Tales of Ruuin - Homecoming

Dead as a doorknob

Craven went slack, and a scream of purest anguish echoed through the chamber – until Echser slapped his hands over his mouth. Craven is dead... he's dead, damn it! This meant that he was as good as gone as well. Mortin Cornelius Echser, the most magnificent master of the scientific arts, would die down here in this stinking nightmare of a place. He wanted to weep. It just was so unfair! He deserved better. No, the world deserved better! At least, the matriarch still focused her attention on Craven. She poked him with one of her claws, the dagger-like fingernail going in several inches each time, yet drawing no reaction.

"Dead?" she muttered, poke-stabbed the bounty killer again, nodding. "Dead as a doorknob..."

Echser cast a despairing glance over his shoulder. Perhaps he should just run. From what he could see, Craven managed to slay all the ghouls except the matriarch, and that monster would have a hard time chasing him down belly-burdened as she was. No sooner had he finished the thought, as that idiot Stefan had to spoil it all by suddenly sitting up, gasping at the sight and shouting, "Mother, no!"

Echser could have throttled the fool; he might have if the matriarch had not turned her dinner-plate-sized eyes on them. He froze, his heart close to bursting from his chest, it was hammering that hard.

For a moment, there was no comprehension in the matriarch's features, and then a smile crept over the horrid visage. "Such rowdy friends you have, Stefan, we will have a talk about this, young man – after dinner."

With that, her features split apart, once more unfolding like a flower. Stefan screamed, which did nothing to stop the matriarch from readying Craven for her gullet. Echser just stared. Perhaps, he should just let things unfold and good riddance to the lich hunter. The maniac had landed him in this mess after all. Besides, once he joined Hornbach in the monster's belly, there was no way that gluttonous atrocity could chase him through the tunnels.

Yes...

He needed light, though. A torch or one of their lamps... There! One of the latter had rolled against the wall. Still burning, although cracked and leaking oil. Another lay not too far away. He snatched it up, ready to run – and found he couldn't. What was he doing? He couldn't leave – not without his book!

Echser whirled around. A plan! I need a plan! Think. Think, damn it!

His gaze fell onto the other lamp, the one leaking oil. He blinked. Oil. Fire!

If he managed to set the matriarch and especially Craven aflame, the bombs on his person would detonate and blow the hideous ghoul queen to smithereens. At the very least, it might set her aflame and allow him to rush past and grab his precious treasure.

Yes, it could work – it has to work!

He snatched up the lamp, his highly scientific mind calculating the flight's trajectory, the angle, and force he had to use. His heart hammering, a strange jumble of emotions making him feel hot and cold at the same time, he took aim. He could do it, of course, he could! He had always been good at throwing things, something that his former lab assistant would gladly endorse as nothing but the utter truth. Echser drew back – then froze as the matriarch lifted Craven to her twitching maw. Had the bounty killer actually moved, or was it just a trick of shadow and light?

A trick, just an optical illusion, had to be...

Then again, it might not be...

The matriarch's tongue slithered around Craven's neck and began pulling him into her gullet – and Echser made his decision. Yes, better burned than digested alive, much better. He threw the lantern with all his might. "For Science!"