The Forgotten City XXXVII
General Summary
Once more the party returned to the lagoon in a cave far to the south west of fallen Paruhatpa. Alex eyed the depths warily, occasionally poking at the water with the butt of his sling staff before quickly snatching it back as they rounded the lagoon. They found boats still moored by the braziers and statue of a serpent bodied goddess with six arms. Khufu smashed the foul idol and the crushing of it rang out along the various hard stone surfaces of the caverns to their east. He grimaced and hoped that it would sound like a simple rock fall over the cataracts of water. The party clambered into boats and were about to shove off when they realized The Jiam was placidly watching Mitra splash in the edge of the water and romp on the shore line. There was no room left in the boats. Assuring them he would be fine, they navigated their boats into the surprisingly strong current. Kegho, Riven and Teleptyon took the lead and had made it just about to the shore when Alex cried out because a great fish had reared out of the water and he did not feel like being a parable frequently misunderstood parable of obedience and grace.
Kegho's powerful arms sank the oar back into the current and they rounded a rocky outcropping as Alex and the fish stared each other down. Riven from just behind Kegho loosed an arrow landing a might blow with it. Kegho also shot and Alex swung his sickle; each made a more modest blow than Riven. The fish, now wounded lashed with its tail at the Oameni. He felt burning where spines on its tail had pierced his skin but Dhureus protects and the fish's poison could find no foothold in his system. Teleptyon threw a dart which also did wound the fish. Elissa, Herk, Antonious and Khufu all attempted to attack from their boats but had difficulty finding their footing.
Teleptyon missed with his second dart, and Alex and Herk failed to strike true. Riven's arrow landed true and Antonious struck a mighty blow with his sword. Kegho loosed another arrow also striking a might blow. The fish again swiped with its poisoned tail and missed Elissa bit hit Antonious who was made torpid by its venom. Elissa and Khufu continued to struggle in the rocking boat. Riven snapped a bowstring while drawing and Alex missed badly with his strike. Khufu brought down his hammer just as one of Kegho's arrows had entered its skull and he drove the shaft home, killing the fish.
Before the group could regain their composure from the pitched battle, Alex had stripped naked and tied a rope to the front of the boat and his waist, and dived under and climbed over the corpse of the great fish and rode the beast back to shore as the Keb rowed the boat. Once on shore he gutted and stripped the fish for fine fresh meats and offered some to the pescetarian Ouranic priest while Elissa and Riven went back to the far shore to retrieve The Jiam and Mitra, When they landed Alex tossed the dog some choice fish organs and handed The Jiam spines and poisonous organs from the tail wrapped in bit of skin.
Alex suggested if the guard house was abandoned they could break some of the tables up to smoke the fish, but handed them each about as much fresh fish as they might eat before it would spoil.
He and The Jiam crept quietly to the door and could hear noise that sounded like it could be one large or several smaller creatures. They returned to the beach while Kegho prepared to open the door. He saw more bearmen guards and shouted "hail Kharoun!" hoping that they would see him as a friend. This caused confusion and they were wary of his advances. Alex yelled "we have fish." and then more quietly asked Elissa how to say fish in Khemite and shouted that instead. The guards pushed their way down the hall to take the surfeit fish and began eating with reckless abandon, but Mitra was bothred by the look of the bearment and began to bark at them. They warned that they should shut up the dog and became increasingly agitated until Theo did speak honeyed words to them and they returned to eating pleasantly.
The party began moving toward the second door of the guard house. The Jiam struggled to dissuade his new friend from barking at the guards and to come with him. As Teleptyon opened the second door so that Riven and Elissa could pass through into whatever laid beyond they heard a guard down on the beach howl "My fuckin' ass!" followed by peals of laughter from his companions. It was too late and Elissa and Riven were through the door facing four more guards. Elissa continued the ruse of saying that they had supplies and that the other guards were on the beach eating everything, but the guard yelled "I don't know you, that's my purse." Riven wordlessly nocked and arrow and shot. One of the guards moved into the room and threw an axe, but missed. Khufu on the beach commanded one of the guards to swim and he ran into the water weighed down like Edna Pontellier.
One of the guards laughed even harder to see his companion splashing in the water but the other caught that Khufu had forced him to do it somehow and attacked. Elissa ran her spear point into the chest of the nearest guard as Teleptyon, and Theo entered the room loosing bolts of Ar and the silvered head of a mace respectively. Khufu dodged out of the way of the guard's attack and Riven loosed another arrow.
Rewards Granted
1 week fresh rations per player (pescetarian)
