Kaelic moves in as Juma drops the chief and produces flames in the palm of his hand!
Dagon, having drawn his crossbow already, loads and fires it at a kobold he has a clear shot to.
Dagon fires and puts a bolt in a kobold, taking it down!
Nighttail and Hak ride into the chamber and the kobold attacks with her spear, taking out another kobold!
The remaining two kobold gang up on Juma, and both stab him with their spears!
"Juma, what's with all the blood?" Kaelic inquires as he goes after one of the offending kobold.
,
,
Kaelic touches a kobold and burns it to death, then stabs it for good measure!
Juma, Dagon, and Nighttail easily take out the last kobold, as it quails at the ferocity of the party!
"Is it just me, or did he say his name was Roaghaz? Was that who we were looking for, Nighttail?"
"Let's patch you up there, big guy." Kaelic says as he reaches out with a glowing hand. "It's a cure spell, I promise."
"I am overwhelmed at your healing abilities, Kaelic," says Juma, blood still dripping from his wounds.
"Ah-hah!"
"Hey look, it's almost like I've only been stabbed two or three times!"
,
"Come back here!"
,
,
"Hold still!"
, ,
"There. You're welcome."
Searching the body of the chief, you find two scrolls of glitterdust, a wand of web (5 charges), dagger, cloak of fangs, and keys.
In the back of the room, you see two chests that are easily unlocked by the keys found on the chief. One chest holds 1,895 gp, and the other
holds six large green scales and an even larger black scale.
"Scrolls and such for Dagon, a cloak and some money for me, and..." Kaelic holds up the dagger. "Hey look! something for you, Juma."
Having defeated the chieftan of the Blood Vow tribe, Nighttail informs you that she intends on taking over the tribe and installing herself as the new leader. "I give you my word, the Blood Vow Tribe will no longer bothers the people of Belhaim."
Passing through the part of the lair you had yet to explore, Nighttail announces her rise to the throne, to the relief of the surviving kobolds.
In one room, you find three humans, chained to the wall, being used as slave labor by the kobolds. Nighttail releases the humans to you and you find out that two are a couple who were passing through and have no possessions, while the third is Bophre Malak, a dairy maid who went missing from Belhaim and whose mother will pay you 200 gp for her safe return.
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After Nighttail is installed as the chief of the Blood Vow tribe, the party goes back to Belhaim. Arriving at Baroness Devy's manor, you are show in to her offices. Casting a discerning eyes, she asks. "How did you fare? I see you all have survived. Are the kobolds taken care of then?"
"Hey babe, do you like fish sticks?"
"Yes ma'am, those kobolds won't be a problem for you anymore."
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"Well, to sum up, any kobold who looked sideways at us is now dead or dying on the warren floor. The rest are re-starting a tribe led by our new friend Nighttail, who promises not to give you trouble. Satisfied?"
"Hey girl, want to get to 'gno-me'?"
"Ha! Boom baby!"
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"Yeah, they shouldn't be an issue anymore. The ones we left alive seemed cooperative. Besides that, I think they all got a good look at the kind of trouble we bring to the table." Kaelic says reassuringly. "Look, I think Juma still has some kobold brain on his stick."
The milkmaid smile coyly and giggles at Kaelic's advances. Asking to show him the milking barn if he has time.
At the baronesses office, she nods and reaches into her desk and removes the pouch containing the gems and hands them to the party. "You have proved yourselves quite able in these matters." The Baroness takes a deep and says. "Would you be interested in taking on another little job for me?"
"I'm listening."
"That's rare, so you better talk fast." Kaelic quips.
Lady Devy pauses, taking in the party. "The day after Hunclay perished, word was sent via raven to his only living relative, a cousin in Yanmass." Turning to glance out her window, she continues. "Just this morning, her reply arrived—she, the cousin, doesn’t seem all that distraught at his death, and has no interest in coming to Belhaim to claim his estate and belongings. Instead, she has requested that I auction off all of Hunclay’s property and possessions so that the proceeds, minus expenses, can be sent to her."
She turns backs to your group, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "This is a task I don't need right now. So, what I need of you is to enter Hunclay's manor and catalog his possessions. I know this could turn out to be a dangerous endeavor, rumor is he warded much of the manor with magical traps. Who knows what that crazy old man had in there or what's lurking about."
Pausing to stare at your group again, she shrugs. "Exploring Hunclay’s manor and identifying any unusual or magical items there while simultaneously deactivating traps and dealing with any monstrous guardians seem to be tasks tailor-made for adventurers like yourselves, after all." She finishes with a smile. "You are not allowed to loot the old man's house, I expect your complete trust and honesty, but I will pay you well....five thousand gold pieces. How does that sound?"
"That certainly sounds like a mutually beneficial agreement, so long as we don't find anything mythically powerful, like a philosopher's stone or deodorant that works on Dagon."
The baroness smiles, then her face shows puzzlement at Kaelic last remark. "Splendid. It pleases me that you will undertake this job. I don't trust anyone in our humble village to tackle something like this without getting killed. Be careful, that wizard was known as a suspicous man."
Dagon sniffs his armpit. "I don't know what you're talking about. I smell like a daisy.
"This does sound like a plan. But it sounds like it's a bit more than 5000 gold-worth of danger..."
Devy fixes Dagon with an icy stare. "5000 gp is a small fortune around here! I don't know where you come from, but I think you overestimate the productivity of this village!" Taking a breath, she sighs. "I may be able to scrape up another 1000 gp. I'm not making any promises, but I think I can do that. Let us see how you fare. If you do another exemplary job, I'll pull some strings. Deal?"
"I'm just saying, you're supposed to deduct 'expenses' from the sum you send to the cousin. Who's to say how much 'expenses' are?
"But regardless, your offer sounds fair. I'm in."
"You won't regret it. We do only the finest work. And the rest we leave to Juma."
Devy nods, then sniffs the air, before glancing at Dagon. She sublty reaches into her desk and retrieve a sachet, holding it to her nose. "Good luck, then! You best get underway."
Leaving the baroness' office, the party crosses the village and returns to the wizard's mansion. Entering the door already unlocked by Kaelic, you are able to to cross into the foyer without Dagon falling into another pit.
"We decided up first, right? After all, it only goes so high. But there's no telling how far down it might go."
"I believe that was the plan, yes."
Ascending the spiral stairs, the party comes to the second floor of the manor, entering a library. This lushly furnished library features three tall bookcases running north to south down the center of the chamber and another bookcase of iron in the northeast corner. A stuffed grizzly bear towers in the northwest corner, its claws and fangs bared aggressively. The east wall features sixteen paintings of various planets in gilt frames. A ladder in the west side of the ceiling leads up to a trap door.
Kaelic wiggles his fingers in proper spellcaster fashion.
Scanning the room, Kaelic detect four distinct auras, one on the iron bookshlef and three within. The aura on the bookshelf is one of faint abjuration, while inside, he notes a strong conjuration, a moderate enchantment, and a moderate enchantment/necromancy among the htree auras.
"We have some kind of ward on the bookshelf here, maybe an alarm spell on a particular book or something. We also have some conjuration and enchantment further in. Not sure what yet."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to be sent to poke something and deal with the consequences?"
"Because you're smarter than you look I suppose. But let me check it out first."
Kaelic advances towards the bookshelf door, examining it for traps.
"Did you find the source of those auras?"
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Kaelic examines the bookcase and does find a trap. He is able to discern that the case is locked with an arcane lock (the abjuration aura), as well as a normal lock, and of course, the trap.
"Well there's a magical lock, a normal lock, and a trap. I don't feel good about these odds. Hey Dagon, have any helpful magic tricks? If not, I think we should consider coming back for this."
"The only trick I know is 'Make the fighter do it.'"
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"Why don't you start with the trap, and we'll see what we can do about the lock."
"...and by 'see what we can do about the lock' I mean 'use the key we found with the bird downstairs'."
"Oh. Right." Kaelic pulls out the aforementioned key.
"But it's the trap I'm worried about."
Holding the bird charm to the bookcase, Kaelic can discern the it deactivates the arcane lock, though the case is still trapped and locked with a mundane lock.