Primrose thought she heard someone call her name. She looked around for the source until she found Gideon. He was running across Market Square waving his arms about. What was that silly boy up to now? I know I just met him, but there is something about him, something that draws me to him. Maybe it’s because he was kind and honest? He kept things simple and grounded to basic life principles, he was exactly what she needed in her life at the moment. She waved back so that he knew she had seen him.
The bell chimed loudly from the clock tower above, the ominous resonance vibrated throughout the square, the fifth bell was a holy hour. It symbolized the five. If you worshiped the Old Ones-The Elder Gods, this was their hour. If not, then this was the hour of The Pantheon of Sin - The Great Ones who mimicked their more powerful brethren. The Pantheon were the five gods that reveled in the sins of man. In her home town, Misunne-Stolthet “The Twisted”, and its cultists were empowered by envy and pride. These sins were overflowing in Lythel due to the mass wealth that was present in such a small city. Some called them the two-faced god or the siblings.
Misunne was the face of the sister and her great envy was boundless. Stolthet was the face of the brother and pride was his sin. He would never allow his sister to best him. They shared everything, including control of their body. Her people were vain because of the pride and envy from the churches teachings. This was one of the many reasons her father sent her away, with hope she could escape that fate. Primrose heard her name as the second bell struck, the atmosphere shifted. She felt a great pressure to submit, to kneel for the toning of the bell. The priests appeared in her periphery at the edge of the square. She didn’t know whom she was supposed to submit to. She looked about the market square for a source to her anxiety. The third bell struck and the merchants began arriving in the center of the square.
From the shadows, alleys, and sewers came small creatures that carried large offering plates into the market. The plates dazzled with such a myriad of colors, the sheer magnitude forced her to look away. The small creatures were engorged from their previous meal, their skin stretched into a near translucence. Blood pulsated through their bodies, the skin appeared near tearing with each pump of their life’s blood. The forth bell struck. They set the plates down and fell back away from the crowd. The merchants placed coin, spices, jewelry and other wares that were some of their earning. She saw the same scene occurring throughout the walled city. “C’thazi,” Primrose said quietly.
Gideon had made it to her as the fifth bell struck. The look on his face was pure horror. The creatures appeared to be a new nightmare in his world judging by the shock on his face. How was it the boy grew up in the city and he didn’t know C’thazi ruled over it? Did he truly not know the churches teachings, their sacrifices? She watched him closely, the shock on his face was real. The lower districts must be truly sheltered and naive. Or they are too poor for the god of greed and gluttony to take notice? As he approached he nervously glanced around, a look of disgust on his face. “Prim, what are those?” he asked her cautiously.
“C’thaapods,” she said. “They are minions of C’thazi “The Engorged”. Stay away from them and they shouldn’t bother us. They are enchanted, try to resist the urge to give all your stuff away.”
“C’thaapods?” he asked. “But what are they and where did they come from? Are you sure they won’t attack?” She watched as he tried to create a little more space between him and the creatures. His naivety is cute in a way.
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“They are C’thazi and a minion of C’thazi at the same time. The Great One will separate off parts of itself into these semi sentient blobs to hunt through the area. C’thazi is driven by a greed that can never be satiated. It consumes endlessly and with the help of these creatures it can be in more than one place at a time.” She pointed at the creatures, “Look,” she said.
The nearest C’thaapod began eating the wares and coins that had been donated. The bulbous creatures expanded as they ate. Some expanded to the point of bursting. When this happened, another of it’s kind ate that creature and everything it dropped. Sometimes this would set off a chain reaction and several creatures would explode one after another. When this occurred the sentient intelligence would have to step in and manually control each individual creature to stop the feeding frenzy. This allowed it to collect the items and safely distribute them between multiple minions. It was a disgusting scene, but it soon cleared up. The C’thaapod had disappeared down the alleys and sewers of which they came.
“Where are they going?” Gideon asked. “If we follow could we actually see the god?”
“They are going back to the host to be consumed and give the goddess back her mass. You might be able to get a look, but then she would probably eat you,” she said. A disgusted look was on Gideon’s face. Primrose looked about her and noticed that the priests and cultists in yellow robes finally arrived. Their prayers were short and to the point. They gathered the large and seemingly heavy offering plates to take back to the church of C’thazi, the C’thaapods having left without removing them. Primrose turned to Gideon, she felt as though everything was settled concerning the church. All the craziness should be over and they made it through without any problems. Being part of a worship service for a god you don’t follow can be difficult, problematic even. She looked back to Gideon. “So tell me about your day,” she asked as if nothing strange had happened.
She looked at Gideon and he rolled his eyes to her question. “Of course. It was an interesting one for sure. It my as well end with little exploding blob demons.” He paused, apparently hesitant to ask a question. “But first, how can these merchants afford to make such large donations.”
She laughed at his gullibility. “I highly doubt they do this on a regular basis. That was a show of power for ours sakes and maybe a little bit of theft on top of it. There was some added theatrics compared to what normally happens, likely an increase in size and scale of the event as well. They wanted to scare the students, to show who is really in power in this city. Who is going to complain to the goddess about ripping them off through compulsion? Did you see how many students donated the new items they just bought? C’thazi will be happy this evening.”
“Really? I hope that nobody we know fell victim. I honestly didn’t notice much else after those C’thaapod creatures showed up.” he admitted. “There might be some instances I can think of where that compulsion thing wouldn’t be too bad though.” She thought the look in his eye suggested there was someone he wanted to get robbed in just such a way. She gave him a small smile as she wondered who such a nice boy didn’t like.
“I don’t think we had any issues. Well I didn’t see anybody I know anyway, but I don’t know nearly as many people in the city as you. So I’m sure there were a few you knew. Hopefully just the bad ones.” His smile told her she had guessed right and there was someone he wished ill feelings toward. “So on with the story, tell me about your day. What trouble did you managed to find, and of course how you managed to get out of it.”
Gideon looked crestfallen when he heard this last part. He didn’t get into nearly as much trouble now, especially compared to a mere few months before.