The pounding on the gate intensifies. Some spokesperson shouts:
I'll bash yer heads in if you don't quit pranks' us! We're in a killing mood too — nary one kobold to cut up, and that hulking zombie vanished… and we gotta to work at dawn after all this crap. Now let us in.
Zyphlryx starts looking about for some oil or tar. Anything they can drop on the heads of the pinkskins outside.
"We should use the tools to fortify the gate. Slow them down so we can kill them one by one if they get through."
Broomzad sticks his head out, translucent and glowing. boo!
The pinkskkns wail. They’re all dead! The voices if the dead! This place us cursed!
They run off. Who knows if they will return to reclaim their valuable property like the e sawmill, lumber, and tools later?
”Or, you know, that works,” chuckles Imperius.
”Let’s find anything valuable and torch the place. ”
"Yes!" Kadosh agrees. "And salt the ground behind us. Lots of things here that could be awfully useful."
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With the Pinkskins fleeing, you torch the place! As you trek back through the forest the flames of destruction dance merrily, illuminating the cliffs above and truly warming your Truescale hearts.
Not only have you run off the pinkskins and destroyed their base through deception and skulduggery but you’ve uncovered some sort of ancient ruins below. Down there is the Pinkskins’ true leader, this “Thuldrun” as well as some kind if cult. And perhaps the crown you lost, as Graypelt referenced. Should you tell the Queen about that!?
——
Back in the warrens, the Queen waits. Tombzaad is nowhere to be seen.
Well? My scouts report a large forest fire out by the mountains. I assumed Imperius stumbled into a trap, died, and you botched his funeral pyre. Which pleased me greatly. Yet I see he is still here somehow. So…. her marble eye glitters. You bring your mighty queen good news?
"Stumbled into a trap? No, I valiantly found traps and was helpful to all!" declares Imperius.
"We have destroyed the loggers' outpost, so the assaults on our beautiful forest should stop. The pinkskins think that it was overrun by undead, and there might be a reason behind it. There is some powerful necromantic device deep below their outpost, and we should go back and check it out soon."
Zyphlryx nods as Imperius speaks, then: Not only that, Your Auntieness, but we burned the loggers' fort, found some ancient ruins, and have determined that there is a potent necromantic device buried within!
The only traps were the ones I laid! Which weren't for you! Kadosh thinks in annoyance.
He waits in the back, hoping to stay out of the queen's notice as much as possible.
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"I see your eye still glitters, my queen," Broomzad says, proud of the gift, yet also wanting it back, yet also also too ghostly to play with marbles anymore. So, mostly just sad.
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YES! Good. Good! The queen’s eye glitters marbleously.
Necromancy... no wonder we have sad ghosts lurking about, haunting our beautiful warrens. We go from one problem to another. You are lucky to have such an intelligent amazing powerful queen in charge! And what of Tombzaad?
on cue a terrible howl — Broomzad’s corporeal voice— echoes through the warrens. Something crashes and someone screams.
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Thoroughly plussed (as opposed to nonplussed), Zyphlryx waits a second, as if for dramatic effect, then continues. Ah, yes, almost forgot: we brought Tombzaad home.
Kadosh flinches. He wonders if they should investigate. But he's sure someone else will. Or if he has to, at least someone else will go first. That's always safest.
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The queen rips out her marble eye in rage. She almost throws it you but then she remembers how shiny it is.
What are you waiting for!?
Kadosh sighs and slinks out of the room, then slows noticeably so Imperius and the others can get ahead of him. As always, he keeps his back to the wall.
Zyphlryx is uncharacteristically silent as he slips away. That went well, he says to Kadosh.
You rush down the hallways, following the noise to Deihl’s Tavern! There, you see Mihoothe and Vras the Necrope argiung while Tombzaad flips tables and smashes glassware. Deihl and several patrons cowers in a corner; there is centipede pot-pie (today's special) splattered all over the walls.
Mihoothe the Iomedaean knight-errant waves her sword around, almost slicing up one of the patrons. Necrope! Thy undead monstrosyty musteth be destroyed… eth!
Vras, interposed between her and the rampaging zombie, whispers, though his voice echoes eerily around the room: No… my creation… my beautiful powerful creation… not be destroyed over a few spilled drinks…
Tombzaad hammers the bar, splintering the wood — you stole that precious shellacked oak plank from a cart years ago!
Mihoothe turns to you. Forsoothe! Thine heroes have arrived…eth! Killeth that which is already dead! She points to the zombie.
Vraz hisses. No! Listen. The Queen wants Tmbzaad… intact. Mostly. He helped your mission. He's full of cuts and arrows and rather agitated. Calm him down, or chain him up! Indeed, you can see that Tombzaad is worse for the wear after being chased around by the Pinkskins.
Tombzaad throws a barstool at the wall, shattering it! Whatever happens, you have to do something… fast!
”Now stop that right now! That is hardly behavior of a truly true true scale, now is it?
“You have done a great service to your queen, and it really didn’t hurt that much, did it?
“So, do calm down and let Vraz patch you up! You will have plenty of more times to make your queen proud of you!”
Zyphlryx begins his assistance, such as it is, by trying to pluck a few of the arrows out of Tombzaad's hide.
"Calm yourself and I will give you that delicious head cheese I stashed away in my kitchen. I know you will love it!"
Kadosh growls almost noiselessly to himself. He has a perfect snare to try to capture someone even dumber than the rest of them. But he doesn't have it ready right now. Curses!
Seeing Zyphlryx trying to help, Kadosh lets out a long sigh and decides to try to follow suit. If he's dumb enough to do this himself, he's surely not trying to trick you into doing it!
"If I get hurt, I'm blaming you," he mutters sotto voce.
Tombzaad stares at Imnperius but down;t try to decapitate him. He doesn't notice the arrows getting ripped out… and follows the stinky cheese.
Vras creeps along behind. Yes… yes! hahahahaha!
Mihoothe stompeth off. Hmmpth!
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Broomzad tries to entertain Tombzaad with a juggling act, something he used to enjoy when he was alive, but doesn't seem as capable of now that he's a ghost...
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Tombzaad gets agitated at seeing the ghost of his body and certainly doesn't enjoy juggling as he is too slow to understand the motion of the balls through the air, and gerts frustrated and punches Vras the Necrope!
Yes… yes! hahahah — OWW!
You head to Zaadragrank’s workshop. On the wall next to Graypelt's shriveled ear on a shelf is the shriveled head of Uncle Dilgax! It rolls its eyes and shrieks:
Oh look who it is my ungrateful nephew and his entourage of hangers-on. Whatever it is they're probably not here asking Dilgax III for advice. You know back in my day the youth LISTENED but no… probably here begging for a free handout.
Zaadragrank’s eyes are keen. He notices a bloody wolf's head. Could it be…?
Not only could it be, but it is! Zyphlryx says excitedly, moving a little fast to put the wolf head next to the ear and consequently sending Dilgax's head tumbling off the shelf along the floor toward Imperius.
You should have seen it! Kadosh slit its throat after Pepin made it throw up Imperius, who had been swallowed and was surely about to perish if we hadn't all moved too quickly for some reason!
Kadosh is ready to slink into the shadows when he hears his name. It's praise, so ... he decides he can spend a little more time here, even if he prefers to not have attention on him (since that just draws people who have bad intentions).
"About to perish?? Nay! I was just about to cut my way out of the foul beast's stomach so as to slay him from within!"
Zaadragrank holds Graypelt's head next to the old ear. How's it look? Nobody messes qith the Truly True Truescales.
Dilgax sniffs. It smells bad. Mov e him an little to the left… why is no one listening to me? Now the elders of this generation…
Zaadragrank ignores Dilgax III and listens to your tale. You're truly tricky, sneaky, stabby Truescales! Here, I was crafting this for my own hunts down in the caverns, but I think you earned it. He hands you a +1 tricky pick!
Zyphlryx ignores both Imperius' boasting, accurate though it may be, and Zaadragrank's pick as he asks, Don't suppose you have a monocle in that stack somewhere...?
"The pick isn't my kind of thing, but we could really use that rune!"
You treck back to the ruined fort; it looks like the fire has done its work. The palisades now look like the stumps of blackened trees, and the equipment is a pile of twisted wreckage.
After a little effort you find Graypelt's old chamber, and the stairways going down. YUM YUM The cauldron leans down and licks bloody fur off a charred pylon.
Down you go!
The stairway opens into a large, rectangular chamber, its stone walls covered with intricate carvings of squat humanoids toiling in mines or over forges. In the center of the chamber stands the bottom half of a broken obsidian obelisk. it's pitch dark down here… no problem for Truescales!
You can spend 10 minutes studying the carvings, which have no words.
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Pepin is familiar with fine art. This does not look like fine art.
Pepin recounts the tale carved onto the wall.
Toil to keep your blood from getting boiled in the cold furnace. It's the path to salvation — no matter what those anti-Droscragans say. They're just lioars and haters. Work in Droscrag's Forge forever… it's great. Even the unfaithful are welcome to serve: their blood and bones can kindle smelting fire. Yes, the world be bright with the light of Droscrag!
Broomzad tries, but can't make heads or tails of the carvings.
"It'd be easier if they had words!"
Broomzad confirms this is about Droscrag’s light shining on the world!
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"Droskar! It is Droskar!"
Imperius is clearly seeing whatever he wants to see. His translation is a bit different:
Toil is the only true path to Salvation. Those who will not work shall have their blood boiled in the Dark Furnace for all time... Our corrupt ancestors lied! Only industrious labor in Droskar’s Forge awaits the faithful. This great work is its own reward... The unfaithful, they will serve in the end, their blood and bones shall stoke the fires of our industry... The world will burn to the glory of Droskar.
Kadosh nods. Other than Imperius' butchering of the demon lord's name, that seems to make sense.
He pulls out his fangwire and melts into the darkness of the tunnel as they advance.
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"Oh Imperius, surely two of us can't be wrong?"
You turn left and pass a branch in a long hallway. Finally, you pass into a long barracks that's completely unadorned save for a row of uncomfortable stone beds.
Floating on the other side of the chamber is a skeleton. The air around it ripples and undulates; its tattered cloak floats and ripples in the air. The skeleton's armor glitters. It grasps an axe that shines with light like a torch, through ripples of water. It begins to slowly, silently glide toward you…
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Broomzad
➤ Imperius
Ghost dwarf
Pepin le Beouf
Kadosh
Zyphlryx
Broomzad doesn't know much about the undead, despite his firsthand experience. He knows about glittery though.
"Shiny is my favorite color," he says, thinking back to his lost marble.
He cautiously moves forvard, and tries to hide under a bed, so he can get the jump on this skeleton as it glides closer.
The shiny dwarf glides closer…
so shiny!
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Broomzad
➤ Imperius
Ghost dwarf
➤ Pepin le Beouf
➤ Kadosh
➤ Zyphlryx