The Forgotten City XXXII
General Summary
The evening weather was cool and comfortable with a breeze blowing from the north as La Compania Minor made their way from the ruined Rexan citadel back toward the cave. Riven noticed a buzzing in the distance that at first seemed like a delicate itching in her teeth, but became more pronounced as it approached. Elissa caught the blur of movement to her right as a pony-sized wasp-like creature. In a smooth flow and with no change in expression Riven turned nocked an arrow waiting for it to come closer. The Jiam saw the desert creature and thought that it was beautiful, but recognized in it the kindred fire of the Uculukem and though he first tried to placate it, he knew that only one would survive the encounter. With sadness he loosed a stone from his sling, but was unable to hit it. As it buzzed closer Riven loosed an arrow which found a joint in its chitinous armor and drew it's attention. Antonious struck at the beast with his sword, but struck mid-plate and his blow slid off it's shell. Elissa fired the hand crossbow Alex had taken off one of the Domus Kerularios guards when La Compagnia rescued her from Liberus Kerularios. Only Riven had seen her try to fire it and she did not expect much of the shot; It was well aimed, but could not find a chink in the wasp's armor.
To their horror, the wasp lowered itself close enough to Riven and curled it's torso into a C-shape as its massive stinger, pulsing with paralytic venom sank into her belly. She let out a wail as the venom coursed through her body stiffening her limbs and silencing her voice. The creature wrapped its raptorial legs around her and began to lift off.
Elissa dispensed with the hand crossbow and ran at the back of the creature, sinking her keen spear point into a joint in its chitin. The Jiam encouraged Khufu to light a torch that the smoke and flame might disorient it, and Antonious was encouraged by talk of flame as a weapon and did smite the beast with his sword. It fell back to the sand with Riven still tucked under its torso.
Antonious and Elissa carefully lifted the carcass of the wasp off of Riven while The Jiam rushed to minister to her wounds. He saw that her blood was not blackened and moved her to a comfortable position as Antonious built a small fire near her and they waited for the venom to take its course.
As they waited Khufu studied the way the chitin of the wasp attached itself and carefully removed it, preserving the structures with thought to make a shield from it. The Jiam likewise took time to study the stinger in great detail and removed it without damage thinking it would make a frightful dagger or spear point.
Riven moaned before coughing stretching her still stiff limbs. As night fell she had returned to herself completely and wished to continue on without discussion.
As they neared the cave traveling in the near darkness of the late night they hear a chittering and rustling of sand and chitin as another enormous creature runs out of the darkness and whips at Antonious with its tentacle-like antennae. The Jiam lamented that this creature too is deep in its Uculukem and he is unable to soothe it. Antonious turns and beheads it with one stroke. He channels the gods to heal some of Riven's wounds and they trudge on through the night until they reach the cave near daybreak and find La Compagnia in conversation with Neshite delegation.
The Minores relay what they had found. Elissa asked Teleptyon if he could read the scrolls of the Yafwadi Elder. He looked at them puzzled for a moment before his eyes glittered with the realization that they were erudite texts on the nature of reality. He thanked her absentmindedly and wandered to the back of the cave to compare them with the Principia Magicae. Theo sensed the aura of protection on Antonious and then the insignia on his robes, and then the dessicated remains sticking out of his bag. Riven introduced him and he began to tell of war, and troubles with the order and hand him the dessicated corpse of Yamena'a all at the same time. Theo smiled beatifically and calmed him before asking his troubles while gingerly carrying the relics toward the shrine of Ator in the rear of the cave. Khufu collapsed heavily onto the nearest bedroll muttering about the Keb-quality shield he would make the following day out of the wasp shell. Alex took the putrid clothes of the Ghazi they had collected and the bags they had been stowed in and boiled them with ashes, scrubbed them with soap of Theo's making and dried them in the sun all while muttering that about the Mătăhălos being filthy creatures that would give them all lice and bedbugs. The Jiam caught snippets of this and understood some portion of it and chortled. The Jiam gathered water and the date and acacia seeds and wandered out to tend his garden and meditate. They all rested and prepared for a return to the Citadel, scribing scrolls, forging armor and weapons and preparing foodstuffs for travel. La Compagnia Major meanwhile negotiated with the Neshites, who implored them to find out what happened to the son of their chief, who they believe was traded as a slave by the Yafwadi to the Djeti abominations living in the valley.
Kegho gruffly told them that they lost a fighting companion to the Djeti abominations and that they will return to avenge him, but pointed to the new recruits and said that they must prove their mettle before he can trust them to fight at his side. Theo promised they would make haste in preparations and look for signs of the son in the valley, but winced as he gesticulated with his broken arm. Alex suggested a small delegation return to the Neshite village and see their needs and meet with the chief to be better prepared.
The Minores returned to the citadel while the Neshites and Majores continued their discussions. Riven suggested they return through the rear portal. The trip back was without incident and they found the remnants of the dead rats and no sign of the giant muskrats. Antonious walked partly into the chamber where the rats had come from and saw the eyes of a pair of even larger rats. The Jiam followed in to keep them calm while both backed out of the space. They then headed down the rough hewn stairs to find what seemed to have been another rats' nest covered in blood and the chewed and clawed corpses of rats in all directions. The Keb cousins led the way comfortable in the low light of the cavern but saw in the darkness a ghul gnawing on the mangled corpse of a rat. Xamherkhepeshef threw the spear made from the wasp's stinger at the ghul but missed. Antonious came up behind Elissa bearing a torch and the ghul made a gutteral scream and looked up.
