ic The Sick and the Serpentine (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Hmmm" grunted Capt. Hammer, red faced with fury. "I'm going to kill those two one day. They maimed me. Sadists and murderers" he whispered back at Kimo. "Son, I'm only turning away because of you and the lady. One time only tuning back. Because next time I see them, they are going to pay and so will anyone who gets in my way". 

 

He didn't wait for an answer. He slammed his prosthesis into the boat rim, cracking wood. He gripped the wheel of the boat hard enough to whiten his knuckles, and turned it. 

 

Rosa kept silent, and, on cue, turned on the motor. The boat sailed past the huts and the two men. 

 

"Awww....they gone to pick flowers!" mocked Billy Bob. 

 

"Prudty flowers" mumbled Duke, shotgun over his shoulder. 

 

They both watched as Kimo and the boat swung away from them, further into the wetlands. 

 

"She won't let you have them!" called out Billy Bob from the distance, as the two turned their backs, and started packing up their little camp. 

[Kolohehonu]

"Mahalo Brah." He nodded appreciatively. He turned to the doctor. "We stay close or what? I no like for run into dakine like that again." 

 

"Eh brah you know who those bozos stay spouting off about?" Asked Kimo. She won't let you have them was a weird thing for those idiots to say. Which made it sound like they knew about what they were looking for. Which was worrying to say the least.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I have no idea" answered Rosa, a little tense. After all, they had just been attacked by a giant snake and met two swamp men with intimidating manners. 

 

"Those men. They were like some degenerate inbred murderers" she shuddered. "Lets pray we don't meet them again!"

 

"I pray we do" muttered and angry Capt. Hammer. 

 

"Two years ago, I ran into them. Was giving a trip to a botanist. Young and pretty she was. Those jokers saw us, hailed us down. Said they had a broken motor. Well, I we went to help, although every coil of my gut told me to run. Should have listened to my gut" he said bitterly. 

 

"They dragged her off, screaming and yelling. When I tried to help, the big one knocked me senseless. Make no mistake, he is as strong as they come. Next thing I know, Billy Bob is taking a machete to my hand and told me he would give me something to remember me by. I would never forget the Slaughter cousins". 

 

He sat back, full of sour. 

 

"Those murderous scum deserve to die. And I'm going to kill em" he said, bluntly. 

[Kolohehonu]

For half a moment Kimo wanted to turn the boat around. Instead he quietly opened his bag produced his school planner and wrote the words: "Slaughterhouse Cousins." He quietly closed the book. That was a problem for Kid Kamehameha not Kimo. The last thing he needed was that man becoming a murderer. But with any luck that would be a problem for another day. 

 

Kimo sat sat down and let his nerves steady. The last thing he needed was another shock. Not to mention that snake was certainly magic. He wasn't too sure if snakes held animosity towards him like eels did, they weren't too keen on Hina and Kanaloa. But this one seemed like it just might. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The boat motored along for a while, with little changing. The terrain was getting progressively less wet. The river was running out, replaced by bogs and marsh. The mosquitos became, if anything, more oppressive. They seemed to be larger and thirstier. 

 

The Captain seemed to put up a wall of contained fury and bitter stew. He spoke not a word, and didn't even look at his passengers. 

 

Rosa pulled out a map, and showed Kimo some landmarks. "Here....we should be close" she mused, scanning both the cartography and the terrain about them. 

 

In the distance, they spotted something. It was like a cluster of trees, mangled, broken, and distorted into a giant effigy. 

 

No-one was suprised to see that the horribly bent trees and formed the image of a snake. 

 

It was a couple of hundred yards from what remained of the river. The terrain was a few feet under water, or barely above it, in patches. Roots and wood poked out of the water everywhere. If one was inclined to climb through them, one could keep one's feet dry. It was, however one looked at it, rather uninviting terrain to hike through. 

 

Rosa was glad she had brought sensible hiking shoes. Whilst no athlete, she was in her thirties and in reasonable shape. It would not be an easy walk, but she assured Kimo she could manage it and this did not seem an overestimation of her stamina. 

 

"Be careful" said the Captain, who maintained he would wait for them in his boat. He offered Kimo the flare gun, "just in case". 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Supercape

[Kolohehonu]

Kimo let the doctor go on ahead of him he grabbed the bag and the flare gun. He nodded soberly. 

 

When he was in the water he mumbled again. "God of the evening hunter, Puenui god of owls lend me your vision." 

 

His eyes opened and a sneaking sudpicion filled his mind. He first looked for magic, but then he turned and peered into the mind of the doctor. Of course she could just be normal, but Ku had looked that way. There seemed more than was on the surface.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Somehow the augmented awareness brought the wetlands to life; the teeming insects, the small fish, the croaking amphibians, even the vibrant flora. There was always the hint of disease about the place, however. 

 

And Dr Sanchez was sweating. Perhaps it was the heat. 

 

The twisted trees in front of him reeked of magic, in a black and green hue, like rotten wood. Something magic was in them, something magic inside the structure. And something most foul buried below it, in whatever black and green mud and earth lay there. 

 

Is he out here? Is he? came the thoughts of Dr Rosa Sanchez. It was full of love, and compassion. And constrained anxiety. 

 

Could he have survived? I have to know! If he has...then maybe...just maybe....I can cure him!

 

Her minds eye turned to pages and illustrations of the fabled orchid. 

 

[Kolohehonu]

"Eh doc, why you stay one oncologist?" Kimo asked still looking around. How had he not come out here? The place was steeped in the magical. Then again he hadn't been here very long. He still wasn't sure why he was here, especially as Kimo, and not Kid K. Did the gods not want credit? Did they care about the flower? Part of Kimo wished to ask, but the gods rarely gave out free knowledge. Even those who did, like Lono, Kane, and Hina tended to be so mysterious with it that you needed cava to even make heads or tales of it. Maybe Laka could help out, but he wasn't sure he had the time right now to watch her dance. Nor did he have the holy drug to try and beseech the gods. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Heal the sick, same old story" said Rosa, not looking Kimo in the eye. Perhaps out of avoidance. But on the other hand picking their way through the wet lands whilst fighting mosquito's did require attention. It was slow going - at least for Rosa. 

 

"I have...had...a brother" she said vaguely. 

 

Her thoughts turned to her younger brother, sick with cancer. She had studied so hard, turning to every experimental treatment...every one...

 

"He got sick. Cancer. I guess I turned to oncology to try and help. Pulled a few strings in the department, got him the best experts. Got him the best treatment..."

 

It helped, but he was still dying before my eyes....

 

"He...he...I'd rather not talk about him, sorry..." she said, visibly upset. "But it gave me a passion for my job. Too many people taken by cancer...."

 

It was he who found the references to the orchid. Even persuaded me it was true. Came out here by his own...what happened? Did the slaughter brothers get him???

 

She shuddered at the thought. 

 

"Lets just concentrate on that tree - serpent. Looks like a shrine to me, but right now I wish the professor had come to tell us about it. There were references to the orchid being revered in certain...cults...." she said, vaguely. 

 

She slipped on a tree root, and collided into Kimo. In another circumstance, it might have been a semi romantic comedic event. But this was a less than romantic terrain. 

[Kolohehonu]

Kimo caught her as she fell, feeling his own powers break. He'd learned what he needed. He only really needed to know if this was some goddess in disguise.

 

"Eh Rosa," he said helping her out. "That's Heroic. What you did for your brother." He smiled. He hoped he knew what Heroic was. "Cancer tends to hit my people hard. I like for try and change that." And he was sure so did the gods.

 

"eh someone stay inside there." He whispered. "I heard one voice or something."

Edited April 24, 2017 by Kolohehonu

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Heroic...ha. Call me heroic when...I mean if I had saved him" she said, with a smile laced with regret. She wiped away ah half tear and smacked another mosquito. She was sweaty and hot. 

 

She tensed when Kimo mentioned someone was inside. 

 

"What? Well...maybe not surprising. But this feels really strange. I mean..frightening strange" she conceded. "Here, give me that flare gun. I hope we don't need it but...well those Slaughter cousins. They scared me to the bone" she said, almost trembling despite the heat. 

 

"They...were evil. I never said that before, not about anyone. I've seen bad men, and women, but always seen a reason for them to be bad. I believe in God, Catholic girl. Never quite believed in evil though, until today..." she shuddered. 

 

"Lets get this done then. I don't want to wait around more than I have to..."

[Kolohehonu]

Kimo passed off the gun. He hoped she would stay outside, in case he had to go full, Kid Kamehameha. She didn't seem like she would be that terrible a person to know his secret, but he wanted to protect her. As much as she wanted to keep him safe, he definitely needed her worry less than she needed his.

 

Kimo headed around the tree and into the shrine. He hoped this person could see him, like really see him. He hoped he was a beacon of divine magic. This seemed like the person who made the Slaughterhouse Cousins... afraid? That might mean this was a good person, or it could be a far more terrible creature. Kane And Ke'akua protect. He wasn't too sure how he felt about the gods and the Christian God, the Hawaiian gods themselves were kind of divided on their opinions. He still prayed to Ke'akua, the Hawaiian name for the Christian god, he wasn't too sure if those prayers were heard, but it made him feel better. 

 

"Aloha Kahuna." It seemed like the right word to use. And he hoped they knew he knew they had magic. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The sun was a little low in the sky by this time, and just beginning to turn ember. It flickered in a eerie but beautiful way through the thatched twisted trees that formed the serpent. It was hard to be sure; was this a man made structure or had the trees just grown this way?

 

If one was to guess, the latter seemed more likely, even if less comfortable. 

 

There was a small fire in the middle, and a few cooking utensils. Various herbs, dead animals, teeth, and skins littered the place on hooks and makeshift furniture. The skin and teeth of snakes seemed the most populous. 

 

There was a hazy, sickly sweet smoke coming from the fire. 

 

"Welcome"

 

She was young, or appeared young. In her twenties, with deep brown skin, and black hair tied into a singular long braid that reached halfway down her chest. She wore bangles and necklaces and an assortment of jewellery that bordered on the gauche. Her bandana and clothes felt like a mixture of Southern American styles and Native American. Most striking where her eyes; a slight slant and a clear almost sickly yellow iris. She had the taint of mysterious allure but it would be a bold man who fell for her. 

 

"What you come for?" she asked, as she turned some meat over on the small fire. It was crackling already. She tossed some more herbs onto the fire itself, which seemed to create another burst of pungent grey smoke. 

 

 

[Kolohehonu]

"Looking for one orchid Kahuna." Kimo said, he looked at the feet, few creatures of Hawaiian magic took kindly to eye contact. Especially not from a stranger. "They say it stay magic kine, can cure all kine tings. Yellow not gold, sweet yet sickly?" Kimo hoped that was what it was. "My Kumu says it might stay around here." 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Ah Oui" said the woman, mangling English, French, and Creole. She smiled an empty smile. 

 

"La Lemurian Orchid. It grows here, but as rare as golden eggs" she explained, gazing into the fire. "Very difficult to find, very difficult. I have only seen it once, and I live here, haha" she chuckled. 

 

"I am surprised you have even heard of it. Few have, and they think it legend. Tell me, how did you hear of it, and what do you want with it?" she said, leaning forward almost through the smoke and fire and gazing at them with hypnotic yellow eyes. "It is dangerous!" she added. 

 

The smoke curdled around her face as she breathed it in, but the fumes and odours did not seem to rise but congeal around the soft black earth beneath their feet. Kimo could vaguely recognise the scent of opium in the fumes. 

 

Dr Sanchez gripped Kimo'as arm in a reflexive discomfort, her other hand handling the flare gun with sweaty agitated fingers. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Supercape

[Kolohehonu]

"Dangerous? No need for worry about that." Kimo shifted his stance, except his mind reading he had no way to protect himself or Rosa. Well he had no way to go on the offensive without outing his identity. 

 

"Kumu told us, never gave one name." He narrowed his eyes. She seemed truthful, but she was also probably the one the slaughterhouse cousins were talking about. "Eh who this shrine for?" 

 

The eyes of The Evening Hunter turned into the woman's mind as he aimed to peer past the magic of the place. He did not like this. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The woman gazed up at Kimo from her crouch, meeting his gaze with her yellow eyes. 

 

"What is that, Jaundice?" asked Dr Sanchez, coughing a little and waving the fumes from her mouth. "Are you sick?" she asked, sniffing. "Self-medicating for pain?"

 

The woman laughed gently at them both. "Non. I am as sick as anybody hehe..." it was almost a cackle. 

 

"This place is rich, in power. You can feel, it can't you?" she asked Kimo. "There is something about you. Bold, maybe....well, my name is Vesper at least that's what I say my name is, and that's what they call me haha!"

 

She beckoned them to sit by her, where the fumes were strongest. 

 

"Mad old swamp lady will do, if you want" she said a bit more softly, gazing at the flames. 

 

"And this shrine is for me haha. At least, I sit in it. But its as old as hills, I reckon, don't know how old. Older than you or me. I reckon these trees all bent themselves this way by witchcraft before man was born. When the snake people owned the earth..."

[Kolohehonu]

She's shifty. Like one Snake...

 

"I like for stand." Kimo stated. He was glad for the toughness of his body from training with the god of war. Last thing he needed was to be drugged out here. He would rather have had this conversation as the Kid. 

 

"Snake people?" Kimo asked. He did not like that she had deflected the power of Puenui, perhaps it was the heat of the place. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Stand then" said Vesper, vexed. 

 

"The snake people, Oui" she said, her voice taking an a droning song like texture. "They were here before Atlantis. The mighty empire of Lemuria, stretching from Leng to the Savage Lands. Come the war with Atlantis, when earth and sea shook and trembled, they were driven below ground..."

 

She took up two handfuls of black earth, muddy and dense, and showed Rosa and Kimo, also as an offering. 

 

The smoke on the ground was now thick and impenetrable for at least six inches. 

 

"You have heard of Set? You have heard of lizard cults around the world? They were born from Lemuria. Their blood even runs in some strange folk. Maybe you have even heard of the Cult of the Yellow Sign and their dread unspeakable god. Haha...it would drive you mad if you knew it all....HAHAHAHAHA!" she screamed. 

 

"Sorcerers they were. And, if you look careful, the remnants of their sorcery remain. Like this shrine...." she said, pleased with herself. 

 

Kimo felt something slithering over one of his boots.....

[Kolohehonu]

"Goddess of the heart of the earth, Pele goddess of the volcano lend me your power." Kimo said aloud and flatly. He was done with the tomfoolery. He was going to make a show of force. He slammed a fist into his palm and sent the shockwave out towards the woman. If she was some mad babbler with little true magic the power of an impatient goddess would put her in her place. If she was more, well it was quite clearly a job for Kid Kamehameha anyways. 

 

"Eh no have time for this kine. You know where the flower stay or wut? No stay patient kine no more." He declared, his voice loud and deep as all his muscles burned with the might of a volcanoe. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The smoke swarmed away, and the wood splintered. If any serpentine God was watching, it would be displeased. Shards of half rotten wood fell down on them all, and for a groaning second, one could imagine the whole shrine would collapse. 

 

Vesper rolled away, laughing. "I knew you were sometin'" she cackled as the impact hit her and she tumbled out of the shrine, through the splintered hole, and landed face down in some shallow mucky water. 

 

Now the smoke had gone, Kimo could see an asp, or viper, or some such snake, coiled around his boot and poised. It did not delay further, but sank his teeth into his calf...

[Kolohehonu]

Kimo felt all the muscles in his leg tense. There was a pulse as he felt his blood pressure rise. Ok it was official, he hated snakes and not just eels, and he was certain it was mutual. They were close enough anyways to one another. 

"Get back!" Kimo shouted to Rosa before leaping over and grabbing the witch, he lifted her up and then slammed an arm straight into her solar plexus he saw her go limp from the impact as he knocked her out. He'd deal with her in a bit.

 

"Eh! Try come at me again!" Kimo shouted at the snake. He was feeling Pele's power flow not just through his body, but also his mind. Maui, Ku, Pele, all of them flowed through him as he sighted down the creature that he felt would try for Rosa. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

As Vesper sank into unconsciousness, the snake let out a hisss, like it was deflating. Its black eyes became a little less black. It now appeared, if not benign, at least less determined to sink its teeth into either Rosa or Kimo. 

 

Instead, it slunk to the ground, and slithered off. 

 

Rosa was whiter than ever, despite her Colombian skin. "What...what happened?" she said, hardly believing her own eyes. "What was she? What are you?"

 

Medical instincts kicked in as she saw the wound on Kimo's calf. "Oh my God! you are bitten! Let me see? are you alright?" she asked, as she moved over to examine the bite. 

[Kolohehonu]

"Well." How to explain this? He shrugged his shoulders forcing the rage to subside. He dragged the now unconscious witch in and slumped against the wall. So not just a snake, but magic too. Well, he happened to have something for that. 

 

"God of the wild medicines, Lono god of the wild lend me your healing." He felt his body strengthen, he felt the flow of the healing magic surround him. He laid a hand on his leg and pushed the healing magic into him. "I stay, one champion of the gods of my people. Power for protect the Hawaiian people. Well all kine people but mostly Hawaiian."

 

"She's some kine kahuna, or shaman." Kimo said. "I tink. Definitely magic and definitely kapu." He'd have words when she woke up but for now he just sat back and let the two magics fight it out across his body. "Get any way for keep her down when she wake up?" 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Shaman? Like, a witch?" answered Rosa, still befuddled by the event. Her hand kept a grip on the flare gun; perhaps she was now also a little nervous around Kimo. 

 

"We have those in Colombia. Some of the cartels have sorcerers, warlocks, whatever you call them. El Sierpe, he has snakes in his mansion. Feeds traitors to them. Some say he is a snake himself..."

 

"What she said. Lemuria. The snake people. I have read about these myths. But she thinks they are true! and seeing those snakes today...I can believe it! It's too much to take in..." she said, clutching her head. 

 

She shook it, hair ruffling. "I have a medical kit back at the boat. Probably something there to keep her out, or at least so slowed down she is no threat. Some morphine. But looks like she was smoking something potent already..." she said, indicating the still glowing fire. 

 

"And you? a champion of the Gods?" she said, fondling, unconsciously, the silver crucifix on her neck. "I only believe in one God. Not yours, not the Cult of the Yellow Sign. I cannot believe in anything other..." she said. It was not exactly defiant, more a ritual to herself - a way of affirming her own faith.