"He's saying something about a group called the Cinderclaws," Jonagher states aloud to everyone, "Sounds like he might be a part of them. And he believes I'm speaking some kind of sacred tongue, but it's just dragon-speech. He wants to know why we're attacking them. Maybe he thinks we're supposed to be allies?"
Draconic:
Shaserai is starting the incantation for another mental strike when Jonagher manages to communicate with the creature win Draconic, of all things. The priest lets the magical energies of his spell dissipate before they can coalesce and stands by, waiting to see if the half-elf can get any information from the monkey-man.
The monkey-man squirms unhappily in Alak's grasp. "ከሌላው ቡድን ተለያይተናል," he whines. "በጠላትነት ክልል ውስጥ ብቻችንን ነን ፡፡ ለፀጉር ጭራቅ ብዙ የሲንጥ ጥፍሮችን አጣን ፡፡ የእኔን ትዕዛዞች እንቁራሪቶቹ ወደ ማላሩክ የሚወስዱበትን መንገድ ሲቆፍሩ ዘብ መቆም ነበረባቸው ፡፡"
"To the surprise of absolutely no one, I am sure," Irenaeus says drily as he too enters the room, "these creatures are also from the Mwangi Expanse. They are called charau-ka."
Capable of both understanding and speaking the draconic language, the mage translates for the others, preferring to leave the talking to Jonagher for now. "There are more of them around, from what I can tell. Though many of them were killed by a "furry monster". I can only assume that would be the goblins' pet bear." He sighs. "They are working with boggards. These ones here stand guard while the boggards are trying to dig a way to... Malarunk?"
Turning to the warrior woman, he asks, "Ragna, can you hear anything coming from the other side of the door?"
"NO! I! CAN'T!" Ragna shouts between swings at the door, still enraged and seeking the monkey that had fled.
Jonagher nods at Irenaeus, happy for the help in translating for everyone so he can stay focused on the captive. Then, he locks eyes with the charau-ka to continue their conversation/interrogation.
Draconic:
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Highness, laughing as he watches Ragnhild bashing away starts to chant and stamp his feet in time to her strikes:
"ANGRY DOOR
BREAK IT DOWN!
Crash and flinders
Splinters fly
Smash the wood chunk
blinded eye!
ANGRY DOOR
BREAK IT DOWN!"
Ragna smashes the door again, and it collapses into the adjoining room. The stones of the floor in the middle of the room have been pried up, and a half-hearted attempt made to dig a hole into the packed earth below. A boggard stands on either side of the hole with a pick in hand, and the fled charau-ka is in the far corner of the room next to a pile of clutter and debris.
The simian grabs a chunk of masonry out of the pile, steps forward, and chunks it at Ragna in the open doorway.
Alak glances between the charau-ka in his grip and the chunk of rock that just bounced off Ragna. "Should I let it go?" he asks the room in general.
The priest looks at the half-elf, "It's your call, Jonagher."
Seeing the situation in this room is under control for the moment, Shaserai steps up to Ragna and quickly treats her most pressing wounds. As he works he looks around her and through the destroyed door.
Spotting a digging boggard he points at it and with narrowed eyes and a strong voice shouts at it "Don't even think about moving."
Shaserai moves up to heal Ragna and delivers a stern warning to the nearest boggard.
As soon as the door is open, Highness rushes past Ragna into the room and tries to tumble between the amphibian's legs to the other side. When the boggard moves to block him, the goblin-king jabs his opponent with his sharpened fingers and draws blood.
With Ragna at the door and Shaserai right next to her, Irenaeus moves to take position close to them so that he can support them with his magic when the opportunity arises. He does take care to keep his distance from their captive though, in case the creature gets any ideas.
"Jonagher, perhaps you would like to have a chat with the one in the other room as well? I may be able to speak their language, but I doubt that I can be as... eloquent."
Ren crosses the room.
The boggard on the left opens her mouth and emits a terrifying croak that echoes around the room. Stepping in front of the hole she has been digging, she flicks her long tongue at Highness, and the prehensile appendage wraps stickily around his upper arm.
Jonagher looks from the pinned monkey-man to the action in the adjacent room. Seeing that the newcomers are already proving aggressive, he doubts he can successfully deceive them all, but ventures to give it a try at Ren's urging, affecting a terrible scowl and putting as much anger and outrage behind his words as possible.
Draconic:
For added effect, he points his bow directly at the captured charau-ka and draws back full with his arrow.
Draconic:
Jonagher attempts to bluff the party's way out of combat.
"ኤላዎቹ ተከተሉን!" the boggard to the right gasps. "እነሱ ቀድሞውኑ ማላሩክን ገድለው መሆን አለበት!" He raises his shovel and clumsily tries to beat Highness to death with it.
Alak grabs his own oversized blade and brings it down on the charau-ka, cleaving deep into his furry torso. "Frankly, I wasn't getting much out of that conversation anyway."
Ragna is too angry to feel fear or pain or Shasererai's healing attempts! "Ragh!" she raghs, charging after the frog or whatever it is.
Ragna strides into the room, taking the light with her, and barges between the boggard and Highness, undeterred by the moist tongue stretched between the two. She slices into the boggard with her axe, but the amphibian manages to use her pick to deflect the power behind the shield bash.
The remaining charau-ka snatches another piece of broken stone from the corner of the room and pegs it at Ragna. Even as the debris bounces harmlessly off Ragna's shield, he rearms himself with another chunk of stone.
With Alak having taken matters into his own hands...and the combat continuing to ensue in the other room...Jonagher abandons trying to deceive any more of the monsters with his ruse. When he sees the remaining charau-ka throwing rocks and arming himself with another, the half-elf lets fly with an arrow to dissuade him.
Giving up on the bluff, Jonagher quickly raises his bow and shoots the boggard in the next room.
The rumbling croak echoed off the stone walls, but Highness, focused on the sticky tongue wrapped around his arm, barely noticed. He stepped toward the tongue-flicker, doing a spin to wrap the drooling appendage tightly around his waist, leaving his arm, while still stuck, free to move. Moving as nimbly as only a goblin could, he dodged forward weaving past Ragna in an attempt to move past the creature and pin it between himself and his comrade.
"This makes a good belt! I'm going to have to keep it. Needs a nice buckle!" the goblin cackled.
His confidence a little shaken by the primal sound emitted by one of the boggards, Shaserai moves just until he sees Highness entangled by one of them. Trying to help the goblin, the priest chants a prayer to Torag to addle the mind of the frog creature.
A shiver runs down the mage's spine at the sound of the creature's frightful croak, but still he perseveres. Trying to position himself so he can attack their does with magic, he flings lightning at one of them as soon as he is able to.
Highness ducks past Ragna and around the boggard. trailing her sticky tongue like a ribbon around a Desnuspole. Before she can react, he jabs her twice in the spine with stiffened fingers, and she collapses, twitching, as her tongue loosens its grip on the goblin.
Shaserai steps into the doorway and delivers a mental jolt to the remaining boggard.
Ren cautiously enters the room and calls down an arc of lightning on the last amphibian standing.
The frogman unleashes another bone-chilling croak and strikes Ragna with his pick before retreating to the other side of the hole in the floor.
Alak rushes into the room and takes quick stock of the battlefield. Spying the charau-ka in the corner, he draws his javelin and flings it at the monkey-man. He has to restrain his throw slightly to avoid hitting Ragna, and the charau-ka easily ducks as the javelin clatters into the corner.
Ragnhild scowls at Highness as the frog falls and he steals her kill but his adorable little green face immediately wins her over and she cannot stay mad at him. She does stay mad, though. The rage withheld from Highness is instead turned on the other frog, the last obstacle standing between her and the unfriendly monkey-thing, and she lands devastating blows against it with axe and shield!
Ragna takes out her frustration on the unfortunate other boggard, which falls mangled and mutilated from between the sharp edge of her axe and the implacable surface of her shield.
The remaining charau-ka gapes at the fresh and gory corpse a moment, then raises his hands in the air, letting the chunk of debris he had armed himself with fall to the ground. Wailing, he cries, "መሞት አልፈልግም! ሁሉም የእንቁራሪቶች ሀሳብ ነበር! እንዳደርገው አደረጉኝ!"
Jonagher moves after his friends after suddenly finding they've all rushed into the adjacent room without him. "Hey! Hey! Wait for me!" he grumbles as he jumps down from the chair and then squeezes past Shaserai to join Alak and Ren just inside the door.
When the charau-ka pleads for mercy, he quickly shouts out in Common to everyone, "Hold! He's ready to surrender!" A quick glance at Ragna and Highness has Jonagher worried they might not heed his words, so he speaks directly to the monkey-man, as well.
Draconic:
Jonagher joins the others in the next room and calls for a halt to combat.
The charau-ka drops to the floor, wrapping himself in a furry defensive ball, wailing all the while.
Highness, a manic grin plastered to his face, stood panting among the fallen boggards.
"That. Was. Excellent." he said, flipping the end of the tongue, now slack in death, back and forth.
Red eyes gleaming, Highness pulled out his dagger, and attempted to saw himself off a grisly trophy belt, but the muscular protuberance failed to yield to the goblin-king. After a few moments of frustrated sawing, he shrugged, kicked himself free of the tongue (abandoning the meat-belt), and made his way over to leer at the monkey cowering in the corner.
"Can it speak common, or is it limited to whatever its jabbering?" he asked, curious about the odd language.
Concerned that in her agitated state Ragna will disregard the monkey creature's surrender, Shaserai focuses on their newly developed bonds of, if not friendship, at least camaraderie and with a brief prayer to the Forgefather channels his god's magic into the warrior, trying to calm her.
"All is fine Ragna, the danger has passed and I need you to lower your weapon and take a deep breath."
Shaserai calls on Torag to allay Ragna's aggression.
"Can it speak common, or is it limited to whatever its jabbering?" he asked, curious about the odd language.
Alak shoulders his blade warily. "If it can speak Taldane, I don't know what it's up to wasting our time," he remarks sourly.
The patience and stoicism of the dwarven god Torag washes over Ragnhild, dispelling most, but not all, of the draconic rage running through her veins. Dropping her weapon and shield, Ragna stomps over to the pathetic monkey creature and grabs at it, hoisting it up the by the scruff of its neck and holding it at eye level. "Why did you attack us?!" she bellows in its monkey face.
I can try to counteract the rage with my focus spell soothing words, but what would be the dc?
The charau-ka squirms and cries but shows no sign of understanding Ragna's words until Jonagher repeats the question in Draconic.
"ታዘዝኩኝ! ደካማ ፣ ደካማ ዞርት ትዕዛዞችን ብቻ እየተከተለ ነበር። የነገሩኝ እንቁራሪት ሰዎች ነበሩ!"
"What were they digging for?" Alak asks, kicking at the damage to the citadel floor with disapproval. "Treasure?"
"He was just following orders," Jonagher explains for Ragna's and everyone else's benefit, "Seems like the boggards were in charge. So, the monkey-men and the frog-men have been working together. This one is called 'Zort'..." The half-elf's eyes drift over to where Alak is examining the hole they were digging, and Jonagher's just as confused by it as the Hellknight. While Ragna has their captive under control, he continues speaking to it.
Draconic:
"ሁላችንም ከመምጣታችን በፊት ግራላዶኖቹ ደረጃዎቹን ሰበሩ ፡፡ ማላላንክ እና ሌሎቹ አሁንም እዚያው አሉ ፡፡ ቦጋደኞቹ ሊቆፍሯቸው እየሞከሩ ነበር ፣ ግን ግሬትች እዚህ ቆፍረው አለ እና ክሪክ እዚያው እንዲቆፍሩ ተናግሯል ስለሆነም ሁለቱም ለመለያየት ሄዱ," Zort explains. "ሁለቱን ልንጠብቅ ነበር ፡፡"
"ሲንደላሎች ማለቂያ ለሌለው ጥፋት ያገለግላሉ ፡፡ ማላላንክ ከሐዘን ምሽግ መራን ፡፡ በኤልፍ በር በኩል መጥተን ታላቁን ዘንዶ ነፃ ማውጣት አለብን ብሏል ፡፡፡"
The Cinderclaws serve the Endless Destruction. Malarunk led us from the Fortress of Sorrow. He said we were to come through the elf gate and free the great dragon.
After Zort answers Jonagher's questions and mentions an elf gate Shaserai remembers something the monkey man has mentioned before. "You said you used an elf gate to come here. From where? And who are the elves you were afraid had followed you? Also, I don't recall ever hearing of a great dragon so close to Breachill, were you told where it is?"
After Zort answers Jonagher's questions and mentions an elf gate Shaserai remembers something the monkey man has mentioned before. "You said you used an elf gate to come here. From where?"
"በጫካ ውስጥ ካለው አሮጌ ኤልፍ መቅደስ," Zort explains.
"And who are the elves you were afraid had followed you?"
"ቤተ መቅደሱን የሚጠብቁት ኤሊዎች ፡፡፡"
"Also, I don't recall ever hearing of a great dragon so close to Breachill, were you told where it is?"
Zort shakes his head vigorously. " ዘንዶውን አላየሁም ፣ ግን ማላሩኑ በቁርጭምጭሚት በር ውስጥ ነበር አለ ፡፡ ቤልማዞግ በሕልም ሲንሾካሾክ ሰማ ፡፡" His voice takes on a tone of hushed reverence at this last revelation.
The elves who guard the temple.
I have not seen the dragon, but Malarunk said it was in the elf gate. Belmazog heard it whisper in a dream.
Shaserai seems pensive for a moment, then faces the group. "When we first met at the Wizard's Grace I was... evasive on the motive of my journey to Breachill. To be truthful I didn't want you to think I was crazy." He fidgets a little and carries on while toying with one of his braids. "As you've seen I have an innate connection to fire, and that connection has always been strongest in my dreams. Seas of flame consume all while a foreboding presence threatens annihilation. He pauses and gestures to Zort. "I believe the presence that haunts these visions of flame is Dahak, the dragon god of evil and destruction and the entity these "Cinderclaws" seem to serve. Not long ago the dreams became more focused, and now I've seen Breachill burn to the ground, it's people screaming in agony again and again. I fear this Belmazog may have had visions similar to mine, but while I work to avert them they'll stop at nothing to see them become true in the name of their dark god."
"Cinderclaws...fiery dragon dreams..." Jonagher shrugs, "Yeah! It seems to fit. As plausible an explanation as any...but how did these cultists get here? An elf gate? From my time in Kyonin, I can tell you that such things exist. I've never traveled by one, but I believe they're capable of magically transporting people over vast distances. Do you think these monkey-men and frog-men and all these other Mwangi-related beasts somehow ventured thru one and wound up here in the citadel?"
"Zort said the gate they came through was in an elven temple in the jungle, and as you say all of the creatures we've fought since the grauladons come from the Mwangi Expanse. So I'd say it all makes sense." The priest looks at the site the boggards were digging "If the rest of them are below us, the arrival gate has to be underground." Shaserai turns to Alak "Did the Hellknights know of this portal?"
"I don't...," Alak begins, shaking his head, then cuts himself off with a frown. "Let me see that book of schematics from the law repository again." He finds the page with the note about the lowest level -- the one, presumably below this one. "'Mysterious ruins...,'" he reads, "'guarded by a stone construct... strange magics....' Could that be this elf-gate? I'd say they found it but didn't realize what it was or what it could do or I'd wager they'd have put it to better use than storing documents."
"So...the little soldier-doll we had so much trouble bringing down wasn't the construct mentioned in the book?" Jonagher surmises, "It's another level down?" He stands by Alak and turns the pages back to the schematic for the basement level where they're standing. "There's a flight of stairs here, along the side of the hallway where we fought the doll, but if I remember correctly, it was all choked with rubble. If we can clear this place out, maybe we can spend some time clearing it and then venture down further to see if this elf gate is real..."
As the little monkey babbles of gates from mysterious jungles, Ragna's simmering rage quickly turns to another emotion and the scowl disappears from her face. She bellows, turning to the others and gesturing to them with the fist still clenching the monkeys scruffy neck. "I. Am a genius." She concludes, grinning at her companions. "I am going to kill the stone guardian, rescue the goblins, go through the portal, and kill one of those dragolizards for myself." She says the last while looking directly at Jonagher before turning her attention to her captive. "እኛ እዚህ ቆንጆ ቦታዎችን የሚሹ ጎቢኖችን ለመፈለግ ወደ ታች ነን? የት አሉ?"
"ጎቢኖች? ጎቢኖች?" Zort answers nervously. "እንቁራሪው ሰዎች ሁሉንም ጎበኖች ለመግደል ወይም እነሱን ለማባረር ተናገሩ ፡፡" Sensing that this answer may enrage the woman yet again, he hurries on, "ዋርት አሁንም ወደ ፀጉሩ ጭራቅ ሊመግበው የተወሰኑት ሊኖረው ይችላል ፡፡"
Ragna does not look impressed. "ዋርት ማነው? ዋርት የት አለ? ምን ዓይነት ጠጉር ጭራቅ"
"They might be trying to feed the goblins to Big Bumble. Warbal said they had their bear down here." Shaserai reminds Ragna. He rummages in his backpack and takes out a length of rope. "I say we tie up Zort and take him with us, rescue the goblins from this Werrt and finish searching for Alak's ring on this floor. Then we can decide what to do about the collapsed stairs... maybe the goblins know another way down?"