Dark Lord 4

“Well I believe the best way to solve a problem is to use someone else who’s also got the same problem as a bulwark against said problem.” You spoke to no one in particular, raising your porcelain cup to your lips and sipping daintily. Your mother sat behind you, hers full of your illustrious mane, making certain to take perfect care of every strand as she ran her brush though the luxuriant locks.

“This sounds like an errand perfect for a fool.” Your mother droned, her usual monotone picking up no cadence for you to decipher the direction of her comment.

“Lots of fools around alright.” Shu spoke up causing a slight surprise. It hadn’t really been interested in much beyond lounging about in the carriage on its side of the space, head lain against the lap of the only one of your rations still alive and fresh as it noisily ate what was left of another, having gutted and worked its way through all of the more tender bits first. You’d already had to clean the first one out of the upholstery, and you were not enthused at the idea of needing to for this next session.

You sighed then rolled your eyes, you just had to pick the subordinate with the messy eating habits.

“Well either way, I’m certain we can have an ally or two to place before us before ousting the goblins from OUR new home. I would prefer to keep my hands from getting too dirty on this particular encounter.” You nodded to yourself even as Mother finished her work on your hair, your porcelain cup placed back upon its porcelain saucer and only the congealed red brown stain upon its insides to show the meal of blood which you’d just been sipping. “Now come, let us being this work.”

“You have fun with that.” The oni spoke up, in-between a full lips, its hands busy holding onto the leg bone of one of the deceased ration as it munched cheerfully though the thick meat of a desiccated thigh. “Oh and bring me back some Milk, and berries… and maybe a goblin or three.”

You raise an eyebrow, glancing in its direction. “And what makes you think yourself excluded from this venture?”

“I’m eating. Then I’ve got sleep to catch up on while you two are out and about. Not all of us are nocturnal ya know.” Shu reasoned, its mouth still full of strips of meat as it spoke. “Besides, if I have to defend you from Goblins I’m sure your father would die of shame.”

In other words Shu was feeling lazy. Lovely...

“I almost wish right now that I’d chosen a proper minion.” You griped, only for Shu to shrug in return, then get back to her meal, sparks of flame reaching out from her fingertips as she roasted the meat in her hands, dripping the falling fat everywhere… dammit.

Ugg… you’d have to go it alone for now. You couldn’t well take Mother considering how utterly domestic she was.

And besides, Shu was right, it wasn’t like this wasn’t a simple enough task.

Meh either way, you’d go first to try getting a new meat shield... ah… ally for your cause of sleeping somewhere indoors today. Nice as the Carriage was it still got overly cramped and warm when daylight struck.

Just being able to stand in the sun without reduction of power didn’t make it a comfortable experience.

Either way, it was almost nightfall.

Time to hunt.


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On your first pass though looking for a place to settle into, you remembered a small den in the nearby hills, which you’d made a note of as you passed. You hadn’t done much beyond the preliminary scouting but in truth it was obvious that something had made its home there. Something which you’d quickly deduced to be a Gryphon.

The thing about was that Gryphons were hoarders, creatures who literally nested upon every valuable thing they could muster together, with a treasure sense bordering upon the surreal, they could find lost and hidden valuables with eerie accuracy. Though in truth most of the time they simply set up shop over the valuable site and guarded it fiercely.

As such Goblins and Gryphons were nothing less that mortal enemies in most cases.

No goblin troupe could long resist the urge to occasionally raid a Gryphon nest, and no Gryphon would forgive such an intrusion.

A perfect storm which you were looking to take advantage of.

Or at least you’d hoped as much.

“No. now get out of my den. I will not leave for your friends, where ever they are, to sneak in and take more of what is MINE.” The slightly squawky, though resonant voice echoed out from the boundary mouth of the den, it’s inhabitant eyeing you with disdain and even greater distrust.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes.  Not only had you found yourself disappointed, as you approached the cave, at the fact that it was a lesser Gryphon, a creature barely the size of a small pony, who’d set up within this small hovel, alongside of whatever treasure it was that it was guarding. But also the intensely paranoid nature of the creature was making you swear to the dark gods that you were ‘This Close’ to just skinning the dammed thing and calling it a night.

http://img03.deviantart.net/c269/i/2012/078/5/7/owl_griffin_color_design_by_robthedoodler-d4tc3po.jpg
Name:
Species: Lesser Owl Gryphon
Class: None
Status: Suspicious, Paranoia


“I’m trying to make a deal with you to get back your bloody stolen things you idiot bird-brain. I have little interest in your hovel, so get out here and come help me kill some goblins.” You all but shouted at the stupid creature that was flouting you orders and doubting your word, how did it even go out to eat being so bloody paranoid?

“I’ll rip your face off if you try to get in here. Now leave.” It growled, once more frustrating your efforts at diplomacy. Your fingers itched with the desire to run red with the dammed thing’s blood... but you refrained. No, you needed to be calm, you could come back and murder the bird once you had your proper daytime place.

“… I will not forget this indignity.” How dare that lesser thing dare disobey you?

You stormed off, unhappy with the result.

But at least you knew where the little shit slept, you could deal with him later.



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Denied… and with no meat shield to stand in front of you. You weren’t at all pleased with the outcome thus far, and really you didn’t like the idea of having to dirty your own hands on mere Goblins at all. Not that you expected things to be difficult, even with leadership the stupid creatures were a menace to themselves as much as they were to any enemy, their greed easy to exploit in practically any situation.

This, you reluctantly assessed, would leave you relying on stealth, better to make a silent run for the leadership than to fight the chaotic mess of bodies which any goblin horde eventually devolved into during close combat. They might actually damage your nice dress otherwise.

You approached with a silent swiftness born and befitting of your kind, powerful strides in the night as you stalked though the darkness. Goblins, you knew, were also somewhat nocturnal creatures though their eyes were not particularly well adapted for the role in any real extra capacity, their ears and sense of smell were acute.

Luckily you could eliminate some of that with the simple functionality of your cleaning spells, and your own gifts of vampiric agility.

Your approach would be unseen as you worked your way into their cavernous residence.

The place was full of them, thick with their stench as they lounged about, played and squabbled over every and anything within reach. You could count no less than three instances of some small thing being stolen from its original owner, by guile or force, then someone else swooping in to take it, followed by another. Things changed hands quickly among the goblin troupe.

Quickly you scanned the horde, focusing on the stronger looking ones as you tried to discern which was to be your main target.

Among the throng two goblins seemed to stand out as they either commanded a certain amount of space about them, no others impeding their play or even trying to steal what was theirs from them.

The first was a female sitting still grooming what you assumed to be her pet Rat.

http://imgur.com/a/UHddG