StarChaser: Another (18+)

Name	Sex	Callsign	Role	Species	Combat Type
Ingrid Lily	F	Starchaser Actual	Leader, Tank	Human	Melee + Ranged
Cecil	M	Overlord	Adjutant, Team Iroquois Leader	Slime	Ranged (Guns)
Zefir Aargrove	M	Baseplate	Mission Control, Assistant	Ciltran (Formerly Human)	N/A
Kvaris Enthana	F	Anubis	Scout, Fighter, Chief Adviser	Garm (wolf-girl)	Melee
Kinu Enthana	F	Amarok	Scout, Fighter, Chief Adviser	Garm (wolf-girl)	Melee
Philia Lovelock	F	King Fish	Artificer, Assistant Adjutant	Human (Daos Disguised)	Ranged (Guns)
Gwen Hartpenny	F	Outlaw	Mission Control, Maid	Ciltran	N/A
Sammy Foster	F	Night-Rider	Rearguard, Tank	Half-Orc Half-Human	Melee
Viel Yulga	F	Kitty-Five	Cantrip Sorceress	Ciltran	N/A
Siria Bluethorne	F	Ranger-Two	Sorceress, Field XO	Elf	Sorcery
Iohann of the Treanthorn Tribe	F	Prophet	Cleric	Felmoon	Melee + Sorcery
Neith	N/A	Glados, HTX	Porter, Mission Control, Drone Operator	Sentient AI	N/A
Arek Ixilos	M	N/A	Mission Control, Adviser, Supplier	Gulan	N/A
Roofe	M	Dallas	N/A	Kobold	N/A
Mink	M	Wayne	N/A	Kobold	N/A

The caravan consisting of fifty travelers stood anxiously as a group of bandits blocked their way, brandishing swords and various polearms. There were about twenty of them but they looked tough, and there were more sitting by the hillside to their left, on their right, a loose group stood guard.

“The fee for crossing this road is two-hundred silvers!” A tall gnoll said. 

“We don’t have that kind of money!” Some of the travelers said. One of them, a big burly minotaur gently pushed his way through the crowd to speak with the bandits.

“Please, we don’t have that money, all these things we carry are for our daily supplies.”

“You’re paying it’s worth, one way or another.” his elf companion smugly said.

The small group of travelers let out a collective cry of protest as the bandits shoved their way through to help themselves with the goods inside their caravan. 

When the minotaur punched down one of the bandits, they retaliated with steel. The travelers screamed in horror as a pole axe bit into his shoulder, followed by other polearms dragging him to the floor. In a blur of steel and gore the minotaur bellowed his last as he futiley tried to defend himself against the onslaught of axes, hammers, and spears.

“Who else wants to be a hero?” The gnoll leader as he bashed away with his hammer.

 

___

Ingrid, Zefir, Philia, and Cecil, who currently occupied the front space, snickered as the drone Falcis flew alongside the ATV which was running at full speed, displaying on a dashboard monitor everyone else , they were poking their heads out of the window, the funniest being Mink and Roofe, who were constantly dog-panting in excitement and their tongues lolling out.

“They’re all like cute doggos!” Ingrid giggled quietly. Philia was beside herself in a giggling fit, cuddling Brody who excitedly squeaked and nuzzled her. Ingrid had Eli on her lap, his eyes closed in bliss as Ingrid scratched his cheeks, causing him to make  cute mousy chirps. Arthur on the other hand sat on Zefir’s lap as he had his paws on the steering wheel, with Zefir’s feet working on the footpedals and his hands busily scratching behind his ears. Sully and Ralph on the other hands were taking turns kneading Cecil who cooed and melted to blubber.

“The mice have tamed us.” Cecil said in a drowsy voice.

“Mhmmm… I for one welcome our mouse-lords.” Ingrid said dreamily.

“Wish we had more mice.” Philia said, going nose-to-nose with Brody.

“Do we have enough gun and ammo for more mice though?” Zefir asked as he gently eased the brakes, allowing for Arthur to make his turn. 

“We still got some SCARs, left but I have not undone the inherent problem that got them cut out of the US Army’s budget.” Philia said contemplatively. Brody’s ears perked up at the sound of guns being mentioned, and Siria who was right behind looked at her.

“They looked like they were functioning real well.” The elf said. 

“That’s only because Philia took out their inherent flaw.” Ingrid said as she continued to rub Eli’s cheek pouches. “The original design of the gun, sometimes when it ejects the spent shell out of the weapon causes it to get caught in the machinery inside, thus stopping the weapon completely.”

“Assuming you don’t have time to fix those guns, do you have others?” Siria asked. Philia nodded.

“There’s the older but also very reliable M-14. It’s not really capable of rapid fire but it can do in a pinch. Besides… rapid fire isn’t the cure-all for victory… the Vietnam war taught our country that.”

“How?” The elf inquired, wondering what sort of bitter lesson could that  be. The ability to shoot many times in rapid succession looked like a no-brainer to her.

“The war was fought in dense jungles. The enemy hid everywhere, disguised themselves as bushes or blended in with the jungle. Our men started emptying entire magazines of bullets at the first suspicious thing they saw, the loud noise giving away their position, the process of reloading their guns left them open to attack, allowing their enemy to take them out with older, less advanced guns.” Ingrid explained. “Strength is useless if you can’t make use of it after all.”

“And that’s why we taught the mice to shoot only in short, controlled bursts.” Philia added. “Getting back to the topic, that M-14 maybe an ancient gun, but it’s as reliable as an ancient mythril sword, still as deadly today as it was when it was freshly made.”

“And easier to procure, I imagine.” Zefir said he gently accelerated the ATV. “Well then, if we got more guns, then I guess we can get more mice.” 

___

As the ATV “Sleipnir” rounded along the corner at the base of a hill, the scout drone Aquila let out a short alarm.

“Armed tangos at the side of the road.” 

“Possible bandits!” Ingrid called.

“Run them over.” Philia said coldly, though none of the bandits looked stupid enough to try to get between them, although if they did, Zefir had no qualms doing so.

“Windows up!” Ingrid cried and everyone quickly pulled back and slid their windows closed. 

The mice squeaked angrily and scrambled to their stations. Arthur and Sully grabbed their rifles, Kinu and Kvaris took their places near the side doors and Sammy at the rear, briefly opening the door a crack to allow Cecil to fly out and act as a turret.

Ingrid opened the hatch and pulled herself up, her Aegis aura magnetting her feet to the ATV as it rumbled along the road.

“Rules of Engagement?” Cecil asked.

“Fire when fi-” Ingrid’s face darkened and she leapt off the ATV as Cecil opened fire at the mob hacking away at someone on the ground. A second later, a dust cloud erupted and Ingrid was now standing between the bloodied minotaur who was trying to protect his companions and the gang of hoodlums who threatened them. The impact had sent most of them flying, with Ingrid’s Aegis aura redirecting all that force away from the bystanders.  

Meanwhile, Cecil and the mice had opened fire at the armed men who were grabbing things from the wagons, before turning to open fire at the men by the hillside.

“Prophet!” Ingrid half-shouted down the earpiece. “Get escorts and get over here quickly!” Ingrid quickly looked around at the crowd of travelers. “Who here knows this man? You? Get over here! Keep talking to him! Keep him awake!” she said, pulling at a girl with tree branches on her head. 

Ingrid channeled her mana into the man’s body. That there were still armed and angry band around didn’t concern her as Iroquois quickly turned around to fire at them.

“Everyone get down right now!” Philia said loudly over Aquila’s speakers and Cecil’s bullhorn. 

“Get down!” Ingrid echoed to the travelers “Get down or you will get shot!”

 

Quickly the crowd obeyed and crouched down as gunfire rained from Cecil. The bandits decided to press their attack, seeing only Cecil as the source of their troubles, the sight of the huge ATV however, caused them to hesitate, it looked and sounded like a wild angry animal as it pulled up alongside the travelers. The doors to the arcane armored wagon opened  up and out came of all people, an orc from the Nightmane Tribe and even worse, the daughters of Amaduscia Enthana.

“Run!” One of the bandits yelled. 

“We can take them!” One of his companions said.

“Not with a Nemesis-Stalker and an orc we won’t!”

The hesitation cost them dearly. An armored swarm mouse stepped into view from the still opened door and pointed his strange magician’s rod and suddenly bandits left and right were suddenly struck with an invisible force. Some had holes blown through them while others had grievous wounds gouged out from their body, all of them however, were then subsequently smashed with a great hammer appearing from nowhere. The shock and surprise froze them in fear just in time for the orc and Enthana sisters to close the distance.

 

As the bandits broke off and ran away, Iohann reached the grievously wounded minotaur. At the very least he was still speaking. As Iohann began casting her healing spell, Philia reached into the cleric’s bag and took out a big hypodermic needle.

“He’s going to need adrenaline!” Philia said, jabbing his chest and forcing the plunger down. The big minotaur coughed, the combination of the pain from the needle, the healing spell and the adrenaline jolted him back to life. 

Ingrid touched her earpiece. “Secure the area! Nobody goes alone! Sammy! Help me bring the big guy into the ATV.”

She then took the girl with the tree branches growing from her head. “You’re coming with us, bonsai girl, I need you to keep this man conscious.” she said, carrying her over. The girl only mildly protested, belatedly realizing how strong this human was and just realized she was looking at a talking, intelligent Nemesis-Stalker. 

“Where’s the nearest town?” Ingrid asked Siria as she pulled the minotaur onto the ATV’s floor.

“There’s a town of Salfir about thirty miles east.” The elf said, wrapping bandages across the man’s badly cut face.

“Neith? Give me an average.” Ingrid said.

“That’s nine hours on foot unless we leave the caravan behind.”

“If you’re thinking I’m being Machiavellian about this,” Philia said as she applied antiseptic on his wounds. “We’re representing Fenrir Guild right now.”

“Autumnhollow?” Zefir volunteered.

“I’ll think about it, let’s get some distance from these hills first.” Ingrid said, stepping out. “All non-combatants, get in, 189 too.”

 

“Folks!” Ingrid said over the bullhorn. “We’ll move mister…”

“Kirtus.” A bear-folk said.

“We’ll move Kirtus to the town of Salfir. Considering there’s bandits here, I recommend those who want to travel alongside us do so now.” 

Everyone seemed keen to the idea so Ingrid waved everyone to then move ahead. “I don’t recommend you travel behind our vehicle… you don’t want to breathe all that smoke, trust me.” 

Ingrid and Sammy then carried some of the travelers up the roof so they could sit there instead.

“It’s not much, but do hang on.”

With that, the Whales joined the caravan, and made their nine hour journey to Salfir.

 

Or not. During the two hours of travel and Neith’s drones picking up nobody trying to follow them, Ingrid tapped her earpiece.

“Starchaser Actual to Sleipnir” Ingrid said, addressing the crew inside. “Status on patient?”

“Stable for now. Healing magic doesn’t make wounds vanish, Starchaser Actual.” Philia replied. “It draws on the mana to do some extra lifting to keep the body alive. Some spells do accelerate the body’s regenerative abilities but don’t push it, that still needs a hospital.Over.”

“Copy. Does Salfir have such a hospital. Over.” Ingrid pouted.

“Unconfirmed but they should at least have a dedicated healer, most towns have one, over.” Philia replied.

“What about Prophet?” Ingrid queried, that sounded like Iohann’s job. 

“If you want Prophet knocked out, that’s your prerogative Starchaser Actual. She’s already doing all she can to keep him stable. That’s how hospitals work here. Healing is not a welding job, it’s like working with bricks and mortar…you need the lower layers to set first or he’ll collapse.”

“Roger. You’re doing a great job, Prophet, as you were. Starchaser Out.” Ingrid said.

“What did she mean by that?” Iohann asked.

“It means keep doing what you’re doing.” Zefir replied. “Also I’m bringing up Autumnhollow again. If we want to save this man’s life then we put them in the pasture…”

“Overlord here, just to say one thing… phrasing. Over.” Cecil added in the line.

Despite the dire situation, Ingrid let out an amused snort and she was sure Zefir and Philia did the same as well as the line went quiet.

“Carry on, Baseplate.” Ingrid said.

“We put the travelers out in the pasture. From there we can travel at full speed to Selfir. Put the mice or whoever to guard the place so they can’t rummage around our house, problem solved.” Zefir said.

“Team, I want a vote on this.” Ingrid said after thinking awhile.

“What would Machiavelli do? Yes, he’d do that.” Philia replied.

“Necessity tempered by good deeds, that’s a reasonable and profitable decision.” Kvaris said.

“This will look good on our guild, we stand little to lose given the circumstance.” Kinu added.

“I’m willing to stand guard.” Sammy volunteered.

“I’ll agree.” Viel chimed in. “This is the most efficient way.”

“If they want to save Kirtus they must cooperate.” Gwen said.

“They owe it to him to cooperate.” Iohann echoed.

“You know what? If Philia found me first, I would have played along with her faux Machiavelli rules.” Cecil said cryptically. Ingrid took it as an assent.

“Standby, Team…give me the bullhorn… Attention everyone! Please gather around.” 

The discussion went on for a couple of minutes, with Cecil and Neith hovering around to keep watch. Iohann had stepped out of the ATV, holding out her Blessed Thurible. 

“I hate to sound like a villain after saving all of you from a bunch of them…” Ingrid began. “But we do have a way of helping Kirtus  and ensuring his safety. I will need all of you to swear by Saint Ygris and Qhetar, God of Abundance, to never speak of what you will witness.”

Iohann played it up, activating the censer on her thurible and lightly swaying it around, dispensing (in Ingrid’s own amused words) “holy smoke” as if making a wordless prayer. Some of the more religious folk in the crowd knelt. 

“What…” the elderly bear-folk asked, the de-factor leader of the group now that Kirtus was injured. “...do you ask of us?”

 

“Straight ahead! Go right into the portal over there!” Sammy said as she shepherded the travelers into the lakeside meadow beyond the portal. Philia’s aurochs had wandered over for a look, and moo’ed curiously. Ingrid, who was also present, for a moment thought the aurochs looked like territorial bulls but it was probably just her imagination as the bulls looked relaxed and chewed their cud as usual. 

“Nobody step out of Autumnhollow’s boundaries, or you’ll end up where we last put this place.” Kvaris said. “As for the dimension inside… don’t wander off too far now, we have not explored this dimension fully yet.”

Zefir and Gwen waited until all of the others had entered the portal and then they led Roofe and Mink into the Autumnhollow house. 

“So this is where you’ve been sleeping all this time!” Mink said, sitting back on the couch. “Quite fancy for a little hut.”

“Well, the truth is…” Zefir began.

As Zefir told them the truth of his origins, Ingrid had everyone sit down on the extended patio.

“We will reach Selfir in a much shorter time.” Ingrid said. “I’ll need all of you to just rest up and sit down while we get there. Feel free to water and feed your beasts of burden, and don’t touch anything. As added protection for all of you good folks, I’ll leave Sammy and the Enthana sisters with you, you’ll be in their care.”

With that. Ingrid turned around and waved. Back in the ATV, the crew now consisted of Cecil, the mice, Zefir, Iohann, Siria, Kirtus, and the Selphie, the girl with antler-like tree branches growing out of her head. 

“Let’s go! Dismiss Autumnhollow!” Ingrid said. Gwen who was watching from the inside, saw the world around them turn faint and the magical borders more pronounced.

 

“She’s a dryad.” Siria explained. “Though something about her feels wrong, it’s like she got cursed.” 

Selphie looked up at the group in fright, wondering if they’ll throw her out all alone, but the human merely ruffled her hair. 

“I feel blessed just looking at her.” Ingrid said with a pleased expression.

“I’m serious,” Siria said “she may not look like it, but her life is just as in danger as Kirtus over here, she needs a healer as well.”

“Can it be undone?” Ingrid asked. 

“Yes, but that takes a bit of time.” Siria answered. “Her best choice of survival is to be taken to a temple at Teth-Odin, there she will be…” Siria’s eyes widened. As Cecil got close to ruffle her hair, she noticed the dark aura around Selphie visibly lesson.

“Of course…” Siria slapped her forehead. “Cecil! Take the portal to Qhethar’s holy symbol!”

Quickly, Cecil did just that, bringing the portal close as he did, Selphie shrieked in pain and everyone could see a dark aura form around her.

Iohann quickly grabbed Selphie’s shoulders and spoke in a voice that had  a supernatural echo.

“Leave her at once, malingerer!”

Qhetar’s totem glowed and whatever the evil entity haunting Selphie tried to say was cut off was a pulse of energy from Qhetar knocked it out of Selphie, slipping through the cracks of the back door.

The ATV suddenly shuddered and rocked as this happened, and Ingrid and Cecil quickly stood at the top of the vehicle.

“Drive!” Ingrid yelled down the earpiece.

Some kind of massive shadow entity was now pursuing the ATV. 

“I’ll shield!” Iohann said.

“No, I’ll do it! Keep Kirtus stable!” Ingrid said. The mass of shadows showed a collage of intimidating faces as it pursued the ATV. 

Ingrid flared her aura brightly, causing the ATV to glow as she extended her Aegis Aura around it.

“What is that!?” Zefir said as the entity pursued them.

“Baatezu!” Siria said “It must’ve been brought in from the Rift Worlds.”

“A what?” Zefir asked, not familiar with the term.

“It’s a malignant spirit of pure energy, it must have been feeding off of Selphie’s mana all this time.” Siria explained, her voice shaking as the ATV roared down the bumpy road. 

“Heh, so you have those here too.” Cecil said with amusement.

 

“You will be my new host, human!” The shadowy baatezu roared. “I’ll make good use of you-AAGGGH!” It suddenly screamed as Cecil shot it. 

“Go fuck yourself.” Cecil said over the bullhorn. 

“You dare harm me!? Impossible!” The baatezu retaliated by firing a volley of dark projectiles, but a combination of Iroquois’ bullets and Ingrid’s shielding either deflected the shots or dissipated them completely. “No weapon can harm me!”

“I just did, dumbass!” Cecil said, flipping it off. “Now scram!”

Predictably the monster accelerated forward but a burst of bullets from Iroquois forced it back, causing it to scream as the bullets created bright sparks of mana and made it lose even more of its mass.

___

“What’s going on? How’s Cecil harming it?” Zefir asked, he kept his eyes on the road but he could hear that Cecil’s shots were definitely working on it.

“Mana, the bullets go through Cecil’s Enhancement lens and thus enchant them.” Siria said, holding onto dear life as the ATV bumped up and down the road. 

___

Cecil kept an eye out as he tried to anticipate where the baatezu would strike next. The ATV was moving at top speed right now and they were in a darkening forest. 

Ingrid’s Argus aura saw it approach from the left  and she punched it square in the center, her fist creating an explosion of light that sent it flying. Unlike Cecil’s mana-laced bullets, Ingrid’s mana and ether-enhanced strikes caused it far more immense pain. Cecil laughed loudly down the bullhorn, taunting the creature and making it let out a scream of pure anger and hate as it barreled towards them.

With it’s position now obvious from it’s brightly flaring aura, Iroquois rained fire, the damage removing more and more of the dark spirit’s mana and forcing it to try another sneak attack from the side, but every time it tried it just ended up getting shot in the face by Cecil or getting punched by Ingrid. 

“Energy! I will heal myself with your energy!” it screamed. It seemed to have  found the perfect spot to attack Cecil, Ingrid quickly slid over to punch it down… 

…and missed, the spirit was able to enter the portal to Cecil’s dimension, into the rooftop. 

What happened next took place in a short amount of time but to Cecil, Ingrid, and the baatezu, time seemed to have dilated.

“Scatter!” Cecil said and the three mice jumped off their perches. Ingrid for some reason was looking at Cecil with a knowing smile and sideways glance. 

It was then that Cecil grabbed the spirit.

The two of them tumbled across Cecil’s roofdeck’s floor in a flurry of light blue and black-purple, with Cecil inexplicably wrapping himself around the mass of shadows. It began to quickly shrink while Cecil grew. Now, it was desperately crawling towards the portal while Cecil slowly and steadily engulfed more and more of it.

Cecil was devouring it alive.

“How many calories is that?” Ingrid asked rhetorically, tapping her foot on the ATV’s roof to let them all was clear.

“Just right, I guess.” Cecil said, all glowing and more chipper than usual. There were still flecks of dark mass swirling in this body but it too was starting to dissolve. “Shame we had to cut it down to size.”

“You did what!?” Zefir said over the radio.

“King Fish to Baseplate, slimes can directly feed off mana.” Philia said over the radio. There was some loud music playing in the background and people shouting at her.

“King Fish?” Ingrid said, quickly entering the ATV. “Where did you go?”

“I’m at Autumnhollow interviewing our bandit friends.” Philia said matter-of-factly over the pounding garage rock music. 

“King Fish took some of the bandits down the basement.” Gwen said. “Not to worry, I’ve told Dallas and Wayne not to go down there…” she deadpanned. 

There was a sound of a chainsaw revving, someone screaming in agony while other voices were either muffled yells and others of complete horror as the chainsaw sounds were partially muffled with sounds that the Terragalians were too scared to ask.

“No! Yarmir! Noooo!” someone yelled, before dissolving into frightened crying. 

“I’ll ask again” Philia said, the chainsaw purring in the background “where’s your hideout?”

“What the hell, Philia!?” Arek said, looking at her camera feed.

---

INDEX: The Whales' Party Sheet