Not able to reach back up at the rope and pull himself back up, Kage had no choice but to swim through the boiling water, through an underground tunnel, and up into a giant cavern full of mud pits. Kage pulled himself out of the water and began shaking in absolute pain. Greegan could see he had made a serious mistake when he saw Kage’s deep red skin begin to blister in front of his eyes. The realized then that the magic ring he had on had protected him from the heat without him even realizing it. The water held felt comfortably warm to him. He had thought the bubbles had been some kind of gas escaping from below.

“Take off your clothes.”, Kage told Greegan, “I need to get out of these wet clothes. I need something dry. Hurry.”, said Kage, as he shook, trying to take off his armor. His looked at his fingers, which was issuing forth more blood. He knew he had already lost a lot and now with his skin blistering, he felt that his chances were not good.

“Help me!!”, yelled Denier.

Kage and Greegan looked over and about 30 feet away was Denier being held up by one of the natives, holding him out in front of one of the mud pits as five mud-covered squid-headed monsters rose from the boiling mud beneath him.

“Denier!”, yelled Kage. He grabbed his scabbard and unsheathed his sword with his left hand, throwing the scabbard to the ground, and charged forward.

The tentacle-mouthed kopru climbed out of the mud pit to intercept him. As Kage covered the distance, rounding the mud pits, all five of the mud-covered monsters had gotten out and were now blocking his path to Denier. Kage no longer shook. His sword reached underneath the first monster’s defense, stabbing it in the armpit. He then brought it out and low, stabbing the sword into the monster’s kneecaps, causing the monster to fall to it’s other knee. A second one tried to grab him with it’s flipper-like arms, but he ducked the swing, coming in closer the monster and slicing it’s chest open. Greegan came up behind him and did a running kick into the first kopru’s face as it kneeled, holding onto its armpit wound. Pulling out his dagger, he plunged it into the chest of a third kopru.

Denier looked down at the three other kopru still in the pool looking up at their next meal and the two fighting to save him. He now wished he had told Everett that Greegan had had some ideas about killing them for their magic items.

The priestess threw Denier over the cliff and into the boiling mud. At first every pore in his body went numb, and then he went blind and the pain became unbearable. The boiling mud came in through his nose and mouth, burning the inside of his body. As the mud cooked his body, he could actually feel the muscle loosen from his bones. He kept hoping the kopru would come over and put him out of his misery, but the three of them stayed where they were and just watched as he writhed in pain. The priestess had always been willing to give them the sacrifice on land, but they liked the taste better when they were boiled alive.