A collapsed wooden staircase in the northeastern corner of this room winds up to a moss-shrouded hole. The expanse of the Fogfen is visible through a total collapse in a stone wall to the west. A dead frog the size of a horse lies sprawled in this collapse, its back legs bitten off at the hips.
Judging by the caustic mucus around the bite wounds, Zetty determines that a river drake must have eaten the frog's legs!
Bella examined the frog corpse to get an idea how recently it died. She was concerned that the river drake might still be nearby.
”How can you know this path has ended? A foe defeated does not always mean a journey is finished.”
Looking at the giant frog, Zetty comments "I heard frog's legs are a delicacy in Galt... makes you wonder if the river drake that gobbled these is on vacation?" She raises her pen and wiggles it in the direction of the moss-shrouded hole near the ceiling. A few of the nearby pieces of debris clatter and move toward the entrance. She waits for a moment to see if there's any response from anything that might be inside the hole.
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Vengis shrugs as the rest of the group presses him on continued exploration.
"Wrin said she was worried about ghosts, and we defeated the ghosts," he counters. "So we can go home, have a hot meal, and take a bath. But like I said, if there are more coins to be found before we leave, that's fine."
As the discussion turns to river drakes, Vengis considers the danger.
"One thing I should say is that my familiar, Nalfeshnee, is fairly adept at checking things out without drawing much attention to himself. If you'd like, I can send him ahead, and I can pretty much see what he sees--or at least feel what he feels. He can then report back on what he finds. If you'd like him to do so, just say the word."
"কেন আপনি কখনও নিজেকে স্বেচ্ছাসেবক করবেন না?
"
As Bella approaches within 10 feet of the dead frog, two giant maggots burst suddenly from the carcass in a gruesome display! They slither forward to attack!
Once he finished with his meditation, his expression seeming to be more familiar, he follows closely to Bella. "Wrin did not know the full extent of the issue at hand," he replies to Vengis. "If it is truly a ghost we need deal with, who's to say that a simple kobold, even dead, would be the cause of her concern. Wrin chose you because of this so-called fate, though I'm sure she sees you as competent in your own right."
Spending too much time talking, his reaction seems to still be a bit affected, as he doesn't respond quickly to the sudden attack on the group.
"Ugh, that's disgusting!", Bella cried. She drew her sword and readied to attack the first one that came near her.
With the maggots so close up, Zetty gets a clearer view of them than she particularly wants. "Hey hey, over here everyone! More maggots being way bigger than they have any right to be!" She points her pen at a nearby piece of rubble and telekinetically throws it at the nearest of the two maggots.
Eyenia heads into the room before shooting a rock at the closest maggot from her sling.
Zetty’s hurled projectile comes up short, but Eyenia lands a hit with her sling. Both maggots slither towards Bella, and she misses with her readied attack. The halfling dodges the first one’s attacks, but the second one grabs her in its mandibles, gnawing on her flesh!
Vengis scores critical hit, killing the maggot in a single strike! Only one for remains.
"Let go of me!", Bella cried, as she tried to wriggle out of the maggot's grasp.
Then she stabbed repeatedly at her assailant.
"Alright!" Zetty raises her pen, closing one eye as she tries to capture the remaining maggot's dimensions. "Hold on Bella!" With a flick, she sends another blocky piece of rubble flying through the air.
Grem steps into the remaining grub, planting his feet into his usual fighting stance and slams his fists towards the creature.
◆ Step
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows
Bella stabs the maggot once as she slips out of its grasp, then Grem pummels it into a gooey pulp!
"Thanks Grem,"[b] Bella said to her dwarven friend. [b]"Now I think I need to clean myself up. Being chewed by a giant maggot is NOT fun!"
She retreated to the previous room where there was no gaping hole in the wall, and bandaged herself up.
"You're not looking much better there Bella." Zetty tucks her writing slate away to look through her pack. "Everyone, do we have anything else that we could use to get Bella back on her feet? I have a healing scroll, though I've been keeping it for any time we might get into a real pinch."
Bella was having difficulty healing her wounds; the maggot saliva was proving very troublesome. After experimenting with several approaches, she was ready to patch up Grem's again.
Then she moved on to her own wounds, but had no success.
Grem thanks Bella once again for her administration of his wounds, but rather than sitting to relax, he stands at an informal attention.
"She is a strange one," Grem responds to Vengis' inquiry, "but she accepted a stranger openly. As to the why? She asked. Why would I turn down an honest request for help? I have the strength to lend, and so I lend it to the task."
"Wrin saved me from the voices that haunted the darkness between the stars. She is a dear friend and one I would gladly accept danger for."
Zetty settles herself near the entrance to their side chamber, then slowly and carefully starts making portraits of each of her party members. As she works, she expands each image until the composition is clear - her newfound allies in combat against the various creatures the party has faced so far.
"Wrin's really quite nice, but the reason I'm out here isn't for her sake. Already, I've seen creatures I'd only read about in books. Getting to see them up close, and not getting chewed up and spat out in the process... its like a dream come true!" Zetty turns a few pages back to show off her slurk sketch. "Realistic right? You don't get anything this good by copying other people's pictures!"
Bella told her comrades, "I'm afraid I'm having trouble with my wounds from that cursed giant maggot. I'm OK in the back with my sling, but I won't be much use up front. If you want to wait for me to try healing myself some more I can do that, or we can move on if you want."
"Take the time that you need, Bella," Grem responds. "We are not pressed by time."
Since her friends were OK with her spending extra time treating her wounds, Bella continued to apply salves to her chewed flesh.
Grem moves over to Bella and attempts to help her patch up her wounds.
Seeing Bella struggling, Zetty traces out a sign with her pen in the air and propels it in Bella's direction to provide her with guidance.
With Zetta's help, Bella finally tackled the problem of the maggot saliva.
With her strength renewed, she investigated door in the southwest corner of the ruins.
The interior of this watch post still has a wooden ceiling high above, but a thick mound of filth and animal carcasses heaped on the floor make the room anything but inviting.
Within the room is an enormous green-and-blue fly the size of a pony! Its wings buzz as it lunges at you!
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Having learned more about his companions during their brief rest, Vengis seems satisfied to move forward exploring with them.
But seeing the giant fly, the sorcerer's face contorts in disgust.
"At least stand in front of me if we're going to be fighting disgusting flies and maggots! They have no reason to be so big! I'm sure that we'll be facing ticks and fleas next!"
With plentiful debris, Vengis continues with his tactic of throwing rubble telekinetically. He then casts shield on himself, just in case.
"Kinda pretty, in a gross way." Zetty cranes her neck to see around her allies. "Keep right where you are, giant fly thing!" She starts sketching, thinking back to what she might know about these jumbo flies. As she concentrates, she tries to daze the foe.
Vengis bashes the giant fly with a rock, but it resists Zetty's spell. The gnome can't recall any useful tidbits about the enormous insect.
The fly buzzes forward and bites at Bella, but she dodges its snapping mandibles!
"Oh no you don't!", Bella declared, stabbing at the giant insect twice, then stepping aside to let Grem at the vermin.
Feeling refreshed and renewed, Grem steps up to the giant bug, taking Bella's place, assumes the position, and slams it with his fists.
◆ Step
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows
Bella stabs the fly and steps back, making room for Grem. It is unable to avoid his swat, and with a powerful punch, the dwarf finishes it off!
There doesn’t appear to be anything of value in this room.
"Nice work!:, Bella says to her allies. "I must say, I find an insect bigger than me alarming."
She realized that she hadn't properly checked the room with the frog corpse properly, so she did a quick sweep of the chamber. "Check the east side?" she suggested, before crossing the central hall and opening the far door.
Almost the entire ceiling of this room has collapsed, while below, the floor has crumbled into a 10‐foot‐deep sinkhole filled with rubble, mud, and glistening patches of fungus. Evidence of ancient damage—burn scars and acid scorch marks—decorate the walls and much of the rubble. Zetty can confirm that a devastating magical battle occurred here long ago.
There doesn’t seem to be much of interest here.
"You can say that again Bella. Luckily they don't last very long when you and Grem get stabbing and punching." She looks around the room for a bit before adding "There's been an awful lot of giant insects and grubs and things so far. I wonder if there's something causing them to be so big. Or maybe the mitflits are attracting big ones somehow?"
Zetty follows Bella out of the room and toward the east side, mulling it over as she distractedly adds details to her giant fly sketch. The magical scorch marks grab her attention in the following room. "Wow, I wonder if this is left over from when those heroes came here? Seems like some serious fight happened."
"Nice work!:, Bella says to her allies. "I must say, I find an insect bigger than me alarming."
With a satisfied huff of air, Grem replies, "Size matters not. Eventually, even the mountain will fall to the wind and waves."
”Creeping beasts seem to infest this place. We might do well to prepare for them should this stretch for more than just this day.”
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With a large portion of the main level already explored, and several beasts and creatures defeated, Vengis begins to relax a bit.
"Well, we may yet get home in time for a hot dinner if we keep exploring. I think there's an area over there we should look at next," he says, pointing toward the southwest.
Grem looks to Vengis, and gives a brief nod, "That is a good choice. Let us continue on, then."
Bella replied to Zetty, "Yes, the Roseguard must have confronted Belcorra Haruvex in this very spot!"
After looking around the room at the signs of that long-ago battle, she opened the double doors in the south-east wall.