"Let's fall back to one of the outer metal rooms and rest until we recover our strength. We can bind the human and bring him with us, then head back to the Hidden Ones and trade him."
Drahlneep grunts in agreement, then slowly climbs to his feet. He cracks his neck and hefts his spear and shield, prepared to lead the way once everyone is ready.
The human remains unresponsive and the kobolds have to drag him back over the trail of blood and back to the safe chamber before the desert cave. Sarahthenal uses his last two spells on Drahlneep and himself.
The kobolds rest and after they have slept, they feel better. The human is awake, but still suffers from quaking and headaches.
"Let's get this fleshbag back to the Hidden Ones and find that trader. I'll scout ahead. Drahlneep, stay close to the human. Reep, keep your boom stick aimed on him."
Reep nods vigorously and keeps his rifle trained on the crazy man.
The human still moves very slowly suffering from quakes and dizziness, but the warband and captive make their way back to the great desert cavern to now find it fully lit by a great red glowing overhead like an angry sun! Thankfully, the reddish light is not as bright as the horrible burning sun that normally glares upon the overlands above.
At least the human walks a bit more quickly in the light and the far side is reached. Returning to the caves of the Hidden Ones, you find the place eerily silent. Neither your warden mates, Dranjek nor Olp greet you and the elusive Hidden Ones are either not present or skulking somewhere.
"I don't like this. Be on guard."
Jeji looks around slowly before calling out "Leupel?" in Undercommon. She grips her spear tightly with one hand as she slowly pulls out an explosive flask. She kneels down leaning on her spear as she searches the ground in front of her for signs.
Jeji doesn't see anything in the immediate area. The human reaches out in the darkness. "Where are we?"
Leupel appears suddenly, stepping out from her hiding place.
She is cut off by one of the adults suddenly appearing.
"They say this one killed their leader" she says in draconic. She switches back to Undercommon to ask "Where is the human trader Sanvil Trett? He agreed to pay us to bring this one back. Maybe you would like to purchase him instead and make your own arrangements with the other human? Wait, what humans? Where did they go? How long ago did they go?" Panic begins to creep into Jeji's mind.
Leupel continues in undercommon, "These humans were armored in leather and wrapped their fists in rope. Their leader spoke for the strange woman. He said that we had failed to keep intruders away. That he would question the kobolds he captured and we would all be killed if we let any others pass!"
"That is enough, Leupel." The leader, Sef steps from a niche in the lightless cavern. "This human, Baine, we will kill him and we will kill you if you try and stop us!"
Khonnir Baine gives out a wild yell and struggles in his ropes before falling to the ground in the embrace of another seizure.
Jeji:
Reep:
Sahrahthenal:
Drahlneep:
Hidden Ones:
Drahlneep looks unsure of his role in the current conflict. I do not care about the human beyond the value of his knowledge, what do I care if they wish to kill him? He glances at his new tribe, ready to take his cue from them.
Reep hesitates as well. "This human, he has knowledge. Kill him, eat him, I don't care. But we need to know what he knows before you do!"
"We do not wish violence with you and your people Sef. We have all seen too much of it from the humans. There is no need for us to fight each other. I would ask that you let us try to pry information out of the human before we turn him over to you. Afterwards you may do what you will with him, but if you kill him, we want his head."
The Hidden Ones are aptly named and it is near impossible to detect them if they wish to remain hidden. Jeji thinks that she has only seen four or five of them total, but that is uncertain. Thankfully, Sef removes her hands from her weapons.
Sarahthenal raises a claw. "The human, Sanvil Trett, offered his reward whether this one was alive or not. Let us fight our common enemies, not each other. You will have your revenge."
Sef nods to Jeji. "Learn what you can though do not take too long. He may yet die first and deprive us of our justice."
The kobolds drag Khonnir Bane into the hut given them and rouse the unconscious human.
"Who is Sanvil Trett? What do you know of the purple-haired weapon? What is she after? Where are the other humans you were traveling with?"
The man presses his shaking hands against his head. "Sanvil T-T-Trett? The merchant. W-W-What do you mean?"
"I don't know any p-p-purple haired woman. Is she a gnome? I didn't think there are any gnomes in T-T-Torch."
"The other are all d-d-dead. Killed by the robots and... were there little green men?
"What does the merchant want with you? Why were you going into the metal caves? What is this, Torch?"
"T-t-trett wants me? Why? I hardly know him."
"We're in Torch. or under T-t-torch. The town. The flame went-t out. We wanted to find out why. Without the flame, the t-t-town will fail." The man grits his teeth looking pained.
"What about the little green men?" Drahlneep's martial nature keeps his mind on potential foes. Perhaps we can prevent the humans from fixing their flame while we recover the ancient magic.
Khonnir just stares at the kobold. His trembling grows worse and then he begins flailing as he is gripped by another seizure.
"How many humans came with you? What did you find out about this, flame? What little green men? Goblins? Are there goblins about?" Jeji comes to the same conclusion as Drahlneep. If the humans cannot fix their flame, and this leads to the fall of the town, then their mission suddenly became a lot clearer.
The human continues writhing a bit longer and then becomes still. Sarahthenal checks him. "He is still alive, but damaged." He rubs a scaly claw over the shaved and scarred head. "I am not sure he even knows what he is saying. No matter how many humans there were, they are all dead now except this one. They obviously discovered nothing but how to die. Let us give him to the Hidden Ones and summon the human called Trett. He may know where our companions have been taken."
Drahlneep makes a disgusted face. "Without more powerful magic, I don't think we are going to get anything more from him. A shame."
Jeji nodded with Drahlneep. "Agreed. Let us turn him over to the Hidden Ones and see if they can tell us anything."
Reep nods, sighing. "Too bad he is crazy. Warnings about what lurks beyond would be nice." Reep follows the others.
The kobolds signal the Hidden Ones that they are finished questioning the human and his is dragged off to the leaders cave by a pair of the stealthy humanoids. Evidently, they manage to revive him for a while because you hear some screams, but it is not long before the sickly man succumbs and the dark caves fall silent again. The Hidden Ones drag the bloody corpse back out to the entry cave leading to the submerged quarry pool where you first entered and Sarahthenal asks if the warband is ready to summon Trett.
Sarahthenal's voice snapped Jeji backed to their current situation. The screams from the human had caused Jeji to seek escape. This human hadn't done anything to her. She had no proof that he did anything to any kobold. Still, he was human, and his kind were their enemy, but she still didn't think he deserved torture. Especially not in his condition. She was relieved when she didn't have to be the one to perform it.
She blinked a few times before looking at the others for objection before nodding in affirmation. "Yes, I believe we are ready."
Sarahthenal nods and mentions that it must the start of the day above as he dumps the dye into the water and watches it plume and follow the flow deeper into the caves. It must emerge somewhere known to your surface dwelling contact if he intends to get the message. Then you wait.
It is the time after the sun above when something disturbs the water and what the kobolds now recognize as a three-legged service robot emerged first. Trett folows right behind it taking a moment dry himself with a cantrip. He looks over the band and the dead human lying near them. "So you found him. Is he dead?"
"Yes, and yes. We found him. He was alive, barely. Mumbled on and on about what the metal ones did to him. He said they put something in his brain. He did not survive the trip back. The Hidden Ones said that humans came and took our kin. Do you know where they took them? And we're in need of a curative wand, or some kind of curative magic. Do you have anything to trade?"
The man shrugs, "I did say, 'dead or alive'. I would have liked to question him, but there are still ways to get a dead man to talk. Very well! I offered you a reward and I am a man of my word: 20 Silverdisks, that's 2000 common gold coins in trade or cash."
"As for who may have taken your friends... there are many humans above. How would I know?"
"Do you have any wands for trade? We're looking for a healing wand. We also found these healing rods. It looks like they inject healing potions or something like that. We have five of them if you are interested in them."
A search of the room doesn't find much loose equipment, but a white metal box remains open on a counter and inside are six odd vials with a button on one end. Only one remains filled with green fluid. The others have been used up.
Jeji plays around with the device and upon pressing the button, there is a brief hiss and some of the fluid inside squirts onto the counter top. She thinks that it is a device to deliver alchemical substances directly into a body only without the needles the crazy robot was using. Inspecting the fluid, she identifies it as anti-plague. There look to be 9 doses remaining.
Trett shakes his head and rubs his wide human jaw. "There aren't any wand makers in town. There is plenty of MedTEK though. I have surge serum and rad-dose on me. There are a couple trauma packs at the general store and I think the witch has cureall, hemochem, and cardioamp. She has more of those medlances, too. They're used to deliver the meds."
"Witch? Where is this witch? We cannot walk into your...town. We need supplies brought to us. Can you arrange this?"
Drahlneep stands in the corner watching the human suspiciously, but otherwise avoiding the interaction.
Reep cradles his rifle and sings a low sweet lullaby to it.
Leupel continues in undercommon, "These humans were armored in leather and wrapped their fists in rope. Their leader spoke for the strange woman. He said that we had failed to keep intruders away. That he would question the kobolds he captured and we would all be killed if we let any others pass!"
Trett shakes his head and rubs his wide human jaw. "There aren't any wand makers in town. There is plenty of MedTEK though. I have surge serum and rad-dose on me. There are a couple trauma packs at the general store and I think the witch has cureall, hemochem, and cardioamp. She has more of those medlances, too. They're used to deliver the meds."
Jeji thanked the human for his time and honorable dealings. She turned to go find Leupel. "Leupel, the humans that took by brothers, which way did they go? Back to the metal tunnels, or did they return to the surface?"
Sarahthenal speaks up, "The humanss that took our companions- the Hidden Ones said that they wrapped their fists in rope. I do not think that is common. Do you know them?"
Trett nods. "Now that's interesting. Those are Garmen's thugs. I wonder what he is up to. He runs the gambling hall in town and a few other enterprises so it seems. I can show you where that is and we might be able to find out where he took them."
Sarahthenal translates for the others.
"In the human town, this, 'Torch'?" Drahlneep feels his anger rise. "We need to be ready." A chance to exact vengeance on humans who seem to think that it is their right to kidnap those different from them pleases him.