He Who Fights with Monsters, #1
He Who Fights with Monsters
by Shirtaloon
Contents
17. A Conservative Pillage
Overview
Anisa heals Jason as the team sets strict limits on looting and damage. Gary and Farrah unleash destructive summons to flush out survivors while Rufus and Anisa clear the manor. They discover the lord emptied the vault and fled, leaving staff behind. Captured cultists are interrogated and executed, unsettling Jason.
Summary
Anisa recognizes Jason from the cages and doubts his competence until Rufus and Gary credit him with their rescue. At Rufus’s request, Anisa casts Regenerate, easing Jason’s lingering injuries. The team agrees to clear the estate with Rufus imposing strict limits on looting and property damage.
Gary and Farrah remain outside to deploy summons, while Rufus and Anisa sweep the manor and head for the storerooms. Gary summons a towering foundry golem and Farrah calls a magma-like elemental to flush out hiding cultists, despite Anisa’s concerns about destruction. Jason trades barbs with Anisa, and the trio patrol the grounds behind their heat-radiating constructs.
As time passes, the summons carve scorched paths through the hedge maze. Gary and Farrah report one storeroom and its occupant burned in the process, and Jason notes a carriage shed missing a carriage with signs of a hurried flight. Jason encounters heidels in the stables, reacting with horror at the two-headed, scaled beasts.
Rufus and Anisa emerge from the manor, having found staff members abandoned after the estate’s lord emptied the vault and fled with the cultists. Rufus explains that captured cultists were questioned and then executed. The summary of flight, looting of the vault, and on-site executions leaves Jason drained and disturbed, even as the team secures the grounds.
Who Appears
- JasonReceives healing from Anisa, patrols with Gary and Farrah, observes summons’ destruction, and is troubled by executing captured cultists.
- RufusLeads the operation, imposes strict anti-looting and damage rules, clears the manor with Anisa, interrogates and executes cultists.
- AnisaHeals Jason, insists on preserving the estate, clears the manor with Rufus, and accepts the team’s methods despite reservations.
- GarySummons a destructive foundry golem to flush cultists, burns a storeroom with a captive inside, jokes about looting.
- FarrahSummons a magma elemental to scour the grounds, contributes to collateral damage, backs Rufus’s directive while teasing Jason and Gary.