#tailriders

“THIS PLACE IS LIKE, HMMM, MOS EISLEY GONE WRONG.”

“Cut the good sir knight references, Ereshkigon. I am at your side, this time... tee-hee!”

“Uhh... I think he knows that, miss.” A strange accent interrupted that barb exchange and Naara-chan realized this must be their contact. “Dun't see too much protheid pirates like you working alongside the Pentagonal Table, and he must know exactly what you are.”

“She is no pirate,” interrupted the tyrannodragon knight in turn, turning to the foxpig and pulling a chair on their table. “She is a corsair, and as long as she upholds that title, I am fine.”

“Er...” coughed Naara-chan, “In fact, I'm a buccaneer. I'm fine too as long as the TRANSPHINX Conglomerate pays me tribute. I don't work to the Pentagonal Table, you see.”

“You all must stay still when I say so,” hushed the foxpig creature, its tentacles wrapping tightly around Ereshkigon and Naara-chan's chair legs.

“What?” whispered the little protheid, frowing her leonine brow and opening her hovering ray fins a bit.

THE CEILING COLLAPSED WITH A BANG and a small black-and-white form fell through the big hole above. The tuxedo foxpig had his colleagues tight under its tentacle coils, protecting them from most part of the debris, but his own body was badly hurt. Ereshkigon managed first to let himself free, and crossed the ruined mess of a tavern, holding his greatsword in one hand only. On the other hand, his shield, so big some think it was a turtleshell when the knight puts it on his back. “Naara-chan can take care of the pig,” thought Ereshkigon, “I need to inspect this thing here...”

Furtunately for him, at that time of the day the tavern was mostly empty and the tyrannodragon didn't need to attend any real victims. That beast on the floor, however, was another thing entirely. The little monster combined male and female traits and, like Ereshkigon himself, his skin looked like latex at most places, although metallic pieces were scattered all along that skin. At first the dragonknight thought those parts were detritus from the accident, but they seemed to be part of the small creature. Zooanthropomorphic, the beast combined aspects of a very atheltic and fit polar bear (although tainted with that black latex texture) with the black hooves and horns of a goat and the black tail of a monkey.

Its eyes opened and the monster screamed, assumed a combat posture before Ereshkigon. The dragon recoiled from that, but kept his sword in hand and gestured with the shield to protect himself from any actual assault. “It seems this pal is better than I assumed,” Ereshkigon thought to himself. Soon enough the knight raised his eyes from the ruined tavern and noticed the creature was readying to defend itself not from him, but from that...

A HUGE FURRY STOOD BEFORE THEM, coming from the hole above, putting one bear leg inside the tavern ruins, and then another. This was a monstrosity so big Ereshkigon thought he came from the movies the dragonknight spent his infancy watching. In the corner of his eye, the dragonknight noticed the bartender and other staff furries were mostly unhurt, but still trapped below a heavy cocktail table. "Damn my eyes," thought the Syllurian knight. The huge creature stared at him and at the little beast, ignoring the other furries, so near his shark tail. He looked hazily at the first monster and assumed too some kind of combat posture. His immense hammerhead shark head was somewhat mirrored by a immense hammer held by both of his bear claws. He could be naked, like the first monster in fact was, if not for some tattered shorts, like he just transformed from a smaller form or something.

“This 'Hulk smash' incident will do us no good,” thought Ereshkigon, “I'm in the middle of a quest and random monsters attack Nova Crisálida. Where's Rudã when I need hir?”

Ereshkigon raised his sword, and one dragonwhisper coated it with magickal fire, gleaming red. The huge monster raised his hammer and a dire purple glow came with the blast...