Set Bonus

"This is bad."whispered Tenna. "Much worse than the watch told us." The petite cleric kept low, peeking over the ledge to the horrifying scene in the large chamber below

Nell did not answer right away. The paladin was staring out at the... horde? Yes that seemed an appropriate word, of various undead gathered in the cave. There was at least a hundred, perhaps two. Most were nothing more than animate humanoid corpses; zombies and skeletons, but there were a few larger, lumbering monstrosities of some sort, all being presided over by a skinny teenager in a black cloak. He was ranting as if the mindless throng cared or could even understand what he said. "How?" She breathed. "How did this... boy raise so many. More powerful necromancers than him couldn't raise a quarter this many."

"That staff he's holding I'd wager." Said the mage, Vi was it? "I'm no expert on artifacts, but the way he's holding it... it's almost like it's holding him."

"I agree." Replied Tenna. "Even from here it feels wrong."

Nell was only vaguely paying attention. She was more concerned about what she was going to do about this. The frantic orations seemed to indicate he was going to unleash the horde on the village tonight, when the sun went down. It would be a massacre. She could not let that happen. But there were too many for her to handle, even with Tenna and the other three. And this was the first time she'd.worked with them. She didn't know how much she could count on them. The soldier seemed solid. The rogue seemed flighty. And the wizard, she hadn't really gotten a bead on yet. The only thing she could say for sure was they were loyal to each other. But that didn't help the town. She let out a breath. "Ten, I think you're the fastest. Perhaps you should go warn the watch."

"She's not." Lunara, the soldier, said. "Vi could fly there in minutes, but it wouldn't do any good. The watch is too few. Without walls and this many shamblers, it would be a blood bath. Were going to have to halt them here. Maybe bottleneck them in one of the narrower passages?" She sighed and ran her hand through her mid-length brown hair. "Even then, this many would overrun the five of us in a right hurry."

"Agreed." Said Nell. She closed her eyes. She was not afraid of dying here. She was more afraid of dragging these others, and Tenna down with her. Of failing the civilians in the town. "Go. All of you. Warn the watch. I will hold the entrance as long as I can. Maybe you can make a line or..."

"Not leaving you, Nell." Tenna replied with a scowl.

"Either way might be a death sentence." Myx, the rogue said nervously. "Lu?" She looked to her companions.

"I know. You're not wrong. Unless..." The soldier paused. "Vi, did you bring it?"

The mage stiffened. "I did. I thought we weren't going to talk about that in mixed company. Especially not our new 'Pal'."

"Mitigating circumstances. We need to protect the town." Pressed Lunara. "You wanted a field test. This will be relatively private." The with a smirk, she added, "And I wouldn't worry about Nell. I've known some paladins into some really freaky shit."

Vi narrower her eyes. Then she rolled them with a half grin. "Fine." She said, shrugging of her cloak. "What kind of freaky shit?"

"One of my commanders liked being done up like a horse and ridden around his tent." Lunara replied. "Had a couple of the squad who'd help him out. And he was tame in comparison."

"That does make me feel a little better." Vi pulled the ribbon out of her long jet colored hair, before sitting and pulling at one of her boots.

"Oh, shit!" Breathed Myx with a grin. "Are we doing what I think we're doing?"

We are." Confirmed Lunara. "Myx, I'm going to have you stay with Vi. Move and aim her if necessary. Nell and I will be the front line. Ten, you can do some turning, right? Stay behind us and take care of any stragglers that get past. But if this works..."

"If what works?" Hissed Tenna. "Clue us in." The girl blinked as Vi got to her feet and began working to unfasten her tunic even as she tried to squirm out of it. "And why is our wizard stripping?"

"All right." Began Lunara. "A week or two ago, we did a ruin dive and found an old, hidden workshop. Most of what was in there was falling apart from age, but there was a big trunk in pristine condition. So probably magic, right? We popped it open and it was full of... we'll say stuff..."

"Kinky sex stuff." Put in Myx

"Yes, kinky sex stuff." Agreed Lunara, through gritted teeth. "All of it apparently magic in some way."

"And how does this help us now?" Asked Nell, her eye working not to drift to Vi, who was unwinding her chest wraps.

"Most of it is still in the trunk, uncatalogued, but Vi saw a leather case with a wizard hat and staff etched on it and sprang for an identify. It was a set of items that, when worn by a caster, lets them do spells without speaking, without using their hands, without their little doo dads..."

"Material components." Sighed Vi, now topless and unfastening her pants.

"And the last hovers her a few inches off the ground." Continued Lunara.

"So she can cast with a thought." Said Nell, with a furrowed brow. "Useful to be sure, but how does this help us against hundreds of undead?"

"There's a set bonus." It was Vi who replied, now fully naked and rummaging through her pack. "When I wear all four pieces, I get exponentially more powerful. I can cast more spells, they are much stronger, I think I'll be able to sculpt them for a larger area. Theoretically, those guys will go down like dominoes." The mage pulled a leather satchel from her pack.

The Paladin and her companion shared a look and blinked. "So if this stuff is so powerful," Tenna finally said, "why aren't you wearing it already."

Vi's cheeks colored. "There are some... drawbacks. Kinky sex stuff, remember?" She replied, not meeting their gaze. "For one, anything I've worn with the set so far has disintegrated. And it does nothing for modesty. Third, well... there are a few more....issues" she extended the satchel toward Myx, "Help me get this stuff on and they'll see."

"With pleasure!" Grinned the rogue. She accepted the container and popped the catches. "Where you want me to start?"

"Arms first." The mage sighed. She reached out and plucked something from the satchel, before bringing it to her neck and buckling what turned out to be a black collar with golden trim and hardware around he throat. "Then the feet. Face last." She turned her back to Myx, and facing the rest of the party, cheeks still pink. She pushed her arms together behind her back and steadfastly avoided the eyes of Nell and Tenna.

No one spoke further until Myx started working a sleeve up over Vi's arms. "Oh, I get it. That's why she can cast without somatics." The girl made a face. "I can imagine the rest. Is this going to be ok? Taking her into a fight like that?"

"If this works like she's been saying," replied Lunara, " we'll all be safe. If not, she'll be no more or less dead than the rest of us. Anyway, I'm sure you both agree, we have to do something, and this is the best I could come up with that we'll probably all live through."

Nell watched as as Vi's arms disappeared into the sleeve, and thus forcing what the Paladin could not help but consider to be large and firm breasts outward. She could scarcely imagine a single wizard dealing with that many undead, but then she wouldn't have thought any one person could summon this many undead. She was somewhat relieved her new associates agreed to stay. But, now these three lives, she considered her responsibility. On top, of course, of Tenna's. "And you're all sure about this?"

"About staying? Yes." Answered Lunara. "We were hired to deal with the undead so that's what we'll do. About the magic part? Less so. This will be our first field test."

"I'm calculating the area." Put in Vi. "I'll start big to be safe, but we should be fine." She looked down as Myx closed restraints around her ankles, and, indeed, she lifted several inches off the ground. "I'll detonate biggest fireball I think I can manage over the top of the group closest to the chamber entrance to buy us a little cushion." Myx held up the last black/gold item, causing Vi to turn her face away. "Once this thing goes on, I'm following you, Lu."

"Right. Just kill as many as fast as you can." Nodded the soldier. "We'll hold as long as we need to."

"Vi exhaled and relaxed her head. "And you, Just don't rush them. Let them come to us. I don't want to hit yo-nulph..." He speech was cut off as Myx pressed a panel over the Mage's mouth, provoking a scowl. The rogue smirked in reply.

"I knew it." Huffed Tenna. "Cast without words..."

Nell remained silent. She was worried, of course, about the battle ahead, but there was also this new... distraction. She tended not to judge people based on appearance, in fact tended not to notice. But Vi was... out there currently. Difficult to miss. The clothes she'd been wearing were more for utility than aesthetics. Her unobscured body though, was... Nell had actually battled a full succubus once, and while the Mage was not on that level, she was well above average as far as appearance. Clear, pale skin, silky, dark hair, slim curves, and the aforementioned breasts.

More concerning, was the Mage's... predicament? That didn't seem to fit. Her arms were pulled behind we her and encased in the tight sleeve. Several straps around her shoulders kept in more firmly in place. Her ankles were clipped closely together by two black cuffs; perhaps a single link apart. Vi floated several inches above the cavern floor, and though her feet moved, she never changed position relative to the environment. Nell wondered if she even could. The gag covered he lower face from the nose down, and, of course, cut off her speech. The collar seemed almost superfluous until Myx hooked a finger in the golden ring at its front, and effortlessly maneuvered the helpless mage around like a balloon.

Ultimately, Nell was struggling to quantify how she felt about this. She was grateful for the help, but her feelings on Vi's situation was more mixed. She'd once been in a camp that suffered a surprise attack, and wound up fighting unarmed in just her underclothes. She still had some scars from it. Not a pleasant memory. Not only was the Mage fully naked, her arms and legs were bound. The Paladin found the thought a little troubling, but... she was oddly intrigued. She failed to suppress a shudder as she imagine herself fighting in a similar position.

"We all set?" Lunara asked, startling Nell from her thoughts.

There was a pause as they all exchanges glances. Tenna locked eyes with her partner. "Ready, Nell?"

The Paladin nodded grimly before turning to Myx and Vi.

"We're set." Myx put in.

"Mmn." Grunted the Mage. Then she cocked her head."Mmm. Mmm." She looked straight ahead for a moment, her eyes lighting up briefly. Then she turned her attention to here pack. It jostled, seemingly by itself before some thing hovered out of one of the pouched. Nel recognized a piece of chalk as it lifted to eye level. The mage looked around, her eyes focusing on Myx, before the piece drifted forward, lodging itself in the Rogue's modest cleavage. "Mmm hmm." The obscured smirk was obvious.

"Right, no pockets." Myx smirked back.

"You see she can cast." Said Lunara. "Let's go then. Vi, fire when you're in range. Moving quiet 'til then. Move out."

Nell did her best to move stealthily. Her full plate made it tricky. Her size didn't help. She was tall and broad. She'd been charitably described as brawny. Less charitably as hulking. This was not her element. Her mind was not focused either, and drifted. The fight ahead, the people of the town, Tenna. But frustratingly, she kept coming back to the wizard. The naked, bound wizard following her into a fight. Okay, in truth, she was following Lunra, and being led by the rogue, but Nell felt responsible. They all might die here. And the town with them. The why was all she could think was herself in the Mage's place. It was--

CLACK! Nell's armored shin clipped the wall of the cave. Her eyes snapped up to see the horde all turn in terrifying unison to face her party creeping down the passage. The jig was up.

"What's that?!" The young necromancer had been facing the passage all though their traversal, but between the darkness and his own preoccupations, hadn't noticed. Now at the sharp noise, he looked up and quickly launched several torch-like orbs from his staff-less hand in the direction of the party. The light glinted of Nell's armor, clearly revealing her. "Well, what have we here." The kid preened. "Heroes come to stop me? I feel honored." The mob turned to face them as one in an unsettling display of control.

Nell's world slowed. Had they failed? Had she gotten these people killed? The mob took a uniform step forward. The boy looked smug behind his wall of minions. Nell's vision seemed to flicker as she looked on, like a torch blowing in a draft. She wanted to apologize the these people she'd just doomed but there was no time for that. Their only hope now was to put down enough that the watch could fend them off. This was her end. Her mind was screaming. A high pitched whine. Wait, not her mind... behind her?

The villain was laughing; gloating. "You will be the first of so many tonight to join my... what the hell is that noise!?"

The shriek cut off abruptly, and Nell's vision stopped wavering. There was a pop and a wash of heat on her face as something streaked past her. There was a momentary glint above the horde. Then the end of the passage dissolved in flames.

The flash lasted but an instant but when it cleared, even through the haze of immolated bodies, The Paladin saw that at least a third of the undead had... fallen? Been vaporized? Nell's jaw fell open, eyes wide. She blinked before turning to the back of the group,Her gaze was drawn to Vi. The Wizard's eyes were glowing a brilliant gold, as was the trim and hardware of her 'gear'. Nell stood there mouth agape, staring until...

"Paladin! A little help!"

She turned back to find Lunara engaging with several skeletons that had been just past the blast. "R-right!" She spun and charged shield first into the fray, flattening two skeletons in the process, and grateful for the distraction.

"What the in the Hells was that!?" The would be conqueror shrieked from the far side of the chamber. "Get them! Kill them!"

Lunara swatted a skeleton aside with her pole-arm. "Vi, we got more incoming." She shouted. "You got another one of those?"

Shield up, Nell, spared a glance to the Mage. Her eyes were shining again, but beyond that, there was a flickering. orange light floating before her. Even as the Paladin looked on, it began to pulse,heating the air around it until it began to whistle, then scream. Once again, it shot past Nell to collide with the remains of the mob, reducing it again by half.

"Great!" Lunara called. "Now focus on the Necro. We'll hold the creepers"

"Mhmn!" The Wizard replied, presumably in agreement.

"On it!" Myx replied more clearly, dragging Vi forward. Not within reach of the horde,, but far enough to get a decent sightline to the boy.

"Gah!" Screamed the Kid. "Stop that, you fucking bitch!" Her raise his arms with clear magical intent. "I will destroy you all! I will level that miserable town! I will..!" His eyes suddenly went wide and his jaw slack as his gaze fell on Vi. And he fully exposed body. "Nuh-nuh-naked..." He squeaked.

"Mrrr." growled Vi, her cheeks coloring. Her eyes lit once more, and the very air in front of her rippled, all the way to the budding lord of the dead. When the burst wash over him, his eyes rolled back and his body went as slack as his jaw as he crumped to the ground.

* * *

"How long will the little shit be out?" Asked Tenna, as she leaned over the disarmed boy, checking for injuries.

"Mhmn." Vi replied with a fair approximation of a shrug. She hovered near by similarly leaning over the fallen staff. the others were doing a sweep of the chamber and passages. checking for any surprises while she and Tenna took care of their prisoner and his potentially dangerous weapon.

"I hope I don't have to tell you not to touch that." Mumbled Tenna.

Vi rolled her eyes before wiggling her imprisoned arms. "Mhmn." She grunted.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Tenna grinned.

Vi snorted, turning back to the staff. Her eyes flashed and the stone floor of the cavern warped and folded, engulfing the length of ebon wood, pulling it down and out of sight. "Mnn?" She raised her eyebrows, looking back to Tenna.

"That will do, I guess. We' can say we destroyed it so no one come looking." The Healer replied. "We'll have to keep an eye on him, but I can't imagine him being much trouble without his minions even if he does wake up." She straightened and move to stand near the Mage. "That was really something. I've seen fireball cast before, but that..." Tenna shook her head.

"Mhmn." Vi squirmed awkwardly around for a moment trying to adjust her position, before her eyes flashed again. This time, the ring on her collar lifted on it's own, turning The Mage to fully face Tenna. She then nodded to the girl.

"That getup seems really powerful, but I guess I can see why you wouldn't wear it day to day." Tenna went on. "Being naked wouldn't be to bad. Uh, in a private setting. But I leaned more toward martial than spiritual, so having my hands tied..." She shuddered, apparently imagining the scenario.

"Mhmn." Vi replied. Then she drifted around Tenna, not quite flying, but apparently using magic to pull herself easily around.


"Yeah, my magic isn't quite so versatile." Tenna sighed. "I bet I could heal the heck out of you though." She spared a glance to the others as she heard them returning. "Anyway, thanks. We couldn't have done this without you. And your outfit."

"Mhn nhum." Vi shrugged. Then she dragged herself in the direction of her approaching companions.

"Good news!" Myx called out as the Mage drew near. "We found some loot!"

"Likely from his victims." Put in Nell. "We'll have to take it to the watch to be sorted. The bad news is, we found a place for prisoners, but it was empty. If there were people to save, we didn't make it in time."

"Oh. Yeah." Myx seemed to deflate a little, though if it was because of the lost victims, or having to turn in the loot, it was hard to tell. "But you should cast that floating disk thing to carry it out. There's not a whole lot; some gold, jewelry and some nice weapons but...hey! Hey!" The rogue began to dance and squirm around before a stick of chalk popped out of the front of her tunic. "You took the scenic route with that!"

"Hmm hmm." Vi maybe agreed. The chalk did a final loop around the Rogue before dropping straight to the floor of the cave and writing very clearly: Let me out.

"Let's get the-" Lunara spared a glance to Nell, "evidence loaded up first. It will help you cast the spell, right?"

Vi scowled, wrote: Clothes? on the floor, the used the chalk to gesture to her uncovered body.

"I guarantee that you will be free and fully dressed before we leave this cave."said Lunara. "Nell, would you grab Sleeping Ugly there? And what are we going to do about that- Where's the staff?"

"Oh, Vi sealed in the floor for now." said Tenna. "Probably shouldn't leave it there, but it's handled until we think of something better."

"That is not 'loot'." said Nell, pointedly perhaps not looking at Myx. She easily hoisted the unconscious villain up and over her shoulder. "At the very least, that evil thing should be handed over to a church or temple that can contain it." She sniffed once. "Perhaps there will be room on you 'disk'. This one needs a bath."

"So, Vi," Tenna began, as the group moved toward the 'evidence'. "Pretty neat trick with the chalk, but if you can control it like that, can't you do something similar to let yourself out?"