Sexy Sisters of Zombie DOOM!

Kegho kicked the last dead strix into the river as the party poled the rafts to the shore and beached them. The mighty barbarian lifted the wounded scout Riven and carried her to shore and laid her in a soft bower at the very edge of the forest. He went back for Alex, their halfling thief, wounded in the same attack, and put him beside Riven. Faithful Miniho, attack hound, nestled between them to keep them warm.

The cleric Theo and Alvi magician Zhuge tended their wounds; Theo praying to his goddess Maya to heal the slender young woman and brave halfling. The party decided on a watch schedule for the night. Though they had left the Morbida Swamp behind, ranidaphobia still clouded their minds, jumping and cringing from anything resembling a croak or thiwping of a sticky tongue.

Sepdinum, the 26th of Ikatrus, 114 post Refugium

In the morning, some of them prayed, some cleaned themselves in the river and all broke their fast while discussing the rest of their journey to Shagora, known to sailors as "Seabitch", an enclave of fierce women. Fate intervened when two young women stumbled from the forest, tired, afraid, covered in light wounds and blood.

“Come to our fire,” Theo invited them, he and Tarn open and smiling.

Both women began to speak rapidly in a strange tongue.

“Does anyone know what they are saying?” Alex asked the party.

“Nar,” Zhuge said sagely.

“Do you speak Rexen Theo asked.

As the women continued to babble, Kegho asked slowly and loudly “DO YOU SPEAK REXEN?”

“Rexen?” the older girl asked in heavily accented Rexan. “Yes, I speak some non-Narian mouthsounds.” She touched her shapely chest, “I am Amma and this is my sister Elissa.”

The band of adventurers introduced themselves. Amma’s gaze lingered on Alex’s petite manliness and Elissa blushed.

“We were hunting in the forest and our party was attacked by strix,” Amma said.

“Horrible owlbats things?” Kegho asked, mimicking their fearful shriek.

“Yes,” Amma said. “All the others were killed horribly and we barely escaped with our lives.”

“Come, sit with us, rest, you are safe now,” Theo said.

“Where are you going?” Amma asked, after they had rested and eaten.

“Shagora,” Alex said. “Do you know it?”

Elissa giggled into the back of her hand and Amma smiled. “We are from Shagora, in fact, our mother is the Matriarch, ruler of the town.”

“What a coincidence,” Zhuge said and coughed.

“The sun rises in the sky,” Kegho said, looking up from sharpening his axe. “We should be off.”

“Come,” Amma said, ”We will lead you to our home.”

As they walked along the beach, the party came to a wooden statue carved in the shape of a man, tilted, half-buried in the sand, and weathered with age. The sisters from Shegora stopped before it.

“Is this a local deity?” Theo asked them.

“No,” said Amma, “It is the marker for the tomb of Abba ban Adonya, a great hero.”

“Does it need to be defiled?” Kegho asked. “I’m usually the one who defiles things,” he said to the sisters. “In fact, I just burned down a large part of a temple.”

“Before the sands overtook it, people would leave offerings here on a small altar, hoping to please the gods by recognizing their hero,” Amma said.

Zhuge squinted at the sky. “We should keep moving. A night on the beach might be dangerous.”

“Should I sneak back later and defile it anyway?” Kegho whispered to Riven. Riven just smiled, then frowned, then shook her head, then ran ahead of the rest of the group to walk point.

An hour later, Riven halted the group with a hand signal and walked back from where she had been ranging ahead.

“There are the sounds of battle,” she said. “Just over that rise.”

“Yes,” Alex said, “Men yelling and the crash of steel on steel.

“We should draw closer,” Zhuge said. Theo and Kern muttered prayers to Maya. Kegho grinned at the prospect of a fight.

The entire party employed stealth to get closer and observe what Riven and Alex had only heard. Peering over the small hillock, they saw a ship anchored off-shore and presumably the crew on the beach. Most were gathered around in a circle, watching two men fighting with fists and feet, grunting, the crowd shouting encouragement and deprecation. They rest practiced the various arts of mayhem: archery and sword and spear.

“There are at least twenty-five of them,” Alex whispered.

“Far too many to engage,” Theo said.

“I could try setting them on fire,” Kegho offered.

“Maybe we should just introduce ourselves,” Zhuge countered.

“But what if they are slavers and pirates?” Theo asked.

“What if they are mercenaries we can hire to fight with us at the temple?” Zhuge said.

“Too risky, too risky,” Riven said.

“We can barely kill frogs,” Theo said, shuddering at the thought of their cold amphibian mandibles on his warm flesh.

“Can you lead us through the woods?” Alex asked the sisters.

“It would be slow,” Amma said, “but if we keep going we should reach Shagora by nightfall.”

The party slowly melted into the forest beyond the beach and continued walking. Faithful Miniho looked back at the beach, whined faintly, and followed.

Emerging from the forest, the party saw Shegora for the first time. A small town, buildings made from wood and clay, surrounded by a sturdy wall. The one open gate is guarded by well-armed and fierce-looking women warriors.

Amma turned to them. “Thank you for bringing my sister and me to our home. But I must tell you that the custom is that no man may spend the night in Shagora. All but Riven must sleep outside the town walls tonight. In the morning, you may enter and arrangements shall be made for your comfort and custom.”

They wrapped their arms around Riven and walked away. Kegho leaned down to Miniho and said, “Go with her girl, keep her safe.”

The men grumbled and complained quietly as Riven and the sisters walked through the gates and into Shagora, Miniho following close behind.

Ocdinum, the 27th of Ikatrus, 114 post Refugium

In the morning, the entire party was brought before Amma and Elissa’s mother, the Matriarch, leader of Shagora.

“Welcome, travelers, to the town of Shagora. What brings you to our lands?” the imposing and regal woman asked.

“Oh, great Matriarch, we have come on behalf of Maya, Mother of Mercy and Childbirth, to cleanse the Shrine of Naeia of the evil that makes it’s home there,” Theo said.

“We Nar know is as the Temple of Vargus, and many of us are descended from the Attendants of Vargus, who, like this village, we all women. Vargus extracted a heavy toll on our people, demanding the firstborn of each couple as payment for keeping the seas and storms calm and ensure the bounty we took from the sea.”

Theo gasped and Tarn began to pray.

“Yes, our ancestors participated in this hideousness,” the Matriarch said. “But we spurned Vargus and he was banished from the realms of men.”

“We have discovered that cultists have defiled the Shrine of Naeia and are attempting to bring Vargus back into our world,” Zhuge said.

“Cultists!” the Matriarch spat. “The Temple of Vargus has been a blight on the lands of the Nar for a thousand years! Vargus still speaks to some, through dreams and visions, and long have they gathered at the Temple to bring about his return to our world.”

“Will you assist us in this fight?” Theo asked.

“Yes, I will send with you our finest warriors. But there is another tradition I must ask you to follow. Due to our ancestor’s crimes and our being a village of only women, we ask all men who visit here to gift us with their seed.”

“Seed?” Kegho asked.

Alex tugged on his arm and whispered into Kegho’s ear after he bent over.

“Oh, yes,” Kegho said, smiling, “I will gladly give all I have to the cause!”

“We must demure,” Tarn said. Touching Theo’s arm, he continued, “We are bound by our holy vows to avoid the pleasures of the flesh.”

“I am an Alvi,” Zhuge said, “And I don’t sleep with white girls. You got ‘em brown and I’m down to clown.”

“And you, my friend,” the Matriarch said to Alex, “We have many halfing women in Shagora and few halfing travelers. There will be much merriment in their quarters if you have no objection.”

Kegho picked Alex up and sat him on his shoulder. “We are ready!” he said.

“Put me down, you oaf,” Alex said, biting the barbarian’s ear.

“I have endurance for two,” Kegho said to the sisters as they left the presence of the Matriarch.

“That is not our way,” Amma said, frowning.

“What is your way?” Kegho asked in a low voice, stepping close so the manly scent of his filthy body could wash over her.

“Come, let me show you, warrior,” Elissa said, tugging him away.

“Goodbye, friends,” Kegho called to the party. “For the good of the town, I go to my duty!”

Miniho whined to Riven and nuzzled her hand.

“He will be back, sweet girl,” she said. “Better to stay with us than have to watch that.”

Zhuge, Theo, Tarn, Riven, and Miniho followed Amma and Alex to a tavern in the halfing part of town.

“There will be many fine women clamoring for your attention,” Amma said.

“Great,” Alex replied, devoid of enthusiasm.

The tavern was busy, close and loud, filled with seamen and the women catering to them.

“To Shagora!” one cried, holding a flagon of beer aloft. “Shagora!” the rest cried. They began to sing a bawdy song about draining drinks and other things.

As the rest of the party called for drinks and food, Alex, ever dutiful, tapped a halfing woman on the shoulder.

“I am not a religious doxy or a poxy child,” roared as she turned. “I will cut off that finger and fuck your arse with it!”

“Alex!” she cried and buried him in a hug. “What are you doing in this brothel town?”

“Dacia?!?” Alex cried and kissed her cheek. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m a pirate queen,” his cousin said, standing up straight. “All these brigands me boys.” She spread her arms to the entire bar.

“Pirate?”

“Have you not heard of the fearsome Toe-Beard, Terror of the High Seas? Killer of Men and Lover of Women? She-Who-Fists-First in the Alvi tongue?”

“I have just come to this part of the world, cousin,” Alex said. “I have fallen in with a band of bumblers and fools and will likely rob them of their next big score.”

“Come to the bar, cousin,” she said. “Let us scheme together.”

“I demand meat and mead!” Kegho bellowed as he entered the tavern, Elissa beside him, still adjusting her clothes. “Friends!” he cried as he spotted them around a table. “I have lain with this woman!”

“We know!” Zhuge yelled back, the stink of so many humans jammed in one building overwhelming his Alvi senses.

Elissa sat next to her sister while Kegho went to the bar.

“How was it,” Amma asked.

“Meh,” Elissa whispered.

The entire table was still laughing when Kegho returned with a large joint of mutton and a pitcher of thick mead.

“What?” he demanded. “What is the joke?”

“She said it was just OK,” Riven blurted out then covered her mouth with both hands.

“Just OK?!? I used my Endurance Perk!” the barbarian said earnestly.

“Maybe it wasn’t, uh, enough,” Zhuge said suggestively.

“Enough?” Kegho said, setting down his food and drink. “I’ll show you! Anyone here would pray to the gods for my exquisite uncut majesty!” Kegho began to fumble at his pants.

“No!” Theo said. “Don’t you get that out here!”

Miniho, under the table, growled briefly and settled back down to sleep.

“Friends,” Alex said, warily eyeing Kegho’s pants as he tied them back up, “I have good news.” He put his arm around his cousin and continued, “Those men from the beach earlier are commanded by Dacia the Tow-Beard, my cousin.”

Zhuge grumbled and glared.

“She has agreed to take us back down the coast to the Shrine of Naeia,” Alex finished.

“Will she provide us any fighting men?” Theo asked.

“Or fighting women?” Kegho asked lustily, kicking the Novitiate of Maya under the table.

“They have, uh, business down the coast and can only offer us a ride,” Alex said.

“We must resupply,” Theo said.

“And rest,” Tarn said.

“And drink!” Kegho said.

In the morning, Riven, Amma, Elissa, and Miniho went to the purdah outside the town gates to collect the men of their party. Grumbling and hungover, they broke camp and walked down to the Shagora dock.

“I’m going to miss this place,” Kegho said, elaborately scratching his crotch and smiling.

The sea was calm and the wind constant and they made good time down the coast. At the Shrine, two sturdy pirates rowed them to shore after Alex and Dacia made their goodbyes.

“Hey, I recognize this place,” Kegho said.

“You tried to burn it down a few days ago,” Zhuge said darkly.

“Oh, yeah,” Kegho replied.

“We should return to my rooms in the Shrine,” Tarn said. “There is a hidden library we must secure before dealing with the cult of Vargus."

As they entered The Shrine, the smells of the fire, and roasted human and the stink of rotting Goblins threatened to overwhelm them.

“This way,” Tarn said, leading them to the left.

Lighting torches and a lantern the party followed Tarn to the door of his rooms.

“I hear something,” Riven whispered, ear to the door.

“Ready yourselves,” Alex whispered.

Tarn opened the door and a wailing moan issued forth.

“The dead!” Theo said. “The dead have risen!

“It is the necromantic energies summoned by the cult!” Tarn shouted, attempting and failing to turn the undead.

“Sodomy!” Kegho cried and rushed into the room. With a swipe of his battleax, he took a dead arm off.

“Muuuuh arrrrrhm,” the dead man moaned, attacking Kegho, and scratching him across the chest.

“Argh!” Kegho cried, “How can a scratch from a shambling corpse possibly cause this amount of damage?!?”

Miniho, hearing Kegho in pain, rushed another of the corpses, knocked it to the floor, began to savage its throat.

“Cut off their heads,” Amma cried. “It is the only way!”

“Out of the way!’ Zhuge cried, lightning arcing from his fingers, playing over one of the dead.

“Muuuuh faaaace,” another of the dead moaned. “Electruaaaal daaamage to muuuh faaaace!”

Alex slid into the room under Tarn’s legs and stabbed the living corpse that Miniho held down.

Riven found an angle and put an arrow right into the left eye of the one-armed revenant and it slumped to the floor.

“Enough!’ the inexplicably badly-injured Kegho said and took off the head of the last of the dead men with a mighty swing of his axe.

“Hey, I slid right under that guy!” Alex said, wiping coagulated blood from his dagger.

“And now the cult,” Theo said, hefting his mace.