Makara IC

Parveth & Steam
"I know this lies counter to your nature, but please do try not to antagonize the beasts, Steam." The wood elf resists the urge to punt the ant tugging at her leg (and not Adelinde, the person she was following), and merely continues walking on.

Steam kind of quickly skirts along behind her.

The others notice the blue fires and the unpleasant smell and the sudden humidity just as Adelinde did. As they walk further in they see the multitude of various kinds of ants skittering to and fro. They even notice some of the blue fires are up on the ceiling too, which as it turns out is a bit higher up than the rooms they've been in so far. About 20 feet or so as opposed being maybe 9 feet high. They can see a few more humanoid figures up ahead where the ant is leading them.

They pass nearby one of the blue fires and discover it's not especially hot. It also seems to be fed by nothing and is simply sitting there on the ground. Certainly magical. They also note that there seems to be occasional flares of regular fire-light from around what looks like a large pool of water off to the left side about 50 feet away. To the right they can see a large amount of eggs (ant eggs, not bird eggs) in all sorts of sizes.

The ant leads them up to four more ant-men who are standing between (but not directly blocking your line of sight) you and a fifth ant-like humanoid who looks quite a bit different. She, and it's definitely a she as you can tell from her bare breasts, has six limbs (two legs and four arms that are partially covered in chitinous plates but have human-like hands and feet aside from the fact that they're clawed) and stands upright as a human does (though she's clearly over seven feet tall), has a human or elvish looking face (aside from the large ant-like eyes) with lightly pointed ears and antenna and mandibles (in addition to a regular jaw structure) and chitin that appears almost helmet shaped, has chitinous parts around her abdomen, and has a large metasoma (ant equivalent of abdomen/butt) that hangs behind her on a foot off the ground somewhat like a big fat tail. The only article of clothing she's wearing is a belt that holds a pair of swords in their scabbards.

As you approach she stands up from a throne-like seat made of stone, which in turn is surrounded by odds and ends including plates and cups with food and drink. A ways behind the throne there are more eggs. And a past the throne and to the left side are three men (they appear to be a human, an elf, and a half-orc) sitting back against the wall who look up in your direction at the sound of the movement but don't seem to really see you.

The woman tosses a grape she was holding to the ant who lead you here and waves it away, and so it goes away with it's reward, as she approaches (and so do the four ant-men). When she's within a few feet of the group she stops and opens out her four arms in a somewhat grandiose greeting motion and says, "Well now, it's not every day we have guests from the surface. My children tell me you are allies and helped them fight the ants of the other colony. Of course I'm sure that's not what you came down here for and it's just what little you could communicate to my little babies, but I do so hope you are still willing to aid us. So tell me, why are you here?"

Parveth & Steam
The genasi begins to say something, but is rapidly cut off by the wood elf. She returns a deep bow to the...ant-lady, and makes a point to not look at the questionable males behind her. "Greetings. You are much more eloquent than I had been led to expect. We have been sent because creatures similar to your...babies, have been very aggressive to us on the surface, and we have been sent to resolve the issue. We were not able to converse much with our guide, but they did state something along the lines that your group was not gathering from our area of the surface. If that is so, then I would hope we could work out some form of mutually beneficial arrangement. I am named Parveth Xiloscient."

During her initial bow, she cuts a glare at Steam, who follows the wood elf's lead. She, however, glances between the ant-lady and the non-ant males behind her, really wanting to question but knowing now is not the time. Too many spears.
Steam does continue prepping her ritual though.

As soon as the ant-men notice Steam doing what she's doing they begin to raise their spears at her, but the woman raises a hand in the traditional "Stop" motion and they lower them again.

She smiles at Parveth's politeness and words and replies, "You may call me Queen. There is not much need for me to go by anything else down here." she gives a kind of self-satisfied smiled and continues, "I can see how that would draw you down here, though not why so few of you." she says, looking as if she's clearly wondering what's up with that. "There are only so many resources available and most do come from the surface. The other colony must have become more aggressive as their needs increased due to our fight over this territory. If you would aid us in killing their queen, a mindless beast I assure you, I would see to it that no ants take resources from you surface dwellers aside from the usual crumbs and refuse. There is still plenty of Kelfas to gather from afterall. Once we restore our numbers, I will even have some of my little ones and not-so-little ones aid your efforts in restoring the city."

Steam and Parveth think the Queen is probably lying about her ants not gathering from the people above, possibly about the other queen being mindless, and sincere in her promises. Adelinde isn't sure, and Ketha thinks she's being absolutely truthful with them.

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf gives a quick bow. "That would be very kind of you."

Seeing the ant-men react to her a second time, and realizing that she's very noticeably making arcane gestures and speaking magic phrases, Steam stops preparing the ritual. Once the Queen finishes her more recent speech and Parveth her bow, Steam speaks up. "Uh, excuse me, Queen? Uhm...Thank you, for stopping your....guards?" She sounds like she's questioning the term, "I uh...I probably should have asked permission before trying to use magic. I like to identify the magic around me, and so I have a spell that does that. Do you mind if I get that spell ready? It...takes a little while."

"I am familiar with rituals for detecting and ascertaining the nature of magic. Of course you could simply ask your questions of me, but do as you wish." the Queen replies looking a bit amused and waits to see if the others are going to agree to the proposal or have anything to say.

Ketha chimes in at this point. "May I ask how long your majesty has been in Kelfas?"

Steam & Parveth
The genasi looks pleasantly surprised by this answer. "Oh! Cool. What's going on with those fires then?" Steam gestures to the cool blue fires. "Are you maintaining those, or are they like a... natural magical occurrence? Ooh, is this like a magic hotspot and those are where it's literally boiling out?!"

The wood elf kind of gives her a look as Steam stops trying to be particularly respectful. Steam doesn't notice.

The Queen's upper arms give an exaggerated shrugs as she replies, "I know I lived in Kelfas before it fell and then I was.... reborn some time later. I haven't bothered keeping track of the time, but many years certainly."

In reply to Steam she says, "I make them, like so." and she holds open a hand in which a blue fire springs forth and she tosses it up onto the ceiling in a spot not too close to any of the other fires. "They do not go out unless I will them to or they are put out."

Before any further replies or questions can be made she asks, "Would you care to join me in a bath? You all look like you could use one."

---

It has been quite a while since any of you have bathed.

Anyone who wishes to can make an arcana check to try and identify the spell she cast.

Steam & Parveth
Steam is just awestruck at how casually the queen creates flames that last as long as she wants. "That's so far up my list of cool things. It's not #1, but it could definitely place. Do they function as actual fire, or just a light source? Could you teach me how to keep them up and change their color? Mine always try to burn out if I don't tend to them. Also yes, I would love a bath. Do you have like, bubble suds? Ooh, is it heated? If not I could help, but you seem pretty magically able yourself so you can probably just like will them hotter. Ohmygosh is there a spell for magical bubble suds please say yes."

Parveth does not seem pleased at this turn of events. She pauses and waits to see what the others have to say about the queen's offer.

Arcana:

Ketha seems slightly bemused and taken back by the offer, but keeps a straight face. "We'd be happy to join you, but I am surprised royalty would want to share a bath with strangers."

(Arcana Check: 13 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 17)

Adelinde frowns for a moment, not really feeling comfortable with the idea of bathing with a stranger, or much of anyone really. "It's an honor. Though not a common offer in my experience, your majesty?" She says with a questioning tone and a short deferential bow.

rolls:

The Queen shrugs and says, "I would not be familiar with other royalty does and does not do. Like myself, I doubt they are much concerned with the standards of others either." and leads them over to the large pool you glimpsed earlier. It indeed is pretty large, more than large enough for all of you to get in without touching. As she steps in and takes a seat, you notice that all around the edges there are finger sized fire ants occasionally breathing small gouts of flame into the water to heat it and there are other ants occasionally stopping by and adding water to the pool. This is likely the source of the humidity in the room.

---

Parveth doesn't really know the deal about the flame spell. Steam thinks it's probably similar to the Continual Flame spell. Ketha and Adelinde identify it as a modified form of the Continual Flame spell. All this means is that the Queen is not a novice in the arcane ways. (Basically it's roughly the equivalent of a 2nd level spell.)

As the Ant Queen slips into the pool, Ketha begins to remove her heavy armour...

(While Ketha is too proud to ask for assistance, I am not. Feel free to help Ketha doff her armour, heavy armour takes ages to remove without help...)

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf briefly eyes the ants moving to and fro from the pool, before smoothly taking a seat near its edge which should not interfere with the servants' paths. After settling herself, she says, "You seem quite capable in the arcane arts, your majesty. May I inquire as to what has prevented you in using those to rout the...I believe you described the rival as a 'mindless beast'?"
Parveth gives the ant queen a curious look, interested to see both what the queen says and whether she continues to be less than truthful on this front.

Steam begins to just step into the pool, armor and underclothes still on, but noticing Ketha attempting to remove her armor she squeaks quietly before rushing over to help with an "OhICanGetThat!"
Barring Ketha swatting her away, she begins assisting with the removal of the dragonborn's armor.

Bowchickabowbow:

The Queen replies, "As you are no doubt familiar with the 'arcane arts' yourself, you know there are limits to how much and what kinds of power we can summon up on a whim. If magic was as simple as just wishing for things, well Kelfas would surely never have fallen to a bunch of savages. My power may be greater than it was before and perhaps more than yours are now, but the creatures of this world come in all kinds. Many stronger than us in most ways aside from our intelligence. So acting intelligently is how I am fighting this battle. Hmmm. Let me give you an example."


She looks down at some nearby ants and her antenna waggle and they scurry off and bring back a small pile of eggs that are regular ant egg size (or so you assume, none of you being THAT familiar with ants). She holds out her two lower arms until the ants have put all the eggs in them and then closes her hands around the eggs as she turns back to face the group and says, "Rather than charging my enemy and throwing a ball of fire or a bolt of lightning, I imbue my little ones with their own magic which becomes part of them and does not drain my resources the way casting a spell myself does and can even be passed on to future generations." Then she lifts the cupped hands above her head and you can see green light seep out through the cracks between her fingers. She lowers he hands back down to around eye level (hers, you guys aren't all even in the pool in the moment so adjusting to the party's eye level isn't really possible atm) and fans the hands open so they are a flat-ish surface. A moment later there is a strange crackling noise as the eggs all begin to hatch at once. Little ants pour fourth and crawl around her hands and even up her arms. While this would likely bug you, she not only doesn't seem to mind, but smiles down at the ants. They morph through their early life stages so fast that you barely even catch them. In their "adult" size they have wings and bright green stripes along their bodies. The queen gives a flicking motions and the newborn ants fly off in a swarm. Her antenna waggle and as the swarm forms up a fist size ant brings over a rock. The queen tosses it in the general direction of the new swarm as her antenna waggle some more and they swoop around at it and when the swarm and the rock collide and you expect it to crash through the ants, as they touch it the rock dissolves away almost instantly. Just slowly enough you can see it being worn away. You also notice motion of something or somethings falling that are too small individually for you to make out but as a whole you still register the motion, when this hits the ground little bits of smoke curl up as if it was burned by something.

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf watches what the ant queen does, and comments with a rather flat "Interesting," after the queen demonstrates her magical influence over the creatures. Parveth spends a moment in thought before saying anything else.

Steam, on the other hand, picks up the conversational slack. "Not far outside your...throne room?...we passed through a room that had a bunch of kinda see-through balls. Were those all eggs that you'd magically infused and are waiting for to hatch? Well, that wouldn't make sense I guess, your ants just now went from egg to full grown in moments. I'unno, I'll stick with the question, see what happens." She removes another plate from the dragonborn, struggling somewhat with the weight of it.

Ketha lends a quick hand to help Steam with the piece she is struggling with as she unbuckles another piece on her leg with the other (although ineffectively). "There are many kinds of magic and methods Steam," hypothesizes Ketha to the warlock, "The tree grows slower than the plant."

"I do not believe you have passed through any other egg rooms on your way to me. Likely what you saw were stores of some kind. Most of my eggs look like the ones you see here." the Queen responds. If you look closely at the eggs (which aren't particularly close over here) you can see they're mostly white oblong shapes.

Steam & Parveth
The turquoise girl gives an unimpressed 'I...guess...,' to Ketha's quip, and then a little 'ah!,' in understanding to the queen's statement, before questioning, "So what's the balls in storage then?"
She splits her attention between mostly being assisted by Ketha in removing the dragonborn's armor, and attempting to maintain polite eye contact with the queen.

Parveth dips her hand briefly in the water nearby her. She gently flicks a few drops from her fingers after this test of temperature, and resumes her still posture. She glances at the others in her group, meeting each of their eyes at least once, in a check of whether they have a disagreement with the alliance to voice.

The Queen shrugs and says, "Probably some kind of liquid or liquefied substance if it's translucent. I don't know the exact route you took to get here and there are many rooms of stores in the colony."

The water is hot. Not boiling hot, but hot like a freshly heated bath. Which is what it in fact is, even if the method of heating is pretty strange.

Steam
The genasi looks intrigued, and possibly like she's plotting something. "Hmmm, mysterious liquids you say...,"
On making eye contact with the wood elf she gives Parveth a friendly smile and a thumbs up, before humming to herself for a moment as she focuses on a particularly daunting clasp.

As the last piece of her armour comes off, Ketha places it with the rest. The clothes underneath the armour turn out to be rather plain, a simple vest and trousers you'd expect from a farmer, and they are admittedly very sweaty for obvious reasons. She tells Steam "Thank you," and starts to take off her vest...

When Parveth makes eye contact, Ketha's look is stern (as it seems to always be) but no clear disagreements that can be made with eye contact...

Steam & Parveth
The genasi smiles and offhandedly says, "Oh sure, anytime," before moving off a bit to remove her own armor. She looks over to the ant-lady as she disrobes, and in an attempt to continue conversation says, "So, uh, queen, how'd you..." she seems to get distracted by her own thoughts, and starts a different question partway through. "I'm sorry, is there something else you'd go by? 'Queen' feels really impersonal and it seemed like you were implying earlier that you had a name but that ants don't use them because they use clicks but now I'm really curious, so please?"

After exchanging eye contact with Ketha, Parveth politely averts her eyes as the dragonborn continues to undress.

The Queen doesn't seem to make any effort to look at or not look at Ketha as she disrobes. In reply to Steam she says, "No, that is my name now. I'm sure I had one before I was who I am now, but I don't remember it."