Tales from the Smoke Lodge one

Eight men sat on the earthen benches while fires burned into the thick steaming sauna air. The floor was above ankle deep in water with snakes swimming around their legs. They lit long elegant bone and glass water pipes on the coals filled the sticky air with the fragrant aroma of sweet tobacco. 
 On mans stern argumentative voice spoke out.. “Brother I do not see why you split your tongue, if you come to speak untruths in the smoke lodge.” accusing some one of speaking less then truthfully in the lodge was to accuse them of defiling tradition, and defeating the entire purpose of the structure. He continued “ Furthermore I can show you Proof of the great M Love of nature.” 
 “ This is not Possible” a voice replied
“No, It is as this.. The dirt the M never wash off clings to them like a lover, and when they frequently mount their sickly goats to try and produce women with stronger teeth, and sons less offensive to the nose..if that is not loving nature....” a man spoke slowly descending into a distinctive hissing laughter and splashing along with the others until the laughter slowed as the already thick and heavier air became heavier with a palpable unspoken concern for the livestock. The mood changed and it was time to speak of the day.

“There is much greed and blood madness in the world now, the people have forgotten the lessons of our ancestors, and try to eat the world in big bites that sour their stomachs. If it is the will of the living land to test us, we must sour our taste to the clumsy infants with too big claws looking to nurse. For all their crying and crawling they will get venom for milk.” an elderly man spoke
 “Not all the troubles for The Panchayyah come from outside the sacred jungle. Our altars crave fresh blood, and our noble lines crave new wombs.” a younger voice spoke
 “It is troubling that the Horroth seek to make camp near the lodge of the great defilers, We must speak wisely to this.” Another voice said
 The speaking continued until all the men has spoken. Then a skull/goblet was placed a the coals, it's exterior had been blackened from years of use. Flies were drawn to the smell of the psychedelic venom mead warming within, but would drop and sizzle on the coals when they tried to take it's fumes. 
  Also heating on the coals were slips of Jade twice this size of a man's thumb. They had circular holes in them to heat rapidly and evenly. The Men pass the skull and each drink of the potent ad pulpy brew. They Began breathing shallowly and rest their heads against the back of the lodge resting their fore-arms on their knees Palm up.
 The Fore-arms of the men all were tattooed with a line, and a large black slot below the wrist specifically to accommodate the slip of jade heating on the coals. The last man used Tongs and placed them on all the men. The slips were to record the visions given to them by the venom mead while they meditated on the words spoken in the lodge and guide them. As the sun was beginning to set they all emerged from the lodge.

 We had left the lodge still optimistic and dizzy from the sweating, the sweet tobacco, and the venom mead not paying attention to the sounds of the jungle as we dressed. A black wisp of smoke came from the lodge, and it was followed by others, they began to twist an combine into a tall cyclonic column of smoke that could not escape even our dimmed senses.
  The column collapsed into a form that was the height of two large warriors. It was a form that made us all drop to our knees. The top of the form was the burnt skull and antlers of a giant stag. Three different colored burning orbs rotated in each like miniature burning suns. Beneath the head was a long tangled mass of thick segmented tentacles. Some tentacles ended in graspers like a birds claw. Some ended in primitive eyes, some ended in orifices that belched out a brackish gas. It was Ixtal, handmaiden to the Bhaktim.
 It lowered it's head and began to suck in the air. It drew in the humid air from the lodge, and took the perspiration from flesh so potently that it stretched the skin on the bones, but yet did not move the jungle plants at all. As it finished his potent intake, flowers blossomed form the tips of it's antlers, and The foliage burned before it as it moved directly away from us without turning. The burnt foliage in it's wake regrew at a supernatural pace as it glided rapidly into the horizon. The Men stayed kneeling as they knew what always followed the Ixtal. They could already be heard pushing aside the growth. 

A dark green great ape taller then the lesser trees with the obscene head of a great toad reaching barely above the shoulders leapt on to the shallow roof of the lodge. His large web and clawed hands slapped it's pronounced stomach. The large maw of a toad opened enough to expose a quarter of the front of it's body. It began a multi-tonal hypnotic bellow form it's 4 throats . It was followed by another Blessed Land Ape following close behind. The Inhuman caused all the men but one to cease all motion, not out of fear but out of the power in the the sounds themselves. They slowly moved forward dragging their knuckles through the brush. Their backs were not covered by scales or fur, but by long grass, and healthy fruit bearing branches. As they Passed the men they shook their bodies leaving fruit and seeds on the ground as a gift. The man who was able to move followed them knowing he had been summoned into the sacred toxic jungle of the Bhaktim as we watched. The massive behemoths lead the way without leaving a footprint.