Game Log 20

## Calling Billy Corgan!

Astra had gathered everyone together to reveal what she had found out. Even the loquacious Mantis quietly listened to absorb what was said.

"These darkness spirits belong to Subare. According to the trolls, she was the first child of Chaos but is not chaotic herself. She is highly respected by them but not often invoked as most would rather just avoid her attention.

"Unfortunately, we now HAVE her attention and not in a good way. Everyone who was captured by the caravan have been marked as sacrifices to Subare. The two outcomes of that I researched is that the people have their souls devoured by her spirit of retribution, Candle-Eyed Jack..."

"Or?" Mantis couldn't help himself.

She sighed, "Or their entire villages or clans are wiped out if anyone dares to ignore Jack's call. We have, at most, a few days before he calls."

Ryala exclaimed, "That's horseshit! We didn't destroy their caravan. It was those lunars!"

Mankar grunted, "Don't expect ancient troll goddesses, or their retribution spirits, to be at all reasonable. But, despite being unreasonable, we might be able to work with this. The greater calamity can be avoided as long as no one avoids the call or hinders those who have heard the call, right? But nothing has been said about how fast people go. If we hobbled the ones called, except for the firstborn, we can meet this spirit before the rest get there."

"How would that help?"

He grinned bloodily, "If we kill this spirit, she can't very well send him out after us, can she? Even if he is reformed in the future, that will be a new spirit, in a new year, and will likely not pay attention to us. If it does, we can deal with it then."

Night came quickly and Mankar's sleep was again interrupted by Mia's cries. He found a shivering bundle of blankets on top of the bed and drew his weapon. Some might not have taken the girl's fears seriously but dark things DID prowl the night so caution was well advised!

He bent down to look under the bed and was surprised to see Mia hiding there. She whispered urgently, "I think something is on top of my bed!"

Mankar jumped back but not before something stabbed his neck from behind. He felt an overwhelming urge to find Mantis but the invader in his body didn't specify the method so he decided to bellow for the shaman at the top of his lungs!

Within seconds, Mantis, the other firstborn and half the village was watching the big man standing in the center of the village. Anger pounded through his veins and he was about to deliver a 'message' when Mantis quickly cast pacify on him. With a very calm voice he repeated his words from before. "The spirits insist that all called by Candle-Eyed Jack not resist less all be destroyed. Oh, by the way, there's a spirit in my body entering from the back of my neck." He turned so that he faced both Mantis and Aud. "Would you be so kind to remove at your earliest convenience?"

"Yes! Certainly!" Aud used her long, thick need and quickly lanced his neck, releasing the spirit which Mantis then destroyed or drove off. There were at least seven other people and several hours of effort later, they were all cleared from the possession by the spirits.

Mankar waved everyone off, "Back to sleep to gather what rest you can. We have some busy days ahead."

The next day was busy indeed! All agreed that Jack's call would likely come at night but people were split on how to prepare. Mantis and Aud made cookies as substitute 'sacrifices' for Candle-Eyed Jack while Mankar and Ryala made heavy 'boots' for all affected villagers to wear so that they would be mobile but move much more slowly than the firstborn.

The only incident is that Mouse tried to nab a sacrifice cookie and was firmly denied. Astra made some replacements but they were so tasteless and grainy that the youngster declared herself lucky that people had been trying to stop her from eating the other cookies!

That night, just at dusk, the Call came. Mankar gritted his teeth and growled, "It's there but I can resist it. How is everyone? Remember, you can't avoid the call completely but you can't give in either."

The others seemed okay but in the villagers' eyes a glow formed and they started shuffling determinedly in one direction. The heavy weights on their feet kept them from moving quickly but move they did!

It was then that noticed that Astra was gone!

"After her! We can't let her get there first lest she be eaten!"

Somewhat embarrassingly, Astra wasn't the most adroit runner or swimmer. Despite being complete unencumbered and fully cooperating with the geas placed on her, she barely kept ahead of the other villagers who were wearing improvised weighted boots.

Finally, they came to a dark hollow set between low hills. Despite the hour and the lack of a moon in the sky, it wasn't complete black there... because a forty-foot wide gourd with flaming eyes squatted in the middle! Its huge mouth had a green glow different from the red flames of its eyes and all three cast a baleful light toward the approaching people!

Suddenly, the pumpkin inhaled and all present felt a powerful suction. Small animals that were huddled fearfully in surrounding trees were ripped from their hiding places and destroyed instantly when entering that green maw. Astra saw this and a delighted expression covered her face. "At last!" She ran toward the spirit momentarily pulling ahead of the other heroes.

"Stop her! Träumer!" Mankar bellowed.

The Alynx, much faster than Astra even at her best raced forward and clamped his powerful jaws on her bootheel, immediately tripping her. As she fell face-first into the humus, the others started their attack!

But, before they started their assault, Mantis led with... cookies! He quickly tossed representations of all the villagers into the glowing maw where they were disintegrated immediately. The response? Caustic stomach acids boiled out and toward the shaman!

Mantis immediately switched to his arrows while Ryala summoned both a flamestrike and sent her blazing sword forward to attack. Aud kept herself in reserve while Mankar rushed in, a huge sword in one hand and an equally huge mace in the other.

In return, the massive retribution spirit howled loud enough to shake the dying leaves from trees miles around! It vomited foul-smelling seeds at the speed of slingstones toward everyone in the area causing many injuries, even to Aud who was near the back! The little healer gritted her teeth and focused on healing the others before she dealt with her own wounds.

Ryala moved closer but to one side so that the gourd couldn't target everyone at one time. For the same reason, Mantis lifted into the air to be out of an easy line of fire. Being injured broke Astra out of her daze but she quickly recovered and wove bolts of arcane fire to assault the monster!

Surrounded, on fire, and being crushed by various weapons, the gourd howled again and began to roll through the mini-valley, crushing all that it encountered! Ryala, too close to dodge easily, had a leg crushed and nearly torn off while her and Mankar's face were splashed with acid, blinding them! Ryala laughed and, despite being half-crippled, seemed to relish the attack despite not being able to see.

Mantis, meanwhile, paused with a look of concentration on his face, seemingly ignoring the combat. He hovered over the fight and stared at the gourd.

The rolling attack grew more haphazard as the chunks gouged out of the spirit by sword and mace prevented it from rolling easily. It gathered itself for a mighty explosion, its eye blazing brighter than ever and howling continuously! But, just before it could release, two things happened... Mankar, blind and without Ryala's advantage, struck the gourd with a mace glowing with mystic destroying its body! At the same time, Mantis, having finally beaten down its mystic reserves, broke through and capture its spirit! With a laugh, he tucked Candle-Eyed Jack's soul into his fetch bag and then landed smugly.

The clearing grew quiet and dark except for bits of smashed pumpkin that were still on fire here and there. Aud quickly fixed everyone including a few villagers that arrived just as the spirit was destroyed.

After assessing the situation and discarding the rocky weights on their shoes, everyone began the long walk back to the village.

Mankar asked Mantis. "Did you actually catch Jack?"

"Indeed!" He patted his bag of spirits.

"Soooo... Subare was mad at us before for not being quietly sacrificed and now we snatched her favorite retribution spirit? There's no way that could lead to problems right?"

The shaman just cleared his throat and pretended not to have heard the question.

-Call comes, Astra fails her roll and everyone follows here.
-Pumpkin fight! Glowing eyebeams! Seed spit! Corrosive pumpkin juices! Useless cookies!
-CEJ is beaten physically (final blow by a blinded Mankar) but Mantis had also worn down its POW and gets it as a fetch. This won't cause ANY problems...