happened, but she could only guess the twins did something. What she couldn’t understand was what they did. Was it Kuroi with those weird new powers she apparently got? This is just scary.

Shiroi meanwhile inspected Fey’s handiwork as well, starting to feel the cold now that the adrenaline’s no longer pumping. “Kinda ironic that you’re the one that did this, but hey, good job. A flash freeze would work pretty good against slimy toadmen, huh. …Wait, don’t these things live on the moon? But they’re weak to freezing… Eh, not gonna think about it.” She shook her head.

While Korrie busied herself getting rid of the rotted corpse, Kuroi went to check on Erfek as well. “Hey, you okay, Erfek? Any injuries?” She asked, letting the little critter climb on if he wanted, “So, about just now… Can you keep what happened to that Moonbeast a secret? I’d rather less people know if possible…”

 

[Lunaraia]

Erfek nodded slowly “I’m fine, although I err… think you might not be.” The Zoog pointed a small paw towards the entrance leading below deck. The open entrance, with Aya standing in it. “I think they have discovered us.” As if to confirm the Zoogs claim, Aya walked onto the deck and looked at the handiwork of the girls. Yaga followed closely behind her and seemed rather interested in the results of their fights, particularly the rotting pile of flesh. “ Alright you four, get over here and stand in front of me.” Aya’s voice was calm, dreadfully calm.

She patiently waited for the girls to stand before her, then looked at each one. Then, with a sigh, she made a gesture and all four would wind themselves hoisted into the air by a strange misty substance. This substance would glide all over the four, and even slide into their ears, nose and mouth. As it did, the four would find their thoughts slowing down, leaving a giddy, simple feeling and their slits would ache for stimulation. “Alright you four, we are going to play a little game I call “Truth and Cum”. The winner will be the one who gets to get off, while the remaining three will find themselves on the edge of release until tonight.” As she spoke, the misty magical substance reached down to their cunts and flowed inside, immediately jacking their lust to new heights. “Now, let’s start with a simple question, what happened here?”

She looked at each of them, before she noticed Erfek in Kuroi’s hands and gently extracted the Zoog. The little thing seemed unaffected by the magic. “I will talk to you about this, later.” Aya said coldly to it as she refocused her attention to the four girls. "“Well, I am waiting.” She reached out and had the mist play with them some more, to ensure they had the right motivation to talk.

 

[Pervy]

Fey observed the interaction of the two sisters curiously, making a mental note to not be poked by that knife. She wasn't sweaty from the fight, infact, she almost seemed a little chilled, shifting ever so slightly and massaging her one less useful arm with slow rubs.
"Really not a fan of icefire, but it is effective.."
She grumbled a little, towards Shiroi, before musing. "Perhaps the dream moon is made of of cheese and so uuuh.. not sure where my train of thought was going.. is.. cheese warm? Hmnn fondeu moon..."

Feyline gave an innocent look as she joined a potential line up, giving an innocent look, before being hoisted up, gasping a little as she got all sticky from the mist, her flames dimming, leaving her pretty much as exposed as the other 'proper' pets, and with a hint of a blush at the violating sensations.
"So the moonbeasty was a right down meano so I exploded one but then three hopped over and then I exploded it more but my arm kinda broked but it's gonna be fine and they are super fire resistant but that's alright because they aren't cold resistant, still not a fan of that though, but it worked well and she shanked one and she blased and she didn't call her attack super Korrie ender kick so naturally it was not exeptionally effective and then mine froze and one hopped away but we kicked their asses!"
Fey enthused happily fromout the mist. To her credit, everything she was saying was the perfectly honest truth.. just.. in a Fey way, as she nodded along with enthusiasm.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

“Eh?” Kuroi looked back at Erfek’s warning and froze like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Shiroi just narrowed her eyes and silently cursed their bad luck, while Korrie quickly debated between chucking the corpse overboard fast or just leaving the evidence there, eyes darting to and fro, before finally settling on letting go of the spear and backing away, palms raised sheepishly. “U-Um, Korrie can explain…” She began, but it was not the time, and at her handler’s command she guiltily lined up, looking like a downcast puppy that knew she upset her owner. Shiroi was more just irritated with the whole affair and was intent on protecting her sister, whose back she gently patted, as a bead of cold sweat ran down the neko’s forehead. Kuroi told herself again, what she did was necessary, it hadn’t even really been tapping into the Mask’s power, it’s not reasonable to expect her to not use what she’s got in an emergency like that… but nonetheless, it was how her trainers perceived it that matters.

Regardless of emotional state though, both the wyvern and the twins held an amount of anxiety, which only grew when they were lifted helplessly into the air, fearing a harsh interrogation. Perhaps they were just shaken after the event, or perhaps they just didn’t know Aya well enough, but none of the three expected the succubus’ actual tactics until it happened. Korrie was the most rapidly soothed, her fearful eyes soon glazed over, the happy, submissive arousal quickly overtaking all else, leaving a docile pet wyvern once more. Shiroi was quite a bit less receptive, giving off a low ‘should’ve known’ groan while she squirmed uncomfortably, feeling her mind fog and her body heat up. The threat of leaving her like this for the rest of the day wasn’t one easily ignored, but considering there’s only one winner in this ‘game’, and she wasn’t about to be caught dead begging for release like the draconic slut, there was no rush on her part to ‘win’, especially when Kuroi was still on her mind. The ravenette, meanwhile, was still considerably calmed by the pleasant haze of arousal, the distant look on her blushing face making her look like a tamed pet herself, if more shy than the wyvern girl who already had a dopey smile where her pussy drooled down her thighs at the mist’s stimulation. Nonetheless, the dagger and her trainers’ verdict weighed heavy on her mind, and no amount of aphrodisiac is lifting that until a conclusion is reached.

Ever eager to please and eager to cum, Korrie was ready to tell her handler all she knew, but still the hyperactive phoenix beat her to it, making her pout a little. Soon she remembered how Fey’s account of events usually went, and brightened up again, making sure it was her turn next as soon as her sister pet was done.

“L-Let Korrie, Korrie’ll tell you everything! We were about to go back below deck when Fay decided to throw fireballs at the Moonbeasts, so we got attacked by 3 of them. Fey killed the one over there with ice-fire, and Kuroi killed that half-melted one over there with something, Korrie’s not sure. Shiroi mauled the third one, but it got away in the end. Um… Korrie helped.” She added at the end sheepishly, feeling ashamed of the fact she didn’t really help much, though she tried. “Then Kuroi wanted Korrie to throw away the rotting one before you got here. Korrie thinks she’s hiding something.” The wyvern girl reported honestly, hoping for rewards.

Of course, the emphasis on exposing Kuroi pissed off the catgirl’s sister, but just as Shiroi opened her mouth to yell at the snitch to mind her own fucking business, Kuroi cleared her throat, stopping her. “No, it’s… best to come clean at this point. Yes, I used a weapon the Mask provided me, the Ribtickler. It’s how we won the tournament, I used it on an Undead Gug the Mask summoned back then. The Moonbeasts were too strong and we weren’t prepared, I decided I needed to do something before one of us got hurt or worse. As I understood it, the weapon itself isn’t connected to the Mask, so I thought it fair to use it. Punish me if you have to, but I did what I had to to ensure everyone’s safety, and I don’t regret it.” Kuroi said resolutely, her eyes a little clearer despite the magical mist’s power as she met Aya’s gaze. She may fear the judgement of those that can punish her, and severely at that, but her own conscience was clear.

 

[Lunaraia]

Aya listened closely to the explanations given to her without a word. As Kuroi finished her explanation, Aya walked over to her. “Show me the dagger right now, I need to confirm something.” Her voice brokered no option for disobedience. As she waited for the dagger to be shown, she looked over at Fey and Korrie and with a slight gesture. The surrounding mist changed to a pinkish hue and the pleasure the two pets felt multiplied and whispers in their minds complimented them for being “Honest and Good Pets”.

Once Aya saw the dagger, she didn’t touch it, just looked at it with an unreadable expression. “So, it really is Ribtickler. Be careful with that dagger, it’s venom cares not for friend or foe. Nor does it care if it kills the wielder and as you have seen, all it takes is a mall wound.” She made the gesture again, and Kuroi’s mist changed hues as well. The only difference was that she was told she was a “Good Girl” rather than a “Good Pet”.

Aya then turned towards Shiroi. “You have remained quiet through all of this and are resisting the mist. I gather it’s because you didn’t want to get your sister in trouble.” Aya smiled gently and cupped Shiroi’s cheek with her hand, sending a small wave of pleasure out from where she touched Shiroi’s skin. “You needn’t worry, she won’t receive any punishment. Ribtickler is a dangerous weapon, but it seems she knows how to wield it safely.” As she spoke, she would look into Shiroi’s eyes with her own. For just a moment, Aya would seem unnaturally beautiful to Kuroi’s eyes, so beautiful that denying her anything would be the worst crime ever. The effect didn’t last long. Only long enough that it would surprise Shiroi when her own mist changed to the same pink hue and pleasure sent her over the edge like the others.

As Aya looked at the four girls trapped in their blissful pleasure, she couldn’t help but wonder how to deal with this. Fey had to be punished, somehow. She had endangered the other three with her reckless behavior, and unless they sped up, the Moonbeasts might trap them in the harbor and overwhelm them. She turned to Erfek “Go tell Granny that-” Erfek ran off, without a word, fully understanding the upcoming request. Aya nodded slowly to herself, before she turned back to Fey. “Fey… Fey… Fey… What to do with you.“ Her musings paused momentarily as the ship picked up speed. Aya took a deep breath before she snapped and dropped Fey out of the mist, but kept her mind nice and pliable.

“Fey, while I appreciate your reluctance to let the people of my hometown face such a horrible fate. I cannot stand idly by and let you endanger your fellow pets. Her expression was dead serious as she spoke. “As much as it hurts me to do this, I feel it necessary. Any pleasure you would feel for the rest of the day, will instead make you feel cold as punishment. Do you understand?” Once Fey had confirmed she understood, Aya would re-submerge her in the mist, only this time it would be blue. “Furthermore, Fey, since no one tried to lie, you lose by default since you caused this mess. I am sorry, but I cannot let such reckless behavior go unpunished.” Aya took a deep breath, silently hoping Christine would not be too angry with her punishment method. Christine had never given her any guidelines about what punishments were acceptable prior to the beach incident. A few more minutes of silence followed before Aya let the girls go. Though she promptly ordered them all below deck to prevent further lapses of poor judgement from any of them.

 

[Pervy]

Where the others felt guilt, Fey was blessed with a divine ignorance to any wrongdoings that permeated the psychological defense of a compulsive arsonist with regenerative abilities throughout all their life. She did however sideglance to the accounts of the others. Now Korrie was fine, of course, but what was a rib-tickler? That sounded funny. She wanted one too. Also, to object on the moonbeasts being too strong, she kind of almost had this by herself!

Fey made happy moaning-purring noises in the pink mist, a small part of her that'd been layn ignored for most of her life having constantly nagged at her that she'd been doing something uncouth in flying off the handle and should expect punishment, so instead, she made happy fiery wiggly noises. "Hug and feed spices?"
She suggested, when Aya focused back on her, pondering what to do, giving the most innocent of grins.

"Awww nuuuh.." She sulked. "But I don't like cold.." She confirmed as a basic reference for points of punishment. "Nuuuuuuh.."
She made, shivering in the cooler cloud, Quivering in.. well it was certainly not a happy state, with her mind now trying its best to rebel against the cold pleasure, making unhappy bird noise-equivalents, before, finally, dropping out of the punishing mist and silently slinking back under deck, almost unusually quiet if not without an added comment of those moonbeasts being the mean-os and deserving exploding still, pout-hiding out in a side chamber of the suprisingly extradimensionally spacious ship. Alright she accepted troubles in rescuing mistress in the long run being unacceptable, naturally, after all she'd been pushing for that the hardest, but she was still a hero, damned if she ignored the suffering of others, just because the mean frog-beasts were suprisingly tough!

Brrr.. cold was mean, she thought about whilest quivering slightly. It was after all kind of the antithesis of herself. She'd gotten a slightly better grip of it during her time with the cold fire but it was still an icy relationship. Heh.

 

[MortalitasBorealis]

Kuroi complied with no delay, very carefully summoning forth the dagger in question and showing it to Aya. With the weapon in hand, she couldn’t spare the attention to care about the two pets’ pleasured sighs and moans, the neko treating it with the fear it deserved. “I understand. It’s not something I treat lightly at all.” She confirmed, and was eager to sheathe it back into the void as soon as she could. The ravenette was relieved to see that their handler wasn’t as upset as she had feared, and she got her reward, shivering as a warm tingly pleasure suffused her.

Shiroi as well, seeing that her sister hadn’t gotten into trouble, at least not immediately, allowed herself to wind down. With the three having given their testimonies, that left her with nothing to say, and she was fine with losing Aya’s little punishment game, as long as this incident could be put behind them. Still, she maintained a neutral visage when their handler finally got to her, content as long as Kuroi would be okay. The little mind trick did take her off guard, the white-haired girl blinking in surprise from the succubus’ sudden boost in allure, but the effect was gone as swiftly as it came, and she was left figuring out what happened while pleasure caressed her as well, making it difficult to think.

Still, neither of the twins were completely lost in a haze like the drooling pet wyvern, and they could see while Aya issued her punishment to the one that caused this whole mess. Kuroi did feel bad for the phoenix, understanding her intentions even if not agreeing with the means and results, though Shiroi was less sympathetic. Korrie was only vaguely aware of what was happening to the others, feeling sorry for her sister pet, but handler knew best. Once they were allowed back on the ground, the Twins returned below deck soon after Fey, Kuroi throwing their surroundings one more worried glance, but trusting that the ‘grown ups’ had things in hand now that they’re aware of the situation. She was tired, and her body was still hot, she’d love to spend some time relaxing with her sister.

Korrie though, her body flushed with submissive arousal, hesitated a few steps down the stairs, turning back to look at Aya. “Do you need any help…?” She asked, panting lightly. The pet wyvern was ever eager to please, and hopefully earn an extra reward for it. Masturbation simply wasn’t satisfying enough for the slutty wyvern anymore, not when she could have the touch of her Mistress or handler, or at least some squirming tentacles.

 

[Lunaraia]

Aya looked at Korrie for a few moments before shaking her head. “It would be better if you head below deck. Burning the carcass is the only safe way to be rid of the poison. However, the smoke from burning this carcass will be equally toxic as the poison that killed the beast. I can protect myself, but I cannot protect you.” Aya gave a crooked grin and sent a thrill of pleasure through Korrie. “I appreciate the offer, though.” Korrie could see Aya toss a black-green flame at the carcass before hurriedly approaching the door and shooing her below deck in front of her.

Soon after, Aya would hunt down Fey. “I take it you are suitably shivering by now, so I will give you a way to have your sentence mitigated. We need to speed up, and the only one that can coax more power out of the ship’s core is you.” Aya would not say more, but the offer was obvious. Speed up the ship and the cold would end.

Meanwhile, Baba Yaga tracked down the twins and Korrie and herded the trio into the dining room. “Now dearies, you created a lot of chaos earlier, I dare say the entire episode will be the talk of the town for a while.” She gave a calking laugh before she paused and turned dead serious. “Do anything as stupid as that again and I will turn you all into toads, have I made myself clear?” She looked at all three of them. Before she smiled brightly again and walked over to the dining table and had it conjure some meaty soup for her to eat.

She then looked over at the trio once more. “Your training will resume at 5 this afternoon, and you, dragon girl, will be joining them. I will tolerate no excuses, failure to meet up in time will have… consequences.” She waved the three of them off. Leaving them to their own devices. As the old woman went back to her eating, now seeming as nothing more than a happy old granny. This left the trio to their own devices until the appointed time.