CC5 ~ 44!

~ 44 ~

“A coffee elemental? Adorable.” Joe whipped around at the unexpected voice, finding that he was suddenly not alone on the tiny island. The chubbiest Elf Joe had ever seen was standing there with him, a half-mask hiding his features. “Ayy, how fun. Let’s start the process, shall we, brudda?”

Two more Elves were suddenly clamping thick manacles onto  Joe’s arms, and he hadn’t even seen them approaching. The chubby Elf stepped close and touched both manacles, a spark of mana jumping into them. Right away, Joe felt his control over his mana falter and fade. The Elf kept speaking as if he were unaware of Joe’s shock and outrage. “I can’t believe them bigwigs would just send youze out here without applying prisoner cuffs. What a strange oversight.”

Joe clamped his mouth shut, worried that if he started speaking, he would never be able to stop. Something about this guy… Joe just wanted to trust him. Then there was the fact that these Elves were appearing out of nothing. He had no idea what sort of illusion he was trapped in, and there was the chance that nothing here was real.

The chubby Elf got right in Joe’s face. “So, let’s start by doing this here the polite way, yeah? Show me some face here, an’ take off your gear. Rings, armor, anything like that. Then change inta this prisoner garb, yeah?”

The compulsion to do as he was asked struck Joe, but he tamped it down as hard as he could. This Elf must have an utterly insane charisma characteristic.

“No? You don’t wanna be my friend?” There was a momentary pause, and the Elf let out what sounded like a truly saddened sigh. “You know how long it takes to get every item off someone? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over here!”

Seeing the stricken expression on the Elven face, Joe couldn’t manage to keep his mouth closed anymore. “Why do you even need me to take the gear off?”

“Hey, look at us, building bonds of trust and stuff!” The Elf crowed, giving Joe a hearty slap on the arm. “You musta always been an upstanding member of society if you’ve never realized that someone can’t take gear off you without permission.”

Joe shook his head slightly, hating himself for speaking further. He couldn’t not speak; and he was trying everything he could think of to keep his mouth shut. Words still forced themselves out through his gritted teeth, even as he snarled at himself to stop. “I… don’t… understand. I lost a robe to a creature once, and I’ve seen tons of gear get destroyed.”

“C’mon, round-ear, do I look like a boss monster with a rare skill? You think gear-breaking skills won’t do damage to you, too? How many times wouldja pop back onto the island here before I managed ta’ bust even just those shiny shoes you got on?” The Elf shook his head. “Howzabout just taking ‘em off, yeah?”

“Bite me.”

Skill increase: Mental Manipulation Resistance (Beginner I)

“I…” This was clearly not the answer the Elf had been expecting, and he didn’t know how to handle the rejection. “I assume that was an insult, but it’s a new one for me. Let’s play it that way, then, yeah? Try and bust his armor till our resident thief gets here, boys.”

Joe’s arms were forced behind him until he felt like they were about to break, then the back of his head was grabbed and he was slammed face-first into the ground.

Damage: 40 terrain.

“Come on, now; I know he was being rude an’ all, but he’s not even wearing a basic hat.” The chubby Elf sighed in frustration at the antics of his helpers. “I was being serious, bust his gear. Oh, the mask. I see.”

The Elf got a grunt of acknowledgement from the thugs, and a spray of acid covered Joe’s front.

You have been caught in a capture field! All major forts have the option of respawning a small number of the enemies killed in a ‘jail’ area instead of allowing them to actually die. Escape, be released, or be rescued if you want to get away!

After a long moment of darkness, Joe was back on the island. He looked at his wrists, but the manacles were still there. The Elf shrugged at him, “See? Barely any damage to the gear; you just can’t survive long enough for us to make the spell count. Hurts though, don’t it? Ha! Hurts donut? You hungry, human? Oh, you don’t need to worry about the shackles. Those are bound to me, not you. We won’t hurt them.”

Another blast of acid hit Joe.

You have been caught in-

Joe slapped the message out of his field of vision, trying to orient himself before his captors could get a hold of him again. No luck. There simply wasn’t enough room on this tiny island to make any kind of headway. This time, they didn’t bother getting close, simply giving him an acid shower from a distance. Each time the corrosive liquid bit into him, Joe didn’t even have time to scream before the message reappeared.

You have been caught in-

You have been caught in-

You have been caught in-

“Hold on, hold on. So enthusiastic!” The chubby Elf laughed warmly, making Joe smile for a moment before he came back to himself. “See, human? It just takes so much pain and effort to do it that way. Why don’t you just let us work with you here, huh? All we really want is information. Tell you what… my name is Eli; can I ask the favor of getting your name?”

Joe bit his tongue as hard as he could, instantly making it swell and bleed. Just in time. “Mahnamtheo.”

“You’re… Theo? Hello, Theo. I’m so glad we’re getting ta know each othah betta’.” Eli’s accent was slipping more heavily, showcasing his excitement. Joe saw something shimmering, probably an outpouring of mana. It gently washed over him, and Joe felt pulled toward the Elf. “Theo, let’s be good friends, eh? Let’s just talk for a minute here. How’d you get here? Who sent you? Who knows where you are?”

Joe tried to answer everything, but his tongue hurt for some reason, and it was making his words unclear. Eli seemed disappointed, and that made Joe panic slightly. Eli was trying to help him understand what position he was in, and Joe wasn’t able to answer! “Theo… why did you bite yourself, man? Now you need ta-”

You have been caught in-

Another respawn, but the bite of acid had been a wakeup call. Eli tried to captivate him again, but Joe simply refused to look at him. Every time he was called ‘Theo’, Joe drove the idea that he was a captive being interrogated deeper into his mind. Eventually, Eli sighed and brokenheartedly informed him, “Well, our resident thief is here. I guess we’ll need to continue this conversation after we take everything away from you. Let’s get to work, huh?”

A hand appeared over Joe’s shoulder, holding up a Core. Eli took it and grunted. “Eh, pretty basic bauble, but experience is experience, right?”

The Core dimmed, and Eli tossed it to the side. “Keep it comin’; we don’t have all day. Theo, this can all end if ya just take the gear off. We just need to make sure you’re not protected from our work here, or have something dangerous ta spring on us.”

Joe’s head whipped around, trying to find the thief. If he could see the thief, there was a chance that every attempted theft would fail from that point onward. That was pretty much all he knew about the rogue classes, but he vowed to brush up on his studies if he ever got the chance. In the meantime, items were dropping in front of Joe like a shower, with Eli catching anything shiny and holding it in front of Joe as soon as it appeared. “Who carries this much copper around? Why? Why are you taking them out one at a time? Oh… didn’t realize that was one of the restrictions, my bad.”

That was all the confirmation that Joe needed to understand that the illusion he was trapped in could impact most of his senses. Unless the pain he was feeling was part of it, at least it was only light and sound? He took a deep sniff, but the air was filled with sulphur and ash. He couldn’t use his senses to get out of this, he needed to find something clever… or he was going to lose everything and be trapped here until the war was over. Who knew when that would be?

“Ay, look at that! You got his shoes!” Joe’s new shoes were caught by Eli and directly thrown into the magma. Joe looked at his feet that hadn’t come off the ground. He had no idea how the gear had been removed. “That’ll slow ya down; the rocks around here are pretty sharp, hey, Theo? Ya know, I won’t break it if you just—what the—?”

There was a flash, some screaming, and what sounded like a small explosion. Eli glared at Joe, his previous levity nowhere to be seen. “I suppose I should have expected there to be a golem somewhere in the gear carried by a student of Havoc. I bet you don’t even know what that thing could do to you, do you? If he wanted, he could have that thing wearing your skin while you slink around thinking you’re an original.”

“What does that even mean?” Joe slammed his mouth closed, but too late. Eli’s eyes crinkled in pleasure; it seemed that he needed Joe to speak for his skills to work on him.

“Let’s not worry about that. Just tell me, how many golems did you have on you?” Eli’s words elicited an instant reply, and Joe could have screamed in frustration as he gave a concise answer.

“There aren’t any more.”

Eli nodded and grasped Joe’s shoulder. “I believe you, Theo. Thank you for telling me. Ooh! Check out these glasses!”

Joe’s Spectacles of the Scholar had landed in Eli’s hands, and after a bored glance, the Elf smashed them and chucked them into the magma. “Ya know, Theo, eventually we’re gonna get to something you really do care about. When that happens? This is gonna really start hurting. Hey, while we’re talking, how did you find us?”

“I accidentally blasted a hole in-” Joe realized what was happening, and shook his head hard enough that it hurt.

“Oh… that’s so great to hear.” Eli’s smile was far more natural now, as he realized that Joe just needed to be contained and they wouldn’t need to worry that the Dwarves would be coming for them. “I think we can have a more relaxed conversation now. Oh, that looks fun.”

Eli grabbed something that was flashing indigo out of the air, pulling it in close to inspect it. In under half a second, he and another voice were screaming as the light spread out and trapped them both in a pillar of purple flame.

Caution! Direct contact with aspects has dangerous consequences! Pulling aspects into the open air without proper preparation will result in the at fault party interacting with the aspect to become immolated!

Current aspect removed: Unique aspect x27.

Quest update: Go Away For a While! Level gained: 0/1. Elves killed: 8/100. Important information gained: 1/1.

Joe winced as his friend Eli burned. He remembered exactly how bad that had hurt when he had touched the Trash aspect, and… his eyes widened as his mana came back under his control. Eli must have perished. Joe was as free as he could reasonably be for the next while; at least until Eli was respawned in the major fort.

The human turned and dove into the magma, barely getting his Exquisite Shell in place before he slipped beneath the surface of the liquid earth.