Story's flames flickered, and were snuffed out when the deranged laughter reached his ears. The cackling was proceeded by screams of horror. He had not lost his concentration, but was merely reluctant to give away their position to whatever lay beyond. Alas, it seemed the laughter was partially at their expense. Kiyomi's whispered question was answered as soon as they rounded the bend and took a step forward into an antechamber, then into a vast open room of the cavern. The very creature that had trapped them had made its grotesque home here, and was already aware of their coming.
"Food!" the wendigo cried with glee, voice a-gurgle with the blood it had drank. "More food for mother, sissy and me. Then the younglings for dessert!"
It let out a grating, shrill bellow that was neither human, nor bestial in origin. This made the walls of the cavern writhe, and seemingly come alive. Kiyomi had rushed the curse-ed man-thing before Story could stop her, and was flung aside by its unnatural strength. She was the first to learn what this writhing was. It was a horde of lamia, closing in around them. They had attacked Kiyomi immediately, but hesitated a bit with Story. As was characteristic of the creature's nature, they enjoyed toying with male prey a bit before devouring them. In this case, however, they seemed either unnerved or confused by the man's calm defiance.
Story stood still, looking into the black pits in the blood-caked, antlered mask of the wendigo. "It is your family…the one in the portrait in the house above, is it not?"
He took several steps forward, and gestured to the crucified skeletons. "You killed them, didn't you? What was it that seduced you? Madness? Power? The sort that one could have by aligning yourself with darkness. So here you sit, in these dank caverns below the earth, surrounding yourself with this…filth…"
He had looked to the lamia nearest him with this last note, which it understood and responded with a swipe of its claws. It screamed and hissed when its hand was singed. Story had cast some sort of magical barrier in anticipation.
Gradually, the crimson in Story's eyes seemed to glow brighter and brighter. Wings of ether that resembled the celestial membranes of the wings on the dragon beneath the man's flesh began to wisp about and materialize behind him.
"That ritual wasn't enough, though. You needed more. You brought these two innocents here."
His voice had acquired an echo quality beyond that lent by the space in which they stood. It was as if he spoke with two voices at once. His pleasant accent was overlapped by a deep, rumbling tone.
"If you wish to delve into the dark," Story mused, casting several signs as he continued to saunter towards the wendigo, boots squishing in the muck. "…Allow me to satiate your wild curiosity."
Incoherent whispers echoed around the chamber, and the lamia had all gone eerily still. More than the walls seemed to move now. The very dark seemed to move, as though it were a tangible, breathing thing. Shapes began to from from it. First limbs, then heads, tails…
There were creatures…familiars of some sort emerging from the dark. Fiends. They were all, each one, unique in kind. Some forms resembled small, skittering devils. Others looked like hybrids of woodland animals. Others still looked to be of an origin not of this world. They seemed to originate from where Story stood, and spread outwards, silently engaging the lamias, who screeched and hissed in terror as one of their number was torn asunder in seconds. More still crept towards the wendigo himself, and crawled to surround Kiyomi and the two caged children defensively.
