The Howl of Avooblis

by Charles Streams

  “I most certainly do nothing for fame. I serve the land. I can’t help it if my heroic acts as a great warrior have spread throughout all the land,” Egon said.

  As Wendahl and Egon launched into another argument, Grizzard stepped close to Dagdron and Earl.

  “Sonny and rich sonny, you need to come with me,” the old rogue said quietly. “Bring the girls with you. We’ve had enough chitchat.”

  Elloriana, Lita, and Dugan stepped forward.

  “Dugan, do you mind going with the banes of old Grizzard’s life?” Grizzard said. Dugan nodded his head, and Grizzard led Dagdron, Earl, Lita, and Elloriana across the entrance hall. When they saw them leaving, Wendahl and Egon hurried to catch up.

  “Where are you going?” Wendahl asked.

  “We’re coming with you,” Egon said.

  “Oh, no you’re not,” Grizzard said. “I’ve told you both before that neither of you is allowed near old Grizzard’s alley. Go with Dugan to get everything ready. It’s quest fulfilling time.” Grizzard cackled but walked as fast as his old bones could to put distance between himself and his brothers.

  “Where are we going?” Earl asked as they headed down the trail to Bodaburg.

  Grizzard pointed down the valley but didn’t respond. Along the way, the unfulfilled adventures ran off the trail as they passed, worried that the real adventurers had come to cause them more pain.

  Grizzard led them through the village gate and down the main street and turned into his alleyway. Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita stood in the dark as Grizzard used his dagger, sparking against the tavern wall to ignite his charcoal.

  With the firelight shining on the left wall, Grizzard crouched and used his dagger to scrape the slime off the lowest brick. He flicked his blade, flinging the gunk to the ground.

  Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita crowded around to see an arch engraving on the uncovered block.

  “I thought you didn’t know about the arches,” Earl said.

  “I don’t. Not really,” Grizzard said. “I rode the spumasaur away from the shrine and never looked back. That place was evil, and I never wanted to set foot in it. Sonny and rich sonny, forgive old Grizzard if he should’ve showed you this sooner. But those arches are a nasty business. Wendahl confided in me about his regret, about what happened to sonny’s mom. But that was ten years ago now. I came to Bodaburg shortly after when I retired from adventuring and just happened to see this arch when I slept here one night. I had never explored the northern regions much, so I moved in, keeping watch in case there was a way to remedy Wendahl’s regret. I know Wendahl and Egon rile old Grizzard up, but I’m still their older brother. And an older brother always looks out for his younger brothers. Even when he wants to slice them time and time again.”

  Grizzard cackled weakly, looking at Dagdron and Earl.

  Earl stepped forward and hugged Grizzard, who patted his back before pushing him off, and then he returned his gaze to Dagdron.

  “Do you think we should do it?” Dagdron asked, taking out the bone key.

  “Yes, sonny,” Grizzard said. “Wendahl’s quest needs to be fulfilled and your mom needs to be rescued. Wendahl’s quirkiness with his hoe, garden, grand entrances, and that crazy cuckoo house might make it seem he’s content, but old Grizzard sees the sorrow in his younger brother’s eyes. And, if we don’t do it, then that Backer or old Gwidy might do something the whole land will regret.”

  Dagdron nodded. “But it’s my dad’s wife, not my mom.”

  “Oh, give it up already,” Elloriana said.

  “Quiet, wench,” Dagdron said.

  “Is the entrance in the alley?” Earl asked, bending to get a closer look at the arch brick.

  “No, rich sonny,” Grizzard said. “Through the tavern.”

  Grizzard started everyone moving, and they left the alley and congregated in front of the door of the Bodaburg Tavern.

  “Tavern’s closed!” the bartender yelled as Earl pushed the door open.

  Grizzard herded them in regardless, pushing the four young adventurers toward the bar.

  “Especially to you two!” The bartender took a break from polishing the bar to scowl at Dagdron and Earl.

  “Why?” Earl said. “We’ve never understood why you’re nice to our families but rotten to us.”

  “I can’t be nice to you,” the bartender said. “If word got out that students from the academy were hanging out here, I would lose my paying clientele. And besides, you owe me for your families’ free meals. Your quest reverted to unfulfilled status.”

  The bartender pointed with his glowering face, and they looked across the tavern, where Kemp was prostrate on the floor.

  “It’s worse than before,” the bartender continued. “He scared off everyone tonight. And it wasn’t because he was drunk. It was because of the hideous blemishes growing out of his arms and legs.”

  “Get him out of here,” Dagdron said to Earl, Lita, and Elloriana.

  “You do it,” Elloriana said. “You’re the one who tallied the quest on the tree. And I don’t want to touch his disgusting skin again!”

  Earl grabbed Dagdron’s arm and pulled him across the tavern. They hoisted Kemp between them, bonking his head on chairs and tables as they crossed the room. Grizzard opened the door and they tossed Kemp outside.

  They approached the bar, and the bartender paused in his polishing.

  “The tavern’s closed,” he repeated.

  “We need to get in the back,” Grizzard said.

  “No one’s allowed back there except me.” The bartender glared at them.

  Dagdron lifted the edge of his ragged cloak, sticking his hand in a secret pocket that even the Backer hadn’t found. He pulled out a golden bracelet and placed it on the bar.

  “That’s mine!” Elloriana exclaimed, grabbing the bracelet. “Stop denying you stole my jewelry.”

  “I didn’t steal it,” Dagdron said. “I found it on the back lawn of the academy. Finders keepers.”

  Elloriana scowled, putting the bracelet on her wrist.

  “He’s not going to let us in if you don’t give him that,” Dagdron said.

  Elloriana grabbed Dagdron’s cloak, tugging on it trying to find other hidden treasures. Dagdron jerked it away from her but decided it was best not to annoy her further. He pulled out a sparkling emerald that he had taken from Mazannanan’s trove and set it down on the bar.

  The bartender picked it up and, for the first time, they saw his eyes light up. He slammed up a section of the counter, allowing them to pass before banging it back down. He was about to lead them to the left side of the kegs built into the wall when Grizzard cleared his throat loudly. The bartender turned and the old rogue shook his head at him.

  “Have it your way,” the bartender said. “If you tell anyone about anything you see, I will hunt you down and kill you.” He moved to the right side of the kegs, pounded on the wall once up high, once down low, and then extra hard right in the center. A secret door popped open. He stepped to the side, impatiently waiting for them to pass before slamming the door shut behind them and returning to polish his bar.

  Dagdron and Grizzard walked forward as Earl, Lita, and Elloriana paused a moment to let their eyes adjust to the dim greenish-yellow light coming from the left. A stone wall was in place, blocking off the left side of the back of the tavern. Two of the kegs were visible in the half they were in. A huge vat of greenish-yellow liquid was directly behind the keg for Goblin’s Bile and was casting the hazy light over the room. Three goblins stood around the tub. They glanced toward the visitors with scowls on their faces and snot running out of their noses but then turned back, stirring the brew with their hands.

  “How did you know about this secret room?” Earl asked Grizzard.

  “Old Grizzard retired from adventuring, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have needs still. A rogue, young or old, has to pick some locks and break into establishments some time or another.” Grizzard cackled and the three goblins growled
in their direction, so Elloriana led the group farther toward the back corner.

  They found the arch block, and Dagdron crouched to examine it. From behind them, a combined guttural throat clearing came from the direction of the goblins, followed by a chorus of phlegmy ptu-ptu-ptus.

  “Gross,” Elloriana said. “What are they doing?”

  The others ignored her as a wind whirled up from the corner. Dagdron hurried back to his feet as “Who am I?” echoed creepily across the back room.

  “Mazannanan,” Dagdron said without hesitation.

  Bricks plunked out of the back wall, leaving a passageway. Dagdron ducked right in and Earl and Lita followed right behind. Elloriana hurried in behind them as the goblins went through another round of hawking.

  “Ugh,” Elloriana said as Grizzard cackled and followed her into the dark.

  A steep staircase led down the passage, exiting onto a ledge overlooking a pool of bubbling purple liquid. Stalactites jutted down from the roof, and a foot-wide stone walkway crossed from their ledge to the wall on the opposite side. Below, in the middle of the pool, a stone island protruded, where a glowing scroll rested in safety from the viscous, burbling brew.

  They had found Mazannanan’s treasure.

  Chapter 32: Bubbling Brew

  Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita peered downward uncertainly, but Grizzard, stepping to the edge of the ledge, took a deep whiff and released the breath with an air of longing.

  “There’s nothing like the smell of bubbling brew below you,” Grizzard said with a cackle. “How old Grizzard longs for those younger adventuring days.”

  “You’re right, Grizzard,” Earl said, drawing his sword. “Let’s fulfill this quest!”

  Earl, full of confidence, walked to the edge, ready to head out on the stone bridge, but he hesitated.

  “Dagdron,” Earl said, looking back. “Remember what Egon taught us in the Broodavian mines?”

  “Fine,” Dagdron said. “But Egon never taught us anything. And I’m on Wendahl’s side. I’m going to be his garden rogue after I’m out of the academy.”

  Before Earl could argue, Dagdron walked onto the bridge without flinching. Earl watched him as he explained to Lita and Elloriana how Egon had told him some activities were more suited for a rogue to carry out.

  Dagdron moved at a steady pace, glancing down to the left and right, but his balance never wavered. He hadn’t taken time to figure out how he would lower himself from the bridge to the island, but, before he could, two large tentacles emerged from the bubbles below, dripping with purple brew. The slimy purple feelers rose straight toward Dagdron.

  “Watch out, Dagdron!” Earl yelled, even though Dagdron already had his dagger out, ready to defend himself as best he could.

  “Take him, sonny!” Grizzard yelled, cackling.

  Dagdron ducked as the tentacles reached the bridge, rolling to the side to elude them. The feelers ran along the bridge, searching for the prey they had sensed.

  “Come on, Lita and Elloriana!” Earl yelled.

  This time, without hesitation, Earl rushed onto the bridge, drawing his sword as he went. Lita followed at a full-out run, but Elloriana wavered.

  “You can do it, mighty wench,” Grizzard said.

  Elloriana glared back at him, but he shooed her forward, smiling his mostly toothless smile. She strode onto the bridge, forgetting any fear of the narrow ledge as she saw Dagdron lifted into the air by the right tentacle. Earl hacked at the tentacle, set on freeing Dagdron, as Lita took on the left one.

  The thickness of the skin prevented the tentacles from being sliced, but Earl kept at it, bashing and bashing. Lita swung her sword intermittently, dodging the left tentacle as it sought to grab her.

  Dagdron watched from where he was restrained in the air, hoping Earl’s blow didn’t cause the monster to drop him. But it was when Elloriana, pausing a few feet behind Lita, cast a blast-bolt spell that he was freed. The blue spell angered the creature, and it slackened its hold as it darted toward the enchantress. Dagdron felt himself fall, but the momentum of the tentacle carried him over the bridge and he landed lithely with his hands extended slightly to help him keep his balance.

  Elloriana fled, but the tentacle wrapped around her from behind, lifting her from the bridge. Lita, distracted by Dagdron’s release and Elloriana’s capture, stepped too close to the edge and fell. She would have plopped into the brew below, except the other tentacle twisted around her, lifting her upside down.

  Earl released an adrenaline-filled roar as he hacked at the monstrous feelers again, but Dagdron, seeing that both tentacles were occupied, saw his opportunity to get to the island. He timed the swaying movements of the left tentacle and leapt from the bridge when it was close. He landed on top of back side of the tentacle, just above Lita’s feet. When the monster lifted the feeler back up, Dagdron slid down, wobbling back and forth but staying on his feet. When he reached a section where the tentacle bowed outward, Dagdron jumped, using his momentum to fly over the bubbling liquid and crash down on the stone island.

  “Grab the scroll, sonny!” Grizzard yelled excitedly.

  Dagdron jumped back to his feet and raced to the glowing scroll. As his hands neared it, he was met with a blast that flung him backward, and he skidded to the very edge. A bubble burst, spraying him with goop, but he pulled himself to his feet and rushed back to the scroll. Since he had already triggered the trap, this time his hands closed on the scroll. Unlike the other ones throughout the treasure quest, this scroll tingled softly in his hands.

  A cavern-shaking roar echoed as a wave of purple liquid shot toward the roof.

  Dagdron’s eyes opened wider than they ever had in his life, and Earl’s sword arm froze in mid-swing. Elloriana and even Lita screamed as the tentacles rushed downward as the monster surfaced. The body the tentacles were attached to was an enormous amorphous mass of purple bumps, lumps, and warts. Embedded among the protuberances were two piercing dark eyes, which stared straight at the scroll in Dagdron’s hand. The creature opened its mouth, spewing liquid as it let out a belching roar, and then released Elloriana and Lita from its tentacles as it swam directly at Dagdron.

  Dagdron and Earl unfroze. Dagdron jumped to the side as the massive body of the purple monster crashed onto the island. Earl watched as the girls splashed into the viscous pool, and then, sheathing his sword, he jumped from the bridge.

  In the meantime, Dagdron had climbed on top of the bumpy mass, and the monster, wiggling its tentacles, rose up again, twisting its deformed body in an effort to see where the thief of the scroll had disappeared to. Dagdron remained stone still, keeping his balance as the monster squirmed.

  A mild hum distracted the monster, and it groaned as it turned its heavy body. Elloriana, sopping with slimy liquid, rose out of the pool using a levitation spell. The monster whipped out its tentacle, twisting it around her waist and then retracting it.

  Dagdron, who had planned to stay in safety on top of the creature until an opportunity presented itself, pulled out his dagger as he saw Elloriana heading straight toward the open mouth of the monster below him. He plunged the dagger into one of the warts on top of the creature. A high-pitched squeal vibrated painfully across the cavern, and Elloriana was dropped again, splashing back into the brew.

  Dagdron ducked, dodged, and rolled as both tentacles swarmed around, searching desperately for the source of its pain.

  “We’re coming, Dagdron!” Earl yelled, struggling to breathe as a bubble burst in his face.

  Dagdron dared a glance to where Earl and Lita were helping each other swim through the sticky pool toward the island. The tentacles closed in on him, so he rolled off the edge of the lumpy beast, tumbling down to the island.

  The creature let out another belching roar as its obese body turned. Dagdron held his dagger at the ready, jabbing and stabbing as the tentacles came straight at him. The dagger didn’t penetrate the thick skin, but the monster, wary about receiving more pain, kept flailing them awa
y each time they made contact with the dagger.

  With its back turned and its focus completely on Dagdron, the warty monster was oblivious to Earl and Lita pulling themselves from the burbling liquid and climbing up its back. The warrior and lady warrior drew their swords with vigor and swung them down on the head of the beast. The tentacles flailed uncontrollably as the monster squealed again, but Earl and Lita maintained their attack, piercing and cutting the bumps and lumps.

  In the meantime, Elloriana levitated from the pool again and, suspending herself in the air with her left hand, cast blast-bolt spells toward the tentacles, helping to keep them away from the fighters.

  Dagdron, now safe, stashed his dagger and watched the battle calmly until Earl and Lita, grinning broadly at one another, raised their swords in unison and plunged them into the monster. The screech that emanated from the monster rattled the four young adventurers’ eardrums agonizingly, but Grizzard cackled and cheered from the ledge above, seemingly unaffected.

  Dagdron, who had turned his attention to examining the scroll in his hands, was suddenly aware of the bumpy figure falling toward him. The monster, having squealed its last squeal, fell with the full force of dead weight straight at Dagdron. With no other option, Dagdron jumped, but the force of the body knocked him backward. Earl and Lita had fallen along with the monster, and they and Dagdron splashed into the purple brew.

  “Ha!” Elloriana cheered as she levitated herself to the ledge next to Grizzard. “I was hoping Dagdron would fall in eventually.”

  “An adventure for the ages!” Grizzard shouted with her as he raised his arms in the air.

  “Find a rope, wench!” Dagdron yelled as he climbed out of the pool onto the dead monster.

  Elloriana remained on the ledge, but Grizzard headed up the tunnel.

  “Do you think Mazannanan created it?” Earl asked as he and Lita joined Dagdron.

  “No one else would’ve created such a freak of nature,” Dagdron said.

  “It was the guardian of his treasure,” Lita said, stomping her foot. “The villagers in Thornrim are going to love hearing this story around the bonfire.”