Chapter 12 - The Glorp

Mari’s body was the first to impact the oily surface that they had just witnessed the large hyrax pass through along with the Prince and this new creature. A wave of nausea even more powerful than what they had experienced before pulsed through her as the oily substrate seemed to permeate into her fur with a deep cold that immediately pierced her core. Darkness consumed her, followed by a deep sound that rose sharply resembling a popping sensation. It sounded like it said… glorp?

As she stepped into this realm, the ground was less sticky than she imagined it might be. The landscape appeared to be made of a fine black rock, smooth as glass. A crackle of red energy flashed through the darkened sky, blotted with deep grey jagged clouds. The light refracted through parts of the black rock, emitting an array of colors, the brighter ones faded quickly and appeared to be brought to the ground as if being pulled by gravity.

Jerro, Greg and Phlip emerged through the portal behind her. To her surprise, they were not covered in the tar as she imagined they might be from the incident with Jerro in the cave.

“Where in the burrow are we?” Greg said aloud, his voice reverberating off the rock.

“No idea” Mari responded, looking around for any sign of the large hyrax.

“Oh man… do you smell that” Jerro coughed out while doubling over.

“No wha-” Mari was interrupted and threw up a little in her mouth.

A sickly sweet, rotten smell of putrid banana overtook the group. Mari turned to look at her friends, the portal closed rapidly behind them, their tracking bracelets from Station flipped to a red glow. Where the portal had been an amorphous blob of malformed flesh now stood. An eye here and a mouth there, drooling with saliva. How did they miss this, it must have been obscured by the portal Mari thought to herself. The creature spewed what looked like a cracked egg from its mouth and let out a small yet deep and ferociously distorted roar as it expanded in size and began engulfing Phlips body.

Philip looked surprised and tried to jump away but a slab of flesh slammed down in front of his path.

“Phlip!” Mari yelled in horror while in unison, the friends rallied to Phlips aid.

Jerro dropped down his monocular to see if it could unveil any opportunities he had missed while Greg and Mari moved in an almost choreographed sequence similar to their engagement with the giant earthworm previously.

Greg began a rotational gesture, intuitive, yet completely novel to him and Mari charged up to him sliding down a section of smooth rock. As she leapt up her body began to orbit Greg with his rotation. It was as if the group were communicating without even using the telepathic space, they were one, their senses, minds and ability melded.

Mari’s rotation accelerated and began to glow a deep shade of blue. Her body assumed geometric forms that seemed to bend what they knew of reality, cubes, spheres and diamonds.

Jerro saw it, just like the pipe in The Deepworks, an unusual vibration in one of the rock structures. Obsidian, he knew of this from his geology studies as a builder.

He placed a paw to his temple and focused his frequency modulation on the rock outcropping. If he could fracture this, a sharp slab of obsidian would be sheared off.

As Mari built up speed she assumed a relaxed pose with her hind paws dangling gently together, arms stretched out loosely to her sides, her orientation fixed on the creature engulfing Phlip.

This all was happening in mere seconds, the rock face sheared as Jerro anticipated, Mari launched from the rotation tearing toward the flesh blob with tremendous speed. Greg and Jerro both covered their eyes as all ambient light was pulled into Mari.

She tore through the creature instantaneously, creating a gaping chasm through the mass of flesh. Simultaneously, the slab of razor sharp obsidian was drawn into her path which locally collapsed the psionic matrix which supported the gravitational fields.

This strategically drew in the slab, rendering the creature into several pieces which flew off with the slab into the distance.

Mari stood facing the group, breathing heavily.

Philip dropped a few pellets to the black rock and hopped over towards Greg and Jerro, seemingly unaffected by the entire event.

“That was sort of crazy guys” Jerro transmitted telepathically so the distance Mari could hear him without yelling.

“Now, let's go find this giant creep” Mari responded as she began to reapproach the group.

“Hey, I’ve got something that might help!” Jerro said excitedly while dropping his bag off his shoulder.

He pulled out his Decanter of Aquarius, “No that’s not it he said, but I am thirsty…” and he took a swig from the vessel. “Ah this is it!” He explained, presenting a folded piece of worn parchment and began to unfold it.

A map of The Burrow began to appear and waver. “Hmmm that’s not right” Jerro said, frustratedly shaking the map.

“Where did you get this?” Greg asked, a question Mari would have likely asked, but she was still cooling down from the recent event.

“They dropped this when Keeper Aleese and myself fought them in The Deepworks, I had sort of forgotten about it until just now but maybe it can help us track them down.” Jerro explained to the group.

They studied the map as it began to reorganize the oily ink revealing the local landscape which faded at the edges. A dot appeared in the center, supposedly indicating the location of the map holder. Atop the map read words they could understand, “The Glorp”.

“That’s the sound!” Mari said, pointing at the title excitedly. “Must be what this place is called?” Jerro questioned semi rhetorically.

“Look over there!” Mari said pointing in the distance to a spire-like structure then returning to the map “That must be this place” she pointed with confidence to a similar looking structure drawing itself out on the map.

“It seems like the most logical place to start,” Jerro agreed.

They took off in a file towards the spire, Mari leading the group mounted on Phlip’s back, Jerro in the middle gliding on his disk and Greg taking up the rear on all fours making quick work of the challenging terrain. They carefully navigated the unsettling planescape, weaving between massive outcroppings of jagged stone doing their best to keep a linear path in their desired direction.

Despite moving towards the spire, it seemed to be, no it definitely was, moving as well. Mari could distinctly remember the mountain behind the spire looked like a large cookie with a bite taken out of it. That formation was now far down the horizon, too far for it to have been from their movement alone.

“Guys, I’m… I’m picking up something on my monocular, I think it’s tracks, not like footprints, but psionic essence. I’ve got two powerful signatures and a third one, that’s unique, it’s not psionic, it’s… anomalous? I’ve never seen anything quite like it, the psionic matrix seems to be warped along the path” Jerro attempted to explain as they continued moving swiftly towards the spire.

“Whatever it is, we will face it together” Mari responded and Greg gave a head nod of confident commitment.

Creating a razor ridge of obsidian, a plain of dark blue grass stretched out towards the spire which was now fully visible from the base to the precipice. The fields were dotted with pools of dark tarry liquid, the same stuff Jerro stepped in that was lining the tunnels of the cave system. Singular flesh monsters scattered randomly throughout the open spaces, wandering about, some going into or coming out of the tar pools, others simply sat motionless and some grew and transformed taking on various configurations. A blast of rotten banana aroma wafted across them as the winds shifted to pull it off the field.

“I’m assuming we will want to avoid that?” Greg asked as they all lined up along the ridge crest, their bodies pressed tightly against the stone to not give away their location. Together they took in the scene.

“Look!” Mari pointed out at the spire “It is moving, I knew it!” The spire was crawling along, supported by a mass of rolling tar, leaving a wake of residue in its path. It wasn’t just one large spire, but a complex of spires coalescing into a singular structure that reached into the blood red sky, silhouetted against the distant mountain chain.

“Okay look at the path it’s taking, the spire is moving towards that area where the ridge tapers down towards the field. If we hustle, I think we can beat it there, it’s not moving that fast. Then we will just have to figure out how to get on it…” Mari said, gesturing with her paw to expound on her plan to board the structure.

Greg held out a fisted paw toward the center of the group. Mari and Jerro put their paws in and Jerro said plainly “Pawple Horizon, you know like purple but I changed the ‘pur’ to ‘paw’.” 

“What are you even talking about Jerro?” Mari asked in confusion. “The ship name… he's trying to come up with names for the ship” Greg said and continued in a reassuring tone, “Jerro, that's a great name, but maybe we keep exploring our options assuming we make it out of here.”

Jerro looked at them excitedly, “I get it, maybe that isn’t the one, but the name is in here somewhere!” He tapped on his skull.

“Let’s get moving” Mari said, getting the gang back on track, hopping up and slinging herself atop Phlip. She led the way down the back of the ridge towards the interception point she identified.

They did indeed beat the spire to Mari’s proposed rendezvous location, but it was moving quicker than she had anticipated. They would be close in a moment as it passed this point, maybe 100 tails or less.

The ground trembled as the spire sloughed along, supported by the mass of rolling tar goop. It rolled over one of the flesh creatures, it was consumed by the mass entirely.

There was no clear path up to the structure which was nearly as high as it was far away.

A series of shadows flickered over their position as they all looked up to see half a dozen large flying creatures land on a balcony perched high in the spire.

“No way I can make that jump” Greg said looking at the base of the spire.

“Maybe… but maybe there is a way” Jerro said plainly, scanning with his monocular. “Check that out” he said pointing towards the rear of the moving fortress.

A small hatch opened and three hyrax came out with long pitchforks, they jabbed them down into the rolling mass of tar and extracted bits and pieces of the flesh monster that had just been consumed by it.

“Uhh… so I totally get what you're thinking Jerro, but look at that thing… it’s been dismembered”

The window to act was closing quickly as the citadel approached the near point of the tapered outcropping.

“Trust me guys, on my tail!” Jerro said instinctively, floating out from the rocks on his disk.

Mari and Greg looked at each other and with an exasperated shrug followed their friend.

“I’m not sure what kind of forces we are going to have to withstand but I will need both of your energy” Jerro said in the telepathic space as they rushed toward the front of the mass.

“Gather here, fast and channel everything you’ve got into me!”

The group formed a small triangle with Phlip in the middle and Jerro’s back to the fortress.

Jerro took a knee in concentration, his head down, paw pressed to a temple. As the rolling mass of goop approached, the rocks trembled and dust kicked up. Jerro looked up quickly and stood. A sphere of crackling energy erupted around them and spread tendrils between them, he turned toward the mass bracing for impact.

It consumed them entirely with the same, ‘glorp’ sound as they had heard in the portal. It was dark, but dimly lit by the deep yellow glow of Jerro’s protective barrier. Their location, direction of travel and orientation quickly was lost as the tar blotted out all external light sources.

Mari and Greg continued to strain, driving their energy into Jerro to maintain the shield. “The forces are intense” Jerro sain in the telepathic space, “but if we can maintain this for a few more moments we should be okay, I timed how long it took for the flesh monster, we only have to hold for three minutes.”

Three minutes, while a brief time, felt like three hours to the friends as they struggled with every molecule of their being to hold the shield together. It fluctuated on several occasions, and Jerro rearranged the structure to support the shifting load. Chunks of flesh monsters, rocks and other debris crashed into the force field, adding to the variable conditions.

“We’re almost there” Mari said telepathically, she didn’t know, but she felt it, she imagined that if she could will it into existence for herself, it could be true for them all.

They were almost there, a fork pierced the force field and tar began leaking in. Phlip shifted slightly to avoid the spilling goo and scratched his ear.

Light poured in from the side near the fork breach and quickly dilated around the sphere, fully illuminating the scene.

“Greg, hit em quick, I can hold this with Jerro!” Mari said urgently in the telepathic space.

Greg shot up through the hole which Jerro widened, causing the hyrax’s fork to come free.

The three small hyrax were completely unprepared and in a sweeping choreographed movement Greg parkoured off what appeared to be open air just above their position, charging with blinding speed.

His impact alone knocked one off the platform into the gooey rolling foundation where it immediately disappeared. Greg’s movement became so quick, it was as if he was phasing from one position to the other. Instantly he was on the next hyrax, delivering a devastating Earthshaker Pawstrike to its sternum. The hyrax’s physical body did not move but the ephemeral essence was ripped backwards into space and dissipated into the red sky. The physical form unbonded at the atomic level and fell into a pile of unidentifiable particulate. 

The third hyrax began to flee towards the large service door and as it got there reached for a control panel. It wasn’t quick enough, Greg was already there, behind it.

With a swift rounded kick, he sent the hyrax soaring into the distance as it disappeared into a point.

Greg grabbed one of the forks and ran to the edge of the platform where the shielded sphere was sinking back into the tar.

“Grab on!” he shouted, lowering the fork into the shield. Mari held out one hand, splitting her focus to grab the end of the pitch fork. The shield shuddered and Jerro strained. As they emerged from the goo, he was able to let down the upper part of the shield.

With all their might, Greg, Mari and Jerro pulled themselves out of the deadly foundation.

They collapsed on the deck, breathing hard, tar smattering their bodies as the sky turned a deeper shade of red and orange then began to darken rapidly.