Amanita (Chapter 14)
Template:Amanita nav Some inns are called "flea traps." Believe me, the bugs are not trapped in there. They're right where they want to be. The ones in my bed woke me before sunset. If I'd actually been in the bed, I wouldn't have been as upset, but after I saw the mattress moving, I slept on the other side of the room. I think I lost more blood to Elzix's subordinates than Diablo's, but I'll live. The floor was cooler anyway.
After delousing, I got dressed, and found that roll of narlant weed. What were you supposed to do with this thing? Burn one end, inhale the smoke through the other? It was dry and lit up easy, putting out a lot of smoke. Didn't smell half bad, so I sucked the other end. The flame went out and it started smoldering, a smoky wisp rising ghost-like to the ceiling. The first lung-full made me choke, but after that, it felt pretty good, kind of warm and smooth, but stimulating. I guess you always gag a little the first time. Since it would be dark soon and everyone would be there, I
went out into the world
Is anyone there?
Hi there Hello
I'm in trouble!
Where is There's jungle
everyone? cats all over! I'm still on Lycander
They're attacking Just got to
everything! Kurast myself
I know about
the cats It's a nightmare here
I'm in Lut Gholein Have you seen
anyone else?
Nobody else yet
I'm trying to I can't get a
get there damned ship Kurast is being
the Amazon seers overrun by its
won't let any go own jungle
Are there only
four of us here? Yes. I noticed that Damn...
The cats attack
day, night, anytime! Where is
everyone? You sure you
want to know?
Have you seen
any of those
giant beetles? No Ick We got giant
mosquitoes
Double ick!
Watch out, giant And giant spiders
beetles spit
lightning when That's worse...
you hit them. What do you do I wish this was
about them? just sorcerers.
Sorcerers aren't
I just keep that disgusting You haven't met
my distance I'm a hand the right ones
fighter! Try fading That should work.
Don't take too
many risks. The This is scary,
big danger is so few of us Have you
still out there to talk to found Inella?
No, I haven't Another one
bites the dust
I'm going to I'll be there real
look for her soon. I think I'll
Be careful! be safe. I've seen a
city up ahead. No Not even
lamps lit, though No lights? cook fires?
That's weird Maybe they can't
get any firewood They have to cook That doesn't
with something make sense
Be careful.
Something At least there
sounds wrong won't be any cats I used to
like cats
Hey, are my
thoughts fuzzy? Kind of A little. Are
Oooh, gnarly you on narlant?
weed!
Just a little They grow it here I don't like
I've heard it's it. Always gave
bad for you me a headache
Doesn't seem Breathing in smoke
bad so far is bad for your lungs
after a while
but not too much Yeah, lamp lung
Too much of is fine Narlant lung?
anything is bad
Whatever. It's
time to get busy The only way to
Time to move. leave Lycander is This jungle is
The cats will find to go swimming not natural.
me if I don't I need an axe,
not claws
So get one. Bye! See you soon! Bye! See you.
Jerhyn's palace was where I'd left it. He was outside, pacing the pavement like he'd been stood up on a date. Maybe the harem girls were finally getting tired of him. The moment he saw me, he scampered over and... bowed? It was a only a short one, but he must be really desperate. Either that, or something had him so scared he forgot he was sultan.
"I have heard of your many deeds of skill and bravery," he began, "and now feel I can trust you with something I have begun to suspect: the wanderer from the west who came to my city and spoke with my people was none other than Diablo himself!"
I took a slow draw on the narlant stick. "No sh!t."
That, he noticed. After bestowing upon me an official glance of displeasure, he went on with the rest of his insights. "We could not tell him the location of Tal Rasha's tomb, so we have done nothing to help with his task. It is well known that the tomb is one of seven in a hidden canyon, deep in the desert."
"Old news, my lord. I'm here to ask you a few questions."
My infamous charm seemed to remind Jerhyn of his station. With a cool stare that might have been impressive from an older, taller, and heavier man, he said, "My advisor Drognan informed me that our 'hero of the west' is impudent, and ill-spoken before her betters. I am displeased to see his judgment confirmed."
"Yeah, I'm just a regular sweetheart, aint I? But there's something I need to know, and you're the man to tell me. How are the harem girls doing?"
His expression froze. All kinds of things must be going through his head, and I couldn't see any of them. "Everything is fine. Why do you ask?"
"I used to know one of the girls in there, in my young and crazy days. Haven't heard from her in a long time. I was wondering if we could catch up."
He stared hard at me. "You? Don't tell me you were in one of our harems."
"Nah, just visited. Anyway, where is she?"
Jerhyn didn't answer for a good three or four seconds. Either he was trying to come up with an ingenious lie, or the idea of me going into a harem had rocked his little world to the core. The sweat breaking out on his forehead was no clue. "I... you... that..."
Might as well keep him off-balance. "I'm sorry, but sometimes boys are just so nasty and smelly and mean, a girl's only got one choice! Her name's Inella. Is she here?"
Wow, he turned bright red. My butt wasn't that red, even with the chafing. "There is no one here by that name."
"Are you sure? She couldn't be anywhere else."
"She is not here. I think... I think your friend is dead."
He had to be too flustered to lie. But I half-knew already. "How did she die?"
"There was..." He glanced around, then at the ground, blinking and stammering. "Before the troubles began, there was an eastern mage, a Vizjerei I believe, who came to Lut Gholein from the west. He behaved --"
"Did he come from... a town there?"
"He mentioned a town named Tristram, and hunting for the demon prince Diablo in the catacombs beneath it. As I was saying before your interruption, he behaved very strangely. Despite that, one of the girls took an interest in him. He had obviously found wealth in the west, so I did not think her attention unusual, though perhaps unwise. Later on, there was some sort of fight in one of the side bedrooms, and the girl was killed."
Damn. "What happened to the Vizjerei?"
"He disappeared from the palace soon after, and has not been seen since. If you're thinking of revenge, you would be wiser to concentrate your attention outside our walls, where a far greater threat than a mere sorcerer looms over us all."
There might have been something I could say right then. I couldn't think of it. Even the narlant didn't make my head buzz enough. "Right. Have fun with the survivors."
The dark chill of the desert wrapped around me like a welcome cloak. The narlant stick had just about burned down, so I tossed it. No sense testing the enemy's sense of smell. The hills had a few more Cat People and leaping lizards. Beyond was a rich oasis, a low spot in the sand where water came to the surface. The stars silhouetted palm trees and cacti, and what looked like the wreckage of a lot more wagons.
Giant beetles were down by the water, and dense packs of mosquitoes in whining clouds. I could hear them a long way off, at least, and poison spread quickly through the swarms. Then, there were the crawling things: huge bugs bigger than a cow, with about a dozen legs each. When they saw me, they spat acidic venom, and laid eggs which quickly hatched into two or three hungry young 'uns. On a return trip, I asked Atma about them. The big bugs were Burrowing Maggots, and used to be tame. Their eggs were good eating, so the locals raised them. Now eggs and adults were poisonous, and too hostile to go near.
Around the oasis, I found the wrecked remains of six wagons and two homesteads, maybe ranches for the local bug-herders. The wagons were pulled to bits and scattered, but not burned. If anything, the holes in the wood looked digested. The houses had been pulled to the ground. What was really disturbing was that there were no bodies. With so many jugs left by the water, there had to have been a lot of people here once.
A round hole in the sand was my only other clue in the oasis. It didn't look like a well. The walls were lined with a cement of sand and some goo that was probably saliva. I've heard ants build like that, but this tunnel was big enough to stand in. Inside, I immediately found some answers: two human bodies wrapped in green goo. Their flesh was mostly gone, and when I poked them, the bones bent like jelly.
Call me too curious, but I went deeper in. The tunnels were narrow and twisted all over the place, and full of Maggots. They seemed to like hiding around corners, I almost tripped over one more than once. Like most poisonous creatures, poison didn't work too well on them. There was a lot of stuff in the maggot lair, travelers' lockers and chests carefully stowed in side chambers and sealed up with walls of gluey goo. The bugs may be smarter than they look, since they know to value valuable things. Then again, they can't use it, so how smart can collecting it be?
Human bodies were everywhere in the maggot lair, all in some stage of digestion. Something in the goo made the skin go clear, so the bones and guts underneath were visible. Maybe that's how the maggots judged their ripeness. I did find a few patches of green where a body used to be, but got taken away somewhere. Weirdly, even though the tunnels were incredibly moist -- sometimes water dripped on my head, which is incredible in a desert -- I couldn't smell rot or mildew.
In a deep part of the tunnels, I found a chamber full of urns. Did the maggots raid a tomb somewhere? The locals use different styles of pottery for the living and for the dead, and these were definitely dead men's pots. I hadn't seen a tomb entrance above, unless these tunnels were inside a tomb complex. Either way, if the maggots found the right thing, they might have made my job easier for me.
In the deepest side-branch of the lair, I found the answer to one question. The creature was a maggot, but bloated like a queen bee, laying adult maggots as fast as she could. Her young started spitting and laying their own eggs as soon as I poked my nose in. The smell was unbelievable. Just going near made my lungs burn. Oh, well, people have called me an exterminator before. Might as well earn the title.
The first thing I noticed was that the queen seemed immune to poison. That made sense, her whole body was probably full of the stuff. I tried picking her young off before closing, but that didn't work either. The b!tch could lay them faster than I could lay them down. I like this bow, it's come in really handy, but sometimes there's just no substitute for getting down and dirty in the middle of things. I took a deep breath, and charged.
First, I took out the cloud of little ones her young had laid. They went down quick enough, and it was out to the tunnel for another lung-full of air. My next try got two adults; the queen had laid one more. Then I got three, but overreached and had to take a breath in the chamber. It was easily the worst mistake of my career. I almost passed out, and barely made it out through a swarm of tiny maggots.
After a tactical retreat back to Lut Gholein for some healing, I stocked up on antidotes and dove back in. With the katar, I could kill two or three adults for every one she birthed, so with careful use of antidotes it came down to me and her. At no point did the queen attack me herself. Like a queen bee, she was too fat to move. She was full to the gills of poison; her death spasms sprayed it all over the room.
"Hello," Cain said as I walked into the square. "You look as though you fell in the bay."
"Yep," I said. "Went straight there after that maggot thing, and you should be grateful. I'm gonna need about a million baths before I feel clean. Got some stuff for you."
"Hmmm... Death's Guard, an unusual find. Ah! You have found a Horadric staff!"
"Huh? That thing?"
"The Horadric runes are just visible. Even better, this is missing its headpiece! It can only mean one thing: you have found part of a key to Tal Rasha's tomb!"
"I thought those bugs might have raided an old tomb... great! I'm going to fall in the bay again, then go to bed. The sun will be up soon."
"Hrm, yes, well... I believe it is past dawn."
I looked up. "It's still night, Cain. The stars are out, you know?"
"True, true... but still, the sun should have risen an hour ago. It is most peculiar."
I looked up again. The stars twinkled back at me. I could tell it was late, I'd been up a long time, but there wasn't even a hint of a glow on the horizon. "Oh, great. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Now I have to go rescue Mr. Sun."