Chapter 5 watery grave part 3

We walked along the street back to the “Abenteurergilde” I looked at her concerned, if I head money, I would drag her to “Speisen” and treat her to a meal, but alas I have no money.

I made a big jump directed at her face before I could land on it though she caught me “Don’t worry I’m fine.” She said to reassure me. I looked at her earnestly raising an eyebrow “really?” not believing what she said.

“We are here.” She quickly changed the topic. I jumped down from her arm and was about to wander though the big open door.

“Wait!” she quietly shouted at me and pointed at a side alley “This way!”

I followed her and we arrived at an open window…

I looked at her with judging eyes…

She noticed and tried to defend herself “W-what?! If I use the front door, I will get caught and dragged back to my desk!”

I still looked at her with judging eyes…

“A-anyway let’s go in, we should waste no time!”

She effortlessly jumped though the window…

“Did I mention that this window is on the second floor…”

I jumped after her, we landed in a quiet hallway, in direct contrast from the lively first floor.

I followed my partner quietly as she led the way into a big library on the other side of the long hallway.

There was not a single soul in here, just old books in rows after rows of old wooden bookshelves and here and there tables and well used chairs.

My partner went with determination to a section titled “Monsters”.

Books about all kinds of creatures ordered by habitat, filled the shelves “quite impressive, I didn’t expect them to have so many information about monsters from even different regions and continents.”

I let my eyes wander reading the different titles, while my partner diligently looked through the books,

“101 monsters. The best cooking guide for your adventurer journey!”

“Wechselbalg and all its subtypes.”

“Flaschengeister, the reason you should never rub a lamp of unknown origin.”

“Monster guide even idiots understand (hopefully)!”

“…”

“What are these names…?”

“Who came up with something like that?”

While I was immersed at looking at absurd book titles, she seemed to have found what she was looking for.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

With a book that looked like it would fall apart at any moment she sat down at one of the tables. I jumped on it and took a closer look at the title “Rare creatures of the coast region”. She opened it and went through the table of contents, while I made myself at home and laid down in a position still able to see the books contents.

She flipped trough the pages describing different creatures until she stopped on a page with a creature named “Gonger”.

“This has to be it!” she exclaimed startling me in the process.

“No wonder I didn’t knew what these things were, the last record dates back to 500 years ago! But its strange… its described as a creature that rarely appears and never shows up in a group…” while she pondered over the incongruities, I started to read the creatures description:

“The Gonger…

A sailor drowned at sea whose corpse could not be retrieved.

They can appear after hundreds of years after their own death.

Its appearance resembles that of a drowned body, inflated with bluish skin.

Depending on how long they are already dead, their appearance may change, revealing more flesh and bones as well as more deteriorated clothing.

(a rough sketch depicting the Gonger is drawn beside the description)

This creature poses no physical threat, but it torments their victims with nightmares.

Observations show that it comes out of the sea at night and wanders into its former home or houses, where relatives reside to inflict above mentioned nightmares on them.

It always leaves the bed drenched in sea water and victims described a foul fish smell, some of the victims mentioned that they felt as if they would drown and a heavy feeling on their chests.

Before dawn the creatures go back into the sea and the prosses repeats.

It is believed that the reason for these creature’s actions lies in the wish to be remembered by their families or descendants. This theory is supported by the only known way to rid one’s self of the Gonger.

That is, the victim remembering the Gonger, their deceased family or ancestor, and holding a memorial ceremony for them.”

“Well… no fighting this time.”

I looked at my partner and taped my paw at the part describing how to deal with this thing, “That’s easy right!?”

She looked at me “It would be easy with the ones we are aware of but we don’t know how many might appear after that, the town could be in constant distress because of it…”

“You are unexpectedly thoughtful…” I lift my paw to tap her on the shoulder to praise her.

Deep in thought she continued “We need to find the root cause… first the Kobolds and now this… or at least we need to find a way to deal with all the Gongers at ones…”

…

We sat there quietly for a while thinking for a solution…

“…”

“…”

Until I got an epiphany. I wagged my tail in excitement and jumped in front of my partner to grab her attention.

“What is it? Do you have an idea?” she asked while I nodded and jumped from the desk.

I wandered along the bookshelves we passed before and stopped at a row of books at my height and pointed with my nose at a book with the title “The best festivals for your first date. Make your crush fall hard for you!” written by “Charmeur Tunichtgut”. “Yeah…, I just remembered it because of its ridiculous title…

She looked at me weirded out…

“Don’t give me that look!”

I tried my best to point at the word festival…

She took out the book and looked at it for a while. I nervously begun to roam around her “Do you understand?!”

“Wait, do you mean we should organize a festival to remember all the sailors that passed away at sea?” she looked at me asking.

I frantically nodded and wagged my tail “You got it!”

“If we would introduce a festival, that would surely help to deal with all the existing Gongers as well with the ones that might come in the future… that doesn’t solve everything, but it’s worth a try.”

She looked down at me “You really aren’t a normal cat, are you?”

I innocently tilted my head “You are right! In fact, I’m not even a real cat!”

She looked at me and let out a laugh “Haha, I will go and have a talk with the mayor, see you!”

Full with motivation she left the library, I run after her “Hey! You still hold that weird book in your hand!” but she already jumped out of the window, not that she would have understood me anyway…

I heard footsteps coming up from the first floor “Was that a cat meowing?” the assistant’s voice rang out…

“I should go too…”