Shattered Star

The doors glow white hot as they begin to pull backwards, revealing a completely untouched room, likely unseen for centuries. The Thassilonian murals here are as vibrant as if they were painted yesterday. A dusty, cobweb-choked corridor runs northward to a set of stairs leading down.

The doors open to a hallway and a staircase leading further down. After some deliberation, the party comes to the agreement that the Shard must be down below, and rather than risk Flynt slipping in while they're clearing the rest of the Tower Girls they decide to forge ahead. After closing and relocking the doors, Anastasia takes one of the many harnesses they've acquired and expertly secures the doors, making them virtually unopenable from the other side.

A green, scum-covered pool extends across the far end of this room. Passages exit to the sides, and curving stairs rise to a balcony over the south end of the room. The floor and walls are streaked with dark smears of guano in thick layers. As the group approaches the pool, two oozing creatures crawl up out of it. The party makes short work of them, however, as Meliora's quick arrow work saves Ana from being sucked into one of the oozes.

The party then heads to the room on the right. Thick guano covers the floor of this room. Stalls divide the western wall, and a stone bench and fountain stand to then east. As the group looks around, a group of bats begins to coalesce and swarm together, angrily screeching at the group. Cade and Naomi both shoot flames into the swarm, but the last few bats require a skewering from Anastasia to finish off.

The party then continues towards the stairs, where they briefly see a small blue humanoid. It shrieks as they approach and runs down the stairs. Ana also notices a secret door to the left of the stairs. The party quickly chases after the small blue humanoid, surrounding it on the stairs. It then bends down on its knees and begging begging in undercommon. "No no no, please no kill. I not want death!"

Cade raises a hand and steps forward, signaling for the rest of the group to wait.  "Undercommon," Cade relays under his breath.  "It does not want to fight.  Let me inquire further."  Clearing his throat, Cade attempts to recall as much as he can about the Undercommon dialect and speaks.  "Please no afraid," Cade replies in broken Undercommon. "Me and we no bad.  No fight, kill.  You, me, be friends?"

"No, no. Can't be friends. King Zuga would never let outsider be friends. It his domain," the little blue creature says.

"'King Zuga?'" Cade repeats with a confused look. "Me and we no bad," Cade repeats, struggling to recall the more intricate words. "...Me and we look for shiny metal, no fight, kill. Shiny metal pretty, strange. Me and we find shiny metal, me and we leave."

"No no, shiny metal belong to King Zuga. King be very mad if you take," the creature responds.

At this bit of information, Cade's eyebrows raise and his eyes widen.  "Wait, please," Cade instructs as he takes a step back to speak to the group.  "It appears," Cade translates, "that this one's king Zuga is in possession of a strange metal.  I doubt I can confirm if it indeed the Shard, but it is an interesting development.  What should I say?"

"Can he take us to this king?" Anastasia asks. "I doubt it will be easy, but we could potentially outsmart him the way Flynt and Heidmarch did with Genovese."

With a nod, Cade returns to the small blue-folk.  "King Zuga, may me and we see?" he asks.  "Shiny metal scary, strong, bad.  Me and we want talk, no fight, King Zuga."

”Specific shiny metal or all shiny metal?” the creature asks. ”King Zuga have lots of shiny metal. Love shiny metal. Wear shiny metal. Most shiny metal coin. But some like clothing.”

"...Ah, hm," Cade mutters, pumping the mental brakes.  "Perhaps I was mistaken.  Erm... Specific shiny metal," he replies.  "Very old, very, uh, magic.  Look like this," he continues as he presses his index fingers and thumbs together to create a rough diamond-shape.  "Very bad, not safe.  Me and we must take to make safe."

”Never see that,” the creature responds. ”But you still need leave. King Zuga never let go of shinies. King Zuga also never like intruders. No peace. Only fight.”

Cade's expression sours at this development while he takes a step back to the group.  "Well, this might not be the Shard, but this one is still demanding we leave.  This King Zuga does not take kindly to newcomers, yet we can ill-afford to leave now."

"Yeah, we're not leaving without the Shard." Anastasia casts a glance at the blue fellow. "If no one else has anything, maybe ask if he wants us to knock him out, make it look good so he doesn't get in trouble for not stopping us?"

"...Allow me to see if we can find an alternative route forward first," Cade implores before returning to the blue vangaurd.  "Me and we want no bad," Cade struggles to convey to the creature.  "Is me and we can take road to see not other?"

"No Zuga own all down there," the creature says. "King Zuga mean, so nasty. You kill king Zuga? Save mites from terrible king?"

Cade's expression contorts from unexpected surprise into confusion, before finally settling on mild discomfort.  "Now it's... asking us if we are here to kill their king?" Cade translates with a hesitant twinge.  "Apologies, let me inquire further.  What Zuga do be bad?  You friends hurt?  Sad?"

"He take all shinies, boss us around, make me sit upstairs because my voice annoy him," the mite says. "He make mockery of rest of us but everyone else do as he say because he have the shiny crown."

Cade nods in response and translates for the group.  "This one claims that the king takes all their valuables, bosses them around and... is fairly petty with his power," he relays.  "That being said, this aligns with what mites are known for.  I would not be surprised if this one would try to use us just so that they can rule the same with the crown."

Anastasia rolls her eyes. "Of course. No better than goblins, really. Well, it's their business how they run their petty little fiefdom, but we still need us a shard, so we might as well as go along with it."

Cade sighs in agreement.  "If we must, which we must."  Returning back to the mite in question, Cade answers "Me and we stop Zuga if you and friends let me and we find strange metal.  Yes?"

The mite claps and jumps excitedly. "Yes! Me go talk to others. We take back land. King Zuga burn! King Gorble reign supreme! Me mean... uh... HAPPINESS REIGN SUPREME!" Gorble says before running off down the stairs.

Anastasia watches the inordinately happy mite run off. "... we're gonna have to commit a small scale genocide at some point here, I'm sure of it." She sighs. "Anyway, I saw a concealed door back upstairs, and there was another little tunnel to explore."

Once the mite giddily hops down the stairs and out of earshot, Cade adds with an ambivalent frown "...Apparently its name is Gorble, and our assumptions about their future ruler may yet prove true."