Chapter 56
After the parties separated, they headed straight for Kurimo with Mel in tow. The archaeologist, whose full name was revealed to be Mel Yozora, was actually from Huan Tuo. She had been traveling to different regions trying to puzzle out the strange dungeons that were always built in the southwestern area to every continent. She had been to the one on Lithos but was turned away by a hooded figure with a warning not to dabble in things not meant for mortal minds. However, being quite stubborn when ancient sites are concerned, she decided to see if she can dig up more information, pun not intended.
"And so, I ended up in Gekko," she summed up with a pleasant smile.
"I have a feeling you were given that warning for a reason," said Nene with a quizzical look.
"Hng, Haato said the same thing," she muttered with a pout.
Night had fallen by the time they reached the town, Polka prancing around as if it was a joyous occasion.
"Calm down," called out Botan, "You are excited to see your family and friends again, but you could do something weird by accident and cause trouble."
"...Nah, I'm fine," quipped the fennec fox monk as she turned another cartwheel that ended in a somersault, "Come on, I'll show you to Harvog's bar. If I remember right, it's called the Big Top."
So after getting past the gate guards, she guided them to the bar, which was near the center of the town. The name was not on the bar, but instead had a sign in the shape of a circus big top. She strode right in and a jolly half-orc yelled out a greeting.
"Ha! Welcome back, Polka! How goes your journey?" he said boisterously over the din.
"Hey, Harvog! I'm doing great!" she replied with a big grin, "These are my friends!"
After introductions, he said with a warm smile, "Well, friends of Polka are always welcome here. Please, order what you want. All will be provided."
"Food?"
"Ale?"
"Knowledge?"
The party and the bartender turned to look at the archaeologist with dumbfounded looks. Her face went flush with embarrassment, muttering about stuff under her breath.
"...Erm, just some food and drink for dinner," the monk said after that pause, "And maybe some rooms for my friends."
They quickly moved over to an empty table and took over.
"Sorry?" apologized Mel, her face still quite red, "Haato always said I can be quirky at times." That prompted giggling around the table.
"It's fine," said Polka with a smirk, "We were just surprised, that's all."
It was then a fennec fox couple entered the bar. He wore ordinary farm clothes over his wiry frame. She wore the same, with a small addition of a straw hat over her head, her ears poking through holes in the hat. And at the sight of them, Polka jumped out of her seat and threw herself at them, much to their surprise.
"Polka!?"
"Ma! Pa! I'm back!"
The rest were somewhat shocked but then smiled as they watched the heartwarming hug scene.
"It makes one miss their family," stated Lamy, but continued at a softer tone "Well… almost."
"Come, meet my friends," the monk declared as she pulled them over.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Omaru," greeted everyone at the table.
"Ha, ha, hello everyone. I hope my daughter hasn't been giving you too much trouble?" the father greeted them cheerily.
"Pa…!" groaned the fennec fox girl loudly, "Please don't ask weird questions!"
"Not a problem at all," stated the cleric, "She has been a great help."
"I'm glad she has such supportive friends," replied the mother. She then turned to her daughter and asked, "Come, you have to tell me how you've been doing. Do you have a boyfriend yet?"
"Ma!? No!" yelled the girl, a little horrified that her friends were hearing this. It didn't help that the giggling started.
She quickly ushered her parents away, even sitting with them to take their attention away from her friends, afraid of any more embarrassing questions. Meanwhile, the giggling died down and everyone tucked in their food when it arrived.
"Hey, can you tell me what happened at the prison ruins?" asked Mel.
They had finished eating and were now polishing up their drinks… except Lamy and Polka, who had gotten into a drinking contest after the fennec fox parent's left for the night. Aloe was officiating and was collecting bets from the patrons of the bar. The odds were in the home girl's favor. Botan had gone to her room to turn in early. So, that left the archaeologist alone with the lore bard at a separate table.
"Well, if you have to ask… one there weren't that many traps," Nene began her explanation, "At most, there was a large teleport trap in a hall. Most of the monsters I think we killed… except a troll with rotting skin. The only thing sane left was a mummy. It was really weirding me out, though he was quite chatty. He was the one that told us about the abomination we are hunting down."
"Hmm, interesting," the archaeologist muttered eagerly as she took notes, parchment and ink pen mysteriously appearing in her hands again.
"How are you doing that?" the lore bard asked incredulously.
"Anyway, do you have any information about this abomination you can share with the others when they get back here?" the former then asked, "I mean, you need to know your enemy to fight it, right?"
"We don't know much yet?" the latter answered hesitantly, "All we know is that it was an experiment gone bad, and it can sow madness and confusion when it fights."
"That's not very helpful," muttered Mel with a frown. After some thought, she reluctantly said, "Hng… I wish we had more to go on. Just saying it was 'a failed experiment' doesn't give much to work with."
"...I understand the feeling," muttered Nene when a cacophony of disappointed noises came from the next table. Both combatants have fallen over the table unconscious, with over seven empty tankards next to each of them while the succubus had to refund all the bets as there was no winner.
Turning back to the archaeologist, she continued, "Let's get to bed. Maybe we can figure something out in the morning."
The next day, after daily morning rituals, they gathered downstairs to have a hearty breakfast. At the same time, Polka decided to ask Harvog about the local mine.
"Wait, how do you know about that?" he asked in surprise, "I doubt word has gotten out yet."
"Erm… we heard about it from… some bandits?" she explained very hesitantly.
The half-orc sighed and pulled a chair to sit before explaining, "Well, I suppose I should say something. We haven't told anyone yet since we still have a good store of ore in the town storage, but even that has been dwindling. The miners have been run out of the mine by some kind of cult. A few wanted to fight but the rest were afraid. They pretty much lost their nerve once they heard strange sounds coming from there, not to mention sightings of ghosts. Mayor Howitz wanted to send in a request to the adventurer's guild but he didn't have enough money."
"Why not?"
He turned to Botan and replied, "Perhaps if it were more manageable monsters like goblins or kobolds, we would have enough to pay. The normal, expected stuff and such. But a cult? They would need some experienced adventurers and that would cost a lot."
"Well, no need to fear. We are here now," declared Nene with a grin, "We are with the adventurer's guild. We can take this on."
"You are!? Oh, praise the gods," he exclaimed happily, "Ïf you are willing, then I shall get the mayor at once!"
"Of course!"
"I hope they have a good map of the mine," stated Aloe as the bartender ran out of the tavern, "Other than that, I think we are going in blind here. We don't know what has been living inside the mine when the cult moved in there."
"Hmm, I might have something that can help with that," said Mel assuringly, "Also, ARC and his friends are coming to rejoin us."
"Ooh, you're right," said the fennec fox girl eagerly, "Then, we can definitely save my hometown."
"Well said, young lady," said a very fatherly voice.
"'Heyo, Ringmaster."
"Ha, I've retired from that a long time ago," the mayor stated with a grin. He had greying hair and dressed quite smartly, with the odd addition of a sleek, black top hat. Probably a remnant of his old days.
He then turned to them and said seriously, "Well, I caught the tail end of what you said earlier. The town will be in your debt if you could solve our problem at the mine."
"As sure as the sun shines, we can definitely solve this problem," declared Lamy as she stood up with determination.
"Hello!" greeted ARC jovially as he stepped in with Appa Ninny and KDR, "What did we miss?"
After filling in the warforged team, getting the map from the mayor, and topping up on what they need, they headed straight for the mine. It wasn't very far and it could be seen from the town. The entrance was on the side of a small hill and a wooden structure was outside it. It brought water flowing past it, taken from a minor diversion at a river a mile from here. Materials were dumped into the slurry and washed down for smelting. The group went up several ramps to reach the dual entrance of the mine.
"Alright, we're here. You're up, Mel. What is it that you have that can help us spy inside?" asked Nene.
"A magic eye. Give me a moment," the archaeologist stated.
Grasping her crystal, she held it out in her hand by its strap and chanted, "Grant me sight beyond sight that I may reveal any hidden knowledge."
An outline of an eye slowly formed in front of her. However, as the eye solidified and became material, a loud wheezing growl could be heard coming from the entrance. At each entrance, black, wispy tendrils swirled and combined something akin to a billowing cloak.
"S-s-secrets..." hissed out a raspy voice from the ghostly figure on the left.
"Leave..." wheezed the one on the right.
"Hey, hey, this way," Nene quickly exclaimed, waving her hands to draw their attention. Turning back to the group, she whispered out, "Hurry! Finish that spell and spy out the place." Looking back to the two allips, she continued, "So… why are you here? What happened to you guys?"
The arcane eye became solid and slowly became invisible. Mel then sat down with her head bowed.
Polka then whispered to the rest, "ARC, you and your team protect her. We'll help Nene with this."
"Gotcha," he whispered back.
"Death..." rasped the one on the left as both of them floated over to the lore bard, the light of the sun doing little to pierce through their darkness.
"Er, no, not looking for death," replied the bard as she shook her head, "Why not something else? Umm, how about what you are doing here? How did you become this way?"
"How… how…." repeated the right one.
"Yeah! How? What made you like this? Do you remember anything else?" she continued to badger them in an intense effort to distract them.
"Death… prison..."
"Priestess…" and then the right one rasped out something unintelligible that sent a strange shiver up her spine.
"I… don't know what you said, but I know a priestess," she quipped, "Do you know a Priestess Ina'nis?"
"High..."
"Priestess..."
Both spectral figures stared at each other before they let off a wheezing, grating laugh.
"Kabedon..."
"Kabedon..."
They laughed again, seemingly placated. However, in mid-laugh, they suddenly wailed loudly while gripping their heads. Their bodies shuddered for a moment before settling down. The spectral figures then glared at her with glowing red specks that counted for eyes.
"Okay, time to run away!" she yelped as she ran down the ramp, shouted "Help meee!" as the two allips howled and flew after her.
As she ran, she glanced to her side and was horrified to find one of the allips flying straight at her. However, one blink later, she suddenly found herself alone, on a flat rock in the middle of an endless sea. The sea itself was choppy, the wind was picking up, and the cloudy sky rumbled with thunder. She blinked again and found Polka standing in front of her, punching at something.
"-ou alright, Nene?" she heard as the world came back to her senses.
Spinning to the side, she watched as two glowing arrows flew true into an allip's chest. As it slowly disintegrated into the wind, she watched the other allip start speaking in the same unintelligible language. She heard Botan yell in protest.
"Hey! How do you think your priestess will feel when she finds out you're doing this!?" she yelled out in angry mockery, "You won't see the light of day!"
It let off a horrid wail as it started clawing and scratching its spectral head. It muttered more unintelligible words before it disintegrated as well. However, she was able to catch a faint muttering of a strange word 'R'lyeh' before it became dust in the wind.
She stood there, staring at where it used to hover, wondering whatever was that word.
"Hey, are you alright?" asked the monk as she shook her shoulder.
"Ah! Yeah, I'm fine, hi, hi," replied the lore bard as she was shaken out of her train of thought.
Turning around, she noticed Mel and ARC's team walking up to the ramp, the archaeologist saying, "I saw a lot. The map is pretty much the same but there are quite a lot of cultists near the back. However, there is one area I can't exactly get through. It's like something is blocking my arcane eye."
"Hmm, so… we have two groups. Should we split up?" she suggested to everyone.
"Actually, we don't really have to?" stated the former, "The mine has a lot of intersections between both main tunnels so we would essentially cover a lot of ground while still in contact with each other. Not truly splitting up, so we should be fine."
"That sounds good. Let's go in and take back the mine," declared Polka as she marched right in.
"Hmm," she sounded softly before joining the others in going in.
After checking out both entrances, they went in warily, ARC's team and Mel going in the right side while she and her friends went in the left side. It was unnaturally quiet the moment they stepped in. As per usual, Polka pulls out her driftglobe and speaks the word to light it up as well as float. Almost immediately, loud growls sounded around them as four humanoid shadows flinched away from them. The same sort of growls could be heard all the way from the other tunnel. At that moment, Nene plucked her lute and sang, prompting more growling and some screeching.
"Yosh! I'm fired up!" shouted the monk before taking out one of the nearer shadows.
A flash of light from Lamy obliterated another shadow. The remaining two hovered over to the lore bard and grabbed her head, causing her to stagger back with a tortured expression. However, their shadowy forms were disrupted by a boom that exploded behind them, which led to their demise from Botan's magic-enhanced arrows. A loud shriek came from the other tunnel, which sounded like Appa.
"The flames of the Forge shall banish the darkness!" KDR's voice boomed.
"Get off him!" shouted ARC.
"This way!" called out Polka as she ran through a connecting path.
They came into the sister tunnel just in time to see the larger warforged pretty much destroy a shadow.
"Are you alright?" she asked with concern as they ran up to them.
"Well, Appa here isn't feeling well enough to be going in with us," said the medium-sized warforged as he propped up the shivering kobold against the wall. He then looked to KDR and said, "I'll be staying back. You go ahead with Mel here and clear the mine out."
The larger one slammed a fist to his chest and stated, "I shall burn the evil out of the mine with holy fire." He then turned to face the group of adventurers and stated, "Lead the way."
AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.
The town of Kurimo, where most of the circus went to when they retired. After doing what adventuring parties usually do, they took in the food; I mean, look for a place to stay, check out the town a little as they got shown around by a local a.k.a. Polka. Now, I haven't exactly given much detail as the going-on's of the town aren't too important for the chapter. I can say that there is a general store for the people and the miners, a blacksmith for maintenance and such, storage for mine materials, and so on, as well as a mayor's office. So, as you can see, the retirees took to normal life pretty well, I'd like to think. Harvog set up the tavern there for himself. The former ringmaster worked hard and got elected as the mayor. Polka's parents settled there as farmers. I haven't exactly figured out what sort of role they played in the former circus so maybe the readers can give some suggestions.
Anyway, we have to double up the work. Getting rid of the cultists in the mines and killing the escaped experiment. This is about the time where I can use another rarely used monster. An allip is supposed to be a ghostly spectre that died due to forbidden knowledge that drove it to insanity. Normally. But in this case, forbidden knowledge didn't do them in as they are part of Ina's cult. No, this is where the enemy cult did them in and they were forcefully put there at the entrance like guard dogs. As for what enemy cult would do this, well, we can see it in the next few chapters. And so, after, the allips and the shadows, ARC and Appa stay behind. Holo5, Mel, and KDR will go in and flush out the cult from the mines.
Next chapter, we do just that. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.