Personal Musings of Kai Tsintah
By Pippa Bushell
Lesson for today; do not underestimate an enemy. We thought that the ‘adiɫgąashii¹ goblins would be handled with ease. That thinking got us stuck at the entrance to their little cave-hovel with Adoril and my tiger stunned on the ground and Marcus and Tavin running away, as if all the plagued in Hauther were on their heels. If it had just been Marcus, I would have worried that something was seriously wrong. That guy has a gift for getting out of the way when things go bad. Tavin running? No, it must have been ‘adigąsh¹! Tavin does not run. I fired a stun arrow into the cave to buy a little time and dashed forward to make a grab for Adoril to drag him from the spellcasters range. Elre moved up alongside me, and using his rope to snag its leg, dragged my great cat from harm’s way as well.
Once out of the immediate threat of the shaman’s spells, my attention was caught by Yugao, desperately grasping at her throat before collapsing to the ground. With Tavin and Marcus still heading for the hills and Elre checking over the paralysed form of Adoril, I quickly realised that I did not have the skills required to help my choking companion. The only option was to hoist her over my shoulder and carry her to a position where I could shout to Vallen. Having finished helping the giantess with her birthing, he was able to dispel whatever was taking the breath from Yugao.
For the time being, the goblins seemed happy to stay in their caves, so we took a moment to regroup in the centre of the underground complex. Marcus and Tavin eventually returned, explaining that there had been some important tactical reason for them to check the weather outside, yóó ‘ahishniɫigii². They are not magic users, why feel shame for being affected by spells for which they have no defence? Does a fish feel shame for taking the hook? I will never understand such minds.
Whilst waiting for my comrades to regain their composure, I returned my tiger to his totem. I would not again risk the loss of such a vital animal spirit to these filthy goblins. Then, with Adoril recovered from his paralysis, we left the giantess and her offspring, along with the winded Yugao, to the care of Nothur, as we again made our way to the entrance of the ‘adiɫgąashii¹ cave. Vallen announced that there were no spells lingering at the entrance and so saying, marched forward to fling a couple of fireballs inside, with the rest of us following behind to push the attack. With axes, arrows and wirliki flying, we were able to eliminate the goblin pests, but not before Vallen turned tail and fled, in the same manner as Marcus and Tavin had done before. He soon returned, answering when questioned, that the weather outside was still pleasant. It seems that many of my companions feel this kind of pretence necessary to their salve their wounded pride. Does a fish feel shame if, after having escaped the first, it takes a second hook?
After a quick search of the cave, we found nothing of value, although Marcus declared that he had a sense of the blood plague in one corner. Tavin informed us that this is a strange occurrence. There have been no previous reports of the plague in these mountains. We would need to investigate further but first; the other goblins needed to be dealt with. Adoril had scouted previously with his magical eye and had stated that there was just one prisoner in a cell and in the adjacent cave several armed goblins using a group of terrified females as shields. To use unarmed women in such a way is a craven act but after our underestimation of the ‘adiɫgąashii we could not chance that the remaining goblins might take the opportunity for a cowardly attack once our backs were turned.
The seeming lack of any kind of valour in these lowly creatures was soon proven. When Elre and Marcus entered the room, they scattered like insects unearthed from a rock, pushing the females to the fore in their desperation to save themselves. It was a matter of a mere moments work to despatch them. We then turned our attentions to the prisoner in the cell next door. He was of no interest. A mistreated and malnourished being who had apparently displeased his ruler in some way, resulting in his imprisonment. None amongst our party was willing to dishonour themselves by bloodying their blades on the pathetic cretin and so he was released, given a little first aid and food, and instructed to the take the goblin women and leave. With all the goblins dead or departed, we had the freedom we needed to examine the area where Marcus had sensed the blood plague.
Marcus led us back to the corridor in question and Vallen confirmed his senses but could not see a way through what appeared to be a solid wall. However, when Tavin approached a series of runes lit into life and upon him reading them aloud the wall crumbled away, exposing a dark passageway beyond. It stank, a terrible and unhealthy smell, such as would be found on a prodigious battlefield. The lantern was brought forward, revealing a disturbing scene. Bitsį’ dóó diɫ³! The entire walkway, floor, walls, and ceiling alike, was covered in a living and bleeding veneer of flesh. An oozing mass of writhing sinew, and entrails spread over all that could be seen. Seeming to rise and fall as if fed by some giant beating heart. In a hushed tone, Tavin explained that he had heard tales of such horrors in the histories of the Revanarum strongholds. It was clear to us all that as Knights of the Silver Order, this was something that we could not leave unchecked. Astrid was sent to tell Yugao and Nothur of our discovery, to let them know what we were about and, to instruct them to come to our aid, should we remain within for more than two hours. With our fail-safe in place and our lantern floating before us, we made our way carefully along the slippery corridor.
At the end of the passage we came upon a door, covered as was everything else, with Bitsį’ dóó diɫ. Discovering that these living walls, reacted to silver in the same way as all the blood plagued, we hacked the door clear enough to uncover a mechanical latch. Once the latch was released, the door swung open to reveal a small room. If I had held any vague hope that moving forward would be any better, this hope was soon dashed when observing the room and everything within it to be covered with more of the same filth as the corridor. It appeared to be a personal living space, with bed, wardrobe, chest, and desk, all dwarven size and all being slowly rotted away by the invasive viscera. Hoping to find some clues regarding our surroundings, we cut and sliced free as much of the furniture as we could, with Vallen inspecting as we went for any magical items. Not much was left unscathed, but we did locate an ivory pen with a magical aura, along with some rusted chainmail armour and a couple of items bearing a griffin motif before leaving the room through the northernmost of two archways.
In the next room we followed the same procedure of hacking and searching, finding hooks on all the walls and what appeared to be riding tack and a set of magical stirrups, none of which was sized for any mount that I had ever seen. We completed our exploration of the tack room and exited to another room through an archway to the south. Marcus called back to us that the sickening squelching noises we had heard in each room seemed to be louder ahead and as Elre stepped forward with his lantern, pod-like protrusions, growing from the moving floor, reacted to the advancing light. Three blood plagued báhádsidii⁴ hatched violently out of them. Elre took one swift glance at these báhádsidii, dripping with the same foul matter as their surroundings, and with a loud war-cry charged amongst them. Following our comrade, we all moved forward into combat.
A heated battle was soon engaged and with far more worthy opponents than our previous goblin targets. These báhádsidii chose to attack at close quarters and as my silver dagger was deflected away with ease, it became apparent why. Boned protrusions extended outwards, all over their bodies. Acting as both armour and weapon in a most effective manner. They were taking blow after blow with little reaction and slowly but surely backing us all against walls and into corners, which would have enabled them to limit our movements and ability to both attack and defend. Once I had noted this, I quickly dodged an attack and darted past my nearest opponent to gain a more advantageous position in the centre of the room. I could see from this vantage that all my companions were fighting well. Elre, Adoril and Tavin, with their heavy weapons, were relying on strength to power through the bone armour, whilst Marcus and Vallen employed swift movement and skilful targeting to strike between it, Vallen at first with a jet of flame from his outstretched hands and then with his pistol. I myself, decided to keep what distance I could, knowing that my armour would be of little protection against these beasts and maintained a thrown barrage with my silvered hungamunga, trusting in my aim and the efficacy of silver against such creatures. We are gradually weakening these báhádsidii, but I find myself hoping that more do not arrive before these are despatched. That would not be good.
¹ ‘adigąsh / adiɫgąashii = witchcraft / witch (a derisive and insulting term for a corrupt magic user and as such, Kai would never use these terms to describe Vallen or his skills.)
² yóó ‘ahishniɫigii = The things I throw away (garbage)
³ Bitsį’ dóó diɫ = Flesh and blood
⁴ báhádsidii = Fearsome thing