It’s time to finish the Gargoyles of Sergi Adventure!

If you missed the previous weeks, you can catch up: 1. Gargoyles of Sergi, 2. Split the Force, 3. Steal a Club.

Or here’s a quick recap:

You’re a gargoyle protecting the Sergi Cathedral. As morning arrives, a huge storm rolls in that you recognize as a prelude to an ice giant attack. You send Ana, a small gargoyle, to protect the organist. Then you take some gargoyles inside in case the giants also come up through the floor of the cathedral. Instead of giants, however, goblins boiled out of the basement. You stole a club to fight them and were doing well until you noticed a goblin stealing the scriptures and six others kidnapping Ana.

Readers voted to save Ana. Let’s see if you succeed!

Ana twists and lurches, fighting the goblins carrying her. They stumble before regaining their feet and one of them thumps her with a club. A small chip of stone flies off her shoulder. 

You’re charged with protecting the cathedral and its people. You’re not sure if that includes the other gargoyles but as the goblin raises his club again, you decide to interpret the oath that way. You veer away from the broken rose window, vault off the marble baptismal, and land directly behind the goblins carrying Ana.

The last two spin around to confront you with high pitched screams. That leaves four carrying Ana and they wobble under her stone weight. She starts to twist even harder. 

You roar back at the two confronting you. With a swing of the club, you smack the feet from beneath one and then catch the other with your tail. That leaves the others exposed. Taking advantage of the opening, you take out the next two in another tail-club combo. 

Ana hits the floor, still hog tied, as the front goblins shriek and scramble for the door alone. You let them go, standing over Ana as their companions also flee. 

Ana smiles a tentative thanks and then looks at the rose window over your shoulder. It’s already too late to retrieve the scriptures as that goblin just disappeared riding on the palm of the giant outside. 

Lukus follows them out, his heavy wings creating a gust of wind in the sanctuary as he tries to gain speed, and then the ice storm you can see through the window catches him in a sudden side gust. You hear his heavy grunt as he’s shoved the wrong way. 

“We just lost the scriptures,” Ana says, shrinking in on herself once she’s free of her bounds. 

“We’ll retrieve them,” you assure her, keeping your misgivings to yourself. You’re just about to ask about the organist when the woman peeks her head from beneath the alter. “Well done,” you tell Ana, nodding toward the woman, and the small garogyle lights up.

***

The mountain peaks rise in jagged vertical walls around you. The valley you stand in is the fifth location you’ve looked for the giants. But just like the last four trails, this one disappears on the rocky ground. 

Somehow, the ice giants have vanished. Their city is empty. The goblins who helped them have gone back to their regular forest village life, no sign of the scriptures or their allies. The mountain trails that usually bare the giants’ huge footprints show only old tracks. 

You want to slump, let your wings hang in dejection, but there are five other gargoyles with you, including Ana, and you refuse to let them see you lose hope. It’ll be six years before your cathedral can get a new set of scriptures. 

Six long years. 

“This is all my fault,” Ana says. “We’ve lost the scriptures for good.” 

“This is the giants’ fault,” you say again, holding your wings and chin high. “And we haven’t lost them until we give up. Now, tell me the first psalm.”

Ana and the others respond, reciting the psalm together as you continue down the path. Although the texts are gone, the words aren’t. Until a new copy is received or the old copy retrieved, you determine to remember. And you determine to keep looking. As you’ve learned over the years, protecting the cathedral and its people comes in many forms. 

The End

Yay! Not a bad way to finish this adventure. Thank you for joinging in the fun this last month. I always love to hear readers’ thoughts as they cast their votes each week.

Until next time, many blessings,

Jennifer

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