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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2618301" data-attributes="member: 1210">After a few days of recuperation, the heroes of Whitewater return to the destroyed village, and thence to the shrine to Maglube.  They speak again to Zeem, this time more specifically about the salt, and she tells them that it seems to ward off the things from the cyst.  In fact, Maglube has shown her the rituals necessary to ingrain salt in a few of their weapons.“It will wear off after a few strikes of the weapon,” she adds, “so be careful not to use it until you need it.  Save it for the fire monster.”Cur and Otis again ask her about the fire monster, and again she struggles to describe it, but cannot.  Worriedly, the two report to the rest of the party and the group takes a few moments to decide what weapons to have salted.  They choose to salt the longspears of Jorgen and Goer and the sword of Sir Cedric.  Then they return to the cyst, and once more into that unsettling sound, that sickening smell.  They have cloths tied across their faces, some soaked in whiskey, to help fend off the stink; even so, it settles thickly into their lungs.  They halt before the vapor-emitting chamber and watch for a time as Cedric times the vents; then they hurry through the chamber.  This time, instead of penetrating the secret door that leads to the huge egg room, they take the passage that leads from the vapor room.  Their path soon splits; our heroes take the left fork, which rapidly spills them into a chamber perhaps 40’ across, within which a slimy, huge maggot squirms.  “A giant worm!” Jorgen cries out in disgust, and suddenly the maggot begins undulating towards him.  But he jabs it with his spear, inflicting severe damage on it, then stabs at it again.  His weapon sinks deep into the monster, and it begins leaking a bloody pus.  Then the others rush in, Sir Cedric intentionally drawing it attention so that Cara and Kyle don’t suffer as they move in to flank it, and the fight is as good as over.  It is Kyle who actually delivers the death blow.  “Perhaps we should search this chamber, my lord,” suggests Goer to Sir Cedric.“Maybe there’s another secret door,” Dahlia remarks.“Indeed.  Peathantth!  Thearth!” Cedric directs.But as they search, something comes up on them from the passage on the far side of the room.  Perhaps it is drawn by the noise of battle; perhaps it can smell the normality so jarringly out of place in the cyst.  Regardless, it comes- and Kyle hears it coming.  A strange noise approaches, not like footsteps, and it catches his attention.  He turns and walks towards the passage that the noise seems to be emerging from, and then he gasps as he catches a glimpse of it. “EEEEKKKK!!!” he screams.Goer is nearby, and he turns just in time to see the thing burst into flames; then something whips across his chest, burning and slashing, and then again, and Goer falls to the ground.  Kyle stumbles back, gaping at the fire-thing, and he knows why Zeem could not describe it.  It churns and moves very quickly.  It looks like a tangle of wire with gobbets of reddish, bloody-looking flesh impaled everywhere along the wire.  The bizarre thing is tangled and wickedly sharp-looking.  Topping it is the suggestion of a head- a ram’s skull with long wicked horns.  Two flaming, wiry whips lash the air around it.  And, of course, it is aflame- a roaring aura of fire burning 10’ away from it, threatening to engulf anyone getting too close- and burning Goer.  Cur springs forward, grabbing Goer.  He starts to drag his friend away from the horrifying fire monster.  Flames lick around him, burning him and Goer both; but he perseveres, withdrawing and thereby saving Goer’s life- at least for the moment.  Otis fires a magic missile at the monster while Cedric and Jorgen draw out their salted weapons and move forward.  When the knight lands a blow, the monster’s blood proves to be white-hot liquid fire.  Then the flames of its aura die, or rather change, to a violet-brown flicker, and everyone too near it suddenly feels their stomachs lurch.  The party groans in nausea. Kyle starts slinging stones at it, but they are utterly ineffective.  Cara briefly tries her bow, but curses as it fails to harm the thing.  Then she realizes- Goer’s spear!  It has been salted, and it’s just laying there...  She darts forward and sweeps it up, then steps in to fight beside her fiancé, Sir Cedric.The monster, meanwhile, whips Sir Cedric twice, then switches its nausea aura to one of fear.  Cur and Cedric both quail, and both flee an instant later.  Dahlia and Jorgen, too succumb.  Then the terrible creature bursts into flames again, whipping madly at Cara- the only one still in melee.“Guys?” Cara whines, and then the lashes and the flames are all over her.  She screams in pain, then grits her teeth and thrusts, stabbing deep into the monster.  She staggers and stabs, trying to dodge and keep moving, but unfortunately, the monster is too fast, too deadly; and although she deals a few telling wounds to it, it brings her down in seconds.“Cara!” shouts Sir Cedric.The others are back- the fear lasted only a moment, and now Cur leaps forward, cloaked by a mage armor cast by Otis, to pick up the fallen salted spear.  Dahlia creates water directly above the monster, splashing it and raising a cloud of steam, while Jorgen charges forward into the flames, running the monster through with his salted spear.  It writhes and comes apart, shattering into lengths of limp wire.  Its flaming aura dies.Our heroes quickly draw back and bandage their bleeding friends.  Then, once they are confident no one is in imminent danger of dying, most of the conscious members of the group move to search the room the fire beast came from.“What if there are more of them?” mutters Dahlia.“That could be trouble,” Kyle remarks.“Why don’t you go scout ahead?” she suggests.  “You’re pretty sneaky.”“...okay.”  I wish I didn’t have so much trouble turning down dares, he thinks as he heads nervously down the passage.  It is short, however, and shortly leads to a chamber dominated by a flesh-colored rise that is almost a small hill within the chamber.  A thin wall of white fire surrounds it.  Kyle reports back, and Cur, Dahlia and Otis join him in the chamber.  They find passage through the flames surprisingly easy; they burn, but barely hot enough to cause injury.  However, they also sap the strength of people leaping through them.  There is nothing of note atop the rise, but there are signs that the fire creature has been here.  Also, the rise is starting to shrink.  In fact-“Hey,” Kyle says, “is it just me, or does this whole place look like it’s... softening?”The party hurries back to their friends, where they confirm that, yes, the entire cyst seems to be starting to liquefy.  As quickly as they can, they haul their unconscious friends back outside, and then from a distance they watch as the cyst slowly melts down into a huge slick of yellow-brown oily stuff.  By the next day, all that remains is a stain on the land and a faint sick aroma.  Though they do not know it, no natural plant will grow on this spot again for decades.The cyst is destroyed. Next Time: Finding foothills in the flowers!  Cara has an important realization!  And our heroes begin preparing to go to the elf-ruins!</blockquote>

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