Chapter 3: Forgotten Town

The party comes to an alarming halt when one of the men cutting through the thicket falls back in seizures. They are well deep into the cave now, the light from the Sayk above not reaching their ground anymore. Vroljez shouts at the men to get back from the vines they were cutting.

“Quick, Yosa, help him!” One of the workers screamed. Another worker, presumably Yosa, emerges from Voljez’s side. Aoax had not seen her there, his attention diverted to his fellow delvers. The woman, wearing little but a grey sash, kneels beside the writhing man. One of the Murn on her haln begins to glow along with her palms. The wounded man calms down to her touch before falling to a deep slumber.

“He’ll be fine, but he’ll be out for a good while. Whatever this stuff is, it’s very dangerous.” Yosa looks to the worried faces surrounding her.

Vroljez lets out a commanding sigh, “we’re far enough now, despite my want to be privy of what lies beyond these vines, I think it best we let the delvers attend to what they do.” Vroljez motions for his men to carry the sleeping man back with them. “I trust you’ll be able to get through without our help.” Vroljez’s rhetorical question leaves the pack of six with only each other.

“So, what’s th’ plan? How we suppos’d t’ get through if th’ plants ‘r’ dangerous?” Frauch flops to the ground, twisting his legs over one another to sit comfortably. No one in the group provided an answer for him.

Aoax closely inspects the foliage. Amid the interwoven plants vying for dominance, a vine of razor sharp thorns twists around a thicker plant, strangeling it. Aoax, careful to not let the barbs pierced him, breaks off one of the thorns. A pungent vermilion ooze begins to seep from the creepers wound.

“I think it might be this thorny plant,” Aoax decrees. The others huddle around to observe the plant themselves.

Thisher rumbles, “that’s all well and good, but that doesn’t change our situation.” The sound of a large creature tearing through brush quiets their qualms. Kmna had begun to claw away swaths of plants, quicker and more steadily than Vroljez’s workers. Everyone is now hushed, in awe that Kmna would risk herself to do this. The plants thorns were like daggers, able to pierce even scale. Aoax then remembers, and tells the group about Kmna’s nya. There is no worry for her safety, she is their ticket through.

“Seir Kmna, please wait,” Drvkauh anxiously asks. “You and Seir Aoax might be able to step on the debris, but we humi don’t have any scales on our feet. We can still cut ourselves.”

Kmna stares at her for a moment then speaks, “You may ride I back.” Her broken Lald and thick accent assured what she said was at least slightly mulled over.

Everyone was in shock to Kmna’s offer, Frauch appalled. “Ride ‘n yer back? Are ye jokin’? I would never even piss on a Loztah like you. Not t’ mention your untrustworthy as Yon (found in Kanøoo). No, not me, ‘ll walk thank you.” Kmna gazes blankly at Frauch, his astounding hatred leaving Kmna unabashed. Kmna then turns back to Drvkauh, and subsequently Thisher, her eyes asking for her voice. Drvkauh regards to Thisher, giving the decision to him.

“Yeah, I guess so. I'd rather get this show on the road than sit here and argue.” Thisher leads Drvkauh to Kmna’s side. Kmna bows and extends her foreleg nearest to them and they climb on. It seems a bit demeaning for them to be riding upon her, as if she a Nel used for travel. But Aoax supposes it can’t be helped.

Kmna then looks to Mangal, her glance inquiring ing the same question to him. Mangal slightly bows to Kmna, “It would be best for me to ride atop Aoax, we do not wish to put all our eggs into one nest as the saying goes.” Mangal glances to Aoax to check for approval. Aoax, not truly approving of the situation, agrees with wise Mangal.

“What about you Frauch, I guess you’ll ride with Aoax?” Thisher questions.

“Na, I can walk on anythin’ without breakin’ it, I’ll be fine,” asserted Frauch. This came as a relief to Aoax. Mangal had earned a slight form respect with him, but noisy Frauch would be dreadful to carry. In the end it was Thisher and Drvkauh on Kmna’s back, Aoax carrying Mangal, and Frauch trailing behind.

As they walk, Kmna lazily swatting away the overgrowth, Aoax realizes that their source of light is no longer the Sayk above but was Mangal’s glow. It was soon after this revelation that Mangals light was truly a blessing. Kmna had finally tunneled through and breached the cork of foliage to their destination. Mangals light, seeming intentionally so somehow, becomes stronger, illuminating a ruin of a village.

The sudden burst of light and noise startled the creatures inhabiting the village, a moment of panic and scampering consumed the main street they were on. Quick to notice before they were gone, most of the fleeing Nel were basilisks. Dangerous reptiles whose venomous spine can paralyze even a fully grown Hydra Drake, at least for a few minutes.

After the initial excitement of their discovery, Mangals glow lessens to his original strength. Partially replacing his light is a soft purple glow of the Sayk penetrating violet plants covering cracks in the ceiling of the cave. It seems, when the village was active, the cracks were cleared away to let light in during the day. But now that nature has taken back the ruined town, very little light gets through.

The stone rubble gives impressions of once proud yet simple stone buildings. The village must have belonged to Humi, hiding away from the predators of the swamp. The architecture, or atleast what is left, showed little creativity. The once thriving village is now only a skeletal vine-snarled shadow of its former self. The village was simple with a main cobblestone road running through the center of the cave, and buildings lining along side it with some tributaries of roads branching off. It’s almost unimaginable that a treasure so valuable to hire six delvers and bring fluff would be stowed away in such an unassuming settlement.

Frauch, of course, is first to break the silent awe, “Welp, guess we should git t’ work. It’d be best if we split up, make things go faster.”

“Okay,” Thisher comments, “whatever we end up doing, I’m sticking with Drvkauh.”

“And I ain’t bein’ paired up with that Loztah. ‘Ll take Mangal with me” Frauch turns to Aoax, “Birdy, yer kind can see in th’ dark right?”

Aoax, irritated at Frauches presumptions, mutters that it is true. Muzoval, naturally nocturnal, do indeed have an easier time seeing in low-light environments. But Frauch taking Mangal, without even offering an alternative, left a lump of anger in Aoax’s throat. Swollowing that anger Aoax says, “Yeah, but then how are Thisher and Drvkauh going to see without Mangal.”

“It’s fine Aoax,” Says Drvkauh, “I came prepared, I bought a light emitting Murn with me. I know Mangal can glow, but what would happen if he suddenly stopped?” Drvkauh tapped a small smooth yellow Murn on her Haln. A moment later, from that Murn, drifted a small illuminating light.

Aoax really doesn’t want to split up. It would be safer and easier to go together. But the town was big enough, and they had no idea exactly what they were looking for. So Aoax decides to go along with the plan and starts down the main street with Kmna. Thisher and Drvkauh took the right side of the town while Frauch and Mangal went the left.

After a minute or two, long enough for Aoax to cool down, it dawned on him: he’s stuck with Kmna. His emotions quickly dithered, as the anxiety of what was said the night before is brought back to his mind. Kmna, knowing full well of the jar that she had opened, was actually the first to speak. “I too big to go inside, I leave that you. I look over into open place, quick look.” Thankful for Kmna’s diversion, Aoax begins to enter buildings which rooves did not give way for Kmna to see from above.

Nothing, absolutely nothing at all. The most interesting thing that either Kmna or Aoax had found in buildings was rudimentary furniture, broken pots, and other useless things. Being thorough in their search, they took hours looking in each and every house close to the main street. A few houses had become nests for basilisks, but they would merely hiss at the intrusion of Aoax, not wanting to waste their toxin if they did not have to.

All in all, a fruitless search. There was no shout of excitement from the others either. It was a boring abandoned village with nothing in it. Druding on, Aoax and Kmna communicate little but frustration at the lack of findings.

Eventually they come to the richer district of the village. Larger ruins and faded paint on some buildings. The grey, mauve saturated stone was no more interesting that what they had seen before. Some of the buildings have more refined furniture inside of them, but anything that wasn’t stone had long since rotted away.

Along their path, small sporadically placed tunnels catch Aoax’s eye. It must be some other nel that’s made their home here, hopefully less threatening than the basilisks before.

At the end of the long street stood the final building for them to check. A building of manifest importance, twice the size of those around it. Aoax could not guess what it was for, but whatever they were looking for was most likely to be inside. The, somehow still intact, structure was big enough to allow Kmna a tight fit through the open doorway.

The interior of the establishment is larger than it had seemed from the outside. Rows of decayed columns line the main passage. The ceiling dropped lower on the servant's side of the pillars. At the end of the tunnel wilts a crumbling stone throne. Though behind the chair stands no wall, but a inky void that Aoax can not make heads or tails of what is beyond.

Kmna and Aoax approached the chair, the darkness hiding long forgotten secrets within. After a moment of hesitation Kmna took in a deep breath, after which she loosed a plume of bright flame, giving light to an extraordinary scene before them.