Homecoming Part 7

As the Traldar warmed to the visitors, they explained that the Hatukaan’s main temple lay not far away. “We will not allow them to return because if they do, they will summon all the dead to their evil work.”

Sukh and Ginjo were curious and decided to see the temple for themselves. A few traldars, mounted on lizards showed them the way. The temple was a two-story building. The domed roof had been badly damaged by a large landslide. As they drew closer, they noticed a gathering of people on top of the dome. They were about 20 and had the canine heads of the hutakaan and the muscular bodies of the traldar. In other words, they looked like hyena-headed bakemono from the Caves of Discord. They seemed to have just arrived in the valley—the dozen or so on the roof were being joined by others rappelling down the cliffs.

Sukh and Ginjo engaged the surprise visitors, with Ginjo explaining that the Traldar and Hutakan were engaged in civil war. The visitors explained that they were under the banner of the Master and that whichever side pledged allegiance to him would surely come out on top in any local conflict. The traldar guides, objecting to the conversation rode back to Ronkan. Sukh did his best to licit information from the hyeana-headed visitors but they seemed to have little to offer expect that, yes, the flying women were also part of the Master’s forces.

Sukh and Ginjo decided that they should also return to Ronkan. They were met with outrage and derision, accused of giving away secrets to the enemy. Ben-Kraal quieted the rabble and asked for a more in-depth briefing, but this was unnecessary as the hyaena-men soon arrived in person.

Ben-Kraal order that they should be provided hospitality and gave them an empty house to use as they wished (the same one where that tentacled monster had recently attacked) while he considered their offer of alliance with the unseen Master.

Ben-Kraal confided to Sukh and Bo-Jing his belief that the conflict of the valley would soon come to a head. And as long as the valley was haunted by the undead—whom he believed were controlled by the hutakaan, it would be impossible to consider negotiating peace. He believed that the undead would be put to rest through a special ritual inside the temple. To conduct the ritual, they needed water from the singing pool. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get to the singing pool and back within one day—and the Traldar dared not be caught out in the valley after dark . . .

Bo-Jing volunteered to lead a small group to the singing pool while Sukh provided support in Ronkan lest the hyaena men caused any trouble. The hyeana men were loud and boisterous, but in their crude unaffected manners and apparent martial prowess, they earned some begrudging respect among the Traldar.

Sukh was suspicious that something else was going on and patrolled the village with Phru, making many visits to the roof of Ben-Kraal’s tower. He sensed an invisible presence in the tower and called an alarm. In a burst of fire, that presence showed itself, a woman dressed in dazzling red and gold robes. She too declared her allegiance to the Master and warned the people of Ronkan that they must accept accept his authority. When Sukh and Phru attacked her, she ensnared them in a giant spider’s web and then blasted her way out of the tower, killing most of Ben-Kraal’s most trusted advisors. The hyena men burst out of their house and charged out of the village, while the flying women swooped down from the cliffs. Sukh chased the woman to a tower balcony and stabbed her twice before she escaped on the back of one of the flying women. Sukh ran back to the top of the tower to help Phru but was too late. She saw two of the women flying off with his lifeless body and a third with his axe.

The next day, groups of Traldar war parties set out with an unelaborated mission to “find out what’s going on!” One group returned late in the day with a badly-beatan Hutakaan. They put him in the same house that had been occupied by the hyaena men and deliberated over how to make him “tell what he knows about the fire witch!”

Ginjo returned in the evening. His missin had been a success. He cautioned the Traldar against torturing the Hutakaan prisoner. “Just because you make him talk doesn’t mean you can make him tell you the truth. If you hurt him he will only tell you what you already think.” Ben-Kraal agreed and ordered that the torture should cease. “We have a more important job to do now.”

The next day, a large group set out for the temple, including Sukh and Bo-Jing and their entire retinues, plus Ben-Kraal and six of his best warriors. They entered by breaking down the front door where they met a dozen zombies, most of them hutaakans, but one of them a reanimated hyena man. While the Traldar hesitated outside, Sheng and Shek held the doors half open so that Sukh and Bojing could fight the zombies in small groups, while Phubi castigated any that managed to escape the gauntlent. Ben-Kraal was thoroughly impressed by the combination of tactics and bravery; ordered his men to assist the fight. Together, the group destroyed the zombies while suffering only a few minor wounds. Gentle foot and the other bakemono shaman were glad to tend to these wounds and together the group entered the temple itself.

They soon found themselves in the main sanctuary—a large room, under the cracked dome with a pit in the middle surrounded by blue flames. Sukh found the stone altar, at the foot of a monumental statute of a jackal-head man. But there was no bowl to hold the water from the singing pool.


It was time to explore more thoroughly. While being harassed by more undead and quasi-sentient puddles of gray ooze that corroded boots and armor, they found a library full of books describing the history of the Hutakaans, at least from their point of view. While looking for clues about the golden bowl, Ginjo stumbled upon the story of his own family. Centuries ago, the Hutakaan held authority in the lowlands in a kingdom that included the tiny village of Pasar. The stubborn and ungrateful humans resisted everything the Hutakaans tried to teach them and when they did learn something, managed to forget that they had learned it from the Hutakaans. Some of the most ungrateful humans began to gather in secret, and made an evil plan to kill their teachers and destroy their most beautiful works. At almost the last minute, two of the plotters, Kwam-Rak and Tral-Dar, realized the error of their ways and confessed everything to their masters. The other plotters were captured and punished. Kwam-Rak and Tral-Dar were rewarded. Kwam-Rak was given authority over the lowland humans. Tral-Dar was invited to retire with the most learned of the Hutakaans to the Hidden Valley. Bojing considered these treasures were valuable than gold and he stowed as many as he could in his backpack, asking Phubi and the bakemono shaman to do the same.

Elsewhere in the temple, in a half-collapsed corridor, they stumbled upon the long-dead body of a Hutakaan priestess in all her temple finery, clutching a golden bowl. When Sukh grabbed for the bowl, the spirit of the priestess rose to attack. Her chilling touch drained a part of his very lifeforce. Most weapons were unable to harm the vengeful spirit. Saw, with the magical spear taken from the bull-man was able to pin the spirit to the ground and destroy it.

When the party returned to the sanctuary, they met additional undead, including re-animated bird-woman wielding Phru’s axe. The battle was quick and brutal. Phubi held most of the zombies at bay while the rest of the party fanned out and shot them with arrows. And when the battle was over, an argument broke out. Bojing had read the books from the library and he now understood that the the undead were temple guardians. If they were destroyed, a more terrible evil would be unleashed. He would rather fight squads of ambling zombies than even see whatever terrible thing lived in the pit. Sukh argued with him, but when he ran out of facts, made a dash for the altar and filled the golden bowl with water from the singing pool. Bo Jing tried to stop him but the Traldar “accidentally” stepped into his way. Sukh placed the bowl on the later and pronounced the words that involuntarily came to his lips. The sanctuary was bathed in a soft, golden glow. Everyone felt a little calmer. Some a lot calmer. Bo Jing just a very little tiny bit calmer. And he still thought Sukh was an idiot.