After quietly thanking Master Khardir for the healing, Bernard awaits anxiously just behind Nyzaj, greatsword in hand. He feels like a lumbering ox in comparison to the nimble kobold, and watches with dour concern as the golden one scrambles and climbs his way to the far side - only to spring the trap.
Anger stabs into his heart, and he decides that if he's to be a lumbering ox, he'll be a lumbering ox in truth. Raising his blade so that its hilt is by his left right ear, the rest pointed horizontally at his foes, he charges forward with a cry, bursting through the barricade.
"For Belhaim and the guard!"
The wooden beams and broken furniture burst before him in an explosion of shards and splinters, and he staggers straight into a kobold's blade which opens up his thigh. Using the pain to spur him on, Bernard makes an ungainly swing, seeking to lop off the offending kobold's head!
Khardir follows up and with a bellow makes a heavy-handed swing of his hammer at the kobold to Bernard's side.
Palming a small vial and quickly drinking it. Grabbing a round container but unwilling to throw it over the head of her companions, "Out of the hall!"
Bel draws on the power of greed, gold, visions of red scales flash before her eyes, jewels, diamonds, crowns. She pulls on the power thrumming in her chest, shapes it. Protective wards bloom around Bernard.
Bernard's sudden entrance stops the kobolds from finishing off Nyzaj, forcing them to jump back to avoid the flying debris. The rightmost kobold barely dodges his swing, yelping in panic as he cleaves deep into the wall above it. The leftmost kobold, still unsettled by having messed up the ambush, takes a clumsy swing at the former guardsman. The other joins the fray, but both strikes harmlessly deflect off his armour. Meanwhile, the kobold leader hisses in frustration as its arrow breaks upon Beldraim's wards—otherwise, it would have clearly struck painfully into Bernard's knee-joint.
"Die, human!" it screams at Bernard. "Give back stolen dragon-heir magicks!"
"Rrraah!" shouts Khardir as he swings his heavy hammer again.
"I want out of the hall!"
Dull fury pounds in his temples like the beginnings of a migraine. That last miss nearly turned him right around. He's fighting like a greenhorn, palms so slick with sweat he's having trouble keeping his grip on his blade. Nausea roils in his gut, and sweat beads his brow. His body's changed. Stiffened, grown old. Neglected. Even if his strength's still there, it feels alien.
With a roar, Bernard steps forward. That fury washes over, and he focuses all of his ire and bitterness on the kobold before him. Not caring for his own safety, he leaves himself wide open as he winds up a massive blow, then brings his greatsword screaming around from the hip to collide with the kobold's chest.
Bel squeezes up in front of Nisany and extends a finger at the red-garbed kobold, uttering a dire curse in Draconic.
"Close your eyes to the blade, the cut, the darkness. You will be with the scale soon."
Khardir continues to harrow one of the kobolds, while Bernard cuts the other cleanly in half, splattering blood and viscera all over the floor. The remaining spear-kobold shakes off Beldraim's enchantment, blinking and yawning even as it looks on in horror at its companion's swift evisceration. It moves forward and attacks Bernard, visibly shaking with fear as its strike deflects off the witch's wards.
The archer curses in Draconic as yet another of its arrows breaks upon Bernard's armour. It takes a step backwards, eyeing the tunnel behind it with some hesitance.
Khardir steps up over Nyzaj's fallen form and brings his hammer to bear against Bernard's opponent. "Keep moving!" he bellows. "We need to get everyone else into the cave!"
Khardir's persistence finally pays off, as he manages to crack the remaining spear-kobold over the head with his hammer, sending it tumbling unconsciously against the wall.
The kobold leader does not look pleased, clearly looking like it is going to make a run for the tunnel behind it.
"Finally!" Freed from the hall and fear of hitting allies Nisany runs into the room.
After the enemies in front are down, Bel surges forward past her companions and draws on her innate power, directing it toward the last enemy.
Nisany's bomb hits its mark, exploding in a blaze of fire. Alarmed as it is by this development, the kobold is quickly overcome by Beldraim's magic. Yawning even as it swats away the flames, it soon slumps over and starts snoring loudly.
Panting for breath, Bernard staggers over to where the armored kobold has fallen, not quite understanding what happened to it till he looks back at the others and sees Beldraim's smile.
"What - how -? Nevermind." He wiped the back of his wrist across his forehad, then sets his blade on the ground as he kneels by the kobold and quickly binds him tightly.
Setting the kobold's weaponary aside, he turns to survey the group, and only then does their victory register on him. He gives them a weak grin, then takes up his blade and examines its gory length before cleaning it with a cloth.
"Well done, all! A mere couple of kobolds, but still. A worthy fight."
"Great job!" says Khardir. He advances to smack Bernard heartily on the back. "I knew as soon as I saw you, that man, that man has a bit of the stone in him, I said to myself. Glad to have you along."
With the battle coming to an end, you have a moment to catch your breath and look around: The chamber is much as it appeared at a first glance, with debris and the bodies of dead kobolds strewn about the earthen floor. There are various tools scattered across the space as well, mostly pickaxes and spades, with the shattered remains of a crude wheelbarrow crushed under one boulder.
The corpse buried under the rubble is that of an elderly human man of Garundi descent, with thinning hair and a long white beard. He is—or rather was—dressed in heavy robes of fine red satin, with golden constellations sewn into the fabric. There is little else of value on him, save for a ring of gold with a hinged lid of semi-transparent green crystal. Underneath the lid is a key, built into the bauble itself.
Beyond, the chamber narrows into a tunnel and disappears into the darkness.
The kobold soon awakens from its cursed dream, struggling vainly against its bonds.
"Lets me go!" it shrieks. "Sesserak will tells! They lets me go, so I tells them things! Will go long away, never comes back. Yes?"
Indeed, Hunclay's appearance here does not come as a surprise. Ever since the man moved into Belhaim seven years ago, he had been insistent on tearing down the so-called Witch Tower. The wizard had already gone as far as to clear-cut every tree on his property in order to ensure a clear view of the night sky, and claimed that the tower blocked the stars to the east of his observatory. He even offered to buy the ruined keep for an exorbitant price, just to demolish it. Time after time, the baroness had rebuked him. Her husband, Baron Arkold, had lost his life exploring the tower, and she had come to think of it as his memorial.
So, it appears that Hunclay got his wish, after a fashion. The man that murdered your family is dead. But with no evidence of his foul deeds, has justice truly been served...?
Moving over to Bernard, "You ok?"
Once the little kolbold wakes up, "What do you have to bargain with?"
Once the little kolbold wakes up, "What do you have to bargain with?"
Noting that it is not in an immediate danger of being killed, the kobold quiets down and looks around, nictitating membranes flashing open and closed over its reptile eyes as it takes stock of the situation. One can clearly see a plan forming in its tiny little head, its lips curling up to reveal a fanged grin.
"I tells you any of the things," it replies conspiratorially. "Big secrets, just asks. Of tribe, of tower. And lets Sesserak go after! Will run, go far away. Not be a bother to you or yours, no..."
Bel looms over Sesserak alongside the others. She crouches until she's eye level with the creature and says, "What were you doing here? Why this place, and who directed you to go here?"
Sesserak nods upwards, pointing north with her chin. "Tunnel leads to old man-mine, to Bloodvow tribe-home. Chief Roaghaz sends us here. True Dragon-Heir, is he! Sesserak looks over so others dig right, and talks with book-wizard. He wants tower gone, so we makes it so. But he comes much too early, to see the work. Accident happens: cave-in and death! Mistakes made. Not enough supports, I thinks."
The kobold looks down at her bindings, and then back at the group expectantly. "Now they lets me go? Can keeps her things, the shiny stones and all. No return for Sesserak, no longer of tribe. Then failure, now betrayal. Twice too much. No return, or death. So says Roaghaz. Must run, far away and fast."
She might be hard to read due to her reptilian features, but Sesserak's words betray her—clearly, she is no talker. You have no doubt that she would kill you all if she could, but it appears that she values her own survival more than revenge. As such, she seems to be entirely honest in her intent to flee the region, at least, and most of what she says must be at least partially true. She might not be telling you everything, however.
Her story about the collapse, specifically, sounds somewhat suspect. While it certainly looks like there was some sort of an accident—which would explain all the dead kobolds—her excuse about the supports seems a tad too flimsy for someone whose kind is renowned for building tunnels. If she was indeed the overseer here, she must have a better idea of what went wrong.
Bel says, "Surely an accomplished foreman like yourself would know how this accident would happen. If you tell us about that, and this book-wizard, it may help your chances of getting out of here alive."
Bernard looms threateningly over Beldraim, greatsword propped over his shoulder, staring down hard at the kobold as he awaits its answer.
No need to crouch to be on the same level as Sesserak, "You are surrounded by a angry and mostly human settlement so leaving might be hard. The more you help us the more we will help you. I would much rather see you leave safely and all of us accomplishing what we can here to do."
Sesserak hisses with frustration, but is quickly cowed by Bernard's stern presence—not to mention the splatters of blood still coating his person. She pauses for a moment, glancing between Beldraim and Nisany before finally letting out a resigned sigh through her nostrils. "Yes, yes. More, there is more. Chief Roaghaz tricks book-wizard, tells him we serves him. But we serves no human! Roaghaz wants book-wizard dead, to gets his wizard-books from man-cave above. So we digs and digs, to makes ready the trap—biggest of all! We calls book-wizard here, to crush under earth and rock. But we dig wrong, too wide. Not enough support for stone above. Sesserak sends warriors to the surface before cave-in, but not one comes back. Dead to collapse, must be. No wizard-books for Roaghaz..."
The kobold looks around nervously, as if Roaghaz might jump out from a nearby shadow at this very moment. "Now, you lets Sesserak go! Must flee, fast!"
Bernard blows out his cheeks. "That's definitely Hunclay over there under those rocks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we're to understand that the wizard wanted the tower gone so badly that he... hired kobolds to undermine it? Only to be betrayed as this 'Roaghaz' wanted Hunclay's spellbooks in turn? But the kobolds messed up their own trap, and everybody suffered for it...?"
He rubs the back of his head. "That is some convoluted madness. I think we have to take Sesserak up to confess and make an official statement. There are powerful forces at work here, and we should keep him as a witness."
Reaching over and tugging on Bernard's pant leg and waiting to speak until she can mumble in his ear, "Won't the people of the village just kill her? I mean we have an answer."
Sesserak protests loudly against being imprisoned further. She hisses and struggles feebly against the ropes, but there is little she can do to free herself.
Peering beyond Balthus Hunclay's crushed corpse, one can see a hewn tunnel leading north. The tunnel branches out after a while. At one end there is a hole in the floor. The hole drops down to a narrow, four-foot wide tunnel that winds away to the east. At the other end there is a campsite, with few piles of furs laid out like nests heaped near the walls of a small cave. There is nothing of worth here.
Meant for storage, the vault is just as utilitarian as the previous chamber. Aside from old, broken bones littering the floor, most of it is empty. However, there is an area along the south wall that is enclosed in a cage of thick iron bars, that extend from floor to ceiling. Within the enclosure sit seven black iron chests. To the north, the stone wall has collapsed, revealing the darkened outline of a rough-hewn tunnel.
As the group moves into the room they notice two small slots in the floor, one just east of the treasury cage and one just west. Both are about the size of a large coin, and are cut into the middle of circular stone tiles.
Bel looks thoughtfully into the tunnel, and then back at the kobold.
"I say we free her on one condition, that she never takes up arms against human settlements, the people, or their structures again."
Bernard lets out an amused snort. "You're a generous lady, Ms. de Codice. Do you believe one such as her to be bound for life by any oath she is forced to give us while under duress? While I'm confident she'd flee the area, I've no doubt that she'd simply become a headache for the next group of people she runs across."
That said, he moves to stand over the dead Hunclay, whom he glares at with a mixture of avid satisfaction and misery. He then spits on the corpse. "Justice is done," he whispers. "Though not by my hand. Bastard."
Bel's shoulders shrug ever so slightly. She says, "The equation is simple, I think, with life comes possibility. We've already had one kobold defect and aid us, who's to say it won't happen again? Fate is a fickle thing, after all. I say we not execute this creature for simply following orders, and giving her to the guard is certainly an execution as if we'd done it ourselves."
Bernard looks up from Hunclay to study Beldraim. "Perhaps. But this kobold tried to kill us, is guilty of a conspiracy to slay Hunclay, and agreed to demolish town property. I would not put her on the same footing as our friend Nyzaj, here."
He doesn't sound upset or accusatory; more like he's sounding out this new partner of his. "I don't think it can be argued that she's broken the law many times over. If we simply release her in the hopes that she have a change of heart, well. Won't that be undermining the very reason we have laws and consequences for actions such as hers?"
Looking back and forth while Bel and Bernard talk, "But she is not a member of the city so she is not beholden to those laws."
Bernard gives an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. This is my background as a member of the guard showing through. But the moment she entered the town's jurisdiction she became subject to its laws. It's what allows us to prosecute brigands who come raiding or criminals who seek to despoil us as they travel through."
Bel shrugs one more time, and spreads her hands like a carnival showman. "We can debate philosophy at a later time, but this shouldn't be left to just us two to decide. We all were instrumental in taking the tower. So what say the rest of you? You know my stance, and Bernard has voiced his. I say we vote. What do you all think?"
Glancing over at the kolbold then back to her taller companions, "Oaths on Gods are binding."
"Not a bad idea," Beldraim says. "Would Sesserak swear to the god she serves never to harm, or be the cause of harm, to another intelligent, thinking living thing again?"
The kobold nods intently at Beldraim, inching closer to her as best as possible.
"Sesserak swears," she promises readily. "She swears on the Keeper of the Pyrite Vault to not harms or kills, or makes others either."
While she is clearly not suicidal enough to strike out at others from a place of weakness, Sesserak seems to have a lasting hatred of humans. You think she would have no qualms about breaking her oath once she is the position to do so, likely seeking to join another kobold tribe elsewhere. In fact, you are not even entirely sure if she truly reveres the entity she swore upon.
Bel turns to the others and sighs. "She's likely lying. The only recourse is to turn her over to the city guard, then." She takes one more piteous look toward Sesserak, and then moves to the treasury.
"There has to be a purpose to these slots. Didn't we find things of this shape earlier?"
"Maybe?" says Khardir, as he checks his pack to see if he has something that matches.
"Perhaps only the plaque, but that won't fit. Hmm," Bel says, tapping her elbow with the palm of her other hand. She takes another moment, then looks darkly at the others. "Perhaps the devil knows. Bernard, a devil lay in these ruins. He may hold the keys to this treasury. With your sword, we could make quick work of him."
Bel will ready a slumber hex for when the devil appears. DC 14 will save or fall asleep.
"We wish to unlock this area with the two coin slots. Do you know of these keys, creature?"
If it falls asleep, she will have someone tie the creature up.
Glaring at the Kobold at Bel's words before whirling around and staring at her with a horrified expression. "Why would we ever go back there?"
Bernard surveys the strange slots in the ground, rubbing at his bearded jawline before turning to listen to Beldraim.
"I'm willing to give it a shot, but only as a last resort. Perhaps one last attempt to crack this puzzle by ourselves? Let's see if old Hunclay had anything on him that might be of help."
That said, he lowers himself to one knee beside the wizard's corpse and gives it a thorough search, his expression one of distaste mingled with savage satisfaction.
That said, he lowers himself to one knee beside the wizard's corpse and gives it a thorough search, his expression one of distaste mingled with savage satisfaction.
Closer inspection of the body yields no further gain, nor does searching the prisoner.
"We wish to unlock this area with the two coin slots. Do you know of these keys, creature?"
Beldraim's proclamation is followed by a long silence, but finally you can hear the familiar voice of the imp echoing across the chamber. Its source keeps moving about the room, as if it was flying around invisibly, trying to obfuscate its exact position. Clearly, the little devil is more wary of you now that it knows you can harm it—and impressed enough with your prowess to make its offer.
"I know this," it says in an almost solemn tone. "Yes, I do. Swear you will find a way to release me, and I will tell you. Promise that you will break the spell that binds me here, and allow me to leave unharmed."
"Swear to set you free in Belhaim so that we might get our hands on that treasure?" Bernard laughs darkly. "Not bloody likely."
All the while he's gazing uneasily around the room, blade once more in hand, vainly seeking some sign of this devilish interlocutor.
He casts a sidelong glance at the others. "Right?"
Bel shrugs, sighs. She feels the pull of whatever treasure is located there, feels it scrape against her veins, tug at her muscles, cloud her mind. She places a hand to her forehead, a headache building in her.
"Right, right. Of course you're right. Can't...ugh...jeopardize this quaint pile of sticks."
"I for one don't want to be responsible for releasing some kind of devilish entity on the unsuspecting town," rumbles Khardir.
Drawing newly acquired dagger, "Why would we even trust you?"
"Swear to set you free in Belhaim so that we might get our hands on that treasure?" Bernard laughs darkly. "Not bloody likely."
"I can understand your hesitance," the imp says in a conciliatory tone. "With this in mind, I propose an addition to our terms: you release me from the binding and allow me egress. Then, in recompense, shall give you information about the keys, and leave the area without causing harm to anyone in Belhaim, never to return. Does this seem more agreeable to you?"
Drawing newly acquired dagger, "Why would we even trust you?"
"I am a servant of Hell," the voice answers. "Surely, the Lord of the Ninth would smite me if I did not uphold my end of a contract."