Café de Nuit

Adam wrote:Bennedict nods slowly, some pieces just beginning to fall into place.

He points at himself and the others, then wipes his hand down over his drawing, erasing the gibbering blob.

The plant-man stares at Benn for a silent half-minute, and then turns to walk into the steamy, smoky rear chamber where its fellows tend the fire underneath the big copper tub.
It pauses a few feet in, and then turns back, motioning as if calling Benn to follow it.

Benn looks with some timidness to make sure the others are nearby and ready (in some capacity) and steps inside the room.

He still keeps his hands clearly visible as he walks towards the plant person that indicated he should follow.

Adam wrote:Benn looks with some timidness to make sure the others are nearby and ready (in some capacity) and steps inside the room.

He still keeps his hands clearly visible as he walks towards the plant person that indicated he should follow.

Walking into the fumy back room, Benn sees a half-dozen short plant men gathered around the fire and the large tub set above it on stone blocks.
A grotesque, spiny and hairless mockery of a dog scuttles along the rear wall. The weird quadrupedal creature stops to regard Benn with lambent green eyes, and then scurries along toward an alcove.


His guide takes him closer to the fire and the metal container.
The smell of hot garbage grows stronger with every step Benn takes.

The guide indicates the long, deep copper vessel. Benn's height allows him to peer in without getting too close; the simmering fluid mass within looks like some sort of disgusting stew made from the effluvia of Pont's storm drains. Benn spots rotten vegetables, fallen leaves, moldy cheese, bread crusts, broken barrel staves, a dead animal that might be a house-cat, pale lumpy stuff that could be flour turning into dough, and less identifiable things.

The creatures begin a slow, rhythmic dance, circling the tub while stamping their feet and tapping their chests.
Benn’s guide points at Benn’s feet and at his chest. It joins the dance.

Benn hangs back, watching the strange ritual dance around the reeking, seething stew in the large copper tub, racking his brain for the significance of the creatures’ actions, making and discarding possible connections…

He has passed stripped gardens all over town. Where did the plants go?

He has seen few stray animals, when a town suddenly abandoned might well be expected to have more roaming the streets.

The vegetables bobbing in the mix look rotten. Peering into the steam, Benn sees that the animal he spotted is indeed a dead cat, and well-decayed.

The plant men might just be cooking a communal meal of organic things gathered from the town. It may be that they prefer eating spoiled foodstuffs because of their partly fungal nature.

But their ritual dance calls to mind the drawing Benn’s guide had made in the hallway. Several of its kind gathered in a circle around a taller humanoid figure. And over the tall one, the sign of the hand with a fanged maw.


Now the creatures slow their dance, stepping away from the fire and the tub, swaying their uplifted arms and waggling their fingers.
The guide indicates the copper tub.

It retrieves a long copper ladle from the floor, mimes drinking or eating from the utensil, and then hands the tool to Benn.

The creatures continue dancing in a widened circle, now moving about Benn and the cookfire.

If Benn had to make an educated guess, he'd say he's been invited to join the plant men in their communal worship of the power whose sign is the devouring hand, thus making peace with them.

Bennedict steps forward towards the pot, grimacing somewhat at the foul odor. He takes up the ladle, curling his nose as he lifts it to his face. "In for a penny, in for a pound..." he mutters before taking a sip of the foul brew.

Adam wrote:Bennedict steps forward towards the pot, grimacing somewhat at the foul odor. He takes up the ladle, curling his nose as he lifts it to his face. "In for a penny, in for a pound..." he mutters before taking a sip of the foul brew.

Benn's hasty prayers completed, he chokes down the vile stuff.
It tastes just as bad as he imagined, like a midden heap washed away by a city street-flood. His stomach roils.

A spear of light appears over his head.

The creatures hiss, stamp their feet, and pull away from Benn.
Some reach for weapons.

Then darkness gathers below the radiant weapon hung in air.
Fingers, a hand...
The hand lifts to close over the haft.
The glowing weapon dissolves. The hand opens, palm open. A fanged mouth opens in the palm.

Benn's own mouth opens then, as he empties the contents of his stomach on the floor of the steaming, smoky chamber. Some vomit sizzles at the edge of the cook-fire under the big copper tub.

The green men stare, motionless, at the sign suspended above Benn.

Raen, watching as much of the scene as possible from the opening, whispers to the adventurers near him.
"If things go bad, I will use a spell to blind everyone temporarily. Could you rush in and get our Archivist out if that happens? Let's just hope that he didn't contact a disease that will turn him to a laughing maniac from that brew."

IN THE CHAMBER OF THE STEAMING TUB


One of the plant-men retrieves the dropped ladle and scoops up some of the rancid stew: a hunk of soggy, black-spotted carrot and a smear of slimy green dough.
The green humanoid thrusts the utensil close to Benn's face.


The others divide their attention between Benn and his nearby comrades.
They clutch weapons in their knobby fists but make no sudden moves, neither advancing nor falling back.

The four-legged beastie crawls around the near end of the tub, watching the outsiders gathered in the nearby hall like a dog guarding its home.
...

Suddenly, the ghostly image of the Hand-that-Feeds-in-Darkness swoops down and strikes the ladle from the plant-man's hand!

Benn rises to his feet, vomit still dribbling from his lips, green-faced and shaky.

The plant men lower their weapons.
The spiky, frilled dog-thing slinks away into the smoke and steam.

Raen, about to throw the spell, pauses at the scene, confused. He is still ready to support Benn if needed.
"Anyone else has a clue as to what happened there?" He whispered to his comrades.

Katrin shakes her head "Benn did an insane thing, and insanity follows? I'm afraid that's the best I've got..."

She keeps a wary eye on the exit, making sure the group can still retreat if they need to

Bennedict stands up, wiping his face and dusting off the front of his suit. He looks towards the plant figures, pointing in their direction. As he does so, the hand floats forward towards them menacingly.

Adam wrote:Bennedict stands up, wiping his face and dusting off the front of his suit. He looks towards the plant figures, pointing in their direction. As he does so, the hand floats forward towards them menacingly.

The green men move away from Benn, allowing him plenty of room, but do not flee the chamber.

Bennedict looks over his shoulder. "How's that language spell coming, gentlemen?" he whispers, "This would be much more effective if I could speak with them."

He turns his attention back to the large floating hand-mouth and takes a knee, looking up into it as it turns towards him, wiggling it's fingers and hovering just above his head. Bennedict nods and looks on with rapt attention.

The plant men all squat, making themselves seem even shorter, and stare up at the hand that gestures in the air above Benn.

They issue a few reedy whistling noises and occasionally tap the stone floor with their fingers.


Presently, Klokulf arrives from the yard. He hears the others in the back area...

Sir Clive, joins the others. The headsman-knight quickly assesses the situation and then takes up a position in the connecting hall, ready to rush into the rear part of the temple and chop up plant-men if the fighting resumes.

Seeing the knight getting ready and the Banite, Raen re-iterates his warning,
"At the time, things seem OK. However, if things turn bad, I will throw something in there that will temporarily blind many of the critters and maybe Bennedict himself. So, take into consideration that and try to not also be caught in the blast. "