Chapter 9

  Genshai-Nobu died two days after So-Nobu first came into the world. So-Nobu would never get the chance to see his father, even in those two days as he had gone missing three months prior. His grandfather, Tenshin-Genshai, was father to Genshai-Nobu and assumed the role of head male figure of the household. He was a general during his time in the Evercoast Wars where he led thousands of githyanki soldiers in battle to aid many other races against the uprising of the mindflayers.

  The mindflayers were a race of creatures whose heads resembled that of an octopus and whose sole mission was to enslave other races in order to physically transform them into more of their own species. By infecting a species with a small parasite that the mindflayers raised and workshopped, they could make any race turn into a mindflayer over a long, grueling process. Any race except for the githyanki. Although the githyanki kept their physical forms unlike the other races, they were still victims of mind control by the mindflayers.

  For years the mindflayers kept the gith enslaved to do their bidding. The bidding of their hive mind master: the Elder Brain. Finally, the gith broke free of the control and revolted. Many escaped and fled to far off lands, while many others perished or remained enslaved. However their escape marked the beginning of a new era for the gith people. At first they found shelter in nearby woods and small villages. Eventually they were permitted to branch out into larger cities where they would become citizens, work jobs, and purchase homes where they could raise their young.

  As the years went on the githyanki peoples Molded a culture of their own. It took from other cultures such as building their own military, as well as developing aspects that were unique to them. One aspect of the githyanki culture that was particularly important was their need to teach and practice routine meditations. Tenshin-Genshai was responsible for teaching So-Nobu at a very young age these practices as well as training him how to fight.

  “You will become a perfect vessel someday, So-Nobu. Continue your trainings and your meditations, and you may achieve what your father could not.” Tenshin never explained anything futher to So-Nobu about his father. The one time he asked about his father, So-Nobu was only ten years old. Tenshin struck So-Nobu hard with the back of his hand and spat on the ground.

  “He was unworthy of his life. This is why he no longer possesses one. Never speak of him again.” Tenshin’s words were firm and militant every time he spoke. Tenshin only knew war and military as his grandfather was one of the few githyanki that survived the escape from mindflayer enslavement. When the mindflayers re-emerged along the Evercoast (a coast made up of five large port cities and two peaceable kingdoms) the githyanki were one of the first races to offer their weapons to the cause. Tenshin was a demanding general and a master tactician. He was responsible for the slaughter of many mindflayers during the war.

  Now that the wars were over, he had very little to do with the military. He retired as general and took up the mantle of working at the local monastery to train young hopefuls how to meditate, strategize and fight. Sparring amongst each other was not uncommon under Tenshin’s strict command. So-Nobu may have been a blood relative, but he was offered no reprieve when it came to these dangerous bouts. His first spar was against a fifteen-year-old when he was seven. The teenage gith nearly killed him, almost crushing his larynx beyond repair. It took So-Nobu three weeks to fully recover from his injuries. In that time, he was forced to train four times a week for twelve hours at a time. If he failed to do so or found himself too exhausted, he would be whipped with a leather sling. Most times, Tenshin would do the whipping himself, but on some rare occasions Tenshin would force So-Nobu’s mother, Girina-Maro, to carry it out for him. Tenshin seldom smiled but always seemed to do so when So-Nobu would get punished.

  So-Nobu’s mother was a very quiet woman who never spoke of her husband Genshai. She never explained whether it was because she was ashamed or heartbroken, or if it was because she was afraid of what Tenshin might do to her if he found out. So-Nobu never felt very close to his mother and his mother never did much to remedy that. As far as So-Nobu was concerned, the only thing he loved, or was allowed to love, was discipline.

  As he got older, he grew stronger, faster, smarter. The meditations came easier. The punishments were fewer. The sparring more favorable. By the time he was a teenager, he had defeated almost everyone in his monastery. He would be forced to travel to other monasteries to engage in sparring matches against others, and he would dominate them in battle as well. When So-Nobu turned fifteen, he challenged the gith who nearly killed him in sparring eight years prior. The gith was a soldier for the king’s military—an elite fighter with unmatched skill and strength. So-Nobu defeated him in the first round of the sparring match and crushed his larynx beyond repair.

  The nobles of the kingdom did not take kindly to So-Nobu, an outsider for lack of better term, permanently disabling one of their best and most promising soldiers. They sent out a group of soldiers to find and apprehend So-Nobu. So-Nobu was back at his monastery when he sought the aid of his grandfather, Tenshin. Tenshin was much older now and losing his sight (and sanity for that matter).

  “You are a greater disgrace than even your father was. You are not welcome here any longer. This monastery is not your home and these are no longer your people. You bring shame and dishonor to the gith peoples. I cast you out!!” Tenshin forbade him to speak to his mother and threatened that if he did not leave immediately, he would be put to death by his own people for treason.

  So-Nobu was left with no choice but to flee. He did not stop and see his mother as he left the monastery for the last time and would never see her again. He ran from town to town, trying to keep a low profile. But this is hard to do when your entire skin is green and you look different than everybody else around you.

  Eventually the soldiers found him and captured him while he was sleeping in an alley. They didn’t want to bother transporting him back to the neighboring kingdom, so they turned him over to the nobility and authorities of the city they found him in, Amhull. The gith was stripped of everything, including his name, and tossed into a cell to “rot until your nothing but bones for the rats”. They put him in a cellar at the farthest end of the hall and tossed the key down a drainage pipe just outside of So-Nobu’s cell where it washed away into the sea forever. There, So-Nobu was forgotten. For days he would go without food or water. He was able to fashion something to collect and store rainwater, and luckily for him it was the rainy season in Amhull. For food he did the best he could to entice small creatures and insects into his cell. He had no method of cooking them, so often ate them raw. The only things that truly kept him alive were his trainings and his meditations.

  It had been two months and the fifteen year old githyanki that the universe had forgotten was close to death. His lips were crusted and chapped terribly from not having had a sip of water in that time. He was emaciated and could not muster the strength to sit cross-legged and do his meditations any longer. His eyesight began to fog and become dull as he felt the last moments of life leaving his body. He began to see things that weren’t there.

  He saw his mother sitting in a corner of his cell, weeping. As she looked up, her entire body slumped and turned into a large pile of many snakes. The snakes hissed and slithered around the cell frantically with no intention of coming near So-Nobu, and every intention of finding a way out. Tenshin came around the corner of the outside of the cell holding the leather sling. His eye sockets were empty, bloody and his face seemed to be melting off his skull as he hobbled over to the bars of the cell like a zombie. His weakened voice cried out to nobody in particular as he said repeatedly, “Disgrace. *thwack* Dishonor. *thwack* Disgrace. *thwack* Dishonor. *thwack*” With each word, he whipped his own back with the sling.

  Each time he did this, his back would rip open like wet paper and blood would poor onto the floor along with the skin and bones that came off with it. He continued to whip himself until he was nothing more than a large puddle of coagulated blood and ichor.

  So-Nobu lay limp on the floor as this all transpired. His breaths became shallow and he could feel any energy he once had begin to leave his body. He closed his eyes for a moment, ready to embrace it when he heard a voice.

  “Hey. Hey, buddy, wake up. C’mon little soldier. It’s time to get you out of here.”

  The voice was strong and manly. It had a gentle kindness to it. It had a fatherly tone to it. So-Nobu opened his eyes and saw his father, Genshai, standing just on the other side of the bars. He couldn’t make out his facial features, but he knew a gith man when he saw one, even if it was just a silhouette. So-Nobu produced strange cooing noises as his throat was dry and his tongue wouldn’t move. The gith man reached his arm through the bars and extended his hand to help So-Nobu up.

  So-Nobu reached for the hand and grabbed it only for a moment before losing consciousness. His vision faded to black and the last words he heard were that of a little girl and a young boy.

  “See? I told you he wasn’t dead.”

  “Shut up, Charlie.”

  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  It took five hours for Andro to finally awaken from his rest. His stomach still burned with intense pain, but at least he wasn’t dead. His eyes were crusty, and his mouth was dry. He tried to turn his head to see where he was but could barely muster the strength to do that just yet. He could hear Charlie speaking to the bugbear.

  “G…R…E?”

  “Bugg! Bugg bugga bg bgah!”

  “Ok man, chill! It looked like you pointed to the ‘E’. Not my fault you got giant sausage fingers.”

  Andro attempted to swallow but there was no saliva, or anything damp to help him do so. Just a tight, dry lump traveled slowly down his throat. He tried to pick his head up but his neck wouldn’t budge. He heard So-Nobu’s voice now.

  “Charlie, be patient with him. It’s ok Grogre—eh…friend. Please, continue.”

  The bugbear made a frustrated huffing noise.

  “U?” Charlie asked.

  “Buggah!” the bugbear exclaimed excitedly.

  “Yaayyy!” Charlie cheered and clapped her hands. “Wait. Is that it? Is there more? Nobu what does that spell?”

  “Look, Charlie. He’s pointing to the next one.”

  Andro attempted to call out to them, but all that came out was a loose concept of a whisper. He licked his lips which did not wet them much. His hand started to twitch and he was able to move his neck a little now.

  “Oh shit, ok ok. ‘L’? Is that…what does that make it, Nobu?”

  “I believe that makes it ‘gul’. Gro-gul. Grogul. Yes, that is his name.”

  “Bug! Bug bugga bugg bga bug bgga buggah!” the bugbear sounded frustrated again, slamming his paws on to the desk.

  “Oh my. Nope. Ok, nope. Definitely not Grogul. Uh…” Charlie’s voice trailed off distractedly.

  Another airy whisper came from Andro’s mouth, only this time it spoke the word, “Hey”. The others did not hear it as they were all excitedly chattering with one another.

  “M? No. C?” “C does not make sense, Charlie”

  “Yea, duh I know that. But he’s pointing to it. Or at least he was, but—oh oh! M? It’s M??”

  “Bug buggah!” the bugbear matched Charlie’s enthusiasm.

  “It’s M! Whoop whoop! Ok, so that makes your name…”

  “Grogum? Your name is Grogum?” So-Nobu asked.

  “Bugga.” Grogum confirmed.

  “GROGUM! Hiiii Grogum. I can’t believe it took that long to figure that out, oh my stars!”

  Andro was able to lift his head slightly but its weight kept making it fall back onto the bed. He repeatedly lifted his head and whispered “hey” then thumped his head back onto the bed. His vision finally came to higher definition, and he was able to make out So-Nobu, Charlie and the bugbear (now titled Grogum) who were standing by the messy old desk. Grogum turned and saw Andro awake.

  “Bugga! Bgg Buggagub bugga bug.” Grogum stepped quickly over to Andro’s side and gently pushed his head back onto the bed, stopping him from lifting it further. The bugbear lifted one hairy finger to ask for just a moment as he moved away to the desk’s top shelf. He fetched a small vial filled with leaves. No liquid or strange concoctions involved, just leaves. He opened the top of the vial and gently removed one leaf with his large nails, then placed the top back on before resetting the vial back to its home.

  “Hey there, sleepy head.” Charlie finally acknowledged Andro was awake and offered him a big toothy smile. So-Nobu offered a simple smile as well as he watched Grogum kneel down next to Andro. He showed Andro the leaf and smiled while nodding his head excitedly. Andro looked at the bugbear with confusion. Grogum held the leaf under Andro’s nose and then pinched it in the middle, snapping it in half.

  At that moment, Andro felt an intense jolt of spicy sensations travel through his sinuses and into his brain. The feeling of warm, gentle electricity hummed throughout his entire body as he began to get feeling back in his ligaments. He was filled with inexplicable energy and his mouth began salivating.

  “Whoa. This is intense.” Andro brought his hand up to the side of his head and gently rubbed his temple as the sensations pulsed and then began to subside.

  The bugbear gave a large sniff through his wide nostrils as he too was enjoying the sensations provided by the leaf which was now under his nose.

  “Ok, let’s not get carried away, big guy.” Charlie plucked the leaf from Grogum’s fingers and passed it back to So-Nobu without turning around.

  So-Nobu took the leaf without thinking and looked around for a place to discard it. It seemed like anywhere on the floor would suffice. He glanced to see if Charlie, Andro or Grogum were looking at him, which they weren’t, and then gave a couple of cautious sniffs of the leaf from a distance. On the third short sniff, he winced and flicked away the leaf with his fingers in disgust. He felt the sensations, though not nearly as strongly as Grogum or Andro. They subsided almost as quickly as they crept up on him as he turned back toward Andro.

  Andro was sitting up and could now see the heavy bandage job that was wrapped around his entire torso. The pain was subtle but still there. He gently rubbed his hand across it.

  “Grogum saved your life.” Charlie motioned with her head towards Grogum who was smiling wide, a single big tooth sticking out from his bottom lip. He gave Andro a thumb’s up and made a strange stifled laughing noise as he did so.

  “Thanks, Gro-gro—what is it?”

  “Grogum.” So-Nobu responded.

  “Grogum. Thank you, Grogum. I uhh have nothing to give you in return for your services. But if you ever need uhh like anything, I guess?” Andro was finally taking in the environment which was an unjustifiable mess, much like the appearance of this large bugbear who stood smiling before him. He turned to So-Nobu and Charlie and continued.

  “We should probably be heading back soon though, right? Our employer will probably want to know what happened here.” Andro gave an obvious wink to So-Nobu. So-Nobu stealthily shook his head at Andro in an attempt to cut him off. Andro continued speaking.

  “So, yea. Y’know your hospitality here has just been…you know we really appreciate the hospitality. But I’m feeling much better now and we should definitely go…like now…guys?”

  Charlie and So-Nobu looked at each other and back to Andro with looks that insinuated they were going to relay some bad news.

  “So here’s the thing...So-Nobu and I have been talking, and we were also speaking with Grogum here as well, about everything that went down. And well…” Charlie found it difficult to say the words to Andro and looked to So-Nobu to finish the thought for her.

  “We believe that Spider may have been responsible for those kobolds coming to kill us.”

  Andro’s lip began to curl. “That doesn’t make sense…”

  So-Nobu continued, “You see, we believe that—” Andro cut So-Nobu off.

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  “That what? That Spider who hired us to come and find the informant sent those kobolds to this tavern? Did you forget that you were the one who went up to them first?”

  So-Nobu opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Charlie.

  “Technically, I was the one who approached them first. Y’know with the dagger and the “hey y’all’s” and what have you?” Charlie’s appearance was back to the tan elvish girl with freckles and no longer a tiefling.

  “Well, technically, So-Nobu went over to their area first. And technically So-Nobu stared them down outside of town. So technically it’s both of your faults really.”

  Andro’s sarcastic tone seemed to recover just fine from the almost mortal wound. So-Nobu was pinching his nose between his eyes as Charlie responded.

  “Ok, well technically it doesn’t really fucking matter who started it. The point is they tried to kill us, almost killed you, and there is clearly no informant here.”

  Andro shook his head slowly as he looked confused. “So…?”

  “So,” Charlie continued, “there is a very good chance that the timing of everything here just points to Spider trying to have us killed. I mean, think about it. Nobu sees the kobolds outside Amhull, not far from where we set up shop. Coincidence? Maybe. But then, we get summoned to see the Spider that same night. Coincidence still? Not as likely, but let’s pretend it is. Then he offers us a really fat pay day if we just talk to some informant he won’t even give us details about and promises “no muscle”. Coincidence? Not likely. Sounds like he wanted to catch us with our pants down and our weapons left at home.”

  Andro sat quietly staring at Charlie with a stoic look. So-Nobu broke the silence.

  “Andro. We must accept that there is no informant. Spider set us up to have us killed. If we return, he will still have us killed. It would not surprise me if he had already forged “Wanted” posters for the three of us around the market district.”

  Andro looked away now, realizing that what they said was probably right—the reality was that they could not trust Spider and their safest move would be to go anywhere that isn’t Amhull.

  Andro’s lip curled higher as he spoke, “All that money…”

  Charlie walked over to Andro and put an arm on his shoulder. She spoke gently and sympathetically.

  “There never was any money. I’m sorry, Andro.”

  Andro shook his head. “No. Not the money from Spider…the hat stand. All the money we put into that…that…that stupid idea.” Andro seemed as though he was on the verge of tears, but his eyes stayed dry.

  So-Nobu walked over to Charlie and put a hand on her shoulder as he spoke to Andro.

  “It was not a stupid idea, Andro. If it weren’t for you, we would probably still be working for him. Living under his thumb everyday. Conning people out of their hard-earned coin…” He paused for a moment to let Andro take this in.

  “You did that. For us. Spider is a criminal, and his ego is the only thing larger than his belly.” So-Nobu made a rounded motion out from his stomach with his hand.

  “Andro…we can’t go back. At least not right now…Not until we know…” Charlie didn’t know what they needed to know in order to feel safe returning to Amhull. To their lives.

  Andro took a deep breath as his lip fell back into a normal position. “Fine.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, staring at the ground.

  “So where do we go from here? It’s not like we can just walk out the front door of the tavern. It’s littered with dead bodies and…” Andro looked up at Charlie with a sudden realization.

  “The waitress. Did you guys go free the waitress?”

  So-Nobu and Charlie looked at each other awkwardly.

  “Uhh, I didn’t do it.” Charlie looked at So-Nobu.

  So-Nobu shook his head. “I did not release the large woman.”

  “How long have I been out?” Andro asked earnestly.

  “Close to five hours.” So-Nobu responded matter of factly.

  “I’ve been out for five hours? What the hell have you two been doing all that time? Sleeping??”

  Charlie and So-Nobu looked around the room awkwardly. They had, in fact, fallen asleep. Charlie took a heavy nap on the floor, using some old rags and papers as a makeshift pillow. So-Nobu fell into a meditative trance staring at Andro’s bubbling wound. They had woken up an hour before Andro, and in that hour they talked about what had happened, and also learned Grogum’s official name.

  Grogum finally spoke up, “Bug bugg buggah.” He nodded and patted his chest indicating that he had already taken care of it (at least, that was what they assumed was the case). Andro nodded back to Grogum.

  “Well, I’m glad someone here isn’t living up their own ass. What about the old guy? The broken record…what was his name again?” Andro was still in a bit of a fog from recovery.

  “Varis.” So-Nobu responded.

  “That’s it, Varis. Yea, what about him?” Andro asked.

  Charlie, So-Nobu and Grogum all looked around the room awkwardly in unison now.

  “Typical.” Andro shook his head disappointedly.

  “Ok, look that’s not important right now. We have to get out of here without being seen leaving through the front door.” Charlie thought about this as she spoke and then turned to Grogum. “Grogum, is there a back door out of this place? Some kind of less conspicuous way to get out of this tavern and then out of this town?”

  Grogum shook his head regrettably. Then his eyes widened and his ears perked up. “Buggah!” He put up a finger to indicate this “a-ha” moment.

  “Bugg bugg buggah bgg bugg buggaggug bugg bugga bug bg buggah…” He noticed during his ramblings that the other three could absolutely not understand him as he spoke—they all stared at him with discomfort and confusion.

  Grogum smacked his forehead and wiped his hand down his face as it drooped. He held up his hand and mimed a walking motion with two fingers.

  “Walk? Travel? Go?” Charlie guessed.

  The bugbear pointed to his nose and smiled at the word “go”. He made the same walking motion with his fingers and then followed it up with a new motion, pointing at a downwards angle.

  “Go…down?” Charlie guessed again.

  The bugbear pointed to his nose and smiled again.

  “Ok…but go down where exactly?” Charlie stood up and looked at the bugbear more closely.

  Grogum motioned for her to follow him as he began to walk out the door. She followed him just past the door where the stairway was. He walked up to the blank wall that connected to the platform at the base of the steps and began to run his hands along it.

  “Bugga….bugg…..” he was feeling around for something on the wall. “Bug!” He pushed something into the wall using a hairy knuckle from his middle finger. A small, rectangular section pushed into the wall causing the entire wall to slide away from him a couple of inches before sliding into a slot behind the wall that ran along the steps.

  Charlie could begin to see a very dark, narrow wooden staircase that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. It led down into a very dark natural cavern of some sort. Charlie took a few steps over to the opening and held her hand with her palm facing upwards, up to her chin. She blew gently. A few tiny specks appeared and flew out from her hand. They began to glow and grew to about the size of a gold coin. The little lights floated away from her and began to dance around each other as they did. The staircase was now partially illuminated, and Charlie could see that they led down a ways before turning in a new direction. Natural rock formations shaped around the staircase as it wound down something like twenty to thirty feet. Charlie looked at Grogum who was watching the little dancing lights flutter over the staircase.

  “A mine? Is that where this leads?”

  Grogum shook his head.

  “So what’s down there?”

  Grogum pouted his lips and shrugged.

  Charlie went back into the room where So-Nobu was helping Andro to stand up from the bed. Andro made a few wincing noises, but told So-Nobu he was good to go from there.

  “Ok folks. Here’s the deal,” Charlie began her pitch. “We got ourselves a hidden stairway. Everybody loves a hidden stairway right? Well, this particular stairway leads down. Wayyy down. BUT. It is supposedly a way out of here that isn’t the front door. So…who’s up for some spelunking?”

  “Spelunking?” Andro asked.

  “Yea, spelunking. It’s like what people do when they go into caves and caverns and look at all the cool rocks and shit down there. It’s like—”

  “I know what spelunking is. Why would we be going spelunking?”

  “Wait. What?”

  “You just asked if any of us wanted to go spelunking…”

  “Right, but like I didn’t actually mean we go spelunking. I was just saying we gotta go down there and that’s kind of like spelunking…No? Really? Whatever, forget it. Just get your shirt on and let’s start heading down there so we can get out of this place.”

  Grogum and So-Nobu shared a look with each other that acknowledged just how ridiculous Andro and Charlie sounded.

  “You two becoming best buds now?” Andro looked at So-Nobu and Grogrum as he had seen them share the look.

  “Tell me about it. Get a room you two. Gross…” Charlie added.

  It took the party only a few minutes to collect their belongings and prepare for their journey down the staircase. Grogum brought his large pack and added a few extra tinctures and concoctions to it from his desk. He also made sure to bring a few corked jugs of mystery booze with him. They made their way to the top of the stairway.

  “Are you going to be ok, Andro? I can—” So-Nobu began to reach around Andro to hold him steady as they walked.

  Andro knocked his hand away. “I’m fine, Nobu. Bugga over here fixed me up with one of those miracle serums right before we left the room.” Andro motioned towards Grogum with his thumb. “Besides, this should be good for me to get moving around again. I don’t have the first clue what that stuff was you poured on me, but I can feel the wound has almost entirely closed up. Thanks again, I guess.” Andro pat the area where he had been stabbed, gently with his hand. Grogum winked at Andro and took a swig from a jug.

  Charlie blew on her palm again, producing a new set of dancing lights that lit up the stairwell so that Grogum and Andro could see. They began to make their descent into the dark cavern without any idea what lay ahead. All they could hope for is an exit to safety and a chance to start a new life. Their old life would have to be left behind, at least for now.

  As they finally got to the last of the steps, they could see just how much the cavern opened. There was an occasional whistle of a breeze somewhere in the dark distance accompanied by random dripping noises. Charlie and So-Nobu could see in the darkness without the dancing lights, and much further than any of the others in this environment. But they still could not see anything more than winding, rocky tunnel pathways.

  The cavern seemed naturally formed and produced some stalagmites and small puddles here and there between the rocky surfaces they walked on. They continued to walk further into the cavern, Charlie walking at the front of the group. They stepped quietly, or at least as quietly as they could. Suddenly, Charlie froze. She held her hand up behind her to stop the others from moving. She made a quick “shh” sound and listened carefully.

  Nothing could be heard or seen as she looked around in the darkness. So-Nobu was looking with her, but he could also see nothing in the darkness. Then a sound broke the silence.

  *Prrrrrrrrrt*

  “Gross.” Charlie whispered.

  Grogum tried to stifle his dumb laughter. Andro gave a snort of laughter as well.

  “Nice one. Kinda smells though.” Andro said.

  “Shhh! I hear something.” So-Nobu now held up his fist to quiet the group. Everyone straightened up and listened.

  He was right, there was a strange, soft rustling noise above their heads. So-Nobu looked up and noticed two bats were fidgeting in their wings, scratching themselves as they hung from the rocky surface above.

  “Bats.” Charlie noted to the group, as she now saw them too.

  “Cool story. So what?” Andro dismissed the comment.

  “It is life.” So-Nobu began, still looking up at the bats. “If there is life down here, then that means there is an ecosystem. Which means that creatures can survive down here.”

  “Again, so what?” “So,” So-Nobu now sounding frustrated, “we should proceed with caution. An ecosystem requires that one form of life exist to nourish another form. These forms nourish each other and often grow in size and danger.”

  “Like the food chain. Got it, Nobu. I’m not in preschool.”

  “You never went to school.” Charlie added blankly.

  “Regardless.” So-Nobu spoke sternly attempting to thwart any chance of them beginning to bicker again, “Let us just hope that the food chain down here does not consist of anything more dangerous than us.”

  “Bug buggah…” Grogum whispered worriedly as he looked around the cavern.

  The party continued further into the cave until they found a fork in the path. Charlie sent her dancing lights down both corridors before returning them to the group. The group looked at both paths quietly for a few moments.

  “Well, someone has to decide which way to go.” Andro asked.

  “Right.” So-Nobu responded.

  “See, Charlie? So-Nobu and I agree on things all the time. So which way are we gonna go?”

  “We go right.” So-Nobu replied.

  “Oh. Oh, I thought that...right sounds good.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Exactly, what?”

  “Right sounds good.”

  “Right.”

  “Right.”

  “What?”

  Charlie let out an impatient sigh and interrupted the two.

  “He’s saying that we should go right because it sounds good. Not because is sounds good.”

  Andro shook his head puzzled and thought for a moment.

  “Yea…no I don’t get it.”

  “I can hear water coming from the right path.” So-Nobu explained.

  “Yea, dumbass.” Charlie added.

  “Ohhh. Well shit man, why didn’t you just say that? Why are you taking me through this whole rigmarole? God damn…”

  They continued to travel down the right path until they came upon two watery ponds. Water dripped from above them, causing them to constantly be rippling. Charlie sent her lights over one of the larger ponds.

  “See that? Reflective.” Charlie pointed out.

  “Yes. Good observation, Charlie. But why would it be that way down here? We are too far from the coast, are we not?” So-Nobu asked.

  “Ok. I’ve had enough of this shit. I am done feeling like a doofus. From here on out, you two need to explain everything up front, or we are going to have a problem.” Andro was becoming frustrated, his top lip showed signs of early curling.

  Charlie rolled her eyes and began to explain. “Ok sweetheart. Listen closely, because I’m only going to explain this once.” Charlie’s tone mimicked that of a schoolteacher, but far more condescending.

  “We are in a cavern. Underground. The water here is pooling, which is not uncommon. However, this water is very reflective which means it has a very high salinity. Do you know what salinity is, sweetie?”

  “Grogum doesn’t. Explain it so he knows.”

  “Bugg?”

  “Ugh, fine.” Charlie resumed the sarcastic schoolteacher tone. “Salinity is the amount of salt in something. Ocean water has very high salinity. Good for sea creatures, bad for taste. The ocean gets a lot of salt in it from the rain weathering the rocks. You know what we don’t find underground?”

  “Rain.” So-Nobu answered proudly.

  Charlie gave him a look. So-Nobu gestured in apology.

  “Correct. We don’t get rain underground. So…” Charlie motioned her hand in a circle to encourage Andro to answer the rest.

  “Bugg bugga bug buga bugg.” Grogum spoke with the same level of pride as So-Nobu as he attempted to answer.

  “I think what he’s trying to say is that something is making the water salty, but it’s not rain or ocean since we aren’t near the ocean, and we don’t get rain underground.” Andro explained.

  “Gold stars for everyone. Whoop-dee-fuckin-doo…” Charlie turned back around the water.

  “Fuck yea. Up top.” Andro extended his hand to Grogum for a high five. Grogum sniffed Andro’s hand and then shrugged.

  “The fuck? Nah man, you gotta…” Andro showed Grogum how to high five using his other hand.

  Grogum looked at the palm of one of his own hands and then began hitting it with his other hand in the same way.

  “What? Nah. That’s not—stop. Stop doing that. Stop hitting your own fucking hand!” Andro’s voice echoed through the cavern.

  “Shhh!” So-Nobu’s shushing noise now echoed through the cavern.

  “You shhh!” Andro shushed back at So-Nobu.

  “Bugga shhh!!” Grogum shushed them both.

  “No. You need to shhh!” So-Nobu shushed Grogum.

  The three of them continued to shush each other, causing the entire cavern to echo.

  The water from the pond began to ripple and bubble in the middle. Charlie began to step back from it as she watched.

  “Uhhh…guys?”

  The three were now purposefully trying to out-shush the other by seeing who could shush louder and more emphatically (though it’s unclear whether or not Grogum understood this as he just smiled and gave muffled claps from his hairy hands).

  “Guys…” Charlie watched as the bubbling became more intense. Something was emerging from the pool from within the bubbles.

  The shushing sounds turned into the three of them loudly saying the word “shush” to each other as they got in each other’s faces.

  “Dammit, will you mother fuckers look!” Charlie yelled at them, and they ceased their shushing antics.

  They all watched the pool bubble furiously from the middle in silence. Just then, something leapt out of the bubbles over Charlie’s head. It stood between Charlie and the other three members of the party. It was short—shorter than the dwarves from the tavern. It was about the size of a young boy, but stouter.

  It shook itself furiously, droplets spraying everyone as they attempted to shield their faces. When it stopped shaking the water off, it looked around at each of them in silence. The little dancing lights flitted their way over to the group, illuminating the creature and all of its details. It was a frog man, at least it looked like a frog man. Everything about it from head to toe looked very much like a frog, except for the fact that it was the size of a wide, adolescent boy, and it stood on two feet. Its eyes closed one after the other as it looked directly at Charlie with a blank stare. Charlie stood frozen and confused.

  “Hello. I’m Noah. Wot’s your names?” it said with a friendly smile.