"Yeah, Ripnugget seems a lot more 'doom-y,' all things considered. I'm all for continuing. Finally glad to put these babies to use," she pats her sabres appreciatively.
”Ripnugget went into a secret room behind the throne. I think he’s still in there,” Tunch says. ”If you’re gonna fight him, then I wish you luck. You’re gonna need it!”
"Any tips?" Jeni asks as she eyes Jeff staring at her from Zen's back. The armored man is their lead in the marching order, so Jeni mentally reminds herself to take the rear position from now on (since Kaz always is stuck in the middle).
”Don’t get burninated!” Tunch says with a grin.
"Great advice," Nadja says drolly. "I like to stay un-burninated."
"Hey, were we at the throne room? It seemed more like an altar to me."
You return to the throne room where you fought against the goblin archer and his cronies. As Tunch explained, you find a well-hidden secret door behind the throne upon which slumps the burned remains of the Whistlefangs' previous chieftain.
The secret door leads to a long corridor that opens up into a large room. The walls of this ten-foot-high chamber are of white stone with redwood paneling running along the lower two feet, trimmed in gold. Glowing flames flicker in sconces on the walls, giving the chamber bright illumination. The floor is polished red stone, with a large inset gold seven-pointed star inlaid in the floor. Wooden shelves filled with books, tablets, and scrolls stand in the room or sit against the walls, while a wood desk heaped with additional books and scrolls sits to the north. To the east and west, three steps lead up to ten-foot-wide alcoves, in each of which sits a black stone platform edged in gold runes and adorned with another gold inlaid seven-pointed star. Two hideous dead bodies of twisted sinspawn lie in a heap on the eastern platform.
Four living sinspawn are scattered about the room, looking through the numerous books and scrolls here. Standing in the center of the room is a very angry-looking undead goblin! He wears a rusted breastplate and grips a dogliscer that is wreathed with flickering flames. Upon spotting you, the goblin screeches in frustration. "Those foolish Whistlefangs! I told them that if I was interrupted, they'd all be burned alive!"
He squints and looks closer at you. "Wait... You're adventurers, aren't you? You must be the latest batch of heroes from Sandpoint. Well, this time, things will be different. This time, Ripnugget will prevail, and you will perish! Sinspawn! Attack!"
"Oh. He's undead," Nadja says with a sigh of disappointment. "Well, let's not get burninated."
She immediately starts spinning her blades in the ornate dance to confound and fascinate her foes. She steps up to the closest sinspawn and slashes twice while trying to keep it between her and Ripnugget in case the undead goblin had a ranged fire attack.
(+3 if Panache)
(+3 if Panache)
"Let's not get eaten by it... this time." Jeni quips to help push back the memories to of nearly being dinner in the past. She shapes her water into a wicked looking axe that she throws at the sinspawn Nadja is hacking away at, then sends two cascading waves rushing past her on either side to crash into the others.
Kaz tugs at their earring, refreshing their magic stores with borrowed energy from the minor charm.
"Well then, this isn't quite fire I'll be fighting with, but a paired weapon nonetheless." They give a quick sardonic bow to Nadja for the inspiration, then in a burst of thanergy expand a flap of either sailcloth or weather-beaten skin into another briny undead.
The draugr, unimpressed by any attempts at wordplay, sets about itself with its axe, slicing for limbs and horrid tongues alike.
Zen surveys the battlefield, and thinks Ripnugget is the biggest threat. Hoping Nadjia doesn't get killed, he summons a blast of damaging metal at the undead leader.
He then hustles up to present himself as the closest target to Ripnugget.
Nadja dances up to the nearest sinspawn, slicing it twice with her blades. Kazumi summons a draugr to flank with the dancer, which finishes off the sinspawn with a mighty chop of its axe! Jeni slashes another sinspawn with a water axe before battering all three remaining aberrations with crashing waves. Zenobius's needle darts fall woefully short of Ripnugget.
As the champion approaches the undead goblin, Ripnugget raises his flaming dogslicer high. "To me, Stickfoot!" he calls. The air swirls beside him as a ghostly giant gecko manifests. Ripnugget hops onto its back as he prepares for mounted combat!
Meanwhile, the three sinspawn converge on Zenobius, perhaps drawn by his divine presence. They bite and claw at him!
Critical Success: The creature is unaffected.
Success: The creature is sickened 1.
Failure: The creature is sickened 2.
Critical Failure The creature is sickened 2 and clumsy 2 for 1 minute.
Zen manages to avoid too many negative effects from the sinful bite, and he tries to clear his stomach before he spins his fauchard around trying to fend off the mass of enemies.
Nadja dashes across the battlefield, slashing as she goes. She moves up to Ripnugget and her blades flash, ending in a finishing pirouette.
She begins her dance anew, weaving her blades in a complex pattern.
As the melee is joined, Jeni's ability to crash bludgeoning waves into the enemy's lines is lost. So she rushes foward to attempt to help clear the spawn around her friend's.
"That's what a giant gecko looks like?" the young woman had heard a thousand tales of Stickfoot. All embellished to no end "It's so... small" the tales had it twenty feet at least "How can it swallow a man at that size."
Her questions are given when delivering two water shrouded kicks, one a high kick to the head, the second meant to discover if sinspawn breed.
Kazumi chants and sways as they move off of one of their traditional specialties to the reshaping of existing life as they double and redouble Zen in size!
The Draugr however, had no need to deviate from its favored activities and continues sweeping its axe through the air near the sinspawn!
Jeni makes swift work of the sinspawn, scoring two critical hits with her watery kicks that shatter bones and send the aberrations flying! The draugr fails to hit the final sinspawn.
Kazumi's spell makes Zenobius GROW! The towering tiefling slashes Ripnugget, infusing him with vitality antithetical to his undead existence. He then whirls and decapitates the last sinspawn with his backswing! Nadja slices Ripnugget from behind, scoring two hits before regaining her panache with a perfectly-timed pirouette.
"Die! Die! Die!" Ripnugget shouts angrily. He unleashes a cone of flames that blasts everybody but Kazumi and Nadja. His ghostly gecko rears as he slashes at Nadja, but she manages to dance away from his blade!
Jeni drives to the side of the blasting fire, still getting singed, which her cooling waters help a little with at least.
"He breathes Fire? Where in the legends does it say he breaths fire?" Jeni cries out in annoyance as she dashes into the fray with the fire breathing undead goblin warlord and tries to smash the heel of her hand to his fire breathing mouth.
"What did you think 'burninated' meant?" Nadja quips to Jeni as she twirls her blades in her hands once before darting in with a quick slice, then brings them both across Ripnugget for another finale.
If he's still up, she starts her dance once more.
Zen is pretty big, and can damage most of the battlefield, but he largely focuses on Ripnugget.
With his last swipe, he just tries to knock down one of the sinspawn.
"I thought he threw people in a fire or... something." Jeni quips back as the dodges and punches.
Kaz stays safely in back, launching a simple spike towards the opening of Ripnugget's helm.
The draugr is too soaked with seawater to do more than lightly steam at Ripnugget's breath, and it is far too dead to fear the undead warlord from such a display. It lurches forward, getting around the giant gecko to distract them both for the rest of the party. But of course, what's more distracting than getting hit with a sizable axe..?
Ripnugget dodges Zenobius's attack, but Jeni's and Kazumi's projectiles strike true, and both the draugr and Nadja land solid blows on the undead goblin.
"Argh! Why are you heroes always so strong? Just die already!" Ripnugget shrieks. He focuses his wrath on Nadja, but she parries his wild swings!
Nadja dances back and forth, keeping her blades up to block Ripnugget's aggressive swings. As his frustration mounts, her grin gets wider and wider especially as she remains unscathed.
"Our clarity of purpose and trust in each other gives us strength," Nadja says in an overly dramatic voice to answer the ghoul's question. The her blades drive her point home.
(if necessary)
With his last action, he summons a defensive shield .
Jeni continues Nadja's banter after her friend's strike true "And with our strength we will banish your whining from this world... again" a series of violent water kicks and punches follow.
Jeni and Nadja strike Ripnugget again, then Zenobius deliveers a critical hit! His disruptive fauchard slices clean through the undead goblin chief, ripping him in half! Ripnugget lets out a final shriek as his spectral gecko mount vanishes and both halves of his body fall limply on the floor. The baleful red light in his eyes fades away.
The collection of books, scrolls, and tablets in this room are somewhat well preserved and, taken as a whole, the collection is exceptionally helpful in researching matters relating to ancient Thassilon, but the books are maddeningly damaged and missing parts.
"Oh!" Kazumi's eyes alight with excitement. "Why on earth was a creature named 'Ripnugget' in possession of these? I had thought he was illiterate in the first place, though source bias is an obvious concern... Well, truly lovely. We should probably find someone who is willing to store and care for these tomes, particularly if they're willing to allow us the occasional visit, but not until I have had a better chance to plumb their depths."
Kaz practically wiggles. "What a delightful surprise!"
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Nadja was beginning to wonder how much punishment the undead Ripnugget could take when suddenly Zen's fouchard appears on the ghoul's head cleaving its way through his body! She salutes appreciatively as the two halves flop to the ground. "Nice one! If he comes back again, he'll have to call himself Splitnugget."
The fight over, Nadja peruses the collection, but without understanding Thassilonian she just looks at the pictures.
Once you are ready to proceed, you return to the Whistlefang throne room. A door to the west draws your attention. Not ones to leave a door unopened, you proceed through to see what lies on the other side.
Thick sheets of spiderwebs adorn the walls, ceiling, and floor of this cavern, and the gossamer sheets of webbing that hang like curtains make estimating the chamber’s size and shape impossible.
A few moments after you have opened the door, a scratchy voice calls out in Aklo.
Kaz clears their throat a moment before pronouncing the alien consonants. "Y' ymg' ah'lloigshogg ah nafl kadishtu. Mg s'uhn mg c' ah'ehye. Yaah ymg' l' cahf c' ahornah athg"
Nadja huffs somewhat impatiently while Kaz answers the raspy voice with their own. She looks around at the sheets of webbing, trying to figure out where she could step without getting entangled.
"So, I don't suppose you speak anything else? That language sounds hard on the throat."
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"Sometimes I think Kaz just makes words up to look impressive. But then we run into something that actually understand them." Jeni says quietly as she eyes the sticky webs.
A grotesque creature scuttles into view through the webs, a horrific amalgamation of humanoid and spider with a bloated, purple belly. Eight beady eyes focus on you as it waves its hooked forearms and chitters.
Zen glumly watches as the second ripnugget falls apart. He leans on his polearm and sighs, then steps away for a few minutes, sitting down on a short ledge. He heals his wounds and then stands up, wordlessly following the others as they move on.
When they encounter the creature, he looks confused and stands to the side - waiting for the conversation to be over.
"Ymg' nyth'drnn mgep r'luh mgehye'bthnk, Uh'eog Syhah'f'nah. H' ahornah ah cahf f' ephainogephaii l' f' vulgtmah s'uhn, mgng Ripnugget mgep mgepah mgepah'n'gha ephaii"
They pause and glance back at Zen before continuing. "Ahf' mgepah mgleth yogfm'll ot ymg' s'uhn."
[spoiler=Aklo]"What were the specific terms of your pact?"
"All he wants are two deer or the equivalent in exchange for safe passage. I don't have any particular objection to him feeding away down here, though of course fulfilling his task will require either a brief excursion above ground or some very clever, and likely taboo-breaking repurposements."
Jeni's eyebrow raises slowly "What kind of clever taboo-breaking repurposements?"
Nadja slowly turns her head to look at Jeni. "Either A: We give up Jeff, or B: We give Potbelly a few goblin corpses."
She nods to Kaz. "That's what you're talking about, right? The taboo is of eating sentient-creature flesh?"
Zen considers the situation, "if they're just asking for animals - it seems reasonable. I don't think it's a good idea to give Lord Longfingers a taste of humanoids. We also should think long-term. Can we do anything for him and the goblins? Neither seems particularly dangerous to Sandpoint - but they might be if Lord Longfingers runs out of food." He inhales and exhales, "if the goblins can't hunt now with Ripnugget dead, do you think they could start trading for meat?" He scratches his head.
Turning to Nadja, "I don't want to give up Jeff; he's our mascot." The big tiefling grins.
At the mascot statement, Jeni starts to groan but stifles it quickly as Nadja shoots her a look. "Okay, Jeff stays. Is any of us any good at hunting?" Jeni says it in such a way that screams she is not.
Kaz smiles, their face the picture of innocence. "Oh I didn't mean either of those options unless everyone had been in agreement. If we're seeking deer properly though, I can get along passing fair in the wild, though it's certainly not my area of expertise. I'd imagine that Ripnugget wouldn't be required for a community of healthy adults to hunt for game either."
Nadja frowns. "So, do we have to go hunting now?" She gives the spidery creature a look, then covers her mouth nonchalantly as she mutters under her breath, "It'd be quicker to just, you know, >gllkllkk<"
You exit the Pit and explore the surrounding wilderness for a while, eventually managing to take down a pair of deer. It is late afternoon by the time you return, carrying the fresh corpses down and offering them to Lord Longfingers. The arachnid aberration chitters happily in Aklo. Four black-and-red spiders the size of large dogs emerge from the web-shrouded cave, eager to feast on your offerings.
As you move through the caves, you can see that there are two doors to the south. Additionally, Zienvus spots a faint glow coming from behind a thick patch of webs on the northern wall. Brushing the webs aside uncovers a well-hidden secret door.
"Zen!" Jeni exclaims, clearly excited at the prospect of a hidden door, though as always she attempts to keep that child like glee for dungeon crawling at a respectable level. "Your eyes are amazing."
Nadja watches the spiders claim the carcasses with sick fascination for a moment before moving toward the doors to the south. She stops when Zen spots the hidden door.
"Neat," Nadja says at the discovery. "That way first, don't you think?"
Zen blushes, "um, it's no big deal." He rests his big polearm on his shoulder, "yeah - who knows the last time anyone was down here." He shrugs, and creaks slightly, "maybe it's a clue to figure out what's going on with the dooms."