Asha will once again use Blessing of the Forge to make Zyn's sickles a +1 weapon until the next time they rest.

AREA 11 - THE THRONE ROOM

Four pillars support the vaulted ceiling, and steps ascend to an iron throne carved in the likeness of a hydra. Painted on the wall behind it is a large blue triangle. To the south, an engraved stone disk is set into the floor of an alcove. A ten-foot-wide opening in the east wall leads to a flooded cave.

On the throne, "sits", presumably, Ras Nsi. He looks sick, and is wrapped in mummy wrap, nearly covering his whole body. By his side is a large flaming sword. He is flanked by two yuan-ti who look like advisors. In the middle of the room is a massive yuan-ti, who looks like a champion of some sort, who is flanked by three more yuan-ti. 

Everyone stares at you as you approach. No one attacks you, as if you are not a threat, and are being sized up - allowed to approach. It is silent.

Then, Ras Nsi speaks.

"At last." he croaks. "Welcome to the Fane. You have proven to be..resilient..individuals. I am Ras Nsi. I have allowed you to live for one reason. Before I sacrifice you to Dendar for your intrusion upon our sacred ruins..I wish to know - why are you here?"

Behind you, more guards cut off the doors. Until the audience is complete, you get the impression you are not leaving. 

"Two reasons." Asha says, holding up an equal number of fingers. "One, to kill ya for assaultin' us earlier. Two, to collect the cubes so that we can find the Soulmonger and end the Death Curse."

“Which is what I’m assuming is effecting you!” Astra pipes in, a mischievous glint in his eye. “If you don’t want to die by our hand, you’ll definitely die by the curse itself. I mean, you could let us go so we can get back to what we’re doing. Us destroying the Soulmonger would mean you live to see another century.” He looks to the guards, then back to the Big Bad TM. “If you allow us just a few minutes of your time, alone, we could tell you what we know.”

Persuasion: 9

(*****)

Kira walks forward, taking a deep breath. "Okay, so you see, that explanation is complicated. So yeah, it starts with the death curse thing, which is affecting like, a lot of people, you know? And we were hoping to kinda deal with that, and we needed the cubes to do that, which is why we were there. Then you guys showed up and whacked us into unconsciousness, which is how we ended up in this little complex spot. But if you mean how did we wind up here in this room, it's cause your advisor Fenthaza is totally plotting against you, so you should probably deal with that, y'know? Anyway, we'd just really like to leave, so if you could see your way clear to helping us out in that regard, we could go deal with this Soulmonger thing for you without you having to risk any yuan-ti lives. I mean, wouldn't we be serving Dendar way better by saving your life than if you sacrificed us?" While she talks, she stealthily wiggles her wand of magic detection to see if she can find any secret doors out of here for when this goes bad, using minor illusion to make her hands look empty.

Persuasion: 3, if anything at all gives me adv: 17

SoH: 18, if my illusion stuff gives me adv: 21

Ras Nsi and his advisors share a concerned glance for a few moments. He turns back to you all.

"Is that so?" he rumbles. "First thing's first. I have defeated you all before, and I could do it again. All it takes is a ring of the gong behind me and the entire compound will come to do my bidding. Yes, I am suffering from some sort of curse that I have not been able to cure, and if I die, I cannot herald the world into darkness as Dendar wishes. What do these cubes you have found do?"

and before you can answer, he shouts, then coughs:

"Bring Fenthaza to me!"

"The cubes are keys to the Tomb of the Nine Gods, which houses the Soulmonger, which is what's causin' this Death Curse."

Ras Nsi thinks for another moment.

"The Tomb of the Nine Gods..here?" he ponders. "Yes. This could work to my favor. And yours." he admits.

Fenthaza is escorted into the throne room. More guards enter the room. It's getting really packed in here.

"These prisoners have mentioned that you are plotting against me. Is this true?" he asks calmly.

Fenthaza gives you all a withering gaze, then turns to Ras.

"Of course not, my Lord." she lies. "They are simply looking out for their own skin, willing to feed you any lie that would instill doubt into your heart, trying to confuse you."

Ras Nsi looks back to you all, thinking for a moment. "If entering the Tomb of the Nine Gods means I will live, and see Dendar returned, you have my permission to leave and continue your quest." he grins wickedly.

"No!" Fenthaza cries to you all, seeing an opportunity "We had a bargain!"

"I have spoken." Ras declares. "Now, I will deal with you, Fenthaza."

Fenthaza growls, and takes action. She casts a spell and one yuan-ti too many now occupy the throne room. "No, Ras. Now I will deal with YOU!!"

In a terrible moment, yuan-ti engage yuan-ti in a cluster of horrible chaos. Like in a mosh pit, there are way too many bodies to reach Fenthaza or Ras, but you do see an opportunity to escape, as, for some reason, both sides of yuan-ti are completely ignoring you. 

For now. 

Asha runs out of the room, dragging the rest of the party with her. Once they're out of earshot, she speaks to the party. "So there's four more of these cubes left to find, let's get to it while they're killin' each other and maybe when we get back they'll have killed enough of each other to make things easy for us."

"One snake too many! One snake too many!" Zyn moans in a worried tone as she hustles out of the Throne room. "Come on! Let's get the **** outta here!" 

Language!

Hi Grandfather! Sorry!

"Woo! It worked!" Kira says happily as she books it for the exit.

As they rush out of the room, Astra looks to be beaming, dimples marking his cheeks as he lets out a laugh. "That was thrilling! I thought we were done for back there... and the times before! But yes! Let's continue forth!

"Good idea!" Kitsune breathlessly pants as they sprint out of the room.  "Only, which way?  I forgot to ask RazKnees for directions!"

OOC: Seeing that I just spilled my entire bowl of cereal on the table.....site 18 it is!

AREA 18 - NANGNANG'S SHRINE

You flee the Fane, happy to be alive and outside again. While you lost about 4 days in regards to destroying the Soulmonger, you have an itching feeling you haven't seen the last of Fenthaza, or Ras Nsi, depending on who won that civil war. You spend another day walking to AREA 18, watching your backs and avoiding trouble.

At the edge of Omu you reach another shrine.

Monoliths adorned with prancing, frog-like figures rise from the swamp. Beyond, a ruined edifice shaped like an arrowhead squats in the muddy water. Bushes and trees grow from its roof. At the pointed front of the building, steps ascend to a stone door caked in slime. The water around the shrine is 2 feet deep.

As you approach, very small tribal frog men peek at you from behind walls of the shrine. You are not alone. There are at least 8 to 10 of them, currently.

 "Aww!" Zyn smooshes. "Look at da wittle fwog peeple!" 

A sharp spear thunked into the ground next to her.

She shrieked, sharply and loudly, standing on one leg, as if she saw a mouse.

Asha laughs as the spear is chucked at Zyn. "I don't think that they cared for that much." She says before going in.

Zyn looked at the spear and back at the frog people, her feelings slightly hurt. She then refocuses. "Hm. I don't think they're going to let us in."

The frog people croak loudly and wave their limbs around, as if either trying to scare you away, or saying don't come in or else.

"Well we need to get in so that we can get the cube, so they'll either deal with it or get their ass kicked."

Asha:15

Kitsune calls out "Wait!  We mean you no harm!  We're just here to warn you about an impending civil war that's going to be on your doorstop any minute now!"

Turning to her fellow adventurers, "Do you think they speak common?  Anyone know frogese?"