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Thursday, July 17

Cold Visitor: Part 13b – The Ritual

The ground exploded upwards as a shower of yellow tentacles flailed everywhere. Men screamed as they were tossed effortlessly into the air.

“Stop that thing!” shouted Vlad.

A strand of yellow shot out around Laskin’s throat. It whip-snapped him across one of the monoliths, smearing the remains of his head across the granite like chalk.

Beldin roared and struck backwards with his axe, hacking one of the creatures off at the knees. It fell to the ground face first.

"Keep chanting!” shouted Ilmarė. “I imprison thee with ensorcelled metal,” she read, “lest ye forget who bound thee!"

Silas pointed at Vlad’s dagger. He traced a circle around the perimeter and the dagger cut a path, slicing through snow, smoke, and corpses.

Kham fired two more pistols at the King in Yellow. The blasts barely penetrated. Yellow tentacles slapped him sideways, like a parent chastising a child. He stumbled in the snow.

Dril took aim at the King in Yellow’s head and fired. The shot penetrated, but tentacles spiraled up to reform the hooded head again. A tentacle speared through Dril’s thigh. With a yelp, he fell to one knee.

Soldiers were dying everywhere. Tentacles snapped necks, speared through their torsos; those were the lucky ones. Vicious, fanged mouths appeared at the ends of yellow tendrils, gnawing on men’s faces.

Vlad skidded in front of Ilmarė just as more tentacles snapped at her. He bashed them aside. “Keep going!” he shouted. [MORE]

Labels: arcanis

posted by Mike Tresca at 6:53 AM

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