British Raj
1943

...

Scrooge walks through the humid jungles of India, following his map. Behind him was a Gurkha guide he had hired, armed with a Lee-Enfield rifle. Despite the war going on, Scrooge felt it was no reason to even put his adventuring on hold. Not when there are artifacts to find! And this was no exception.

"Mr. McDuck, pardon my asking, but what exactly are we looking for?" Talonadur Gurung, the aforementioned falcon Gurkha guide, asks.

"Well lad, we are searching for the lost Kingdom of Henapur." Scrooge says.

"I've never heard of it."

"Most haven't. It is a forbidden legend. Long ago, this small kingdom flourished in seclusion. It was wealthy beyond all imagination. However, one day, it became overrun with demons and monsters that slaughtered the inhabitants. The few who escaped sought a mystic and hired them to them forget about it, so none shall meet their doom at the hands of the horrors there."

"I see." The Gurkha responds, unperturbed by the terrifying tale. "But, if everyone's memories were wiped of it, how do we even know it exists?"

"Turns out, not EVERYONE forgot about it. A single family, descended from the treasurer, kept memories of its location to keep people away from it. And memories of the treasures there. And with no one to loot it, it should be quite easy to find the treasure."

"Understood, sir."

Soon, they arrive at the location, finding what seems like a large hill overgrown with foliage in the way. However, with a slash of a machete to the vines, Scrooge reveals a passageway down, and gets out his torch. The entire 'hill' was actually the palace city of the kingdom, completely overgrown after over a thousand years. Scrooge heads in with Talonapur following behind him.

In the passage, skeletons of citizens, demons, and monster alike are strewn about, all long dead.

"Be careful lad, who knows what dangers lie ahead."

"What do you mean?"

"Plenty of these old ruins are chock full of traps to keep intruders out. This kingdom probably wanted to keep thieves out, so they would certainly have guarded their vault."

"What kinds of traps?" Talonapur steps on a pressure-sensitive tile, to which Scrooge pushes him out of the way. From a wall, a flame shoots out where the Gurkha was standing.

"Like that."

Talonapur nods. "Right."

"Just stay close, eyes and ears open." Scrooge advises as they make their way through the passage.

However, at the sound of some rubble ahead being disturbed, Talonapur readies his rifle as Scrooge reaches for him Model 10 revolver.

"Hello? Anyone else here?" Scrooge calls out, cocking the hammer on his revolver.

"Show yourself!" Talonapur demands.

Sure enough, walking into their line of sight, was a female duck with blonde hair and green eyes. Scrooge immediately recognizes her.

"Goldie?!" He asks as he lowers the hammer, and signals Talonapur to be at ease.

"Well, fancy meeting you here, Sourdough..." Goldie says in her typical flirtatious manner.

"You, know this woman?" Talonapur asks.

"Aye, for a few decades. What are you doing here, Goldie?" Scrooge asks.

"Same as you I'd imagine, looking for the treasure of Henapur." Goldie says.

"Of course you are." Scrooge sighs. "Look, I don't have time for this. Given how dangerous this place is, it is best we work together. There is more than enough treasure to go around."

"Hmmm... okay, fair. Do be warned, I nearly got my ass impaled a bit ago."

"Noted."

The group make their way through the winding labyrinth that is the passageway that will hopefully lead to the treasure vault. They descend further and further, more than what should have been possible for an ancient civilization. Soon, the passageway tunnels turn into what are obviously repurposed caves, with water up to their knees.

"Jeez, I can't see anything in this water!" Goldie remarks.

"Aye, we'll have to watch our step. Never know where a sudden drop might be." Scrooge adds as he feels with his foot before committing to a step.

"Why would the tunnels lead into a such a vast cave system?" Talonapur asks.

"Hmm..." Goldie says as she looks at the walls. She then realizes this isn't just repurposed caves... "It's a mine."

"What?" Scrooge asks.

"This entire cave system, isn't really a cave system. It's a massive strip mine. Probably for gold, gems, all sorts of precious materials. It explains how Henapur was so rich: they built atop a massive deposit of gold and such."

"That... that makes sense. Explains why they were so deep in the jungle."

"Yes, but what caused them to be destroyed by demons and monsters?" Talonapur asks.

"Hmm..." Scrooge ponders, having a slight bad feeling as they hear rumbling echo through the cave. Rumbling that is more like the growling of an animal.

As they go deeper, they start to find their current course is merely going deeper into the mine, rather than towards the presumed vault.

"Something is, wrong." Talonapur says.

Then, Goldie trips on something, falling face-first into the water. "Ow. What the hell did I-" She looks and finds, rather than a rock, she tripped over a submerged skeleton. "Oh god!" She says, disturbed as she quickly gets up, when she notices another skeleton. And another. Then more, and more, and more as Scrooge and Talonapur also notice. As they all look in the direction they were heading, they see tens, hundreds of skeletons, almost piled up and strewn about.

"What the hell happened here?" Talonapur asks.

Suddenly, with a scrabbling and splashing, something comes from the darkness and attacks Talonapur, pinning him to the cave wall. With red skin, long claws, and sharp horns, this was obviously one of the demons and monsters that had destroyed the kingdom.

Acting quickly, Scrooge draws his revolver while Goldie draws her M1911, and fire on the monster, avoiding hitting Talonapur. The beast is startled off of the Gurkha, and swipes at the two ducks, who jump back.

"Spread out! It can't take us all at once!" Scrooge orders as he helps up Talonapur, before they all open fire on it, dodging its attacks as best they can. However, they do get knocked around some, swiped into the cave walls by the creature as they unload into it. Eventually, Talonupur jumps onto the creature's back and stabs it to death with his kukri, bringing a swift end to the monster.

Everyone pants and checks themselves for any potentially severe wounds, all while looking at the dead... thing.

"Okay, what the actual hell is THAT thing?" Goldie asks.

"I assume one of the so-called demons that destroyed the kingdom..." Scrooge answers.

"But where did it come from?" Talonapur asks.

Scrooge heads into the depths of the tunnel to where it came from, and finds some sort of tunnel down, that seems to have been made b6 scratch marks. "Well, that's the 'where' the demons and monsters came from..." He looks around, and notes that many of the skeletons around it have picks. "And the how. Seems they dug right into a den of the things, who then came out and killed everyone."

"Well... best we leave them be, huh?" Goldie suggests.

"Agreed." Scrooge says as they turn around and head to properly look for the vault, forgetting that where there is one... there are many more, as dozens of eyes peer from the darkness of the den.

After some time, the trio come across a chamber with large stone double doors ornately decorated with gold and gems.

"Well, that's a vault door if I've seen one." Goldie says.

"Aye. Now, how do we open it?" Scrooge ponders as they look.

Soon enough, they find a pair of levers on opposite sides of the chamber that sit to the sides of the doors.

"How about..." Goldie grabs one, to which Scrooge takes the other, and they pull them at the same time.

The sound of gears and pulleys working emanate from the walls, as slowly the doors open, and reveal a darkened room that slowly lights up, revealing a vast treasure.

"This is it! We found it!" Scrooge says, proudly, as the three enter.

Goldie looks at the gold with glee, and starts filling a sack she brought. Meanwhile, Scrooge is more thorough and goes after what could be major artifacts: ornamental weapons, crown jewels, and so on. Talonapur, on the other hand, simply collects enough to make this trip worth his while, and an ornate golden kukri that he took a liking to.

However, as they are collecting, they hear sounds coming from the hall they came down. Staring there, alert, they realize they should have blown up that entire den, as now dozens if not hundreds of the monsters start swarming into the room to attack them.

"Oh, shit!" Goldie curses as she starts shooting the monsters, along with Scrooge and Talonapur.

"We gotta get out of here!" Talonapur calls, as the trio back up, looking for a way out.

Looking around while firing, Scrooge sees a sliver of sunlight seeping through the stones above them, via a root splitting them. Seeing some dynamite in Goldie's bag, he has an idea. "Goldie! Hand me some of yer dynamite! I'll blow us a way out!"

Goldie quickly tosses a bundle of a few sticks to Scrooge, who ties a rock to the dynamite for extra weight, and, after judging the distance. lights the fuse, and throws it onto the vines, the explosives detonating and blowing a hole in the ceiling, bathing the room in light, which stuns the monsters who are not used to bright light. A vine also falls down, as a way to climb out. However, the entire place starts to shake as the explosion destabilized the entire structure.

"We gotta go! Now!" Scrooge says as Goldie goes first, Talonapur and Scrooge covering her with his rifle and blades.

However, halfway up, Goldie cuts the vine, smirking.

"Wha- Goldie!"

"Can't have these things getting out, can we?" As she makes her way out, and blows a kiss. "Toodles, boys." As she makes her getaway.

"Damnit!" Scrooge curses as he tries to find another way out. Getting a length of rope from Talonapur, he ties a hook-shaped item to it, spins it around, and tosses it through the hole, hooking it on a tree. Climbing up, Talonapur follows once clear, as the two get out before cutting the rope and running for it as the entire complex collapses on itself, getting away just in time as the ruins bury themselves, the treasure, and the monsters, Henapur finally lost.

Scrooge tries to catch his breath, then looks to Talonapur. "You good, lad?"

"Fine, sir." Talonapur says, panting as well, as they look at the ruins.

"Well, I guess that's that... Henapur is gone forever, and the treasure with it."

"Yes, but at least the monsters were buried with it."

"Aye... At least that. Now, best we go. I don't want to know what else lurks out here..."

"Agreed." As they start to head back for civilization, with quite a story to tell.