Book one: I hunt therefore I am!
Chapter thirteen: A time of religion and war, legends tell the tale of a lion...
"So how do we actually find Akanga?" Delphi asked as she awkwardly chewed on some stale but filling bread.
She and the ship people had been moving east, away from the estate for most of the night, a few hours past dawn and now finally settling down to eat. Luckily Devi's mystical bag had enough food in it for all of them, though the selection left something to be desired.
In retrospect she was "lucky" that she had discovered her father's true nature while coming back from one of her swims. It meant that she was wearing her cloak and a modest but comfortable slip instead of a dress which wold have been vastly more awkward to go trekking through the jungle in.
"You're adorable." Miriam (who now insisted on calling herself 'Mirri') noted.
One somewhat perturbed glance later the vampire clarified.
"We don't have worry about finding Akanga. He's going to find us before long, in fact I believe he already has." To prove her point, Mirri cupped her hands over her ears and whistled.
James and Alexander both instantly grasped their heads in pain. Those two weren't the only ones though.
They were suddenly there, without warning, manifesting like a desert mirage leaving them completely surrounded. They were silent and stone-faced, their twisted, anthropomorphic faces like masks of some arcane and fell sect. Some of the broken ones were carrying crude weapons but most were armed only with their own claws and jaws.
Despite the pain that Mirri's whistle had clearly brought them, they didn't seem openly hostile, at least not yet. Instead they only stood there watching.
"Mirri..." Alexander growled through gritted teeth.
"Hey, don't complain, it worked." She replied.
Then she waved at the small army of broken ones that encircled them.
She said... something but it was in a language that sounded like nothing but a strange collection of "mews", "chirps" "meows" "growls" and" purrs" that sounded even more animal like than the broken ones looked.
Some of them stood by dumbfounded but a moment later one of the smaller broken ones that was crouching on all fours began to advance. It gazed at them with jade green eyes and replied in the same bizarre tongue that Mirri had addressed the crowd in.
"Huh, who knew being able to speak cat actually would come in handy. James do you want to take over from here though? I'm used to cat with your Mordentish accent, but these guys have a pretty thick Balok one." She admitted.
James' body began to alter and twist before Delphi's eyes, the sight left her glad that the food she had recently eaten was so bland, anything fancier might have been able to force its way back up her throat. It was a near run thing none the less as his muscles bulged, bones twisted and fur grew rapidly while clothing seemed to simply vanish in the blink of an eye.
For all that, there was no hissing, snarling, or any other signs of sudden bestial rage accompanying the change. Nor did the change seem to bring him any pain or discomfort... and that was in some way worse, it was as if his terror and pain of his transformation was reserved only for those around him who suffered so that he might gain greater strength.
Instead of attacking James simply began to converse with the creature in the same tongue Mirri had somehow managed without needing any sort of visible transformation.
"Since James is pussyfooting around with the locals that leaves you free to tell the rest of us what he's actually saying." Cal pointed out fixing his gaze upon Mirri.
"If you insist." She agreed.
"I was asking them who they served, and they said that they served the Lion King. Then James wanted to know where the Lion King was..." She paused for a moment and the cat broken one replied to James, clearly having taken his sudden transformation in a surprisingly blase manner.
"Our new friends' spokescat just said that the Lion King will be along soon enough." There were still more sounds being uttered towards them.
"Huh, apparently Akanga warned them that one of us might be able to transform into a red furred cat creature. Guess he's better informed than I would have expected." Mirri reflected.
A moment later the crowd of broken ones parts at one side and a great lion-headed man strides into the clearing. He was wearing leggings made of the hide of some dark-furred beast and had scars across his broad chest and muzzle.
His eyes were those of a predator, missing nothing while his smile showed rows of razor-sharp teeth. Behind him a quarter of deer men brought a high back chair made of wicker. The lion-man nodded to them as they sat it down. He eased himself into the chair facing the group.
"I am Akanga, and we must talk." He said in a deep rolling voice. Despite his strange shape much like when Alexander had become a... whatever it was he had turned into, Akanga's voice somehow sounded far more human than he looked.
"Yes we do." Alexander admitted, and he slowly turned about leveling a gaze at each and every single broken one which surrounded him.
"First of all, whatever you may think or have heard of our actions up until now, know for a certainty that I will not stand idly by while you harm any of my pack, even its newest omega." Alexander declared coldly.
While Delphi was glad to know that he didn't intend to leave her twisting in the wind, all the same she could have done without the attention his words brought. Akanga took a moment to fixate upon her, and much like Alexander in his more lupine form she had the distinct impression that he was sizing her up for a meal only to be saved by how she was too pitiful to even be worth the effort of devouring.
Then thankfully he returned his attention back to the silver haired man.
"Can you give me any reason why I should not have my followers feast upon for you for all you have done to aid my greatest enemy?" He inquired almost whimsically.
"None of us would be out here if we were still on good terms with Markov, and we wouldn't have been on good terms with Markov in the first place if he had been honest with us. Sadly, as the human saying goes, any port in a storm." He reminded the lion broken one.
"Yes, the False God is very good at deceiving those around him. He holds many of this island in fear of his wrath and dares to call himself Diosamblet... 'the god who walks among us' hah! He is no god and he will not walk once I am done with him!
If so many of my fellow broken ones who continue to worship him even after they have gone beneath his knife, I will not judge you too harshly on that account. Redemption will have a price though, you must toil as dutiful to cast down the False God as you did to aid him." Akanga insisted.
Alexander began to look around at the crowd of countless different types of broken ones that surrounded him.
"How do you expect us to do that exactly?" He asked tapping fingers against his back where Wolf Claw and its sheath should have been.
"I have managed to gather a full fourth of this island's population to my banner. A similar number stand by Diosamblet and the rest cower like the animals they resemble and refuse to choose a side. With such numbers, aided by you 'humans'... the False God's reign shall not survive another week." Akanga predicted.
"Do you have a particular plan for how you're going to assault Markov's estate?" Alexander demanded.
"We will advance to within an hour's march of it, then we will rest and eat heartily while my stealthiest followers set fires which will burn away the trees directly around the estate to gives us a clear field upon which to do battle. Come the next dawn, we attack." Akanga snarled.
Alexander had certainly heard worse battle plans (first among them being "Lets try and invade that place where every single one of my soldiers who dies turn into one more undead we have to fight against, I'm sure it'll work if only enough men are committed to the task!") and if it was lacking in subtlety, somehow he suspected that such was all to the good when it was an army of broken ones who would need to carry out the orders.
"That sounds perfectly reasonable, and we'd be happy to join you on principle of not getting along with Darklords alone. That said, Markov happens to have my sword, and I'm very fond of that sword. When all this is aid and done, I'll be wanting it back. Also I highly suggest you put me and my pack, minus its newest omega of course at the van of your army. We'll be able to do the most good there." Alexander suggested.
"Believe me I want you under my eyes. Yet, you suggest you'll be able to do the most good right in the thick of battle, while you lack a sword?" Akanga noted rather wryly.
"Funny story, about that. What is a sword but a claw for that a human crafts for himself to make up for their own blunt nails? What is clothing or armor but a way to make up for the lack of a pelt? Believe me Akanga, I'm well enough in touch with my inner animal that I can kill just fine without human trappings." Alexander boasted.
The lion broken one and the silver haired man spent a very long time staring into one another's eyes (well eye in Alexander's case) but eventually Akanga relented.
"You know... I believe that you could. Come, let us have a meal together and in the feast your 'pack' shall become true members of my pride." He offered.
XXX XXX XXX
Akanga watched this "Delphi" depart. His own spy network might not quite be the equal of False God's but at the very least he knew the nature of the Diosamblet's most trusted followers.
This one might look human, thought in truth she was anything but. One night shortly after a storm years ago back while he was just a humble man or a humbler still beast (Akanga had no knowledge of his past before he was broken, nor did much desire to regain it) the False God had found a small family of dolphins washed ashore after a terrible storm.
The mother and father had both gotten their bellies gashed open by the rocks that surrounded the island and swiftly perished, their lifeblood momentarily darkening the beach's shores. The two's calf however had been spared such wounds.
A beached dolphin can take a very long time to die, long enough that the the False God could find her, long enough that he could work his warped sciences upon her body to create a new follower.
It no doubt pleased the tyrant to hold up Delphi of a symbol how how he could grant beauty and grace instead of his normal ugliness and deformity even if she was the sole subject he had found worthy of that particular gift.
Clearly the girl had even less grasp of False God's true nature than most of his deluded followers. Well that might be all to the good Akanga reflected. After her overthrew the Diosamblet, he might need to establish... the human term sat on the tip of his long tongue as he searched for something that had no bestial equivalent.
It was not a dynasty, nor heirs or offspring for the phrase had nothing to do with mates or cubs...
Legitimacy!
Yes, legitimacy that was it! It might not truly be needed here among the broken ones, but it certainly could not hurt his chances of preventing another from rising to challenge him just as he challenged the Diosamblet.
What greater path to legitimacy could Akanga possibly hope for than to take the one who even the False God acknowledged as his daughter for a mate?
He would not need her love or even her womb, simply the symbolism of the act alone would help cement his status as new master of the island!
Not that he wouldn't prefer to have her love of course, strife in one's pride was fruitful soil from which betrayal was sure to blossom sooner or later. That was a lesson he knew by heart, and intended to teach his creator. With luck the False God would be something less than apt pupil and require several lessons on the subject...
XXX XXX XXX
Delphi was dangling her feet in a stream when she heard him approach. Unlike the crimson cat, unlike James there was precious little stealth in Akanga's movements.
That or he had wanted her to hear him coming... Whatever the reason, she knew he was coming and she slowly got to her feet and turned to face the leonine broken one.
"What have I done to earn your attention Akanga? I would think you would be busy planning your assault on my father's estate." She noted, unable to keep her voice from showing a hint of bitterness.
Akanga clumsily sat down shifting back and forth several times and suddenly Delphi realized that he was struggling with a tail that he did not wish to sit squarely down upon. Looking at him, Akanga's physical appearance was not too different from many of the feline broken ones she had seen before, though none of them had been made from leonine stock.
As she looked at him closely she could only reflect upon just how strangely human his eyes were.
"I have finished my preparations for the coming revolution, now my gaze turns to focus upon what must come after. It is no mean feat to drag the False God down from his throne, but that is only half the battle to come. The other half is to control what I seek to conquer. To control it... I will need your support." Akanga declared.
Delphi bit her lip as she looked long and hard at the lion broken one.
"Is it true, what some of those in this camp say about you? That you were the first one to be merely 'cracked' rather than truly 'broken' the first one who my 'father' would have accepted and allowed in to live in his estate?" She wanted to know.
Akanga straightened slightly and puffed out his chest.
"I am Diosamblet's greatest creation, because I am a better man and a better animal than he. I will not allow him to victimize this island any longer. I would sooner be cast out of any 'paradise' he offered and live as a wild beast with my kin who he has both created and rejected. " Akanga answered.
Delphi slowly shifted her tongue around in her mouth.
"I think I'm tired of dealing with beasts who manage to look human on the outside. Do you like to swim Akanga?" The question clearly took the leader of the rebelling broken ones by surprise.
"I'm a lion, not a tiger." He answered, and Delphi knew enough about form her books to understand what he meant.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to teach you." She declared with a confidence that surprised even her.
XXX XXX XXX
After Akanga was done taking care of personal matters he gathered together his host including its seven newest members and they struck out back towards Markov's estate.
"If we march to war, we should have some music." Alexander noted his single green eye turning in James' direction.
Almost instantly the red haired werecat produced the exact same harmonica he'd used back on board the Sunset Empires from some pocket or other of his jacket. He blew into it, a great storm of music emerged.
He drew his lips away from it and the music continued, it sounded as if over a dozen loots were all being strummed with ferocious energy as he started to sing.
"Time has worn the soldiers down, marched for many miles. From the northern land so cursed, time to make a stand! The Dame has scorched her nation's land, nothing to be found! Hunger grasp the soldier's heart, several thousand strong!" He belted out the words with burning passion, and little else.
"Cheerful song you got there whiskers." Cal interrupted him though the appellation was perhaps a touch lacking its usual zing given how many broken ones of feline stock marched in the group's wake.
Either way the music issuing from the werecat's harmonica terminated with abrupt suddenness.
"Well of course it starts out depressing, we were being invaded! It gets better though, and Mirri does a great Jacqueline!" James promised, his words suggesting that there was no higher honor he could possibly offer to the vampire's mezzo soprano.
"Either way, I was hoping for something either a bit more appropriate for our situation, or at the very least more generic." Alexander insisted.
James' hat drew a closer to his head as his ears drooped.
"If you insist Alex. Lets see.. something less a bit more appropriate..." He pondered that particular quandary for almost a few minute, before he snapped his fingers and blew into his harmonica again.
He held it passively in one gloved paw as from it came forth a raucous melody assisted by the sounds of some instrument that rested most unnaturally upon the ears. It was of a nature somewhat similar to a harmonica but far louder, stronger, and more high pitched as well.
There was an almost... feral air about the sounds that unfamiliar instrument was making. Before anyone present had a chance to more fully comprehend the strange sound, James broke into song once more. As always he sung with the voice of one who believed that raw energy and exuberance can make a fitting substitute for talent. To his credit, in this particular case, among the broken ones it actually almost did.
"They built this island paradise for us of hoof and paw.
To live together as equals before the jungle's law.
But we were chewed and spat out broken by his evil maw,
Until our wounds are mended by the wolf they call D-Claw!"
James Firecat announced triumphantly.
Then his ears suddenly pressed back against his head once more as he turned to face the leonine leader of the broken ones.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't think of anything that rhymes with 'Akanga' so..." He pointed out with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.
True enough the leader of the island's revolution had looked quite incensed at the conclusion of the werecat's song.
His anger however was, if not completely banished, at least diminished by the earnest of James' comments.
If nothing else, the simple four line refrain was easy enough to remember that it was soon racing up and down the line of broken ones marching off to lay siege to Frantisek Markov's estate.
End Chapter
Chapter 13 comments: Sorry for the info dump on Delphi's back story, there really is just no proper way that I could figure out how to work out the fact that she's actually a Dolphin broken one into the story in any way that felt natural short of... well I'll save that for later. (For what it's worth the adventure itself fails to make it obvious/explain her status to the party also so it's a flaw inherent in the material if you ask me)
Likewise I wish the adventure would establish a more clear time line, but I'm deciding to go with the interpretation that Akanga came before Felix, Delphi or Orson (we do know those three were created in exactly that order but given that Orson was probably a full grown bear when we went under the knife, thus he is still older than Delphi despite having been human for less time... and hopefully the prior sentence didn't cause any of you to go cross-eyed.
The first song James is playing is a modified version of Poltava by Sabaton (that's right you get Sabaton references in and out of universe with this chapter! Just wait till you get to the last Monster Party book, I will f**king have every chapter end with a full length Ravenloft version of a Sabaton song, see if I don't!) which you can see/hear here watch?v=M65mswPJN80 though James is probably playing/prefers the Nightcore cover here watch?v=lwM7lzIIl0Y because hey faster equals better, right?
In our world its a song about the battle between Russian and Swedish forces that took place near the town of the same name in 1709. In Ravenloft the song is probably named "Richemulot" (hey three syllables, it fits) and would have been about the Borderland's War of 716 and Falkovnia's first invasion of Richemulot. Or hell it could be the Executioner's Campaign and their second invasion in 724, there's so pathetically little canon information on either one that you can more or less make it up as you go along.
Either way, since details about the conflict are so sparse when it comes to Richemulot, as I've already said in the general form, I'm going to choose to believe that Jacqueline Renier played a major part in Richemulot's victory (either by giving speeches to raise moral or getting her wererat on and killing Falkovnians, or both, pick whichever answer you like best) thus helping explain why she rose to power when her Grandfather died despite the fact that her own mother was still alive at that point, and why the human citizens of Richemulot look upon her so favorably.
Jacqueline probably saw to it that the song becoming the national anthem (and if Richemulot didn't have a national anthem before then so much the better (spreading a sense of nationalism in Richemulot is one of her chief goals after all so establishing a national anthem is right up her alley)) shortly after her grandfather's ACCIDENTAL death (Jacqueline says it was an accident and are you going to be so crass as to doubt Le Grande Dame?), because having a national anthem about the gigantic ass kicking you handed out to your nation's greatest national rival/threat is the kind of thing that would appeal to someone as egocentric as Jacqueline.
The second song he plays you really shouldn't need me to point out, but if you somehow didn't realize it, is a modified version of "Girl They Call Fitzroy" from Bioshock Infinite which, and this may just be my own Celtic background speaking, is a great song that sadly is about three verses too short. The strange instrumental sound is of course a bagpipe (those are probably from Mordent in Ravenloft so it is none too surprising that James might have a passing familiarity with them (Mordent borders and always has had good relations with Richemulot) which is a great instrument for A: being heard over the din of battle and B: convincing your own soldiers to advance if only to get further away from it...