The human listens closely, but curiosity is not yet sated. "Did you find out why the Great Purple Flame no longer burns on Black Hill? Was this android responsible? What of the others that went into the hill? Did you find a man named Khonnir Baine?"
The purple haired android was up to something with the machinery inside the mountain, I assume she was the cause of the flame going out. There was a man that had gone inside the mountain but he was captured and tortured to death by the inhabitants.
The white-haired hybrid human nods slowly. "That is unfortunate. I feared that they had been gone too long. The first expedition seemed so promising. Though after the robot he brought back went berserk and well... he will have no child to grieve his passing. At least this android has been destroyed."
She then shakes her head. "If the flame is gone though... I fear for this community. The Technic League will come when we cannot pay the Tribute. But you have more immediate concerns. I thank you for the information and forgive you your trespass. If your people dwell within the mountain, I would warn you to leave. The Technic League will dig deeply into the Black Hill and destroy anything in their way."
"I have some things that may help, though they will be costly. I will take what you offer in trade." She accepts the stun gun and tape and stick and returns with three vials of bright yellow fluid.
"The blightburn you speak of is radiation sickness. This vitality serum will cure the exposure and the weakness you feel," she explains.
Thank you. And good luck to your town, the Technic League is a fearsome group. We are off to deal with our own issues now.
Kricker leaves with Drahlneep and distributes the vials among the three affected kobolds.
So shall we check out that ruined fortress on the way to scrap wall now? I need a place to do some work on my gun and make some more ammo.
The witch delivers the injections though it takes her a while to locate a scale free spot. Drahlneep holds on to the last dose for Perrik. The bird continues to watch you suspiciously. You move back through town carefully to find your companion and plot your route.
"Well done. I guess we're on to the ruined fortress and then Scrapwall."
The kobolds scurry through Torch avoiding the stepped up patrols by keeping close to the stinking pond and the outflow until they intercept the quiet road outside of town. They circle far out from the farms and start north based on the position of the glaring moon that descends to the west.
It finally sets and there is a brief respite of darkness interrupted only by faint dim spots far above in the darkness, the humans call them "stars". Then the east begins to lighten and the weary kobolds are left to find some place to rest as the sun lurks beyond the barren expanse of the plains.
Drahlneep briefly enjoys a moment of peace after camp is made. Looking back at the human community that had been brightly lit when he arrived he felt a swell of pride. Soon, those humans would suffer for their crimes against his people. It did not matter to Drahlneep that those specific humans were not the ones who slaughtered his old tribe, he blamed all humanoids.
Kricker starts looking around for a likely cave or some other shelter from the dreaded Sun.
The barren plain seemingly offers no place to hide and the kobolds feel some dread at their exposed situation. Then Kricker has a thought: why not build a cave? The grassy ground can be cut like sheets and rolled back. Some of the black dirt underneath scooped out and spread to create a hollow for the kobolds to lie in and then the grass sheet rolled back over them. It seems a cunning blind and shelter and the scally-folk are not bothered by the scratchy dirt or creepy bugs that supplement the goo-tubes.
*******
Gozran 2
The next evening the band continues north and soon see fires and tents. A group of horses are tied nearby and a couple dogs bark from the moonlit camp.
Shall we investigate? We should be sure to approach from down wind if possible to avoid the dogs getting our scent.
"I suppose. Horses generally mean bigger humanoids, and we have few allies among the taller folk, but perhaps they have something we can take from them. I will scout ahead. Spread out and be ready to rush in from several sides."
Jeji creeps closer and sees that it appears to be a small tribe of feral humans. There are six of the cave-like structures that appear to be animal skins tossed over wooden frames circling a central fire. Fourteen humans are gathered around the fire and have bushy black hair on their heads and are similarly clad in furs. There are men, women, and a couple children. Another five men stand watch or tend to ten horses that are hobbled nearby. A dog accompanies one of the guards and another gnaws a bone near the fire.
Those don't look like they are worth our trouble. Lets keep moving on.
"Agreed. We should be off. There is nothing more for us here."
Perrik awakens from his rest with a start, looking around wildly. "What was--did any of you hear--" The scars of blightburn remain despite the TEK remedy, and there is an unpleasant sort of rattle in his agitated breathing that wasn't there before, but the weakness has left him. "I'm sorry, I thought I heard someone talking to me--I don't remember what they were saying, though."
When Jeji returns, the oracle asks, "How are they armed? Maybe we can ambush one of their hunting parties. We're not strong enough to attack the camp, though."
"At least five of them appear to be warriors. They seem to be a tribe, but traveling with their younglings as well. There are also at least 2 dogs. It could also be that they already sent out a hunting party and more may return. It's hard to know for sure. They're primitives. I wouldn't think they have any weapons that would help us, but we wouldn't know unless we attacked them. I still say we push on."
The kobolds quickly confer. It seems to go against kobold nature to engage without superior numbers. Perrik posits an ambush, but the others don't see much to gain from these primitive humans. They certainly didn't appear to have much of value.
"All right. But if they come after us, remember I told you so. A good pinkskin is a dead pinkskin. Let's get to this fortress."
THe kobolds continue their journey and by night's end reach a great trench-like canyon that cuts across the plain as far as can be seen from east to west. The local kobolds know that this is called the First Blade's Path rumored to be some God's stray slash across the cosmos. It leads all the way to the Selen River to the east.
"Can we hide in the Path?"
Perrik knows something of the region. The great trench is passable and runs from south of the human capital of Starfall in the west to the Sellen river in the east. Kricker might have heard that it is said to have been gouged by a Herald of Gorum as he dragged a strange weapon across the land. Sometimes priests of the Lord in Iron travel its length in pilgrimage.
North of the divide is a barren land called Sovereign's Reach by the Technic League, where orcs and giants keep local barbarians and adventurers away from the ancient TEK claimed by the League. On the south side, where the kobolds currently stand, there are far more humans that farm the plains or roam in barbaric tribes. The way to Scrapwall is far longer to take the Blade's Path and then go up the crowded Sellen River. The shortest route would be to cross the trench and continue over the Sovereign's Reach.
I suggest we take the shorter path, I am not as worried about avoiding orcs and giants as swarms of pink skins. Also we should be able to easily find a shallow cave or the like in the sides of the Path.
"I don't think we should cross. There are many pinkskins here and on the river, but we can travel by night. The orcs and giants to the north see as well as we do in the dark."
In the silence that follows, Perrik adds, "We could compromise--cross now, but stay close to the canyon for a few days. If there are too many orcs and giants about, we can retreat across the divide."
"I am more worried about giants than I am the pink-skins but there is wisdom in Perrik's words. Swarms of pink-skins would be harder to avoid than orcs and giants."
I am OK with Perrik's plan. Let's cross and stay close to the canyon for a bit to see what the situation is like on the other side.
The kobolds decide that, based on their experience with the prolific humans, they may find it easier to avoid a few giants than all the packs of humans on the plains. They will stay close to the trench for a while though.
They find a rocky outcropping on the north side to hide in during the day and aren't too surprised to hear the dogs and riders pass nearby on the southern side. That night they move on. For three days they travel east along the trench not encountering any trouble. At this point, Perrik reckons that they need to decide if they will continue to the Sellen River or risk crossing Sovereign's Reach.
"Traveling in the Reach means orcs and giants, but less distance to cover. Continuing along the trench will give us a good place to hide, but will be a longer distance. Also, we will have to travel along the river, and there are many pinkskins that go the same way. I think we should take the shorter way."
Sounds good to me. Is there any chance that this old keep is along our path?
Perrik knows it is and the kobolds cut northward away from the First Blade's Path. That night, the full moon gets dimmer and dimmer nearly disappearing before coming back. It seems a good omen and the next two nights' travels safely continue with no more than a distant giant's silhouette spotted by the light of the moon.
The ruined fortress crests the horizon early on the next night after about a week's travel.
Let us approach it carefully lest it be no longer in the claws of Kobolds.
The kobolds stealthily scout the site finding the walls of the abandoned fortress still intact if crumbling. Something is up though because the portcullis at the gate is down and a pair of humans stand watch on the battlements above.
Perrik shakes his head, stifling a cough. "This is a bad thing. We can't attack them until we know more about how strong they are. Let's watch them for a while, and if they send out any parties we can ambush them and learn more about their strength. While we're watching, maybe we can also look for secret ways in."
Let me conceal myself somewhere where I can hear what is going on inside, maybe that will tell us more about what is happening inside as well.
Kricker slips closer to the gate to listen. It is quiet at night. The kobolds excavate another hole to hide in and take turns sleeping and sharing the shade googles to watch the fortress. No one enters or leaves.
"Let's see if we can find that secret way in. Enough of us know something about buildings that we should be able to figure out where to look."
Perrik inspects the fortress from afar and notes that the northernmost section of the wall is quite cracked and its fifteen-foot height would be the easiest to scale.
Hmm, I should eventually be able to make my way up that wall but it would be much easier if someone could get to the top and secure a rope...
"Jeji's magic makes him our best climber. I will need a rope and some luck, even though my weakness from the holy blightburn is gone."
"I will go. Stay here and stay hidden until I signal for you...or scream."
Jeji climbs up the ruined wall by bracing off of the cracks and quickly reaches the top. All remains quiet and she sees no one in the ruins below.
Kricker tosses up his 50' of silk rope.
Jeji secures the rope and is quickly joined by her companions.From this vantage, they can see that this half of the fortress is a complete ruin, long ago burned down to rubble and charred wood. Going around the fortress from the kobold's perch clockwise, they see a partially ruined chapel, destroyed stables, and intact watch tower and barbican. Besides the pair of human guards at the barbican gate, the kobolds spy another pair of humans in the central courtyard roasting meat over a campfire.