Undead, Ytepka, and the mighty Taban

Randolph filed out of Executioner’s Run with the murmuring crowd. They were still buzzing from excitement over the unexpected interference in the raptor run, but for Randolph, that was merely a convenient cover as he watched for his friends.
Soon, he spotted Eirikr, who wasn’t a very discrete figure. The genasi was standing still, obviously peering around in search of someone he recognized. Chultan locals gave him a wide berth.
Waving a friendly hand, Randolph approached Eirikr and leaned in close. “Have you seen anyone else?” he asked quietly.
“Just you,” said Eirikr. “I suppose the others headed…somewhere. I don’t know what they would choose as a meeting point.”
“Well, we’ve still got business at the market,” Randolph suggested.
A man of few words, Eirikr nodded and started walking that direction. Randolph joined him.
At the armor merchant, Randolph asked after their armor modifications.
“You can come by and pick them up in the morning. We won’t have your modifications ready before we close up tonight,” the man answered over his shoulder. He was busily working on repairing an obviously expensive bit of hide.
“Okay, then. Have you happened to see any of our other friends come by in the last few minutes?” Randolph asked, a little disappointed that he would go without armor for the rest of the day at least.
The vendor shook his head. “Haven’t seen them since you were all here earlier,” he volunteered.
Eirikr and Randolph turned away and shuffled into the street.
“Do you think we should wait here and see if they turn up?” Eirikr asked.
“Nah,” Randolph replied. “I bet they went back to the Thundering Lizard. It would be nice if we could find Azaka, though. I wanted to ask her about the supplies we’d need in the jungle.”
“When she left earlier, didn’t she mention needing to get her boots repaired? I bet she’s at a cobbler,” Eirikr said thoughtfully.
Randolph asked a nearby merchant if there was a cobbler district in the market. Of course, there was. He and Eirikr headed that direction and were pleased to spot Azaka sitting barefoot at the edge of one of the stalls.
Waving to her, Eirikr caught her eye. She didn’t look exactly happy to see them, but she was welcoming enough.
“Afternoon, gentlemen. What can I do for you?” she greeted them as they approached.
“Hello, Azaka. I’m glad we ran into you here while we’re still at the market. We were wondering what kind of supplies we’d need for our jungle expedition,” Eirikr asked politely.
She smirked. “You know, if you actually hire me, I’ll make sure that we have everything we need before we set out. But in the meantime, I’ll tell you the basics.” She raised a hand and ticked off items as she talked. “First, you need a way to acquire fresh water. Jungle trekking is hard work. You need at least 2 gallons per day for every person in the party. Most people carry rain catchers. I don’t care if you purify it, make it, carry it in, whatever, but if you don’t have water, you’ll get exhausted fast, and bad things happen when you’re exhausted in the jungle. Next, you need incense or salves to repel insects so that you don’t get a nasty disease. Then, of course, you should do whatever you need to do to be prepared to fight.”
“What about sleeping? Should we get, I don’t know, bug nets or tents or something?” Eirikr asked.
Azaka nodded. “Tents are ideal. You’d be surprised at what will crawl into a sleeping bag with you out there in the jungle.”
“I wouldn’t be too surprised,” Randolph muttered, thinking of all the times lately he’d encountered unpleasant visitors in his own sleeping bag.
“And food?” Eirikr continued. “Are there ways to get food in the jungle, or do we need to bring in rations?”
“You can find things to eat, but it’s still a good idea to bring provisions,” she answered. “There’s no guarantee that you’ll find enough food every day. If you don’t eat, you get exhausted. If you get exhausted, you get lost. If you get lost, you get eaten by the undead. So, just bring some provisions with you to make sure.”
The cobbler handed Azaka her nicely mended boots, and she handed over some coins before bending to lace them up.
“Thanks, Azaka. Where can we find you later?” Randolph asked, seeing that they were being dismissed.
She smiled up at them. “Your friends know where to find me. I’ll be at the Thundering Lizard later. It’s where I am most every night.”
Eirikr and Randolph looked at each other and nodded. Without any more discussion, they headed off to the Thundering Lizard, both hoping that’s where they would find their friends.

Meanwhile, Rosalie trailed behind Ororo as he left Executioner’s Run. This was harder than she expected it to be – the harengon was even more prone to distraction when he wasn’t with his traveling companions. He climbed buildings, flirted with strangers, wandered aimlessly into and out of shops, and had a maddening tendency to suddenly turn around and head back the exact way he just came. If Rose had looked like herself, she was sure he would have noticed her.
Ororo eventually wandered into a fairly busy square and stopped walking. He looked around thoughtfully, nose twitching slowly.
Rosalie wondered what was going on in that long-eared head. She backed away and found a place to watch him discretely.
Finally, Ororo pulled out his lute and plopped down on the cobbles. He was right in the middle of the street where people had to skirt around him, but as he started to play, the crowds’ reactions went from mild annoyance to delight. As annoying as he could be, Ororo certainly did have more than his fair share of charm.
Five songs later, Rosalie grew impatient. It didn’t seem like Ororo was planning to stop his impromptu concert any time soon, especially when people were tipping him. She sighed and made her way back towards the Thundering Lizard alone. Just before she reached it, though, she stepped into a shaded alley to shift back into the familiar body her friends would recognize.

Far from Executioner’s Run, Dara threw off the cloak that had disguised her in the crowd. Blood soaked through her new clothes.
“Awe, hells,” she muttered. “I just bought these!”
Kitayne frowned at the injury on Dara’s side. “Does it hurt?” she asked.
“Of course it hurts. Are you daft?” Dara snapped. “I got speared in the side.”
Although she was tired from all of the other excitement of the day, Kitayne used her magic to stop the bleeding and stabilize Dara’s wound. It didn’t heal entirely, but it hurt much less. “Better?”
Dara sighed with relief. “Yeah. Sorry for snapping at you, and thanks for the healing.”
They made it back to the Thundering Lizard before any of the others. Assuming that their friends would be along soon, they found a table and ordered some drinks from Terina.
“Have you seen our friends since we left this morning?” Kitayne asked the barkeep.
“No, not since you went off. How’s your furry friend, the rabbit man? I’ve got something special for him to try,” Terina answered with a grin.
“Oh, we lost track of him while we were, uh, shopping,” Kitayne answered.
“You know, he was surprisingly useful today,” Dara commented thoughtfully. “Frugal, even. He’s the one that found out we could just modify most of our armor for the heat.”
“Make sure you tell him hello from me,” Terina said before she swished away to get their drinks.
Shortly after their beverages arrived, so did Eirikr and Randolph. The two men seated themselves with Kitayne and Dara, waving away Terina as she started their way.
Kitayne raised her glass to them in greeting. “I’m glad to see you made it back from…shopping.”
“Our friends were reunited in the end. They went off together without any further trouble, and they paid us a little for helping out,” Eirikr volunteered.
“Oh, good,” Kitayne said with obvious relief. “You know, I might have something to say to that magister. What kind of justice is it throwing people to dinosaurs? They just let people get eaten by raptors for supposedly committing crimes?” In her swell of emotion, she forgot her desire to be discrete.
Terina overheard and laughed. “Ah, you’re really not from around here, are you?” she chuckled.
Kitayne wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”
“The merchant princes run the city however they want, and if you run afoul of their law, then you might just face their raptors,” Terina said with a shrug. “It’s not that bad of a system, really.”
“Not that bad?” Dara scoffed.
“What are the trials like? Who decides whether you’re guilty enough to be ripped to death?” Kitayne demanded hotly.
“Trials?” Terina repeated. “They’re not much for trials, the princes. It’s too much time and effort and expense to find out what you already know. Maybe someone gets thrown in the pit for a crime they didn’t commit, but, besides, we’re all guilty of something, aren’t we?”
“It seems like a poor system to just throw people to dinosaurs without a trial,” Dara argued.
Terina leaned on their table and fanned herself, wiping away a few beads of sweat. The bar was slow, and she seemed perfectly happy to chat for a minute. “Well, they might get trials. I don’t know. The merchant princes are mostly a fair lot. I just know that as long as you pay your dues and keep to the law, you’re probably going to be just fine,” she said.
“Sure, they seem totally fair,” Eirikr said flatly.
“Do they fight amongst themselves, these princes of the city?” Dara asked.
“Oh, I’m sure they have disagreements,” Terina answered airily, “but for the most part, they cooperate. They’ve got their areas of the city and they don’t interfere with the parts that don’t belong to them. Ah, excuse me,” she said suddenly, and hurried off to help a customer who was waving her down.
Watching her go, Dara shook her head. “Well, anyway, we’ve had quite a day, and we’ve still got a job to do. I say we should do it sooner rather than later. Time is moving along.”
Randolph agreed. “As soon as the others get back, we’ll go,” he said.
“Oh,” Eirikr cut in, “we saw Azaka in the market on our way back and had a chat about what supplies we’ll need for the jungle.” Briefly, he listed the recommendations the guide had made. “You know, if we keep going to her for advice, we might as well just hire her. She’s been very kind to give us so much help without payment.”
“Aye, I like her best out of everyone we’ve considered, anyway,” Dara said.
“I don’t have any objections about her,” Randolph added.
Kitayne took a sip of her tej. “I do,” she admitted.
Everyone turned to look at her, waiting.
“Well, it’s the full moon thing,” she explained. “Even if it really is just a religious ritual, I don’t like that we’ll be left defenseless for a few nights every month while we’re out there in the jungle.”
“I don’t think you can exactly call us defenseless,” Dara argued.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t hire her. I just don’t exactly trust her with my life,” Kitayne finished.
“Of course not,” Eirikr agreed. “But are there any guides that you would? If one thing is certain, it’s that everyone here has their own agenda. I don’t think we should let our guard down around anyone, Azaka included.”
“We can handle ourselves for a night or two during every full moon,” Dara pointed out.
Kitayne sighed. “I agree, I suppose.”
They didn’t flinch when Rosalie dropped into a chair at the table.
“I am never helping anyone ever again,” Rosalie huffed.
“Oi, yes, you will,” Dara responded with a smirk.
Rose cocked an eyebrow. “Not for less than 25 gold, I won’t,” she insisted.
“We can’t just let innocent people get eaten by dinosaurs,” Kitayne put in. “In fact, I don’t want to let anyone else get eaten by dinosaurs. We should put a stop to that Executioner’s Run thing. It’s not just.”
“We came to this god-forsaken island for a reason,” Rose argued, “and it’s not to change their political systems.”
“I can’t believe it,” Randolph said, “I agree with you completely.”
Dara glanced between the two of them. “The world is ending,” she muttered.
“I don’t have a problem with you,” Rose said to Randolph. “I just think you smell. You’re icky.”
“And you’re prissy, entitled, and shallow,” Randolph shot back.
Rosalie smiled. “We agree again.”
“Has anyone seen Ororo?” Eirikr interrupted.
“Oh, yes. I don’t think he’s headed back this way any time soon. I was following him for a bit, but he started playing his lute and seemed to be attracting quite an audience, so I just left him there,” Rose explained briefly.
Eirikr scowled. “We should go get him before we do anything else, right?”
“Well, hold on,” Kitayne said, holding up a hand. “We could go get him, but we could also just leave him there.”
“Aye, and he might make some money,” Dara agreed.
“And we’ll be able to get things done a lot faster,” Randolph chimed in.
There were nods all around, and they decided to leave Ororo to his own devices while they went out to collect that debt from K’alahu. As they pushed their chairs away from the table to stand, though, Terina swept over to them.
“Going so soon? I have something for you to try!” She held up a carafe filled with a purple-red liquid. It looked like it had flower petals swirling in it.
“What’s that?” Rose asked skeptically.
“It’s a nice harengon drink! I asked around and got the recipe. Thought it would make an impression on your generous friend, but since he’s not here, I thought you might give it a try, anyway. I think it’s pretty tasty,” Terina explained, pouring them each little cups of the fragrant elixir.
It was quite a nice drink, in fact – floral, fruity, and with a background of spice that gave it an earthy depth. While they sipped appreciatively, they asked Terina about the Temple of Savras.
“Oh, you’re paying a visit to the God of Luck?” Terina chatted, sipping her own glass of the harengon spritzer. “Thinking of betting on the races tomorrow? I bet it will be busy.”
“People go and pray to Savras before a race? Seems like he can’t grant everyone luck at the same time,” Eirikr commented.
Terina shrugged. “It’s still a popular place right before the weekly races. If you’re looking for a blessing, make sure you follow the ritual.” She explained that the temple had a set routine. First, you paid an offering in whatever amount you felt was right. Then, you walked through the pool of water to get to the altar. Finally, you knelt before the altar of Savras and prayed for the luck you wanted. “Personally, I think that the luckiest people are the ones who work for their money instead of praying for it, but who am I to say?” she finished.
“Speaking of working for our money, we ought to go before it gets too late,” Dara suggested. “Thank you for the drink, Terina. It was delicious, and we’ll surely tell Ororo about it.”
“Especially since it’s non-alcoholic,” Kitayne muttered.
As they stepped outside, all five of them watched the rooftops warily. There didn’t seem to be any water cisterns in sight. They still only made it a few steps down the road before something stopped them in their tracks.
There was a horn blast so loud that they could feel it vibrating the cobbles beneath their feet. It was coming from Malar’s Throat. All around them, people started to scatter, all heading inside as quickly as possible.
“What’s going on?” Dara shouted over the din.
“The undead!” a scrawny Chultan man called back as he hustled away. “They’re attacking!”
“Where?” Randolph demanded, but the man was already gone.
Following the sound of the horn, Randolph charged. He spotted the city gates closing, and outside those gates, a shambling hoard of zombies and ghouls was headed their way. Without pausing to consult the rest of his companions, Randolph sprinted through the gates.
Their only choices were to follow right behind or leave Randolph to face the undead on his own. Nobody needed to discuss it. Everyone burst into a run to make it out of the gates before they locked down – even Rosalie, who was doing a lot more running today than she had ever planned.
Randolph stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the city guards, and surprisingly, he looked much more capable than any of those men who were lined up to defend the city.
The guards were wearing ill-fitting chainmail armor, and several of them were noticeably trembling as the undead approached. Several people were already stained with blood and gore, but it was brown and dry as if their shields and armor hadn’t been cleaned after the last battle.
“I should have faced the raptors instead,” one man whined pitifully.
Glancing back at his friends, Randolph pointed to a ghoul. “Don’t let those touch you,” he shouted at them. “They can paralyze you.”
Dara and Eirikr, realizing that neither of them had armor, quickly used spells of protection. Kitayne called upon her divine senses to get the layout of the battlefield – she wanted to make sure that nothing was sneaking up on them, and was relieved to find that the creatures they could see were the only threat at the moment.
The roughshod guards cowered together, not sure what to do. Only two had ranged weapons, and they fired a barrage of arrows and spears at the approaching hoard. Several of the ghastly creatures were hit, but they didn’t seem to mind.
“Oh, shit,” one of the footmen cursed. He looked ready to bolt.
Long accustomed to exterminating the rot, Randolph fired arrow after arrow. He focused his efforts first on the ghast at the center, and when it fell, he began to pick off the ghouls. Strangely, he seemed to be enjoying this.
Dara, on the other hand, was not. Every spell she hurled at the approaching zombies and ghouls hit. Clotted blood and stinking meat peeled away from their bones as her attacks impacted, sizzling with lightning, but the creatures only fell for a moment before they pulled themselves back up and continued their approach. “What the hell?” she shouted. “Why won’t they die?”
“They’re already dead,” Rosalie pointed out as she cast curses from a safe distance.
“You know what I mean!” Dara snapped.
Finally, the hoard reached the quaking guards. One archer backed away to get another shot, but the other froze. He was staring, horrified, at a grotesque woman who was crawling towards him in a crooked backbend. Bits of her ribs poked out of her skin, shining with wet decay. She croaked something unintelligible at the man as she lurched his way, and he was too stunned to move.
“Get out of the way!” Kitayne shouted, surging forwards, but it was too late.
By the time the guard realized the danger he was in, he couldn’t move fast enough to get away. A bony hand shot out and clutched at his leg. The bony fingertips tore into his flesh, pulling him down, and his scream was silenced when the zombie’s jaws closed over his windpipe.
Now, Kitayne was in the thick of the fight. Hot or not, she was glad to still have her metal armor today. Clawed hands and blood-stained teeth gnashed at her as she swung her great sword.
A bulky zombie wrapped its fetid fingers around her arm. “Feel the wrath of Hoar!” she cried exultantly, slashing down at it. A burst of divine light illuminated the battlefield, blinding even in the tropical afternoon sun. The zombie dissolved with a horrid screech.
Kitayne looked down at herself for a moment. Most of the blood she could see was clotted and old, but some of it was surely her own, too. There was no time to consider her injuries. She was surrounded.
Eirikr wisely adopted Randolph’s strategy and stayed out of reach, casting ranged spells in an attempt to thin the herd. His efforts went much like Dara’s – while his aim was true, he didn’t seem to have enough power to down any of the undead for very long.
Arrows began to fly from the city walls above them. The first flurry didn’t hit much, and the men on the ground turned back angrily.
“Are you drunk?” shouted a footman as he cleaved a zombie’s head in two.
A strange giggle came from above. “Maybe a bit,” the voice shouted back.
Randolph rolled his eyes and picked off the last of the ghouls. “Only zombies left, now,” he yelled to rally his friends. “Hit them hard and they should stay dead!”
This bit of encouragement seemed to bolster the city guard’s courage, but it was short lived. There was a wet yelp and a sickening crunch as another man went down, tackled by the undead.
“Ayn, no!” his friend cried desperately. The other man lunged at the crowd of zombies that were chewing on Ayn’s twitching body, and they immediately turned their collective attention on him. He didn’t even have time to scream as he died.
“Fuck this,” swore the man who had shouted at the archers for being drunk. He threw down his sword and bolted back towards the city gate. “Let me in, you abusive bastards!” they could hear him shouting as he pounded on the closed entryway.
Kitayne watched as the last two guards stood back to back in the middle of a closing crowd of zombies. Randolph was shooting them as quickly as he could, but there were too many to hold off. She stepped closer and raised her sword again. “Feel the wrath of Hoar!” she roared, and her swing brought with it a burning ray of divine light. Three more zombies fell, and only one got up again.
The two guards held their swords ready.
“You’ve got my back, right?” one asked, panting with fear and exertion.
The other one gritted his teeth. “Nope,” he yelped, and bolted.
“Mother fu-” the first started to say, but a crawling zombie leapt up from behind and caught him off guard. He didn’t survive long enough to finish his insult.
In a panic, the other man didn’t watch where he was running. He collided with a zombie with a mushy thud, and as he backed away in horror, he didn’t see the bloated monster behind him. The creature wrapped its rotten fingers around his head and squeezed, popping one eyeball from its socket.
Kitayne winced at the hysterical screams and took a few steps away. She was almost relieved when the guard died.
Now alone on the battlefield, the adventurers continued their fight. Perhaps the men on the walls had sobered up, because their shots were actually helping thin the herd. With the help of Rosalie’s curses, even Dara and Eirikr managed to squash a few. Finally, there were only three undead left to kill.
They were all gathered around Kitayne.
Rosalie moved a little closer and mustered up all her energy to curse and blast the zombies away. It had little effect. “If I have to actually touch a zombie…” she grumbled as she tramped through the piles of fresh blood and putrid decay towards her friend.
Bleeding heavily now, Kitayne struggled to lift her sword. She staggered back a few steps, and her vision blurred with pain and blood loss.
“Kitayne is hurt badly! Can you get there?” Eirikr shouted at Randolph.
Randolph ran a few steps, but realized that he couldn’t get across the field in time, and he didn’t have a clear shot to take down any of the attacking zombies, either.
Rose looked around and realized that she was the only one close enough to help. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
The biggest zombie pulled back and slashed his bony hands at Kitayne’s face, but Rose reached out and caught his mouldering wrist.
“Burn,” Rose growled, and the zombie burst into flames. She pulled her hand back and looked at it in disgust. It was covered in globules of dead flesh.
Kitayne was shocked as she watched Rose step in to save her. There wasn’t time to wonder, though. With the last of her strength, she swung her sword and sliced an approaching zombie in half.
That left one final undead to contend with.
“I’ve got it!” Dara called enthusiastically. She had tromped across the field and was finally in range to help. She wound back and hurled an orb of lightning at the final zombie, which was lunging with open jaws at Kitayne. The orb connected in an impressive shower of sparks, and the zombie exploded with a splatter of lukewarm, stinking guts.
Rosalie stared down at her fouled clothing in disgust. She looked like she was about to say something, but she clenched her jaw and kept silent.
“Well, that was fun!” Randolph huffed as he made it back to his friends.
“Fun?” Kitayne breathed. “That’s not really what I would call it.”
Back at the gates, they saw that one guard had survived, after all. The first man to run was allowed back in as another guardsman came out.
This new guard, a tall half-orc, seemed better suited to the job. His armor was clean and fit him well, and he walked with the confidence of someone who handled battles with undead hoards from behind fortified city walls.
“Rose, you’re charming,” Randolph whispered. “Talk to that guy and negotiate us a good reward for helping.”
In response, she glared at him, but didn’t argue.
Eirikr muttered an incantation and the gore vanished from their clothes. Rosalie seemed in a better mood after that.
“Hello, strangers,” the head guard called. “Thanks for your help out there! We weren’t expecting it, but you really held your own.”
“It seemed like you needed the help,” Rose said sharply, but sweetly. “What’s your name, sir?”
“Bazbin Thrral,” he introduced himself. “I’m here to offer you what reward we can give. We don’t have much in the way of gold or silver, but I can give you this healing potion. It doesn’t seem like any of the men we sent out will need it after all,” he offered.
Rose narrowed her eyes. “Five of us almost died for you, and you’re offering us a single healing potion?” she challenged. “Seems a little insufficient, don’t you think?”
Bazbin smiled. It was not a pretty smile. “You can also have five gallons of tej. Pick it up at any guard booth. I’ll let them know to expect you.”
“And?” Rose prodded.
He sighed. “And I suppose you can loot the bodies. Be respectful of our men, if you don’t mind, and leave them alone. Especially leave the armor. We’ll use it again. Anything else you find is yours, though,” he offered lamely.
Rosalie didn’t love the idea of picking through the pockets of rotting corpses, but the others set to the task eagerly.
“I’ll just sit here with you, Kitayne,” Rose said. “You should rest up, anyway.”
After a little while, the group came back together for a rest.
“What did you find?” Kitayne asked.
They counted the coins they had scrounged and were surprised to find that the total was nearly 50 gold pieces. It had been a tough battle, but a lucrative one, at least.
“I also found these on that pirate ghast,” Randolph said, holding out his hand. On his palm sat six dainty gold figurines of rabbits with tiny single horns.
“Almirajes,” Eirikr mused. “How interesting.”
“I bet they’re worth some cash, too,” Randolph grunted as he put them back into his pocket.
“It’s getting late in the day, and we still have a job to do,” Rose pointed out. She looked over at Kitayne. “Are you feeling up to a bit of debt collection?”
Kitayne sighed. “I’m feeling a little better, but I really could use a bit more rest before we get into another conflict. Can we go back to the Thundering Lizard first? I’ll just clean up these cuts and catch my breath, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
They all agreed that they could use a moment to recharge before they picked yet another fight. It had been quite a challenging day so far, and they were all a little scraped up. They headed back to the pub, nodding to Bazbin as they went back through the gates into the city.
“Pick up your tej whenever you’d like!” he grunted at them as they passed.
Back at the Thundering Lizard, they settled in at what was becoming their usual table. They expected Terina to stop by, but instead, a tall and serious-looking Chultan man approached them. His clothes were pristine and very fine, and the triceratops broach on his chest sparkled conspicuously. Gravely, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two heavy iron tokens. The first, he placed in front of Dara. The second one clinked down in front of Rosalie. Without ever speaking a word, the austere man turned and left.
“What was that about?” Dara mused, picking up the token. It was emblazoned with a triceratops, much like the man’s broach.
Terina’s voice was startling. “Oh, you’ve only been in town for a day and you’ve already been marked by the Ytepka Society? You’re off to a good start,” she quipped. “Round of tej?”
“Sure, we’ll have a round. What’s the Ytepka Society?” Dara asked.
Rose was turning her token over, frowning at it.
“They keep order and peace, in a way. These coins are a warning. You’ve disturbed the peace and you’ve got to contact the society for a resolution,” Terina explained. “I’d not ignore it.”
“What happens if we don’t contact them?” Rose wanted to know.
Terina shrugged. “They kill you.” She swept off to get their drinks.
“You know it’s about the guy that was supposed to get eaten by raptors,” Randolph pointed out.
Dara braced her hands on the table and leaned forwards. “Oi, and you’d have us just let an innocent man get torn apart by dinosaurs, then?” she demanded hotly. “I don’t regret what I did, and I’ll tell this society myself.”
“I certainly have a thing or two to say about throwing people in a pit to get eaten by raptors,” Kitayne put in.
“I didn’t want the guy to get eaten, either,” Randolph argued, “but you have to admit that it was a bit messy to handle it that way.”
“Well, you certainly weren’t handling it, were ye?” Dara snapped.
Eirikr held up his stony hands. “We did what we did, and now this Ytepka Society wants to see us. All there is to do now is to go see what they want.”
“And I think we can do it tomorrow,” Rose said decisively. She wrapped her hands around the drink that Terina delivered, but did not take a sip.
“How do you think we should approach this Taban guy?” Eirikr asked, changing the subject.
Dara wiggled her eyebrows. “I think we might be able to use our charms to persuade him,” she suggested.
Rose smirked and nodded in agreement.
Randolph tried not to roll his eyes. “That might work, but I think we’d better have another plan, just in case.”
“I’d rather not threaten him if we don’t have to. Let’s try to avoid a fight,” Kitayne chimed in.
“Yeah, remember what happened when Ororo tried to cast magic on Terina to get a discount. She wasn’t too happy about it,” Dara agreed.
“Okay, so we’ll try to persuade him and avoid a fight,” Eirikr confirmed.
“But if we must fight…” Randolph trailed off, looking around at his friends.
Rose raised her chin. “I will burn his house down if I have to. I will burn his life,” she said creepily.
Everyone shot a concerned look at Rose, but nobody argued. It didn’t seem prudent.
As they finished their frothy mugs of tej, they began to formulate a plan. Dara and Rose would do their best to get Taban somewhere alone. The rest of the party would wait nearby until they were needed. If the ladies could persuade him to pay up, great. If not, they would wing it.
“Alright, then. Are we ready to do this?” Dara asked.
Kitayne pushed her chair back and stood up. “Let’s go.”
As they made their way to the Temple of Savras, the streets were busier than ever. It seemed like there was a bookie every few steps, each shouting about the dinosaur races tomorrow.
“The races are tomorrow, eh?” Dara commented.
“Seems that way,” Randolph said. “We’ve already had enough distractions for one day, though. We can talk about betting later.”
“It’s a good thing that the bunny boy isn’t with us,” Kitayne commented, looking around at the excited crowds of gamblers placing bets. “I don’t know if we could stop him from betting all the coin he’s got.”
The Temple of Savras was especially busy, which made sense. The God of Luck was bound to be a popular deity on the day before a dinosaur race. They headed inside and quickly spotted a dwarf fitting Taban’s description. He was in line, apparently waiting to walk through the pool and pray at the altar for luck.
“That’s him, isn’t it?” Dara whispered excitedly.
Taban was, as expected, dressed in his fine gladiator armor. He was a formidable looking dwarf with a thick blond beard, a sturdy shield and bundle of spears strapped to his back, and a stony expression on his face.
“We’ll have to get him outside, away from all these people,” Kitayne murmured.
Rosalie nodded. “Go on. We’ll meet you out there,” she said.
Dara grinned at her. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Rose smiled back and fluttered her green eyes. “Oh, Mister Gladiator, what big spears you have,” she giggled.
Plastering on their most vacant expressions, Dara and Rose joined hands and clamored up to Taban.
“Oh, goodness, are you the gladiator we’ve heard about, Mr. Taban?” Dara prattled.
The dwarf gave them a hard, but curious stare. “I am. What do you want?”
Rosalie reached a delicate hand towards his chainmail. “My goodness, that armor certainly is impressive. I haven’t seen anything like it on Chult. Did you have it custom made?”
“I did. It’s good, dwarven craftsmanship,” Taban replied, obviously a little proud, but still confused. “What do you ladies want?”
“I’ve never met a gladiator before,” Dara answered vapidly. “It must be so interesting to make your living by battle.”
“And so very manly,” Rosalie added.
Dara shot her a look. That might have been laying it on a little thick.
Fortunately, Taban didn’t notice. “Well, yes, it is interesting, I suppose,” he mused.
“I’d love to ask you more about it,” Rosalie said earnestly, “but not here around all these people.”
“Would you maybe step outside with us?” Dara suggested.
“We’re just dying to talk to you in a more private setting,” Rose added.
Taban looked between the two of them, then back at the line ahead. Both of the girls leaned on his arms hopefully and batted their eyelashes. “No, I don’t think so,” he said dismissively.
Dara glanced at Rosalie, and the girls immediately changed tactics.
“Well, the truth is,” Rose began, “I don’t just want to talk to you about your armor.”
“You don’t say,” Taban mumbled.
“There are some men who have been bothering us, and we want to hire you for protection. I just don’t really want to talk about it here. You never know who’s listening,” Rose continued. She cast a meaningful look around the full temple.
Taban scoffed. “Go on, girlies. You can’t afford to hire me, anyway.”
Rosalie pulled out her purse and loosened the strap just enough for Taban to see the pile of gold inside. “Are you sure about that?” she murmured.
The dwarf straightened. “Well, that’s a different matter. Okay, then, let’s step outside,” he agreed.
Once they crossed the threshold, Dara and Rose pulled Taban further away from the door and off to one side. Kitayne stepped up behind them, blocking the path to get back into the temple.
“Hey, back off,” Taban warned, moving his hand to a spear handle.
“Oh, don’t worry. She’s a friend of ours,” Dara soothed.
Rosalie smiled sweetly. “Do you know who else is a friend of ours?”
“K’alahu,” Dara volunteered.
Taban looked between the two girls and chuckled. “Oh, K’alahu, eh? You’re not really doing this, are you? The three of you?” He rolled his eyes.
“K’alahu said that you owe her a bit of a debt,” Rosalie continued.
“Go home, girlies. You’re out of your depth,” Taban said, and he turned to walk back towards the temple.
Kitayne blocked his way. “Oh, I don’t think you’re going anywhere until we’ve resolved this matter,” she said.
Taban flared up and tried to shove Kitayne back, but she stood her ground.
Standing at a bit of a distance, Randolph sized up Taban. Clearly, he had nice armor that was well used and still in good condition. He had the look of an experienced fighter. Cautiously, Randolph marked his target, moved around to get a better shot, and fired an arrow.
Quick as a flash, Taban readied his shield and deflected the arrow. He tracked where the shot had come from and spotted Randolph. Clearly thinking that the ranger was much more of a threat than the three women, Taban reached back and hurled a spear right at Randolph.
Randolph managed to dodge, but it was a near thing. The heavy spear stuck in the ground, mere inches from impact.
Standing off to the side, Eirikr decided not to enter the fray just yet. It was better to have someone Taban didn’t know about in case the tides turned against them. He stood back and watched, ready to move as soon as he was needed.
“This could have been so much easier,” Rosalie sighed. She lifted her hand and pointed a thin finger at the dwarf. Taban was immediately engulfed in a sphere of magical darkness in which only she could see. Stepping into the void with him, Rosalie leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “I will rain hellfire on you. You might think I can’t do anything to you, but you’re wrong. I will end your world, little man.”
Kitayne was close enough to hear, and she suppressed a laugh. She rather liked this side of Rose’s personality. Though she couldn’t see in the darkness herself, she stepped into it and trusted her other senses to help her prevent the dwarf’s retreat. “Look, Taban, we’re not trying to hurt you,” she reasoned. “We just want you to pay your debt. Pay, and we’ll all go away.”
“If you think you can come for me, then do it. I doubt you could hurt me, even if you tried,” Taban replied smoothly.
Dara spun an illusion, trying to persuade Taban to pay his debts. She created a mimicry of his own voice to speak into his ears. “I’m an honorable man. It’s not right to let my debts go unpaid.”
“You can try all the silly little spells you want. I’m not so easily fooled,” Taban shouted.
Annoyed, Dara resorted to violence. She flung a firebolt into the magical darkness, and it connected hard with Taban’s shoulder.
“Ouch, you bitch!” he cried, but he didn’t falter.
“That’s what you get, you spiteful little man! Just pay your bills and we won’t have to do this!” Dara shouted back.
Randolph tried taking another shot, but he couldn’t see into the darkness any better than Taban could see out. His arrow missed.
In the darkness, Taban pulled out another spear and tried to strike out at where he thought Rosalie would be. She easily avoided the spear.
Rosalie resumed her attempts to intimidate the gladiator. “I don’t think you want to deal with the wrath of Asmodeus, do you? You can pay your debt, or I can make an example of you,” she hissed.
Taban growled. “You won’t intimidate me, little girl.”
Rosalie set her teeth. “Well, what happens next isn’t my fault, then.” She tried to burn him with a sacred flame, but he twisted out of her reach.
Finally pushed to attack, Kitayne took a swing at Taban. She didn’t connect. “Just pay your damn debts!” she roared in frustration.
Eirikr watched curiously, wondering what was going on in that magical darkness. He wasn’t going to make a move until he was needed, holding onto that crucial element of surprise for as long as he could keep it.
Taban wasn’t succumbing to intimidation, and their attempts to beat him into submission were not going as well as they’d hoped. They were both helped and hindered by the magical darkness, and they didn’t know how long they would have to “persuade” Taban to pay up before someone else at the temple might intervene.