Ginjo and Sukh spent several weeks resting in Ronkan and giving their retinues the chance to celebrate their accomplishments. The Traldar cautiously ventured outside their houses after nightfall, relieved that the walking dead had finally found rest. But there was clearly still a great evil to confront. As Ginjo had predicted, the tentacled monster became more active. Sukh and Ginjo, after conferring with Ben-Kraal, decided that they should give the Hutakaan a chance to join in destroying the common enemy.
So one fine day, Ginjo, Sukh and company made their way to Byxata. They were welcomed. "We knew that you would come when you were ready for the truth." Several Hutakaan families opened up their homes. The high Priestess Kfaz invited the bakemono shamans to share her dwelling.
Kfaz was reluctant to join with the Traldar for any reason. "It was their ancestors who released the monster in the first place, why should we expect a better outcome this time?"
An agreement was made that the party would meet Kfaz at the temple. And the party would travel via Ronkan so Sukh could ask Ben-Kraal to contribute help.
As Kfaz had predicted, Ben-Kraal refused. "We risked our neck with the ghosts and zombies, it's their turn!" He also warned Sukh against leaving the temple with the Hutakaans during thenight. "Enter in daylight and leave in daylight."
So Sukh and Ginjo together with their followers, met the Hutakaans and entered the temple. Sukh had made a careful and so they explored the crypt and other places the party had visited with the Traldars. There was no obvious way to track down and fight the tentacled monster, except by going into the dark pit. In discussing various options, Kfaz learned that Ginjo had taken books from the temple library and the two began to argue. The argument seemed ready to come to blows when Sukh noticed several tentacles emerging from the pit. Dripping with sticky slime, one tentacle caught Irak and another caught Dew Blossom. Immediately their companions charged with their weapons and began hacking at the hideously writhing appendages. The tentacles were like thick, slippery leather. All but the strongest blows slid or bounced off harmlessly. Meanwhile additional tentacles emerged until the entire monster, a huge green mass, a bloated stomach studded with teeth and dripping slime and acid, crawled out of the pit. The heroes charged toward this horror, shielding their helpless friends from the gnashing teeth while hacking at the disgusting monster. One-by-one, they cleaved the tentacles from the body of the monster, leaving it helples and then stabbed it with spears until it fell still. Only when the monster was dead, did the Hutakaans approach it. They had seen the large key embedded in its gullet. And when Ginjo also reached for the key, a struggle ensued. Ginjo slipped out of the Hutakaan's grip and dropped her onto the body of the monster. The gelatinous mass jiggled and slid into the pit, carrying the hutakaan with it.
Later, Sukh was say that more outrageous than anything else was Kfaz's cavalier attitude with regard to her own assistant. The high priestess sniffed, "It seems the key will remain in the temple for now."
"Don't you want to do anything about this?" Sukh demanded. And then Sukh asked for assistance in getting into the cage.
They lowered Sukh into the pit and a darkness so deep, he couldn't see his own legs. He asked them to lower him under and then pull him right back up. The darkness, below the top of the pit, was complete, even with a torch, but Sukh re-emerged unscathed with the torch still burning. He asked them to lower him further and then to pull him up when he shook the chain. Bo Jing and Saw turned the winch until the chain went slack. A few seconds later the chain began to shake and they winded it back up.
Sukh was relieved but disappointed. "I reached the bottom and it was still dark. I couldn't see anything and the ground was slimy beneath me. I listened for the breathing of our companion, but heard nothing. Sadly, she must be dead."
Kfaz and the other priestess shrugged and left the temple. The sky, visible through the hole in the dome, was still dark and so the party, remembering Ben-Kraal's warning, remained in the temple to wait the dawn.
As the Hutakaans were gone, Sukh began laughing and pulled out the slime-cvered key that he'd tucked into his tunic. It was dark at the bottom of the pit, he confessed, but not pitch black. In the flickering light of the torch, he'd seen the crumbled body of the unfortunate hutakaan priestess, and , emerging from the dissolving mass of the monster, the large, oddly-shaped key. Phubi revealed that sshe, too, had located, a fantastic schedule, a set of scrolls with powerful healing powers, including a chant for calling someone back from the brink of death to full health.
About an hour later, as the sky turned pink, the party left the temple, very cautious and weapons at the ready. They were ambushed-- badly-- by a group of Traldars waiting on the roof. One spear glanced off Gentle Foot's shoulder. The Traldars called out an apology. Sukh was angry and suspicious, but accepted the Traldars' apology on the condition that they return to Ronkan with the Traldars leading the way.
The Traldar complied, and by their conduct when they reached Ronkan, proved that they were not shapeshifters. Most of the warriors of Ronkan were gone, and those that remained were in an expectant mood. The reason, one giddy Traldar matron revealed, is that the day had come to extinguish the Hutakaan. Having learned that Kfaz was gone from Byxata, Bem-Kraal and a large party had rode out at dawn to attack the Hutakaans. Without their leadere to protect and lead them, the jackal-headed tyrants would be slaughtered! Every dog bitch and pup!
Sukh resolved not to tell the Traldars about the key.
No comments:
Post a Comment