"Deal," Nadja says as she swaps out the sneaky key talisman with the one Jeni procured for her.
"What else, besides provisions and our usual gear?"
When it's time for everyone to set out, Nadja is in her usual leather armor, with the cold iron magical rapier on her hip and her backpack full with her bedroll and other provisions. Her rarely-used crossbow is securely fastened to her side along with a small quiver of bolts. She also has a long, tightly-wrapped bundle lashed to the side of her backpack. She sets her pack down and twirls on her feet once bouncing with bubbly energy.
"Just think: the four of us, going off to explore and maybe even save Sandpoint! Let's take odds now: whaddya think Bruthazmus is? The real one, but undead? The real one, but resurrected somehow? Or just a pretender taking on his name?"
Kaz takes Nadja's question of the odds incredibly seriously as they pack up and finish preparations.
Hmm... Undead seems most likely as we've already seen a tribe of other goblinoids... I suppose Ripnugget could have been sentimental and had a construct created as a namesake? Undead truly does seem more likely though... but I'd take construct with the right odds. A pretender could surely find something more fearsome."
Zen takes the question about a flying carpet seriously, thinking with his brow furrowed, "I don't think we can afford one of those." He rests his big weapon on his shoulder, "well, if you say undead, I'll keep preparing for undead. Might be more demons too." He spends a bit taking off his own spellheart, and slips it into his pocket after affixing his new spellheart to his weapon.
Nadja draws her rapier and stabs the air with a few quick thrusts. "Undead seems like the best odds. Though maybe he stumbled into an old Thassilonian ruin and got a clone made of himself? If we're going looong odds," she smirks.
"I think I'm ready," she announces after sliding the rapier back into place. "What about you?"
"I don't need much." Jeni says, letting a stream of wave weave around her like a lazy snake. The crisp blues of her clothes matching well with her element. She did have several coils of rope piled up under her pack though.
Chapter 2: Whistles in the Dark
You leave Sandpoint and journey to the Pit. The Pit is located just over 2 miles to the southeast of Sandpoint, on a rocky plateau known as the Devil’s Platter. Along most of its perimeter, the rise up to Devil’s Platter is a steep escarpment of jagged rock, but there are several areas where the cliffs are more like steep slopes. One such rise lies just north of the ruins of Wisher’s Well, an ancient, 30-foot-tall stone tower with an interior that drops away into a 100-foot-deep shaft filled with water. Local legends say those who toss an offering into the depths and make a wish are granted good luck.
As you clamber up over its jagged rim of sharp rocks and boulders, you get your first unnerving sight of the Pit itself. A vast hole yawns in the rocky plateau, measuring a good fifty feet in diameter and dropping away into fog-filled shadows below. The sides of the Pit are steep—nearly vertical—and are relatively smooth, without many obvious handholds. The bottom of the Pit is shrouded by a thick layer of fog that starts fifty feet down.
A five-foot-wide ledge creeps along the eastern side of the Pit about twenty feet from the rim. A rickety-looking wood ladder leads down to this ledge from the Pit’s southern edge, and additional ladders connect even deeper ledges disappearing down into the fog layer below. The air around the edge of the pit feels colder. It’s silent within, but it feels like the type of untrustworthy quiet that could, at any, moment give vent to an unnerving scream.
"Well. It hasn't been long since this charming locale was the host to either a bovine sacrifice or a truly innovative development in cow tipping. By goblins, living or dead, naturally."
Nadja has to be strongly discouraged from taking a detour to Wisher's Well to toss a coin in. Whether she's given a chance to do so or not, she otherwise stays relatively close to the group while ranging up and down the trail.
Nadja ignores the tracks and focuses more on the Pit itself. She leans over briefly to look down the abyss, then pulls back to a safer distance from the rim.
"That's nice," she tells Kaz."Well, the ladder is probably our best bet down. Especially since it'll be our only way up." She cinches the straps of her gear tight and moves toward the ledge.
"Primary way up," Kaz corrects, "I have a scroll for if someone gets cheeky."
Jeni didn't even notice the footprints and instead joins Nadja at the edge, though she stays and continues to look down. "If we need to, we can always jump as well... since we have our charms. But I agree with Nadja, best to not waste unless we need to."
She eyes the rickety ladder with a frown "Which we just might need to do so, just to avoid splinters."
The ladder is rickety-looking but actually quite sound. You climb down to the first ledge of the Pit, which is littered with a few discarded bones and broken dogslicers. From somewhere in the fog below, you hear the sound of claws scraping against stone, followed by an eerie hiss. Fortunately, whatever caused those noises remains unseen.
The way forward is a 6-foot-high opening in the Pit wall. The walls of this chamber are decorated with dozens of skulls harvested from a wide range of animals—deer, cows, elk, wolves, horses, and even some humans. All of the wall-mounted skulls are angled to stare down at the southern entrance to the room. In four alcoves stand taxidermy spiders as big as humans, each posed in a menacing position, while an even larger figure—a taxidermy horse with glittering gemstone eyes, “wings” made of canvas, a giant lizard’s tail stitched to its hindquarters, and a mouth filled with sharp fangs—stands vigil near two doors leading north and east. This cobbled-together monstrosity is meant to represent the Sandpoint Devil.
"This is a Lot of work" Jeni whistled, low and quiet. Impressed as hell "Skill too. Almost a shame we're going to have to beat them up."
Nadja tears her eyes away from the taxidermic display to look at Jeni. "You think these things are going to come to life?"
Realizing that fighting might be coming soon, she drops the long bundle to the ground and unlashes the bindings. She draws two long, slightly curved and wickedly serrated blades from the pack and gives them a twirl in her hands. "Should we beat them up now, before they start attacking us?"
Zen looks at the sides of the walls, ”might be able to climb up too.” He shrugs and then goes down as well, leading the way when possible in the hope he’s attacked first.
When they’re at the bottom, he draws his weapon and wipes his brow. ”I’d prefer we didn’t destroy them. Someone worked hard on these sculptures.” He glances at them again, ”if they um animate, we deal with it then.”
Kazumi grins sardonically. "Worried the taxidermy might not get its chance at redemption?"
They sweep the area for any enchantment , then take their position at the back.
"Should Astyanax flit on ahead to see what awaits us?"
Jeni was nodding at Nadja's suggestion when Zen makes her feel bad for doing so. It was then she noticed the blades "Those are new!" Jeni might not be a weapons kind of person, but she oohed appreciatively. "An upgrade from the rapiers?"
Nadja beams when Jeni notices her sabres. "Yes! Two swords are better than one, after all." She gives them a flourish before reversing her grip on them and lowering her arms so the blades point back and upwards. It's obvious that she is comfortable with handling them. "They're not new, though. I got them a while ago and have been practicing in secret. It's probably not a good idea to let the town know I have these. Can you keep it from getting back to my mom?"
Jeni laughs "Tell your mother? Besides never wishing to betray your trust, our most mighty gnat... I'm not dumb enough to be the bearer of any news you think She wouldn't want to hear."
Nadja becomes serious for a moment. "Thank you. I was... a bit worried."
She turns to study the taxidermic devil. "You don't think it can see out of those eyes, right? Maybe we should pull them out. Hell, maybe they're valuable."
Zen frowns harder. ”please don’t disfigure or deface these. I think they are art. I am not supposed to let art get destroyed.” He tenses up a lot.
"We won't, Zen, don't worry." she bumps his shoulder "If for no other reason that it would bother you. Everybody ready to explore."
"Fine. Sure. We don't have to mess them up," Nadja concedes. She gives the Devil the "I've got eyes on you" gesture.
"But if they move on their own, they're shredded. Hope you understand."
As Nadja approaches within 10 feet of the taxidermy Sandpoint Devil, it lurches forward, opens its jaws, and emits a blood-curdling howl and a blast of foul-smelling gray smoke!
Quickly Jeni covers her nose and mouth with her sleeve, shooting Zen a 'see we should be broken it' look, in between coughs.
Nadja dances back from the smoke while bringing up her sabres to the ready position. She coughs a few times but she managed to avoid inhaling much of the noxious vapor.
"It moved on its own," she says flatly.
Zen coughs lightly, but doesn’t seem affected very much as he waves the smoke away from his face. The frown on his face has become a thin line. He looks over everyone, regardless of their decision-making, to make sure they’re not dead or anything, though he has no particular skill in healing.
”If someone can disable the trap so it doesn’t reset, it’s probably a good idea.”
"I'll check it out," Nadja says as she gets closer to the mock-up devil. "Watch the entrance, okay? That roar was probably an alarm for whoever made these things."
She works quickly to assess whether the trap will reset on its own, and if so, what it'll take to make sure it doesn't.
Kazumi is just taking in a deep breath to tease Zen further over the artwork when the Devil belches smoke! They get a great lungful of it, hacking and wheezing, doubled over in surprise and sudden wretchedness.
Nadja determines that the magical trap will reset automatically after an hour, but she's not sure what to do to disable it beyond destroying the taxidermy.
As you are recovering from the noxious smoke, the east door opens and a goblin walks through. The goblin stops short when he sees you, eyes widening! He gasps, and you can see strange holes drilled through his teeth. The goblin then whistles in a complicated manner, and several more whistles respond from the room behind him!
Before you can react, the goblin falls back into the next room. You can hear rustling noises followed by high-pitched yips. Then, four ratlike goblin dogs come bounding through the door, moving to attack Nadja! As their sharp teeth pierce her armor, clouds of dander fill the air, making her eyes water.
Kaz flicks out a crackling arc of lightning into the midst of Nadja's playmates, bringing up a quick shield of force in case the hounds break away.
"What are these things?" Jeni asks as she kicks the one nearest to Nadja, smashing a water enshrouded leg its ribs so hard it rose off the ground several inches, followed two thirty foot waves, one crashing her flying rat dog thing back into the ground and the second trying to catch as many of the others as possible. "Don't breath that in" she advises Nadja as the puff of wiggling dander gets everywhere.
Zen starts to swing at some of the little monsters, trying to get them off of Nadja. He manages one decent swipe, and tries to knock another one down.
"No fair!" Nadia shouts as the creepy dogs come rushing in and attack before she was ready. Her blades flash in a blur as they scythe through the mongrels, cutting them down.
Kazumi zaps two of the goblin dogs, then Jeni blasts them with water, taking them down! The kineticst turns and kicks a third dog, which Nadja finishes off with a critical hit of her saber! She drives her blade into the final oversized rodent, which Zenobius dispatches with a critical hit of his own!
You only have a moment to catch your breath, though, as the goblin who sounded the alarm rushes through the door to the room, accompanied by three other goblins. The whistle angrily through the holes drilled in their teeth as they brandish horsechoppers, staying at reach as they attack Zenobius. The champion parries and deflects their attacks!
Nadja gets a gleeful smile as she dashes forward and leaps over the goblins' heads, landing on their flank with stylish flair.
Her blades flash again, this time adding goblin blood to their serrated edges.
He says quietly, "we don't want to fight you - you can just leave and we'll leave you alone..." He has his own polearm so, he's used to fighting at range, though his armor is starting to get a little scratched up.
But, seeing that they don't seem interested in talking, Zen steps a little closer and takes a swing at the same one Nadja attacked.
He then loops part of the odd polearm around another nearby goblin, trying to knock another one down.
"They might have stood a chance if they'd attacked along with their beasts, but this is just senseless."
"While goblins are not typically known for their good sense, it is shame they are sticking to the stereotype." Jeni quips with Kaz, while trying to hammer the goblins with water blasts, targeting the same ones Kaz is frying, knowing the two elements have great combination.
Kazumi zaps two of the goblins with lightning. Jeni blasts the least wounded of the pair, then takes down both with a blast of water! Meanwhile, Nadja and Zenobius swiftly dispatch the remaining two foes. In a matter of moments, the fight is already over!
A few moments after the last foe goes down, a secret door in the southwest wall opens and another goblin creeps out from behind the taxidermied spider there. This goblin whistles through the holes drilled in his teeth. "Wow! You longshanks are pretty tough," he says. "Name's Tunch, master taxidermist! Wanna step into my workshop to talk? Maybe you can help take care of the evil witch that's been plaguing us Whistlefangs!"
Nadja takes up a crossed sabre stance when the newest goblin appears. She relaxes slightly when he compliments them and wisely doesn't try to continue the fight.
A glint of excitement and something else is in her eyes when Tunch asks to talk about taking care an evil witch. "You want us to kill someone for you?"
She starts to look at the others, but stops short of meeting their eyes. Instead she looks back at Tunch. "Let's hear him out. Whaddya say?"
"We just beat up your friends, didn't we?" Jeni seems perplexed at the sudden invitation.
Zen looks confused, and adds. "Do you want us to stabilize your companions? This maybe was a misunderstanding." He glances towards the fallen goblins in the vague hope that some survived. He then bows his head, "if you need help, I will if I can try - though we want you to promise not to hurt anyone else."
"Perhaps an impossibly limiting oath depending on how far one is willing to follow the ramifications of their actions," Kaz muses. "Tell us more about this witch before we ask that of you."
"Eh, they're not really my friends," Tunch says. "More like co-workers? Goblins die all the time, that's why we're so good at making more goblins." He chuckles and shrugs. "Save them if you want to."
You are able to stop the goblins from bleeding out before following Tunch through the secret door. This musty-smelling workshop features a long workbench covered with animal parts and a cluttered wooden shelf to the west, several barrels and crates to the south, and a ratty-looking pile of furs to the north. A wood carving of some sort of overly muscular goblin looms over the furs, while a lever sticks out of the eastern wall just below the carving.
A five-foot-long weasel lays in the corner of the room. It raises its head to regard you as you enter, but Tunch moves to scratch it under its chin. "Who's a good boy, Sausage? You are! You are!" Sausage's tail twitches in delight and he settles back down.
Tunch turns back to you. "I've been working on trying to build a living taxidermy so that I can order it to kill the pesky witch! If some strange creature no goblin has ever seen before kills her, then certainly I can't be blamed for it—especially if I then swoop in to defeat said creature with a magic word! But I can't quite figure out how to do it, so I'm going to need you to do the dirty work for me!"
He takes a spare parchment and scribbles out a map of the rooms around this one. "The witch is named Minargul. She makes her lair here. You have to save us by killing her! Do so and I'll give you a magic bug as a reward. Oh yeah, all the other Whistlefangs you talk to here will sound like they like her, but she’s a mind controller. She’s got their names written on papers she keeps in her hat and she controls them that way. Save us!"
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Nadja stays quiet and keeps her face carefully neutral while Zen goes about saving the goblins. Inwardly, however, she chides herself at not doing a proper job of killing them. She's not truly upset; they're not contracted targets so she doesn't really care if they live or die. However, in her future as a Red Mantis she's going to have to strike so that her targets cannot be so easily saved.
She mentally challenges herself to kill her foes faster than Zen can save them. It'll be good practice.
When they listen to the goblin's proposal, the excitement in Nadja rises again. She was getting an assassination contract! It was all she could do to keep herself from giggling in delight.
Her mother's lessons whisper in her ear. Never take the client's first offer. It's always something that they can afford. The Red Mantis require more.
Nadja frowns and folds her arms. "A magic bug?" she asks, sounding dubious. She thinks for a moment, considering her companions and what they would find acceptable. Her eyes fall on Zen as an idea comes to her. "We will also require a taxidermy piece for us. Your finest work."
"Do you know anything about Dooms?" Jeni says, while eyeing the large weasel... or maybe the mountains of weasel hair all over the place.
At Nadja's request, she looks increduous "Wait, you want... one of these fine... things."
Nadja shoots Jeni a look. "Of course. You were impressed with his skill; Zen with his art. Why shouldn't we demand something from this master crafts-- ...goblin? Allow him to pay for the death with his life's work."
"Okay! You can have my masterpiece when I'm finished with it." Tunch gestures to the workbench, where various animal parts are partway through preservation: a giant bat’s head, a giant rat’s body and tail, several sizable spider legs, and two large scorpion pincers. "It's a bat-scorpion-rat-spider!" he says proudly.
When asked about Dooms, the goblin scratches his head. "Eh? I don't know nothing about no Dooms, longshanks. Except, maybe, do you mean Ripnugget?" Tunch waves his hand dismissively. "That one's got everyone else scared, but not me! Not as long as I stay hidden here!"
Jeni's eyes widen at the bat-scorpion-rat-spider, represses a shudder, and then says "I am sure it would look splendid in your mother's dance studio." to Nadja.
"Ripnugget. Yes, back from the dead, we've heard. Do you know much about him?"
"He's good with fire. He killed our old chief, Shrilltooth, with it. Burned him alive. He's somewhere in our lair, looking for old secrets. But Minargul's the real problem, so go and kill her already!"