(Pre-quel ..how whatties dealt herself and Zats in on Xin’s op)
*whatcat shifted and warped back
to the desert oasis where she had left Zatsit,
sunning his furry shanks on top of an old toppled obelisk. Pouncing
on his sleeping form gleefully, she startled him into a roll and tumble feline wrestling
match across the hot sand.
"Whatties.. I
surrender.." he hissed cheerfully."now where you been. You gots that "look".
"heh.. guess what.. we gots
a shot at making some gold..and
get this..I cut a deal with the kitsune.. he is after the Armor of Mars..figures he can turn a nice
profit on it once he gets it.. Twyncles said an easy 10,000 gold at any
marketplace in any of the worlds. "
"10,000 gold! How did you cut us in on
it?" Zatsit sat up on his haunches, his tail
lashing with excitement.
"eh..well..
for one thing.. the Armor is
apparently under water somewhere... and for another it needs three water
element related keys to open the way. Xin thought of
two of them..but I..heh.. thought
of the third."
"And.." her eyes glowed like blue
torches, "We got that one last night, the Key of Fog...so...now.. we got to meet the kitsune and go
after the other two. Ice and Rain keys. OH! our cut..right..
the deal is we help him to get the Armor and we each
get ten percent of the gold when he sells it" Whatties
snickered with glee.. her eyes spinning with the
thought of all the gold they were about to come into.
Zatsit regarded his companion gloomily.."Whatties..I have a
bad feeling about all of this..was
he mad about the kibble?..and..
what happened to your diamonds?" He asked his
ears pricking with the remembrance of the big diamond stash that looked so good
when they had found it in the debris of the old tower. But being created by alchemical means were
worthless. It went to prove.. if a thing looked too good to be true..it generally was.
"um..no..
and he managed to sell those faux diamonds..said he "fixed" them so they wouldn't melt
when they got wet..and he
got a pile of gold for them too..." Sighs with aggrievement.
"Oh.." Zatsit nodded..then sprang to the top of
a fallen column..stretching
out and looking back at her.."Well..let
me know when we got to meet Xin.. believe
I will just have a little snooze until then."
" 'kay..me too.. we
got a little busy last night going for the Fog Key.." she replied through
a prodigious yawn.
Stalking over to a comfortable patch of sand beneath the broken archway of the temple entrance, she threw herself down and instantly fell into a doze.. her tail flicking now and then and her paws flexing as she dreamed of gold..mounds and mounds of gold.. and all for her.**
*Awakening from her snooze with a snort.. she looked around..Zatsit was out of it..shrugging she warped into the pickle barrel and climbed out..went into the common room, looking around to see if she was alone..she was..good.. Taking a piece of parchment she scribbled a few lines and snagged a loitering tat.. instructing it to find the kitsune Xin..probably asleep in his favorite tree in the forest."**
Yo' fox dude..got a lead on the Ice Key..we gots to go to the Cold Wastes of Nehwon..heard something about a mysterious elemental key in a cave out there, when I was down in Lankhmar 'while ago.
Whatties
**Whatcat turned to look at her companions. Before them stretched a blindingly white plain of snow. The kitsune would have no trouble getting enough light in this place. She saw that Zatsit had also increased the density of his fur, as a mean little wind played with the ruff around his neck.
"Looks flat as a pancake from here" she said conversationally, "but that is an illusion. We need to make for those mountains I think.." She jerked her chin toward the distant vague outline of a jagged mountain range, wreathed in the smoky white of lowering clouds. "Probably a howling blizzard going on up on the heights. But if there are caves here, stands to reason that's where they will be.
Xin grunted noncommittally. He was swiveling his sharp fox ears, picking up sounds of wind soughing in the hidden ravines and creakings from the snow pack under their feet. "So, kat.. you haven't said anything about enemies out here. What are we likely to run into, you know.?"
"erm..well..the usual sorts Xin..you know..Ice Gnomes ..uuhh..Snow Serpents...maybe a Behemoth...Glacier Wolves,nothing we can't handle." She ignored the sharp look from Zatsit.
"Let's do it then." Xin noticed the look between the two shifters, shrugged mentally, he figured whatties had left out a thing or two, he jumped down off the ledge of rock that was the exit to this place from the dimensional warp in whatcat's pickle barrel and moved out at a fast lope.
Whatcat and Zatsit flanked him, their massive forms blurring across the white waste, perfectly camoflaged by their white pelts with faint blue shadow stripes.**
**whatcat was looking back to see how far they had
traveled when suddenly her well furred paws started sliding. Whipping her head
to the front, she found herself on an icy crust with a decided downhill slant.
She began to pick up speed, hurtling even faster when she tried extending her
claws, creating 18 mini skate blades furrows in the iced over snowpack. Squawling to Xin and Zatsit as she whizzed
over an embankment she nearly bit her tongue when she landed in a series of
tumbles, end over end..then skidded on her backside
at full bore into a collection of skin tents and temporary huttements.
Three foot tall IceGnomes went flying like ten pins
and a tamed camp guardian SnowSerpent, rearing up in
slavering excitement at this unexpected food treat, flopped over with it's neck
broken as whatcat careened off it.
Digging into the snow with her hind feet, whatcat
scrambled for purchase as the IceGnomes rallied and
came on, hooting their warcries and brandishing
a variety of clubs,shortswords, and spears.
Whatcat snarled and pounced into the leading edge of
the mob, saber-sharp claws rending, gleaming white-fanged jaws snapping off
little gnome heads with cheerful impartiality.
The melee was on as Xin and Zatsit
joined in. The gnomes were battling fiercely, using their superior numbers to
try and bum rush the two cats and the kitsune.
Whatcat kept an eye on the dead SnowSerpent's carcass, as she worked her way through
several clots of irate gnomes. Tallying in her head the gold she would get for the
pelt she was momentarily distracted. Her whiskers bristled up in a snarl as she
felt the little wights leap on her back. A sharp pain
in her ear signaled one of them had bitten her. SHaking
her head, she saw blood drops fan out on the white snow, feeling a bit testy
now, she dropped to the ground and rolled over on them. Eight hundred pounds of
tiger later there were several vaguely gnome shaped blotches displayed on
the torn up snowfield.
Springing to her paws she loped off to help Zatsit
and Xin. **
He stood in the midst of the snow and ice .. he didn't mind the chill, the light definitely gave him what he needed. As the gnomes began to rush in his direction, he made a awkward motion with his hands, and a set of ice cycles rose from the ground.
He thrust his hand in an assault manner, and
they went flying at his enemy like daggers. He kept in mind not to waste too
much of his mythical energy so early, so he merely shut his eyelids and
focused.
After a bit there was a rumble heard, splits and cracks strained
themselves across the land. The ground quaked slowly ... and finally
vigorously as a slender neck rose from the abyss of the snow land.
Out climbed a lizard type being made of solid ice, with a set of ten tall ice trolls rushing them with battle cries.
He sat back and caught his breath a bit, the
sun light quickly return his energy to normal. He waited until he saw all of
the men retreating from the ice dinosaur and its small 'henchmen.'
"Okay Kat .. that should do it." He managed to say above the
screaming wind, one eyelid half lowered as the chilly wind fwappled
about the loose fabric that adorned him.
**Whatcat nodded, then padded over to look at her SnowSerpent hide. It was a full grown one, she was pleased to confirm to herself. Bring at least 600 gold if she got it down to the Borderlands Market.
The icy wind wailed over the disordered encampement, Zatsit lifted his head, ears perked. "Um..we might better just be moving along troops, I hear the howls of Glacier Wolves. Could be reinforcements of SnowGnomes, saw a few stragglers legging it up over that ridge."
whatcat sighed with aggrievement,bid a regretful farewell to the pouch of gold that glittered in her mind's eye, she wouldn't have time now to skin her snake. The kitsune blinked at them, then loped off toward the distant mountains.
The two shifters followed, bounding across the snowpack, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the horde of gnomes they sensed boiling in their wake.
Flanking the kitsune as the three of them entered an area of low stunted trees, they began to climb into the foothills of the mountains. Above them through the drifting mists,and snow flurries, they could see darker blots on the overhanging cliffs.
"heh..Xin.. there's some caves I think." whatcat commented as she leaped over a hump of snow covered boulders.
The kitsune turned his head to look at her when suddenly the ground in front of them erupted in a blizzard of white snow, chunks of stone and uprooted trees.
A huge white furred Behemoth breached and came down jaws snapping.**
His hyper sensitive animal reaction instinct kicked in giving him just enough time to avoid the Behemoth's descending mouth intent on engulfing him whole.
He rolled once, and when he looked over his shoulder, it was gone .. snow
descending in a hole where he once was.
He took a few lofty crunches forward ... yet the whirling and screeching
wind making it a bit difficult to do so
Trying to ignore the fluttering flakes performing a dizzying display of white zipping motions.. he once again dashed to the side as it rose directly beneath him yet again to which he narrowly evaded with a swift spin arms stretched out beside him.
This time he kept pushing but it soon became a pattern, explosions from
below barely snagging him as he evaded in another swift but desperate manner,
even a bit of his shirt was ripped off by the dangerous giant.
He expected this creature to be slower than it was, but it moved like a whale
in water.
While in mid-hover of his last jump, his eyes widened while the
slowly advancing behemoth swallowed him at last swiping him out of
the air and plowing beneath the snow with a plowing crash.
The silence seemed to continue going on and on admist
the howling breeze.. until the behemoth spit him out.
There was smoke coming from out of its mouth which rose above the snow.
The Kitsune bounced once .. twice .. and finally laid
there for a moment before moving to a knelt position.
"We need .. a spell to defeat this thing .. Whatcat
.. Zatsit .. do you think you can hold it off?"
He rose .. eyelids shutting and began to chant. Whatever it was going to be, it was going to be powerful. If he could pull it off in time .....
** whatcat nodded.."we can do that Xin"
"Come on Zats..let's harry it...drumsticks..yums.." whatcat snickered.. then crept across the snow her whiskers bristling as she listened to the sounds of the Behemoth tunneling beneath her, she led it away from the kitsune, as it could hear her footsteps, angling off toward Zatsit's position.
Zatsit leaped to the top of a frozen ridge of snow and paced her, his ears cocked toward the ground.
The snow exploded as the Behemoth breached again.. whatcat was ready and leaped away from the chomping jaws, as Zatsit made a huge arcing pounce to land, claws digging in to its back. The Behemoth thrashed violently, tearing up loose chunks of snow and roaring in rage.
whatcat landed safely away .. glanced at the kitsune who was still chanting and dove back into the fray, Zatsit had its full attention as it tried to dislodge him from its back, twisting and snapping it's tooth filled maw in frustrated rage.
Moving stealthily around to its rear quarters, whatcat reared up on her hind legs and slashed the Behemoth, opening up long bleeding gashes in its thick hide, then spun away to come back and sink her fangs into one of its relatively tiny little hind legs.
"Ack! Zats! It's getting ready to sound again.. better get off" she hissed as she spit out a mouthful of white fur.
Zatsit gave the Behemoth a last good raking with his hind claws and sprang off. The creature dove back into the snowpack, tunneling down to lurk and listen for its next target of opportunity. It was very hungry and would not give up on this meal easily.
" 'K..Xin.. thing will probably stay down for a bit, playing possum, thinking we will get careless and assume it's given up .. give it your all. It will follow us under the snow if we don't do it in.. They are relentless.. and all appetite." whatcat laid down and licked her massive paw..swiped behind her ear.. watched Xin.
Zatsit stood lashing the end of his tail, whiskers bristled, pointing stiffly toward the location of the unmoving Behemoth beneath them..his turquoise eyes gleamed with restrained excitement. **
When he was ready, he finally lowered his head to face the snow.
Swinging his hands over way above him, they were smoking exceedingly as a small smokescreen was developed.
He trailed a clawed hand into the snow ... for a while .. nothing seemed to
be happening ...
Xin slowly took a few careful steps back .. as a
geyser of stream more scalding hot than fire shot through the snow,
blazing above.
Area by area this was done until the Behemoth wailed, rising on one of the
geysers of scorching heat.
A magnificent crash echoed as it landed on the snow spraying outward
a massive explosion of cotton hued whiteness.
Xin stared through the raining snow at the cooked
steaming Behemoth which almost smelled a little savory despite it's former
apperance.
He cracked one of his knuckles using his thumb. "...This place is more hectic than I anticipated .."
He pondered if he'd transform when the light was gone from lack of the source when they entered the cave.
He looked to Whatcat and Zatsit with a nod. "All right .. ready to enter..?"
*Sniffing the air appreciatively, whatcat drooled, what a feast! Zatsit rudely shouldered her and pointed to the now gaping hole, the daylight filtered down to the depths revealing the icy green and blue translucent columns of stalactites and stalagmites. "Ack..Zats..what? I see it .. I see it.. yes.. Xin.. ready..lets go."
"heh.. and quickly," Zatsit hissed, "I just heard the howl of a Glacier Wolf.. think the IceGnomes are still after us."
Whatcat, lifted her head, ears perked.. her eyes widened slightly as she caught the faint howls of the wolves sounding in between the wind gusts. "Oh yeah.. we are so gone." She poured herself through the opening, finding purchase on outcroppings, as she made her way rapidly downward to the cavern floor. Moving out of the way as Zatsit and Xin dropped with lithely graceful silence, behind her.
As their eyes adjusted to the dimness, they saw a huge cavern spreading out, it's further reaches hidden in darkness. whatcat shivered a bit.. she was hoping very fervently that it did not harbor the one enemy she had neglected to mention when they had set out.
Zatsit padded forward.. "well.. let's see what we have here..this probably is one chamber of a honeycomb of caves throughout this mountain range. Least we didn't have to rappel our way up a cliff to get into it." He shot a piercing glance at whatcat..deeply suspicious of her as usual. He had seen her look around and shiver, a sign she was holding out on them likely as not.
After several hours of following the path of least resistance through the chambers and galleries of the underground system, fortunately lit by phosphorescent mosses and fungus, they came to a halt in a cavern that had the marks of dwarven delving.. rough steps led up to an altar of dressed stone, upon which rested a small casket.
whatcat let Xin and Zatsit check it out, hanging back and looking intently around the cave. Her heart thudded uncomfortably when she saw a half dozen pearly white lumps. "oh..dang.." she murmured to herself.. thinking she had better warn Xin and Zats.
Zatsit heard her exclamation and gave her a "look" saying.."okay..whatties.. out with it..you have been holding something back and I think now you need to tell us what it is."
Xin folded his arms and regarded the blue shifter with a noncommittal oblique half lidded stare.
whatcat sighed.."Okay.. there is one thing in these mountains that I didn't mention cause I hoped the odds would favor us and we wouldn't run into her. Fortunately only the one.. but unfortunately we have walked right into her nursery. See those white lumps?..Those are the eggs of the ColdWoman. The darker shadows are the bodies of prey she has captured to use as food for the incubating offspring. So lets boost the key and get the heck out of here pronto before she shows up."
whatcat's whiskers bristled up in stiff alarm, as she felt the urgency of their immediate departure become her new and only goal in life.
Zatsit looked at Xin..shrugged.. "eh..well I knew it was something whatties.. so what does this 'ColdWoman' look like?.."
whatcat didn't answer at first, as her eyes were rivetted in horror on something behind the altar. She pointed to the 30ft tall vaguely woman shaped thing that had materialized silently behind them..then croaked out.. "Like that!" **
He gave a stare of analyzing .. as always he risked himself to see what attacks she might have.
The coldwoman stood there for a while, and he
waited patiently himself. He took one glance to whatcat
who still seemed frozen in horror .. and then glanced to Zatsit
..
Unexpectedly a soaring ray flew out to which he flipped to the side to avoid
only she moved with the grace and speed of a phantom..
Therefore before he knew it, she'd reached to touch him. He narrowly deflected
with a small shield from one of the fallen warriors inside. When she touched
the shield, it was already decaying.
He hopped back ... he couldn't let her get close ... that was his first
conclusion. The tall coldwoman began firing off more
rays, he dodged but they were even faster than she was.
One of them managed to catch his arm, which was slowly freezing beyond his
comprehension.
He took off into a dash, towards a passageway in the cave, back to the wall ...
a silhouette of himself against the remaining light the only sign of his
whereabouts .. she was following him ..
He looked down to his arm .. it was beyond dry ice frozen .. and usually ... he
raised his other hand ... silent for a while ...
Then a loud scream began to reverberate through the caves, along with the sound
of something similar to ice exploding ..
**Zatsit, being all too familiar with whattie's various expressions, didn't look behind him, he squalled and leaped forward, narrowly missing being slapped by the reaching hand of the ColdWoman, he twisted in midair and landed facing the 30ft tall vaguely female shaped creature.
Whatcat untracked from her horrorstruck pose when the ColdWoman began to concentrate her attack on Xin. She signaled to Zatsit and made a stealthy stalk to try and get around behind the creature. Zatsit tried coming in from the opposite side, both shifters thinking to distract the monster.
The ColdWoman was fanatical once she decided on her prey and continued to use her breath attack on Xin. Scoring a hit on his arm and then following him as he made a tactical retreat down a passageway.
Whatcat and Zatsit followed the both of them.. rushing up behind the ColdWoman, rearing up and slashing in lightning fast strikes..then leaping away again. They were aghast to see they had no effect, their claws merely scraped harmlessly off the creature's body.
"Xin has vanished Zats.. hope he has a plan..this thing is as bad as I heard it was. Nothing seems to be slowing it down much less stopping it. She got Xin too.. saw him take a hit on the arm from one of her breath rays." The two shifters stood in the passage way..eyes flicking rapidly as they kept a wary lookout for the ColdWoman turning on them now that Xin had gotten out of her immediate range.
Suddenly the air was shattered by a terrible scream of pain and the sound of something exploding. Both shifters flattened to the floor in shock.
"Crikey! Zats! That was Xin.. we gots to get to him!"**
His back remained pressed narrowly against the freezing and solid
protrusions of the cave wall.
Breath after breath escaped him in small trails of vague white stream. He broke
held a hand where he'd destroyed the incapacitated arm.
Bleeding steadily he knew he would run out of ideas quickly .. to make matters
worse .. he'd already seen a flicker of his silver hair slowly turn auburn.
"No... not now!"
He looked forward to spot the key somewhere behind the advancing coldwoman. ...He looked back up to her .. then down ... he
used the last bit of his fading power to cast a healing spell with slight
chanting before rolling at the last instant to avoid another of those vicious
ray breaths.
He finally decided to break into a run, leaping up and twirling over the coldwoman's 30 foot head, when he landed, he knew he was
now at the ability of a full human .. but that would not deter him ..
He continued running forward, leaping towards the altar, and flung his arm out
with a grunt.. When he did he heard something rumble .. pulling this key around
him slowly ..
The coldwoman was coming at Whatcat and Zatsit with a heated passion ... to make matters worse .. the cave was beginning to collapse .. for small trinkles of rock began to be followed by dozens of boulders from several directions crashing in thundering blows ..
The ground and walls were quaking in sync making an unsteady woozy attribute added to one's balance.. They needed to exit .. pronto .. and escape this coldwoman at the same time ...
**"Xin!" whatcat yodeled with relief as Xin came flying over their heads landing somewhere behind them.
"Um.. whatties?.."
"Yeah..Zats?"
"Notice anything?"
"The place is beginning to cave in on us? The ColdWoman is now totally focussed on us? And testy too I think.."
"I never fail to be amazed whatties, at your keen and oh so precise discernment of the immediate situation.
whatcat beamed proudly at Zatsit, as they both pressed their bellies to the ground to avoid a bouncing tumble of rocks.
"That said..think we better be hauling butt.." whatcat snickered as she twisted around and started for the altar cavern, dodging the reaching and deadly hands of the Cold Woman. Scuttling along, they zig zagged in and out of the crashing debris.
Zatsit mirroring whatcat as they fled, created a pattern of confusion that frustrated the ColdWoman. Although not enough to slow her down measurably. She was flowing behind them much faster than a thing of that size and lack of definition should be allowed to in whatcat's gut clenched opinion. She glanced back to see if they had gained any ground. She mewed in panic, feeling the hair on her back ruffled by a breath of paralysing cold air. Hind claws digging into the trembling ground she surged forward with renewed desperation.
As they skidded in to the altar cavern, they saw that Xin had the key and a very urgent expression on his face. The rocky floor beneath their paws was shuddering in convulsions which were escalating to the point of making it difficult to stand upright. The ColdWoman had also re-entered the cavern, advancing like a huge tide of implacable fury.
"Got the Key? YES??? Okay.. quick plan.... RETREAT!" whatcat yowled over the thunderous noise, pulling something out of her convenient, though not feline, marsupial pouch.
Zatsit's narrowed his eyes against the stinging dust and debris.. bristled his whiskers.."What the heck is that?"
"My lucky pickle? Oh, backdoor key to the pickle barrel portal.. no time to get creative.. ACK! here she comes again!.. we are sooo out of here!"
whatcat dove into the opening vortex and rolled out of the way as the other two came tumbling through behind her. Rising to her paws she hastily turned around and mumbled an arcane phrase.. slamming the portal shut.**
