Bangqiu’s ship arrived in Dar E Lan, and as he went about the business of getting paid and compensating the local monastery for a surprise visit of foreign sohei, his associates found other ways to keep themselves occupied. A trader who had just returned from peddling his wares in the remote villages told the harrowing story of how he’d lost his mule. He was coming down the mountain on his way back to Dar E Lan when he was overcome by fatigue and decided to take a short nap. When he awakened, his mule was nowhere to be found, though its tracks were easy enough to follow. The tracks led into a marshy area at the bottom of the valley and across it to a cave at the base of the cliff. Inside the cave, he found the half-eaten body of his mule. Even more horrifying, the walls of the caves were lined with what looked like over-sized insect eggs. The trader confessed that he had fled in panic and hoped that braver people would solve this mystery.
Bo Jing, Bayan, and Shoji agreed that this was their quest. Two of Kafka’s most promising students (Sang and Han Bee) asked to join them, offering themselves as bodyguards for wise Shoji and spiritual advisors for the courageous Bo Jing. The party and their new henchmen set off the next morning very early, and followed the valley trail up into the hills above the monastery. The first day of travel was peaceful and they spent the night at a half-ruined tower, in the company of a small garrison of monks of the Two-Fold Path.
The next day, the party continued on their way, following directions from the trader and from the monks—who had sheltered the trader hours after he fled from the cave. As their path brought them higher and higher into the mountains and they lost sight of the valley, they realized they had missed a landmark and retraced their steps. It was late afternoon when they re-entered the marshy valley, wandering somewhat aimlessly, looking for signs of – a giant insect?
These signs took the form of tremors in the ground so violent that Sang and Han Bee were knocked off their feet. A flash in the sky of luminescent blue-green caught Shoji’s eye moments before an enormous beetle dropped down on Sang, slashing at him with its machete-like mandibles. As Shoji pulled his bodyguard to safety, Bo Jing shot two arrows into the beetle’s abdomen and then charged with his sword. Bayan drew her own sword and attacked the beetle from the opposite flank. The beetle, though wounded continued its pursuit of Sang, now slashing at his legs. Shoji kicked the beetle in the head, and Sang slashed at it with his own weapon. As the beetle turned, Bo Jing jumped on top of it and drove his blade into a seam in its carapace. Bayan repeatedly slashed its underside until it collapsed and flipped over dead.
After Bo Jing collected a few “samples” (the mandibles, some glowing blue-green beetle “juice”), the party set about finding the cave. After locating the place from which the tremors had originated and Shoji had seen the beetle spring into the air, the party was able to find their way to the “cave”, a noisome hole at the base of chalky cliffs, lined with sticky blue-green goo. As the party made their way into the cave, they were attacked by smaller beetles. These were easily killed and the party soon found themselves in the egg chamber. As the trader had said, the walls were completely covered with oily blue-green membrane sacs, each about the size of a person’s head. The floor was littered with bones and scarps of metal, some silver. After collecting the valuables, the party threw down their torches, and with a flask of lamp oil, started a fire.
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