Post by Mindobwe on Oct 31, 2006 21:16:18 GMT -5
A Dark Temple and an Evil Heart
A story by Haulib of the Shombe
Deep in the thick forest known as the bIda rain forest, hidden by years of fear, covered with the fallen leaves of more trees than a Shombe can imagine, there remains a dark temple. It was built of black stone and terror and now the stones are older than old. The temple is tired but still is forbidding. Light filters in between the stones now but the bright sun has yet to burn away the evil taint of the Kosans who built this temple.
We who follow the Oryx came to the dark temple after a hunt that lasted many days. We sought answers to the mysterious curse that brought vicious talking animals into conflict with the people of Mounchili Village. Our n'anga's vision that a dark heart, taken still beating from the body of an undead mchawi lion lead us onward. We sought this evil heart for we believed that its taint was spreading evil amongst the animals of the forest.
When we discovered the temple we found that this indeed was the hidden lair of the evil heart. A pair of awakened vipers attacked us when we tried to gain entry to the dark structure. OleTuba was bitten and the poison caused him great pain. I took a dose of antitoxin as soon as I saw the snakes and was unaffected by the venom when the snakes turned their attacks on me.
Just inside the doorway we discovered a clay jar filled with ancient kosan coins. They looked like they had been undisturbed for many seasons. The air in the temple was foul, smelling of urine, sweat, dust, and mold. Only a little light and even less air came through the cracks between the ancient stones. Someone lit a sunrod and I held it in my teeth as we explored further. Some of the rooms held the rotted remains of old broken bits of furniture, cloth, straw, and feces. In one room we discovered a gourd rattle that remained in good condition. It was covered in words that Sombunto claimed were older than the Kosan tongue. In another room we found an elaborately engraved jug that could hold three to four gallons of water. It was decorated with scenes of human sacrifice. In the same room was a staff with golden caps, decorated with writing in daka-kosa. "Listen so that you might obey" was written on it. It looked to be something a clan elder might carry. Later, after a bit of experimenting, we found that it was enchanted to allow its user to understand strange languages.
The central room of the temple revealed much more than the outer rooms. The middle chamber held an alter covered with the symbols of many evil orisha. The walls were decorated with even more horrible carvings. The scenes on the walls told the story of the temple. The first scene showed Kosan mchawi in a large battle with many dead. Next we saw the bodies of the mchawi being taken here by kosan n'anga. The n'anga then removed the flesh from the bodies, leaving only skeletons. The skeletons were carefully packed in baskets and wooden statues were placed on top. Next, living kosan mchawi gave the n'anga coins and the n'anga knelt before the baskets. Daka-kosan text said, "The wizards of old are dead. Knowledge of magic remains. Respect us and we will ask them your questions. Learn from them and grow in power." Truly this was a place of evil.
Some of that evil still remained. As we entered the next room we spotted a basket adorned with a small wooden statue. From the basket, a skeleton erupted and attacked. We fought the abomination until nothing remained but small pieces of bone. Another skeleton, hiding in another basket attacked us a short time later despite OleTubi's attempts to quiet the orisha by leaving an offering of gold on the alter. Noise seemed to awaken the skeletons in the baskets and as we were fighting the second, the sounds of our fight drew a third from down the hallway. At the end of the passage we were attacked by one of the wooden figures guarding the dead kosans. This fight, after all we had been through earlier in the day exhausted us. We withdrew into one of the least filthy rooms and rested through the night.
In the morning we returned to the room where we destroyed the wooden guardian and made our way down, below the temple, descending a set of stone stairs. The lower level was flooded with dark water about a foot deep. In this flooded ruin we found a water spirit. It was a creature made entirely of water that appeared to want to communicate with us. Sombunto used the magic of the elder's staff to understand the spirit and to allow it to understand us. The spirit begged us for aid. It was trapped in the flooded temple and wanted to get home. We agreed to help if the spirit would pour himself into a vessel that we could carry away. First though, we had to address the reason we came so the spirit would have to be patient for a little while longer. It was reluctant and for a moment I thought it might lash out at us. Instead, with an effort, it calmed itself enough to accept our aid. We brought the sacrifice jar to the spirit and it entered into the ancient container. Then we carried it upstairs and set it in a safe place until we could return.
The rooms below the temple proved to be even more frightful than the ones we had already encountered. We found one room used to prepare bodies for vile kosan rites. Here three water-logged corpses arose from the murky water and attacked. They were bloated with water but were as tough as thick leather shields and incredibly difficult to damage. When they were finally hacked to pieces and stilled forever, we found in the room a set of well preserved mortuary tools adorned with small precious stones. These tools were mixed in with a collection of other rusted and worthless items decayed with age.
Not far from the ancient mortuary we discovered our quarry. The lair of the evil heart was a large room filled with vines on the ceiling. Water covered the floor here too, making for difficult footing and hiding dangerous traps. Intelligent monkey warriors lurked in the thick vines and guarded the heart. Vipers darted across the surface of the water that flooded the room. When we tried to charge in to destroy the heart we found rows of sharpened spikes hiding in the black water. They jabbed our feet and legs when we tried to move into the room. The monkeys attacked from the safety of the vines as we struggled through the water and spikes. One monkey, perhaps a bit smarter than the rest, seeing that the battle was turning in our favor, grabbed the black heart and tried to flee with it. Fortunately, there was only one way out and the beast had to come past us in its flight. It seemed to take strength from the evil thing it carried for it was very difficult to kill and when it turned on us, it was a viscous and deadly opponent. We succeeded in killing the monkey but still the evil heart fought us. Yakubo nearly died when he was struck by a bolt of force from the heart of darkness as we tried to destroy it. Yakubo fell, face down, unconscious into the filthy water. Fortunately, someone was near and snatched him up before he could drown.
The dark heart fought us to the end. We had to hack it into tiny pieces before we were certain the evil inside was truly dead forever. It and its minions had nearly destroyed us all before the end. Not one of us was left uninjured by the vipers, monkeys, their traps, or the evil black bolts that shot from the heart. Despite our injuries, we felt victorious. We had ended forever an evil presence that had festered for ages like a terrible disease. If the Oryx was watching, I am certain that He would have been satisfied that day with those who follow His trail across Nyambe.
A story by Haulib of the Shombe
Deep in the thick forest known as the bIda rain forest, hidden by years of fear, covered with the fallen leaves of more trees than a Shombe can imagine, there remains a dark temple. It was built of black stone and terror and now the stones are older than old. The temple is tired but still is forbidding. Light filters in between the stones now but the bright sun has yet to burn away the evil taint of the Kosans who built this temple.
We who follow the Oryx came to the dark temple after a hunt that lasted many days. We sought answers to the mysterious curse that brought vicious talking animals into conflict with the people of Mounchili Village. Our n'anga's vision that a dark heart, taken still beating from the body of an undead mchawi lion lead us onward. We sought this evil heart for we believed that its taint was spreading evil amongst the animals of the forest.
When we discovered the temple we found that this indeed was the hidden lair of the evil heart. A pair of awakened vipers attacked us when we tried to gain entry to the dark structure. OleTuba was bitten and the poison caused him great pain. I took a dose of antitoxin as soon as I saw the snakes and was unaffected by the venom when the snakes turned their attacks on me.
Just inside the doorway we discovered a clay jar filled with ancient kosan coins. They looked like they had been undisturbed for many seasons. The air in the temple was foul, smelling of urine, sweat, dust, and mold. Only a little light and even less air came through the cracks between the ancient stones. Someone lit a sunrod and I held it in my teeth as we explored further. Some of the rooms held the rotted remains of old broken bits of furniture, cloth, straw, and feces. In one room we discovered a gourd rattle that remained in good condition. It was covered in words that Sombunto claimed were older than the Kosan tongue. In another room we found an elaborately engraved jug that could hold three to four gallons of water. It was decorated with scenes of human sacrifice. In the same room was a staff with golden caps, decorated with writing in daka-kosa. "Listen so that you might obey" was written on it. It looked to be something a clan elder might carry. Later, after a bit of experimenting, we found that it was enchanted to allow its user to understand strange languages.
The central room of the temple revealed much more than the outer rooms. The middle chamber held an alter covered with the symbols of many evil orisha. The walls were decorated with even more horrible carvings. The scenes on the walls told the story of the temple. The first scene showed Kosan mchawi in a large battle with many dead. Next we saw the bodies of the mchawi being taken here by kosan n'anga. The n'anga then removed the flesh from the bodies, leaving only skeletons. The skeletons were carefully packed in baskets and wooden statues were placed on top. Next, living kosan mchawi gave the n'anga coins and the n'anga knelt before the baskets. Daka-kosan text said, "The wizards of old are dead. Knowledge of magic remains. Respect us and we will ask them your questions. Learn from them and grow in power." Truly this was a place of evil.
Some of that evil still remained. As we entered the next room we spotted a basket adorned with a small wooden statue. From the basket, a skeleton erupted and attacked. We fought the abomination until nothing remained but small pieces of bone. Another skeleton, hiding in another basket attacked us a short time later despite OleTubi's attempts to quiet the orisha by leaving an offering of gold on the alter. Noise seemed to awaken the skeletons in the baskets and as we were fighting the second, the sounds of our fight drew a third from down the hallway. At the end of the passage we were attacked by one of the wooden figures guarding the dead kosans. This fight, after all we had been through earlier in the day exhausted us. We withdrew into one of the least filthy rooms and rested through the night.
In the morning we returned to the room where we destroyed the wooden guardian and made our way down, below the temple, descending a set of stone stairs. The lower level was flooded with dark water about a foot deep. In this flooded ruin we found a water spirit. It was a creature made entirely of water that appeared to want to communicate with us. Sombunto used the magic of the elder's staff to understand the spirit and to allow it to understand us. The spirit begged us for aid. It was trapped in the flooded temple and wanted to get home. We agreed to help if the spirit would pour himself into a vessel that we could carry away. First though, we had to address the reason we came so the spirit would have to be patient for a little while longer. It was reluctant and for a moment I thought it might lash out at us. Instead, with an effort, it calmed itself enough to accept our aid. We brought the sacrifice jar to the spirit and it entered into the ancient container. Then we carried it upstairs and set it in a safe place until we could return.
The rooms below the temple proved to be even more frightful than the ones we had already encountered. We found one room used to prepare bodies for vile kosan rites. Here three water-logged corpses arose from the murky water and attacked. They were bloated with water but were as tough as thick leather shields and incredibly difficult to damage. When they were finally hacked to pieces and stilled forever, we found in the room a set of well preserved mortuary tools adorned with small precious stones. These tools were mixed in with a collection of other rusted and worthless items decayed with age.
Not far from the ancient mortuary we discovered our quarry. The lair of the evil heart was a large room filled with vines on the ceiling. Water covered the floor here too, making for difficult footing and hiding dangerous traps. Intelligent monkey warriors lurked in the thick vines and guarded the heart. Vipers darted across the surface of the water that flooded the room. When we tried to charge in to destroy the heart we found rows of sharpened spikes hiding in the black water. They jabbed our feet and legs when we tried to move into the room. The monkeys attacked from the safety of the vines as we struggled through the water and spikes. One monkey, perhaps a bit smarter than the rest, seeing that the battle was turning in our favor, grabbed the black heart and tried to flee with it. Fortunately, there was only one way out and the beast had to come past us in its flight. It seemed to take strength from the evil thing it carried for it was very difficult to kill and when it turned on us, it was a viscous and deadly opponent. We succeeded in killing the monkey but still the evil heart fought us. Yakubo nearly died when he was struck by a bolt of force from the heart of darkness as we tried to destroy it. Yakubo fell, face down, unconscious into the filthy water. Fortunately, someone was near and snatched him up before he could drown.
The dark heart fought us to the end. We had to hack it into tiny pieces before we were certain the evil inside was truly dead forever. It and its minions had nearly destroyed us all before the end. Not one of us was left uninjured by the vipers, monkeys, their traps, or the evil black bolts that shot from the heart. Despite our injuries, we felt victorious. We had ended forever an evil presence that had festered for ages like a terrible disease. If the Oryx was watching, I am certain that He would have been satisfied that day with those who follow His trail across Nyambe.