War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

"Well shucks, Ah knew there was somethin' about them ticklin' mah brain," Corey grins. "Folks in next village over from mine had sinkholes poppin' up and daddy and Ah went and helped fill 'em."

"Normally they bury people who fall! I lucky these old tunnels were here, gave me chance to scavenge and study old rooms! Except room with scary griffon and eagles and wolves," the kobold nods enthusiastically. "Well, and am stuck here. Rats and also human building above. Humans don't like kobold like me."

The crimson-scaled kobold gives a wide approximation of a smile full of pointed teeth. "Mean kobold, nice kobold. All circumstance," Mimips quips philosophically. He gestures to himself, "Nice because easiest way to live for me. Mean kobolds mean because it the only way to survive for them."

"Heh, Ah guess that makes sense," Corey chuckles. "Maybe it goes ta show, if ya just tried ta show the mean ones a better way, maybe it'd work out better fer everyone."

"And stopped Trogs from attacking and enslaving and stopped humans from stealing land and let us live in cities and traded with us too," Mimips lists off a litany of other problems stopping kobolds from properly joining society. "Sometimes have to be mean to survive. But you nice, so I not have to be mean with you."

"Ah can get behind all 'a that if it means less people gettin' hurt, humans and kobolds alike." Corey purses his lips. "But y'know, most people won't if they only see kobolds needin' ta be mean. If ya wanted ta, y'know, come up ta the surface, Ah'd be willin' ta vouch fer ya, and Ah bet the rest of these folks who gotta whole lot more clout would too." Corey glances at his friends and the group of nobles they're escorting.

Mimips looks back and forth, clearly considering his options. "I do need out... I will follow you out, sneak out of city, go home. Family probably worried."

Adelaide nods. "Suppose we'd better refocus on the 'way out' portion of the situation, then. Shall we?"

A leering statue stands atop a plinth in the northwestern corner of this L-shaped hallway. The statue holds a scepter, which it points toward a door to the east. The south end of the hall is a heap of collapsed dirt and wood.

Adelaide examines the statue, and while she finds nothing strange about the statue itself, in the time that it takes her to begin to investigate, bloody circles slowly form and vanish and form again on the northern wall. The young noblewoman jumps in surprise. ”A haunt...? Those won’t hurt you as long as you don’t touch them,” she explains to the group, pointing at the circles. ”If you do touch them, it’ll sap your strength and cause you harm, and create a vision.”

”What sort of vision...?” Momo wonders aloud.

”It would explain the history of the haunt, which would probably shed light on how to dispel it,” Adelaide explains further. ”At the moment, though, it will cause no harm untouched.”

"We should prob'ly tell someone 'bout it when everythin' settles down, though," Corey points out. "Y'know, in case some other folks that don't know 'bout these haunt thingies end up down here."

”Eventually, yes,” Adelaide answers briefly, thinking it would be unproductive to add “obviously”. After deciding to move on, the group realizes this hallway leads to a stone door, locked. The intricate lock looks like it needs two keys. Adelaide frowns. "I suppose we'd better backtrack to look for the keys, then. I certainly hope they're around here somewhere."

They go back to the hall of doors and take the westernmost door. The wooden walls along the northern section of this room give way to natural stone. From the narrow entry alcove, the room expands into a vast area filled with rampant green vegetation. Thick briars and vines cover the eastern and western walls. To the west, the vegetation overruns several neatly arranged sets of patio furniture. Further south, past the morass of vegetation, a stone building looms, the top of it emblazoned with a brass-winged eye. "Hm, the eye of Aroden," Adelaide murmurs in recognition.

”Care to explain for the philistines among us?” Momo asks.

"Since when are you a philistine?" Adelaide answers with a grin. "This eye is the symbol of Aroden, an Azlanti man who ascended to godhood. In his time, he was concerned with carving a better way forward for humankind. He also died, somehow, a number of years ago, which remains a great mystery to everyone who studies such matters."

Momo chuckles. ”Oh, you thought I meant myself? At any rate, interesting that it should be down here, amidst all these wild brambles. This place gives me the creeps.”

Adelaide opens her mouth to respond, but pauses when she notices something among said wild brambles. Stepping over, she points with her rapier at something that looks like a diseased spot on a plant. "This is moving from plant to plant," she comments, frowning.

As Adelaide moves closer to examine the diseased spot, one of the plants suddenly jumps to life and lurches forward. Corey jumps forward to intercept it while Josie peppers it with arrows, and is bitten, his flesh burning from its acidic... maw? Undeterred, he steps back and bisects it with the glaive.

Adelaide blinks as Momo mends injuries. "Well, that works, I suppose," she comments after a moment before going back to checking the stone building.

Opening the door reveals three rows of pews stand before a stone altar. A human statue stands atop the altar, its face and right arm broken off and shattered at the floor around it. Two smaller statues of women—each wielding a sword and shield—stand in raised alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners. As soon as the doors bang against the insides of the walls, an image of a towering, handsome man with a short beard and long hair tied back into a ponytail and wearing a crown appears above the altar. "Aroden demands tribute!" A booming voice fills the hall.

Josie blinks and flatly remarks, "What."

Momo stares at the statue, glances towards the rest of her party, and shakes her head, hollering back, ”You got the face wrong! Aroden is way prettier than whatever you are!” She pauses to reconsider, and adds, ”Actually, you got pretty much everything wrong. Does it suck to wake up in the morning and know that you just failed completely?”

Momo’s words prompt a scattering of... ”Dust?” Adelaide mutters, puzzled. She determines she’s more sparkly but unharmed. She noticed her companions are also dusted. ”Uh, everyone all right?”