Chapter 2: Killing Some Stinky Trogs

Jarveena & Ryte

You work together quickly to set the day's second funeral pyre ablaze. As Ryte watches out for trouble brought upon by the fire, he notices the sounds of the jungle are starting to get quieter.

Frick

Frick examines the stone brick floor washed in blood. There are only candles and lamps on the stone, but you also notice track marks left in the dried blood. Most are the kind left by sharp claws and scaled feet, but you do notice one unmistakable boot print pressed into the cruor heading down the stair.

You also notice a single loose brick. Prying it up, you reveal that the stone floor was laid upon another surface - black, cold, and perfectly smooth.

Elspa

Elspa peers beyond the curtain. The statues are revealed to be figureheads of old ships, mounted on the walls like trophies. Bare-chested mermaids and heavenly angels all stare down at the room in horror: this appears to be the troglodytes' dining hall. As if a macabre parody of a lordly feast, the hall is filled with shining bronze platters full of half-eaten limbs and copper pots filled with hearts and spleens. The spaces between are littered with cracked bones sucked clean of marrow.

At the back, you spy the Sea Witch's figurehead, cracked down the middle, waiting to be mounted on the wall.

It is 7:45pm. What would you like to do?

It is pitch black down the stairs; taking lanterns?

You descend deeper into the earth through the wide tunnel. The walls here are pocked with the same strange crystals as above, reflecting the lamp light and retaining a glow of their own after you pass.

As the tunnel winds its way through the earth, you begin to hear the sound of cascading water ahead. The tunnel eventually levels out, the bottom submerged within several feet of saltwater and dripping through the ceiling. As you slosh through it waist-deep, you see a light at the end of the tunnel. Turning off your lights, you make your way to the source.

Peering around the corner, you see that the tunnel opens up into a volumous, torchlit cavern with a cracked, rounded dome. Water is gushing in through that wide crack with a deafening roar, filling the cavern with a thick mist. At the centre of the cavern, about 40 feet from your location, a large stack of crates and barrels has created an artificial island.

Atop the island, a haggard looking man sits in a modest wooden throne. He looks weary, his head in one of his hands.He is flanked by three Broodguards, one of which has a beautiful rapier slung at its hip - Jarveena and Elspa recognize it as Leathe's own steel. The other two Broodguards are busy tossing body parts and buckets of blood into the water between you and them.

As Ygne calls out, the man on the throne makes his move, pulling a weapon from a concealment. The manacle on his wrist barely even clicks as he readies his strike.