BBG: Chapter 44

As we made our way down into the open wound in the Earth that was the Ankheg Pit, I couldn't help but frown. It was far too quiet for what it should be. Normally, you would hear something from a nest of such creatures, buzzing, chittering, even just the shuffling of a multitude of legs would be the usual. Something was up here. Either the Ankhegs were out hunting, which was a possibility, or they were waiting in ambush. If that was the case, then there had to be some kind of will directing them. That meant a queen of some kind, when this had been a queenless hive back in the original timeline. Either that or possibly a Druid, but then, why would a Druid command the Ankhegs to attack random people? If there was a directing mind, it had to be a queen.

That was bad. If I recall correctly, Ankheg Queens weren't a thing in Faerun, with Ankhegs being more like beetles than ants. In fact, I was fairly sure that Ankheg Queens, or Ankhravs, were generally only a thing on Golarion. Of course, with how Tymora had brought in Desna and Nana Anandi to help her with my patronage, that made me think a certain amount of crossover was possible. The question was, did that extend to monsters as well? I wasn't sure, though I figured we would find out soon enough. Eventually, though, we managed to reach the bottom of the pit and begin exploring thanks to a casting of Dancing Lights from Imoen. What those lights revealed confirmed my fears.

As soon as the lights winked into existence, balls of blue glowing illumination popping into the air, the shape of a group of six Ankhegs was revealed. The six of them had been waiting in small alcoves gouged out of the tunnel walls. Large and Green, with six legs and two large foreclaws, mouths gaping with mandibles and hissing with sizzling acid, these Ankhegs looked larger and more burly, with more glossy chitin and sharper spines than normal. They were templated, possibly twice over, even. As I realized that, the six Ankhegs let out a keening, screech before taking a few steps into the chamber proper to begin the fight. I was just happy that Imoen managed to get her spell out to give us a warning, so we weren't ambushed upon entering the Pit.

The fight began with all six of the Ankhegs arranged around our party in a rough circle, spitting globbets of acid-coated stone at us that hissed as they sailed through the air. I dove to the floor and felt the displaced air from the sizzling rock pass overhead. Jaheira and Khalid weren't quite so lucky, with Jaheira catching a glancing blow on her studded leather armor that sent her stumbling to the side with a grunt of pain. Meanwhile, Khalid took a rock to the chest, being flattened to the floor. Imoen and Mei managed to dodge entirely, though. As I stood up, I raced toward the closest Ankheg, ducking a pincer swipe that could have easily taken my head off and thrusting out at the side of the Ankheg. My blade found one of the less-chitinous joints between the plates and bit deep, blasting sonic power into the thorax.

On any normal Ankheg, that would have been that. A deathblow. Not so on this Ankheg, however, lending credence to my theory of Multiple Templates. Instead, this Ankheg spat an acid rock back at me, smashing into my front and bruising my chest even as the acrid liquid seeped in between the links of my Chain Shirt to burn the flesh beneath. I was sent stumbling backward and barely managed to get my shield up in time to block a strike from the Ankheg's pincer. My riposte finally managed to down the thing, severing the pincer at the joint between chitinous plates.

"Damn thing." I snarled, my chest aching.

I turned to look and see that the others were doing about as poorly as I was. Each of them had been wounded, but no one had downed their own Ankheg yet. I got lucky with my first thrust, hitting deep into the thorax. The others weren't having as easy a time as I was, especially not Mei with her bow. The broken shafts of two arrows lay snapped in twain on the floor near an Ankheg. As I watched, said Ankheg spat an acid-covered rock at Mei, who was too slow to duck and wound up being clipped by the rock on the shoulder. She was sent to the floor with a pained cry, bow falling from her grip as she fell. The Ankheg that she was fighting let out a victorious screech, and I knew it was about to try and charge in to finish Mei off. She was a big girl who could handle herself, of course, but why was I here if not to help her out? I was the only Party Member free right now to do so, after all.

As that Ankheg charged in to try and finish the fight, and I started forward to try and cover Mei, the sixth, hitherto unengaged Ankheg charged at me from the side. I ducked under the rock it spat at me and cut out at the thing's belly, but my blade rebounded off the chitinous hide. Its counter was to rear back and smash two legs into my chest, bruising a rib beneath my chain shirt and slamming me to the ground. I let out a grunt as the air was expelled from my lungs, the Ankheg rearing back with a victorious cry to try and bite down at me with its acid-slavering mandibles. Fortunately, that was the most predictable move it could have made, and I was ready. I rolled to the side along the floor as it tried that, its jaws biting down on nothing but dirt. I stabbed for its side, blade finding another joint in the chitin.

As ichor oozed from the wound I had dealt it, it let out a pained screech, trying to turn and bite at me. However, I was able to dodge, sidestepping the flashing mandibles and cutting out in a vertical slash that carved right into one of the segmented, insectoid eyes of the damn thing. My rapier pulped the eye and blasted sonic power into the Ankheg's brain, rattling it around and killing it. The Ankheg dropped to the floor, and I turned to help Mei out. She had managed to get the Thy-Dunag blade out and between her and the snapping Mandibles of the Ankheg, but the grapple she was in on the ground didn't favor her in the least, and the Ankheg she was fighting pushed its mandibles closer to her chest from above with each passing second. Time to fix that and protect Mei.

With a shout, I charged forward, blade flashing out even as I let out an Ear-Piercing Scream that would make any metal singer from back home jealous. Spellsinging infused the bellow with mystic power, and the Spell of Ear-Piercing Scream hit the Ankheg first, before my blade managed to gouge through one of its six legs, bending the limb in half from the force of my charge and forcing the Ankheg to screech in pain and confusion at the sudden reversal. Mei surged up and thrust out, the Thy-Dunag Blade punching through Mandible-flanked mouth and up into the Ankheg's brain from below, killing it. Mei huffed and puffed for a moment before moving over to retrieve her bow. Once she had bow in hand, Mei nodded at me.

"Thanks for the help." She nodded.

"Of course. There's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. It would be a shame if that thing had damaged yours." I grinned cheekily, quoting the Princess Bride.

Mei flushed crimson at my flirting before shaking her head and turning to head back into the fray. I allowed myself a smirk at that. I would get through to her eventually, mark my words. Unfortunately, she had the right idea. This fight wasn't over yet, and flirting mid-fight, while cool, wasn't exactly productive in a more meaningful way. I turned to aid Jaheria, who had managed to crack the Chitin of her Ankheg in multiple places, rendering the shell worthless for making into armor. Jaheira herself was about as wounded as I was, but her Ankheg was stubbornly hanging in there. As I charged, I lashed out with my rapier, thrusting for the Ankheg's side where a large crack spiderwebbed across the tough chitin. My Rapier plunged through the crack and into the Thorax of the Ankheg just as Jaheira's club swung into one of its segmented eyes, pulping the yellow orb.

With only two Ankhegs left, however, this battle was firmly in the win column. We all may be a bit wounded, and Imoen and I may have spent spell slots, but we were winning. Khalid and Imoen's own Ankhegs were already on their last legs, and when Jaheira and I moved to help Khalid and Imoen, respectively, the Ankhegs didn't last much longer, falling to a flurry of blades, arrows, and club strikes. Jahiera spent a bit of time and spell slots healing us up before we continued onward. We would grab the Chitin afterward, as de-shelling the corpses would take some time.

The tunnels were like a maze, but fortunately, not only were we unmolested as we swept the tunnels, but Jaheira was able to cast Summon Nature's Ally and Speak with Animals to summon a Dire Rat to help guide us through the tunnels, though now she was out of spell slots for the day. That was all right, however, as we would likely wind up spending the night in Lower Chionthar before leaving in the morning in order to avoid traveling in the dark, as it was likely that the sun would begin to set before we made it back to the Friendly Arm Inn. I would have to keep four of my spell slots in reserve just in case I needed to cast Cure Light Wounds to avoid my party members dying, leaving only one to use against the Queen, but it was doable.

"The Rat says there are shinies down that tunnel, and also food." Intoned Jaheira, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Food?" Questioned Mei.

"Why would an Ankheg need to steal food?" Queried Imoen.

"Think about what sort of things Ankhegs eat and you'll understand." I pointed out, much to Imoen and Mei's disgust.

"I-if Farmer Brun's Son is d-down here as a c-corpse, that is where he w-wil be." Added Khalid.

"A good point, I will tell the Rat not to eat any child corpses." Agreed Jaheira.

"Ew. Gross." Gagged Imoen.

"It's the circle of life, Imoen." I pointed out.

"I suppose so. That doesn't mean it isn't horrific to people, though." Responded Mei.

"You have a k-kind h-heart, Mei. D-don't let anyone t-take that from you." Opined Khalid.

"Robar is correct, though. Nature is not civilized and does not play by the rules that people set for themselves. Now, come on. We have a job to finish." Scowled Jaheira.

And with that, the Dire Rat led us into another chamber, this one littered with corpses. The Corpses of Two Horses, Three Oxen, One Dog, Three Humans, Two Dwarves, Two Elves, Two Halflings, Two Gnomes, Three Gnolls, and One Ogre were all stacked up in here. Some had bits taken out of them, and one of the Dwarves was completely skeletal, only identifiable by the bulkier bones that Dwarves tended to have. Both of the Halflings were missing an arm and a leg, while the Gnome was missing all but one arm. I was tempted to say this was a larder of some sort, but that wouldn't account for the massive pile of treasure that was also in here, as well, of which there was far more than there had been the first go around.

Looking in here showed quite a bit of stuff beyond what I had been expecting. Oh, certainly, there were the original treasure items, the darts, potions, Chainmail Plus One, Dagger Plus One, Scrolls, Wand of Fire, Ruby Ring, and Gold, but they were augmented by a suit of Mithril Ringmail Plus Two, a Belt of Physical Perfection Plus Two, a Large Ironwood Shield Plus Two, and a Cold Iron Longsword Plus Two from one of the Humans, along with a Darkwood Composite Longbow Plus Two, Keen Scimitar of Shock Plus Two, a Mithril Breastplate Plus Two, and a Quiver of Arrows Plus One from one of the Elves, and a Brass and Leather Scroll Case and Headband of Mental Prowess Plus Two on one of the Gnomes, as well as a pile of around Ten thousand Danter, and Ten Gems, Four Diamonds, Four Emeralds, and Two Star Sapphires. However, it was what I found on the Ogre, one of the Halflings, and one of the Gnolls that most intrigued me.

The Ogre and Halfling, along with one of the Humans, who only had a Ring of Protection Plus Two and an Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Two, and one of the Elves, who only had an Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Two, all wore the same badge on their tattered clothes. A black, three-taloned claw on a field of blood red, the Blacktalon Mercenary Group. These were, as I knew because I had the metaknowledge, the Mercenaries that were largely hired to protect the Cloakwood Mine and pretend to be Bandits by Sarevok and the Iron Throne. The Ogre had the Ring of Evading Sustenance and the Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Three that I had worn before being robbed by Serevok on him, while the Halfling had Discordant Note, my Bag of Holding, and my Ring of Protection Plus Three on him. Both also had suits of Studded Leather Armor Plus Two on them as well, and the Ogre had a Shortsword of Flaming Burst Plus Two, while the Halfling had a Corrosive Dagger of Mighty Criticals Plus Two.

Meanwhile, the Gnolls were all seemingly from the same horde that the Flind and Company, who had waylaid us on the road, had been from. They didn't have much on them, a few pieces of ravaged armor that weren't good to anyone, some broken weapons, but one of them had a Set of Chultan Bone Armor Plus Two and a handy haversack, inside of which were a number of looted trade goods alongside a Longsword Blade chased in Alchemical Silver and a Basket Hilt that was adorned with the same sort of Tiger's Eye Gems and Alchemical Silver that the Pommel of Yeenoghu's Bane had been adorned with.

This trip had given me all the pieces I needed to put together Yeenoghu's Bane, though I wasn't focused on that currently. Instead, the items that were mine that the Ogre and Halfling had possessed took my focus, along with the slight that seemed to imply from Sarevok. That my gear wasn't good enough for him, and that he had instead parcelled it out to various subordinates, including some going to subordinates of subordinates. That made me angry, though I doubted I would ever match a barbarian for rage. However, I felt the heat rising inside me and figured I could get close enough.

"Those rats!" I scowled.

"What?" Questioned Mei.

"He didn't even keep my gear for himself! That arrogant, miserable, no-good arsehole!" I spat.

"Who are you talking about?" Queried Imoen.

"I think I know." Mused Jaheria.

"I-is he talking a-about the r-rapier?" Asked Khalid.

"That's some of the equipment that was stolen from me by the Bastard who waylaid me! Apparently, he decided to hand out some of it to subordinates! It wasn't good enough for him to keep for himself!" I snarled.

"All of it?" Questioned Mei.

"No, just some of it." I spat.

"O-oh, g-good, because that Longsword l-looks like s-something I might w-want for m-myself." Mused Khalid.

"What about that ring? It looks like a Ring of Evasion with some extra stuff. Is that yours too?" Queried Imoen.

"That is, but I don't need it. You can have it." I scowled.

"I might be interested in taking that Shield if it isn't yours as well." Informed Jaheria.

"I'll go through the pile and pick things out, you lot can have the rest, all right?" I asked, getting a round of nods in return.

As I did, I grabbed Discordant Note, my Bag of Holding, Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Three, and Ring of Protection Plus Three, as well as the parts of Yeenoghu's Bane and the Belt of Physical Perfection, Handy Haversack, and Mithril Ringmail. Those last ones hadn't been mine, but the others wouldn't know that, plus they had agreed to my proposition for them to take the remnants, so it wasn't like I was lying to them, more massaging the truth. They still got some upgrades out of the deal, and would get more when we arrived in Beregost and could pay to get some serious upgrades with the Ankheg Shells and whatnot. I scooped the Danter and Gems into my Bag of Holding for later appraisal once we were out of the tunnels, and replaced my gear.

Once I had all that on my person, the others took their picks. Mei grabbed the Headband, Darkwood Composite Longbow Plus Two, one of the Sets of Studded Leather Armor Plus Two, Shortsword of Flaming Burst, and Quiver of Arrows for herself. At the same time, Jaheira grabbed the Large Ironwood Shield Plus Two, Keen Scimitar of Shock Plus Two, Chultan Bone Armor Plus Two, and the Ring of Protection Plus Two. Meanwhile, Imoen grabbed the other suit of Studded Leather Plus Two, the Corrosive Dagger of Mighty Criticals Plus Two, all the Scrolls, including the Gnome's Scroll Case, and took my former Rapier for herself now that I had reclaimed Discordant Note. Finally, Khalid took the Mithril Breastplate Plus Two, Cold Iron Longsword Plus Two, a Ring of Protection Plus Two, and Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Two. Everything else was swept into our various bags for later sale.

Unfortunately, Brun's son wasn't here, so we were forced to continue our search for him after looting. The summoned Dire Rat led us to a large chamber, but refused to go inside, squeaking out in quick, fearful squeaks as it did so. Jaheira frowned as the Dire Rat said its peace before fucking off out of the tunnels. She looked confused, and I had a feeling I knew exactly why that was. After all, Ankhegs on Faerun didn't normally have queens, and Jaheira would know that as a druid. Still, the question had to be asked, and it seemed as if Mei was going to be the one to ask it.

"Why did your little friend decide to leave?" Questioned Mei.

"The duration of my spell ended some time ago. He was only staying with us as a courtesy." Answered Jaheira.

"Then why leave now?" Queried Imoen. Jaheira pursed her lips as she tried to think of how to answer that before shaking her head. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Khalid who drew the answer out of her.

"C-come on L-love. Something has you s-stumped. What is it?" He asked.

"The Rat said something about an Ankheg Queen being in there, but that can't be right. Ankhegs don't have queens." Sighed Jaheira.

"Not on this plane, they don't. There are planes where they do, such as one called Golarion. If we are dealing with an Ankhrav, their word for Ankheg Queen, though, we are going to be very sorely pressed here." I spoke up.

"We have to get the Farmer his Son's Corpse back. That's not optional." Insisted Mei.

"Yeah, how would you like it if you weren't able to get closure for something like that?" Challenged Imoen.

"I'm not saying we don't do it, just be prepared. I also get the feeling this won't be an average Ankhrav, either." I refuted.

"No, those Ankhegs were also not normal. They aren't usually this difficult to deal with." Mused Jaheira.

"M-maybe it's because of the p-planar nature of the things." Suggested Khalid.

"I don't know. Ankhegs on Golarion aren't normally like that either. Whatever the case, I think we can make the case that this Ankhrav was powerful enough to wipe out the Adventurers, Black Talon Mercenaries, and Gnolls we found in the storage chamber all at once. Be careful, fight smart." I warned.

And with that, we entered the Ankhrav's Chamber. The first thing I noticed was all the eggs. There had to be at least three dozen of the things around the room, laid in clusters of six eggs apiece, all waiting to hatch. The next thing I noticed was the Ankhrav. She was massive, easily twenty feet long from end to end, heavy with thick chitin. Lying among the egg clusters were a number of corpses, including that of a Child with the same sandy-colored hair as Farmer Brun. These corpses seemed to be pristine, and it took me only moments to realize that they were supposed to be food for the baby Ankhegs when they finally hatched. I wasn't going to allow that to happen, though.

The Ankhrav spotted us moments later, letting out a horrific screech, then it reared up on its back half and spat at us. This time, instead of acid-covered rocks, however, a line of pure acid was spat out of its slavering maw heading right for us. I dove out of the way, tucking myself into a shoulder roll as I tumbled out of the literal line of fire. Imoen managed it as well, but Mei, Khalid, and Jaheira all got caught by the line of acid. Mei only partly, but Jaheira and Khalid fully. The viscous liquid sizzled into their flesh through their armor and burned them. I charged forward, slashing for one of the segmented legs with Discordant Note. Luckily, I managed to score a hit, though not a critical one. As Discordant Note retracted, ichor oozed up from my cut, bleeding the Ankhrav. It's attention laser focused on me because of that, it swiped a claw at me, taking a chunk out of the meat of my left bicep, though it really should have been paying more attention to Imoen.

In came Imoen from behind, ducking under the desultory Claw Swipe the Ankhrav sent her way and plunging her Rapier into a spot between the plates near the last third of the Ankhrav's Thorax, catching it flat-footed and literally backstabbing the insectoid beast. The Ankhrav let out a squeal of pain before it turned to face Imoen, lunging for her with its acid-dripping mandibles. The bite that clamped onto Imoen's left arm was brutal, flensing Imoen's left arm down to the bone with biting force and sizzling acid. The Ankhrav then tossed Imoen away, smashing the back of her head into the wall of the Chamber, leaving a red spot on the wall as Imoen slumped down to the floor near a clutch of eggs.

Fortunately for me, Mei managed to recover from the acid, firing her new Composite bow at the Ankhrav. Her first shot splintered against the steel-hard chitin, as did her second shot, but it caught the Ankhrav's attention. A screeching roar was heard as the Ankhrav focused on Mei, but before it could begin to try and move toward her, I struck out with Discordant Note, taking another chunk from the flesh between plates of chitin, though not nearly as much as Imoen had done. It was still hurting now, but it turned on me, even as Jaheira and Khalid recovered from the acid, pushing themselves to their feet. In a flash, I found myself assailed by bites and claws. I managed to parry one of the claws and block the other on my shield, but the bite slashed into my leg, grinding down on my calf and flensing the meat off the bone with mandible and acid. Fortunately, before I could be tossed away like Imoen, Jaheria, and Khalid were on the Ankhrav, slashing away.

Khalid's longsword bounced off the Thick Chitinous Armor of the Beast, as did Jaheira's Scimitar, but it redirected the Ankhrav's attention long enough for me to cut out with Discordant Note while it was distracted. The Blade sheared through one of the Mandibles keeping hold of my leg, and the Ankhrav was forced to drop me. I tucked myself into a flip, landing on my feet, as a Good Swashbuckler should, but my wounded leg collapsed under my weight, and I fell to one knee. Fortunately, the Ankhrav's wounded maw, now spraying Ichor and Acid, didn't spatter onto me, but onto Jahiera, more acid sizzling into her. The Ankhrav was on its last legs and could no longer bite. However, the acid spray had hurt Jaheira badly, and as it swung its claws, it looked like the Ankhrav would finally finish her off.

That was when Khalid stepped in front of the blow in a display of the purest form of love I could think of. The Ankhrav's twin claws slammed into Khalid, practically pulping his ribcage beneath his armor and sending him flying backward to land in a heap, bleeding out on the floor of the cavern. Mei sent another pair of arrows at the Ankhrav, only one of which dealt it a grazing wound, and Jaheira and my cuts both rebounded off the Chitin. That was when Imoen stood back up and snarled out an incantation, pointing her hand at the Ankhrav and flinging magic missiles at it. Five darts of mystical force struck the Ankhrav, individually weak, but strong enough together to knock the damn thing on its side, though more acid was squirted out of its maw in the process, spattering both Mei and Imoen.

Mei, however, saw her chance to actually finish the fight. An incantation, more magic missiles, and this time, the spell pulped one of the Ankhrav's segmented eyes, braining it as well. The Ankhrav shuddered once, twice, then lay very still, finally dead. It had been a close fight, but we'd won. Unfortunately, Khalid was unconscious and bleeding out. I was forced to expend all my remaining spell slots just to stabilize him and get the rest of us in good enough shape to smash up the Ankheg Eggs. Once that was done, we collected the small corpse of Farmer Brun's Son and got to harvesting Ankheg and Ankhrav Corpses for things.

The Ankhrav and Ankheg Shells were easy enough to harvest, simply time-consuming. In the end, six hours passed before we managed to return to Lower Chionthar, Victorious. That was little consolation to Brun, however. His son was dead, and he said not a word as we handed him the savaged corpse of his boy, simply turning for his small farmhouse with a single tear in his eye and a grim expression on his face. Dirk and Libby, on the other hand, were ecstatic, enough that they gave us a very good price on the trade goods in the Handy Haversack and the gems we found. All told, we came out of the Ankheg pit with enough Ankhrav Shell for two suits of armor, enough Ankheg Shells for Six Suits of Armor, fresh gear, including some of my stolen equipment, the remaining parts of Yeenoghu's Bane, and thirty thousand Danter. We had almost died to do it, but we'd done it.

Now, all that remained was to heal up and head south. We would stop at Beregost on the way to get our Ankheg and Ankhrav Armor, as well as to put the pieces of Yeenoghu's Bane together at the Thunderhammer Smithy. Maybe we would even do a sidequest or two while we were there, though I wasn't sure. However, once we were done with that, it would be straight to Nashkel. I was expecting to recruit both Minsc and Branwen in Nashkel. Then it would be onto the Nashkel Mines to finally make progress on the primary reason we were doing this. Hopefully, we would be overpowered for the encounter once we had finished kitting out.

Once the sun had risen after spending the night at the Drunken Silverling, Jaheira and I healed us all back to, if not full strength, then at least most of the way there. Then we headed out down the Coast Way south to Beregost. We would finish healing tomorrow, and if we were lucky, arrive in Beregost the day after, sleeping on the road twice in the process. That was the plan, anyway. We would see whether or not things would go just as planned or not as we traveled.

After all, the universe did so enjoy messing with Adventurers, so you never knew. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It's a bit of a long one, but I wanted to finish the Ankheg Pit in one go. As you probably guessed, this wasn't the same Ankheg Pit from canon. An Ankhrav from Golarion muscled in and took over the nest, mutating the Ankhegs within into bigger and stronger forms. This allowed the Ankhegs to begin ambushing adventurers, mercenaries, gnoll raiders, and so on, amassing a decent collection of gear, including some of Robar's stolen equipment. In game terms, all of the Ankhegs and the Ankhrav were templated multiple times with simple templates. This was effectively an encounter with five CR Five Ankhegs and a CR Eleven Ankhrav, which was why Imoen, Robar, and Jaheira were down to single-digit HP, and Khalid was Unconscious and dying by the end. Accordingly, however, everyone leveled up from this.

At any rate, the next chapter will include the trip south to Beregost, including an encounter with a canon pair of characters on the road. Then we'll finally get to Beregost afterward. I'll also have some images and character sheet updates out before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .