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| Sonayo |
His specialty was treasures lost in happenstance and the challenge, that excited the researcher. Relics and
items of antiquity lost after discovery; then lost in transit to its intended resting place or run afoul from thieves looking for a payday.
After some minor excursions on Malta and surrounding Rocks, the Relic
Hunter took Sonayo to Africa with him...
In the seasons that followed, the Relic Hunter learned of a horticultural scourge in the local jungle area. A murderous sentient plant the Relic Hunter suspected to have killed the his first Professor- as well as the man the Relic Hunter considered his adopted father. The Professor disappeared while attempting to bring back a holy relic of Horcton- a holy weapon devoted to
the Sun god Pelor.
Months of tracking and following the horrific nighttime stories of a voracious tree with vines that could constrict and hang a large man. Local folklore said the hangman tree had amassed a modest hoard from its victims. Mayhap one of his victims was the lost Professor.
Months of tracking and following the horrific nighttime stories of a voracious tree with vines that could constrict and hang a large man. Local folklore said the hangman tree had amassed a modest hoard from its victims. Mayhap one of his victims was the lost Professor.
The Relic Hunter and Sonayo found the hangman
tree nestled along a wide stream between the settlements of Lowport and Five Tower Keep. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, Sonayo hated thunderstorms. It’s leafy
vines loomed over the flush waters, their tips were looped into nooses that lightly brushed
the surface of the tremulous stream. Lightning flashed revealing stark branches jutting out from a damp black trunk splitting off
into smaller limbs where dark shadowy carrion birds hunkered for their next meal. The hangman tree was
approximately seventy feet tall at its highest bough and at the base, tangled roots could be seen trailing off into the running water.
The carrion birds were alert and quick to alarm so
the Relic Hunter and Sonayo had to exercise all their skills at stealth to get
within thirty feet. Sonayo stayed back as instructed and waited for the Relic
Hunter’s signal as he approached the hangman tree.
Twenty-five feet away, then twenty; the relic hunter was steadily approaching.
Twenty-five feet away, then twenty; the relic hunter was steadily approaching.
He was less than fifteen
feet away when the carrion birds took wing and formed into separate swarms of
black feathery clouds. They converged on the Relic Hunter disorientating him
causing him spin about and trip and fall on a exposed root. His blood mixed with puddles of water. To Sonayo’s horror the Relic
Hunter was picked up by a dark looping vine by his neck grotesquely lifting him twenty
feet into the air. Other vine-loops lowered looking for purchase on a flaying arm or swinging leg. Sonayo could’t see her teacher, only a dark silhouette in
the chaos of the carrion birds.
The next sound she heard was the Relic Hunter struggling for
breath, using his last to order her to RUN!
That was five days ago.
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| A Hangman Tree |
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