Well, the next update took a little longer than expected, but that just means that there'll be two posts tonight instead of one.
The Imperial Councillor... and Parents Found
“Is it safe to have you in the lead?” Nayu gently teased, “I mean... there could be a skeleton only ten feet in front of you, and you might walk into it!” Felonca frowned, the midday sun highlighting her furrowed brow. She gave a snort, as the party set out along the small trail she found only moments earlier.
Of course he’d have to bring that up, she growled. After the party had felled the great white lion, they’d spent a bit of time skinning it. Realizing it was too late to advance on the Councillor’s home that night, they’d decided to make camp in the great beast’s home, hoping other animals would assume the massive monster was still alive and not disturb them.
Boy, were we wrong on that account, Felonca grumbled, her eyes checking their surroundings, attempting to give her brain something to do to help ignore their teasing.
“What happened last night was a fluke... we felines under most normal situations have
excellent sight, smell and hearing!” she replied haughtily. “Besides, if I remember correctly,
who was the one able to consistently harm the creature after it made its presence known?”
That’s right... all of you floppily-doppilies who couldn’t hit a sandstone wall if it was two inches in front of you owe me!
“The boneclaw,” Cho corrected her, a grin on his own face. “It was a boneclaw. A
lone boneclaw.”
“Yeah, it definitely made its presence known! You were quite busy whittling away at a stick when it sliced you up...
then you realized there was something wrong and woke us up. Standard procedure would have those actions reversed, my pretty kitty,” Nayu smirked, and Felonca’s face grew more sour.
“How was I supposed to know that thing’s claws reached thirty feet like that, Mister I-Like-To-Set-Fire-To-Trees-Instead-Of-Monsters?” she replied.
So I was busy trying to make a little wooden statue of Nixu... it was supposed to be Nayu, but I messed up the face, then it was supposed to be Liu, but I got the arms wrong!
“Cho, I believe one of your mother’s cliches fits in at this moment,” the normally dour Liu grinned.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?” his companion monk offered.
“Nope... the other one,” Liu replied.
“Expect the unexpected?”
“No, not that one, the other one.”
“Always be prepared?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Just shuddup about it already!” Felonca moaned.
So I was distracted one night, and my superior senses failed me! She then made the decision she was going to ignore whatever they said for the next hour, as she knew the snickering would continue.
I made up for it, I killed it singlehandedly almost!
“I think we’d better drop the topic, otherwise our blind and deaf friend here might slice our heads off,” Nayu chuckled. Felonca turned to snap at him, till she realized the veiled compliment... as well as the fearful nervousness dancing in the sorcerer’s eyes.
That’s why his comments are so biting, she realized.
He’s nervous about his family... and trying to find a way to laugh it off. Her retort died on her tongue as she gave a sigh.
We’re all scared... and laughing is a good way to get over fear...
“Rawr, I’ll do it too!” she shot back, grinning herself.
Relax... there’s enough fighting ahead. “Yeah, yeah, get your laughs in, its not everyday the hengeyokai doesn’t do well acting as the eyes, ears and nose for the rest of you!”
“You had better believe I will,” Nayu happily whispered, “its not everyday my blind eyes spot trouble while waking up before you do when you’re awake!”
The quiet teasing lasted only a few more minutes, before the party found itself too caught up in watching the surrounding forest, looking for signs of more boneclaws, or even the Imperial Councillor himself. The soldiers had described someone that was human, but the party was not willing to take any chances... especially if the Councillor
was affiliated with that gigantic lion.
Around midday, the party found that the trail led to a small clearing. On the far side sat a small, recently constructed home, the flowers and other plants outside it well maintained, as if it had residents. Cutting between the party and home, however, was a babbling brook, perhaps five feet wide. A single wooden bridge crossed the brook on a small pathway that led to the home.
After some misgivings from Nayu about crossing the bridge (which Felonca now teased him for), the party crossed, and drew close to the house...
“Well, that’s an imperial seal of some kind,” Cho grunted, motioning to the writing in Court Tongue on the large wooden door. “I think we’ve found the home of the Councillor.” The monk carefully examined along the door, before he felt hands shoving him aside. With a little shock, he turned to see Nayu feverishly attempting to try the door, pushing and shoving.
“I think if we let our thief friend here,” Liu started to calmly advise, before Nayu lowered his shoulder, and rammed into the door.
Which flew wide open.
Immediately what seemed to be a cloud of dust flew out from the inside. Felonca’s nostrils filled with the smell of dankness, as well as the faint smell of the earth and death.
No surprise, she thought,
considering what else we’ve seen inhabiting this wood. I’m sure the Councillor keeps all sorts of lovely company...
“Does anyone have some kind of light?” Nayu asked, as he peered into the pitch black darkness of the house. It was apparent that something inside was covering all of the windows, blocking any light from coming in. Cho quickly fetched a torch from his pack, and lit it.
And the sight caused most everyone to recoil in horror.
All throughout the single room home were webs... hundreds of thousands of webs, thickly covering and hanging from the ceiling, the walls, even the fireplace. Hanging from the rafters were two massive blobs of netted webbing, and as the open door brought a gentle draft into the building, the blobs turned, revealing skeletal arms coming from their midst.
Giant cocoons?! Massive webs?! Nayu’s mind thought, in a panic.
Webs come from spiders, and spiders put their prey in cocoons to eat... Immediately the sorcerer’s eyes were fearfully looking along the walls, and to the ceiling above, feverishly checking for any sign of movement.
Kenzi... climb up the wall and check above the rafters. If there are any spiders, get back down as fast as you can so I can flush them out! Nayu whispered mentally. He felt two pairs of legs clamber from his pack, up his back, onto his shoulder before a slight shove revealed the lizard leaping onto the wall, clambering up the side.
“Um... Nayu! Your pet is climbing up into the spider’s nest!” Felonca called worriedly, running over to try to grab the lizard before he could climb too high. Her jumps came up short, as Kenzi clambered beyond sight.
Nayu closed his eyes, and suddenly found a different sight flooding in where there was once darkness. He saw darkness still, but saw no movement, no shapes.... only dust gently wafting in the small draft now circulating the house.
Thank you, Kenzi Nayu mentally thanked his friend, and with a scramble the lizard clambered back down and hopped onto Nayu’s shoulder. With a look of horror in his eyes at his surroundings, Nayu then proceeded to examine the skeletons hanging from their webbed cocoon. Once cut open, it was obvious they were not the remains of adults, but children. The sorcerer gave a grunt... partly of relief, partly in fear of what other entombed souls this house of horrors might contain.
“Um... that lizard has some guts,” Cho said quietly, watching in awe as the chameleon clambered down into Nayu’s pack.
If that little thing went up there and disturbed the webs, and came back down free, there’s likely nothing up there...
The monk’s thoughts were interrupted by a moan, and for a second, Cho second-guessed his own logic. He looked about the room of horror, searching for where the noise was coming from. Finally, in a darkened yet unchecked corner, Cho found two cocoons laying on the ground. One emitted a soft, muffled moaning sound, while the other was still and silent.
“Nayu! Quickly!” Cho called, and within seconds the sorcerer was by his side.
“A dagger! Now! I need a dagger!” Nayu shouted in a panic. With one hand he insistently waved for something sharp, with the other, he tried desperately to tear at the cocoon making the noise.
One of my parents! was all that ran through his desperate mind.
A split second later, he felt the coldness of a hilt in his hand, and feverishly he cut the sticky sinews holding whatever was making the noise imprisoned. As the webbing snapped away, the cocoon shook as its contents thrashed about wildly, and Nayu’s hands shook as the moans and noises became more distinct... a voice he’d heard most of his seventeen years in the world.
MOM!
After what seemed an eternity, another sinew was sliced open, and the cocoon shuddered and unraveled, releasing a blast of foul air as it broke open. Inside, covered in jelly-like goo, was an older woman, her midnight black hair infested with streaks of gray, her eyes closed tight as she cried out in sheer terror, her hands clasped around some small object.
“NO! IT IS FOR MY SON! YOU CANNOT HAVE IT! NO!”
“Mom!” Nayu grabbed the woman, and pulled her from her horrible prison. Quickly he slid her to the side.
Dad’s in the other one! Without pause, the terrified young man leapt to work on the next cocoon, working with the fury of someone both terrified and determined.
“You cannot have it! No!” Nayu’s mother whimpered again, her eyes squeezed shut, her arms wrapped viciously around
something as Felonca rushed forward and put her arms around the woman.
“Madame Wakabayashi, things are okay. Your son is here, we are friends!” Felonca called into the woman’s ear, trying to calm her down.
My god... what did he do to them? Felonca’s own mind asked, unable to wrap fully around the horrors that must have happened.
“No...” the woman called, shuddering, her cries falling to whispers.
“Shhh...” Felonca kept rocking, the movement simultaneously keeping her mind from the terrible place they were in, or the horrific prospect of the Councillor’s return. “It’s okay, Madame Wakabayashi. You’re safe.”
Liu was quickly by Felonca’s side, and gently placed a hand on the woman’s forehead. He closed his eyes, and a few whispered words of concentration later, he looked at Felonca.
“She is healthy... though greatly afraid. Madame,” he turned back to Nayu’s mother, “I am Liu Ganxi, a follower of the great monk Ashoka Shenyang. You are safe, by the blood of myself and my brethern...”
It was then that Felonca heard the shriek, and turned to see Nayu’s terror struck form peering into the second cocoon.
NO!
Before Nayu’s horrified eyes lay the body of a man. His form was tall, and exceedingly thin, his skin drawn taut over his bones, as if the muscle he’d carried in life had been sucked out of him. Thick, sticky goo that smelled caustic covered his body, and seemed to bubble from two enormous holes in the midst of his chest. Stuck tight to his deathly pale form was a long, iron gray beard, trailing from the remains of a face that once bore an exactly resemblance to his sons...
“NO! PAPA!” Nayu cried, reaching in to grab the figure, even as the slime burned his hands. With a great heave, the body tumbled out of its webbed tomb, and onto the floor. “Papa!” The seventeen year old that had grown immensely, that had become a man during his search ceased to exist. In his place, a frightened son leaned over his dead father, tears streaming down his face.
Nayu shook the body futilely, ignoring the pain in his hands as he did so.
If I shake him, he’ll wake! He’ll wake! the child in him cried, even as two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back from the body.
Nayu didn’t hear Liu say the body was covered in some kind of acid, or see the monk head towards the body. Instead he fell to the side, his vision blurred from the tears. He barely heard Felonca’s voice calling to him, and hardly felt her encircling embrace, as a numb feeling of horror covered his entire body, his voice softly calling for a soul long lost.
It seemed like hours went by, before he was able to muster the ability to speak, and even then, only one word came from his lips.
“Why?”
Nayu looked down, to see two people holding him tight. One looked up at him with blue eyes, filled with dismay and sympathy. The other peered up at his height from under a crop of black hair streaked with gray, her eyes filled with both resignation, and determination.
“I’m... I’m sorry Nayu,” Felonca said quietly, before releasing her comforting hug. Her eyes then flickered for a moment to his mother, before she bowed slightly, and backed away.
“Mama,” Nayu whispered, leaning down to kissing the forehead underneath those black and gray locks. “I’m sorry mama... I came as fast as I could! I did... if I’d known sooner, mama, I could have...”
“Ssshh...” the woman’s voice cracked slightly with her age. For the first time, Nayu noticed the cracks and wrinkles in her face had grown deeper, as if in the space of two months she’d aged ten years. “My son... I am just so glad to know you’re safe!” For several moments, mother and son were merely content with each other’s company, years of conversation being exchanged through simple tears and hugs.
Once safely in her son’s arms, Nayu’s mother broke down yet again, muttering through her tears about the burning of Red Lotus, the creature killing his father, and repeated, about a box...
Felonca watched the scene numbly, feeling a sense of loss despite having met Nayu’s family for only a few hours after the burning prefect was defeated. Images came to her mind of Nayu, the entire way to Mafeng, trimming his beard perfect, checking it each day, so one day he’d look like the man he admired most.
The man now laying on the floor, the now neutralized poison surrounding him as Liu uttered a few prayers over the body.
Felonca felt a tear coming to her cheek, and let herself sniffle. Even as the tear fell, though, her brow wrinkled in confusion, as the sniffle brought in a whiff of something strange. A smell of incense and earth, of perfume and dust and personhood. She frowned, smelling deeply this time, to be rewarded with the scent yet again.
For a second, she was confused, until she looked about the house... alongside the thick dusty webs were perfumes that a scholar would wear to show off his status, and her mind quickly put things together.
“Quickly!” she was immediately rushing Nayu and his mother outside, “He’s coming!”
“Who?” Nayu asked weakly, his eyes red from the past half hour’s tears.
“The Councillor! He’s coming back! I can smell him, he’s upwind!” she gesticulated wildly.
“Why go outside? Wouldn’t it be safer to wait...” Liu started to say, before the monk looked and Nayu and stopped in mid-sentence.
The young man’s red eyes seemed to radiate an unearthly fury, as his jaws clenched so tight that Felonca thought she heard his teeth grating. With a final squeeze to his stills sniffling mother, Nayu turned, and strode towards the door, terrible purpose in his walk...
Come here, you bastard! Nayu fumed as he stepped into the sunlight. The Councillor had torn a large part of his heart away... and for a tearful half hour, there had been nothing to replace the missing piece of his family.
Now there was.
“Get my mother and father out here, and get them to a safe place!” Nayu barked, his eyes looking up the road ahead. Nothing yet. “Felonca, can you smell him?” he asked as Liu and Cho moved the dead man’s body as well as his mother to behind the house, and admonished the elderly woman that should things go wrong, to flee.
Nayu watched his friend’s nostrils flare, and then give a decisive nod yes.
“Good,” the young sorcerer replied grimly. Already, he could feel the magic in his veins boiling, his rage, sorrow, and fear multiplying its powers. Within his chest there was no longer a placid sea of magic, lying passively to be tapped, but a raging tempest, frothing, rising to the surface of his body.
He glanced to his left, where Liu and Cho were both coming around the house, calling for him to take an ambush position.
“Watch my mother!” Nayu replied grimly, waving them off.
Help her!
“But Nayu, if this man is truly this powerful, or this evil, I should...” Cho started, before Nayu glared at him, a hot, fiery heat burning behind his eyes.
“Go, Cho.” Some part of Nayu’s conscious heard his voice, and how different it was from normal. This voice was as unbending as steel, and sharp as a sword. It had its desired effect, as the monk backed away, and disappeared behind the house.
The straining creak of a bowstring drew Nayu’s attention to his other side, where Felonca was already drawing, taking careful note of the wind, and her bow’s aim.
“Felonca, go join them,” Nayu demanded, feeling the magic now thundering just beneath the surface of his skin, the feeling coming from his fingers that small wisps of it seemed to be escaping.
This is my fight, my friend! I want to kill this Councillor with my own hands for what he’s done!
For just a second, those blue cat-like eyes stared back at him with intensity, before a soft, sarcastic laugh came from her lips.
“Screw you, Nayu!” she snarled, before looking up the road as the object of her anger came into view. Casually, and foully, she told exactly where she was going to place her first arrow. Instead of angering him, her defiance caused Nayu to give a harsh smile, more baring his teeth than grinning. The magical reservoir within his body was now seething with power...
When the Councillor did appear on the hill before his home, his silken robes drapping his tall frame over 200 feet away, it was Felonca who loosed the first destruction at him. Just as she’d calmly spoke, her arrow slashed through the air, slamming into him in an area all men fear being struck in.
Even before his howl of pain could rise from his lips, Nayu released the dam holding back his magical energy. All of his anger, his pain, his fear, his hatred, sprung from his hand in the form of a tiny bead of pure white, which rocketed through the air almost as quickly as Felonca’s arrow.
The ground shook as a massive explosion enveloped the Councillor and the surrounding forest, setting trees afire and animals to flight. Nayu gave a bleak smile at the ghostly white shockwave that rumbled towards them, bringing the
cruuump of the blast with it as it washed past the two friends.
Somehow, someway, the Councillor still stood in the midst of the blacked destruction, his form teetering about in the smoky shroud of the surrounding flames. Nayu heard Felonca give a grunt of displeasure, and within a moment, her bow was loaded again. Another snap let loose another arrow, this one also flying true.
Before any word came from the Councillor’s mouth, the arrow struck between his eyes, snapping his head back as his dead body crumpled to the ground, its human disguise falling away...
=======================================
The Imperial Councillor was an aranea, who had a few levels of sorcerer and ventured about most of the time in human form. He was intended as the BBEG of the session, but Felonca sniffed him out (she said she was going to smell, I made her roll a D20 to see how well she sniffed the air, and she got a 20... so she smelled him.), and then Nayu and Felonca did obscenely well on their spot checks to see him in the distance. Nayu rolled near max damage on his fireball, while Felonca then proceeded to crit on her second arrow hit... the Councillor had taken well over 50 points damage in the first round, so on principle, I had him do a fort save against being stunned (I know I would be after having 90% of my HP taken away in the space of 6 seconds), and he failed, miserably. Oh well.
Just meant the session got to go through additional ground that would otherwise appeared in the following session.
