Treasure of Demon Isle, Part I by Longshot (f, qs) Kathy was ready for this adventure. She had been waiting months researching, studying, and hoping just to find a clue about the secret of Demon Isle and finally here in some dingy back corner of a small town bookstore, she had found it. In a book long forgotten in the tiny occult section of the shop there it was. "Myths and Mysteries of Demon Isle" the title read, and the shopkeeper had looked at it funny and muttered not remembering even ordering the book, but he sold it to her anyway. Inside she had found everything she'd wanted, maps, legends, and even hints about the secret treasure that had long since been lost there. Kathy had heard about the treasure from a small explorers club she had joined. As the only woman member and still new to the adventuring game she wanted something spectacular to prove to those old fogeys that just because she was a beautiful young girl of twenty-five that she could out do all of em. One of them pulled her aside late one night and told her of the Treasure of Demon Isle. He said he'd once tried to get it himself but failed miserably. He had taken a small party of 6 down there and he was the only survivor. He also told her not to even look for the place. The treasure was cursed and anyone who touched it would never be heard from again. Kathy laughed to herself about the curse as she flew her small 2 man plane down to the island. She was determined to come back with that treasure or not come back at all. "It's just a stupid island out in the middle of nowhere" she mused to herself "What's the worst that could happen? Some 3 eyed demon gonna pop out of the ground and eat me?" She laughed at her little joke and brought the tiny plane in for a landing in a large clearing. She unloaded her back pack and supplies from the plane. She was wearing khaki shorts, and a khaki blouse. Her long brown hair was pulled into a pony tail. On her feet were a pair of new hiking boots. She set up camp in the clearing next to her plane and ate a quick meal. As she let her food digest she studies the maps again. "Hmm according to this most of the island is a huge fen and the cave leading to the treasure is in the dead center of the fen. Hmm no problems there the direct route is probably the best." she muttered softly to herself as she continued to study her maps. After a short nap to rest up from flying, Kathy slung her pack onto her back and began her journey into the marsh. Almost immediately her heavy boots began sinking into the soft ground of the marsh and every step was a battle. "Damn this pack and these boots are weighing me down too much. I bet if the men at the club saw me right now they'd laugh their butts off for me being so stupid." she grumbled to herself. Since she had only gone a small distance from the camp she trudged back and sighed. "Well I'm not gonna let some stupid mud beat me." She dropped her pack, which landed with a thud on the more solid ground, and took off her mud covered boots. She then took off the white socks she had been wearing and walked back into the marsh. The cool mud readily accepted her bare feet, but she just as easily managed to pull them back out and continue on. "Well it's not so bad once you get used to it" Kathy assured herself. She continued on for some time into the marsh when her feet slipped completely below the mud and it refused to let go of them. Kathy stood dumbfounded for a moment. "What the hell?" she muttered to herself and tugged gently at her submerged feet. She grumbled softly as the mud refused to let go and finally with some effort she got one of her feet free. She stepped forward and tugged at the other foot until it came free as she set it down she realized she had the same problem again, her feet stuck in soft mud. Kathy sighed "This is not happening." and began to pump her legs up and down trying to rescue her trapped feet. Kathy almost screamed in horror as she realized that she was not only not pulling her feet free but that she was sinking as well. Kathy muttered several obscenities as the mud crawled over her knees... "Oh those old freaks would be laughing their butts off at me now... I'm stuck in mud." she whined to herself. Kathy looked around desperately as the mud began to climb up her shapely thighs. And spotting what she wanted, a overhanging tree limb, she grabbed for it desperately. Kathy managed to grab the limb but found herself in a new problem now. Her arms outstretched and up to her upper thighs in soft mud. She quickly realized the only thing keeping her from sinking was that tree limb. She also knew she didn't have the strength to pull herself up onto the limb and she doubted it would hold her weight anyway. Then an idea popped into her head. "Of course... I'll use the limb to pull myself back to the more solid ground... I'm only a few steps away anyway." Kathy tried this twisting and turning to try and turn herself around. At first the only thing she accomplished was churning up the mud around her, but as it became softer and more fluid she was able to turn around and even begin to move forward. Several hours later an extremely tired and muddy Kathy pulled herself out of the soft mud. By now she was dripping with sweat. "Damn," she muttered to herself. "I knew I should have packed a lighter pack, and brought some water. What was wrong with me? Those fogeys would be having a field day with me." She sighed softly and realized there wasn't much she could do now. She stood slowly and muttered softly to herself "I wish I had some water right about now." She walked a few more feet and almost tripped on something. As she turned to look she screamed. There next to her was a skeleton lying half buried in the mud. In it's hand was a small strangely new looking canteen. Kathy was desperate and snatched the canteen not caring exactly how the person holding it had died. She opened it quickly and it was full of crystal clear water. She drank it slowly trying to pace herself and poured a little on her forehead. It was hot out here, she wondered why she hadn't noticed before, maybe it was just the exertion of escaping the mud she reasoned to herself. She used a little of the precious water to try and wash some of the now drying mud off her legs. Kathy slung the now half empty canteen over her shoulder. "Now all I need is something to test the ground with make sure I don't stumble into more of that soft mud." Kathy pulled her compass from her pocket, one of the few things she had remembered to bring and refaced herself towards North and the center of the island. She walked a few more feet and almost tripped again. She looked down half expecting to see another skeleton. Instead she saw what looked to be a waling stick half buried in the mud. "Man I'm having some amazing luck, first I find a full canteen, now a walking stick" she said joyously. She grabbed the stick and pulled it easily from the mire. A few hours later an exhausted Kathy came upon the entrance to the cave. Thanks to her stick she has managed to avoid 3 other pits of soft mud, and her canteen was down to a quarter of the original water. She was muddy, sweaty, and dead tired, but she had made it to the cave. She plopped down onto a rock and rested. Kathy pulled out her map again and looked it over, this was definitely the cave, she had made it. She gave out a whoop of joy startling several tropical birds in the overhead treetops who flew off squawking at the rude trespasser. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand again. "God it is so hot out here..." she complained. She rested a while on the rock and as nightfall set in decided it might be a better idea to sleep inside the cave. The next morning Kathy woke. She rummaged through the few supplies she had brought. The flashlight clipped to her belt, a small box of matches she had found in her pocket. The survival knife that had also been on her belt, the compass, and her maps. She unfolded the cave map and looked it over. The cave was simple enough 3 lefts and walk about a half mile forward then a right, another quarter mile and a final left and she would be at the treasure. About a mile walk total. She got a small piece of beef jerky that she had stuck in her shirt pocket wrapped up just in case she did something stupid like leaving her food supplies back at camp and chewed on it while she studied the map. "Just think Kathy another mile then a short trek back through that nasty swamp and you can laugh at all of those fogeys." This thought seemed to give her the energy to move on. She took another drink of her depleting water supply and began to brave the caves. Her staff had proven useful again as she managed to avoid an area of thin rock where she could have fallen and broken a leg in the best case scenario. She walked through the cave barely noticing how soft and sticky the ground in parts of the cave were. Nor did she take the time to admire some of the more spectacular rock formations. No her mind was on that treasure. After she followed the directions on the map there is was. Sitting on a pedestal, chest lid open just waiting to be taken by some lucky soul who wandered into this part of the caves. She ran over to it as best she could considering the ground was being most uncooperative in her efforts to run. She made it and sat looking at it for a long moment. She couldn't believe it despite all her mistakes she had made it. She closed the top of the chest and grabbed it struggling to carry the chest. "Geez... I forgot how much gold weighs" she muttered to herself. Her feet sank deep into the soft earth well over her ankles and every step was torture. By the time she had left the large cavern where she had gotten the chest, she was exhausted. "There has to be a better way." she muttered again. she shined her flashlight about the room as as if by some strange stroke of luck, in a corner was a small, abandoned wooden wagon. Kathy carried the chest and set it into the wagon. She then grabbed the rope that made for the handle of the wagon and began to drag it back through the caves. At times she had to push it through the areas where the constant dripping of water had made the ground softer but she eventually managed to get it out of the cave and into the daylight. As if on cue when the wagon reached the edge of the cave, it fell apart. All 4 wheels fell off just as the bottom dropped out of it. Kathy sighed and opened up the chest again looking into it. "Well the easiest thing to do will be to ditch this heavy chest and carry the gold back in my pockets." Kathy reached into the chest to grab the shiny gold coins when suddenly her hands went right through them and into the chest. Kathy screamed in surprise and then in protest as she tried to pull her hands back but couldn't. The illusion of gold coins fell away and there she saw her hands submerged up to the wrists in some sort of blackish goo. No amount of struggling, tugging or anything else she tried would get her hands free of the goo. Kathy sat down and tears fell from her eyes. "How... why me..." she babbled... "I just wanted to show them that I was just as good as them... that's all... I didn't ask for this, this stuff." As if it was insulted at being called stuff the black goo began to bubble and slowly encase her arms it slid halfway to her elbows and stopped. Kathy screamed in terror and began to beat the chest against a rock in hopes of smashing it, but with no such luck. The goo didn't seem to care either and did nothing. Kathy stood, tears still in her eyes, and ran blindly though the swamp. She began to feel hot again and stopped running, panting. She caught her breath and tried to move again but her feet refused to go forward. As she looked down her feet were buried up to her slender ankles in soft mud, and slowly sinking. Kathy screamed in protest again. "Please God, why are you doing this to me? Why?" she sobbed. As if not to be outdone the black goo began to move again this time coating up to her elbows in it's black gooey substance. She felt hot again, and it dawned on her. The canteen wasn't quite full... "No... no... no this can't be happening..." she sobbed as she felt her knees sliding down and the goo climbing up her arms. She thought back to one of the manuals she had read, one of the first rules of finding water, " If something around the water is dead especially if it's a recent death or a canteen found on a body, it's likely that the water is poisonous." Kathy looked up at the sky, the mud had encased her legs to her thighs and the black goo had entirely encase her arms. She felt dizzy, "It's a race isn't it?" she spoke as if she were addressing God in a final speech of defiance. "Which one is going to kill me first? huh? The poison? The Goo? or the quicksand? Huh God? which one will it be? Or will you just let them all torture me to death?" The goo burned through her blouse attaching itself to her shoulders front and back and forming a ring around her neck, as the quicksand wrapped around her waist. The poison in her system make her feel weaker and dizzier. She laughed, softly "I said I was going to prove myself... and I did I proved that I could get myself killed 3 different ways, at once, who else can brag that?" The goo seemed to be in a race to meet the quicksand as it continued to burn through her blouse and attach itself to her breasts and back as the quicksand began to swallow her stomach, and the bottom of the box, which she has rested on the muddy ground due to the lack of strength to hold her arms up. This continued, the quicksand pulling her down, the goo covering her body, the poison slowly making her weaker. She was up to her neck in the quicksand now. She could feel the goo covering her knees and she could barely hold her head up from the weakening effects of the poison. "let it end, she whispered, please... just let it end" Kathy felt the quicksand climb up her neck and the goo engulf her feet, then follow the quicksand up her neck. Her head fell to the side, she couldn't hold it up any longer, her ponytailed hair lying on the surface like some kind of strange brown snake. Her eyes closed "the poison won" she thought as her head was engulfed by the strange goo and the quicksand at the same time as her heart stopped beating... Kathy awoke lying on the ground next to her plane. She was naked and there was a small gold coin laying on the top of her book about the island. The book was open to a page she could have sworn wasn't there before. It read: Demon Isle is known for many things, a supposed lost treasure, being a deathtrap to anyone who comes, and finally being a talked about location amongst many explorers who will whisper it's name with great awe and in hushed tones. However while all of these things are true there is one unexplored myth. The isle is said to be sentient. It is also said that every great once in a while it will take pity on some poor fool who was stupid enough to blunder into treasure trap. While no one has ever lived to tell of such an occurrence or to even see the island provide for such a person, it is also said that the island will only do it once as a warning to others. If someone should return who it has bestowed its kindness upon then they will face whatever fate the island saved them from in tenfold. Of course most of this comes from folktale and none of it should be taken seriously without positive proof. There is always some truth to every legend and perhaps even mythical warnings should sometimes be heeded. Kathy moved quickly packing her things. She grabbed a spare jumpsuit out of the plane and jumped into it and her boots. She ran faster than she had ever remembered moving to the cockpit and started the plane. The plane seemed to be particularly disagreeable as the engine coughed, sputtered and died. Kathy looked up suddenly as she thought she had seen movement in the tall grasses just along side her plane, she looked... Nothing. Already almost hysterical at this point she tried to start the plane again... The engine again refused to give in to her command to start. Then something hit the windshield... something black and oozing. Kathy screamed and tried the engine again, still nothing. The windshield began to crack and the stuff slowly began to ooze into the cockpit with her. Kathy screamed again and jumped out of her seat and ran towards the back of the plane. She tried the door to attempt to escape outside, but it too seemed to be working against her and refused to open. Kathy rattled the door screaming "Open damn you open!!" The ooze began sliding across the floor towards her, about ten feet away it stopped. Kathy watched terrified. She backed away slowly in fear, her whole body was shaking and tears were rolling down her cheeks, "please... don't hurt me..."she pleaded. The ooze stopped where it was and collected itself into a ball, then began to stretch, taking shape first a sphere, then growing, tentacles sprouted forming what looked to be humanoid arms and legs, a head popped out and began to take features. When it was finished a mirror image of Kathy stood before her, only made of black goo. Kathy gasped in fear and astonishment, she somehow managed the courage to stammer "wh-what do you want?" The ooze image laughed and talked in a voice that sounded like Kathy's only slightly lower pitched. "I have spared your life woman, however such a service is by no means free..." Kathy interrupted "But... I didn't... you were trying to kill me." The ooze Kathy looked back angrily "Silence! You have no more say in this matter. Your life is mine and I shall name the price!" Kathy took a few steps back, and upon running into the back walk slid down it into a seated position, her eyes never leaving her doppelganger, "what is the price?" she asked meekly. The being laughed once more. "In time two of your bloodline shall return here. I will choose the time, I will choose who will return. Do not try to thwart my will woman the price will be more than you can bear. You will be granted several gifts. Money, a comfortable life, recognition amongst your little club. All the things which you desire. They will come to you, and what I desire in return will come to me. Two of your blood shall pay the price of your life." Before Kathy could protest the ooze rolled up into a ball and then disappeared. Kathy felt a searing pain on her right thigh. She pulled off the jumpsuit down to where she could see what was causing this pain and there on the inner part of her thigh was a mark. It looked something like a brand and was in the shape of a small ball. It was black and no more than a half inch in diameter. The ball seemed to have two eyes. She heard a voice from nowhere, from everywhere "When your debt to me is paid the mark will leave. Until then it will bear as the reminder of the great service which I have given to you and the great debt you owe me." As if on cue Kathy fainted when the voice faded away. When Kathy awoke she was in her apartment, well it looked like her apartment, her stuff was there but, the bedroom was much bigger than she remembered. She knew she didn't own the black silk nightgown she was wearing. She'd barely been able to afford the plane she had gotten just before joining that explorer's club. She looked around in wonder and then as if a from a nightmare she saw the gold coin that had been sitting on the book. It was now proudly displayed on the wall in a small frame with a plaque below that read "Explorer of the Year, 1997 Awarded for bringing back the treasure of Demon Isle." Kathy screamed as she realized the nightmare had just begun.