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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4499633" data-attributes="member: 3285">Soul of the Serpent: Part 3a – The ArenaThe arena was bowl-shaped, large enough to hold several hundred people at a time.  Passages led out in all directions, connecting with an even greater network of tunnels.  “There!” shouted Kham.The sixth brothers of Althares fell, the last in a circle of bodies on the ground.  A pool of blood slowly spread out beneath them. “We’re too late!” Beldin cried.Up on a dais, the ssanu dressed in yellow robes stood, arms outstretched.  Ssanu screamed and hissed from the stands.Vlad eyed the crowd nervously, sword and shield up.  “We can’t take them all on…”“We don’t have to,” said Sebastian.  He was strangely calm, arms at his sides. “Incendiares globus!”A fireball consumed the six ssanu who had sacrificed the humans.  They were instantly incinerated, along with the bodies of the sacrifices. Ffashethh hissed and pointed.  Ssanu guards pounded towards them.  “Time for some race relations.” Two potions later and Kham disappeared.  Sebastian dug a wand out of his robes.  “Casses!”A sticky web spewed from the wand, encompassing much of the arena and the advancing ssanu guards.There was a collective gasp.  Behind Ffashethh, K’Stallo rose up in his blue robes.  “Ffashethh’s teachingsss are heresssy!  He isss a samat, one of the mummy kingsss of old.  He hasss perverted the teachingsss of Yig! I will ssshow you hisss true nature!”K’Stallo raised the amulet of Yig. It flashed an emerald green.In Ffashethh’s place was a massive serpentine being.  It had no legs to speak of, its lower torso exclusively consisting of the coils of a python.  Its massive jaw hung open in surprise.  Two powerful sickles, in the shape of snake heads, were in its hands.“Ah crap,” said Kham.“Isn’t that…?” asked Beldin.“The same snake king that Kham woke up in Freeport?” said Vlad.  “Yeah, that’s him.”Edward, the conniving first mate of Captain Baldric, had transported the ancient mummy king of the ssanu from his temple.  Seeking to make a quick buck, Edward had tried to sell the mummy to Elijah Quelch, but Kham got to it first.Despite K’Stallo’s instructions to the contrary, quite a few of his followers disregarded his orders of noninterference.  At various places throughout the crowd, the Hitthkai followers of Yig revealed themselves. The crowd did not know what to make of the interruption, or of the spectacle of two respected priests of Yig fighting hand-to-hand.  For a minute or so, nothing happened.  Then, a full-fledged riot broke out as some of the crowd backed one sect and some the other.Kham cleared the distance from the arena floor to the balcony in one hop. He made his way over to where the two priests battled.  Ffashethh slammed one of his sickles down towards K’Stallo.  Though the samat was nearly five times the diminutive ssanu’s size, he blocked the blow with his warhammer. The amulet around K’Stallo’s neck glowed a brilliant green as each blow was deflected.“A Hitthkai wearing the accoutrementsss of Yig?” snarled Ffashethh.  “Heresssy!”“You are the heretic!” shouted K’Stallo.  “The old waysss nearly dessstroyed our people! Even now, they are killing each other.  Is that what you wanted?”Ffashethh paused.  The arena was a roiling mass of serpents biting, clawing, and killing each other.“Yes,” hissed Ffashethh.  “It is.”With Talon and Coomb’s stiletto extended, Kham leaped from the balcony onto the back of the samat.  He plunged both deep into the snake-thing’s hide, up to the hilt.  Ice extended around the puncture wound of the stiletto, then melted away just as quickly.Ffashethh undulated, whipping Kham off of its back.  He slammed into the balcony and nearly fell over the edge.The samat loomed over him. “I remember you,” hissed Ffashethh.“Long time no see,” replied Kham.  “Uh K’Stallo, if you were going to make your move, now might be a good time!”K’Stallo didn’t answer.  Then the samat froze too.  It was looking past him at the arena.Kham turned to look.  Behind him, the scorched and bloody sacrificial circle began to bubble.</blockquote>

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