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After the adventurers have departed from Noob Cave, leaving the way they had come, Rayla rises from her hiding place in the thick brush. She travels to the cave’s other exit, where Aqu is hiding, and together they return to their lair before going to see the noob chief.
If you want to READ WHAT HAPPENS WHEN RAYLA RETURNS, then put a tally mark in the Sneaky Peaky box on the last page and click here.
“Hey, bird turd,” Rayla says as they approach. “The adventurers left. They’re headed to Fort Roguelike with the half-giant to meet up with that traitorous mystic. Take your fiercest warriors and kill them. Have one of your care bears or whoever capture the souls of the dwarf and the elocuen - Phyr and Pannych - in these gems, and bring them to us. Hell, I don’t even really care about the rest, just bring us those two souls, Pannych and Phyr. Then you can have your stupid cave back, and your stupid troop’s stupid honor will be restored.”
The noob chief grumbles and growls, then says, “Unlikely, while you still walk the Earth.”
Rayla rolls her eyes and groans; Aqu looks at her with disapproval. She says, “Look, I’ll tell you what: if I let you strike me dead right now, will you just do it?”
The noob chief regards her for a moment with narrowed eyes. “Is this some elf trick? What good will souls do you, if you are dead?”
“Because then my friend can have his soul restored, and I’ll be able to rest in peace knowing that he’s whole. After all, I’m just an honorless pig-elf, right? I’m kinda sick of this whole thing. Living like this isn’t worth it... I just want those two dead and their souls captured. Is that enough for you?”
The noob chief turns to her troop and consults with them. Trick or not, two of those adventurers killed five of them just today, the third is a former interloper, and most of the noobs want to see the pig-elf bite the dust anyway. The mystic isn’t so bad, but she knows which way the wind blows. At the end of the day, getting their cave back is not be a complete victory, but it’s something.
“We accept your terms,” the chief says after turning back to Rayla. “I strike you dead, we capture the two souls, and the cave is ours again.”
“Great,” Rayla says. She hands her spear to Aqu and says, “Let’s get this over with.” She steps right up to the noob chief and looks her in the eye.
The noob chief takes ten to line up her strike, then puts all her might into a powerful overhead blow. It lands squarely: Rayla is crushed, killed instantly by a paw thicker and heavier than her body, every bone shattered and her organs all burst. The chief raises her bloody paw and flicks away a few stringy bits of gore. A mender steps forward from the crowd and examines the remains, then pronounces her dead. The chief sniffs and snorts in satisfaction. “It will be done, as she said,” she promises Aqu. Aqu nods and sits by the splattered corpse as the crowd disperses.
Three full minutes after the deathblow, Rayla’s remains begin to glow blue. Her various bits knit themselves back together, and a few moments later, she stands whole, if a bit woozy.
“You all right,” Aqu asks.
“Fine,” Rayla says. “Ugh, that’s three times in one day, though... not the best.”
“Did you have to make such a show of it,” he asks.
“Different question, same answer: did it get us what we want?”
“Well,” Aqu says with a shrug, “That remains to be seen. Still, I don’t think you had to be such a shit about it, though.”
“Maybe, but they’re the lever we can pull right now, so who cares?”
Aqu scoffs. “Time was, you used to have a soft spot for the outcasts and downtrodden. What happened?”
Rayla looks at him through narrowed eyes, but says nothing.
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