Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 1e – The Isle of Undeath

Kham appeared in a flash.

“Hey Sebastian.” He waved at the dark-kin, as if he hadn’t just walked in on a massacre. “What’s going on?”

“Shiver in fear before the frozen depths of hell!”

Sebastian didn’t have time for banter. “Look out, he’s casting a—“

Kham dove to the side as a cone of freezing wind blasted towards Sebastian. The dark-kin shrugged it off. Some of his defenses were still in place, and it was fortunately the one that protected him from cold.

“And who are you now?” asked Daen, clearly aggravated.

“Nobody important,” said Kham. He drew his pistols. “But I’m guessing you’re a bad guy.”

“Oh, I’m not so bad once you get to know me,” clacked Daen. “But I’ll like you much better dead, I think.” He pointed at Kham.

Nothing happened.

Daen looked at his pointer finger. “Hmm, that usually works.”

“Don’t let him touch you!” shouted Sebastian. “He killed Vlad!”

Kham looked around for the corpse. “Where’s his body?”

“Behind you!”

Kham ducked just as the shriveled, blood-drained corpse of Vlad swung at him.

Kham winced and closed his eyes as he pushed both pistols against the corpse’s chest. “Sorry buddy.”

The corpse bounced off of the far wall, propelled by dual blasts from Kham’s pistols. It collapsed, inanimate.

“This is becoming tiresome.” Daen shouted towards the door. “Where are my minions? Why aren’t you dead already?”

Kham reloaded his pistols. “This guy giving you a problem Sebastian?”

Sebastian ducked and weaved around the chamber, flitting like a dragonfly to avoid becoming a stationary target.

Daen sighed. “I can see I’m going to have to kill you with my bare hands. Very well.” He pushed up one sleeve on each forearm, blood spattering across the floor as he did so.

“Oh no you don’t,” said Sebastian. “Atrum pampinea!”

Black tentacles sprung up, encircling Daen. The lich sputtered in rage.

“Hey, your tentacles are black again,” said Kham. “That’s great!”

Beldin came back into the room with a roar. “This time I’m going to finish you off!”

The dwarf charged straight into the mist, only to rebound as he collided with an invisible force field. “What the…?”

“No living creature can touch me if I do not wish it so,” sneered Daen. “And I do not wish it.”

“We’ve got to make him come to us,” Sebastian whispered to Kham. “Keep him busy.”

Kham winked at Sebastian. “You know, this was too easy. I just teleported right in here. If you’re supposed to be some powerful magic-type guy, you really suck at it.”

“Did you think that your foolish plans would actually work?” Daen shrugged and the tentacles sloughed away, retreating into the ground. “You think I didn’t know what von Grebel was planning? I let him lead you to me!”

“I think you’re lying. I don’t think you have a clue what you’re doing,” said Kham. “Carthy was right—“

“CARTHY?!” shouted Daen. “You dare speak that name in my presence?”

“I dare!” shouted Kham. He pointed two pistols at Daen. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“I will flay the skin and sinew from you writhing form!” The lich advanced on Kham. “And then I will use the sextant you used to gain entry to my dominion to raise Leviathan from his slumber, and you will come to think of my ministrations as a lover’s embrace!”

The lich’s protective shell disappeared as he stepped out of it. He was within touching distance of Kham. “NOW DIE!”

Daen reached for Kham just as Sebastian landed from above. The dark-kin’s hand was outstretched, a spell charged in his palm.

Daen grabbed him by the throat. “Foolish gnat!” Sebastian’s fleshed turned blue and his eyes rolled in his head at Daen’s touch. The lich tossed him aside without effort. “Now where was I…oh that’s right…”

“NOW DIE!” shouted Beldin as his axe nearly bisected Daen, smashing into his spine. The lich went flying, screaming as he went. His body crunched into the ground.

Kham grabbed Sebastian’s body. “Time to go. Beldin, grab what’s left of Vlad!”

Daen slowly rose to the floor, arms flung out from his body as if he were being drawn and quartered. His body began to shake as a sphere of energy enveloped it.

“I’ve got him,” said von Grebel, who appeared out of nowhere. “Do you have the bell?”

Daen’s screams became more feverish and high-pitched, and it appeared that he could not possibly open his mouth wide enough to excise all the pain and suffering he experienced.

“Yes!” shouted Beldin. He rapped Windcutter against something in his backpack and it gonged in response.

The crackling sphere surrounding Daen brightened. Then it stopped. The sphere contracted, folding the shrunken corpse of Daen upon itself as it grew smaller.

“So that’s what took you so long.” Kham fingered the medallion at his throat. “Hold on to me.”

Daen’s corpse grew still smaller until it reached half its size, a quarter, and then even smaller than that…until only a sparkling circle the size of a gold piece hung suspended, spinning rapidly.

“You!” snarled von Grebel. “I thought you were dead!”

“Yeah, I thought you were dead too," said Kham with a smirk. "But now’s not the time to argue about it.”

Even the minuscule remnant that was Daen collapsed inward, warping the space around it as it disappeared.

Von Grebel set his jaw and held onto Kham’s coat. Beldin did the same.

For a moment, all was silent. They disappeared with a flash just as the world exploded.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 1f – The Isle of Undeath

“How did you get here, anyway?” Beldin asked Kham.

They were all concealed in the brush near one of the stone altars. Starlight illuminated their features.

Kham shrugged. “When I got knocked off the ship, I threw my folding boat and landed on it. I drifted for a while, unconscious. When I woke up, I followed you guys.”

“So you were the other ship we saw when we got sucked into the portal.” Sebastian was hunkered down, watching the altar intently.

“And the Kraken’s Claw was the third,” said Vlad. “Captain Baumann’s ship got sucked in as well, that’s how I ended up here.”

“I’m not sure I like this plan,” said Beldin. “And I definitely don’t like that Bell.”

Sebastian held the gold Leviathan Bell in his hands. It pulsed with dark energy. “According to von Grebel, Zoltan Zaska’s flying fortress will seek to rescue one of his many clones from the other island. The bell controls the zombies. So it’s simply a matter of ordering them to kidnap one of Zaska’s clones and bring him here. ”

“Then what?” asked Vlad.

“The fortress will attempt to rescue him. That’s when we board.”

“Sounds simple,” Kham said sarcastically.

“But what happens once they bring the victim to the altar?” asked Beldin.

Von Grebel appeared before Sebastian could answer him.

“They’re coming. Get down!”

The undead slowly dragged their captive toward the altar. Although the man looked like he had given up hope of escape, he suddenly began to struggle with the last of his remaining strength. His voice, now hoarse from screaming at the unfeeling creatures holding him, managed a few incoherent utterances. Despite his efforts, his captors did not break their shambling stride.

“Sebastian…” began Beldin. “I don’t think…”

Two of the undead creatures forced the man down onto the slab, while two others methodically manacled him to the table. The remaining monster slowly removed a long ebony dagger from its scabbard. Once its companions secured the prisoner, it dispassionately sliced the man’s throat.

“No!” Beldin’s cry of dismay was drowned out by the roar of something massive descending from the sky.

A shadow passed over them with a whoosh of air that nearly knocked them flat.

Above them was a skull—a gleaming polished skull at least twice as big as a man-o-war. The eyes were giant rubies, illuminated from behind with a hellish red light. Its jaw clanked and grinded, exposing a maw large enough to swallow a dozen men.

The clone, his doom certain, gurgled in pain as a spray of blood erupted from the gash in his neck. His captors unsheathed their swords and held them loosely at their side, waiting for the inevitable to come.

The Skull’s mouth opened wide as it dove right towards the altar.

“Now!” shouted von Grebel.

They ran flat out towards the altar.

Vlad reached it first. Earth and foliage plowed upwards as the lower half of the jaw dug into the earth. Kham was right behind him. Sebastian flew upwards into the mouth.

Beldin was not as fast. The mouth consumed the altar, the victim, and the zombies. It began to close as the Skull moved upwards.

Kham sighed. With a flash, he disappeared and Beldin was standing in his place.

A few seconds later, one of Kham’s hands appeared clutching the top of the Skull’s lower tooth. He rolled in just as the mouth clamped shut.

“We made it!” said Vlad.

The sacrificial victim was dead, his pale corpse in stark contrast to the halo of blood that spread around him in the mouth of the Skull. The zombies, their task completed, collapsed in a ring around the victim, creating a macabre scene.

Sebastian held the Bell in his hands, holding it tenderly to his bosom like a newborn babe. “Sacrifices had to be made.”

Beldin stood over the body, shaking his head. “But at what price?”

 

[talien]

Isle of the Damned: Part 2a – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They crawled through an aperture in the Skull’s mouth into a large, high-ceilinged room dominated by two massive metal cylinders, one on each side. Metal walkways lined the wall far above and two large vats were suspended among them.

Ahead, racks upon racks of swords were set on a series of tracks in the floor. Everything in the place clanked loud enough to deafen them—undercut with a sinister groaning and hissing.

“What the hell is this place?” asked Vlad.

A voice boomed around them. “BATTLE IS TRUTH!”

Sebastian pointed up at the walkways above. Just then, six pirates hopped out from their hiding places near the metal cylinders and charged towards the ladder.

Glittering, polished metallic skeletons atop eight-foot frames landed in the pirates’ path. They had reinforced plates across their chests and arms that scraped the floor. There was a hint of flame in their hollow sockets.

“Baumann’s men,” said Vlad. “They must be after the artifacts!”

Kham looked suspiciously at Vlad. “What did you tell them?”

The rack of swords suddenly whirred to life and row after row of them filed out towards the mouth.

“THE SWORD IS GOOD!” bellowed the Skull.

“What?” shouted Vlad.

“We have to get up there!” shouted Sebastian. He flapped into the air.

The pirates engaged the metallic skeletons with cutlasses, but they were clearly outmatched. Kham, Vlad, and Beldin slipped around one side and climbed the ladder.

“BLOOD FOR THE SKULL!” echoed the voice.

Kham reached the top and then ducked down. “Look out!”

Flames whooshed over him.

“What now?” asked Vlad.

“Big angry headstone,” said Kham. He leaped up onto the platform. Vlad and Beldin followed after.

A large stone head, the size of a man, faced the ladder.

“I’ll distract it!’ shouted Sebastian. “Keep going!”

The dark-kin darted to and fro in the air before the headstone. The head moved to track him.

Sebastian ducked another blast of flames from the headstone’s mouth. When his companions were through the door on the other side of the headstone, he flew past it and shut the door behind him.

Just before he closed the door, the voice bellowed: “THE SKULL GIVES LIFE!”

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2b – The Boneshaper’s Throne

The corridor extended straight for about thirty feet, then curved to the left, sloping gently upward. The corridor, like the rest of the Skull, was smooth white ceramic, with just enough flat space down the middle of the floor for easy walking.

“Hear that?” asked Vlad.

Kham nodded. It was strange, atonal music.

After another hundred feet, the corridor curved again to the left, becoming a walkway. As the corridor bent, the wall fell away and they found themselves on a gangplank overlooking a vast atrium bathed in crimson light—from the round ruby windows.

“That light is from the Skull’s eyes,” said Beldin.

Small crowds milled around the floor of the atrium, which was dominated by a revolving statue of a massive, ornate sculpture of a pistol. The gun, at least thirty feet high, appeared to be the source of the music. Dissonant notes echoed through the high-ceilinged chamber.

Kham slapped his forehead. “I really hope that’s not the artifact. Because I don’t think I can carry that.”

They kept walking, peering into each room. One room was a nursery, with cradle upon cradle filled with babies. Two of the metal things patrolled the aisles, attending to the crying infants.

“What kind of place is this?” asked Beldin, horrified.

“According to von Grebel, it’s where Zoltan Zaska raises his clones.” Sebastian nodded towards a painting hanging on the wall of the room. It was of Zoltan, who somehow managed to look both roguish and beatific, cradling a child in his arms.

“They seem well taken care of,” said Vlad.

Indeed, the strange skeletons were surprisingly gentle with the babies, picking them up and rocking them to sleep, feeding them milk from a beaker, and adjusting their covers.

“This place creeps me out,” said Kham. “Let’s get the Leviathan Pistol from this psycho and get out of here.”

They moved on to the next attraction on Zoltan’s parade of grotesqueries: children five to ten being drilled in pirate history by an eloquent metal skeleton. The children wore different-colored robes, all shades of red.

“Black Jenny was the most beautiful woman in the world,” said the skeleton in an incongruous feminine voice, “a siren of the deep. But Ezekiel Carthy was a boorish coward. It was thanks to Leviathan that Zoltan was rescued, along with his four companions, and…”

Kham shook his head.

“You know about the Full-Fathom Five?” asked Sebastian.

“My father devoted his life to the study of pirates, remember? Yeah, I know all about them. And what that…thing in there is teaching those kids is a pack of lies.”

They kept moving. The next room contained several groups of teenagers learning the ins and outs of courtly life. Several practiced sword fighting, while others learned proper manners at an elegantly appointed table. Still others learned to dance the quadrille. In all cases, the strange metal skeletons accompanied them: as fencing partners, dance partners, and servants.

They hurried past to a domed, red-lit chamber, where young men and women sat in rows before a podium. A metallic skeleton in white robes stood beside a fountain.

“All praise Zoltan Zaska, the beneficent and magnificent.”

“All praise His name,” said the congregation.

“We believe in Zoltan, the father of the Great Pistol, given to him by the Lord of the Oceans.”

“All praise His name.”

“It is he who provides bounties of food, who keeps those in the Skull in peace and harmony, who lets the brutish give vent to their passions,” said the skeleton.

“All praise his name.”

“Someday,” said the skeleton, addressing the young men in the audience, “you will return to the savage lands beyond this castle and try to become the image of your master–to lead the barbarians beyond their bloodlust so that may return to the master’s fold.”

“This is sick,” said Vlad.

“And you,” the skeleton addressed the women, “will have the most glorious responsibility of all–continuing Lord Zaska’s line, until he decides his people are worthy of salvation and he rejoins them from his secret chambers in the upper reaches of the fortress.”

“He’s breeding them?” Beldin asked in disgust.

“They are clones, after all,” Sebastian said dispassionately.

“Now Daughters of Darkness, come drink of the Fountain of Life,” commanded the skeleton.

“Secret chamber, huh?” Kham loaded two of his pistols. “It’s time Zoltan met my Daughters of Darkness.”

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2c – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They appeared in an empty room of gleaming white ceramic. In the middle of the room stood a man dressed in full-on swashbuckling gear: a longcoat, tri-cornered hat, and polished boots—the whole nine yards.

“Zoltan Zaska,” said Kham with a frown.

Zoltan took off his hat and bowed deeply. “Indeed, it is I!” he said with a thick Salantis accent.

Sebastian launched himself into the air. “Enough of this nonsense, let’s kill him and get the pist—OOF!”

The dark-kin collided with an invisible wall.

Sebastian landed, rubbing his nose. “Walls of force.”

“You have done admirably well on all of my tests so far,” said Zoltan, sneering. “You have proven yourselves superior in mind and body. But now you must prove that you can take on de toughest challenge of all: being Zoltan Zaska!”

Vlad turned to Beldin. “Is he serious?”

“Can you survive de same challenges I have lived through? If so, you earn de right to meet me face to face!”

Kham looked around. “So let me guess: you had to figure out how to navigate an invisible maze once? When was this, when you were still a toddler?”

Zoltan grinned. “Close! Even being born was a challenge for me. My twin sister died in the womb, as and she did, her umbilical cord wrapped itself around my neck. I escape strangulation and made it into de world by the slimmest of margins. Perhaps you can do de same!”

Beldin shook his head. “So this maze is a parallel for his birth?”

A section of the wall on the opposite side of the room shimmered away and two of crab-like beasts with mouthfuls of writing tentacles clattered forward.

“Then what do those represent?” asked Vlad.

“Don’t ask,” said Kham. “I suggest we start moving…”

Vlad and Beldin turned and advanced on the carapace-covered monstrosities. The creatures promptly scurried through the maze, snorting and clicking their hideous claws as they bumped against the invisible walls.

As the two warriors engaged the beasts, Kham felt his way along the maze. He edged closer and closer to Zoltan.

“Very good Kham, come on!” shouted Zoltan.

Kham was within arm’s reach of Zoltan, Talon at the ready, but more invisible walls were in his way.

Zoltan twirled one pistol in his hand. “Let me tell you a secret, Kham. I’m not Zoltan.”

Kham kept feeling his way around the walls. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I am, in fact, one of his sons. I returned to dis very fortress to fight my father. Only those chuuls stopped me. I would have died, but for de mercy of my father.”

Kham walked away to Zoltan’s left and then turned back towards him. He was almost there. “So he made you some kind of crazy taskmaster for this maze?”

“Aye. He condemned me to guard it for de rest of my life. But I believe you can succeed where I failed.” Zoltan waved his pistol at the ceiling and said, “Arkabus.”

A hatchway opened in the ceiling above him, leading to the next room.

Kham faced down Zoltan. “If you’re not the real Zoltan, there’s not much point in fighting you, is there?”

The Zoltan clone nodded sadly. “No, there isn’t.”

Then the clone put the pistol to its head and pulled the trigger.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2d – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They emerged in a nightmare version of a young boy’s room. There was the normal furniture one would expect to find: a bed, writing desk, dresser, bookcase, and toy chest. There was also the usual mess of toys and books scattered on the floor. What wasn’t usual was that everything was five times its normal size.

“Aha,” another Zoltan clone announced, “you’ve made it through infancy.” He sat on the writing desk by the window. Through the window, waves crashed against rocks and a breeze of salty air wafted through the room. “But what happens when you start to grow and learn and de world starts to crush you?”

Beldin climbed out of the trap door behind the others. He wiped chuul ichor off of one of his boots. “I think I liked the maze better.”

“My parents gave me everything, but it meant nothing! I was hollow inside! De only thing that filled me, my only salvation, was the written word—and de lure of the sea!”

Something rolled off to Sebastian’s left. A small yo-yo rolled out from behind a box and fell on its side.

“Man, this guy’s got issues.” Vlad brandished Grungronazharr.

A shadow passed by Sebastian. He turned quickly but saw nothing. “What was that?”

There was a noise from under the bed. Beldin peered into the darkness.

It was a large teddy bear.

“Hey!” said Beldin. “Come out here. Do you know a way out of here?”

The teddy bear walked out from under the bed, revealing fangs, glowing red eyes, yellow horns, and a white skull on its stomach.

“They wanted me to grow up fat and respectable, just like my father!” shouted Zoltan. “So they lavished me with presents!”

Various other evil toys began to emerge from the shadows: a bright pink pony with flaming hooves, a vicious hell hound with a torso made of a copper coil, a wind-up monkey that banged two cymbals together, and a jack-in-the-box wielding a massive pair of scissors.

“But I spat them back, and took comfort in tales of fantasy and adventure!”

Kham shook his head. “This place is giving me bad flashbacks…” he shook his head to snap himself out of it. “Forget the toys, get Zoltan!” With a magically assisted leap, he landed on the bed.

Beldin bashed the teddy bear sideways and stuffing flew out of it. Vlad hunkered down as flames blasted from the mouth of the hellhound toy.

Sebastian launched himself into the air and rained fire down on the other toys.

With another leap, Kham somersaulted off the bed to a stack of books that formed a makeshift staircase leading to the windowsill.

“Do you have de courage to leave all this behind and escape to de wild ocean?” taunted Zoltan.

Kham tumbled past him and began climbing down the windowsill. It was a precipitous drop, some hundred feet straight down to a windswept, sea-battered coastline. A ship pitched against the rocks amidst the roiling waves.

“Yeah, yeah, why don’t you kill yourself already.”

Zoltan bowed. “I wish you ill fortune, as you have taken de step that I could not!”

Zoltan waved his pistol, hollered “Arkabus!” and vanished.

Sebastian circled past Kham and down to the ship.

“What about the others?” Kham bellowed down to the dark-kin sorcerer.

The teddy bear’s head went sailing past him, bouncing off the rocks as it went.

“They’re right behind us,” said Sebastian smugly.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2e – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They barely had time to reach the boat and find their sea legs when Zoltan’s voice boomed down from the crow’s nest.

“This is where I made my name! On the open seas on moonlit nights. How about you, mi amigos? Do you have what it takes to fight on another man’s decks?”

“Where’d the cliffs go?” asked Beldin.

The cliffs behind them had vanished. Open ocean surrounded them on all sides. A big fat merchant vessel pulled along the starboard side.

“You know,” said Kham, “I’m getting the impression that style matters more in this place than substance. Beldin, come with me.”

The dwarf grunted but complied.

Vlad and Sebastian exchanged glances.

“Any idea what he’s up to?” asked the Milandisian.

Sebastian shrugged. “At this point I’m willing to set that other ship on fire along with the annoying fop who keeps shouting at us.”

The hiss of a lit fuse reached them.

Vlad and Sebastian covered their ears just as the cannon below decks fired, launching Kham across to the other ship.

The val tumbled to his feet on the deck, despite the improbability of it all.

“That’s the spirit!” shouted Zoltan. “There’s a rum lad for you!”

The merchant crew’s sailors brandished cutlasses at him as a plump merchant shouted, “My daughter! Dear Jennifer must be kept safe from those brigands!”

Sebastian flapped overhead and strafed the ship with a blast of flames. Sailors screamed and fell into the water.

“Poor form!” shouted Zoltan. “Any dullard can kill a man! It takes a superior creature to force him to surrender honorably! Fight with your head and your heart, not your blade!”

Beldin and Vlad were carried across to the ship by a gentle wave, courtesy of Cho Sun’s ring. They promptly engaged the sailors, who curled their lips and leapt up into the rigging to dodge their attacks.

“Breaker of hearts and plunderer of galleons, they used to call me!” shouted Zoltan.

Sebastian flapped up to Zoltan’s level in the crow’s nest. “Give me one good reason not to kill…you?”

There was no one in the crow’s nest.

Kham was already below decks. He had heard something…a girl’s cry.

He ransacked barely after barrel, all containing yards of silk, fine crystal, perfumes and spices. Finally, he opened one barrel and found Zoltan’s dearest treasure.

“Black Jenny,” said Kham, breathing hard from the exertion of tearing open crates and barrels.

The raven-haired girl stood up from the barrel. She was breathtaking, with sparkling blue eyes and a heart-shaped face. But when she spoke, it was Zoltan’s voice.

“Si, mi amigo! You’ve found my secret treasure. She was nothing when I found her, just some wealthy brat. But soon I realized I had been nothing before I found her!”

Black Jenny’s form melted away and Zoltan stood in her place.

“Ugh,” muttered Kham. “What a great way to ruin a rescue.”

“I was so captivated by Black Jenny that I couldn’t bear to leave and progress to de next test.” Zoltan winked at him. “Which is upon you right now.” He waved his pistol and shouted “Arkabus!”

And they appeared somewhere else.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2f – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They dropped from the ceiling only to end up in the same maze where they began. The remains of the chuul battle were cleared away, but they were not alone.

A woman lay crumpled in the center of the room.

Kham put his hands out. “I think the walls are gone too.”

Sebastian launched himself into the air as Kham, flanked by Vlad and Beldin, closed on the girl.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I…was taken to Zoltan’s chambers…” rasped the girl. “He beat me…”

A stooped, withered creature in tattered finery appeared on the other side of the room. “You’ve found me at last.”

“Yeah,” said Kham. “Right. Zoltan, you’ve seen better days.”

“In life I was something to behold,” said Zoltan. “Now look at me! Look at how death has ravaged me, what kind of creature it has turned me into!”

“If that’s even the real Zoltan,” said Sebastian from above.

“Now I snatch meager amusements from narcotized slaves.” Zoltan gestured at the girl. “Like that wretched thing there. Trying to create an heir that might remind me of what I once was.”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. He began muttering an incantation. Kham held one hand out.

“Wait. Let him finish.”

“That’s why I built this island: to create another Zoltan, one who might prove strong and wily enough to confront his father face to face, to prove worthy of carrying on my name. And you,” he pointed at Kham, “you have succeeded. I suppose you want to kill me, eh? Then do it! Do your worst!”

Beldin stepped forward. “Okay…” He raised Windcutter.

Zoltan fell over, cowering. “Mercy! Mercy!” he sobbed. “Look at me! De release of death is so close…and yet…still I cower and cling to what puny life I have!”

He offered Kham his pistol.

“I give you this in place of my life. And I have put powerful magicks on this weapon to guarantee you don’t take both! Lay hands on the pistol and it will transport you to your ship immediately and erect a magical barrier on this island. You will have your prize, but you can never return here! And none shall ever leave!”

“Don’t listen to him!” sobbed the woman. “He’ll kill us all! Destroy the gun and kill him!”

Kham hesitated only a moment.

“Give me that!” He snatched the gun from Zoltan’s outstretched grasp.

“Arkabus,” said the grinning ghoul. Then the weapon melted in Kham’s grasp and he was somewhere else yet again.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 2g – The Boneshaper’s Throne

They emerged in a room unlike anything they had seen so far in Zoltan’s castle. It was completely black. The darkness came from drapes, heavy velvet ones, strung around the room, covering the naturally gleaming ceramic. Two pieces of furniture dominated the room: a massive four-poster bed, also curtained, and a mammoth pipe organ, which wheezed out the weird atonal music that filled the atrium below.

One hulking mechanical skeleton plunked away at the organ while two others turned the pages of sheet music.

“Ha-ha!” Zoltan leaped from the curtains, looking as roguish, handsome, and charming as ever.

“Great,” Kham sighed. “Please tell me you’re the real Zoltan and we can kill you now.”

“I am indeed,” said Zoltan with a smile. “I have been watching you closely, and you’ve made a fine impression. If you can best me in a fair battle, I will proudly meet my fate and hand over de pistol.”

“Very funny,” said Kham. “Like my comrades would ever let me fight you in single combat. Right guys?”

Silence.

Kham turned around. “Guys? You’re not seriously going to let me fight him one on one, are you?”

Sebastian landed and crossed his arms. “You fancy yourself the hero of this madness. I think you should finish it in true heroic fashion, risking everything on a single clash of blades.”

“What could be more romantic?” asked Zoltan.

“I am not fighting you this way, Zoltan,” said Kham. “That’s stupid. Guys, back me up here.”

Beldin crossed his arms too. “I think you can take him.”

“Oh come on…”

“There’s something else that might motivate you,” said Zoltan after a moment. “When you took de false pistol, you were cursed to transform into a ghoul by the end of de day.” His expression softened. “Beat me and you will avoid de fate that I could not.”

Kham slapped his forehead. “Again with the ghoul problem.”

Vlad sheathed his sword. “I really hate ghouls.” He nodded towards Kham. “Kick his ass.”

Kham took a deep breath. “Okay, fine, fine. Give me a moment.”

He walked over to the other side of the bed. “Skiz!” he whispered.

The rat’s head popped out from Kham’s haversack. “Yeah, boss?”

“Stay out of sight, but run behind Zoltan.”

“Now?”

”Now. Go! Go!”

The rat scrambled out of Kham’s possessions and disappeared under the bed.

Kham made eye contact with Zoltan. “I’m ready.

“Excellent!” said Zoltan. “We will duel as in de old days. We will start back to back, take five paces, turn, and shoot.” He marched over to the center of the room. Kham joined him.

“Ready?” asked Zoltan.

Kham loaded one of his pistols. “Ready.”

“Beldin, you’re de most honorable soul here, so I know you will not cheat,” said Zoltan deferentially. “Please count down to five.”

The dwarf looked flustered, but he complied. “One…two…three…”

They took slow, measured steps.

“…four…five. FIRE!”

Kham and Zoltan whirled at the same time, pistol at the ready. But Kham was quicker. He fired at Zoltan’s pistol hand, blasting it out of his grasp.

The weapon spun in the air in slow motion.

Kham blurred out of existence and appeared behind Zoltan. In Kham’s place stood a confused Skiz.

Before Zoltan could react, Kham snatched Zoltan’s pistol out of the air and aimed it at his opponent’s head.

Zoltan whirled to look down the barrel of his own pistol. “Magnificent!” was all he got out.

Kham fired. A huge gout of flames exploded, disintegrating Zoltan’s head.

The metallic skeletons stopped playing and marched over to Kham, kneeling before him. Kham’s companions stood, agape.

Kham spun the newfound Leviathan Pistol and holstered it. “I think I’ll name dis one Jenny,” he said with the slightest hint of a Salantis accent.

 

[talien]

Isles of the Damned: Part 3a – White Gorilla Island

The entire Skull rocked as Kham concentrated yet again on his pistol. The rest of his companions had become accustomed to it.

“We’ve been flying in circles for days,” said Beldin. “You’re going to crash that thing if you don’t get the hang of it.”

“Hey!” Sweat was on Kham’s brow. “You’re lucky we’re not being attacked by the Maulers.”

“The what?” asked Sebsatian.

“The Maulers. The metal skeletons.”

“You know their names now?” asked Vlad.

Kham nodded, never looking away from the pistol. “I know lots of things now that I have the Leviathan Pistol.”

“But not how to fly this thing,” muttered Beldin.

Von Grebel sighed. “We are running out of time. Sycorax will use her ritual to subjugate her followers today. We’ve got to invade or it’ll be another twelve days before she does it again.”

“Sycorax?” Sebastian stared at von Grebel. “Sycorax, mother of Camring, impostor to the Sea Lord’s throne?”

“Black Jenny Ramsey,” Kham said breathlessly. “She’s taken on a new persona as the White Queen of Gorilla Island.”

“Gorillas,” said Vlad. “Seriously?”

Von Grebel nodded. “Sycorax’s slaves built a series of arcane obelisks that focus the Hook’s dominating powers. Once every twelve days, gorilla work crews travel through the city with wagons filled with human prisoners. When they reach the obelisks, the gorillas shackle a human to the top of each one and bleed him to death. The obelisks reinforce Sycorax’s dominance so that her control over every sentient being on the island is complete.”

“Gorillas?” Vlad asked again.

“Daen had to get those undead gorillas from somewhere,” said Sebastian. “So what’s the plan?”

“While she’s at the top of her pyramid, absorbing the energy from her sacrifice, we sweep down, scoop her up, and take the Leviathan Hook from her.”

“You think that’s actually going to work?” asked Beldin.

“It has to,” said von Grebel. “It’s the only time she’s vulnerable without her guards. Even then, she will be no easy foe.”

The Skull shuddered again.

“Uh oh,” said Kham.

“What do you mean, ‘uh oh’?” asked Vlad, his voice rising.

“The good news is that the Skull is flying towards Black Jenny’s pyramid.”

“What’s the bad news?” asked Beldin, fearing the answer.

“I can’t make it stop.”