Ghosts in the Pumpkin Soup

Chapter 3: The Last Straw

An oval portal opened above a bustling cobblestone street and spat out two figures. James and Knight plummeted to the ground in a comedic fashion. Knight landed perfectly on his feet while James slammed into the pavement. No one paid them any attention; this sort of thing must happen often. This was definitely an underworld city. The gray bricks that formed the streets weren't laid out in any organized fashion; it spiraled to and fro, creating bizarre patterns.

"What did he say?" James inquired, pulling his bruised face from the cobblestone.

James was suddenly lifted upwards and tossed out of the way of traffic by Knight. Luckily for his general well-being, he landed in a pile of garbage. It could have been a lot worse. He was lucky not to get stampeded into chunks of meat by the crowd of underfolk going about their daily routines, never mind the carriage that raced through the street with no care of safety whatsoever.

From his new trashy throne, James observed the hustle and bustle. This was his first good look at the underfolk and their society. The sky was dark, but the city was brightly lit by lamps shaped like cartoonish ghosts, and the architecture was sensibly Gothic.

But it wasn't the architecture that occupied James's attention; it was the diverse assortment of denizens. He spotted a blue-skinned witch in gray robes handing out flyers with two little ethereal companions. One of the spectral creatures was shaped like a bat and glowed a pinkish glimmer, while the other was an unidentifiable white translucent blob. Not too far were a couple of fashionable red-skinned demons with long spiked horns. Looked like they were on a date or something. Is that a mummy wearing a trench coat? No, it's a coat of skin.

Interesting.

Other citizens he identified as faeries, slugs, ghouls, owl people, cat people, living dolls, devils, zombies, skeletons, and what appeared to be a Mariachi band of fish people. What stood out to him the most was a giant armor-clad humanoid pumpkin creature that stood guard with a massive halberd.

"You smell nice~" A wispy voice tickled the back of his neck. James froze; he had no idea where the voice was coming from. "You partake in the ganja?" The voice was coming from under him in the pile of garbage.

In fact, it was the pile of garbage. Slimy tentacles wrapped themselves around their next meal. James felt more violated than in danger of being consumed by a trash monster. Little did he know—underfolk are usually attracted to the smell of marijuana, sexually or hungrily. A little detail Demoes forgot to mention.

"I haven't eaten in weeks. Heh heh." By this point the tentacles were squeezing so hard that James couldn't speak. Now dread started to overtake him in realizing that he was about to be an edible for some trash monster.

Knight's blade pressed against one of the tentacles.

"If you wish to keep your appendages, I'd suggest letting go of my companion. Cur." The trash monster hesitated on letting go of its food, but Knight applied enough pressure to pierce its lubricated skin. And before James could piss himself, he was free and out of the alleyway. He still wasn't sure if he was experiencing a fever dream or not, but it's kind of fun now that he wasn't in mortal danger.

"Okay, so that happened. What did the goat-man say about vile somethings?" James looked to Knight with a faux enthusiasm as he holstered his weapon.

"Deadly aspirations created by The Eidolon, sire." Knight said. "Non-corporeal beasts summoned by powerful magic users, you can cut through them like butter, but keep in mind they can do the same to you."

James inhaled loudly through his nose. "Cool."

"We must make haste sire, if we don't—" before Knight could finish his statement, a curved blade impaled him through the back.