This was intended to be a short campaign, so here is the final installment. A Device Infernal campaign (the "fantasy Cajuns") will be continuing after a couple week hiatus.
The Eekers' Lament
Chapter V: The King of the Pilts
The Pilts - proud, dignified yet rough-living people, the original people of the Grumid regions, driven into the hills by the Tutelarchs, partly conquered b the Burgundians and then the Tutins. They have a strong sense of extended kinship, and gathered in large familial groups, which collected into assemblies for protection... These eventually coagulated into three loose confederacies - or venes - that held (and still hols to this day) themselves distinct from each other yet were governed by a single king (or queen). This king was at first the strongest warlord among them all, but over time became a kind of detached judge and father figure....Unrecognized by the Haacobin emperors ... the rank of Piltic King remains in Pilt society, obscure, often wretched fellows whose role for their people in current times has become much more one of cultural focus and wishful remembrance... - Factotum
The next morning, they set off to fight the Ravanusa, the spawn of the legendary sea monster the Lampedusa. Using notes in the late Surgeon Plemmsen's journal, they easily found the copper mine that was the likely lair of the beast. A bright sun shone in the crisp autumn air, limiting somewhat Roman's ability to call down lightening.
As they approached the mine entrance, Throgmorton noticed that they were being shadowed by a number of men demonstrating great stealth as they moved through the woods.
Having spotted them, Throgmorton called out for them to show themselves. It turned out to be a party of Pilt warriors led by Teucer Orm. The Pilts were armed with bow and spear and Teucer himself was wearing an ancient mail coat and helmet. He said they were there to help fight the creature and he produced a spiegel blade, a sword of heroes of old, made from a glass-like substance of astounding sharpness. He reported that it had been spun using a shard from Paschendralle, the legendary sword used by King Tacfarinas when he slew (and was slain by) the Lampedusa.
He said this spot was where members of the royal house of the Pilts would offer themselves as sacrifice to appease the Ravanusa. Teucer believed that Lord Danny was descended from Figas, one of the ancient kings and so bore the royal blood. So Danny agreed to pretend to be bound to sacrificial stone to lure the creature out to be destroyed.
The rest of the party and the Pilt warriors took position in readiness for the emergence of the Ravanusa. One of the Pilts blew a a mournful horn to announce that a sacrifice awaited.
There was a gurgling sound from within the dark cavern, then a horrendeous whooshing sound. A squirming ball of worms was projected out of the cave and shot directly toward Danny. He leapt down, barely avoiding the horrific shot.
A mass of worms was writhing on the side of the stone.
One shot nearly struck Roman, who ducked behind a rock near the mine entrance.
Another narrowly missed Brandywine.
She advanced toward the entrance and fired her pistols blindly into the mine. She heard the satisfying sound of one of her shots impacting flesh.
At this horrible attack, several of the Pilts fled. Teucer and several of his men remained and hacked at the masses of worms.
Throgmorton flung a potive at the worms on the sacrfice stone, setting them ablaze.
Careful to avoid the scattering masses of worms, the party approached the entrance to the mine.
Throgmorton attempted to climb the rocks covering the top of the mine, hoping to hurl his potives onto their attacker.
Flossie, who had positioned herself on a nearby summit, gracefully slid down the steep slope to join the rest of the party.
They all charged forward, bright-limns in hand to light the dark space. Roman reaching the entrance first.
Inside, the discovered two bloated horrors that had been regurgitating the masses of worms at them.
Roman's staves struck at one, electricity arcing into the creature. Injured, it was driven back.
They were able to get a good look at the things. What had formerly been human beings were now bloated horrors, masses of worms swarming beneath their skins.
Roman advanced again, hoping to land the killing blow. He inflicted another grievous wound that drove it back further.
It suddenly reared back and spat a great mass of worms directly into the fulgar's face. Roman collapsed screaming and fell into unconsciousness as the worms tore through his mask and into the flesh of his face.
Brandywine inflicted another solid shot into the bulk of the other creature. An arrow from Flossie followed after.
Seeing Roman fall, Danny ran toward him, drawing a healing potive from his coat. As he administered the potive to Roman's stricken form, Danny called to Brandywine, "Another charitable act, remember that!"
Teucer, who had entered the mine by now, charged recklessly forward, slashing with the ancient king's sword at the creature that had downed Roman. Unfortunately, he ran forward just as Flossie was firing an arrow at the creature. The arrow embedded itself into the Pilt's back.
There then came a terrible rumbling sound. A enormous bulbous, pulsating monstrosity emerged from a side chamber. This was the Ravenusa.
The already wounded Teucer charged at the creature, his blade was parried by the fanglike appendage on the Ravanusa's head. In an instance, the Fang struck at Teucer knocking him back, his life blood flowing from the gaping wound in his chest.
Throgmorton hurled a loomblaze onto the vast bulk of the creature. Flames erupted on top of the monster.
It charged toward Throgmortom, who in desperation struck at what might have been the creature's snout with a heavy club. Seemingly in surprise, the creature retreated a few steps.
At this point, the near lifeless Teucer charged forward once again, driving his sword into the monster's flank. The Ravanuse skittered around and struck Teucer one last time, killing the brave Pilt.
His men arrived just in time to see his death. In a rage, they charged the creature. It proved too strong for them and one of the Pilts was killed in an instant.
Hope to gain a respite, Throgmorton flung a vial of Frazzard's Powder at the beast. It's acrid fumes driving it back into its chamber.
The party fired shot after shot into the creature as it retreated. Finally, Danny, dipping his hand into the dead Teucer's blood, charged toward the creature.
Crying out, "Taste the blood of kings!" he thrust his hand onto the creature's head, he used all of the witting power of his surgically modified brain to explode the creature's brain.
The horrific Ravanusa collapsed, dead at last. Dany, all of his strength having been put into this final ploy, fell to his knees. The rest of the party ran in to see the creature expire. Throgmorton pulled Teucer's sword from the creature's flank and presented it to Danny. Looking at it briefly, Danny cast it aside, contemptuously saying, "what am I going to do with such an oversized toothpick"
Roman approached, a scalpel in hand, murmuring about the organs he intended to extract. There was a loud clicking sound as Brandywine cocked one of her pistols and pointed it at Roman's head. Roman thought better of cutting into the creature and backed away. Throgmorton then set fire to the monster's corpse.
They headed toward the exit of the mine. Flossie and Throgmorton scrambled to retrieve the royal blade that Danny had discarded. Throgmorton narrowly succeeded in snatching it from the young archer's grasp. The surviving Pilts bowed down in homage to Danny, calling him their king. "Well, isn't that nice," he responded.
Placing Teucer's body into the handcart, they retired from the woods and began the journey back to Luthian Glee.
They returned the body to Teucer's wife, Nerinai. Although saddened, she did not seem surprised. She was considered something of a seeress among her people. It was she who told them that only the sacrifice of the royal blood would permit the killing of the Ravanusa. The blood of King Oddvicar of old flowed through Teucer's veins and he had avoided confronting the monster for fear of his own death. When Danny, who was possibly of the royal house of Figas, appeared, Teucer hoped to use the newcomer as the blood sacrifice. In the end, however, it appears that Teucer lived up to the deeds of his ancestors and died as befitted a true king of the Pilts.
Epilogue:
Brandenbrass
27 Lirium HIR (Horno Imperia Regnum) 1602
The return trip to Brandenbrass was uneventful, although the guards at the city gates looked askance at Danny's return. Some time later, the man of business handling the estate of Gerrymander Figge confirmed that of the dead man's offspring, his son Danube had proved to have accomplished the greatest acts of selfless charity, especially given the eye witness recommendation of the famed calendar, Lady Brandywine Charcuterie. The bulk of old Gerrymander's estate therefore was awarded to Danny, much to the chagrin of his siblings.
However, immediately upon their arrival in Brandenbrass, they returned to Dr. Allucard to report on all that had transpired. He responded that tragically the boy Amory's condition had continued to deteriorate after they had left. The boy finally died three days prior to their return and had been buried in a pauper's grave. They urged him to retrieve the boy's body and destroy it with fire. He promised that he would do so with alacrity.
After the party left, Dr. Allucard fell into a melancholy. The "click click" sound inside his head and the attendant headaches were getting worse.
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