>>698759>>698760>>698761The creature runs away in a fit. The nail beast can see and smell that there are other monsters like it lurking among the shadows, as can Flaming and KP. But the monsters do not pursue you, and instead slink away into the shadows.
"Right, let's put in some distance before they attack again!" Blessings shouts, whipping the Rumblers into extra quickness. The lizards pull the cart forward, swiftly putting a geat distance between you and those monsters.
After a little while, the winding path through the hill comes to an end and gradually flattens out, delivering you again into the thick and overgrown forest and away from the clutches of beasts for now. The temple of Slipper looms a short distance beyond, with the air pleasantly cool and damp, with the thundrous rhythm of the mighty river in your ears. You forage onward in the cart unto the massive temple, making out the outline and intricate design of an ancient set of doors in the outer walls.
>>698763>>698764"Enough," the King says, refusing Pupil. "I have heard all too much about this device from my son's account of his travels. I will not allow either of you into the Vault; we have had to bend our traditions copiously out of necessity in these past months, but the sacredness of that ancient earth, you will not enter. Give me the other tablet, and I shall have the royal geomancers make a new magatama from them and inspect what lies below. In the meantime, stay here with Prince Novelus."
In a rare moment of levity, the King cracks a stern smile. "After all, the lamb doesn't shut up about either of you."
>Paused