Part 4 as Toinette and Chastity

It took a little while to figure out anything resembling a route. The interim steps involved a lot of fire.

Toinette stepped over the corpse of another Lambton, nose wrinkling at the smell of burning flesh and dying worms. Her whip was doing wonders for disarming them, but it was Chastity who did most of the work. She could output fire like nobody's business.

“These groups generally don’t operate in numbers larger than ten, but….something’s off here…” Chastity said, before mumbling something about “Xagar-fucks’ and something about an Artifact, her tone making the capitalization clear.

“What's a Xagar-fuck and can you eat it?” Toinette was half paying attention - the décor of the house was creepy and she kept being distracted by new horrors each corridor.

“Long story. Total assholes who worship a bigger asshole.”

The next woman who came around the hallway didn’t have a face any more. Just a...MESS.

Then she didn’t have a head any more, as it came off with one clean slash. It bounced along the ground.

...and then the body began to strangle Chastity, even as the head emitted weird whistling, wheezing noises. If Toinette knew anything about biology, she might have recognized attempted laughter, that didn’t work any more because of severed vocal cords and a windpipe no longer attached to any lungs.

“Cult, huh?” Toinette sent the whip lashing out to pry the corpse's hands from Chastity's throat. “I had a cult once. Told them to knock it off. Didn't help. Had to leave that neighbourhood behind.”

The head burst into flame, before messily popping like a balloon, Chastity kicking the body away and cleaving it right in half, before igniting both halves.

“...female means victims. Be ready for trouble.” Chastity said, and turned the corner.

The floor was covered in black, oily...stuff. Chastity’s boots squelched as she walked through it.

“It won’t hurt. It’s just gross.” There was a weathered door at the end of the hall.

“Ew” was Toinette's only response. She wondered if flying over it would be prudent, but decided against damaging her wings.

The door was, of course, locked.

“...Back up.” Chastity said, and put her hands together.

Toinette expected the woman to blow the door off its hinges.

Instead, a wall of fire spread up, filling the whole hallway. Toinette suddenly found the slime under her feet boiling, and realized that the safest place to stand was directly behind the woman.

She did so, enthusiastically. It had the best view of the action. Well, the best view, anyway.

Chastity then slapped her hands together. The fire vanished.

And the door warped and then was ripped off its hinges, as Toinette felt her whole body vibrate, like she’d been right next to an incredibly loud pop, the low thrumming eruption leaving her ears ringing. Chastity seemed less affected, as she immediately took up her swords and walked into the smoke, and into the room beyond.

“Ooooooh.” Toinette followed. “That's cool.”

There was no sound of combat. Instead, a low curse. Toinette swiftly discovered its source, and then the room became a lot LESS cool.

She’d found her other two bar-mates.

The good news is, they were not dead.

The bad news was that neither was in a good way. Like her, they’d been de-clothed. Amber had been strapped to a stone table, her arms bound above her and her feet lashed together and chained to the table, a gag in her mouth. Next to her was a jar…

“DON’T TOUCH THAT! WORMS!”

Chastity was over by where Kamilla was. She was somewhat less bound, instead chained to the wall by her arms, hanging limp...with an empty jar in front of her, overturned. She was sobbing quietly.

“...Toinette, untie her. Cut her loose, whatever.” One of Chastity’s swords thudded point first into the ground at Toinette’s feet, Chastity biting her lip as she inspected Karmilla.

Toinette wasted no time in running over to Amber, hands fiddling with the binds and chains. She was babbling.

“Sorry sorry I’m sorry I didn’t know this was gonna happen oh jeez oh man I’m sorry what did I do -”

A hand flicked out and zapped the chains, melting them into glittering slag for a moment. Toinette reached out and took the gag off. Amber just mumbled incomprehensibly, though Toinette made out ‘dumped them in her’.

“Nette. The pouch on my right side. Big inside. Open it, get the blanket.” Chastity was still staring hard at the woman chained against the wall. “Oh yeah. Don’t think you did this. THEY did. NEVER think that, EVER.”

Toinette numbly rustled through the pouch and managed to pull out the blanket.Her face was ghostly. She only mumbled something under her breath in response to Chastity’s words.

“...she’s full infested.” Chastity finally said.

“...so wuh...happens?”

“She didn’t pick it, so...they’ll settle in and core her brain until they have a nice little puppet.”

“...there a cure?”

“...no cure.”

Chastity stood back, cocking her head.

“...okay then.” She interlaced her fingers and inverted them, the small popping crack of air echoing in the room. Amber was silent and limp; in shock, if Toinette had any idea what that was. It was damn hard to shock a fae.

“No cure…” Toinette said sadly.

“No CURE. Treatment on the other hand...possible...Toinette, watch my back. And not the way you’ve been doing the last few times.”

Toinette grumbled but complied, her eyes trained on the entrance for intruders. Her knuckles were tight around the whip. Her grumbles became darker, and very directed. Sparks flashed from her free hand.

“...and sing something for me.”

“Huh?”

“Sing something. Helps me focus.” Chastity placed her hands on Kamilla’s cheeks.

Toinette was silent for a moment. Then she began to sing. It was not in a language that Chastity knew - it flowed like water, syllables slipping into each other without pause. The fae’s voice was low, and it perhaps reminded Chas of the ballads she’d heard from those living in high lands and sprawling fields. There was a sense of sadness and longing in it.

And as she sang, the room’s temperature started rising.

Karmilla woke up then, as she began to groan, and then began thrashing, trying to draw away from Chastity. But, chained to the wall and with Chastity holding her head, she had nowhere to go. The heat kept rising.

Sweat bloomed on Karmilla’s skin. She let out a low whining scream.

It just kept getting hotter...and then Karmilla began coughing. Coughing, and retching, as the worms began to flee her body.

Some went out the mouth, but others, lacking any other choice, emerged from the skin, It was like watching the world’s most horrific pasta-making process. The worms’ jaws clicked, tiny squeals coming from them…

...and since she was right there, they jumped to Chastity.

And started burrowing into HER flesh.

“...little pricks.” Chastity muttered. The heat spiked again, and the worms kept fleeing Karmilla’s body. She could control fire. Heat. She was somehow spiking Karmilla’s body heat, putting it in dangerous fever territory. The Lambton worms couldn’t endure the unnatural levels and were fleeing the host...and since Chastity was focusing on the heat into Karmilla in a way that didn’t roast her, her body made an excellent new host.

The last of the worms emerged and transffered.

And like a switch, the heat cut off. Chastity took a step back, blood running from a dozen tiny wounds.

“...Fuck you.” Chastity said, and promptly set herself on fire.

Fireproof? Not WHOLLY...not if she wanted to purge something like this. But she handled it worlds better than Karmilla could have. The worms screamed. They burned.

So did Chastity.

“Jesus,” muttered Toinette. “That’s gnarly.”

All in all, there were a lot worse end results to setting yourself on fire. That didn’t seem like much when Chastity collapsed, falling on her butt and slamming against the alter side that Amber had been tied to.

“...overdid it...fuck.”

Chastity held out a hand, a deep tremble causing it to shake.

“...you need to go, Toinette.”

“What? Fuck that. I’m staying.” Toinette backed up, eyes still on the door. “I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

“They’re weak...sick. And I just knocked myself stupid...er...they’ll be coming. So...you don’t wanna leave? Okay...plan B.”

Chastity managed to draw her other sword, the blades a pair of long, thin ones. Longswords, except thinner. That was all she managed, as the second clattered on the ground.

“Take them. Find the rest. Take them out.”

Chastity coughed.

“I’ll stay here and guard until the vermin is exterminated. My necklaces too. Well, leave me one.”

Toinette picked up the sword and looked at it. She'd never used one before. She could feel the iron in it, making her dizzy. Her other hand reached up and took a few necklaces from around Chastity's neck, hanging them around her own. The tarp was adjusted - freedom of movement over pride.

“... Catch you later, Chas.”

She turned around fast enough that Chas couldn't see the expression on her face.

“Wait, wait...one more thing.”

“Yeah?” She stopped.

Chastity clenched her fist, and the blade exploded in flame. A strange purple-tinged flame.

“...give ‘em hell.”

Toinette grinned like a Pleistocene predator.

“Sure will.”

She set out, sword ready.