Having tracked the "Holy Grat'han Bandits" to the cave where they're hiding out, the Rat Pack (accompanied by Nimlo, Terryon, Charracks, the gargoyle, and a number of not-so-holy, non-bandit Grat'han friends) assembles the makings of a huge bonfire, together with long torches, stretched fur pelts, and countless other pieces of ritual paraphernalia, especially including some huge jungle drums. They dress in slightly modified versions of the wolf and wolfman costumes they brought back from Night Harbor to wear for last year's Feast of the Veil, and start up the fire, pounding on drums, dancing, screaming, shouting, howling, and generally carrying on in a hodgepodge amalgam of every Kerranas ritual about which they've managed to learn in the past few days. Smoke rises from the bonfire flames, the drumbeats and dancing rise to a crescendo, and from the midst of the smoke, a shadowy form emerges: A massive head and shoulders, with long, clawed, powerful arms covered in fur, its mighty torso disappearing in the grey billows below. Its head is like a ravenous wolf's, with huge rams' horns curling behind its ears and the antlers of a ten-point stag rising before them. The figure of Kerranas lifts its hands to the sky ... and begins to dance in time with the Rat Pack below. Only Nimlo is not participating now: He, of course, still swaying devoutly, has all his attention on the cords of sorcerous power he's weaving and reweaving, tugging at them like marionet strings, to maintain and direct the illusion.
The dance continues, still with no reaction from within the cave, and finally the image of Kerranas rises up, and with a grand gesture, points a single claw at the center point between the cave mouth and the low hill where the Rat Pack arranged their props. With a roar, dressed up in his wolfman costume, Jimmy charges down the hillside, leaps to the space indicated by the apparition, throws his head back, spreads his clawed hands from the elbows, and howls to the sky in challenge. Again the apparition points to the space where Jimmy now stands, but there is no response from within the cave. Frustrated, Charracks calls upon Vammakhel to fill the cave mouth with blinding light, revealing the Grat'han bandits standing within, then calls on her once more to bring terror upon one of those revealed; the Grat'han screams and cowers, apparently from the image of Kerranas, and flees into the darkness beyond the blazing light; the others mutter together and beat a hasty retreat deeper into the cave, back out of view. Rubbing his chin, Terryon works a spell, and as he moves his lips, a deep, growling voice seems to come from the sky: "Accept the challenge, or be held forfeit by the power of Kerranas! Send forth thy greatest warrior to prove the right of thy cause, unless thou wouldst abandon thy faith!"
There is no response from within the cave. The drumbeats grow lower and more menacing, and Brette says to Terryon, just conversationally, "Hard to imagine them mustering much religious fervor after that, though."
Terryon shrugs, looking every bit as disappointed as Brette and the rest of the Rat Pack. It's Charracks, voice dripping with sarcasm, who says, "How unfortunate that the plan failed," and goes on in his darkest tones -- the ones in which he shows pleasure -- "We'll have to kill them then."
As the drums continue, Jimmy stalks back to the hilltop, and joins Charracks in leading Miw and the gargoyle down the back of the hill and behind the cover of a nearby ridge (where they pick up a group of ogres already posted there by Charracks) to come to the hidden back entrance of the cave, known to Jimmy and the Rat Pack since their survey of the region a few months back. When a quick investigation reveals that the passage appears unguarded -- perhaps all the bandits went out front to see the show -- Charracks calls upon Vammakhel once more, to bring silence down upon the cavern entrance. Normally, this miracle is wrought to prevent the screams of Vammakhel's victims from reaching the wrong ears, but the purpose that Charracks intends in this case is also quite appropriate. He returns to the hill the same way he came, to find the bandits are still quiet within. He dispatches horses and wagons to bring more wood and bales of straw from town, and Nimlo begins to unravel a handful of spellweaves, and creating other weaves from their strands. There is a period of tension on the hilltop, but no faces emerge in the cave, and eventually Miw returns to report, "We close it. They still put on rocks, but Jimmy say me go back."
Charracks permits himself a grin, and directs Miw to burning logs from the fire, more logs left by for fuel, and bales of straw left by for exactly this purpose: One by one, the giant takes them up, and flings them into the mouth of the cave. Those not ignited by the flaming logs themselves soon catch fire anyway as fire arrows fly and lodge themselves in the straw. Charracks stares in as Nimlo weaves and the Rat Pack grimly drums and looks on ... and just as the fire inside the cave is beginning to really blaze and smoke, a cheer can be heard from within, and a torrent of water pours down from the ceiling, rising in hissing billows of steam, extinguishing the flames. As darkness falls within once more, with water still dripping from the ceiling into the standing pool below, Miw hesitates, a log still poised in his hand. Looking uncertainly at Brette, he asks, "Uh. Should I throw this?"
Charracks scowls. Mac tells no one in particular, "I liked our plan better," still drumming, going strong.
Still weaving his new spellforms, Nimlo cracks a smile.
