"Civilized! You claim civilization but barge into lands not your own without a care for decorum." The nuno huffs, toothless mouth twisted in displeasure. "I demand to know what purpose brings you to such rudeness!"
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Kenza stands beside Stuinvolk, ready to defend him....
After watching the proceedings she steps forward and bows deeply. "A thousand pardons, Master Nuno. We beg forgiveness for the intrusion. We seek you out in the hopes a bargain can be struck. Would you grant us the honour of calm discourse?"
Kenza hopes that her poor diplomatic efforts have at least got the point across...
"Remove it? REMOVE it?! The temerity of you mortals!" The nuno launches into a tirade of flowing syllables that still seem elegant despite his harsh tone.
Finally coming to a huffing conclusion, he somehow sniffs at Kenza despite his lack of nose. "So you have come to beg forgiveness of this ignorant mortal? Exhausted all of your powers trying to remove my curse? Of course you have! Your mortal magic is no match for my power." Scratching at the fungus beard, he continues. "To gain such a boon would require a great service to me. Your meager powers are pitiable, unlikely to accomplish anything of use. But there is one thing suited to your lowly status. Investigate this ant hill for me. Find out why they no longer heed my call. Destroy whatever has caused it to become strange and dead. Do this for me and I could see overlooking your transgressions."
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Jed watches the exchange silently, noting both the fey's bluster and the Chelaxian's trigger-happiness. As things head towards a climax, he interjects.
"Well, we kin certainly take a look at yer anthill," he muses, stroking his chin. "'Course, 't'would be a shame if all the stories, all the knowledge, inside these heads'a ours wuz ta be eaten by bugs." He pats his bandoleer of Pathfinder Chronicles fondly. "World travelers like us, we've seen some things, Ah tell ya. Ant hill this size, that's not bad. But a termite mound taller'n a house, now that's big. And, turns out... termites don't just eat wood."
The narrow eyes of the fey don’t seem capable of widening or narrowing further, but the twisting of his lipless mouth approximates the change somewhat. ”What could you possibly know that would interest me? Some mundane report of distant mortals, dull and plodding?” Stamping back and forth, the nuno ponders aloud. ”If you solve this problem below, and you offer some meaningful scrap of knowledge, and you don’t all die trying, then yes, yes I can lift that fool’s suffering. So long as you leave with him and his damned artifacts!”
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Mae covers her ears and Sunny's eyestalks as the angry little fey spouts off some serious curses. She bobs her head sadly and tries to remove them from her mind. "I am sorry your ant friends are not right. I will speak with them and find out the trouble." She seems generally more concerned with that issue than the others mentioned about artifacts.
"Good. Perhaps you will not be useless." The nuno walks down the steep hillside, slipping and sliding with ease. "You will wait here. There are things that you should know so you do not ruin everything." He disappears into the surrounding hills for long minutes as you find yourselves staring at each other and the hillsides. When he returns, he bears quite a few insect bodies, still and unmoving. Lady Mae and Jebediah easily recognize them as termites, strangely preserved.
"Sometimes, other colonies attack my ants. I do so enjoy taking their corpses when my little ones are victorious. You can make something useful out of them!" he explains, pressing a termite into each of your hands. "Eat them, and you shall gain the speech of ants! Uwee hee hee!" he cackles, mouth wide in a broad grin. "Now, you should know of where to go. The treasures your fool stole are buried deep, below the queen's chamber." He traces lines in the dirt, forming a map of the anthill before you. "These tunnels likely have changed, new construction since the ceased allowing my presence. Find your way to the queen's chamber and secure the larvae that still exist. Do this for me and your fool's curse will be lifted."
Stuinvolk pulls you to the side, muttering low so the nuno cannot hear. "I will stay to guard the entrance, as well as against treachery by our host. I thank you for putting me on this road, but I am not ready to venture below the earth that once buried me." he explains.
”We found minor magic items among the ruins. We took many rubbings of the walls and noted our findings. The only artifact I could name would be the amberhollow. It is a piece of amber the size of my fist, inside which we could see the outline of an ant, as if it had been trapped and then removed. It had a powerful aura of necromancy. But we were never able to study it properly.”
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Naevys watches Mae for a moment, making sure she doesn't seem to be poisoned by the termite. Assuming she see no ill effects, she will consume her own.
Naevys will tap herself with her wand of Mage Armor before offering a charge to Kenza if she is interested. Kenza, would you like some magical protection from damage? I see you are not wearing any actual armor, and this will help keep you safe.
She will head down into the burrow with everyone else, one pistol in her hand.
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Jed chuckles as the nuno brings out termites from his mound. Not tha worst thing I've et afore... He checks it carefully before eating it, making sure it doesn't seem poisonous.
Once the group is ready to enter the mound, Jed consumes an extract of barkskin and his extract of false life that he uses saves for evening watch.
"OK, Stu... you wait here. We'll be right back wi' yer artifacts."
The upper tunnels are empty and silent, quickly twisting away into darkness. Kenza and Naevys can see only so far before the turns block their sight, while the rest of the party finds themselves needing light.
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"I hope you have brought light sources. I do not need the extra light, but I think Sunny would enjoy it." Mae pats her slimy, sluggy friend on the rubbery rump.
She casts a simple spell on herself then looks to Naevys as she uses her protection wand "Would it be ok if you used that on Sunny? Her thick skin only helps so much verses the biting of powerful ant jaws."
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"Ma lantern'll serve for light," Jed replies, holding high an old hooded lantern of ornate pattern. The front shutter has a spiral of bones engraved into it, and as he lifts the shutter of the lamp small images of bones seem to dance across the tunnel walls and ceiling. He keeps his loaded crossbow in his other hand, ready to fire.
It is only a few minutes of walking the tunnels before you find a vertical shaft descending deeper into the earth. The walls are sandy and loose, some areas crumbling away at the touch. No other tunnel appears to lead down.
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"I can't believe I've let myself get roped into this. Should have shot the blighter and been done with it. Does anyone have any rope?"
She waits for someone to produce one (and perhaps something to secure it with) before heading down. If needed she produces her wayfinder for light.
That's three full rounds of (double) movement at her standard climbing speed.
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"Thank you Naevys." Mae head bobs in response as she bolster's Sunny's defenses. Seemingly after no time however do they run into the shaft straight down into the earth.
Mae looks down the shaft, testing the climbing difficulty a bit, then looks back and forth at Sunny a few times and then the hole. "As much as it pains me, I do not think Sunny can follow us down this hole. It is strange to me but while normal sized slugs can cling to the underside of mushrooms to feed, large ones like her have no skill in climbing. I will bring her back to defend Stuinvolk."
Mae attempts to hop on her sluggy friend's back and ride off back the way they came. Sunny however will have none of it. "Fine. I do you a favor and you can't even return the favor." Mae drags the slug back out and returns in a few minutes.
When it comes time to climb she moves down the walls like a practiced climber.
With Kenza's rope, Lady Mae and Thaia are able to secure an easier route for the party, descending the tunnel with careful, deliberate moves. Below, the party finds the tunnel system becomes erratic, twisting and turning over itself in ways seemingly unsound to common engineering. Whatever made these 'improvements' to the hives lair must be alien in nature.
With Lady Mae leading the way, Naevys is able to assist in the esoteric decisions between chaotic branches and twists. The party moves deeper and deeper into the earth, until a breach in the wall looks into what Lady Mae easily recognizes as a nursery. Ants of incredible size tend to bundles of larvae, some dried and withered but some still vibrant and whole. The workers seem withered, clearly husks of their former selves, animated by some unknown force.
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They look almost undead.
Mae, I expect that you are best qualified to extract eggs here. I can create a distraction using some black powder to create an explosion on one side of the chamber, but that will likely be a violent distraction and will result is us killing the existing ants and possibly harming the larvae.
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Mae head bobs and puts away her shield. She asks the spirits to guide her as she tries to put on her best ant face and take away some ant larvae without alerting the nurses. "I will do my best to sneak them away, if I am attacked please come to my aid." I wish you were here to help me Sunny.
After watching the ants work for a few minutes, Mae heads in to join the line, doing her best impression of 'ant hive mind' to rescue the doomed larvae before they turn into the adult zombie husks.
Naevys recognizes these ants are undead exoskeletons, husks of their former selves. They resist non-blunted attacks and the negative energy powering them will cause them to burst into clouds of choking dust when their structure takes too much damage.
Lady Mae falls into line, moving to tend the piles of larvae. The undead drones ignore her, seeming to be bereft of impetus to do anything but go through the motions of care taking. Lady Mae returns to the party with arms full of soft larvae, save from undead predation.
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Mae returns with the larvae, a look of pained hunger on her face as she quickly hands them off to the others to deal with. "Take these before I eat one. They look delicious." She moves away from them and takes out a handful of dried grasshoppers to satisfy the craving.
"Now we must find the queen's room and this artifact yes?" She mumbles through a mouthful of crunchy goodness.
As the party rounds the next corner, they find what is clearly the heart of the anthill. The walls have a wavy, sculpted quality to them in contrast to the sandier, rougher tunnels, and several different entrances lead into the room. A high mound of earth rises in the room’s center; interestingly, it seems to be decorated with bits of stick, rock, and even some bones, as though it were a dais or throne.
A massive ant creature sits atop the pile, turning to regard the Pathfinders that have intruded. From the gaps in its carapace, normal sized ants fall to the floor to swarm around its feet. At a chittering command, the ant-husks around the room begin to move forward to attack. The chitters are mixed with strange, dark words as well.
27 Naevys
25 Queen
15 Lady Mae
14 Red
12 Blue
9 Kenza
8 Yellow
8 Green
5 Chance
5 Sunny
4 Thaia
3 Jebediah