Diceros is the first one down, safely. A few seconds later he hears a thump! as Rai collapses behind him. Rai just tweaks his ankle a bit on the fall.
Before the others can get down, Diceros looks in the room he just entered to see 7 mites with their daggers drawn and looking right at him!
It's now or never if you hope to get through this place diplomatically!
Rai says aiding Diceros quickly in Sylvan
we let one of you go from the kobolds at least listen to what we have to say
"Probably oughtta stay close in case we're needed," Brokk'r says to Ike. "But keep an eye on that other tunnel."
Arlen lands on her derriere painfully behind Diceros as he is speaking. Must try to help it work!
"HEEE HEEE HOO OUCH HAA!! Don't mind me. Just a funny joke! HEEE HEEE HEEE!"
A disheveled Rasputin sticks his head out of her jacket and looks loathingly St everyone in the chamber. He'd clearly prefer to just torch the place and take everything.
After finding the mite lair, the party descends the root-lined shaft. Ike opts to go first, but against the better judgment of the party, decides to go in kobold form. As it turns out, kobolds are the hated enemies of the mites which immediately puts the whole tribe against you. Two of the mites escape deeper into the tree root system.
The party continues to descend. As Diceros calls out in Sylvan that you come in peace, he sees 7 daggers pointed at him! Rai, Arlen, and Sigurd are soon down too. Brokk'r and Ike decide to stay above.
One of the mites gestures to the others, and they lower their daggers. He says back in Sylvan "If you want young Smeagul's ring, you must offer a good trade. You four must come with us to see Chief Grabbles." He looks around, confused."The scouts said there was a kobold here too. Where is he?"
Arlen pulls her book back out and keeps chuckling to herself, trying to stand out of the way.
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"Peace! We'll come with you to see this Chief Grabbles but, please, lower your weapons. We mean you no harm"
Sigurd keeps his hammer on his back and holds his hands out for the mites to see.
"Look. I hold no weapon in my hands. It would take me a move action time to remove it to attack. You'd have the upper hand. I am armed, it's true, but this is an unpredictable land. We must be able to defend ourselves. But I tell you the truth, our weapons are for our defense.
Likewise, that particular kobold means you less harm than anything else you've ever come in contact with."
Sigurd smiles at that last bit, thinking how much Ike abhors violence.
The mites talks to Diceros, who translates from Sylvan.
"You were wise to keep him from following you down here, as that would have meant certain death for you all. Still, we must insist that he leave our home immediately and wait outside. Do this, and we will bring you to Chief Grabbles."
In the time talking to the mite, everyone else gets a chance to look around the room you are standing in. It is a torture chamber- you see four dead kobolds tied to the walls. They have been completely eviscerated. It must have been recent activity, because there is not much of a smell of decay. Sharp instruments of torture like hooks and knives lie scattered about, and there are various crude wooden contraptions like racks in the room.
Arlen cackles at Sigurd's description of Ike. "HEEE HEEE HEEE! That's quite true!! He'd apologize for slapping a mosquito!! HEEE HEEE!"
She shouts up the shaft. "THEY WANT IKE TO WAIT OUTSIDE!!"
Her tone changes when they see the instruments of torture into one of curiosity. "Hmm hmmm. Diceros, ask them if they found these techniques useful." Arlen peers to see if the mites had any good techniques.
Brokk'r strains to hear what is going on below until Arlen's voice calls back clearly.
"They want ye ta wait outside," he says to Ike, "though it might be better if ye jes stop bein' a kobold; I'd like ta stick close in case our friends need help."
Rai keeps himself relaxed following along in the conversation in Sylvan and helping assisting by saying
We will be sure to remove the kobold but we have another friend, a halfling who is outside. Can he come in instead?
Then Rai relays the information about the halfling up to Ike so he can come back in as a halfling without the mites knowledge
"Sure, sure. Bring the halfling down."
Arlen gets quite studious about the mite torture techniques, but eventually she concludes that the mites probably just stuck the knives in and wiggled them all over the place. Not too much art in this dissection.
Arlen sighs in disappointment...
Arlen shrugs at Rai's comment. Hmmm... I don't know whether or not Ike can pull that off... Ah well... Shouldn't be too important... Arlen steps forward while laughing. "How wonderful to meet such potent allies! HAHAHAHA! You have dealt with these horrible kobolds very well!!!! HEE HEE HEE!! Our kobold is different but he'll go outside. HOO HOO HOO! Let's meet your chief."
The mites smile at Arlen's enthusiastic response to their displays of torture. They send one mite up the shaft to make sure the kobold goes away, and they lead the party to the east.
A deep and ominous chasm splits the passage. The chasm is a few yards wide, and an untold depth, but thick ropes of tangled roots fill the entire area. The mites clamor over the roots without an issue, and look back with smirks to see how the big folk handle this.
Arlen hands the end of a rope to Sigurd. "Help me tie this around my waste and hold on? I'm afraid I'm not the most impressive at this." Arlen then goes to clamber over the vines.
Ike hears the calling up, and then the more coming up the shaft! Brokk'r was right - he needed to disappear!
Melting back into a puddle of ooze, Ike opted to find a nearby crag in the cave walls and squeeze into that! Crushing unselfish down into an impossibly small compact ball, Ike rolled around the current cavern, looking for a place to hide!
Rai has mixed the reduce person elixir and will now drink it shrinking himself down to small so he can cross the ropes easily.
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Diceros keeps a wary eye on the mites as they make progress into the den. He translates for Sigurd, and is thankful for his diplomacy. He...pretty much ignores Arlen's interest in torture and just lets him babble on.
(to himself)"Nature is not evil but often can be cruel. However, it seems that too many of the sentient beings of this land can't help but be both. When we get out of this cave, I need to find a bird nest and revel in the goodness of new life to remind myself of the balance!"
Diceros feels pretty comfortable climbing around roots. He thinks about growing them, but knows it will probably trap more people in snares than help climb.
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Sigurd takes the rope from Arlen, ties one end around her waist and the other around his. After securing the knots he says, "Hopefully, I'll be able to grab something if you fall. That way, both of us won't go down."
Knowing his own climbing ability isn't all that great, Sigurd hopes this is a good idea, and sets off after the others.
Up the Shaft!
A lone mite crawls up the shaft to make sure that the kobold has left.
And to his surprise, what he finds is not a kobold but a dwarf! No one said anything about a dwarf! He has no clue about the quivering mass of ooze in the corner.
He immediately points his dagger at you and barks in common, "What a dwarf doing here! In my home!"
***************
Down the Shaft!
The party manages to clamber over the roots, and to the disappointment of the crowd on the other side, no one falls! You here a gasp of excitement when Diceros slips, but he catches himself and then you hear resigned sighs.
Rows of wooden pegs line the earthen walls, some hung with tiny, filthy cloaks. In the center of the room stands a rickety table held together with twine, covered with a filthy redchecked tablecloth and heaped with mounds of dirt and twigs and gravel, apparently arranged to form some sort of map. Sitting at the edge of the map, weighing down a scrap of paper, is a bloodstained ivory statuette of what looks like a crouching reptilian devil. A bulging burlap sack sits under the table.
The room is filled with mites. The largest of the bunch is petting a large insect looking creature, which bigger than most of you (except Sigurd). The large mite turns to look at you... He waits for you to start the conversation.
Arlen cackles and cackles. "Oh what a delightful place you have here! Simply marvelous!!! You know, I think we could trade you some wonderful pieces with which to decorate and weapons to help you defend yourselves more effectively!" Rasputin rolls his eyes at her.
Diceros nudges Sigurd and points at one of the mites. He recognizes Smeagol, the mite he freed from the kobold cage.
And Sigurd's sharp eyes catch the glint of gold on his finger.
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Sigurd puts his jug of beer on the table, in full view of all the mites, and really starts to lay it on thick.
"Chief Grabbles, noblest of mites, this beer is from my homeland, the Land of the Linnorm Kings. It was brewed by my father, according to our ancient traditions. Let us share a round, that you might know our peaceful intentions.
You see, Oh Mighty Chief, we are interested only in trade. Your loyal subject, Smeagol, we have meet before. He can tell you how we saved his life. I see now that he wears a beautiful ring on his finger. We desire to trade for that ring. Surely we can offer you something much more valuable than a mere golden ring.
What say you?"
Rai will translate for Sigurd and then add we are happy to trade equally with such excellent people as you
"Havin' the patience of a saint," Brokk'r mumbles under his breath. "Waitin' fer me friends! You don't like me an' I don't like you, so I'm waitin' up here. Do we need ta make that a problem?"
Up the Shaft
The mite drops his dagger and squeaks at Brokk'r: "Did kobold leave?"
Down the Shaft
Chief Grabbles puffs his chest out and nods. "Yes, yes. I am most noble of all mites. True. True. Tell me more wonderful things about myself." He reaches for the beer and drinks down as much as he can fit in his little mouth.
Arlen cackles and nods. "Oh yes, great chief! We have also heard how you have obtained an incredible green statue! May we see such proof of your nobility!"
"Do ye see a kobold?" Brokk'r growls.
Up the Shaft
"Yes, mighty dwarf... I will be leaving now..." The scared mite drops down the shaft again.
Down the Shaft
"Jade statue? No, we have the mighty devil statue, prized possession of the kobolds and now ours! Ha ha ha!" Drunk with allusions of power, and also beer, Chief Grabbles starts parading around the room. He points at the statue on the table. "Those kobolds, they are so weak. We stole the statue from their lair! Weak Smeagol, he got himself captured, but oh well. It was his fault. And now you rescued him anyway! Stupid Smeagol... Just give them your ring. You are weak and worthless. You don't deserve that ring. We stole that from the humans in the forest, yes? Well, the humans and elves take it back now. What do I care?"
Smeagol gets a defiant look in his face. He certainly doesn't want to part with his precious.
what if I gave you and the tribe of mites a way to have a secure water supply here? Rai pulls out one of his two water canteens and holds it out for the tribe.
I will trade you this water supply for the statue, and I will give one shiny coin to Smeagol in honest trade for the ring
Chief Grabbles looks at the water bottles. "Hmmmm. What does it do? You make the magics?"
Meanwhile, Smeagol jumps at your offer. "One gold! One gold! Take my ring! Ooooo.... look, a shiny gold! Look at it gleam and glisten!" He throws the ring at you for a gold piece.
The other crowd around him and ooohh and ahhh at the gold piece. It is very likely they have never seen one before.
Arlen whispers between cackles "Well done, Rai. Let's get out of here." She replies to Chief Grabbles "It's truly incredible! HEEE HEE HEEE! You put nice spring water in it then bring it back. Then you forget about it for a looong time HOO HOO!!! Then it's a bad day outside, you don't want to go out, but you remember that tasty spring water. You open it up and MAGICKO MAGICKO!!! HEEE HEEE HEEEE! Tasty spring water, just like new!"
Rai shows the mites how to fill the container with water and how to get it out and at the end says so then you have good water all the time as long as you fill it chief
Diceros notices again the idol on the table, and there is a big sack under the table.
The big bug is surely a huge tick, and given the chance, would like nothing more to suck human and elf blood.
***
Just then, a mite burst into the rooms and yells in Sylvan, "There is no kobold, but there is a big scary dwarf up there. Big! Scary!"
Grubble looks up in concern, but at the same time is scratching his head about the water skin. Something these strangers are saying doesn't quite make sense.
He shakes his head and brushes off the nagging doubt. "Wow! This is amazing! I will never go thirsty again."
He looks up. "The dwarf doesn't matter. The strangers are on their way out. Right?"
Rai will nod and pick up the ring and the statue as arranged and leave as asked thank you mighty chief
The Chief considers Diceros offer a minute, nods his head, and hands it over for three gold.
The deal done, he directs you to the east, and guards lead you through several small rooms, up a shaft, through another room, and you find yourself at the first t-junction! One more climb and everyone is outside. Brokk'r and Ike wait for you above.
The last mite shouts from down below, "You no come back now, you hear?" and he disappears in the darkness.
Arlen gives one last cackles and tries to climb back the way they came.
Diceros opens up his newly acquired burlap sack! Copper pieces! Copper upon copper. He counts it out and arrives at 193 copper.
Rai is holding an finely crafted statue, as well. (detect magic/ appraise/ you know the drill. You might also have other items in the inventory to identify).
With their business concluded, the party continues and finishes their exploration of the area. You have put together an intricate map, worth 320 gold!