Chapter Text
Upon entering through the gates of Skeeb, Claudia immediately understood why the goblins raided Windvale in the first place. Prior to the election, the settlement was a beautifully thriving community where both its civilians and visitors alike co-existed peacefully; it was essentially where people forge connections with "inferior" races, thus subconsciously breaking down the latter's derogatory stereotypes. Now, the settlement was in shambles. Most of the buildings were dilapidated - perhaps from constant destruction - and were heavily plastered with posters of a crowned, grotesquely obese hobgoblin: Lord Zrogzoiks. Puddles of sewage water stained the cobblestone roads. The stench of rotten tomatoes from a nearby garbage bag almost made Claudia retch as she gripped onto Pietersite's sleeve. Fire crackled from a distance as smoke rose into the sky. The settlement barely resembled its former self.
Claudia closed her eyes. She remembered visiting Skeeb once prior to the name change, where she became acquainted with Goblin B - or preferably Stoix. From their limited interactions with each other, she could tell he was a decent guy, although a bit too zealous about his previous leader. Unfortunately, Claudia had already moved to Baller's Gate before she could get to know him more. It's been about a year or so before they saw each other again back in that tavern - a rather regrettable reunion. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to see him again.
"Miss Claudia, I can feel it."
Startled, Claudia immediately opened her eyes to look up at Pietersite. Resoluteness had replaced the water genasi's typical anxiousness as she clutched her amulet, now glowing brighter than before. It was admittedly a good look on her.
"Feel what?" Claudia was so astonished by Pietersite's uncharacteristic demeanor that she completely forgot about their current objective. Silly her.
"The artifact." Pietersite pointed at the sky. On closer inspection - Claudia finally noticed the obvious - the smoke from earlier had swirled together, as if forming a gateway to the Astral Plane, with its tail leading all the way to the stone manor. Sparking necrotic energy, the spiral of smoke tainted the sky an ominous green, threatening to saturate its color the larger it becomes.
"I think I know what's going on." Pietersite put her hand down. "I might be wrong, but there is a chance that someone is using the artifact to summon the dead. I'm not sure why they're doing this, but that would explain the sky and that zombie we met earlier."
Claudia shuddered slightly. The memory of that horrendously grotesque creature of the undead still lingered in her mind. As much as the possibility of encountering another zombie was fairly high, she hoped that at least the next one would be as feeble as the previous one.
"Ugh, whatever. The sooner we get that artifact, the sooner we can leave this place." Claudia motioned for Pietersite to follow her. "Come on, we have to get to that manor." The cleric nodded as she began to follow her.
Before the party could venture further, however, a blunt wooden object struck at Claudia's head. Pathetically collapsing to the ground, she heard a heavy thud alongside her - Pietersite was knocked out. The last thing Claudia saw before blacking out was a set of gnarled, greenish feet right in front of her. It smelled of foot fungus - the overbearing odor of rotten cheese being the actual reason why she became unconscious.
"Sorry, but this is for your own good."
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"What the hells, Stoix?!"
It took approximately two hours for Pietersite to regain consciousness, having been recently woken up by Claudia's exasperated voice. Apparently, the demon must have awakened earlier and was now arguing with a familiar goblin. Despite feeling groggy and suffering from an annoyingly painful, throbbing sensation around the back of her scalp, she could at least look around at her surroundings without mentally straining herself.
From what she could discern, they were located at some sort of abandoned warehouse - built with rusty, metallic beams and damaged brick walls only salvaged by easily noticeable plaster. The large windows were covered in tattered tapestry - they would have provided a light source had the night not been moonless. Decorating the floors were numerous tents occupied by other goblins and hobgoblins. Some of them whispered about their visitors while others paid no mind as they cooked their meals. Pietersite tried to move her limbs around only for her to realize that they were expertly tied up on the chair she was sitting at. So was Claudia, who was trying in vain to break free.
"Seriously, what's the big idea?! You can't just knock out and kidnap someone to gods-know-where for no good reason!" Claudia's tail thrashed around as its tip desperately attempted in vain to cut up the ropes binding her. "If I had the funds, I would sue your ass in court."
The goblin - or Stoix - rolled his eyes. "Well, you killed my girlfriend. So, now we're even. Besides..." He paused for dramatic effect. "...we have more important things to talk about."
"It's now midnight - the perfect time to deal with Lord Zrogzoiks." Stoix's voice dripped with sarcasm upon mentioning the king. "Before he got elected, this town used to be real peaceful with a damn good ruler: Smeegle the Benevolent. From what I've heard, Zrogzoiks hired someone to assassinate him during one of his speeches. Bet that lardass can't even move out of his shitting spot to do his own dirty work." He snorted. "Anyways, the point that I'm getting at is that, since the election, everything went to shit and now he's summoning zombies from his asshole. What a fucking nutjob, am I right?"
"Um, excuse me." Pietersite cleared her throat. "Sorry for interrupting you, but I think I know what's happening."
...
"So, he stole some random death goddess' artifact? Well, that explains everything."
By the time Pietersite finished providing her exposition that shouldn't be regurgitated in an extra-diegetic manner, some of the goblins have already untied the ropes binding the party under Stoix's request after deeming them harmless. Claudia complained about suffering from rope burn as Pietersite casted a healing spell on her wrists.
The cleric then turned to Stoix. Although a bit offended about his statement, it was the least of her worries right now. "Well, it's not just any random goddess. It's Blibdoolpoolp, and Zrogzoiks must have activated one of her artifacts to summon the dead."
"Exactly what she said." Claudia quickly blew on where her injuries were despite them being completely healed already. "Anyways, do you know any way to get inside the manor? Preferably where we won't get immediately killed?"
"Of course I do!" Stoix hastily searched around in his satchel before pulling out a golden badge. It still shone brightly despite its lack of usage. "I used to be the chief captain of Smeegle's army. I should still have access to his former home."
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Claudia's feet ached by the time the party - including Stoix - arrived near King Zrogzoik's manor as they peeked from a dingy alleyway; it resembled more of a warlord's castle if anything. The sky wept upon their arrival, a light drizzle ruining Claudia's hair; she took a shower back at the warehouse. Poison ivy draped the stone walls of the manor in a vain attempt to obscure its deep cracks. Somberly guarding the entrance was a giant hobgoblin soldier, his feet rooted to the ground and his posture perfectly straight. He didn't seem to notice the party as they approached him.
Stoix brandished his badge in front of the guard. "Let me through, big guy. I got important business to deal with."
"No can do." The hobgoblin shook his head. "Lord Zrogzoiks is busy."
"Tch, fine." Stoix returned to his temporary companions back at the alleyway. "Ok, Plan B: we sneak past the guard to the back and find a way inside."
Seeming as there were no other good ideas, Claudia and Pietersite simply nodded before the party slinked their way towards the manor. Despite the hobgoblin allegedly being dimwitted enough to not notice the tiefling and the water genasi cartoonishly tiptoeing past him - with sound effects and everything - he somehow managed to spot Stoix the moment the goblin momentarily paused to tie his shoelaces.
Claudia never noticed that Stoix got left behind until she heard a mixture of squelching and crunching noises coming from behind her. She turned around, hoping to the gods above that it was just some small, disease-ridden creature taking a huge chomp out of a delicious piece of cardboard or some other ridiculous scenario like that. However, all she could see was a goblin's mangled corpse on the sodden ground - his skull having been crushed by hand and his body contorted like an accordion. Blood flowed from his twisted mouth and hollow eye sockets as he reached towards Claudia.
The last time she saw Stoix was when the guard kept stomping him over and over again.
---
"It's going to be okay, Miss Claudia."
Pietersite wasn't sure how confident she sounded as she patted the vomiting tiefling's back. She personally didn't witness Stoix's grisly death as she was too preoccupied with looking for a back entrance inside the manor; there was an open window big enough for even the water genasi to fit through, albeit a bit too high to easily enter through. The party could have been inside by now had Claudia never witnessed such a visceral scene. Instead, Pietersite took a moment to observe her surroundings.
Similar to the front of the manor, tangled vines heavily obscured the entire back wall; one could have never guessed that beneath the vitiferous curtain were chipped stone and randomly placed, mismatched windows. Behind the party was a wooden fence vandalized with obscene imagery. Pietersite couldn't count on her fingers the number of crudely minuscule drawings of leaking vaginas she saw just from where she was standing. Above her was a weirdly placed patio roof, protecting the party from the now pouring rain. Perhaps the previous goblin leader wasn't knowledgeable of the aesthetics of architecture.
Claudia finally coughed out a couple bits of digested food before wiping her mouth. "Ugh, I sure hope so."
Come to think of it, weren't demons supposed to be unfazed by death? Pietersite remembered during her adolescent schooling when the archpriest first introduced the basics of demonology. One topic that stuck out to her was their derision and apathy towards mortality, even of their loved ones. Also, demons typically never experienced digestive problems, let alone vomit; it was probably just a false rumor but, then again, the archpriest was always right. If Claudia truly was a demon like she claimed to be, then she must be a unique case.
"Should we head inside now?" The sooner they sneak into the manor, the less likely they would be caught by the guard.
"Yeah. Hoist me up, Piet."
"Wait what?" Before Pietersite could comprehend what she heard, Claudia had already climbed onto her pauldrons from behind using the spikes of her armor as steps. It was a miracle that the demon was able to keep her balance as she gingerly hopped through the window. Pietersite sighed in relief before climbing the vines up to the window.
In contrast to the more stately yet decrepit exterior of the manor, the room the party had entered resembled more of a dimly lit dungeon than anything else. Plastered on the walls were peculiar archaic writing that glowed a sinister neon green - Zrogzoiks sure did love that color apparently. Although Pietersite recognized the language it was written in - Undercommon - its crude handwriting made it difficult to decipher, other than the fact that it pertained to necromancy. Right in the middle of the room was a cage containing a child; Pietersite had no clue how or why they were captured. Surrounding the cage were five candles positioned in accordance with the ritual circle drawn by chalk on the wooden floor, of which each of them was placed at a designated tip. Near the ritual circle was a chest filled to the brim with potions and scrolls of summoning spells. If she had to guess based on personal experiences, the child was meant to be a human sacrifice to summon some sort of deity, most likely a death domain one.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Pietersite heard Claudia muttering to herself before the latter carefully approached the cage. Fumbling through her hair, the demon momentarily crouched down as she fished out a bobby pin. Surprisingly, it fitted inside the lock perfectly. The cage door creakily opened. As Claudia took a step back, the child tentatively crawled out of her imprisonment before staring at her; they didn't speak a word. Claudia apparently didn't know what to do, so she just waved at her. It was a weird reunion.
Pietersite heard the door to the dungeon open. Instinctively, she pulled out her mace and turned towards Claudia, who desperately motioned the child to return to the cage. Standing before them was the hobgoblin guard from earlier, now enraged over the party's intrusion.
"Oh crap. Um, hello!" Claudia was about to pull off her signature move: talking her way out of dangerous situations. "We...uh...just got lost and stumbled upon this room. Beautiful decorations, by the way. I personally wouldn't want my room to look like this, but all the more power to you, buddy."
The hobgoblin just stared at her blankly. Pietersite surmised he must also be a zombie.
"Okay, good talk! Now, if you would excuse us, we can just- THUNDERWAVE!" Claudia extended her hands as a wave of thunderous force was expelled, sending the guard crashing through the door. "Now, Piet!"
"R-Right!" Pietersite quickly hurled a ball of light towards the guard, setting him aflame with radiance. He bellowed before disintegrating into specks of dust. Honestly, it was a rather underwhelming fight. Perhaps zombies are weak towards radiant damage.
Shortly after the battle concluded, the child once again crawled out of their cage. Cocking their head, they hesitantly squeezed onto Claudia's hand, as if expressing their gratitude towards her.
Claudia squeezed back.
---
Conveniently, the party discovered a spacious bed in a hidden room after Claudia accidentally leaned on a collapsible section of the stone walls - Pietersite had to heal her before entering. The bed itself was large enough for everyone to sleep on without invading each other's personal space, although it also was the only visible piece of furniture that could fit into the room.
The child - now nicknamed "Rune" by the suggestion of Pietersite - opted to sleep on the end of the bed. Claudia didn't really mind since that would mean she wouldn't be wrongfully suspected of committing child sexual harassment in case word got out of the party's adventure, but it's still weird that they willingly chose to sleep like a dog. Considering Rune had been trapped in that cage for gods know how long, she couldn't blame her. However, because she had saved them, it was now her responsibility to take care of them.
Of course, that was Claudia's objective from the start.