Being somewhat intelligent, at least as a group, the kobolds inside do not open the main gate door. Instead, it sounds as if they are shoring it up instead. As Zarque hides in the shadow of the walls, she can hear, in Draconic, that they are sending more to the doors to guard them, but they have to take a few from the towers. Luckily, Zarque can blip to one of the towers from here, if she chooses. It should be mostly undefended.
Zarque pulls out her hammock, blinks up slightly above the tower, ready to drop the hammock on one enemy, and guiding her slight fall with her wings into stunning fist another.
stun dc 16
vs dc 14
Fortunately for Zarque, there is only one kobold atop the tower now that the rest have been sent to the doors. Dropping the hammock on him and then swinging with her mighty fist, the jostling inside the hammock throws off her aim, but the kobold inside still can’t see what is going on. A rip appears in it as he attempts to cut his way out.
Zarque blasts the kobold with her molten gold.
Assuming she hits, she'll try to throw the unfortunate kobold over the edge where they might be found sooner rather than later.
The kobold’s dark scales suddenly take on a golden sheen as Zarque’s power takes hold. It solidifies into a golden statue and then tumbles over the side of the tower, crashing into the ground below it. Zarque hears a collective uproar as other kobolds rush to see what happened. It is apparent that soon there will be more coming up the tower…
Zarque blinks over to the other tower, with a blast for any unfortunate kobolds there.
Before they reach the top of the tower, the kobolds looking for her find that Zarque has already zapped to the other tower. The unfortunate kobold there has no chance to move as he is struck by more of the tiny sorcerer’s power. Suddenly from below, a loud roar announces the presence of something large. Peeking over the edge, Zarque can see that the kobolds are barely hanging on to a giant beast with ropes and chains, though as she watches, one of them becomes victim to its cavernous mouth. If it had wings, Zarque would think it a dragon, but they at least have some intelligence and usually wings for flight. This creature has bright green scales and a ridge of spines down its back. The fangs look the size of short swords. Its four eyes seem to take in everything around it, looking for its next meal.
A voice yells up from below, in High Draconic. ”<<Deceiver and traitor! You must come to face judgement from Hexenfold, the Great Devourer. He will judge your strength as a ruler. Defeat him and you will be forever regarded as one of us again. Cower and your crimes will follow you always, as we will. Die and you will not be remembered. Choose now!>>”
The crowd of kobold forming start chanting the last words. <<Choose now! Choose now!>>”
Zarque barks a laugh, figuring she'll have to remove the creature anyway, and this is an opportunity, she responds in kind, "I have not lied to you, nor have I ever been one of you! Thus I am neither deceiver nor traitor! But when I defeat your pet, I will accept your fealty to me as your queen!"
Does she recognize it?
Zarque recognizes the beast from her many readings in the Curious Goblin bookstore in Sandpoint. It is, according to what has been written, a distant cousin of dragons, called a drake. In particular, this is a forest drake. They are know for their strong scales and even stronger bite. There have been tales of them being trained and kept as pets, but most of those tales end in tragedy.
The voice from below announces again. ”<<You have lived among the tall folk for too long. You do not know our ways enough to lead us. Our current queen, may she live long and grow wise, has ordered your trial as an outsider.”>> While the voice from below is speaking, an alpha male kobold by the sounds of the low undertones and even, confident voice, another voice joins his, this one higher and less under control, belongs to a female.
<<Zarque of Sandpoint. We know the story of how you drove the goblins from this place. We know how you worked with the invaders to drive them away and now live among them as if you are one of them. Know that you will never be considered one of them. They will never accept you as one of their own. Our kind is not accepted in their ‘society’, even if they send platitudes in your direction. You are only tolerated there, among them. Here, you would be welcome, even celebrated. Defeat my guardian and take your place as my new advisor.”>> A collective hush falls over the remaining kobolds, all awaiting your reply.
"No. This place is mine. You can leave, die, or submit. Those are your only options." Zarque says with absolute resolve. Realizing there are probably others sneaking behind her somewhere, she gives a bit of a display, hopping over the edge with her wings spread wide to land on the roof.
The queen looks about to respond when a third voice, this one raspy and seemingly as deep as the caverns below the world, answers. ”Wrong. Is mine. Has always been mine. Will always be mine. Come Zarque, I know of your intentions. Come to face me again. This time, I am ready.”
The kobolds turn in the direction of the voice, their weapons drawn as if they weren’t expecting the newcomer. The drake bristles as you watch the owner of the voice step into the light. It appears to be the previous goblin chief of the Thornkeep Tribe, Ripnugget. You are quite certain he died, rather unceremoniously, but he is here, though missing bits of flesh and having a green glow to his eyes. Coming behind him are several more goblins in similar states.
The kobolds appear to be weighing their options. The goblins seem intent on keeping their home, even in death.
The queen speaks up, <<”If you wish to claim my throne, you must first defeat them!”>>
Zarque laughs, addressing the zombie, "Well, I see you have some reach beyond that cell of yours. I'm not incapable of dealing with undead."
Shifting her gaze back to the kobolds. "This is why I claimed this place. You're in over your head little crown."
Zarque doesn't even finish her last sentence before sending a bolt of gold at the lead goblin, with a bit of extra force to start things off.
The bolt of molten gold strikes nearby Ripnugget, splashing droplets over him and his army of undead goblins. They do not flinch. He instead raises his large blade and points it towards the kobolds. ”Kill them! The Golden One is mine.”
The battle is joined as kobold and goblin zombie clash with each other. You note that the queen’s guard surround her. You also note that some of your power is starting to wane.
Zarque stays on the roof for the moment but blasts the lead zombie with gold.
Zarque blasts the zombie Ripnugget and this time, it is on target. As the golden power splashes over the goblin’s armor, Zarque can see his toothy grin form. He points his sword in her direction again and this time, a gout of flame flies from it, striking her from above as Ripnugget marches forward, slowed but determined.
Zarque evades the majority of the flames and sends back another blast of molten gold.
Zarque’s next attack hits Ripnugget square in the chest and this time, she watches as the golden strands wash over his armor and then dissipate to the ground, creating a pool for him to try to walk through. While he is slowed down, his intent is relentless. You can see flames starting to writhe up the blade of his sword again and his toothy maw opens wider than you have ever seen. You think he might be trying to smile. As he closes, you watch as nearby kobolds start to wretch and lose their ability to fight on.
Zarque is thankful to be on the roof right now as she sends another blast at the undead.
She yells out towards the kobolds below, "Keep clear of the big one!" Hopefully that will keep the minions fighting other minions rather than being weakened by that stench.
The undead Ripnugget keeps walking, despite Zarque’s accurate aim. Though the creature is being hit, it’s as if the magic is only barely affecting him. The goblin zombies around him scurry to protect their master as some of the kobolds fall back away from Ripnugget. The kobold queen has also retreated with her retinue of guards, the battle is going towards the goblins, and they show no sign of slowing down, even as they stick in the molten gold around their feet.
Zarque sees this is going to be rather challenging. She calls out to the kobolds in draconic, hoping the goblins don't understand it, "The undead are harmed by healing, so heal them, throw healing potions at them and hit them with curative magic!"
Zarque moves along the roof, circling the courtyard, and throws a more directly damaging spell, rather than molten gold in entangling strands, this time the spell looks more like a golden blade flying at the head goblin.
Many of the kobolds still fighting turn to look at a few of the ones standing near the queen. Two of them step forward, with a nod from her, and begin chanting. Zarque can feel their power coalescing in front of them as they speak. Something is about to happen.
Meanwhile, even as Zarque’s bolt hits the newly reborn Ripnugget, he shrugs it off and laughs. ”My vengeance will soon be upon you and Sandpoint and all those who oppose me!”
He points towards you and some of the undead goblins break off and start trying to climb the towers and walls to follow you. Then he makes what sounds like a broken ship whistle and a four legged, half rotted lizard comes running over the south wall towards Ripnugget. Apparently Stickfoot went through the change as well.
Zarque rushes over to grab a wagon wheel and then blinks up high. As she falls with the wheel, she directs the path of the wheel with wings and falls straight for the leader goblin and using her wings to adjust for any movements the undead thing makes and a bit before the last moment she pulls a trick. Falling from above is a bluff but also to gain speed. At the last moment, she teleports just beside the goblin but side ways, so all the speed the wheel gained from falling is retained but comes from the side instead of above as she lets go. Zarque does this not only to be safer for herself, but also to take the goblin by surprise.
Zarque decides to use gravity as an ally, picking up the heavy wagon wheel and turning it into a meteorite. As she descends upon revenant goblin, she realizes that he may be more than just a zombified husk of Ripnugget. He looks up as Zarque teleports to the side…
Zarque lands in a roll as the wagon wheel encapsulates Ripnugget, taking him to the ground as well. A deep unholy growl escapes his throat as he attempts to escape from his wooden prison. Flames start to appear around his body and soon engulf him and the wagon wheel. Zarque has bought herself some time, at least. The other zombie goblins continue to press against the remaining kobolds as a wave of energy washes over them. Suddenly, most of the undead stop in their tracks and fall to the ground in shambles. Only Ripnugget remains standing. Stickfoot attempts to help him get free.
Zarque decides to focus damage on Rip.
Ripnugget, now inside a flaming wagon wheel, focuses his own power on destroying his prison. As Zarque hits him once again, the wheel explodes into shards. He glares at the kobold sorceress and begins clearing a path to march towards her as he mounts Stickfoot.
Upon seeing that he will try to escape, Zarque opens and extradimensional room under them, with her on a shelf up high (easy to talk to the kobolds outside without leaving the room), with the rest of the space being 20 feet deep. The extra space being a wider opening sloping down to the deep section. Another way of describing the room is a pit, 20’ deep with a 20’ opening that slopes into only 10’ wide, save for a small shelf near the top.
”You attacked us! We acted in defense. Either you chose to act for which you only have yourself to blame, or that demon manipulated you into attacking us, in which case the demon is the one to blame. Either way, anger at me is misplaced and will get you nowhere.”
Ripnugget and his undead companion, Stickfoot, fall into the opening created by Zarque’s magic. They land at the bottom with a crunch. Stickfoot recovers first and attempts to climb out, but finds it difficult, since its feet are no longer what they once were. Ripnugget simply glares, his red eyes glowing, attempting to stare a hole through Zarque.
”I was leader of Thistletop. I had best clan. I had all power. You took my home from me. Would not you do same if someone came into your home?” It seems for all his bluster, your victory makes him want to talk. At least for now.
”I am doing the same. You attacked my home. So I remove threat to my home. Why did you attack Sandpoint?” Zarque has a firm tone, but she keeps it civil. She would rather either turn the undead against whatever demon manipulated the goblins, if any, or at least relieve it’s hatred and maybe bring it calm.
At the mention of Sandpoint, Ripnugget’s glare seemed to intensify. ”Demon lady said we could rule all goblins in area if we did as she asked. She said we could burn everything to the ground if we wanted. I was going to be a king. Yes, a king of burning. Fire king!” As he says this, flames ripple along his skin. ”But then after attack she said to wait in Thistletop and that the longshanks of Sandpoint would come and try to take our home. She was right!.”
”You attack me because we attacked you. Did you expect us to not do the same when you attacked us? What did you expect us to do about being attacked?” Zarque inquires.
Ripnugget thinks, as much as an undead goblin can. ”She said she only needed distraction. She was after something specific. Now she dead.” He stops for a long moment. You can tell that he is slowly figuring out that he was used by Nualia and setup to take the fall for her actions. As a goblin, this would be normal behavior, but for a longshanks to do it.. ”You make sense. We attack, you attack back, we attack again. Is natural, yes? You win this time, kobold has Thistletop, but soon another will attack you and you will attack back. Is the way of things.”
”So, where would you go from here?” Zarque asks in a friendly way.
Ripnugget appears to think for a moment, then starts to say something, but that’s when the queen and her entourage return.
”Why have you not destroyed this abomination, Goldscale? If we are to keep this place, every one of them must be burned to ash!” You can see that what remains of her army is starting to set fire to the undead goblin corpses. Ripnugget’s body starts to sheathe itself in flame again.
”Kobold queen dies, then I talk.”, Ripnugget states.
”We!? Who is this ‘we’ you mention? You are intruders here. You don’t get to stay unless I allow it. And now you opened your mouth and got yourself marked for death. Not very smart.”
Zarque thinks for but merely a moment, but long enough to see the queen’s initial reaction to Zarque’s words. That reaction will determine her fate.
The queen’s guards shuffle around her in anticipation. She holds her clawed hand up. ”You have already proven yourself worthy of standing by my side, sorcerer, but do not push it. You alone cannot hope to hold this place against the many others who will come to take it from you. My alliance with you will cow the others into place. No one would dare attack Thistletop again. Especially when we reveal our alliance with the one they call Longtooth.” She grins and you can tell she feels like she has the upper hand here.
Zarque looks down at Ripnugget. ”I think we found a point of agreement.”
She turns to the kobold queen, ”You cannot hold this place against just me, and I have others who will be coming to help. Longtooth can not help you until they come, and you will die long before that. The question is whether the rest of your tribe dies with you, or will you die alone to save them.”
Turning to the others, ”I will not fault you for having loyalty to your tribe. But the best you can do for your tribe now is to leave and take them with you, or to commit yourselves to my service. There are many brambles not far from here which the goblins made and will serve as a good shelter until you find a more suitable home should you decide to leave.”
Zarque is trying to sound reasonable to the others, hoping that seeing her power and that she bears no ill will to them will keep them out of the fight one way or the other.
She also is hoping the queen will falter and decide to not involve any more of her tribesmen in needless death, though she doubts that will happen.
She waits a moment to see if the other kobolds make a move.
Zarque will say ”Fine. Goodbye miss queen.”
She launches a golden blast right at the queen’s throat.