It was the latter part of Yule and Grettir was hosting a feast in Telemark when he received an urgent alarm from Sequarl. Fortunately, amongst the guests were a number of his usual companions, including Paradoxides and Ubaron who teleported Grettir, along with Wilf and Girindor to Sequarl Castle to see what was amiss. They arrived expecting combat but instead found Kisten, Grettir’s first wife in anguish.
She had received a sending from her daughter Signy. She and her twin sister Katla had run away to sea to become pirates. Now they were in desperate danger – captives of cannibals and dark sorcerors in a place called Boko Gemme. Apparently it was in deep jungle to the far south. None there had ever heard of it.
It was Ubaron who found an answer and a solution, for he discovered that there had once been a temple of Isis at Boko Gemme. He had the Isis-given power to travel instantly between the sacred flames in any of her shrines. It seemed that the the flame in Boko Gemme was still alight. Ubaron had to travel between the flames naked, but he had acquired a spell that permitted him to summon pre-prepared items to him.
Ubaron stepped naked from the sacred flame in Boko Gemme. There were guards but he summoned weapons and slew them. Then he summoned the “teleport fans” found beneath Morthrandil (f10 – Return to Morthrandil). Paradoxides arrived with the rest of the party, to which Grettir had added Gunnar, the bowman and rogue he had rescued from Byzantos (G13 – Up the Pole). Grettir departed with his wife’s exhortation ringing in his ears: “Kill them! Kill them all!”
They found themselves deep underground in an ancient and extensive temple complex. They found plenty of opportunity to satisfy Kisten’s bloodlust as they carved their way to the surface through hordes of tribesmen. These were supported by magic wielding shamans but most of the party were well protected from their fire sorceries and black magics. The adventurers had sorceries of their own and combined with their swift and deadly blades, they slew all who stood against them. The remainder fled, many shape-shifting as they went into monkeys and snakes. Girindor used his powers to dominate one of the snakes and bade it lead him to where the prisoners were held.
It led them down again into the complex, though by a different route, to a torture chamber. There a man hung in chains above a fire. He ought to have been dead, but he wasn’t. Grettir cut him down. “You’d be Geth,” he said. “You were supposed to be looking after my daughters, where are they?”
Geth pointed towards a door. They smashed it down. There was Katla along with nine men – pirates from their crew all bound. Grettir freed his daughter who said, “They’ve taken Signy. They’re going to sacrifice her.”
Geth, now freed from his chains and healing before their eyes from his terrible wounds, shape-shifted into a huge, jet-black panther. It sniffed around, plainly seeking a trail. Then without looking back he loped off. The party followed as swiftly as they could. Grettir gave Katla a protective amulet, his Muspel sword and a buckler; he tossed the pirates a dagger to free themselves with; then he and his daughter started to jog in pursuit of the forvalaka.
Geth led them ever upwards until the party emerged into sunlight, and a space that seemed to be an amphitheatre. Nose still to the ground, Geth led the party to the top of the parapet surrounding the amphitheatre. Beyond was a deep gorge into which water cascaded from a mighty waterfall. Above, on each side of the fall, towered a gargantuan statue.
As they approached, they could see that the statues were depictions of two goddesses. One was Isis, the other her dark sister Nephthys, the wife of Set. They both stood with their arms in a warding gesture, looking out across the lake from which the cascade flowed. It stretched off for miles into thick jungle on all sides.
As they passed the statues, Geth turned back to his human form. He had lost the trail. Paradoxides and Ubaron sensed that they had just passed into another astral realm. They were no longer on Middle Earth and cosmic magic could no longer be relied upon. To prove the point Paradoxides tried to cast a spell and earned himself a ferocious headache. Gerindor, on the other hand declared this land to be replete with earth power. He transformed himself into an eagle and flew off to reconnoitre.
He returned an hour or so later to say that he had found their quarry. There was a clearing with a smoking fumarole on the other side of the lake. The party gathered around Gerindor and linked hands. They looked for Geth to join him but he’d disappeared. The elf summoned the winds and they were borne aloft.
As they approached their destination they could see a dozen shamans chanting and dancing around a totem. One was whirling a bullroarer. They could see Signy. She was bleeding from many wounds and they were binding her to a stripped tree, the top of which was bound under tension to stakes in the ground.
It quickly became apparent that cosmic magic, even on devices, was unreliable, so it was blade-work as they landed. Many of their opponents shapeshifted into large snakes or great apes. Paradoxides summoned his guardian squid demon.
Grettir cut his way towards his daughter, but a few sharp blows of a tribesman’s machete severed the rope securing the tree to the earth. She was hoist into the air screaming. Grettir leapt and grabbed a branch so that he was raised aloft with her. As he set about freeing his daughter, Wilf and Gunnar combined to haul the tree top back to the ground.
Just as Signy’s last bond was severed, they heard a mighty roar from the jungle. The last surviving tribesman turned tail and fled. Something was crashing through the jungle accompanied by a wave of unnatural terror that unnerved several in the party. Girindor had to be tackled to the ground to prevent his flight. Grettir took an amulet from about his own neck and put it upon the quailing elf, who immediately calmed. “You need to get us out of here,” says Grettir. “The Eater of Souls is coming. He’ll not be pleased to find we’ve taken his anticipated snack.”
The elf needed no further bidding. The party gathered around as he summoned the wind and they were whirled into the air. As they flew they caught a glimpse of a huge crocodilian creature crashing through jungle and heard its roar of disappointment.
The elf landed on the shores of the lake and they took the trail down to temple once more. There they encountered Geth who said he had gone in search of his crew, last seen cutting their own bonds with Grettir’s dagger. It seems that they had tried to go downriver but had been ambushed. None had survived. Grettir observed that the girls seemed very pleased to see Geth, and he them.
There ensued a detailed exploration and sacking of the temple complex. It seemed that this had once been a joint temple to Isis and Nephrys, but that it had long been in decay, or turned to the worship of whatever the current occupiers held sacred.
The tribesmen encountered were slain without mercy. Only half a dozen slave girls were spared. These said they were the concubines of Nganga, the witch doctor and ruler of Boko Gemme. They were found in what seemed to be his personal quarters, well-protected by strange sorceries and illusions. There they found a goodly haul of treasure. The girls and Geth found their own personal equipment here, and there were many other interesting and useful things. There was also a large pile of diamonds.
They teleported to Basi to return Geth, count the loot and take counsel with the Queen. Grettir encouraged the girls to come back to Sequarl, but they would not. It appeared that their ordeals in Boko Gemme had merely whetted their appetite for adventure. Grettir was quite proud of their spirit but took them aside to speak to them privily.
“No father is delighted to see his daughters in a menage a trois with a liver eating were-panther. However, you are adults and I respect your right to make your own life choices. You are always welcome to come home but, let me make this clear, you cannot bring Geth with you. I do not want to see a forvalaka in the northern world. They are too dangerous and I have a duty to my people to keep them safe. I love you, but I also love my other children. If one of you bears a child by him, then you can never return.
“I will always come to your aid if I am able, but you were lucky that I was at home and surrounded by my friends. Please be more careful in future – for your mother’s sake if not your own.”
The twins nodded solemnly and hugged him. He kissed them and departed for Sequarl with Paradoxides.
H-3
OE Date: Yule 696
Characters: Grettir, Paradoxides, Wilf, Ubaron, Girindor NPCs: Gunnar, Katla, Signy, Geth
Real World: April 2017; Where: Herefordshire
See also Ubaron’s account at: Rescue at Boko Gemme