Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-31749612-20171027034842/@comment-28718853-20171214203527

I glance towards the door to my room and whisper, "We need to get out of here."

"But how? There's mamono all over this damn vessel, and if they catch us then our chances of slipping away will go up in smoke!" Richard whispers with his hands in the air. I shake my head and mutter, "We'll just have to stealth it out as best as we can."

Richard seems like he wants to say something, but he zips it at the last second.

I crawl towards the door and open it slowly to produce as little sound as possible. The Ogre was nowhere in sight, nor was there the Nekomata that Richard mentioned earlier. I ask my friend softly, "Where did the Neko attack you?"

"It was the public restrooms on this floor," he replies.

I nod and say, "Well, I don't see any mamono right now, let's go."

We creep down the halls, keeping the noise level to a minimum, though the occasional sounds of sexual activity helped to mask our movements. Down one of the corridors was an open door where we found a Werewolf furiously going at it with a man. Richard and I slip past without either the Werewolf or her mate noticing.

"So uhhh...what's the plan?" Richard asks me as we continue down the corridor. "First we get some rations, then we take a life boat," I reply. "But do you have any idea how long those things take to be lowered into the water?" Richard inquires. I turn to him and answer in a flat, quiet voice, "So would you rather us hop into the ocean and swim for it, or just remain on this cruise turned nightmare and hope that we don't get raped?"

Richard gulps and mumbles, "Lead on friend."

We arrive at our first staircase and I quickly look around. No mamono in sight. However, that didn't mean that they couldn't be hiding in ambush. I turn to Richard and whisper, "Be cautious as we move up these stairs."

Richard nods and we ascend the stairs. Thankfully, there were no mamono waiting to pounce us when we reached the top. We headed down the left and took a right, coming to a door labeled, "Kitchen".

I peer through the window and could see that the kitchen was in quite a state of disarray. Pots and pans were strewn about, cooking utensils were all over the floor, there was a spilled jar of spice here and there, and one of the stoves appeared to have its top ripped off. Richard squeezed beside me and glared through the glass at the mess. He turns to me and asks, "Are we going through that?"

"If it's the fastest way to reach the next staircase, then yes," I respond as I open the door.

Upon entry I grab a knife off of a countertop and Richard picks up a frying pan. We move through the kitchen, careful not to step on anything that would generate a large amount of noise. We're close to the opposite door when I hear Richard mutter, "Holy shit!"

I spiral in his direction and see him staring up at an Arachne who had shot out webbing at him. He drops his pan and it clangs to the floor as he's ensnared by the web, leaving him trapped and unable to move. "Hell man, help me!" Richard cries as he struggles to break free, as futile as it seems.

With my knife in hand I race over to attempt to cut him free. However, it seemed like that webbing was stronger than I had anticipated, as I only managed to slice off a few threads. I could hear the Arachne giggle above me and ask, "I wonder if I should add a second husband?"

I hear the door that was our original destination burst open and see a Manticore step in. She spots me and almost immediately fires her needles at me. I duck behind a counter and hear them break against the ceramic wall. The chimaera starts for me, and I hop to my feet. I give my friend a quick, "Sorry," and bolt out back into the hallway with the Manticore hot on my heels.

"Come back here sexy!" she calls as another needle whizzes past my ear. I dash down the corridor and turn left down another hall. A Werecat emerges from one of the bedrooms and she leaps at me, but I slide under her and she knocks over the Manticore instead. With an awkward smile I scramble back to my feet and turn left down another corridor. "Asshole!" the Manticore screams, her voice now distant.

I find the next staircase and make my way up the steps throwing caution to the wind about mamono lying in wait. I reach the top, and I wasn't ambushed a second later. Unfortunate that my friend had gotten caught. Equally unfortunate was that I couldn't gather any food supplies from the kitchen. It appears that I was going to have to scavenge food from some of the bedrooms on this floor. Besides, just one more staircase and I'd have reached the deck.

I'm about to move when a Will-o-the-Wisp appears at the other end of the hall, causing me to freeze in my tracks. Her back was to me, but she could turn around at anytime, and I couldn't afford to have that happen. There was a man's yell, and the spirit turns just as a man runs across being pursued by a Hellhound. Lady Luck was surely smiling down on me, because the Wisp elected to pursue the man that had a Hellhound on his tail, rather than the lone man at the opposite end of the hall.

Time was used to scavenge whatever bedroom had its door open, though all I could find were two packs of crackers and a bottle of vodka which I'm sure was against the rules to have in possession unless you were in an eatery of sorts. I push ahead to where the Wisp was last and find that the next staircase was just ahead. A grin crosses my face as I start toward it, but am interrupted when I see a bright purple glow coming from a set of double doors.

A voice inside my head was screaming for me to just get the hell out, but my curiousity overwhelmed me, and I walked toward it. I look through the set of windows, and nearly gasp at what I see.

There was a Demon with a portal behind her who was speaking with a man in a purple suit. "Thank you for another successful man grab," the Demon tells the man. "All in a day's work ma'am, every mamono deserves a husband to call her own!" the man proudly says to the Demon. The Demon chuckles and says, "Either way, your efforts have proved to be of great benefit to the Maou."

"Dinner tonight?" asks the man. "As if you had a choice, later sexy!" the Demon says as she turns and departs through the portal. It closes seconds later and the purple glow fades back into the yellow shine that the office had from the lamps.

I frown. This guy was the reason for this mess, and he needed to be dealt with, now. I grip my knife and stand, ready to kick in the doors and confront him when I feel something grab me from behind. A struggle ensues as my knife is plucked from my hand and tossed to the floor, followed by something slimy sliding into my ears. I cry out all kinds of curses at the man, hoping to get his attention as I feel my own mind regress into a more relaxed state. My colorful words became more slurred and I heard my assailant whisper in my ear before I completely lost myself, "Relax my dear, soon we will have a better life together.

The man finally looks at me and I swear I saw that jackass smile.

A half hour later I'm seated on the deck next to my new Mindflayer wife Jesse just staring up at the glistening stars. Jesse rolls on her side to face me and asks, "Aren't they beautiful sweetheart?"

I nod and reply, "Yes, every single one."

I turn to Jesse and say, "But none, are as beautiful as the star that is you my dear."

Jesse blushes as I reach over and pull her into my embrace. As we hugged it out, I thought back to that man in purple from earlier. Why did I hate him in the first place? He did nothing wrong and was simply bringing mamono and man together. I need to remember to apologize to him and to thank him later.

I haven't forgotten Richard, but I'm certain that he's making love to his gorgeous Arachne wife much like the Mindflayer and me, and every other pair on this ship.