After Einar gets done unloading, Mr. Whiskers steps forth and unslings his crossbow, setting it on the table. He follows it with his mace, his dagger and his spiked gauntlet.
His pile looks tiny in comparison to Einar's.
Mr. Whiskers listens in to Einar and Dmitri. "Я бы предпочел помочь им, если все будет так, как они описывают."
Looking back to the Queen, he says "You didn't answer me. Do you have any reason to believe the invaders would stop after they got you."
Gesturing to some of her guards, he then asks "Do most of them fly? We saw the creature that Amare called a popobalas. It flew, but didn't appear to be an aquatic creature. I'm trying to understand what sort of enemy you are facing."
"I don't know. I can only hope they will keep to their word." Queen Esymra says dejected.
"Those we ran into didn't, but there may be magickers that can give them the power of flight beneath the waves."
Queen Esymra describes the invaders as skinless monstrosities with the torso of a man or woman atop the body of a horse, who bring sickness with them.
Mr Whiskers recognizes her description that they are nuckelavees and they have a breath weapon with disease.
A nuckelavee’s breath weapon is a cone of withering foulness that causes painful welts, cramps, and bleeding, and only harms living creatures—this damage bypasses all energy resistance and damage reduction. Non-creature plants in the area are affected as if by a blight spell. Any creature that fails its Reflex save against the breath weapon must make a Fortitude save or contract a disease. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Mr. Whiskers asks a few more questions, just as much to verify that he remembers things correctly.
Then he asks "Is there a small, private chamber where my group can discuss this? I would like to talk with them before making any promises."
When the creatures point and stare, Crummock grins, and winks at them.
Crummock chews his lip thoughtfully.
"It may not be directly our mission, but I have nae objection to renderin' assistance to these creatures. Their foes don't exactly seem pleasant..."
Their eyes bulge out like those of a toad when Crummock addresses them in their own tongue.
Then they back away from him, then bow to him respectfully before speaking. ” 'awh wahid eazim, lam nakun naerif 'an tatahadath laghatana. wanamal 'alaa nuetiakum jarimat, li'anana lm nar 'aya shay' mithl ayi wahid minkum min qabl. altilat ladayha mithl hadhih al'asnan hadt, waljald tahjim mithl altamasih. hal yakul 'aya minaa mithl altamasih shrh?”
Oh great one known as Crummock, we did not know that you spoke our language. We hope that we have not given you offence, for no we have not seen anything like any of you before. The tiefling has such sharp teeth, and scaled skin like crocodiles. Will he eat any of us like the voracious crocodiles?
Crummock smiles back beneficently.
The party agrees to help Queen Esmyra defend the Golden City from the nucklelavees and a grateful Queen Esmyra weeps tears of relief and joy and orders a great feast prepared for the party. She also promises that everything her treasury will be theirs, in exchange for their assistance, she will lead them to the tree personally or get one of her guards to lead the party to the tree personally, should she not survive the invasion.
The party spends the afternoon inspecting the Golden City.
The party is allotted a large, luxurious villa with a swimming pool in it in the Golden City plaza, and their dinner is served to them. Dinner consists of a sumptuous feast of beef and vegetable soup, steamed dough patties, meat kebabs,roasted chicken with green beans and saffron rice, sweet dough balls for dessert and apricot juice.
As the sun sets, the light of the dying day reflects off its walls and turrets with a golden gleam that extends out over the waves like a beacon, making the city look as if it was burnished in gold.
” hasananaan hdha jyd. mae hajmah - 'ana last muta'akidaan kam minaa minaa 'an takhudh litalbiat shahih. watilk al'asnan tabdu hadat al'aquia'.
” They look at Einar nervously.
” w jyst. 'anah ybdw sharisatan kdhlk. hal yakul 'abu alhwl? "
They also look at Geist edgily as if expecting him to pounce at any moment.
Ok, that’s good. With his size – I’m not sure how many of us it’d take to satisfy his appetite. And those teeth look mighty sharp.
And Geist. He looks ferocious as well. Does he eat Sphinx?
Later that evening, Queen Esmyra tells the party about the plan. She will go to the sacrificial rock at the crack of dawn the next day, playing the role of a plaint sacrifice. Her guards will chain her there – she is willing to be bait so as to lure the nuckelavees out of the water for the party to ambush them.
Crummock winks.
He then looks at Geist thoughtfully, before scratching the great cat behind his ears.
Crummock bows.
"I don't want ye to take too much o' an undue risk, but if ye are willin' to do it, we will do what we can to wipe the opposition oot."
The Maftets calm down around the party after Crummock’s assurances. ” nem alraja' almusaeadat fi 'iibqayih muhtalaan. 'iidha kan hunak 'ayu shay' ymknna 'an nusaeid ealaa alaihtifaz bih almuhtalati, wa'iismahuu lana 'an naerifa.”
Yes please, help keep him occupied. If there’s anything we can help on keeping him occupied, do let us know.
”It should be fine. I heard Einar slew a sea serpent and Dimitri took out a popobala all by himself. As you are all capable of such a legendary feats, I trust you all to be able to protect me when the nuckelavees emerge.” The Queen replies. ”Besides at least now I know that my people have the future to hope for.”
The queen also passes the party a map of Buyan. The Nuckleavees have been seen appearing from the ocean, from every direction.
This beach lies directly below the Golden City at the base of the 400-foot-high cliff. Other than piles of broken rubble that have fallen from the cliff over the centuries and large rocks and sea stacks rising from the surf, this beach is largely deserted save for the crabs that swarm upon it for food early in the morning. The maftets hunt these in the predawn darkness as a supplement to their diet. The seaweed and driftwood that washes up each day is likewise harvested for use by the maftets.
This wide beach wraps around the southern tip of the island where the waves and currents are much gentler. The island gradually slopes upward from the beach to the north. In more peaceful times, the maftets frequently visit the picturesque strand for recreation and relaxation.
"You raise a good point - but yet there is where they will be expecting me to be chained, as per earlier agreed. " Queen Esymra says slowly. "I can tell you what the terrain there is like though, it may help you plan." She starts taking out an Inkpen and parchment and starts sketching out the area.
"The sacrificial rock is surrounded by high cliffs. Unless you can fly, the only way up will be by the sea stairs on the north east side of the island. I suspect the Nucklavees will approach from there. The rock itself is big enough for you to hide behind for an ambush. "She explains.
Crummock grins at Einar.
"They be worried that you be related to a crocodile, with yer scaly skin and big teeth; they wanted to be assured that ye wouldnae try to eat them!"
Crummock nods thoughtfully.
"Right then. If we wait to ambush them as soon as they come up the stairs, that should put us in a pretty good position..."
"If there is any redecorating to be done, we should do it tonight." Mr. Whiskers says. "At very least I would like to see the area tonight. We can fly out there to look if one of your people is willing to guide us."
"I will lead you there personally myself. I didn't want to overly tire you, since Amare said that you've had a long day. And we will need to be up very early tomorrow." She answers.
She calls together her honor guard of 12 Maftets, and then leads the party to the sacrificial rock. The party takes about 20 min to get there, as they had to climb down a 400ft high cliff, climb up another 50 ft high cliffs after the Maftets have dropped down ropes for them, as well as going through a trek through beach.
The party flies with the Maftets, past a 400 ft cliff and past a 50 ft cliff, getting to the rock in 10 minutes.
Rajet, the captain of the guards thinks that if the nuckelavee army does not fly - the only place they can land will be at the beach of H, and make their way up through the woods towards the Golden City. Unless they care for scaling the cliffs, of course...
Mr Whiskers puts the tome of knowledge next to the villa wall and opens up the library. He takes out a book titled, "Of Nuckelavees and Popobalas" and finds out the following:
Nuckelavees have 50ft land speed, 50ft swim. They have 3/day obscuring mist, and tend to favour attacking in darkness, using conjured mists to obscure their position.
A popobala has 30ft ground movement, 30ft climb and 80ft fly speed.
The party then follows the Queen and her entourage to the sacrificial rock. Mr Whiskers issues instructions to the maftets, who agree with his proposed plan, though the Queen seems skeptical about the major illusion part. "It has to be life-like, or they won't fall for it. Show me the illusion so I may judge for myself, before I agree to it."
Mr Whiskers then starts redecorating sacrificial rock.
The party then returns to their villa and Mr Whiskers copies a Giant Form 1 spell out of the library opened by the Tome of knowledge.
The next morning at , the party is woken by Queen Esmyra’s honor guards, for a quick breakfast of shashuka and pita bread. Mr Whiskers produces a major image of the Queen and she nods approvingly after inspecting the illusion. "That will do. Except the illusion should be standing like this." And she strikes a defiant pose.
"Please pardon the rudeness of this request, but could you please raise your arms as if they were in the chains?" Mr. Whiskers asks.
He spends a moment walking around her, then has the illusion take the same pose. The illusion then proclaims "I do this for my people!" while glaring at those around it. Then it relaxes slightly and asks "Does this meet your approval?"
Queen Esymra strikes a defiant pose, with her arms upraised, as if in chains.
"Oh yes, this will definitely do the trick!" She has a broad smile on her face. Then her facial expression becomes serious. "Be careful out there. And come back safely. When the nuckelavees discover the deception, they will likely attack us in force."
"We will! If we are lucky, we may be able to stop them before they approach the city." Mr. Whiskers replies. Then the illusion goes over to the guards and says in the queen's voice "I am ready to go."
I just hope my magic is strong enough for this.
In the pre-dawn darkness, "Queen Esmyra" and an honor guard of 12 maftet warriors descend to the sacrificial rock below the Golden City. The warriors fit the chains such that it appears that illusionary queen is chained to the rocks and quietly wish the party good luck, before they fly 100 yards away as per ordered.
Mr Whiskers hears a mental alarm go off in his head, like a particularly insistent alarm clock. "RRRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!"
As the first light of dawn falls upon the sacrificial rock where the "Queen" stands defiantly. The party sees four mounted horsemen gallop forth, soaked head to toe in gore and waving a blade with wild abandon. Yet as they move, it becomes clear that horse and rider are joined as one—a humanoid torso sprouting from equine withers—and the gore is a grisly vision of naked muscle and leaking veins. They emerge from the surf and climb the stairs to the top of the rock. "Listen - this is an easy job," one of them address the other 3. "We hack off her arms then bring her down to the water to feast at our own leisure."
The nuckleavees do not notice the party hiding in their various positions.
When the alarm goes off Mr. Whiskers whispers to the others "The alarm just went off. They are coming!" He maintains his prone position, hiding on top of the rocks.
When the creatures arrive at the top of the stairs he whispers "They are here, four of them!" as he has the Queen's head snaps to attention and glares at the nuckleavees. In her most commanding voice, she demands "You shall most certainly not cut off my arms! That is barbaric!" as she flexs her arms trying to get out of the chains. The chains clink against the rocks and the rings where they are fastened as she struggles.
"We love our prey to give a little fight. It makes it more enjoyable in the end." One of the nuckelavees leers at the struggling Queen, seemingly taking delight in her futile attempts to escape.
They then ride up and try to hack off her arms,so they can take her body down the waves.
They find their blades not cutting through the queen's furry hide.
The nuckelavees at the back, getting impatient, yells at them angrily, "What's taking you so long just to hack off her arms you incompetent idiots? "
Mr. Whiskers gives one final instruction to the illusion before releasing it, causing it to start shouting "Now! Quickly act!" as it thrashes around.
He then casts black tentacles at the top of the stairs, cutting off their easy escape route.
Nivean scurries through the rock tunnel back to where she knows Mr. Whiskers is waiting for her.
Crummock flaps forward, and, with a grin, sends a blast of pure goodness through the nuckelavees.
Dimitri, prone-firing, then attempts to blow up whatever beast manages to resist the spell.
Geist then pads forward, and likewise tries to bite an unparalysed monster.
"What treachery is this?!" The one at the back sputters as he notices the black tentacles form and grab onto him.
2 of them are paralyzed by Crummock's blast, and one of them is slain by Dimitri. Geist does not manage to bite into its tough hide.
Greta tries to trip the nuckelavee.
But just hits the rock instead.
The nuckelavees that isn't paralysed by Crummock's blast turns to flee.
Einar slices deep into its side and it whinnies. Greta swipes at its legs, sending it tumbling to the ground.
The party brutally slaughters the nuckelavees, and finds 400gp worth of coral jewellery on each of them, as well as a masterwork longsword.
Crummock sets the fire alight, and a plume of smoke rises into the sky.
The party sees some nuckelavees in the distance , then they sink into the ocean. There is no further sign of Nuckelavee activity.
Near noon, the party hears the signal horn coming from the city and return to the city. Rajet informs the party that the Maftet guards have spotted Nuckelavee activity off the coast. It appears they are waiting for something.
"It is as I have expected, " Rajet nods sagely. They will likely land at the beach and make their way through the forest to the city since the rest of the island is protected by high cliffs."
Crummock looks around thoughtfully.
"That is likely to be true, but they are undoubtedly aware o' that fact, as well. If 'twas me, I would have a force approach that way, but also probe other options, and try to launch a surprise raid."
He then pinches the bridge of his nose.
"We cannae be everywhere, but the fighting will (at least initially) likely be thickest at the beach, so we should probably be based there, to begin with. If ye care to name several o' your most trusted, who will be leading the forces defending the City, I have a way to make sure we can coordinate our attacks, and make sure we know where to go, when we are needed."
"That is true too. Amare will be leading his patrol to the west, Jafari's patrol to the north, Oshar's to the east, and Sefu to the south. I will be coordinating their efforts from the Golden City"Rajet replies.
"Do you have any plans to help stop them from reaching the city?"Rajet asks.
Crummock nods.
"Well then, if ye bring them to me, I can name ye and them to be 'True Allies'. Once I have done so, if any of ye say my name (Crummock-i-Phail) three times in quick succession, I will be notified, regardless of distance, and I will know precisely where ye are."
He then grins toothily.
"As to stopping them from reaching the City, well, if they come in force up the beach, they will have a nasty surprise waiting for them - a war machine that can fire hundreds of missiles per minute."