With everyone healed, 🧌Gronk manages to find an omelette with Yuanti eggs. Gronk finds stairs leading upwards, and the party follows Kineeta upwards as she illuminates the way.
At the top, a humanoid figure with snake like visage greets them: "Hello humansss" Party looks at each other and clears up racial confusion. Kineeta asks what it wants, and it says that it has great treasuresss for them. He asks for their ears, if they listen to their master and warns that everything the master speaks is truth but that they may not like it. He also offers the items in advance, and introduces him as Resss.
He opens a cupboard and pulls out an eyeliner for Faefina that allows her to see hidden things. He pulls out a potion of Misty Step.
🐰Faefina casts Guidance on Bori, raising his Perception rolls.
Ress asks Bori for his staff, and hands him another. It is a giant-made staff, a +1 quarterstaff.
Kineeta confirms that it is not cursed. She does point out that the Yuanti were renowned as potent seers.
Resss leads the party down the corridor, and then turns to Kineeta and asks for the Fate Compass. Kineeta refuses, and Resss points out that it came from Balereo 's Lair, but Kineeta points out that it has been passed down to her and she is using it.
Resss leads the party to a grand room, holding a massive snake with a human head. Bori and Faefina recognise it as a Naga.
It says it has seen many things regarding them, and asks if they want to hear. It then starts speaking in it's serpent tongue, though the person it addresses can hear them perfectly.
To Bori: Rage flows through you, suffuses you. What would you do to stop it? Would you hurt her? She has rage in her too, would you protect her? Is your rage truly yours?
To Fawfina: You must go where it all began. I have seen that darkness. Playing cute will not help. It will not protect you, or Bori, or Kineeta. She sees you as you are.
To Gronk: Lonely lonely I pity you.
To Kineeta:
The party does not hear what is said to Kineeta, only that she responds with 'Attack!'
Faefina casts Sacred Flame, hitting it for 10.
She also calls Spirit Shroud for protection and attack.
Kineeta misses her attack, moves in front of Bori, and casts Haste on Bori.
Three snake like creatures in vaguely human shape appear, and slither up next to the Naga. Sibilant voices run through everyone's heads, telling them to drop their weapons and run away, but nobody is affected.
The Naga opens it's mouth, hisses, and spits lightning at Kineeta, Faefina, and Bori. Faaefina takes 32 damage, Faefina 16.
Gronk casts Wall of Fire, hitting each for 28Dmg.
Bori runs forward and hitst he Naga 3 times, hitting twice and dealing 19Dmg. The Naga is looking hurt.
Bori then jumps back and reaadies a counterattack.
Faefina casts Guiding Bolt on the Naga, causing 21 Dmaage and killing it. Radiant light enters it's eyes and explodes it's head. The three spirit whisperers scream.
Kineeta casts Mass Suggestion, and the three Whisperers start running away.
The Whisperers run off.
Gronk casts Fireball at the two closest to each other, engulfing them in flame and killing them.
Bori runs down the last Whisperer, trips him, and with the end of the staff against it's throat, says: 'You live because we allow it', before swinging his knee and knocking it out.
Kineeta pulls out a healing potion for herself, and then tells everyone that whatever they'd heard, not to take it to heart.
Gronk finds gems and coins worth 85Gp. Faefina finds 15Gp, Bori 17Gp. Bori notices Kineeta, with one hand behind her, slyly putting scrolls into her bag of holding. Bori calls her out, and she denies it. he grabs her bag, and starts emptying it out.
Health potions, rations, her spell book, and various scrolls of spells and history fall out. So does a map, covering locations the party has been. Kineeta puts up her hand, and Bori sees just her for as she says 'We don't need to do this'. Bori resists her spell.
Bori holds up his staff, and tells her it's time to be honest. Kineeta says that her master wants to claim the lair for him. Bori pushes his staff behind her ear and then shins, tripping her to the ground.
Kineeta tells him that she has been honest with them, but that there are some things she cannot tell them. Bori puts his staff against her throat, and slowly starts extending it. Kineeta's eyes start going white. Bori starts feeling a sudden overwhelming devotion to Kineeta, but is able to resist it. Bori demands the truth.
Kineeta says that they all work for the same person, or the same person through her. An agreement was made to do what she said, and that she'd promised not to willingly harm them. Bori is unwillling to hear this, and so Kineeta says that it is all for her master Judy - who is Judaxis.
Bori slams his staff down next to her face: 'See! That wasn't that fucking difficult!" Kineeta sighs: "I did promise Judaxis to keep his secret. When the wall came down, Judaxis wanted to claim his mother's old lair.".
Kineeta decides on a rest for the party for the rest of the day.
Resss, standing in the back, holds up a hand. "Hold on one ssssecond", he says. "The True Master of this lair would like to speak to you. The True Master is great in power but not one for fighting.".
The party is lead to an even larger room, one that could hold an older dragon. An even larger Naga occupies it, wracked with age, asks them to step closer. "I have become larger from feeding, and have not left this room in millenia. I posses sgreat power but am too infirm to use it."
Huge eyes open and look at Kineeta, and says that the past must be ceansed. He says that all serpent folk were endangered by the rise of the insectoids, but now they will never be able to build their old numbers, and are passing from the stage of the world.
"Here's what we must all know.. There has been a divine ascension, and a divine merger. You have travelled with him,, to this world. You have seen many clues to this, and now you know that Order and Commerce have merged, and the God of Order has now become the God of..."
He coughs
"This divine merge has come to the new world, and has it's eyes set on it. Such evil ws done to breach Metalarc's doings. Is the Arcanum as powerful as has been said?"
With effort, the snake lifts its head.
Ï am dying. Know this: This world will nevr be the same. We are on the dawn of a new war. Choose your sides carefully.
Find the druidic conclave, find the Cranes. Lastly. There will be a great war, and only one organisation can win. We let the insects take over, and the insects let you lot take over. Who can we ever truly trust?"
It rests it's head down, and with a sigh, expires.
From the upper reaches of the chamber, a woman drops and lands in the middle, armoured and with a large lionhead on her shoulder armour. "Is this them?"
A dwarven figure drops down, takes out a box, and is about to blow it in the direction of the party, but Kineeta uses magic to push them away.
The powder, glinting metalically, is breathed in by Kineeta, who breathes something in Elvish and passes out.
Ten more aztec appearing warriors drop down behind them.
Faefina cries "Stop!", and the Dwarf addresses his warriors, and they relax slightly. He intorduces himeself to the party as Valiant, an wishes to take the party on as wards, as he has a vested interest in them, and the Huthu people behind him have a vested interest in helping him.
"None of us want to fight, so allow us to capture you."
While talking, he approaches Kineeta's bag, and Gronk warns him to stop. When he doesn't, Gronk prepares Fireball.
Faefina casts Guiding Bolt at the dwarf, but misses.
The warriors behind them snap to in readiness, but the dwarf puts out a hand to halt them.
Faefina casts Spiritual Weapon, but it also fails.
Gronk casts Fireball, focusing on the Dwarf and mysterious woman and dealing 29Dmg.
Bori makes to staff and two fist attacks on the dwarf and hits, each time and once critically and dealing 47 Dmg. The dwarf looks back and comments "Impressive."
Bori attempts a stunning strike, but fails.
The ten warriors cast three spears at Bori, but only one hits for 4Dmg.
Three more thrown at Faefina all miss.
One warrior hits Gronk with a spear for 4Dmg.
The woman attacks Bori with a spear three times, hitting once for 11 Dmg.
Bori uses Stone endurance to bring this to gain a point instead.
The dwarf hits Gronk with his club, for 12 Dmg.
Faefina asks if the dwarf is trying to keep them away from the conclave. The dwarf says "Of course", and so she presses the [[Panic Button]].
The Panic Button transports the party, although they notice as they disappear that the dwarf is still holding the Fate Compass.
Party gets 5300XP, Faefina gets an extra 1500XP.
The party appears in a tavern 9 days away, populated by Cranes. Gronk points: "The True Way!"