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JollyDoc's Serpent's Skull-updated 11/6/2011
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<blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5724643" data-attributes="member: 9546"><p><strong>Saventh-Yhi</strong></p><p></p><p>As it turned out, the sorcerer had the other three moonstones in his possession, and in the chamber behind his, a circular grid formed with deep grooves sat in the center of the floor beneath a domed ceiling decorated with crystalline patterns. Four elaborately carved columns stood in passageways at either end, one to the north, and three to the south in a triangular arrangement. They had found the Pillars of Light. Nessalin recognized the patterns on the ceiling as constellations, though they were slightly distorted...perhaps from another time? The columns themselves were carved with elaborate arcane symbols and etchings, each one representing one of four celestial bodies or forces…the sun, the moon, the stars, and the Dark Tapestry. Each one contained several deep holes bored into sections that swiveled around a central shaft. Thanks to the memories imparted by the Azlanti idols, the Bastards knew exactly how to set the stones within the columns, and how to orient them properly. Once that was done, a shaft of sunlight struck the first stone in the southernmost column, which then sent our three beams of light…yellow, blue and purple…to the other three stones in their respective columns. Those stones then emitted their own beams of light. The northern column pinpointed a spot on the floor grid, while the two remaining columns radiated shifting beams in the air above the grid. As the light beams illuminated the room, a hazy image appeared in the air above the grid. It showed an ancient city of towering ziggurats and crumbling, vine-choked buildings around a central lake, filling a hidden valley…the lost city of Saventh-Yhi.</p><p>______________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p></p><p>The following day, Agnar sent a mental message to Dargan Etters, the commander of the Aspis Consortium expedition. He informed the mage that they had found the path to Saventh-Yhi, but that they wanted to rendezvous with the rest of the expedition some five miles in the opposite direction. It was their plan to try and throw off any of the other factions who might be on their tail. That task was given to Jask, who backtracked along their path and laid a false trail. Unbeknownst to his companions, however, he also left subtle clues for Aerys Mavato, showing his erstwhile ally the true path.</p><p></p><p>Later that afternoon, the Bastards rejoined the Consortium’s expedition, and were celebrated by Etters as well as the rank and file. By dawn the following morning, the expedition had covered the mere twenty miles that lay between Tazion and the hidden valley that contained Saventh-Yhi. They followed a minor, nameless tributary of the Ocota River, and at one point, the river seemed to emerge from the side of a jungle cliff at a height of over sixty feet. There they found an ancient and overgrown series of trails that led to the top of the falls. Clearing the trails enough for the entire company to pass, however, looked to be the work of days. Dargan Etters told the Bastards to forge ahead and see if the city was truly just ahead. He and the rest of the expedition would catch up to them within a few days. The companions agreed, and Agnar ferried them up to the top of the falls one-by-one aboard his zombified geir. Once there, the river split for a short distance, flowing around a jungle-covered hillock. An open area just south of the hill would make an excellent staging area for the expedition once they made their way up. A narrow trail picked up not far to the south, connecting to a more overgrown road down below that continued southeast. </p><p></p><p>The strangely preserved road led into a narrow cleft in the jungle-choked ridges, forcing the river into a swiftly flowing rapid through the gorge. The road split there, offering two methods onward…below, a slippery-looking path of wooden bridges connecting small islands, while above, a rickety rope bridge swung in the air. The Bastards opted for the high road, with Agnar offering to again ferry the others across the gorge rather than trusting to the questionable bridge. He’d managed to get Gorak and Jack to the far side, while Zavasta flew across carrying Lyrissa, when the attack came. High-pitched shrieks sounded from further up the gorge as a trio of flying reptiles took to the air and hurtled towards them. They were larger, fiercer versions of the small pterosaur raptors they’d encountered on Smuggler’s Shiv, and they looked hungry. Arioch, still on the near side of the gorge, quickly sent out a call, and six air elementals answered. They swarmed towards the pteranodons, swooping and pummeling them, sending the creatures scrambling. They snapped at the elementals as they passed, but they continued on a bee-line towards the more tasty-looking morsels ahead. By that time, however, Gorak had begun running along the edge of the gorge, and as one of the dinosaurs flew close, he lashed out with his sword and sent it crashing into the rocks below. Meanwhile, Nessalin wove a spell of flight about himself, and took to the air, charging towards another of the beasts. As it banked towards him, he slashed his scimitar through its wing, and it too spiraled down into the ravine. By the time the final pterosaur reached the bridge, the air elementals had caught up to it, and beat it out of the sky. As the Bastards looked on, they saw several large crocodiles emerge from the river below to devour the unexpected feast.</p><p>_____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p></p><p>As the road continued through the valley, the first signs of habitation began to appear. Sparse stone ruins, their roofs open to the sky and their walls thick with vines, perched next to three crystal blue pools in a circular, bowl-shaped hollow through which the ancient highway passed. Zavasta was the first to point out what should have been obvious.</p><p>“You hear that?” he asked.</p><p>“I don’t hear anything,” Nessalin replied.</p><p>“Exactly,” the alchemist sneered. “We’re in the middle of a jungle. Have been for weeks. We’ve been hearing non-stop shrieks, hoots, whistles… you name it. Now I don’t hear a peep. There aren’t even any bugs around here, and I’ve been practically eaten alive up until now.”</p><p>“Ants,” Gorak grunted.</p><p>“What?” Zavasta snapped.</p><p>“Ants,” the barbarian pointed.</p><p>The alchemist looked, and sure enough, there were a few reddish army ants prowling along the stones. As he watched, more of them began to appear, and then, in the blink of an eye, thousands simply swarmed out of the walls and the ground, enveloping Jack and Gorak.</p><p>“Get them off me!” Jack screamed, while Gorak snarled and slapped madly at himself</p><p>Jack suddenly doubled over and vomited violently as the ants began to work their way into his mouth and nostrils. </p><p>“Stand back!” Zavasta shouted to the others.</p><p>The alchemist knew that the best way to deal with vermin was to burn them. He hurled a fire bomb into the swarm, knowing he’d be burning his allies as well, but trusting they’d rather be a bit singed than devoured. The bomb burst, but to Zavasta’s utter disbelief and horror, the flames didn’t seem to touch the ants at all. They simply passed right through the fire as if it wasn’t there.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, a figure simple stepped out of a wall near the rogue and barbarian. He might have been a half-orc once…when he was alive, but now his body was decayed and riddled with rot, and ants crawled over every surface of him. </p><p>“It’s mine, Pathfinder!” he screamed, pointing one bony finger at Jack. “I found it! The city is mine!”</p><p>He leaped towards the helpless rogue, and literally plunged his fist straight through Jack’s chest. There was no blood, rather he seemed to pass his flesh right into Jack’s, and a moment later the rogue’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. Arioch still had his air elementals with him, and as Jack went down, he sent them whirling at the undead half-orc. Their fists flew like the wind, but no blow connected with solid flesh. Instead, the creature flung his arms wide and ants by the thousands landed upon the elementals and ate them out of existence within seconds. Horrified, Arioch quickly leaned down and seized Jack’s arm. Rather than drag the rogue to safety, however, the summoner spoke an arcane word and the two vanished in a flash of light. </p><p>“He’s a ghost!” Lyrissa shouted. “Our weapons and magic can’t harm him! Gorak, stand still! I’m coming to you!”</p><p>The barbarian didn’t move, but he was anything but still as he continued to thrash about madly at the ghostly ants that bit at his flesh. When Lyrissa reached him, she reached out and laid her hands upon his sword, singing softly as she did so. Before Gorak’s astonished eyes, his great sword became transparent and ephemeral, though it still felt solid enough in his hands.</p><p>“Kill him now!” the bardess shouted at the barbarian, pointing towards the ghost.</p><p>Gorak didn’t need to be told twice. Despite the swarm still clinging to him, he leaped at the spectral half-orc, his sword coming down in a broad chop. The blade bit and slashed deeply into the ghost. He screamed, genuine fear in his eyes as his body felt pain for the first time in centuries. </p><p>“No!” he shrieked. “That’s not possible.”</p><p>Gorak’s only reply was to keep hacking, again and again and again, until finally, the specter faded away to nothingness, taking his ghostly swarm with him.</p><p></p><p>“Boy, you must have the luck of the gods themselves,” Arioch said as Jack, to his utter disbelief, opened his eyes. </p><p>The two were several dozen yards away from the battle, where the summoner had transported them to relative safety.</p><p>“Besmara likes me,” the rogue grinned weakly. “She says I’m her favorite.”</p><p>“I can believe it,” Arioch shook his head. “Come on. Let’s get back to the others.”</p><p></p><p>As Agnar tended Jack and Gorak’s wounds, Arioch summoned Minion to his side, and commanded the little eidolon to scour the area for any signs of the ghost. Agnar had been quick to point out that one did not simply kill a ghost. They were cursed to walk the earth until some set event released their souls forever. It might be gone, but it would return before long. </p><p>“Why did he call you Pathfinder?” the priest asked Jack suspiciously.</p><p>“I’d guess because of this,” Jack replied, pulling the Wayfinder from beneath his shirt. “I picked it up from the guys who ambushed us in Kalabuto. “My question is, why did he care?”</p><p>“Master!” Minion interrupted. “I found something!”</p><p>He was standing a short distance away, and pointing towards a shadowy corner of a nearby ruined building. There lay an ancient skeleton, the remains of a long-rotted bag nearby, with an assortment of gems, coins and other artifacts spilling out of it. On one finger it wore a ring, a bronze band covered in geometric shapes and studded with tiny pearls. Clutched in that same hand was a leather-bound journal. Nessalin could sense strong magic emanating from the ring, and as he pried the journal loose, he slipped the ring onto his finger. </p><p>___________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>The journal belonged to one Nareem Daress, a scout for the Alithorpe Expedition, a group of Pathfinders who’d set out in search of Saventh-Yhi two centuries earlier, and had never been heard from again. According to the journal, the expedition ran afoul of the soldiers of the Gorilla King on the shores of Lake Ocota. At the urging of Daress, a small group of them had abandoned the rest and fled through the jungle for several days, relentlessly pursued by charau-ka. Only by seeking shelter among these hidden cenotes did they finally throw off their pursuit. When the Pathfinders realized where they were, that they’d discovered what could only be Saventh-Yhi, they’d spent a few days exploring the fringes of the city. Then treachery struck again. Daress apparently lured the remaining Pathfinders into a nest of army ants and watched them die. From his notes, it appeared that he’d intended to leave Saventh-Yhi with his maps, and return to civilization as the lone survivor of the Alithorpe Expedition and secure the glory of discovering the ancient ruins for himself. There, his journal ended, and it was obvious that he never left, but rather fell victim to his own deceit.</p><p></p><p>“So I suppose to lay his spirit to rest, we would have to insure that he received credit for being the first to discover Saventh-Yhi,” Nessalin said as he closed the journal.</p><p>“Then I guess that’s one spirit that’s going to be walking the earth for a long, long time,” Agnar grinned evilly.</p><p>“Still, we need to warn the expedition to stay clear of this place,” Arioch said. </p><p>“I bet the Pathfinders would pay well to see this journal and find out what became of their lost expedition,” Jack mused.</p><p>“That’s going to be kind of difficult after I use those pages for toilet paper,” Zavasta snarled.</p><p>____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p></p><p>It wasn’t very far beyond the haunted cenotes when the Inglorious Bastards first laid eyes upon the former glory of the Azlanti Empire, Saventh-Yhi. The first thing they noticed when they saw the skyline, were the seven spears. Protruding from the already lofty tops of seven massive ziggurats, the narrow monoliths extended high into the sky, each of them seeming to mark the heart of a separate district of the city. Nestled in a cradle of sheer cliffs thick with jungle vines and brushed with wisps of fog, the seven districts of Saventh-Yhi were arrayed around a large central lake. The buildings were clearly weathered and worn, but most seemed to have resisted the encroachment of plants and mud, and they’d refused to crumble, appearing as a ruin of only a few thousand years rather than over ten-thousand. The architectural style was remarkable, marked by massive guardian sculptures and intricate geometric patterns carved into the stone. Up close, countless individual carvings and murals decorated the inner walls of the buildings the companions passed as they made their way into the ancient metropolis.</p><p></p><p>As the Bastards entered the first of the city’s districts, it became apparent that the area had fared worse than the rest of city. A significant portion of it seemed to have subsided back into the central lake. From the murals and carvings they saw as they wandered the eerily empty streets, the neighborhood must have once been the mercantile district. Strangely, as they walked along the wide thoroughfares, past buildings that must have once been grand scenes of trade and commerce, all of them felt something odd overcome them, almost as if they could feel coins passing through their hands, and the thrill of the haggle. To Nessalin, the sensation was even more acute. He felt himself unconsciously assessing the value of the statuary they passed, and even the various adornments that his companions wore. He could also sense the palpable magic that permeated the air around them . He knew instinctively that this feeling emanated from the ring that he wore.</p><p></p><p>After awhile, they came upon a low, single-story building that was almost completely overgrown by thick vines and surrounded by a forest of sharp stakes on which had been impaled numerous small, simian skulls. Full skeletons, held together by strips of flesh and sinew, hung from stakes higher on the building’s walls. </p><p>“Looks like we may not have been the first ones here after all,” Jack said quietly.</p><p>Suddenly, a half-dozen shadowy figures appeared on the roof, and in the empty doorways of the building. They were ape-like in form, but stood over six-feet tall, with long, powerful claws on their oversized hands, leathery greenish-brown skin covered by splotches of brown, and wide mouths filled with jagged teeth. With uncanny and eerie silence, they swung down from the roof, and came loping through the vines, moving with deadly grace. The Bastards had not survived so long by letting shock or surprise get in the way of survival. Jack, Gorak, Lyrissa and Nessalin moved to intercept the creatures, while Arioch did what he did best. In the blink of an eye, a pair of snorting aurochs came stampeding out of thin air, charging forward, heads lowered, and trampled two of the creatures beneath their hooves. Despite their obvious pain, evidenced by their battered and bloodied bodies, the ape-eaters remained silent, rolled back to their feet and kept coming. The battle was fierce, bloody and the oddest thing Zavasta had ever seen. He and his companions were the only ones making any noise. They shouted orders to one another, spoke the words to their spells or, in Lyrissa’s case, sang battle hymns to rally their spirits. The aurochs snorted and bellowed as they charged around the street, but the creature’s they fought made not a single sound, even as they began to die. The initial six were soon joined by a dozen more. They were savage and brutal, ripping into exposed flesh with their teeth, and rending with their vicious claws, but their own bodies could only take so much sharpened steel, acid, horns, hooves and electricity before they succumbed. Finally, after several minutes that seemed like hours, the Bastards stood, their breath coming in ragged gasps, amid a mound of corpses. </p><p>“So,” Jack said after several moments, “I guess the whole ‘explore the ruins, find the treasure and get paid’ idea isn’t going to be as easy as we thought.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JollyDoc, post: 5724643, member: 9546"] [b]Saventh-Yhi[/b] As it turned out, the sorcerer had the other three moonstones in his possession, and in the chamber behind his, a circular grid formed with deep grooves sat in the center of the floor beneath a domed ceiling decorated with crystalline patterns. Four elaborately carved columns stood in passageways at either end, one to the north, and three to the south in a triangular arrangement. They had found the Pillars of Light. Nessalin recognized the patterns on the ceiling as constellations, though they were slightly distorted...perhaps from another time? The columns themselves were carved with elaborate arcane symbols and etchings, each one representing one of four celestial bodies or forces…the sun, the moon, the stars, and the Dark Tapestry. Each one contained several deep holes bored into sections that swiveled around a central shaft. Thanks to the memories imparted by the Azlanti idols, the Bastards knew exactly how to set the stones within the columns, and how to orient them properly. Once that was done, a shaft of sunlight struck the first stone in the southernmost column, which then sent our three beams of light…yellow, blue and purple…to the other three stones in their respective columns. Those stones then emitted their own beams of light. The northern column pinpointed a spot on the floor grid, while the two remaining columns radiated shifting beams in the air above the grid. As the light beams illuminated the room, a hazy image appeared in the air above the grid. It showed an ancient city of towering ziggurats and crumbling, vine-choked buildings around a central lake, filling a hidden valley…the lost city of Saventh-Yhi. ______________________________________________________________ The following day, Agnar sent a mental message to Dargan Etters, the commander of the Aspis Consortium expedition. He informed the mage that they had found the path to Saventh-Yhi, but that they wanted to rendezvous with the rest of the expedition some five miles in the opposite direction. It was their plan to try and throw off any of the other factions who might be on their tail. That task was given to Jask, who backtracked along their path and laid a false trail. Unbeknownst to his companions, however, he also left subtle clues for Aerys Mavato, showing his erstwhile ally the true path. Later that afternoon, the Bastards rejoined the Consortium’s expedition, and were celebrated by Etters as well as the rank and file. By dawn the following morning, the expedition had covered the mere twenty miles that lay between Tazion and the hidden valley that contained Saventh-Yhi. They followed a minor, nameless tributary of the Ocota River, and at one point, the river seemed to emerge from the side of a jungle cliff at a height of over sixty feet. There they found an ancient and overgrown series of trails that led to the top of the falls. Clearing the trails enough for the entire company to pass, however, looked to be the work of days. Dargan Etters told the Bastards to forge ahead and see if the city was truly just ahead. He and the rest of the expedition would catch up to them within a few days. The companions agreed, and Agnar ferried them up to the top of the falls one-by-one aboard his zombified geir. Once there, the river split for a short distance, flowing around a jungle-covered hillock. An open area just south of the hill would make an excellent staging area for the expedition once they made their way up. A narrow trail picked up not far to the south, connecting to a more overgrown road down below that continued southeast. The strangely preserved road led into a narrow cleft in the jungle-choked ridges, forcing the river into a swiftly flowing rapid through the gorge. The road split there, offering two methods onward…below, a slippery-looking path of wooden bridges connecting small islands, while above, a rickety rope bridge swung in the air. The Bastards opted for the high road, with Agnar offering to again ferry the others across the gorge rather than trusting to the questionable bridge. He’d managed to get Gorak and Jack to the far side, while Zavasta flew across carrying Lyrissa, when the attack came. High-pitched shrieks sounded from further up the gorge as a trio of flying reptiles took to the air and hurtled towards them. They were larger, fiercer versions of the small pterosaur raptors they’d encountered on Smuggler’s Shiv, and they looked hungry. Arioch, still on the near side of the gorge, quickly sent out a call, and six air elementals answered. They swarmed towards the pteranodons, swooping and pummeling them, sending the creatures scrambling. They snapped at the elementals as they passed, but they continued on a bee-line towards the more tasty-looking morsels ahead. By that time, however, Gorak had begun running along the edge of the gorge, and as one of the dinosaurs flew close, he lashed out with his sword and sent it crashing into the rocks below. Meanwhile, Nessalin wove a spell of flight about himself, and took to the air, charging towards another of the beasts. As it banked towards him, he slashed his scimitar through its wing, and it too spiraled down into the ravine. By the time the final pterosaur reached the bridge, the air elementals had caught up to it, and beat it out of the sky. As the Bastards looked on, they saw several large crocodiles emerge from the river below to devour the unexpected feast. _____________________________________________________________ As the road continued through the valley, the first signs of habitation began to appear. Sparse stone ruins, their roofs open to the sky and their walls thick with vines, perched next to three crystal blue pools in a circular, bowl-shaped hollow through which the ancient highway passed. Zavasta was the first to point out what should have been obvious. “You hear that?” he asked. “I don’t hear anything,” Nessalin replied. “Exactly,” the alchemist sneered. “We’re in the middle of a jungle. Have been for weeks. We’ve been hearing non-stop shrieks, hoots, whistles… you name it. Now I don’t hear a peep. There aren’t even any bugs around here, and I’ve been practically eaten alive up until now.” “Ants,” Gorak grunted. “What?” Zavasta snapped. “Ants,” the barbarian pointed. The alchemist looked, and sure enough, there were a few reddish army ants prowling along the stones. As he watched, more of them began to appear, and then, in the blink of an eye, thousands simply swarmed out of the walls and the ground, enveloping Jack and Gorak. “Get them off me!” Jack screamed, while Gorak snarled and slapped madly at himself Jack suddenly doubled over and vomited violently as the ants began to work their way into his mouth and nostrils. “Stand back!” Zavasta shouted to the others. The alchemist knew that the best way to deal with vermin was to burn them. He hurled a fire bomb into the swarm, knowing he’d be burning his allies as well, but trusting they’d rather be a bit singed than devoured. The bomb burst, but to Zavasta’s utter disbelief and horror, the flames didn’t seem to touch the ants at all. They simply passed right through the fire as if it wasn’t there. Suddenly, a figure simple stepped out of a wall near the rogue and barbarian. He might have been a half-orc once…when he was alive, but now his body was decayed and riddled with rot, and ants crawled over every surface of him. “It’s mine, Pathfinder!” he screamed, pointing one bony finger at Jack. “I found it! The city is mine!” He leaped towards the helpless rogue, and literally plunged his fist straight through Jack’s chest. There was no blood, rather he seemed to pass his flesh right into Jack’s, and a moment later the rogue’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. Arioch still had his air elementals with him, and as Jack went down, he sent them whirling at the undead half-orc. Their fists flew like the wind, but no blow connected with solid flesh. Instead, the creature flung his arms wide and ants by the thousands landed upon the elementals and ate them out of existence within seconds. Horrified, Arioch quickly leaned down and seized Jack’s arm. Rather than drag the rogue to safety, however, the summoner spoke an arcane word and the two vanished in a flash of light. “He’s a ghost!” Lyrissa shouted. “Our weapons and magic can’t harm him! Gorak, stand still! I’m coming to you!” The barbarian didn’t move, but he was anything but still as he continued to thrash about madly at the ghostly ants that bit at his flesh. When Lyrissa reached him, she reached out and laid her hands upon his sword, singing softly as she did so. Before Gorak’s astonished eyes, his great sword became transparent and ephemeral, though it still felt solid enough in his hands. “Kill him now!” the bardess shouted at the barbarian, pointing towards the ghost. Gorak didn’t need to be told twice. Despite the swarm still clinging to him, he leaped at the spectral half-orc, his sword coming down in a broad chop. The blade bit and slashed deeply into the ghost. He screamed, genuine fear in his eyes as his body felt pain for the first time in centuries. “No!” he shrieked. “That’s not possible.” Gorak’s only reply was to keep hacking, again and again and again, until finally, the specter faded away to nothingness, taking his ghostly swarm with him. “Boy, you must have the luck of the gods themselves,” Arioch said as Jack, to his utter disbelief, opened his eyes. The two were several dozen yards away from the battle, where the summoner had transported them to relative safety. “Besmara likes me,” the rogue grinned weakly. “She says I’m her favorite.” “I can believe it,” Arioch shook his head. “Come on. Let’s get back to the others.” As Agnar tended Jack and Gorak’s wounds, Arioch summoned Minion to his side, and commanded the little eidolon to scour the area for any signs of the ghost. Agnar had been quick to point out that one did not simply kill a ghost. They were cursed to walk the earth until some set event released their souls forever. It might be gone, but it would return before long. “Why did he call you Pathfinder?” the priest asked Jack suspiciously. “I’d guess because of this,” Jack replied, pulling the Wayfinder from beneath his shirt. “I picked it up from the guys who ambushed us in Kalabuto. “My question is, why did he care?” “Master!” Minion interrupted. “I found something!” He was standing a short distance away, and pointing towards a shadowy corner of a nearby ruined building. There lay an ancient skeleton, the remains of a long-rotted bag nearby, with an assortment of gems, coins and other artifacts spilling out of it. On one finger it wore a ring, a bronze band covered in geometric shapes and studded with tiny pearls. Clutched in that same hand was a leather-bound journal. Nessalin could sense strong magic emanating from the ring, and as he pried the journal loose, he slipped the ring onto his finger. ___________________________________________________________ The journal belonged to one Nareem Daress, a scout for the Alithorpe Expedition, a group of Pathfinders who’d set out in search of Saventh-Yhi two centuries earlier, and had never been heard from again. According to the journal, the expedition ran afoul of the soldiers of the Gorilla King on the shores of Lake Ocota. At the urging of Daress, a small group of them had abandoned the rest and fled through the jungle for several days, relentlessly pursued by charau-ka. Only by seeking shelter among these hidden cenotes did they finally throw off their pursuit. When the Pathfinders realized where they were, that they’d discovered what could only be Saventh-Yhi, they’d spent a few days exploring the fringes of the city. Then treachery struck again. Daress apparently lured the remaining Pathfinders into a nest of army ants and watched them die. From his notes, it appeared that he’d intended to leave Saventh-Yhi with his maps, and return to civilization as the lone survivor of the Alithorpe Expedition and secure the glory of discovering the ancient ruins for himself. There, his journal ended, and it was obvious that he never left, but rather fell victim to his own deceit. “So I suppose to lay his spirit to rest, we would have to insure that he received credit for being the first to discover Saventh-Yhi,” Nessalin said as he closed the journal. “Then I guess that’s one spirit that’s going to be walking the earth for a long, long time,” Agnar grinned evilly. “Still, we need to warn the expedition to stay clear of this place,” Arioch said. “I bet the Pathfinders would pay well to see this journal and find out what became of their lost expedition,” Jack mused. “That’s going to be kind of difficult after I use those pages for toilet paper,” Zavasta snarled. ____________________________________________________________ It wasn’t very far beyond the haunted cenotes when the Inglorious Bastards first laid eyes upon the former glory of the Azlanti Empire, Saventh-Yhi. The first thing they noticed when they saw the skyline, were the seven spears. Protruding from the already lofty tops of seven massive ziggurats, the narrow monoliths extended high into the sky, each of them seeming to mark the heart of a separate district of the city. Nestled in a cradle of sheer cliffs thick with jungle vines and brushed with wisps of fog, the seven districts of Saventh-Yhi were arrayed around a large central lake. The buildings were clearly weathered and worn, but most seemed to have resisted the encroachment of plants and mud, and they’d refused to crumble, appearing as a ruin of only a few thousand years rather than over ten-thousand. The architectural style was remarkable, marked by massive guardian sculptures and intricate geometric patterns carved into the stone. Up close, countless individual carvings and murals decorated the inner walls of the buildings the companions passed as they made their way into the ancient metropolis. As the Bastards entered the first of the city’s districts, it became apparent that the area had fared worse than the rest of city. A significant portion of it seemed to have subsided back into the central lake. From the murals and carvings they saw as they wandered the eerily empty streets, the neighborhood must have once been the mercantile district. Strangely, as they walked along the wide thoroughfares, past buildings that must have once been grand scenes of trade and commerce, all of them felt something odd overcome them, almost as if they could feel coins passing through their hands, and the thrill of the haggle. To Nessalin, the sensation was even more acute. He felt himself unconsciously assessing the value of the statuary they passed, and even the various adornments that his companions wore. He could also sense the palpable magic that permeated the air around them . He knew instinctively that this feeling emanated from the ring that he wore. After awhile, they came upon a low, single-story building that was almost completely overgrown by thick vines and surrounded by a forest of sharp stakes on which had been impaled numerous small, simian skulls. Full skeletons, held together by strips of flesh and sinew, hung from stakes higher on the building’s walls. “Looks like we may not have been the first ones here after all,” Jack said quietly. Suddenly, a half-dozen shadowy figures appeared on the roof, and in the empty doorways of the building. They were ape-like in form, but stood over six-feet tall, with long, powerful claws on their oversized hands, leathery greenish-brown skin covered by splotches of brown, and wide mouths filled with jagged teeth. With uncanny and eerie silence, they swung down from the roof, and came loping through the vines, moving with deadly grace. The Bastards had not survived so long by letting shock or surprise get in the way of survival. Jack, Gorak, Lyrissa and Nessalin moved to intercept the creatures, while Arioch did what he did best. In the blink of an eye, a pair of snorting aurochs came stampeding out of thin air, charging forward, heads lowered, and trampled two of the creatures beneath their hooves. Despite their obvious pain, evidenced by their battered and bloodied bodies, the ape-eaters remained silent, rolled back to their feet and kept coming. The battle was fierce, bloody and the oddest thing Zavasta had ever seen. He and his companions were the only ones making any noise. They shouted orders to one another, spoke the words to their spells or, in Lyrissa’s case, sang battle hymns to rally their spirits. The aurochs snorted and bellowed as they charged around the street, but the creature’s they fought made not a single sound, even as they began to die. The initial six were soon joined by a dozen more. They were savage and brutal, ripping into exposed flesh with their teeth, and rending with their vicious claws, but their own bodies could only take so much sharpened steel, acid, horns, hooves and electricity before they succumbed. Finally, after several minutes that seemed like hours, the Bastards stood, their breath coming in ragged gasps, amid a mound of corpses. “So,” Jack said after several moments, “I guess the whole ‘explore the ruins, find the treasure and get paid’ idea isn’t going to be as easy as we thought.” [/QUOTE]
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JollyDoc's Serpent's Skull-updated 11/6/2011
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