Makara IC

Parveth
Parveth takes a breath as she nocks another arrow, re-centering herself as she settles into the more familiar routine of hunting down a prey, and not clashing repeatedly with large amounts of other random creatures. She peeks out from behind the wall, fires an arrow, and then takes cover behind the wall again.

Mechanics:

Steam
The water genasi waves a hand as she speaks her next incantation, wrapping light and flame around the dryad in an attempt to carve off the ants without touching the wooden lady's form.

Mechanics:

Parveth's arrow hits the Queen and looks like it did about as much as firing a needle at her would have done. The remaining sprite does the same and though it's arrow is much smaller, it seems to have had some kind of effect as the Queen seems a bit unsteady. Steam eradicates the remainder of the swarm of ants, leaving the Queen now alone with you to fend for herself.

---

Parveth hits.

Ant Swarm 6 fails it's save and dies.

Golden Queen Ant stops ???.

Sprite 2 moves from E21up3 to M21up3 and shoots Golden Queen Ant for ? piercing damage. Golden Queen Ant and fails her save and becomes poisoned for 1 minute. (Yes it accomplished this with disadvantage.)

---

Initiative
Parveth: 20.6 (G24)
Steam: 20.5 (F22)
Sprite 2: 14 (M21up3)
Ketha: 8.3 (I21)
Adelinde: 6.2 (D27)
Dryad: 6.1 (K22) (Shillelagh) (Barkskin)
Golden Queen Ant: 6 (T-V 24-30) (Poisoned)

Info
Ketha: 10/31, Temp HP: 5
Steam: 2/24
Parveth: 3/25, Temp HP: 5, concentrating on Hunter's mark (+1)
Adelinde: 10/24, concentrating on Heroism (+2 advantage)

The fight continues on for almost another minute. The Queen throws around the eggs with poor aim, littering the area with pulped eggs and goo. She does manage to take out the remaining Sprite at one point as well. The Dryad's attempt to entangle the eggs did little, with the Queen using brute strength to just rip them free. The Dryad was the first to rush into the melee, followed by Ketha and eventually Parveth when she ran out of arrows. At one point the Queen bit the Dryad in half, though rather than falling to the ground in a bloody (or sappy?) mess, she vanished leaving behind only a few leaves to gently float down to the ground. After that the Queen only managed to strike one more blow, on Ketha who she knocked to the ground but not out of the fight. Eventually they felled the great beast with what felt like a death by a thousand cuts.

As she finally did fall her body hit the ground with a thud. After the party assessed themselves to make sure they were all more or less ok (not that they felt it, but nobody had any injuries that would be permanent), they noticed that the Queen's body was beginning to disintegrate into golden flecks that rose upwards before vanishing. Once most of the head had broken apart the eyes dropped out, fell to the ground, and rolled towards each other where they merged into a single large black orb that was just small enough that it could be held in a single hand. When the entire body had vanished, the group noticed that there was a golden figurine of an ant lying on the ground, it's size larger than an actual ant but small enough to fit within the palm of a hand.

They also noticed that the fighting of the ants did not immediately stop, though by the time the queen had vanished it had died down considerably. Still, it seemed like they had a few minutes to rest and discuss if they felt like it. Though they were pretty tired, especially Ketha and Adelinde.

---

Items on the ground: Ant Eye?, Ant Figurine?
XP: Everyone gained 1136 XP
I would request that people don't level up right now. There'll be a good scene for that in a bit and there's other stuff I might be bringing up at that time in regards to character mechanical stuffs.

Ketha falls to one knee as she watches the foe wither away in an unnatural fashion, and leave things behind in an unnatural fashion. As she began to catch her breath, she tried to identify any magic that caused the decay or from the eye and figurine...

(Arcana Check: 1 (Roll))

Parveth watches the ant queen disintegrate, and spying the trinkets it dropped quickly pulls out a bedroll and wraps up the orb, separating it from the ant figurine without directly touching either. She addresses the group, "I am unsure what these are, but I would not think touching them would be a boon." She sighs, before continuing, "I am going to try and assist in the combats around us; rest for a moment. You have earned it." She then draws her bow, picks up what arrows remain on the ground, and starts toward the closest ant clash still remaining.
((Arcana for the orb and figurine: 5 = (3) +2))

Steam flops onto the ground, overacting her exhaustion. She then sits back up, gets a blanket from the various stores of supplies they have, and reflops ontop of that instead.

After resting for a time, she sits back up, beginning the ritual to Detect Magic.

Neither Parveth nor Ketha can figure out much about either of the items. It takes less time for Parveth to lose her remaining arrows into the sea of battling ants than it does for Steam to complete her ritual which reveals to her the usual chaotic magical energies she's come to know (and love?) in Kelfas, a bit of fey energy hanging about in the air, and that the Ant Eye has an aura of abjuration and the Ant Figurine has an aura of abjuration and transmutation magic.

Steam squints at the objects briefly, before turning to Ketha and Adelinde. "Can confirm those things are magical. The tiny ant has some kind of transformation heebee-jeebee on it, maybe be careful touching that one."
Steam pauses for a moment before offhandedly stating, "You know, if you ignore the intense pain this is actually kind of nice. The swirls and eddies...like that little one off your horns..." Steam looks at Adelinde, and the genasi swoops her hand above her own head. "They're beautiful, in an incredibly painful sort of way. Maybe I'll try painting it later; then stab the painting and set it on fire. Might be fun." Steam continues staring at Adelinde and Ketha with squinted eyes, suffering through the pain to appreciate the sights.

Parveth stumbles back to the group from the fights, not willing to involve herself in melee in her current state and unable to involve herself any further without more arrows. She sits again near the group with a frustrated thud.

Adelinde moves over closer to the group, sitting down with a quiet grace with her legs folded under her looking every bit like the young noble lady that she is. Reaching up, she transfers the minicorn gently onto her lap and, once satisfied that everything seems to be calm and her little familiar is settled, lets her top half flop bonelessly to the ground with a groan of exhaustion.

"Please, whatever gods might be listening, I beg you; No more ants."

Sweetie snorts at the indignity of the action, looking around for a moment before frowning.

"Well, it's a step up from being covered in bugs but this place is still far too...dirt...y for one of my stature!"

She says with a huff before a quick flick of her horn and some magic turns the ground around them into a circle full of grass and flowers. Or so it appears, but even a mild glance reveals she just painted the ground underneath you green with flower patterns all over it with magic.

"Much better!"

She says as she settles into the Tieflings lap as if it were some grand throne, looking over the party imperiously and completely oblivious to how much she looks like some pampered house cat.

Ketha was not disappointed in her lack of identification, it was only to be expected. To battle for so long, in armour so heavy, she is half surprised she hasn't collapsed in exhaustion. Between the pain, the weariness, the pain in her throat from all the roaring and poison breathing, the sheer bizarre nature of countless hours spent underground, Ketha would be happy to just remain silent for who knows how long. But, she managed to pull herself from her reticence to ask a question she was sure was on the party's mind right now...

"You have a unicorn?"

Steam & Parveth
Steam stares at her compatriots a moment longer, before her eyes focus on the mini-unicorn. "Oh yeah! Drachedandion Ketha makes a good point, who are you, little friend?" After taking special care to enunciate the entirety of Ketha's name, she scoots towards Adelinde and starts fawning over the psuedicorn.

Parveth looks over somewhat interested, but is still mostly just tired and out of arrows.

The minicorn scoffs and turns its nose up, offended.

"A unicorn? I am no meer unicorn! I am Princess Sweetie Belle of the long and illustrious line of Twinkle! My great deeds span genera-..."

"Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you all. She just kinda appeared early on in the fight from out of thin air."

"...-was singlehoofedly responsible for resolving the great ladybug crisis of the grand spring tournam-...."

"Honestly I still don't know why or how she's my familiar now. But she's been helpful while she's been here and she's where I got the idea for trying to summon fae help."

"...-hrough only my wit and bravery was I able to save our fair kingdom from the treacherous machinations of the would-be princess former royal baker and flower consultant Sparkle Glitter!"

The little psuedicorn puffs its chest out, seemingly completely oblivious that Adelinde was speaking during its own long, vaguely confusing epic.

"Now, I know it must've been difficult to hold in your admiration till the end but rejoice! You may now freely express your praise and adoration upon me!"

Steam & Parveth
Steam genuinely applauds the pseudicorn, having listened raptly to her tales. "Wow. I can't believe you solved the great riddle of Poofledoof the Mad while also managing to find a gown, and just in time for the ball no less!"

Parveth very briefly gives Steam a confused look, before turning back to Adelinde. "Well...she seems pleasant enough. Welcome to somewhere beneath Kelfas, little princess. I thank you for your timely aid."

((Do we know anything about pseudicorns? I'd assume not, but...just checking.))

Taking advantage in this brief moment beyond Parveth's gaze, Steam quickly scoots over to the objects dropped by the queen, giving them both a prod to see if they have any immediate effects on her. If they don't do anything drastic, she begins the task of identifying them, taking the blanket off the orb to add around herself.
((She casts Identify as a ritual, handling the ant figurine first before checking the strange orb. 10 minutes for each because of ritual times.))

Upon touching the objects... nothing in particular occurs.

Spoiler:

Ketha leans the top half of her worn out body towards Steam. "Are you being careful Steam?" She's not gonna lose someone right after the fighting is done to a random magical statue...

Steam
The genasi continues her incantation, indicating with a finger for the dragonborn to hold for just a moment. Finished with that particular verse of the ritual, she breathes a sigh and lets herself slump a bit. "Hey now, I'm lots of things if I'm not careful."
She waits, grinning for just a beat, before assuring, "I gave them a poke first to see if they just out and out cursed me, or transformed me into the new golden queen. Wouldn't that have been cool though," she says, more a statement than a question.

Steam resumes the ritual after another moment, and when finished identifying the ant figurine gives Ketha a quick call before tossing the figure to her, aiming for her lap with the assumption Ketha just isn't going to move. "To the victor the spoils. Might make a nice bangle, maybe an earring. There's some kind of residual embiggening in it; could make you big or something else small. Doesn't feel like it'll make you an ant. And now...eyeball."
Steam reaches for the ant eye and begins messing with that, repeating the ritual on the new object.

Steam
The water genasi continues fondling the glassy orb as the group rests, eventually snapping from her spellcasting trance with a "Aha! It is an eyeball! Seems to have some sort of magic enhancing biz. If it wasn't so murky might make for a nice crystal ball. Addie, you want?" Steam holds out the ant eye towards Adelinde. "It's got juuust the right amount of squish."

Adelinde pales slightly and holds her hands up as if to ward the thing away. "No no, no thank you. You can keep it!" She says with a nervous smile as she leans away from the eye.

A few moments later the group notices that the fighting of the ants has concluded. A few minutes later one of the communication ants followed by a few other large ants walks up to them. The group all hears the Ant Queen's voice in their minds saying, "I thank you for your help. Now that I rule uncontested I shall have you brought back to the surface. As agreed, when the numbers of my children are replenished I will send some to aid you surfacers in whatever way you wish." They then get the impression that if they get on the backs of the ants that they'll be carried to the surface.

They do so, Ketha and Adelinde practically collapsing on their respective mounts in exhaustion, and they are carried back up to the surface the way they came in. Two of the Boar's Men are both somewhat alarmed to see the ants, but they notice the people dismounting from them and relax a bit when the group explains the problem has been resolved. The ants go back down the tunnel as the group notice that it's late afternoon. There doesn't seem to be a lot of activity in the nearby field at the moment. The two men guide the group back to the temple/headquarters and then leave. It looks much the same as it did before, though it's clear the supplies have been changed about, probably some having left and others having been brought in.

The Boar isn't around, instead the group are greeted by Zanthaelis who states, "Ah. You're back. All of you. You look worse for wear but intact. Just a moment." At this he raps his knuckles on the door to Char's lab/whatever is back there. There's some shuffling around and a few moments later Char opens the door and spots the group. "Oh good, you haven't all died yet!" At this Zanthaelis gives her a look. She either doesn't notice or ignores it as she walks into the room. Zanthaelis then says, "So, tell us what has transpired since we saw you last."

---

You guys don't have to do this IC if you don't want to. Just let me know what in general you tell them in the chat if you don't want to do it IC.

Steam & Parveth
Steam chuckles at Char's comment. "Haha, not yet! But soon, all shall smoulder 'neath his visage." Her tone shifts dramatically between sentences.

Parveth gives Zanthaelis a slow blink after Steam's comment, not breaking eye contact, before stating, "We have been busy. We followed one of the ants through a catacomb, wherein we removed several undead that had been lingering. We continued on, deeper into the depths where we discovered that there is, or was I suppose, an ongoing war between ant colonies.
We met the queen of one colony, who is...hmm, how to describe her. An ant in the shape of a person? No, that would be more apt for her...lieutenants. She is...a person, of human or elf descent, who has been transfigured by some great magic to include a number of ant parts. Regardless, she is quite intelligent and magically potent.
We struck an accord with her; we would aid her forces depose the other colony and she would have her colony scavenge from other parts of Kelfas, and potentially later on she might send her 'little-ones' to come and aid us here.
We continued on from there, encountering next many hours of fighting ants. Several of us consumed dubious orbs of re-invigoration, and then we made the final drive towards the enemy queen, who we discovered to be much more bestial in nature.
We defeated her, the queen we struck a deal with sent acknowledgement of our success, confirmed her end of the deal, and then offered us a lift back to the surface, which explains our unusual mounts as we returned.
That...is what has happened under our watch."

"I also found this key that locks stuff and there was this super suspicious locked door!," Steam chimes in.

Zanthelis is momentarily startled by Steam's comment and then just shares a look with Parveth. Silently saying something about the nature of their counterparts. Char for her part doesn't seem to really notice but does give a small smile like someone had commented on the nice weather.

"So you have solved a problem that was much bigger than what we thought and in so doing gained allies or at least free labor for us? Well now I'm hoping you don't die." Zanthelis says and gives a smile. It looks a bit off. Like he doesn't smile much.

"I have questions." Char states. Apparently to nobody since she's the authority figure here and doesn't actually need to ask any kind of permission. There's a pause and she asks, "What kind of undead? If you don't know them by name, descriptions will do. I'd also like descriptions for the various kinds of ants and these 'lieutenants'." She pauses here to snicker and repeat "LieutenANTs". Zanthelis rolls his eyes. Char continues, "Do you have any of these 'dubious orbs'? What effects and side effects did they have that you noticed? Show me the key and the other magic items." At this Char stops and holds out her hands for said items.

"This door you mentioned. Were you able to get it open?" Zanthelis asks.

Steam & Parveth
"Nope! It was really locked down. Maybe even by this bad boy." Steam waves the Lockand as she retrieves it from within her armor, readily handing over both it and the ant eye to Char. "I already identified them, but by all means feel 'em up yourself. Orb's fresh magic, birthed right from the dead queen! And the key's got a name!"

Parveth does not return Zanthaelis' smile, just gives a tired 'mm' before turning to Char. "The undead were a skeleton, zombie, shadow, and ghoul by my reckoning." She then turns to Ketha and gives her an inquisitive look, probably in reference to the dubious orb Parveth had assumed Ketha had stored away while the rest slept.

Parveth notices Zanthaelis looks at the key in surprise for a moment. But only for a moment as he gives a sort of grunt reply to the undead details.

Char holds the key up in front of her face and says, "Oh, one of these! Well that's fun!" She briefly looks at the ant eye orb in a disinterested manner.

Ketha lowers down on one knee and removes her backpack, digging through it and pulls out the dubious orb and the ant figurine without saying a word...

Parveth
The wood elf takes her new companions' continued silence as testament that they have not especially taken to the bandits since their excursion. Which they haven't especially had reason to. She resolves to herself to speak for the group in these interactions, detailing what she knows Steam won't.
"The fluid within the orbs rapidly put us to sleep; even myself who, as I am sure you are aware, does not sleep normally and resists magics that try to force such a state. We awoke a half-hour later quite tense, overflowing with vim and vigor. Maybe an hour after that energy resumed a more typical level, like I had just finished a restful sleep not in a cavern filled with ants.
Of the ant types, the ones we saw most were ones the size of a large dog or a person. There were many other smaller ones, some that flew, running down in scale to what I would consider a normal ant. But these two larger ones were the kind we encountered most.
Other ants have been imbued with a small part of the queen's magic, and were able to breathe fire, launch bursts of....less powerful lightning? Rather painful static? There were also some that could spit acid, but that seems more a natural thing for enormous magical ants to develop. Oh. There were also some that were quite small," Parveth gestures with her hands about the size of a small dog, "...that had some form of telepathy that allowed them to convey thoughts from us to the queen, wherever we were. Last amongst the bestial ants were an enormous sort, a bit larger than a horse and plated all over in thick armor.
The lieutenants, as we have begun referring to them, stood as a humanoid does, though they were still definitely ant through and through. The queen told us they were birthed with aid from her...consorts. A human, elf, and half-orc if I spied their features correctly, who were in a sort of stupor in her, and I am being quite literal here, throne room."

She pauses for a moment, before asking, "Does this key belong to a set you have?"

Char will take the items with some interest, clearly more interest in the orb than the figure though. The pair listen intently to Parveth's recounting. Char makes a face at the mention of the consorts, but doesn't say anything. Zanthaelis doesn't seem to have any reaction to it at all.

Zanthaelis looks like he's about to say something in response to Parveth's question about the key, when Char answers, "We don't possess any aside from this one, though there certainly is a set. Or multiple sets. They show up from time to time and people place different amounts of importance in them. I wasn't ever really clear on if they're really one set or if people just decided 'magic keys' were a thing that should be a single set and so they just called them such. I know from the stories that at least some of them do different things when you have more than one. Seems like a good bit of fun though."

Afterwards, Zanthaelis says, "We'll hold onto these as well as your weaponry. At least for now."

After the group hands over their weapons, he continues, "We have a place for you to rest, though you may wish to use your tents as it is not in perfect shape. You'll be allowed to do so for a few days so you can heal and have the energy to take on whatever we determine you will do next. The men outside will escort you. You'll be free to walk about as long as you stay close by the building and food and water will be brought to you."

When the group exits they are met with a pair of women rather than men. One a half-orc, the other a wood elf (I mean, everyone except Parveth and Steam probably just see "Elf" but that's at least 50% of the party who would might be able to tell the difference). They guide the group a few blocks away to a once two floor squarish stone building that has certainly seen some damage. For one thing it used to have a second floor but now just has the barest bits of walls going up a few uneven feet on two sides. The first floor looks stable though, no risk of it suddenly collapsing. It does have some damage though. For one thing where the front door should be is just an opening. The windows are all long broken too. The back left corner of the "ceiling" has a sizable hole and there are basically only one rooms as the interior walls suffered significant damage, with just the supporting stones of where the other interior walls used to be in most places and otherwise a foot of unbroken wall here or there. In the center of the inside of the building is a large bonfire. There's certainly something magical going on with it as there doesn't appear to be any fuel and it's red.

---

Do you guys have anything to say to the two Boar's men before they leave you to your own devices?

Edit: Or we could ret-con some stuff in if you guys had any question for Zanthaelis and/or Char.