An Unlikely Party 1: Never Trust A Mimic

Rede looked back over at the rest of his comrades, “Alright guys, this place is of some renown so can we PLEASE behave.” He sighed and glared at Shade and Walker.

“Place of high esteem?” Walker twitched slightly, “Mimics.”

“There won’t be any god damn mimics!” Rede shouted at him annoyed.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Walker hissed back as he crept along at the back of the group.

Calie shook her head and placed a calm hand on Rede’s shoulder, “We’ll be fine. We’ll only be here for a little bit.”

Rede grumbled to himself, “I hope so.” He shook his head as they neared the entrance into the White Stallion establishment. The owners refused to let the place be called a tavern as it was too high class for such a city name. Rede pushed the large wooden doors open that had twin stallions carved into their faces. He was surprised to see that the place was completely empty of customers, as the only living being in the room was the formally dressed man on the other side.

Calie signaled for Walker, Shade, and Gorgos, their other companion, to sit down at one of the tables while Rede and her talked to the man here. The formally dressed man smiled and waved as he walked up to greet them, “Hello and welcome to the White Stallion!” He spoke with an enthusiastic voice, “We aren’t open for drinks right now, but if you need a place to rest I’m more than willing to accommodate you!”

Calie smiled at him warmly as Rede glanced back at the rest of their party, “No thank you,” She said, “We’re actually are here to talk to someone of importance in relation to the White Stallion. Rumor has it that they’re looking for some brave adventurers to hire.”

The man opened up his arms and bowed slightly to them, “Baxter Carir, co-founder of the White Stallion. Bar-keep at the crossroads tell you about us?”

“Sure did.” Rede spoke up, “What do you need help with.”

Baxter eyed over the whole party, “What skill sets do you all bring to the table?”

“Walker back there, the short, twitchy, gnome, is an insanely skilled rogue,” Calie told him, “The elf wearing the menacing, cult-like robes, Shade, is the best damned alchemist we’ve ever met, Gorgos is our oversized orc raging barbarian, she’s an absolute monster on the battlefield, I’m Calie, mandatory party tank-”

“And I’m the mandatory party priest.” Rede told him, “Gotta have heals we can count on.”

“Hmmm…” Baxter nodded at them pleased, “And what sort of accoma-“ His eyes popped wide open as he peered past the pair back at the three at the table, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY TABLE?!?” He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Rede and Calie turned around instantly and to their dismay saw Walker slowly pressing the tip of his dagger into the table, “Dammit, Walker!” Rede shouted at him.

Walker immediately put his dagger away and looked around the room in confusion, “What?” He asked innocently.

“Do you have any idea how expensive these tables are?” Baxter shouted at him, “That will be coming directly out of payment for your services.”

Walker narrowed his eyes at Baxter and slowly got up, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years…” He spoke in a scratchy voice as he slowly walked up towards Baxter, “It’s to never trust a mimic. Anything, anywhere, at anytime could be one. The table we were sitting at, the chairs, the candlesticks, maybe the bottle of wine you’re going to pour, or the chandelier-“ He paused for a second as he was now right in front of Baxter. His eyes snapped up and looked deep into Baxter’s, “Maybe even you.”

Baxter simply stared at Walker in a mixture of shock and fear, “He’s not a bloody mimic!” Rede shook his head, “I don’t even think that’s how they work!”

Instantly Walker’s dagger was out and at Baxter’s crotch, “I’ll be the judge of that.” He hissed.

“Terribly sorry about this.” Calie shook her head as she spoke, “Walker has an unnatural fear of mimics ever since he lost his favorite daggers to one way back when. He’s dedicated his life to finding and killing ever last one he can. We’ll take whatever pay deductions you feel are necessary for his actions.”

Baxter shook his head, “I can’t say I’ve ever been treated like this befo-“

“HE’S A MIMIC!” Walker screamed as he shot his dagger deep in between Baxter’s legs.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Rede shouted at him. Suddenly he froze as Baxter effortlessly leapt off of Walker’s dagger and across the room. His skin and flesh started to twist and twitch inhumanely. “Oh you have got to be kidding me…He’s a mimic.”

“I knew it all along…” Walker mumbled to himself as he slipped into the shadows.

Shade and Gorgos walked up next to them readying themselves for battle, “Fight? Kill?” Gorgos asked excitedly as she eyed the human that was turning into a mimic.

“Yes, dear.” Calie smiled at her as she pulled out her sword and shield, “Fight, kill.”

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The fight was fast, fierce, and freaky. Frankly none of them had ever seen a mimic using the body of a human. Seeing a mimic as a table, or a chair, or a chest was one thing, but to witness the monstrosity of this fleshy being as a human was nerve racking. Rede took a deep breath and finished healing Calie and Gorgos back up while Shade popped open one of her own homemade health potions downing it. “Well, shit.” Rede grumbled, “Now how the hell are we supposed to get paid?”

“We can loot this place.” Walker shrugged as he knelt down over the mimic’s dead body.

Rede groaned, “What are we now? Thieves?”

“I’ve always been a thief.” Walker smirked as he slowly started to search through the mimic’s pockets.

“I do it on and off,” Shade admitted, “Always for science though.”

“Gorgos want? Gorgos take!” She smiled proudly down at Rede.

Rede shook his head sighed. Calie chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Why not? I’m pretty sure the other owner of this place won’t give us his quest, or payment for that matter. In fact,” She glanced around the room, which was a complete mess from their fight, “He might try to incarcerate us due to nearly demolishing his whole bar. If he’s gonna hate us already…”

Rede ran his hands through his hair and calmed himself down, “Alright fine, let’s loot this place up. We need coin desperately.”

Shade smiled at him, “I don’t think we need your permission to do so.” Shade licked his lips, winked, and quickly started scrounging around the area.

“Humph!” Walker stood up and kicked the mimic’s dead body in annoyance, “Mimics.” He grumbled.

“The hell you looking for?” Calie asked him.

Walker slowly turned towards her and glared into her eyes, “Never. Trust. A mimic.” He quickly snapped back around and leapt over the cracked marble counter in search of some fine liquor.

Rede rolled his eyes in contempt and worked with Calie to find some coins. A few minutes had passed, mostly in silence, as the party all searched for anything of value. “WHAT IN THE GODS’ NAMES?” Calie shrieked shattering the tranquil robbery. Rede quickly looked back towards her and threw up slightly in his mouth as Gorgos had taken the mimic’s corpse, ripped it’s limbs off, and proceeded to rearrange it’s body parts into some grotesque looking totem or shine.

Gorgos used the end of the mimic’s arm bone to implant one of its arm in the top of the corpses head. Smiling wide she stepped back admiring her work as she held a leg in her other hand. She pointed at the corpse, “Rare mimic! Victory means honor!” She bellowed proudly at them, “Make shrine for Goddess. Offering. Ritual pleases her. Gives me strength!” She suddenly took a bite out of the severed leg, causing Rede to quickly turn away as vomit entered his mouth again.

Calie quickly covered her eyes, “Dear gods…” She whispered. Walker hadn’t ever looked up and Shade simply smiled as he watched.

Gorgos chewed on the hunk of flesh she had ripped off of the leg and shoved the leg through the chest of the mimic. As she swallowed her food she started banging against her chest letting out a war cry. After a few seconds she stopped and took a deep breath, “Goddess pleased. I stronger.” She paused for a moment and looked over at Shade, “Looks good. Give toy? Have fun?” She asked him.

Shade laughed, “No no no…that would be…frowned upon.”

Gorgos frowned and grumbled, “You?”

Shade shook his head at her chuckling, “Maybe later, okay?”

She smiled, “Okay!”

Calie swallowed heavily, “Can we…go now?” She asked everyone.

“Let’s!” Rede quickly jumped up and walked over to her, “Alright everyone, we need all the coin you guys found.”

Everyone tossed down what they had found on the floor in front of Rede who sighed defeated at the small pile. He picked them up counting it all, “38 gold coins…38? That’s all we were able to find in this damned tavern?”

“I found this!” Walker pulled out a bottle of incredibly rare and expensive brandy from his backpack, “But I’ll trust a mimic before I let anyone else touch it.”

“I found some exotic herbs!” Shade perked up, “Stuff commonly used as hallucinogens and other drug trip inducing stuff, less commonly used for incredibly powerful potions.”

“Guys…we need more coin.” Rede sighed heavily, “We literally are completely out besides these measly 38 right here! How the hell are we supposed to buy supplies, horses, rooms…anything with 38 FUCKING COINS!” Rede took a deep breath and put his face into his hands.

“Hey,” Shade told him, “I suppose I can lend some help.” Rede moved his hands and watched Shade reach into her long trench coat. Shade slowly pulled out a drooping sack and handed it over to Rede. As Rede grabbed it he staggered slightly at the incredible weight, “That’s either 500 or 750. Don’t remember which one, been awhile since I counted.”

“Where the hell did that come from?” Calie asked him.

“Oh I just pulled it out of my pocket of holding.” Shade casually told them.

“No I mean the-“ Calie stopped short, “You have a…POCKET…of holding?!?” She asked in utter shock.

Shade shrugged, “Ohhh you meant the coin!” He said ignoring her question about the pocket, “Well you see I sell very…VERY rare and expensive potions alongside my normal alchemy business. And at the crossroads back yonder someone wanted a very…VERY expensive potion. I don’t remember if they took my discount offer or not though…hence why I’m not sure what’s in there.”

“How often do you sell potions like that?” Calie asked him.

“Considering I’m the only one who can make them…” Shade pretended to ponder on her question for a moment, “Often enough.”

“What do you do with that type of money??” She again quickly snapped.

Shade smiley, “Buy a pocket of holding for myself.”

Calie opened her mouth to argue, but stopped as his point was valid. Suddenly Rede spoke up, “Shade…why have we never seen any of this coin before?”

“It’s my business…?” Shade shrugged at him.

“And we are the reason you are travelling around so much!” Rede quickly pointed out, “You are able to collect numerous herbs and any other sort of ingredients for your potions with us. We take you to new towns with new people to sell you potions too.” He shook his head at Shade, “We, as a party, deserve a cut.”

Shade stroked her face as she thought on the offer, “I suppose I can spare a bit for us, as a party.”

“That was…easier than expected.” Rede commented confused. He took a deep breath and shrugged as he put the coins in his backpack, “Alright team, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”