Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4666708" data-attributes="member: 3285">Nug's Farm: Part 5 – The AttackHillary shut the dogs in, though they were frantic to go with her. They went outside to face Gresty and Atkinson.Atkinson was an emaciated old man, with gray, heavily wrinkled skin, a scruffy white beard on his chin, and a toothless mouth.  Gresty looked much as he had when Kham last saw him; thin, with a small belly that jutted out around his trousers.  He had a wild head of gray-brown coarse hair, a scrubby beard and mustache, and very protuberant ears. Hillary whispered something inaudible.  She pointed at the collected goat-men and their cultist masters. The area surrounding the goat-men was shot through with sheets of roaring flame.  The goat-men reeled, screaming and running in different directions as their fur caught on fire. Gresty and Atkinson seemed to find it amusing. “Why are they laughing?” asked Kham.Beldin stood his ground in front of them.  “Let them come.”Gresty pointed at Hillary.  She clutched her throat, unable to speak. “That’s it.” Sebastian raised his hands.  “I’m putting an end to this—““No, wait!” shouted Kham.  But it was too late.“Incendiaries globus!”A ball of fire engulfed the goat-men, Gresty, and Atkinson.  The flames left blackened husks.  Only Atkinson still stood. Surrounded by blackened earth, he looked like a lord of hell. And Atkinson kept laughing.“Why is he laughing?” asked Beldin. “I was trying to tell you before they silenced me,” said Hillary.  “Those are the Blessed.  They are holy to Tizzhet.  And Atkinson sacrificed one in a bonfire.  I didn’t realize it until I burned them. That’s why Atkinson sent them ahead!  He WANTED us to sacrifice them.” She cursed. In a flash, Kham had his pistols out.  He fired at Atkinson, but the old man merely held up a hand.  The bullet bounced off of his open palm. “Why would he want to sacrifice his own people?” asked Beldin.Kham fired again.  Atkinson deflected the shot. “To summon something more powerful,” Sebastian said morosely.  The ground shook and there was a horrible stench—like rancid meat.  “Oh, no,” said Hillary.  She pointed in the direction of the noise. Against the black of the night something even blacker was visible.  “What the hell is that?” asked Kham.It was as big as a house.  A massive, twined shifted body on squat legs.  High above the thing there was movement, like trees that were not there a moment before. The upper half whipped frantically, as though in great pain.  Somewhere in the body below, a mouth smacked open and spewed out a stream of filthy green ichor.  “One of Tizzhet’s Dark Young!”The thing roared from multiple mouths and, on three stumpy legs, barreled forward.  The tentacles reached down from the darkness, whip-cracking as they moved.  Beldin dove to the side as it nearly trampled him.“Get back!” the dwarf shouted.  Before he could rise to his feet, a tentacle snapped out and wrapped around Beldin’s leg.  It yanked him into the air.Sebastian pointed at the Dark Young.  “Radius Incensio!” Spiraling gouts of fire blasted into the Dark Young, dissipating harmlessly.  The Dark Young’s tentacle dipped Beldin into one of its many mouths, slurping on him with its vile lips.  The dwarf screamed and writhed in horror.“Kham!” shouted Hillary.Kham concentrated.  A moment later, Beldin was slumped, unconscious, where Kham had been.  His body was covered with dozens of sucker-like sores. Kham slipped out of the tentacles of the Dark Young and rolled to his feet.  The thing bellowed in frustration.Sebastian lifted his arms. “Mulimodis Oris!”  Three ghostly pairs of vicious jaws flew out from the folds of his robes.  The jaws snapped and bit at the Dark Young’s tentacles.“I don’t know how long I can keep this thing busy!” he shouted over his shoulder.“Quickly,” Hillary shouted to Kham, “grab four chickens from the coops and hold them upside down by the legs in front of you.”Kham ran over to the coops and dragged four cages over. Hillary produced a long knife in front of her. “Hold it up!” Kham grabbed a struggling chicken out of its cage.  “Ishniggarah!”  Hillary slashed precisely at one bird, wounding it fatally.  “Say it” she shouted.  “Help me!  Say it!”“Ishniggarah,” said Kham.  “Are we performing some kind of ritual?”The Dark Young roared and took a few steps forward.  Sebastian pointed an extended finger: “Incendiaries globus!”A pea-sized ball of fire transformed into a conflagration, engulfing the Dark Young. Kham procured another bird.“The Black Mouth!”  The knife slit a second bird.  Both chickens were still alive.  A deep, regular noise was now audible, getting louder.  “Repeat it!” said Hillary.“The Black Mouth!” shouted Kham.The Dark Young stepped out of the fires, completely unharmed.  Tentacles shot towards Sebastian.  He rolled to the side and came up again. Kham took out a third chicken.“The Black Tongue!” Hillary struck the third chicken with a ritual flourish.  Blood from all three chickens splashed out over Kham’s hands and arms; they were still alive and flailing.“The Black Tongue!” shouted Kham.The ground trembled.  Sebastian pointed at the abomination. “Magicus telum!” Dark blue bolts of energy thudded into the thing, and still it kept coming. Kham brought out the final chicken.“The Black Lip!” The fourth bird was slashed.  The chickens struggled weakly.  “The Black Lip!” recited Kham.A tentacle shot out and grabbed Sebastian by both arms.  The Dark Young yanked him forward, dragging him along the ground towards it.  Sebastian screamed.Kham hesitated, torn between completing the ritual and helping his friend.“Keep those birds there!” shouted Hillary. ”Stand still!”It was unclear whether the last command was targeted at Kham or at the Dark Young, for she had whirled to face it.  The terrified chickens still in their coops added to the cacophony of the dying ones.  The dogs howled madly from the house.Hillary stood tall, reaching towards the thing.  She issued a challenge.  “Ishnigarrah!  Utug Xul!” Hillary immediately whirled back to the chickens and killed them: one, two, three, four, with sweeping forehand and backhand slashes.  She turned again to face the Dark Young and took two steps toward it.“You will kill the one who summoned you,” she spoke quietly, coldly, pointing at Atkinson. “Then you will go back to your Mother to draw on her teat.”  She spat.  The thing turned with a great stamping, and headed back off towards Atkinson.  Its noise diminished but then was counterpointed by Atkinson’s distant screams of fear and pain.Hillary didn’t stop to listen, covered in blood and completely transported; even the dogs slunk away as she reentered the house.</blockquote>

Verification