Farrukh, currently trying to mull over how he is an "honorless bastard" for killing the enemy, but Kordians are stand up guys for committing infanticide, simply shrugs and says out loud "Kordians are weird."
He doesn't deign to elaborate.
Even as Eben watches the demise of his get-rich-quick scheme, he notices something odd. Cuetzpalli, too, feels something gooey within the egg.
Gooey and...wriggling.
A moment passes. An evil smell like rotting meat fills the air.
The eggshell cracks open, and a massive swarm of green things pours out in all directions. Cuetzpalli sees one of them on the edge of his axe: a little writhing green worm, not unlike a leech in form, with glowing red eyes.
The worms swim nimbly through the shallow water, heading straight for the eggs.
Several of the horrid parasites begin boring holes into adjacent eggs as the rest keep swimming. The one on Cuetzpalli's axe crawls up along the shaft and wriggles onto his hand, though it doesn't seem to have much purchase there.
The swarm isn't swimming very quickly but is spreading out with one clear target: Two hundred or so unhatched lizardfolk young.
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"The distasteful deed is done. Now what, we get out of here? We still don't know where the worms are coming from."
Eben claps a hand over his mouth as the wretched smell of an egg full of worms hits him. "Oh, gods that's foul... PROTECT THE EGGS!" He bellows upon seeing the lizardfolk eggs endangered. He pulls out the cloth-wrapped packet of sulfur he never got around to using before, and waves his hand over it. "Light up the sky", he says, waving his hand over it as it bursts into flame and a flock of brilliant, blazing snapdragons rise out of it and begin swirling around his lean frame. He gestures at the water almost directly at his feet, sending a glittering gold dragon shaped firework to explode in in the midst of a section of wormy vileness that was headed right for him.
Eben's spell instantly fries hundreds of the worms. Luckily, the two eggs that were there have already been cleared out.
Eben sighs in relief as the worms crisp up and die, even through several inches of water. "Carina! If you bomb the central egg, you can probably catch most of the worms in the blast!"
Carina watches in disgust as Cuetzpalli decides to crush the egg in the middle of the rest of the lizardfolk eggs.
Which promptly turns to horror as the egg begins sending worms everywhere.
Hearing Eben's warning, Carina plucks another bomb from her belt and lobs it at the central egg!
Here's hoping this doesn't catch the untainted eggs... and we're going to catch SO much hell for this.
Carina's at a loss for what to do!
Eben glances around and realizes only a couple of people are capable of doing anything directly to thousands of worms at once. "If you can't blow up worms, see if you can grab some eggs out of their path!" he suggests.
Astraden glances at Cuetzpalli's arm. "Uh . . . Carina?"
She steps to the side and picks up an egg.
Carina's bomb explodes, annihilating almost all the worms in the pool.
Tanith splashes forward and jams the end of his weapon into the water, hoping to ward the worms away from the health eggs.
Tanith swings, though it's difficult from the distance, and with Eben in the way, to keep the worms away from the western side. He's able to adequately protect one of the two eggs.
Cuetzpalli struggles frantically to get the worm off of himself. "Ah! ah! ah! ah! ah!" he says, slightly panicked.
Cuetzpalli shakes the worm off.
It lands on the western side of the pool and squirms helplessly, apparently unable to move on land.
Farrukh tries to move some eggs out of the way.
"Dammit, I KNEW we should have sold it! It would have been a win-win, cash for us, and no possibility of an evil dragon!"
Farrukh is able to grab an egg in each arm and move them safely out of the water.
The worms continue to spread out, targeting more eggs.
Eben moves forward, grabbing up two of the large eggs. Green worms fall off the eggs as he grabs them (one of them trying to grab onto his shirt collar). He quickly fires another explosive firework, blasting said worms into oblivion.
These kyuss worms, while in a younger, stunted stage of growth, should share their normal kin's weaknesses. Astraden knows that a remove curse or remove disease would likely be sufficient to wipe out this infestation. Silver (or silversheen) instantly slays kyuss worms. The green-brown paste produced by incinerating kyuss worms could serve as a valuable component in creating special substances that can kill the worms, though the paste outside the egg has been rendered useless by the water.
With both his hands filled with lizard eggs, Eben is reduced to trying to dislodge the worm on his collar by blowing air through his pursed lips at it. "Off!" (puff) "Off!" (puff)"Off!" (puff)
"Silver! If you've got silver, I think it'll hurt them!" Astraden sets down the egg behind her (in front of Tanith) and steps forward to scoop another egg free of the worms. "Farrukh, lift those two to safety," she says, pointing at the last worm-threatened eggs.
Astraden takes one egg out of the area.
Tanith rushes forward into an area of ash-choked water and scoops up the second egg that Astraden had indicated.
"Do it Red!"
Carina wades through the lizardfolk eggs, being very careful not to accidentally crush any of them.
Once the eggs are cleared and Tanith calls out, Carina yanks a bomb from her belt and throws it!
Almost my last shaped charge... here goes nothing!
Farrukh rushes over and scoops up the last endangered egg.
I think I understood the map correctly.
Carina's last bomb blows the remainder of the swarm to gooey chunks, though it leaves Tanith, Eben and Cuetzpalli (as well as their precious cargo) untouched.
At the end of the fight, eight eggs of the two-hundred strong generation have been killed. The rest are safe. All that remains of the worms is a slimy, green-brown paste in the remnants of what once, perhaps, was a dragon's egg.
A minute or so later, Hishka and several other lizardfolk rush down. When they see the display, their eyes widen.
Carina is relieved to see the worms reduced to a fine paste in the wake of her bombs. Unfortunately, her relief turns to horror when Hishka arrives.
She turns to the arriving lizardfolk, her lips trembling and her heart pounding in her chest. "Lig, vos zey gelaar. Klur tol Ilthane vahlt undin lost..." She takes a breath, some tears escaping her eyes. "...lost gejahrii voth nid kiir, nuz lir. Lir tol unt wah naak hin kiir. Mu drey fos mu vust, nuz Zu'u faas mu lost ni vos wah sav niin pah."
Tanith gently rests his ward back on the soggy ground and picks the malicious worm harrying Eben off his collar.
”It was all a trick”, the big man explains. ”The dragon was using them twice-over – as a means of making trouble with the Free City and as food for these things. Tell them!”
Seizing the foul maggot between his meaty digits he holds it up for display.
Carina nods, taking account of Tanith's words. "Ilthane yah wah nuft hin brodaan fah ziin truk: wah drun ahkon fah faal Stin Hiim, ahrk wah aam ol kip leytah fah daar... ahvakaar."
"Okay, we might still be able to fix the way this looks..." Says Eben, setting down the undamaged eggs he's holding and picking up one of the worm-riddled ones. "Let's see..." he says, muttering arcanely and rubbing a finger over the wormholes.
Still in mid-patch job when Hrishka comes down, he looks up, really shamefacedly, the dead egg in his hands still looking quite dead. "There's such a good explanation for this..." he quiets down and lets Carina do the explaining.
It's difficult to tell if Hishka is listening as it approaches the pool and takes the egg from Eben. Its fists clench, and the egg cracks open.
Inside is a burnt fetal skeleton. A little green worm wriggles within its eye socket, and Hishka hisses and throws the skeleton clear of the pool.
Hishka looks up at Carina, eyes narrowed. It opens its mouth, closes it, then opens it again to speak in Common.
"You need feel no remorse. You have saved our tribe from even worse evil, it seems." Hishka eyes Eben in particular, clearly seeing the bard's embarrassment (though perhaps mistaking its source). "We will mourn the loss of these eight, but many more will live thanks to your efforts.
"It seems that neither the city nor the swamp are the true source of the plague. We will release the hostages—the mage needs rest to recover, but I think she may know something of this." Hishka bows. "Aal Semuanya jaaril mii pah, fah Zu'u faas Liivor Tiid los lov."
Cuetzpalli grimaces deeply in the aftermath of the battle. What if we'd taken that with us, and it burst while we were all sleeping?
"The sooner we leave this damned swamp, the better," he says aloud. "Perhaps one of the captives can point us in the direction of Ilthane or more of the worms. If this plague spreads, it could mean death for.....well, everyone..."
Tanith stare hard at the rotting fetus. One wrong move had cost the hatching its life. How many more would have died if they hadn’t acted quickly or Carina had run out of explosives?
”We’ve got to get to the bottom of this alright”, he says with a nod of agreement the Olman’s way. ”Let’s grab the prisoners and get some fresh air.”
Carina says nothing. All she does is nod in response to Hishka's understanding.
By all the gods and their avatars, how... how could a mother do that to her own children?!
She looks over at the green paste... what was left of the worms. It wasn't going to make things worse... was it?
At least, that's what she thinks until she really sees what happened to the lizardfolk egg's occupant. A wave of nausea hits her, and she covers her mouth in disgust and horror.
Eben gives a sharp intake of horror at the actual sight of what the damaged egg was holding. "That's just... wrong."
"It's as it was last time," Hishka says heavily. "Only we are now the only worthwhile targets, I suppose. When the green worm plague hit the Mistmarsh, not all were as fortunate as us. The Krentqeth...the Shattered Bone tribe, for instance, was dess...dessic...decimated. Its shaman, a Chosen of Semuanya like myself, attempted to find the secrets behind the worms." Hishka's eyes well with tears. "In their mad quest...much was lost of what they once were. The Shattered Bone was later destroyed by a Free City mage—the predecessor of the one we captured, I believe. There are not too many tribes left, and ours was—is—the strongest generation. A perfect hatchery for Ilthane's twisted brood."
They and the other lizardfolk begin replacing the eggs Tanith and Carina removed, carefully extracting the infected and burnt ones in the process. Two take the dragon egg and move it out of the pool.
"Perhaps one of the captives can point us in the direction of Ilthane or more of the worms.
Hishka looks over. "You serve Kord, yes? The dragonslayer? I have heard of him. Believe me, this dragon is currently far beyond your power. She is an old and terrible beast. Even Shukak trembled in her presence. To seek her now, when her wrath is greatest, would be suicide."