Cautiously Ghorza moved forward into the Wasp Nest. She looked up, her face a mask of concentration and concern. "Look." She said, her voice low. "Something punched a hole...up into the wall. There, in the north west. What could have done that?" She asked, not knowing herself. Her pick at the ready, she advanced and peered into it.
"There's a second hole beyond that one, and a set of stairs." Celi stays back a few feet while Ghorza investigates the first hole in the wall.
As they advance down the hallway, a powerful stench of rotting flesh greets them, intermixing with the smell of the water - the vast opening to the southeast opens out into the reservoir that Laria mentioned, with a small pier visible in the light that Adolina carries. Unhelpfully, the water appears mostly stagnant - unpleasant to smell, and worse to drink.
Through the rough-hewn passageway, the women see a sprawling room that might once have been a residence hall - a mixture of human- and halfling-sized furniture is scattered throughout the vast room, but a great deal of it has been badly damaged.
There's no time to consider this further, as a mighty, corvid-headed creature erupts from the shadows in the vast hall.
The creature quite literally leaps through the passageway, landing next to Ghorza and unleashing a hail of claws. "Creatures come and fight now!" She crows in broken Taldane, as her powerful claws tear into the dwarf smith, ripping and shredding until she gets both dug in and tears a gaping wound on the woman's stomach.
Ghorza didn’t even have a chance to curse before the creature was upon her. Blood covered the floor…her blood. Without even thinking she tried to push it away. To swing her pick. To do anything except die…which at that moment seemed like the most likely outcome.
The badly injured dwarf brandishes her pick clumsily, but the creature is off-balance from its - her? - charge, and she scores a devastating hit on the strange monster.
She shrieks in protest, then lashes out at Ghorza once more, tearing into her with both claws. Although Ghorza is able to knock aside the first series of attacks, she can't quite get her pick in between herself and the second, which tears another bloody streak across her flank, sending her into a paroxysm of pain.
"Die, small thing!" She yells in delight.
"Oh my but you're a big one, aren't you?" Rose questions as she slips around to strike at the bird monster from the other side of the opening.
Celi takes a few steps to her left, rapidly calculating angles. I think I can get it without hitting Rose or Ghorza! The gnome reaches into her spell component pouch, pulling out a small paper packet. She starts reciting the spell, tearing the packet and throwing a pinch of multicolored sand at the bird-creature. A cone of rainbow light erupts from her hand, empowered by the reservoir of energy that came with her arcane pact.
Rose swiftly steps forwards, piercing the corvid-person's flank with her rapier. She shrieks in response, whirling to face the half-elf. Even as she does so, Adolina steps forwards, healing Ghorza with a touch of her wand.
Celi takes the chance to maneuver between her two melee-fighting comrades and unleashes a burst of magical color at their attacker, who yelps and crashes to the ground, unconsciousness taking her.
Glaring at the unconscious creature, Ghorza raised her pick in the air. She was ready to end its existence immediately. It was a monster that had attacked without warning or provocation, so there was no need to hesitate on ending it. Unless someone stopped her, then her pick would fall.
Rose's eyes widen at the brutality of Ghorza's strike. She doesn't interfere, though.
She just ... she just killed it!
To conceal her shaking hands, she takes a quick moment to wipe her blade clean and return it to its scabbard before turning away.
This is ... no. No. You can't break character now. Hold on to the threads. It's part of the story. This is meant to happen. Brutality contrasted with delicacy and gentleness. It's a classic plot mechanism.
The deed done, Rose turns back to the injured dwarf. "Are you okay to proceed?" she questions in a soft voice. "Lady d'Jhaltera? Would you be so good as to render more of that healing magic on our Miss Thursisdottir?"
Ghorza tried to look stoic but couldn't stop from wincing from the pain. She put her hand to her side and looked at it, seeing that it was covered in blood. "I'm on my feet." She said. "But I wouldn't say no to another tap from that wand." Only with the creature dead did the reality of how close she had come to death really sink in. But for Adolina's wand, and Celi's quick use of magic...well, it was clear that the dwarf would have been dead. It was a sobering realization.
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Adolina looks away from the moment of impact, but doesn't make any move to stop Ghorza. The creature is dangerous and needs to be ended.
Once the grim work is done she applies the wand to Ghorza again, closing the majority of the dwarf's wounds.
"N-not much hope for N-nan." She says softly. "Laria will be upset." With her light spell still illuminating the area she looks around, hoping that there are no more threats coming.
Celi lowers her hand, watching as Ghorza finishes the bird-thing off. Very sensible of her. "Whew, that was a close one. I'm so glad you're all right, Ghorza!" Hmm, what next? She's self-aware enough to know that she isn't very good at noticing small details. Her mind wanders off into more interesting places the moment she gets bored. I know, I'll look for magic! Celi recites another spell, staring intently at the corpse. Once she's done there, she'll scan the rest of the room for magical auras.
Ghorza deals a sharp blow to the bizarre creature, slaying her with a single strike and leaving the women to deal with the rest of the Wasp Nest.
The bunk room, such as it remains, is still badly damaged, and it looks like the destroyed furniture there was the result of their now-deceased attacker.
However, all four women, now that they are no longer under attack, notice something - the stench of putrefaction. A quick search around the main hallway reveals that it's coming from the east - a body is lodged between two of the piers pilings, just beneath the lip of the stone floor.
It's definitely a human man, maybe Varisian, but looks distinctly... gnawed on. This is probably Nan...
Ghorza fought the urge to gag. ”Eugh. Poor fooker.” Knowing that there would be difficulty going to sleep due to all of these horrors, she began to looking around. ”Got to find something to wrap him up in so I can carry him back.” The dwarf said. ”Anyone have a magical trick to help with the smell?”
"Yes, let's move him back to the cellar," Rose agrees with a nod. "We should still continue to explore the rest of this hideaway, though."
”Hmm, there’s something magical on the body.” Celi squints at the rotting corpse. ”Not sure what though. I would need to study the aura longer to find out, but I can do that later.” She looks over at Ghorza. ”Um, I can try. I don’t know if prestidigitation is strong enough to mask this kind of stench. I’ve never tried it on a dead body before.”
Adolina's light sends a dim cast over a statue in the distant waters - a woman, maybe?
The first is somewhere beneath the pier, though she can't quite get a good look at where, while the second is further into the waters - in them, actually, near the base of the statue.
"Ah, the Savored Sting," Rose comments, recognizing the statue as that of Calistria. She gives a slight bow of respect towards the representation. "With all due respect, my lady, your domicile has become a refuge for mindless brutality. I hope you take no offense that we choose to cleanse it and make a place for further intrigue and trickery." She smiles at her own joke.
Turning to the others, she gestures towards the hole in the wall.
"We should ensure that the northwestern room is cleared before heading farther southwest."
"Fooking stop." Ghorza hissed, suddenly stopping in her tracks, one fist raised in the air. The other held her pick tightly. "There's something in the water. Scaled. An alligator? Whatever it is, it could have been what ate our boyo back there. If there isn't a reason to get close, then we should avoid it."
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"Kill it another time." Adolina agrees. "W-with a crossbow."
Rose directly contradicts her a moment later and Adolina wants to speak up but the woman made a good point and she's been thr one fighting and getting hurt. Adolina has just been hiding at the back of the group and trying to help.
So she stifles any thought of protest and nods her agreement.
"An alligator?" Rose questions. "Yes, I'm sure we'll need to come back with weapons more appropriate to fighting something scaled and toothed in the water." She looks a little closer attempting to perceive the submerged threat. "But in the meantime, let's stick to discovering if there are any more feathered foes."
Celi leans forward a bit, squinting at the shapes in the water. "Ohh, I see it now. Daredevil boots! Those would be handy for you, Rose. Except the body is only wearing one of them." Hmm, where's the matching aura... Oh dear. "The other one is in the water, near the base of the statue. If I had to guess, the alligator probably ate poor Nam's leg and swallowed the boot. Even if it just fell off, we would have to kill the alligator in order to retrieve the boot from the water."
The women, deciding to head further into the Wasp Nest before dealing with the large reptile in the water, and head southwest towards the stairs. The light Adolina carries swiftly illuminates the room below, revealing to all of the women that stacks of unopened crates—some draped in moldering tarps—fill most of the space, creating a maze. Two tables sit in the center, scattered with playing cards and a smoking, unlit lantern.
At the sight of the smoking lantern, Rose draws her blade and readies her buckler.
"Well, someone was here very recently," she mutters quietly. "They doused the lantern when they heard us coming. And since we didn't see them go by us, I would assume that they're still here."
She raises her voice to carry to the room.
"We know you're here. We've eliminated the burly one, but we're willing to let you be on your way. Your current occupancy of these demesnes has come to an end one way or another. No one has to die here today. Well ... no one else."
Rose nods slightly. "Thank you, my lady," the swordswoman whispers back.
Ghorza’s eyes narrowed as she also saw the figure. ”Come out.” She declared in clear and loud voice. ”There is no need for violence. We would talk.”
Celi raises her voice enough to be heard across the room. "Hi! We're looking for a man called Nam Comerivos, he came down here a few days ago and nobody's heard from him since. Have you seen him? I hope that's not him in the water..."
There's a few moments of silence before the nonhumans see a corvid-headed woman poke her head out from behind the crates. She speaks with a sharp, slightly odd accent. "Who are you and why are you here?" She calls.
She remains silent for a few moments after Celi answers. "... Nam's dead." The woman doesn't look particularly pleased to say that. "And yes, that's him."
"We are the folks called into service by the owners of this particular set of basements and tunnels," Rose explains. "We've been tasked to discover what happened to Nam Comerivos and to clear said basement of any undesirables."
She waves the tip of her sword, gesturing back towards the now-deceased feathered attacker.
"Now while I would not necessarily class you with that moniker, your friend back there gave us no choice. Killing is not the first tool in our bag of diplomacy. Surrender and I give you my word that you'll live through this encounter."
The woman clicks her beak, breath hissing audibly even from across the room. "Chough... alright. We don't want to fight. Girls, come on out."
Three more women emerge from behind the crates, and slowly approach the Ravens. As they get closer, it becomes clear that these four are tengu - not... whatever the other one was.
"I'm Korva Fushi." The lead one says. "These are my sisters, Jay," she indicates one of the others, whose scarred limbs are visible in the magical light, "Maggie," a smaller-framed woman nods carefully, "and Treep." The last of the tengu looks at them very warily.
"Look." Korva says, stopping a decent way away from the stairs. "We're just looking to get out of this hellhole already."
Goosebumps rise along Rose's neck at Adolina's proximity.
Gods! She needs to not do that or I don't know what I'll do!
Taking Adolina's elbow, Rose leads her and the others away a step or two to converse in relatively private hushed tones.
"I would recommend passing this tengu quartet along to Miss Longroad and letting her decide their fate," Rose whispers. "They are trespassing upon her property, after all."
She glances back towards the women in question.
"Once we've done that, then we'll need to come back down here and recover Nam's body and put down the alligator." She pauses. "Crocodile? I always forget how to tell the difference." She shrugs her shoulders. "Whichever it is, it can't be allowed to predate unchecked."
Celi has to stand on tiptoes in order to whisper to such tall people. "If all they want is to get out of here, I think we should let them. Think they might help us fight the crocodile in exchange for safe passage through the coffee shop?" She doesn't have any battle magic left for the day. It's back to plinking away with her stupid crossbow. Ugh.
”I agree that they should be allowed to leave if they wish. And while I’d hate for them to get hurt in a fight that isn’t theirs, I wouldn’t say no to another blade or two by our side.” She sounded somewhat uncertain about the last part, given that these were apparently refugees. If any of them died in a battle they didn’t need then it would weigh heavily on her.
Rose nods.
"Another blade wouldn't hurt, but I agree that the crocagator isn't their battle," she says. "Let's relay what we've discovered to Miss Longroad - explaining that the tengu are refugees and that they might be useful allies in the future."
She looks to Celi.
"Would you be so kind as to bear our tidings to our benefactor?" she asks. "We'll stay here and watch over these ladies and ... ensure that everyone remains on their best behavior."
"Sure thing!" Celi turns around and jogs back to the entrance to the Long Roads cellar.
Korva grimaces slightly at the suggestion of meeting with Laria. "I..." She shakes her head with a sigh. "I suppose we must."
The mention of the alligator, Jay looks to her sister. "We should help." She suggests, then switches to their native, chirping language.
Korva looks at Jay, then nods with a heavy sigh. "We owe Nam at least that much." She concedes. "He got us here and away from Riddleport, and..." She gazes past the women. "Well, it's something we should do."
Keeping an ear out for Celi's return, Rose decides to engage the quartet in casual conversation.
"You're from Riddleport?" she asks. "I've heard that's a pretty rough place to live. How did you end up here and how did you meet Nam?"
"Uh... kinda? It would be easier to show you." Celi hopes that Laria understands they need to talk in privacy.
"Okay, so we found some tengu refugees who want out of the underground. Adolina says their accent is northern. They're wary of us, but they don't seem to be hostile. And, um... we found a body. The tengu say it's Nam's, but we haven't had a chance to examine it yet. We fought and killed a big bird creature that attacked us the minute it saw us. I think maybe that's what got him, it was pretty tough. Or maybe the crocodile? Not sure why Nam would go in the water though. I don't think the tengu would have hurt him, they seem like they're just scared and want out." She bites her lip, unsure of what to say. Laria obviously cared about Nam. "I'm sorry. I wish we had better news."
”…aye, Nam. And how did ye get here?” She added. ”Would be good to know how far this place goes and what exits there are.”
"Rough is... one word to describe it. We had some protection, though, after we took Chough in." Korva gestures up the stairs towards the body of the creature the Ravens slew. "Then she, well..."
"She was getting more and more violent." Jay explains.
"She killed the wrong people back home, so we asked Nam to get us out. She... the trip made her worse. She didn't much like being hidden away on ships, and her violent tendencies were getting out of control even before we came south." Korva continues. "So when we got here and Nam was telling her we'd have to wait for awhile, she went berserk."
"F&*+ed us over pretty badly." Maggie mutters. "Nam was the only person we knew here."
Korva glances sharply at Maggie, then sighs and nods. "She's right. I can't say how sorry I am that Nam's dead, but I really can't blame you for killing our sister." She looks to Ghorza. "I'm not entirely sure. We disembarked on the pier there, but we were blindfolded while the little boat was taking us through the storm drains."
The news of Nam's death clearly hits her pretty hard - her expression crumples into sorrow for a few heartbeats before she recomposes herself, taking a deep breath. "... Alright. You don't think that this... 'bird creature' was associated with the tengu?" She gestures for Celi to head downstairs first.
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Adolina watches, listens and the wheels of her mind turn. They have no-one and nothing. They don't know anyone and no-one knows them. They'd be perfect agents for the family.
She tugs Rose a little further away and then whispers as softly as she can into the woman's ear, trying not to notice the scent of her skin as she does so. "Be nice. Make friends. No-one knows them in Kintargo. I could use people like that. People I, we, can trust, with no ties to anyone else.
She pulls back and there's a gleam in her eyes that Rose has never seen before. She seems... excited.
Rose considers both the tengu and Adolina's words for a moment, the wheels in her own head turning. She finally gives Adolina a reassuring nod and returns her attention to the sisters.
"I believe that we could find a place for you here in Kintargo," she declares. "What happened here was a horrible accident and I place no blame upon you for it. Although, I would suggest distancing yourself from ... Chough." She struggles only a little at pronouncing the odd name. "Her behavior will engender a response from others that you would like to avoid."
Attempting to put the violence behind them, she moves on to the currently situation.
"You see, Kintargo is about to undergo a sea-change in governance. And we will be instrumental in bringing it about. Ladies like yourselves would be invaluable in that effort and the labor would not go unrewarded."
Ghorza kept her face neutral. They were promising something they couldn’t guarantee, a change in government. But she understood that every movement had to start somewhere, and that they couldn’t rebel alone. They would need to recruit.