The room on the other side of the door looked far more like a laboratory than it did a weevil nest. In fact, if Tage had to pick a single adjective to describe the place, laboratory would have done really well. The space was covered in rune-marked tables, with various tools for alchemy and enchanting scattered across every surface. However, the most eye-catching feature of the space was located on the far side of the room. A large, vicious looking weevil sat inside a cage, futilely trying to chew her way through the iron bars.
"There's the queen," Tage said softly, as the group of three edged their way into the room. "But what's it doing in a cage?"
"Who's there?"
Tage jumped, spinning around to press her back to Halp's in a reflexive defensive posture. It hadn't been any of the three companions who had spoken. From the darkness, a pure void Djinni stepped out of the shadows, dressed in deep purple robes that perfectly matched the shade of his hair and skin. His purple eyes glowed, incensed at the interruption. "Who dares to disturb my research!?"
Unfortunately, if he was hoping to intimidate the three, he failed miserably.
"Hey, hey," Halp said, bouncing up and down on the spot as he stared at the djinni with his head slightly tilted to the side. "What's this nonsense? You've been the one setting those weevils on the baker?"
"Setting weevils on a baker?" the mage asked, confusion only seeming to make him angrier. "I have done no such thing! I..."
"Then whatcha doing with a weevil queen in this lab, if not setting the weevils on the baker?" Halp asked, clearly unconcerned that the angry magician had still been speaking. He also didn't give the NPC time to answer before promptly whirling around and jogging his way towards the cage.
"Get away from her!" The magician reacted immediately, pulling a wand out from within his sleeve and aiming it in Halp's direction as the tip traced a quick symbol. A second later, another crackling purple spell flew at Halp, only for it to collide with a translucent barrier as it drew close to the black-skinned djinni. Halp, who'd been only a second away from dodging the spell, blinked in surprise, before glancing over at Ripley. The other djinni had quietly readied the beginnings of a counterspell the moment the void Djinni had appeared, and had completed the anti-runes just in time to block the void spell.
"That you?” Halp asked, lifting a thumbs up in congratulations. “Good job!" His words didn’t slow him down an ounce as he pounced towards the cage. However, just before he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Ripley’s satisfied smile.
"I said get away from there!” the void Djinni screamed. “I will not let you touch her."
"What's a Djinni doing with a demon anyways?"
Normally Tage would have thought that Halp was being far too relaxed for the situation, and would have likely insulted him for his behavior before drawing him back to the task at hand. However, Tage remained quiet. This time, she understood exactly what he was doing.
Along with the ability to be the most obnoxious person on earth, Halp also had the skill to make himself the center of anyone's attention. Usually through aforementioned obnoxiousness. Combine that with the fact that the wizard was focused on Ripley, as the one blocking his spells, and Tage had become nearly invisible. It was a technique the two of them had used before, although they rarely found themselves with a sufficiently low leveled NPC opponent to actually put it to use.
As Halp continued to do his best to enrage the mage, Tage slowly moved sideways, trying to flank the attacking djinni. He was still too close to the wall for Tage to actually get behind him, but as Halp got closer and closer to the weevil queen's cage, and the other djinni was slowly lured forwards as he attacked, Tage was presented with a gradually growing opening.
The mage was starting to fire attacks faster and faster, although the fact that he didn't want to destroy his own equipment definitely kept him somewhat reserved in his attacks. Ripley was doing a good job at mitigating most of the attacks the mage fired off, and the few that the AI couldn't catch in time, Halp was able to dodge.
"Let's see what's..." Halp began, his hand creeping out, only for him to scream in shock and pain as a bolt of purple lightning arced from the bar of the cage to his hand.
Crap. That meant Tage was going to have to change her plan. If they wanted to get rid of the weevils for good they were going to have to kill the queen, but to get at the queen they were going to need the magician. That meant she couldn't simply kill him right off the bat. Instead she was going to have to...
"Hahaha! Did you really think my cage would be unprotected? I am not so foolish. Now, stand still while I..."
He didn't get another word out. That one last step forward was all Tage had needed. She sprung out from behind him, bringing the flat of her blade down hard on the top of his head. The void Djinni let out a surprised "ooo" before crumpling to the ground in a heap.
"Well," Tage said, from her position behind where he had been standing. She tossed her hair behind her shoulder, resting the flat of the blade on her collar. A slight head tilt to the side, a wide grin, and Tage considered herself admirably posed. "That wasn't so hard. Let's tie him up and see if we can't figure out how to open that cage, ne?"
"Aaaaah," Halp murmured. "Good job. And such a great finishing pose, too."
"I know, right?" Tage replied with a laugh.
The two shared their good cheer for a moment, before turning back towards the problem at hand: figuring out how to get through the void barrier to the weevil queen.
Tage quickly began the process by pulling out a rope from her inventory, and using it to bind the mage’s hands behind his back and tie his feet together. He wouldn’t be casting any more spells if he couldn’t draw any runes. However, now that they’d fully neutralized their target, the two suddenly realized there’d been a small oversight in their oh-so-well-thought-out plan. An unconscious djinni couldn’t tell them anything.
“Do we… need to wait for him to wake up?” Tage finally asked, glancing at Halp, before over at Ripley. The former shrugged slightly, while the latter seemed to have turned his attention towards the Weevil Queen’s cage. Leaving Ripley to whatever he was investigating, Tage looked back at the unconscious purple djinni.
Her ruminations were suddenly interrupted by a yelp from Halp. Tage flinched, glancing up at him in momentary panic, only to calm down immediately at the sight of the smile on his face. “I’ve got an idea!” he proclaimed, before pulling out a stoppered beaker filled with a green liquid.
“Is that…?” Tage began to ask, but was interrupted by Halp, who nodded, pulled the stopper out of the beaker, and dumped half of the goop on the unconscious mage’s head. Instantly, a putrid smell filled the room, and the mage immediately began to sputter, shaking his head desperately in an attempt to shake off the green goo.
“Oh, Halp,” Tage groaned, pinching her nose and waving the air in front of her with her other hand.
Halp took his own triumphant pose, holding the beaker up with one hand like a hero. "And you said I'd never get the chance to use it! Feel the power of my stinky goo!" Halp cheered, waving the flask that had contained the vile mixture around, almost managing to goo himself in the process. However, he managed to stopper the bottle again before succeeding in that particular catastrophe, and put the bottle back into his inventory.
"So!” Halp leaned down to the grounded mage, battleaxe in both hands, and its only an inch away from the mage’s nose. “How exactly do we open that cage?" He was attempting to glare, put the full might of his black skin and ivory white eyes to use. Unfortunately, the effect was somewhat ruined as Halp struggled not to laugh at the beads of green ooze that were slowly running down the djinni’s purple face.
The mage struggled uselessly for a moment, before finally relenting. "The key's in that chest over there,” he replied, gesturing towards his desk with a jerk of the head. “You have to unlock it to turn the lightning off."
Halp grinned. "Well that was easy! See, I told you I can be intimidating when I want to, Tage! I’ll go get the key.” He quickly turned towards the mage’s desk.
