Damu vs a Choker

A scene from the story below of Damu the Kenku assassin fighting a choker.

 

 

The tale of Leo Wayfarer and Damu the Kenku Assassin, as told by Leo to his Nephew Leto Colins: #14 of 33- Songs of the Little Frog Men.

 

 

I saw this old Sorcerer the other day using little tricks, like flashes of colored light and puffs of smoke to amuse children. Quite adorable really, it was a touching moment. It reminded me of one job Damu and did. Not that this story doesn’t have its gloom and doom and some dead mother fuckers, but this story ends with the smiles of children.

 

So I’m sitting on my porch drinking, watching the smoke stacks rise over the row homes as the bums and hookers stroll by. A few people stop by through out the day, nothing serious. It starts to get dark out and right as I pull my chair up and start to go in for the evening this skinny blonde guy with an eye patch holding something wrapped up in leather close to his chest comes up to me. First thing I notice is that for having one eye he still had crazy eyes, or crazy eye at it were. Second he smelled funny and third he had obvious just got his ass kicked. Dude was covered in cuts and bruises.

 

He starts talking to me all nasally and frantic, “I…I…Hear you’re an adventurous man…adventurous for pay…pay isn’t it?”. He dropped the wrapped up leather at my feet. I opened it up and inside was Jeweled knife and on the inside of the leather itself, painted on one side of it was a map. I started laughing. You know I’ve worked for the vilest scum bags and the biggest pricks you can imagine over the years, so why not one job on behalf of the insane and annoying?

 

I brought the guy inside my house and poured him a drink, and he began pouring his heart out in some crazy ramble. This guy, Roderick he said his name was, was a Sorcerer who worked for a Gnome craftsman who made magical Childs toys for the super rich. Basically they were in the business of making Doll Golems. They were making a ton of gold and couldn’t keep enough dolls in stock. The problem was that to make a Golem, weather a huge dangerous one like we think of when we think of Golems, or even a doll Golem, is a difficult and costly process. His boss thought of a short cut and he regretted helping him. What he told me seemed ridiculous at first but when I saw later on that it was true and sadly real, I have to admit it was creepy.

 

The guy Roderick worked for this Gnome Abe Shulberg. Roderick was a sorcerer of modest talent, and not very prone to an adventurous life. He used his merger magical abilities to get by doing odd jobs. When he heard that the Gnome Shulberg needed to take on assistants he thought it’d be a chance to improve his skills and for awhile he claimed he did learn a lot.

 

Abe Shulberg, when not working in Scardale, lived in a vast estate between Scardale and Scos. Roderick spent time on his estate and learned that it had a system of caves on the property that he took to exploring. He did warn me that the caves had some creature there that Shulberg had charmed to attack anyone not wearing a certain large medallion that he gave to all his workers.

 

This cave system opened up to a little out door crevasse that from above was 60 ft below. He found that that inside the crevasse was a pond that seemed like it must be connected to a stream that ran along Shulberg’s house because the house had a water wheel that helped power his experiments which leaked alchemical waste into the stream. Both the stream and the pond radiated faint magic.

 

In the pond he found that a bunch of frogs lived there. Roderick, inspired by the odd circumstance tried to summon a familiar, something he hadn’t been able to pull off before. This time it worked, a large frog came forth and he named it Gerko. Gerko became his only friend.

 

A few months later he and Gerko returned to the pond and something strange happened. All of the frogs started following Gerko around. Then abruptly all the frogs could telepathically talk to Roderick like Gerko could. He was astounded. The frogs told him that as soon as they realized that Gerko could talk to people then why shouldn’t they be able to as well? Soon Roderick had a lot new friends and he spent as much time as he could at the pond. Roderick would tell them about Humans, cities and civilization and the Frogs began to worship the idea of Man. But Roderick told them that this was bad and that there was a God, a God of everything, which taught that all intelligent beings should strive towards goodness and light and towards greater and greater things. The greatness of Man he told them was that they followed the greatness of God.

 

The frogs took heed and soon they grew in size and could walk up right and talk. They built little houses for themselves and spent their days singing the praises of God, Man, and their friend Roderick. He said it was the best time of his life, but soon it was ruined. The greed of the Gnome Abe Shulberg soon cast a sickening cloud over it all.

 

Roderick took Shulberg to the pond, but instead of seeing a miracle he only saw profit. Shulberg suckered Roderick into taking the frogs to his work shop in the city. He made Roderick convince a small group of them that could help praise Man by becoming singing dolls for children.

 

Shulberg knew he could magically bind the frogs into doll suits, and that he could in turn use spells that could take away most of their personalities and free will. Plus doing so would be cheaper, much cheaper then building doll Golems. So innocently the frogs went off to the city.

 

All was fine until he heard screams coming from the work shop. Shulman was sticking thin strips of copper wire into the frogs, something needed for the binding process. He saw a few of the finished dolls and was terrified when he realized their personalities were gone. He started screaming at Shulman, but one of his other workers shot Gerko with a crossbow killing him, and sent Roderick’s body into painful shock upon loosing the connection with his familiar. The workers then beat the crap out of him and threw him out.

 

Roderick snuck back in later to steal something valuable enough to hire help (the jeweled dagger) and made a map to the pond. We had to protect the frogs from getting rounded up by Shulberg and stop his cruel work. I said this one was an odd one.

 

I didn’t think Damu would give to shits about singing little frog men, but it perked his curiosity. We got a wagon and headed to the estate. It was easy enough to find the cave entrance. I lit a torch and we went it. I could see odd tracks on the cave floor but couldn’t tell what it was. Going along a bit I could hear heavy breathing echoing through out the cave, but I couldn’t tell where it was. I heard a quick motion I thought was behind me, but I was wrong. Turning quickly something large landed on top of me, hitting me hard and knocking the wind out of me. On the ground I saw some humanoid creature of thick grey hide, and pale white eyes, with arms and legs that had no joints but moved snake-like, and whose fingers were lined with thick rows of hard sharp spines.

 

Damu drew his sword and dagger and lunged at the thing. Its spindly arms fluidly reached for his neck, but Damu was quicker. He feinted with is sword, which he foolishly moved to block and Damu slashed it across its chest with his dagger spurting greenish-blue blood across the damp cavern walls. The creature reeled and leapt to the ceiling, which by its unique limbs allowed it to latch on to the cave roof. I pretended to crawl across the ground and the creature jumped down on me hoping to pin me, but in mid air I swung my sword deep into the monsters chest and out its back. We found its nest, it had a few coins and a pair of eye glasses it must of taken from someone it killed. I then realized we should of asked Roderick for that medallion, but I doubt he still had it after his beating anyway.

 

We quickly found the frog pond. Damu laughed but I found it both charming and sad given why we were there. They had built little mud and stick huts and even a little church where they had copies of the light and the law and a copy of the line of purity. It broke my heart to tell them what happened and the sound of hundred crying frog men echoing in a crevasse is damn near the saddest thing I ever heard.

 

We got them out of there and loaded them all into the wagon. We had frogs jammed in the back, ridding on the roof, and on the horse. Luckily they were only a foot tall. Despite the shitty situation they seemed to enjoy the ride.

 

We got back to Scardale and met up with Roderick. We couldn’t legally kill Abe Shulberg as these creatures had no rights, and I was afraid if we took them to the Army they just declare them a bestial race and there for make them able to be enslaved. I didn’t think they deserved that. Most of the frogs ended up hiding in my house. While ten of them, Roderick and Damu snuck into Shulberg’s work shop while I waited outside in case any heavy fighting broke out.

 

Damu picked the lock of a side door and got them in, then disappeared. Apparently all hell broke loose. A fight broke out between Roderick and Shulberg. Roderick lobbed a magic missile at him, and he sent back a scorching ray that caught flammable alchemical liquids on fire and caused an explosion.

 

Soon the place was leveled, and the Army showed up. Not knowing what to make of the frogs they called a Paladin in. This Paladin, Sir Richard Sinclair, was maybe the only Paladin I ever ran into who wasn’t a complete pompous fag. He saw a group of the frogs and drew his sword, but Roderick through himself at his feet crying and told the whole story. Sinclair was certainly bewildered by the story, but when the frogs started singing the line of purity, the Paladin fell to his knees and cried.

 

He declared that the frogs were a miracle of God that Mans striving for the light of the lord shined on these animals and elevated them to the light as well. I dunno about that, I think it’s because they lived in a magically polluted pond, but hey who am I to say how God works. Sir Richard Sinclair declared the frogs under his protection and took them and Roderick away after it was all done. Damu apparently made sure that not only did Shulberg not make it out of the fire, he robbed the place too. Smart bird, always a few steps ahead.

 

Before the frogs left with the Paladin we picked through the building and gave what toys we could find to the kids in the neighborhood. The frogs sang songs to the children as they played with their new dolls. Sinclair pulled me and Damu aside and said he’d keep our names out of it, that we did the right thing, and that he was surprised that two notorious mercenaries would take up such a cause. We shook hands and parted ways.

 

I never knew what happened to the frogs, but a few weeks later when I heard that at the P.O.L.L. fortress in Scardale all of a sudden they were adding a walled off garden complete with a large pond I kinda figured what became of them. Years later I ran into Roderick real quick on the street and asked him what he’d been doing all this time, and he smiled saying, “Oh…I’m just a gardener for the Paladins.”

 

 

 

Done