From the Journal of Captain Jonesy Darver, 10 Landing, 6106 RTR
The Lady Matilda has dropped anchor. An aboriginal marker totem has been discovered on the shore, and we have stopped to investigate it. Seaman Jones will be taking Lady Kartoum, Inquisitor Saalamandrin and Professor Zaddock to shore in the longboat. Joining them will be Ludy Tsuguri and Mage Lightfoot for protection.
With luck, they will find only abandoned ruins and not hostile primitives.
Also, some fresh water would be welcome to restock our supply.
With the longboat secure, Xander finds a spot to work on a ritual, while the Kavi mate, Ubiquitous Jones, stands guard nearby with a crossbow. This leaves the other four explorers time to examine the totem marker, which is made of carved stone disks stacked on top of one another and reaching a good ten feet off of the rocky spur it's mounted on.
"Hmm, yes, yes," the Gallah archaeologist, Professor Zaddock mutters as he examines the carvings he can get to. Each disk has a particularly ugly looking face carved into it, facing out to sea. The common features are big, angry eyes and mouths full of teeth under a triangular nose.
Umeko peers at the odd totem and even rubs her chin (as if she had a beard), in thought. "Perhaps," she murmurs and reaches out to grip the 'cheeks' of one of the faces. With a small grunt, she tries to spin the disk of stone.
The stone is sitting flat and tight to the one below it, so doesn't move – although some lichen is disturbed by the attempt, and flakes away where Umeko grasps the carving.
"Not a rotating puzzle-key," the Kiriga declares. She turns away from the pillar now and looks in the direction it faces to see if it is looking at anything in particular.
"Notice how all of the carvings are the sssame?" Rince asks. There are five stacked stones to the pillar, and for anyone else that can conveniently arc around to get a look from the sea-side the carvings do all look essentially identical. Far out along the line of sight is the Matilda, with nothing really visible beyond it.
"Is that of any significance?" Umeko asks as her head twists and cants so that she can look to the Naga. "Perhaps it was merely a very ugly ruler that they based them upon."
"Hmm, it's unusual," Zaddock observes. "Usually the totems are each of a different spirit or monster."
"Have you determined what monster this represents?" Umeko inquires. She turns her body back around so that she can look over the carvings once more to see if anything is familiar about them.
Other than being ugly and using curves and triangles, there isn't much else distinctive about them. Rince is coiled around the base, and climbing the pillar to get a closer look at each. "Each one has ssssixty teeth," the Inquisitor reports. "That is a lot."
"All the better to eat you with," Umeko remarks dryly. She tries pressing on the teeth in the mouth of the one closest to her to see if they move at all.
"Is this really hard rock, or just regular stone?" Peli asks, finally. "Being exposed like that would have eroded it some, I'd think, but… they just don't look that old to me."
The carvings don't react to pressure. Once Rince reaches the top of the edifice, he hisses in a Naga-style mumble.
"Find something of interest?" Umeko inquires as she now tries to find good finger and grip points to scale the pillar.
"Now that you mention it, Miss Kartoum… " Zaddock replies, and gets down on his hands and knees to really study the seems between each stone.
As for scaling the tower, the easiest means is to use Rince's own body. "There iss no debris up here," the Naga reports.
"Then this was recently placed," Umeko observes, "Wait here." The Kiriga then slips away from the pillar and looks for loose earth that may show telltale footprints.
The ground is overgrown, but Umeko finds a depressed track, where a big circular stone might have been rolled.
"From the lichen growth and weathering on the lower stone, I'd guess this is less than ten years old," the Professor professes. "A new stone may be stacked every year or two, perhaps."
Umeko crouches down beside it and gently brushes away the undergrowth to look for a print. "There may be a track over here. I think the sections are rolled. This means there should be facial indentations along the track as well."
Plucking away the grass reveals a slight imprint of the face carving, suggesting it's still been awhile since the latest stone was added.
"Ah, yes, the ground was defaced," the Kiriga remarks. Good gods, she's been around mammals too much: she has started punning.
Peli joins Umeko, and starts tracing the track back towards the woods. "I'm not seeing any footprints, so either the people who moved the stone weren't very heavy, or the vegetation and weather have erased any there were."
From atop the totem pole, Rince just hisses in response to Umeko's pun.
"Wait up, miss!" Ubiquitous Jones calls after Kartoum, dashing to get between the lynx and the woods. "You jes' can't go wandering into the woods again! Remember Avarin!"
"The track seems old, so it is most likely weather has worn away the footprints," Umeko remarks as she draws herself back to full height. "Shall we see where the track goes?" she now asks as she heads towards the woods as well.
"I don't think a horde of flightless aquatic birds is going to boil out of the woods this time," Peli remarks. "And… oh, right. We never did find Squeegie after that, did we?"
"Squeegie?" Umeko asks.
"Was Skonky!" the Kavi corrects. "Squeegie got 'et by the tentacle monsters."
"This would be much easier if you had your names sewn into your hats," Peli grumbles. "You all wear identical uniforms, so it's hard to tell you apart."
Umeko sighs and shakes her head. "Mammals," she remarks as she heads closer to the woods. Her pace is slow, though, and her attention flows from the ground, to the bark of the trees, to the canopy, looking for damage that may indicate what sort of creature lives here.
Nothing looks disturbed, aside from a few places where the track of the stone crossed actual bare dirt. There are a few natural sounds, aside from the wind; small animal and insect calls, and a distant, rhythmic tick-tick-tick sound.
"Xander, to my side," Umeko calls out, sounding rather formal about it. "I need your hearing."
The Fire Mage is just completing his ritual, and hurriedly collects his supplies before dashing over to the Kiriga. "Yes, Lady Tsuguri?" he asks once he reaches her. His little combat familiar is worn like a glowing bracelet around his right hand.
"There is a rhythmic ticking in the distance. Can you hear anything more about it? Your hearing is far better than mine," Umeko says as she continues to look into the woods. Her right hand comes up to rest reassuringly on Xander's shoulder at least. She even lightly squeezes.
The Lapi turns his ears to search out the source of the sound, and points in more or less the same direction that the stone's path follows. "Stone hitting stone," he says. "I'm pretty sure."
"Carving, perhaps? Can you guess how far away it is?" Umeko asks.
"Hmm," Xander mutters. "Hard to say. The trees have some good spread, so the echoes can bounce a lot and the terrain is pretty flat. Maybe a quarter-mile at most."
Umeko's hand moves up and she briefly rubs at the base of Xander's left ear. "Thank you, Mage Lightfoot," she says. Her head turns and tilts so that she can speak back towards the others. "There may be a culture about a quarter of a mile from our current location. Do you wish to locate them?" she asks.
The others quickly join Umeko, looking excited at the prospect (except for Seaman Jones, who is perhaps thinking of his lost comrades). "Ah, how convenient!" Professor Zaddock says, rubbing his hands together. "Much easier to piece things together when there's someone to actually answer your questions!"
"So long as they do not desire to cut off our heads and shrink them," Umeko remarks, "I have read stories about island cultures called head-hunters. Such are claimed to be fantasy – however much fantasy has basis in reality."
"I'll keep an eye up high," Jones notes, pointing towards the tree canopy. "Not getting caught by surprise this time."
"Oh my, you should see the collection I have sometime, Lady Tsuguri," the Professor says heartily, and promptly starts marching off into the woods – in the wrong direction.
"Wrong direction," Umeko calls out after the Professor. She mutters something to herself in hissing imperial, then heads into the woods in the right direction. "Mage Lightfoot will attend me in the fore, stay in close to each other, single or double line. Should we be attacked, we will be the first line of defense."
Once the Professor is back in line, things go smoothly. Peli and Zaddock take up position behind Xander, followed by Jones with his crossbow and Rince taking up the tail… and leaving his own trail to follow back as well, as his coils sweep aside the leaf clutter.
There is a moment of uncertainty when the sounds of chiseling stop for a few minutes, but the sound returns and leads them on.
"Let me know if you hear anything unusual," Umeko says to Xander as they move through the underbrush. Her posture is relaxed, save for one hand resting lightly on Sunlight-Through-Storm.
The Lapi nods and keeps them on direction, until a point comes when everyone can hear well enough to know where they're going. They soon come upon a clearing, where a stone statue dominates. It's tall and squat, and built a bit like a chair, since the pudgy lower legs make a platform and the arms look a bit like armrests, if armrests had really long carved claws. The head is clearly one of the circular totem stones set atop the barrel-shaped body, where an elderly Kavi (easily pushing twenty years old) painstakingly chips out the face's fifth tooth with a tiny stone chisel and a hammer. Another Kavi sits in the statue's lap, asleep and snoring.
"Kavi," Umeko remarks flatly, "Nothing dangerous, then. Curious statue, however. I wonder what it symbolizes. Professor?"
"Some sort of… beast?" the Gallah offers, scratching his head. "It looks more like a fertility symbol by shape, but… it's got nasty looking claws… "
"I have talons and I have been told by some that I am seductive," Umeko points out, "Some seem to enjoy abject terror in their objects of lust." The last bit earns Xander a certain look, too. The Kiriga then rolls her shoulders and steps forward towards the statue. "Hello," she calls out in standard.
The sleeping Kavi doesn't stir, but the old one turns and looks out into the woods. He apparently can't see very far, since he looks right past the group several times.
"Why are you carving that statue?" Umeko asks. "And I assume you also carved the pillar on the coastline?"
The elderly Kavi painstakingly climbs down the statue, and chatters something back. Jones says, "He says… 'go away ghosts' and 'Darshik is coming for… tooth three-hundred and five,' whatever that means."
"Does that mean anything to you?" Umeko asks the Professor. "Some sort of demonic tooth-snatching monster?"
"Haven't the foggiest," Zaddock admits, and asks Jones to ask who or what 'Darshik' is. The Kavi crewman chatters to the elder, who chatters back.
"Local devil," Jones translates. "Come for his sacrifice. He wants to know why we don't know that already, too."
"I am beginning to wonder what sort of Professor you are," Umeko remarks dryly. "Alas, I cannot offer this 'Darshik' another tooth. Mage Lightfoot already knocked out two of mine some time ago."
"That was for… dentistry!" Xander remarks, trying to look innocent.
"I still have to thank you for that," Umeko remarks and flashes her fangs to Xander. The Kiriga then winks at him in jest. "So, when is this local devil due to arrive?" she asks the group.
"It must be a monster or predator," Peli says, sounding far too excited at the prospect.
Jones turns to ask the elder, but the answer comes as a loud roar echoes from the north, and the elder turns and high-tails it out of the clearing as fast as he can. "Uh, now would by my guess," the crew-Kavi reports.
Umeko folds her arms across her chest. "Shall I slay the beast?" she actually asks.
"It could be something rare and valuable though!" Peli notes, while eyeing a nearby tree for climbability.
"As a Mage, I'm obligated to intercede in cases of primitive sapient sacrifices to monsters, demons, genius loci and gods," Xander points out nervously.
"I am not obligated to intercede in any such thing," Rince notes, looking ready to bolt.
"Doubtful," Umeko doubts. "Come, Xander, we will sit on the statue's head and wait for the beast," she tells the Lapi. The Kiriga then walks towards the large statue, seemingly unconcerned about the situation. "And wake up the sleeping Kavi on the way," she remarks.
Jones and Peli follow along, while Zaddock seems torn – until Rince grabs the Gallah and starts hauling him up one of the trees. There's another roar, much closer this time, when they reach the lap of the statue and its sleeping occupant.
Umeko pokes the sleeping Kavi with her tail. "Wake up or be devoured," she says…
The sacrificial Kavi just rolls over and belches. Close up, it reeks of beer. It may even have been bathed in the stuff, and is clearly too drunk to stir.
Jones, meanwhile, has reached the top of the statue where he has the best field of fire for his crossbow.
"Or apparently not," Umeko remarks and skews up her snout. "Xander, climb up. I will join you shortly," she says as she kneels down near the sleeping Kavi and checks his teeth.
While Xander and Peli climb to the statue's shoulders, Umeko discovers that the young sacrifice possesses all of its teeth, although they aren't in the most pristine condition and may be getting worse just from the creature's breath.
Umeko sighs to herself and tests if she could pick up the Kavi and climb the statue too.
The sacrifice is small and light enough to be little burden to the Kiriga. The Kavi is probably only six years old – just on the cusp of adulthood.
Umeko then realizes something. "Jones, when do your kind lose their cub teeth for their adult ones?" she calls upward.
"At about… three or four I reckon," the crewman says.
"That defeats my theory, then," Umeko notes as she drapes the drunken Kavi around her neck. She flexes her fingers and toes, then starts scaling the statue herself.
Once on top, it's easy to see in all directions. There is considerable noise and disturbance to the north, as Darshik approaches through the forest.
Umeko sets the drunken Kavi next to Jones in hopes that he won't be offended by the smell. She then goes to the edge of the head and crouches down like some sort of golden gargoyle. "It approaches," she says.
"So… how do you want to handle this," Xander whispers to Umeko.
"I cannot say for certain until I see what it is," Umeko admits. "And what it wants. My guess is a tooth, but given the unreliability of Kavi, it may be something else. I assume you cannot summon teeth… "
"No… not without getting hit in the jaw really hard," Xander admits.
"I will not hit you," Umeko promises. "If we are lucky, it will fear fire and be easy to drive away."
The disturbance gets closer, until two small trees are bend aside by a huge black form. The beast is on four thick, if short, legs that end in large paws with disturbingly long claws. It's about six-feet high at the shoulder, and its huge head looks vaguely canine, while its eyes are nearly black. Its breath sounds like a bellows as it sniffs around.
"That is the biggest bear I've ever seen," Peli whispers, almost purring. "Ursus Nordikus, the Great Northern Bear."
"That is one large monster," Umeko remarks. The description of what it is gives her some pause, then she asks, "What are its weaknesses? What will fast-kill it? And why would it seek teeth?"
"Uh… well… I don't know about weaknesses," Peli admits. "Uh, a lightning bolt my kill it, or a lance. As for teeth… I have no idea."
So far, the bear is ignoring everyone atop the statue or in the tree, and just keeps shuffling and grunting as it follows its nose. It gets to the base of the statue and starts licking the stone where the sacrifice was curled up before.
"Perhaps we should wait and see what it does," Umeko remarks as her eyes narrow. "And Xander, prepare your elemental; perhaps it could be lured off with it. Peli, do you know how intelligent these monsters are?"
"Well, bears are… the top. Of the food chain," the lynxette replies. "They're probably the smartest predators on land that don't talk or wear hats."
"How is their vision?" Umeko asks next.
"Draw it off?" Xander squeaks, clearly terrified of the monster.
"Well… uh, I don't know how well they see," Peli admits. "This one seems very scent driven. Like it's after the sacrifice specifically… oh… maybe it wants the beer?"
"Hmm, possibly. The question is, then, would the monster devour the Kavi, or merely lick it?" Umeko asks.
"I could shoot it in the nose from here," Jones remarks, just as the bear stands up and seems to notice everyone on the statue. It's head is actually level with Umeko's.
Umeko looks back at the creature, her face impassive and waiting. "Hello," she says to it without a hint of fear in her voice at all. "What do you desire?"
Darshik roars again, and presses his forepaws against the side of the statue. With an almost comical sideways shuffle, he starts circling the statue towards the sacrifice.
"I'm really glad I don't drink right now," Xander mutters.
Umeko's head pulls back from the roar and looks a bit annoyed. "It has very poor manners," she remarks dryly. She watches the creature for now as she lopes along the statue top on all fours. "Do not attack unless it tries to harm the drunken child," she instructs.
"What if he tries to harm us?" Jones asks, crouched over the other, oblivious Kavi. Xander uses the flaming sword form of his Eye of Flame to try and intimidate the bear… only to be knocked onto his butt by a powerful grunt from Darshik.
"You can, of course, defend yourself. You also need to learn how to be calmer. Mammals are too … jumpy," Umeko states as she continues to follow the bear as it shuffles around towards the child. "Would it not be easier to use your familiar to set its butt on fire, Mage Lightfoot?" she actually asks.
"Uh," Xander says smartly, and then slides down the side of the statue opposite the bear. "I'm on the ground," he reports, and starts inching his way around the statue. "Please keep him distracted?"
"As you wish," Umeko says as she crouches on all fours and arches her back. The Kiriga then does something decidedly unladylike. Her jaws open wide and she hisses loudly at the bear, complete with brandishing of her fangs as if she were challenging the bear for the 'right of meal'.
This gets Darshik's attention, causing the bear to take a step back to assess the situation. Maybe he's had run-ins with serpents in the past, after all. This gives Xander the opportunity he needs to run past behind the bear and swipe at his matted fur with the fire-sword. There is a horrible stink that results, and a cry from the beast as it drops to all fours and runs back into the forest.
Another guttural hiss comes from the Kiriga as the bear retreats into the forest. Umeko's lips actually curl back into a smug grin of draconic satisfaction as she sits backwards. "Well done, Mage Lightfoot," she calls out, "I believe that will at least make it think twice before seeking meals here again."
About then is when Umeko notices Jones and Peli cowering in reflex from her display. Xander seems speechless, and still looks terrified about the whole thing. Then a clay pot flies out the woods and bonks him on the head. "Owww!" the Lapi complains.
Umeko looks confused. "What is wrong?" she asks Jones and Peli as she blinks. The attack of the clay pot has her doubly confused. "What is going on? Why is someone trying to make my servant potted?"
Sure enough, the elder has returned, with various clay cups and bowl. He's worked up and chattering angrily.
"You… were just very convincing, Lady Umeko," Peli says, now acting as if nothing happened. Jones' tail is still puffed out like a bottle brush though.
"He is not very grateful for saving a child," Umeko remarks. "Translate," she tells Jones just before she jumps down from the statue and heads towards the Elder.
Jones hurries down the side of the statue and chatters back at the elder, having to duck a thrown bowl in the process. "Uh, he says we've spoiled the sacrifice and now the grain won't… ferment… properly?" the Kavi translates, looking confused. Another exchange of chattering goes on.
Rince and Zaddock lower themselves from the tree they were up in, and hurry over.
"Feeding children to monsters is wrong," Umeko says firmly and folds her arms across her chest.
It takes a bit of back and forth, but Jones eventually relates what's going on: the local Kavi community apparently worships beer, somehow. Darshik likes beer, and would raid the beer-temple, which was blasphemy (thus his being called a devil). So they came up with the notion of appeasing the beast with a beer-soaked virgin every week – for the past three-hundred and five weeks. The 'teeth' were just to keep count on the carving, with a new tooth added each week.
"So they would kill a child to protect their beer," Umeko remarks, looking less and less pleased with the situation. "Why not just leave a vat of beer outside its lair every week instead of a living being," she practically growls.
Jones interrogates the elder on this, and learns, "Well, the priests figured they could get the kids drunk on the low-quality beer and it would be cheaper in the long run than leaving out the good stuff that Darshik likes. There's a lot of male virgins since the priests take multiple wives… "
"Unacceptable," Umeko says flatly. "So, if we leave this tradition will just continue. Therefore, we must kill the bear," she decides.
"Or the priests," Xander suggests.
"Or both," Umeko contemplates.
"Now, we can't go upsetting apple carts like this," Zaddock claims. "Of courssse we can," Rince counters. "We do it all the time."
"Or, we could get the bear drunk and take it with us!" Peli suggests. "The Emir would love to have that for his Zoo!"
"Could anything in the ship contain the creature?" Umeko asks.
"Uh, we'd have to cut down trees and make a raft with a cage on it," Jones claims. "Cap'n wouldn't let a monster like that on board. No way to feed it, and you just can't keep something passed-out-drunk for days on end and not have it wake up mean."
And it's then that Umeko's gaze turns to the Professor. "Would you care to repeat that to me?" she asks icily and her brow-ridge arches up questioningly. "Are you saying that you condone, and even approve of, the pointless death of the young in the name of beer?"
"I'm… no, but… " the Gallah sputters, and waves his hands around. "You're talking about potentially destroying their religion and society. Without the bear, the excess of drunken young frustrated men will eventually lead to an overthrow of the priesthood, or else war with a neighboring tribe, leading to untold death and destruction… "
"So… we should… take all the beer instead?" Xander offers.
"Sssss, that would happen eventually anyway," Rince claims. "Bears are not immortal. If it dies, the Priests will change things so they are not at risk. Beer or females will be more accessible. Kavi are not ssso rigid in their ways – they cannot afford to be."
"Maybe there's a cub?" Peli asks, feeling outvoted. "Something smaller we could save and take with us?"
Umeko says several things in Imperial and Xander gets the distinct impression their are neither polite, nor ladylike. "I will go deal with the bear, you may remain behind, protected from any real danger by your opinions. Those who allow others to die in their stead, or be sacrificed for something as ridiculous as beer deserve to die a thousand deaths. When I was Governess, I did not hide behind the lines, I bore armor and rode into battle with them. I did not suffer others to beat a cost I would not face myself," she declares in a huff She adjusts her swords in her obi, then marches towards the woods.
Xander hurries after Umeko, and after a moment Peli follows. Jones looks torn, but is obligated to translate, even though the elder is quietly watching Rince and the Professor argue.
"Idiots and cowards," Umeko growls as she walks, "No better than that Governor who thought to sacrifice us to save his bloated, worm-like, body."
"They're scholars, not men of action," Xander notes as he keeps pace. The path of the bear is easy to follow, at least. Peli still follows as well, but doesn't try to catch up yet.
"Justification for allowing injustice to continue," Umeko remarks dryly as she continues on. "I wonder if they would feel such if it was their child laying upon that alter, waiting to die."
"It's not the bear's fault either, you know," Xander offers. "It's just an animal, following its nose. And… ew… I smell burned fur, we must be getting close."
"Which is my point: they had alternatives that would have cost no lives," Umeko says bluntly. "For example, poison the beer it was taking so that the beer made it sick. Massive gas and explosive stools, for example. It likely would quickly decide that beer was not to its liking and leave it alone."
"If they consider it a holy drink, I don't think they'd allow it to be deliberately tainted," the Fire Mage points out. "And we should move with a bit more care now, I think." The Lapi's ears are scanning in all directions now.
"If I can bite the bear, It will likely become sickened and offer more time to decide a possible solution," Umeko remarks as she considers options. Her pace also slows down.
The path now seems much more well worn, opening up nearly wide enough to be a road. Further ahead, the land rises up into a hill… although the closer they get, the clearer it becomes that the 'hill' has a lot of worked stone blocks in it. An ancient wall with a cave-like opening is at the end of the path, with the animal smell of the bear being very strong now.
"Curious. Is this the temple they spoke of?" Umeko asks as she draws to a stop and rests her hand on the hack of one of her swords.
"No, the town must be in the opposite direction – the way the elder went," Xander notes. "This place is old enough to be partially buried already. Huh, Rince will be upset he didn't come now."
"He can explore it later once the creature matter has been dealt with," Umeko remarks as she resumes walking. Her pace is slower now and the sound of her footsteps practically nonexistent.
Using the Eye of Flame as a light now, Xander follows into the dark tunnel. There's light some distance ahead, although it seems filtered.
"I can only assume this is an old temple," Umeko notes as she moves slowly. She looks to the walls as much as ahead to see if there is any writing or paintings upon them.
The walls are covered in slime and mold, hinting at water – and the sound of running water can be heard up ahead. The end of the tunnel is all but covered in hanging vines and creepers that form a heavy curtain, with sunlight shining through the few vertical spaces. "So… " Xander says quietly, "I hear a waterfall, and that's obscuring any other sounds that might be out there."
Umeko finally draws Sunlight-Through-Storm. She glances backwards to see if the Khatta is still along before advancing any further. "I will see what is beyond," she says, "You may wait here if you wish."
There's no sign of the lynx woman in the tunnel, nor in the light at the entrance. "Maybe we should just peek first?" Xander suggests.
"That is the plan," Umeko notes as she turns back towards the creepers. She approaches them and uses the length of her sword to extend her reach and try to push them out of the way to see beyond.
There is a moment needed to adjust for the daylight, and the reflections off of a small lake. Beyond the curtain is a bowl-shaped valley, surrounded by stone walls. Water spills down one side to fill the lake, and there are various shanty-like structures scattered around. Several bears amble or laze about, although none are as big as Darshik, who is wading in the lake. And there are the Kavi, too. Hundreds, it seems, and all of them are moving towards a group that is carrying something around as if on parade.
The thing being carried is Peli Kartoum, and the Kavi are chanting something over and over again.
"The situation just became odder," Umeko says as she watches the bizarre spectacle unfold. Her free hand comes up to run her forehead as if a headache were forming. "The Kavi are not dead, but what do they want with Peli? And how can I possibly fight this many? And worse yet, what are they saying?"
"Well, if these are the sacrifices, and they've been gathering here for over six years now, I can guess what they're chanting," Xander says. "Female!"
