Maddie and Vivienne took the first watch and the evening passed quietly, for them at least. Colt dreamt of the serpent priestess and her snake crown they'd seen on the walls of the shaft earlier in the day. He was startled when the figure reached out to him, a snake extending forth from her hand and slowly bobbing as it approached. Mesmerized he was unprepared when it struck out at him, biting him on the left wrist. He awoke with a start and was surprised to see what resembled an actual snakebite on his wrist. Colt wasn't sure he'd be able to get back to sleep even if he wanted to, but as it turned out it was time for him to join Ralph on the second watch.
Ralph had never been to a jungle before. Hell, he'd hardly ever been outside a city unless he was going to an illegal distillery or brewery. But despite the lack of familiarity with the sounds and smells, he could tell something didn't feel right. Someone, or more likely something, was watching them through the darkness and growth. Something... menacing. He could never catch sight of anything specific, but he was absolutely sure of it.
The next morning Colt told the others about his dream and showed them his wrist. He felt fine, so there really wasn't much to do except wrap it to keep it clean. Ralph also shared his feeling that they were being watched, which made everyone uneasy.
The team decided they would return to the area of the broken ward, then pick which of the other two nearby to visit. As they moved through the forest and along the trail Maddie too sensed something following them - while she'd never been to a jungle before either, she used to hunt with her pappy and he'd always taught her to remember that just because she was tracking something, that didn't mean something bigger and more dangerous wasn't tracking her at the same time. And that's what this felt like.
At the river ford nature was making up for lost time with the dead Peruvians, their bodies having been rent apart by scavengers and now covered in clouds of insects. The group quickly moved across the river and reached the broken ward, finding the bodies of some of the Bolivians strewn about along with a large black stain on the ground left behind by the creature Ralph destroyed with the dynamite. Still convinced they were being followed, the team laid low to see if they could ambush whatever it was, but after waiting a while nothing emerged from the jungle. Maddie tried to devise a tripwire trap using her pistol, but she just couldn't get it to work properly, so they decided to take the southwest trail and head toward what they expected to be another in-ground ward.
Sure enough that's what they found, but this time the 50-foot diameter ward stone was completely intact. In the center was a collection of dried flowers, baskets, and some rotted food, apparently offerings left by the local villagers at some time in the recent past. They felt the appropriate course of action was to break the ward, but were hesitant to use dynamite in fear of attracting the remaining Bolivians. Plus they weren't sure if another one of those black creatures would emerge from it.
As the group discussed their options, Ralph reached into his pocket and pulled out the small flute they took from the dead serpent-man they encountered when they were ambushed the prior day. "I wonder if this will do anything," he said to no one in particular, then blew into it. No sound came from it, but sound did come from the jungle to their left as two creatures darted from the growth and charged.
The things looked like a cross between a Rottweiler and a komodo dragon, 150 pounds of muscle and aggression and speed. One leapt at Vivienne, knocking her to the ground and pinning her, it's mouth open as it's snake-like tongue darted about above her face as she squirmed. The other attempted to do the same to Colt, but he was able to sidestep the airborne creature. It turned to him immediately after landing, just in time to see the barrel of Colt's pistol. Dust kicked up around it as the panicked Colt blasted away, though one shot caught it square. Ralph calmly put two more rounds into it with his Luger and the creature collapsed.
Meanwhile Vivienne let go of her shotgun, which was pinned between her and the creature. She pulled her blade from the sheath on her leg, but just couldn't manage to leverage it with one of the beast's feet planted on her elbow. But before it could bite her face clean off with its dagger-like teeth, Maddie strode over, the massive BAR hanging from her comically. The beast was so focused on its impending meal it didn't notice Maddie until the rifle's barrel was right up against it, and at that point it was too late. The 30-06 round from the BAR blasted a dinner-plate-sized hole in the thing, sending it flying off of Vivienne.
"Huh," said Ralph looking at the whistle. "I guess that's what it does."
After some discussion the team decided to try to create a small hole in the ward stone instead of blowing it to pieces. Ralph took the BAR from Maddie, got as close as he dared to the center of the stone, and fired a burst into it. Ralph had always had a knack for guns, and the BAR was no different, his tight grouping successfully punching a hole the size of a tire into the stone.
As the echos from the shots faded, they felt the earth begin to shake slightly and a rumbling came from the northwest. The sounds of trees splitting and huge rocks crashing into each other continued on for half a minute before a cloud of dust and dirt rose above the trees. It appeared to be coming from the area of the temple.
The Caduceus team quickly headed toward the temple and upon arriving saw that it had risen another 30 feet above the jungle floor, exposing a door along the screw-like edge that ran up the side of the structure. Working their way to the door then found it made of solid stone, but with a locking mechanism.
"I got this," Ralph said. He pulled an odd tube-shaped device out of this pocket. As he fiddled with it, various appendages sprouted from it.
"Is that a lock pick?" Vivienne asked, obviously a bit impressed.
"Sort of," Ralph replied as he began working part of it into the lock. "It's kind of hard to explain." But before he needed to expound further, a clicking sound came from the lock and the door popped sightly ajar.
Vivienne raised an eyebrow. "Very nice."
A blast of stale, dusty air greeted them as the door opened. The room inside was bare stone, opening to a curving passage that headed down.
It was at this point they realized they had no torches or flashlights.
As Vivienne, Colt, and Ralph discussed options, Maddie looked at her fire-breathing snake bracelet. I wonder if I could just make a small flame, she thought. Concentrating and allowing some of her own energy to flow into the device, she let out a relieved sigh as a steady six-inch flame emerged from the snake's mouth.
The others turned to regard the now-smiling Maddie. "I'll lead!" she said excitedly and headed to the passage.
Maddie's bracelet cast enough light for them to move with assurance. The passage was made of carved stone blocks and in remarkably good condition. They were so distracted looking at the walls and ceiling, however, that no one noticed the floor stone that looked a little different than the others until Maddie stepped on it. And it clicked.
What the... she began to wonder. At the last moment instinct kicked in and she began to jump backwards, which is what saved her life. A blade arced through the passage at waist height, cutting Maddie fairly deeply as she feel back. Had she not reacted so quickly she'd have been sliced in two.
The team did their best to bandage her, but unfortunately Maddie was by far the most capable at administering first aid, and it really wasn't something she could do effectively on herself. "I'll be OK," she said through gritted teeth, "so long as Colt can help me along."
With Colt's help, Maddie was able to continue at the front, her flame lighting the way. A few minutes later they were startled to find a section of the passage dropped down a few feet and the floor in the lower area was ... moving?
Colt felt something at his foot and screamed in terror as he looked down and realized it was a huge snake as thick as his arm slithering past his feet. It continued down the passage and dropped down into the pit. Between the visions and mystery snakebite and now this monstrosity, Colt was quickly realizing he was terrified of snakes.
About 30' ahead there was another ledge and the passage continued onward. Getting in and out of the pit wasn't going to be hard. But doing so and crossing without being bit, that was another thing entirely.
Maddie was a bit glassy-eyed. "We're really close now. She's just a little further." She looked back at the others. "I don't think the sakes are going to be dangerous, at least not for me."
With Colt clearly doing his best to not simply run screaming back up the passage, Vivienne walked over to Maddie. "Together?" she asked. Maddie nodded.
Maddie held her flame bracelet as low as possible in front of them. As she dangled her legs over the ledge the snakes seemed to clear a spot for them to place their feet. And... they began walking slowly and surely, the thick carpet of snakes giving them just enough room to pass. As they climbed out of the pit at the other side they realized that Ralph had been directly behind them, so close as to be almost touching, quite literally following in their footsteps.
The three of them looked across the pit at Colt. "I'll go back," Maddie started to say. But before she could finish, Colt yelled loudly and ran at full speed toward the pit.
"Oh god," was all Vivienne could manage as Colt leapt into the pit in full stride, dashing across the slithering mass. Snakes darted in all directions, some attempting to get away from the insane fool running across them as if they were hot coals, others attempting to bite his legs. After a half-dozen footfalls Colt threw himself up onto the passage on other side, hyperventilating and looking at the others in surprise.
After giving Colt a few minutes to calm down, the continued along the passage.
"Don't forget, we'll need to cross that again coming back," Ralph said matter-of-factly.
"Aaargh!" Colt shouted, realizing he hadn't considered that.
After a couple more minutes the group reached a small chamber. Across from them was an arch framed by a snake motif, the head of the snake eating its own tail at the top. On the other side of the arch was a very dimly lit round room, in the center of which stood a helix-shaped staircase. Atop it was a large figure sitting on a chair. An oval-shaped, faint green glow began just inside the room and ran most of the way toward the helix. A small awning covered the archway just inside the room, two stones that looked like fangs hanging down from it.
"She's close," Maddie said. "Very close..."
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