Alsterro lashes out with the staff, sick of the damned fight and putting every ounce of frustration into the blow. "Get on the ground and stay there!"
The party pulls together and takes down the chieftain with a flurry of arrows, bolts, and hits!
Using the keys found on the chieftain, the party is able to open the several chests found in the chamber.
One chest holds 1895 gp and the other six hold six large green scales and an even larger black scale.
Milloy will cast Detect Magic once the fight has ended.
Ah! Dragon scales! Milloy takes the black one in his hands and examines it further. Nighttail, what do you make of this? Why did he have these?
Alsterro pulls out the cloak and examines it. "Crude work, but functional. Helps to protect the wearer and gives him the ability to chew on things to great effect." Alsterro looks around at the others, wondering who needs it most.
"Chewing things? I try not to go biting things - folks included - unless I know where they been," Kurth says, eying the cloak suspiciously.
"Now, whaddya think we should do with them eggs? Night-tigger, you think now that the chief's dead you could convince the survivors to clear on out, maybe sit on them eggs somewhere else? I'm not one for killing little ones, even if they are on the scaly side."
If Alice is done playing with the loot, Kurth will start fashioning a sling to carry the chests out of the tunnels.
"Chewing things. Like when a guard dog comes up and bites you and decides he wants to rip a piece out of your leg."
"What about making the tribe part of the town? Raise the young ones up right, and they can be productive members of society."
I'm not sure how the townfolk would take such a suggestion, Alsterro, however I suppose the suggestion could at least be made. Milloy then turns to address the rest of the group. Shall we take our newly-discovered wealth to the surface now or continue on?
"Sure, guess we ought to give the rest of the caves a look," Kurth says, slinging the chests over his back. "What exactly did we miss, other than the egg-hatching room?
Nighttail, what do you make of this? Why did he have these?
"Nighttail, would you be able to take leadership over the kobolds, and give us more information about this dragon? All this talk about worshipping a dragon and sacrificing townsfolk to it has me a bit worried, and we should learn everything we can about this threat."
Nighttail responds, "Oh, the chief was bad. Very cruel kobold. Nighttail can lead the kobolds right. The old chief worshiped some cruel dragon but if the people of Belhaim are nice to our tribe, we will gladly trade with them. I will make sure of this."
"Also, let's explore that fork in the road we just passed."
Nighttail accompanies you to the last few rooms and finds a few kobolds holding human prisoners. She informs them that the chief is dead and orders them to release the humans. The kobolds unchain the slaves. One of them is Bophre Malak, who has been here the longest-she is the farmhand from the Malak dairy in Belhaim who went out for a walk a few months ago and disappeared. There is also the married couple Carlo and Sela Bellathi, who used to sell religious charms in town. They were caught 2 months ago while travelling east on the Verduran Highway, just having plied their wares in Belhaim. Though brutalized a bit, they've been kept relatively healthy.
Returning Bophre to Malak Farm grants you a reward of 200 gp from her grateful mother.
"On second thought, caves is just caves, really. Killed a kobold chief in one, you seen 'em all," Kurth says, suddenly in a hurry to return to the surface. "We better get moving, see if we can't catch up to them prisoners we released earlier. See if that milkmaid needs a, uh, escort, to the farm ... bandits about and what not. Maybe see about picking up that reward - the gold, of course - when we get there."
"It might make the townsfolk less inclined to hunt and kill them next time they encounter the tribe, and it would allow them to make amends for any damage done."
Alsterro grumbles. "Healer one minute, drudge laborer the next. This is not what I envisioned when I set out, you." He shakes a finger in the general direction of wherever Nethys will likely be found , then grabs up as much of the loot as he can haul.
After several trips of hauling loot, the party returns to the surface. Reporting back to Devy Manor, you are able to give Lady Origena an update on the kobold situation. She seems worried about your deal with Nighttail and first and indicates that if the kobolds don't keep their promise, the consequences will be on your heads. After assuaging her fears, however, she accepts the development as satisfactory and pays you in full (500 gp total).
As word spreads around town that the kobolds were serving or worshipping someone named "Aeteperax", the citizens of Belhaim grow nervous. Everyone in town seems to know the old legends of how Lady Tula slew a dragon. Now old-timers remind youngsters that dragon's name was Aeteperax, and rumors that the ancient dragon might not have been slain after all begin to spread. Though these rumors make the Baroness nervous, Origena believes that the matter of this new "Lord Aeteperax," whether or not he exitss, can wait, because while you were investigating the kobold snarl, there's been a development. She fills you in:
"The day after Hunclay perished in the collapse, word was sent via raven to his only living relative, a cousin in Yanmass. Just this morning her reply arrived-she 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. This leaves me with a daunting task-cataloguing the contents of Hunclay's manor home means entering the place and exploring its interior, an enterprise that could entail considerable danger. You see, Hunclay was something of a foul-tempered recluse, and word around town is that his manor was warded by magical traps and guarded by monsters. The fate of the kobold who burned to death on the manor's front porch has only added to everyone's fears."
The Baroness takes a deep breath before asking, "As such, I was wondering if you would interested in taking on another job for Belhaim. Exploring Hunclay's manor and identifying any unusual or magical items there whil simultaneously deactivating traps and dealing with any monstrous guardians seem to be tasks tailor-made for adventurers like yourselves, after all. Though you won't be allowed to loot what you find in the manor, I can promise you a flat 5000 gp fee for performing the service and you'll be welcome to participate in the auction to follow."
Lady Origena has an assistant draft a contract outlining your fee and the expectation that you exercise every possible caution to leave items inside intact and undamaged. She notes that Hunclay's cousin didn't put a time limit on her request, so you are free to tackle the assignment whenever and at whatever speed you wish-though hopefully not too long.
Hunclay Manor is the newest building in Belhaim, built of heavy blocks of stone 2.5 feet thick. Stonemason Gregol Lenton, who was involved in the construction, explains that the floor plan is straightforward, without any secret doors or rooms.
You approach the front door to find the grisly remains of a kobold, the flesh charred badly and limbs contorted by fire, still lying on the doorstep of the manor house.
"No secrets, huh? You sure - he couldn't have added something in after you were done?" Kurth says, quizzing the mason while warily examining the charred kobold."What kind of rooms is underground? Upstairs? Any traps and whatnot?"
"Was any magic integral in the building of the house? How many entrances and exits, and where? Where in relation to other buildings in Belhaim, and any passages (secret or otherwise) connecting it to any other buildings?"
Milloy will investigate the area around the front door as Alsterro tries to detect magic. Alice, perhaps you could see if this area is safe?
"Well of course he could have made additions after we finished with it. And there's many rumors that the crazy old coot had traps set up; it wouldn't have been us, we build by hand-not by magic. So that was none of our doing so I'm sorry I can't help much more there."
---
Alsterro only finds the one main entrance and Alice does not find any traps on the front door.
Indeed we do, dear Alice. But be careful. Seems our friend here met his end on the doorstep that we stand on. Milloy taps the dead kobold with his quarterstaff and then backs off of the porch. I trust your skill but I'll be over here, just in case. You understand, of course.
Milloy will cast Detect Magic before Alice proceeds.
Alice uses one of the keys to open the door. The floor of this well-appointed entry hall is adorned with two expensive Qadiran rugs and decorated with several overstuffed leather sofas. Two dozen paintings with gilded frames hang on the walls, portraits and landscapes, all of exquisite artistry. To the north sits a large bird cage. Wooden doors open in the east and west walls, and an elaborate spiral staircase of iron both ascends and descends in the southeast corner.
Milloy detects a conjuration aura directly in front of the doorway.
Hold a moment, do not proceed. Milloy stands where he is, not moving. There, in front of the doorway, is a pitfall created by a spell.
"Shoulda saved a couple of them kobolds, run 'em inside in front of us to set off the traps. Knew a couple of burglars used to do that with pigs," Kurth says, waiting for Alice or the magic users to deal with the trap.
Alice tries to disable the trap but instead accidentally sets it off, creating a 30' deep pit directly in front of the entrance.
Hmph! At least we weren't standing on it. Milloy looks at the situation. Can the trap be reset, Alice, so that we can walk across? If not, we'll have to make the jump.
"Are we standing around or are we exploring?" Kurth says, before taking a running jump across the pit.
Safely on the other side, he looks around quickly before tossing a rope across to the others.
Well, seems we're moving across!
Milloy will then cast Detect Magic again, looking for more surprises.
Alsterro will scour the edges of the pit and the walls, looking for a way to bypass the pit and make it across without having to jump.
Alice finds that it has a manual reset and it doesn't look like the pit is going anywhere fast.
There is a birdcage in the room containing five frantic songbirds. Each of the colorful, exotic birds is extremely rare, noisy, hungry, and thirsty.
Hmm, seems there are two doors leading from this room. Alice? Which do you like? If you would be so kind. Milloy will wait for Alice to perform the SDOP before taking more actions.
"What's that, there?" Alsterro points out the charm on the leg of the largest bird, then tries to find any indication of magic on it.
"This Hunclay musta been some kinda nut. Putting jewelry on chickens," Kurth says, shaking his head at the absurdity. He walks to the door on the west side of the hall and listens.
"I was always partial to left, myself," he says.
If no one else has, Milloy will ask Alice to make sure the cage is safe before he attempts to grab the charm on the leg of the bird and examine it, especially if it detects as magical.
Miloy detects a faint abjuration magic on the charms and determines that it is some sort of key. He easily retrieves it from the leg of the trained pet bird.
Alice checks the door to the left and finds no traps or locks. The door leads to a short hallway containing two more doors on either side.
Another choice. Have at it, Alice. Take your pick.
Milloy examines the charms. Maybe this will help, if they are indeed a type of key as I suspect they might. Milloy will let Alice have the charms in case they become useful in opening something.