"We capture nasty mite!" Mikmek gloats with glee, not offering much of an actual explanation. He walks up to the cage and pokes the mite with a stick, eliciting a squeal. "Nasty nasty mites!"
"Ummmm.... Mikmek? Who those?" Another ashen-scaled kobold pokes its head out from behind a boulder.
"Nakpik! They found Old Sharptooth!" Mikmek greets his comrade with excitement. "Longshanks friends. This is... uh... umm..."
Mikmek appears to have forgotten your names.
"Greetings. My name is Taranis Redleaf. The cat is my friend, Toth. The wildly bearded one is my brother Unrak. The one with the manicured beard is Marc. The half-orc is Augrym. The fire-haired elf is Zed. Indeed, we bring you a gift of good will and a hope of friendship."
"Ummmm... I see..." Nakpik says in clipped Taldane. He is clear uncertain of his orders under this situation. Mikmek chirps at him in Draconic briefly and Nakpik decides to let you in.
Entering an extremely cramped passage, Nakpik flips a small switch hidden in the wall, which prompts a metallic clang from deeper inside. You pass over several patches of ground that seem strangely springy beneath your feet, and Toth avoids them entirely. The passage thins even further beyond, forcing you to squeeze. You pass two additional kobold guards, who look at you with shock, then follow curiously. Mikmek greets them in Draconic.
Fortunately, the tunnel widens out into a larger cave, the walls of which have been smeared with what appears to be charcoal and blood. The smearings depict multiple representations in red and black of a looming, sharp-toothed reptilian devil. Two low stone tables sit in the middle of the room, one of which is stained with red as well.
This cave leads to another even larger cave. The air here feels warm and close, thick with a reptilian stink mixed with smoke and burnt meat. Numerous beds of furs lie scattered throughout the room amid smoldering cookfires. A ten-foot-wide alcove contains a large mound of furs framed by dozens of sticks on which are mounted the skulls of many birds and small animals, all smeared with ash. Gathered here are another half-dozen kobolds, and the bone-clad Chief Sootscale!
Nakpik and Mikmek chirp at their chief in Draconic, and the Chieftain's nostrils flare. He barks back. Mikmek turns to Taranis. "Chief Sootscale demands Old Sharptooth be returned to him!"
"Zed, do you understand their tongue?"
----------------
"Noble kobolds of the Sootscale tribe. We return to you your statue. We carry with it friendship and peace. We share a common foe in the mites, and I suspect human bandits. Let us mark this as the first day of our mutual friendship."
Chief Sootscale's eyes practically glitter with excitement as Taranis hands him the statuette. "Thank you," he says, to your surprise, in Taldane.
Sootscale holds the statue in his hands with a fierce look of concentration for a long moment, as if he were making a particularly difficult decision. Finally, he shrieks in triumph, holds the statue over his head, and then smashes it down onto the ground, shattering it. The other kobolds in the room freeze in shock while Sootscale, a frantic grin on his snout, faces the longshanks. "I am your debt for freeing us from this curse. Please, come with me to kill the usurper."
He pushes past you to the southwestern cavern. The other kobolds stand agape.
Unrak blinks in surprise.
What the ffff... he looks to the other kobolds for their reaction.
The other kobolds look right back at you, completely taken aback. Your presence was confusing enough. Now this? None has yet made a move to either stop Sootscale, or to follow.
Taranis puts his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Come, let us see what weather Gorzeh has for us." He then moves to follow.
Because what happens now can't be weird, it can only be normal!
He shrugs, draws his sword (keeping the point down & not overtly threatening to the kobolds in the room), and also follows.
Curiously, Taranis keeps his weapon hand empty, with a wink to Unrak.
Unrak and Taranis follow Chief Sootscale into a separate cavern decorated by a rickety wooden frame formed from clean-cut branches lashed together wit gut and twine. Banners cut from two-foot-wide strips of old blankets and horsehides hang from floor to ceiling, covering much of the walls. The sloppily painted banners bear dozens of primitive icons and mystic symbols. A large cauldron filled with bubbling red liquid boils in the center of the room.
As the brothers Redleaf approach, they can hear Chief Sootscale shouting at someone. "TARTUK! I broke your puny god! Your curse is nothing! NOTHING! I AM CHIEF SOOTSCALE!!!"
Opposite the bone-bedecked kobold is a sinister-looking kobold-shaman with deep purple scales. Tartuk glares coldly at Chief Sootscale, a silent glare that deepens as soon as he notices you.
"DIE, USURPER!" Chief Sootscale screams, and attacks.
+2 if Surprise
The kobold chieftain steps in and swings viciously with his bone club. Teeth crack in the purple kobold's snout. HIT
Round I
1. Chief Sootscale
2. Zed, Taranis
3. [color=purple]Tartuk[/color] (8 dmg)
4. Unrak, Augrym, Marc
"This is ....unexpected." Taranis looks at his brother, and then smiles. With a quick phrase of primal syllables a blade of pure flame erupts out of the druid's hand.
"Toth. Attack."
ROAR!
for
Toth sinks his teeth into the strange purple kobold!
Round I
1. Chief Sootscale
2. Zed, Taranis
3. [color=purple]Tartuk[/color] (15 dmg)
4. Unrak, Augrym, Marc
So.... I was wrapped up in work stuff. Sorry.
Zed speaks Draconic. Did he get anything useful our hosts tried to keep from us?
Zed followed the chief.
- Round the First
- Current HPs: 20/20
A small stone in the center of Zed’s palm rotates in fits and starts, with each rotation, it gains in bulk with a grinding sound as though from deep within the earth. Within a moment, the amalgamation of stones and dirt surges from his hand and grows into a stony representation of the essence of Earth itself, an elemental! This hulking, roughly humanoid creature of dirt and stone is faceless save for two glowing gemstone eyes.
The elemental rolls toward the erstwhile shaman using it's strange version of locomotion as it simply becomes part of the earthen floor before it. It attacks Tartuk!
for damage.
Alignment & Size: N Small (4 ft. long, 80 lbs.)
Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +4
AC 17, touch 10, flat-footed 17
hp 13
Fort +4, Ref -1, Will +3
Defensive Abilities Immune elemental traits:
[list]Immunity to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
Not subject to critical hits or flanking. Does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack.
Proficient with natural weapons only, unless generally humanoid in form, in which case proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Elementals not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Elementals are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
Elementals do not breathe, eat, or sleep.
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth glide
Melee slam +6 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks earth mastery
Str 16, Dex 8, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 13
Feats Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +1, Climb +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +1, Knowledge (planes) +1, Perception +4, Stealth +7
Languages Terran
Earth Glide (ex): A burrowing earth elemental can pass through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. If protected against fire damage, it can even glide through lava. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other sign of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a burrowing earth elemental flings the elemental back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round (DC 15 Fort Negates).
Earth Mastery: +1 attack and damage if both the opponent and the elemental are touching the ground. If opponent is airborne or waterborne,, take a -4 penalty on attack and damage. These modifiers apply to bull rush and overrun maneuvers, whether the elemental is initiating or resisting these kinds of attacks. (These modifiers are not included in the statistics block.)
Already cornered, Tartuk silently slices with surprising dexterity at Chief Sootscale using a wickedly curved sickle. The purple-scaled kobold's dark eyes seem to glint at the sight of blood.
Round I
1. Chief Sootscale (3 dmg)
2. Zed, Taranis
3. [color=Purple]Tartuk[/color] (15 dmg)
4. Unrak, Augrym, Marc
Unrak steps by his brother, and takes a mighty swing.
<--wow. Just wow. 2nd 1 in 2 d20 rolls...
Augrym, distracted by the spectacle, forgets that he would have followed leader friend Taranis no matter what, and finds himself surrounded by kobolds with battle in the background. He will draw his sword and ready his shield on his way to the sounds of battle.
”Good leader friend Taranis, Augrym is coming!”
Augrym, distracted by the spectacle, forgets that he would have followed leader friend Taranis no matter what, and finds himself surrounded by kobolds with battle in the background. He will draw his sword and ready his shield on his way to the sounds of battle.
”Good leader friend Taranis, Augrym is coming!”
(Academae Graduate: DC 17 Fort Save)
plus...
- Fortitude: +1
- Reflex: +3
- Will: +5 | Vs. Enchantments: +2
Zed's summoned elemental throws a punch wide, and hurried feet sound down the passage.
"DDDDDDIIIIIIEEEEEE!" Chief Sootscale screams. He stabs the purple witch once again.
HIT
Round II
1. Chief Sootscale (3 dmg)
2. Zed, Taranis
3. Tartuk (17 dmg)
4. Unrak, Augrym, Marc
Taranis swings his weightless flame blade at the kobold:
THREAT
for
"Toth. Finish him!"
The cat attacks savagely with tooth and claw:
MISS
MISS
-----------------------------
Zed barks orders that sound like rocks smashing. The elemental glides through the rock to the kobold and slams it with a stony "fist":
for
Taranis and Toth combine (with an assist from Zed) to put down Tartuk for good!
Sootscale impales the strange kobold through the skull just to be sure. After a moment of huffing and puffing, he straightens as tall as his small stature allows.
"Thank you, longshanks. My tribe is free of Tartuk at last." He waves a hand at the junk piled throughout the room. "Sootscale kobolds in your debt. Take anything you like."
Masterwork light steel shield
Crossbow bolts (x7, magical)
Boots (deerskin leather, magical)
Dust of illusion
7,420 cp
2,132 sp
302 gp
A soiled bag of burlap, containing:
321 sp
249 gp
13 pp
Plain brass wedding ring (set with a single pearl, worth 120 gp)
"Sootscale! That was.... decisive? Can you tell us what we just did? Are your tribe and our tribe now friends?"
Taranis hands the bags over to his brother. When he sees the wedding ring though, he smiles "Don't we have someone missing one of those?"
Taranis waits for everyone to arrive, and for Sootscale.
Unrak hefts the coinage with a grunt, but it's more of satisfaction than of strain.
he grins at the sight of the ring. Ha! Wonderful!! Oleg will be well pleased!
He recalls their other task, and chimes in with his brother.
Yes, Sootscale. The humans nearby want to make sure that they don't have anything to worry about your tribe. Can we count on you to leave them alone? We promise they'll do the same.
”New friend Sootscale, congratulations on your decisive and impressive victory against your foe. Your people should be proud to have you as their leader. I am proud to call you ally.”
Zed identifies the crossbow bolts as +1 flaming crossbow bolts, and the deerskin boots as boots of elvenkind!
Sootscale grunts and nods. "Friends. Yes. Peace. Yes," he intones. He stares at the purple corpse at his feet. "Tartuk come. Bring new god. Tell kobolds to steal from mites. Many of tribe die in fighting. Tartuk sacrifice others. No need for new god," he spits. "New god dead now. Curse broken."
"I am glad that we are friends!"
Chief Sootscale kicks the corpse for good measure, and causes a wand to fall out of the dead witch's belt. He looks at you. "You want?"
Travel back to Oleg's takes the rest of the day and the better part of the next two, but the road is clear and the weather remains thankfully dry. Oleg looks up from spreading hay by the stables as you come through the gates.
"Ahhh, been hoping you'd come back. Got a letter for ya, from the Swordlords of Restov no less." He returns a moment later with an official letter.
To the honorable and chartered explorers of the Northern Greenbelt,
Word has reached our ears of a bandit leader in your vicinity who has self-styled himself as the Stag Lord and claims the fealty of all bandits in the region. For the Greenbelt to be pacified and stability ensured, this Stag Lord must be eliminated. You are hereby chartered to capture the Stag Lord and return him to trial in Restov or, should that not prove possible, to enact immediate justice and slay him. Make all necessary efforts to prove his end and you shall be rewarded with a sum of 5,000 crowns.
Bidding you good health and pleasure at your progress,
The Honorable Swordlords of Restov
Augrym, unless anyone objects, reads the battered journal on his way back to the outpost.
”I believe it is time to put an end to this Stag Lord. The Swordlords have decreed it.
"Oleg! It has been too long! We've come to flush your coffers with coin, appreciate your unending hospitality, and share stories over a hearthfire!"
After Augrym hands the letter to Taranis the druid looks it over, "I don't know that we do, and my connection to the land is not strong enough to ask her. I can however speak to the animals; mayhaps they know of an animal that walks like a man, but has horns like a stag. We could also talk to our fey friends? I'm open to suggestions, but first I'd like to do some shoping and catching up."
He then turns to Oleg, "Speaking of my friend, is this ring yours?"
We need to divvy some items. No one spoke up about the shield, so I sold it. Someone (Unrak) needs to buy a crossbow. Call the flaming bolts our "Anti-troll-kit."
Dust of Illusion should be kept and used the very first time we want to trick either a guard or a potential foe/rival.
The Bracers and the wand should go to Zed. (Zed, don't "Red Mage" that wand. Spam that thing until it's an empty husk.)
I'm listing the boots as Augrym since no one really spoke up and getting him an Acrobatics check should be a boon for all.
Marc, your masterwork guisarme is ready!
I've updated our trail rations and animal feed.
Finally, we're doing well in the magic item and gear category, with the noticeable exception of Taranis. I'm not stressed about it, as I know it'll even out the longer we adventure and my survivability goes up when yours goes up.
We've done a lot on this last expedition:
1. Is that ring Svetlana's?
2. "Zed, can you pen a letter to the Swordlords? We need to tell them that we received their charter AND that we've taken care of the kobolds in the Stolen Lands."
On Taranis' items suggestion: agreed on all counts. Unrak will pick up a crossbow (against our credit, assuming we've recovered the correct ring!)
On Quest stuff: Didn't that river guardian monster want the Stag Lord's body thrown into the river? You all think that if we removed his head & kept that as proof, we could satisfy both customers?
Oh, and I think we should prioritize finding that Sneeg guy. I'd like a nice sword, you know??
"My brother speaks for my thoughts on the matter too. I would add that I'd like to carefully map new areas as we go."
Oleg's jaw drops. "Gods above! I never thought you'd find it!" He takes the ring and a relieved grin breaks out on his face. "A thousand crowns in Trading Post credit, as promised! I've got some new stock in just yesterday if you want t'have a look!" The happy husband runs inside to find Svetlana.
Taranis is genuinely happy to see the ring returned. He looks over the stock, but doesn't opt for anything. He then returns to the party with an idea, "Friends, perhaps what we ought to do is use our credit to ask for a Wand of Cure Light Wounds? That would leave 250 in credit. We can use the rest for supplies like food, feed, and the like. Thoughts?"
Taranis also points out The MAP. "What do you think of exploring this way?"
Zed nods, "I will write to the swordlords of our recent exploits, briefing them fully on the progress we have made. I thank you for the bracers, and I will endeavor to transmogrify this wand to a useless stick with alacrity!" Zed cackles at his terrible attempt at humor and gets busy with his letter and his studies. Later in the evening he asks around the trading post for any information on the Stag Lord.
”Leader friend Taranis, the swordlords are my clan, I would write this letter to them for you. If Zed is ok with this.”
”The cursed Stag Lord illudes us. Will no clue drop into our laps already!!”
Zed immediately agrees to be relieved of the responsibilities associated with writing the Swordlords.
this is why I want Sneeg, ASAP
"We don't have a lead on Sneeg either. How do you feel about my suggested path?"
Sure. One path's as good as another, 'sfar as I can tell.
Unrak picks out a crossbow from Oleg's stores, putting it on their credit. He also starts asking around for any tid-bits on the Stag Lord, or Sneeg.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
...He also starts asking around for any tid-bits on the Stag Lord, or Sneeg.
THERE'S your high roll!!