Unusual Allies (Inactive)

Game Master PhilOfCalth

A 4th Level Pathfinder Homebrew where everyone plays Kobolds


PCs are part of a tribe that worships a blue dragon who has taken up residence in a mountain cave system that overlooks a town. Dragon lives in fear of adventurers coming and stealing his treasure. The town is under constant oppression from their King, who is a Tiefling rumoured to be in league with creatures of the infernal planes. The leader of your tribe has decided that the Kobolds should befriend the people of the village offer them protection from armies sent by the king in return for information about any wandering strangers and some small tributes for their master. Being the most worthy of the tribe, the PCs have been selected for this task. Not only must they complete the task, they must also convince the blue dragon of that it is a good idea, and thus claim the dragon's favour.

More Background:

Luemoth - Blue Dragon(Refereed to as Lord, Our Lord, Luminous One or Son of Chronepsis):
Luemoth is your Lord and your one true god. All other deities are worshipped through Luemoth and are secondary to him. In the same breath that you would ask Erastil for a bountiful harvest, you would thank the Luminous One for his protection and allowing the light of Erastil to shine on you. You would rather see all that you ever cared about destroyed than even accidentally insult Luemoth, even when no-one can hear. You would thankfully give your life to feed the Son of Chronepsis. Your Loyalty to him is unquestioning.
Luemoth is known to anger quickly at any perceived slight and has great power to strike out even where he could never be seen or heard. He collects treasure jealously, specially trinkets of great worth but little actual use. Though he is not above loaning some of his most useful weapons, armours and pieces of equipment to his worshippers to complete a task. Often the kobold is allowed keep the item until death, as it is the law of the Snapper tribe that all positions of a kobold upon death become Luemoths, including his corpse.
None may refer to Luemoth by his name, this is a great crime and is punishable instantly by death, often enacted by the magic of Luemoth himself. This is often carried out by electrocution, being turned to water, or simply being stamped on. By standers of Luemoth's wrath can often be injured or killed too. Sometime, in the face of obvious crimes, it is left to the kobolds around the offending one to enact the punishment.

The Snapper Tribe:
Under the wing of their Blue Dragon the snapper tribe has flourished in many ways, and became a dominant force in the cave system in which they live. That being said they are hardly at peace, and there is often in-fighting between different factions of the and skirmishes with other tribes.
Kobold hold no true allegiance to anyone beyond their the Luminous One. They band together only out of a sense of strength in numbers. At any time are lightly to steal from or attack anyone who they feel has a better lot in life than them.

Background:
The Kobolds of the Snapper tribe live in a huge complex cave system under a great mountain. Until the coming of their lord, a Blue Dragon of unknown age, they were few in number and hid in the shadow of larger creatures of the caves. However, all that changed in a time when the dragon took up residence in the same mountain at a time that only the oldest and most senile of your kind remember. The dragon itself was said to have only participated in a few skirmishes with other denizens of the caves, from which none of those foes who saw the dragon were allowed to survive. However, this gave the kobolds of the Snapper tribe a reputation within the caves and allowed them to spread their territoriality and number to the size of a large town over the course of several generations. Kobolds of the snapper tribe have taken to many unusual hobbies as the more quirky of their numbers have set up shops, libraries, black smiths, schools of magic, farms, etc with the caves. The tribe has created an uneasy alliance with the tribes of other races who they share their caves with, Orks, Goblins, Bugbears, etc. It is not unknown for skirmishes to break out. Snapper kobolds prefer to enact a two for one retaliation against any “allied” tribe known to have killed any of their kobolds, and the tribe has the numbers to carry it out.
Outside the caves, in the valley bellow the mountain there sits a village. The name of the village or indeed the Kingdom that rules it are of no concert to members of the Snapper tribe or their lord. On the other hand the Humans, Dwarfs and other races prone to adventuring that dwell there concern the Luminous One greatly and he worries that some day a group of them, or indeed a group of wandering adventurers, will come to steal his treasure. The tribes elders and leaders have come up with a plan which they will bring to their lord. The town is rumoured to be under a great deal of oppression from their king and subject to oppressive taxes and conscription of their young. They hope to parley with the leaders of this town to offer them protection from the kings armies in return for information on anyone known to be heading into the mountans in search of treasure and adventure. They also expect to be able to negotiate some small regular tributes to their lord from the town.

Background Notes:
Not that any of the PCs know or care but the scenario is kingdom of Lorn, during the time that the Tefling king of that land is strip farming and strip mining the land as well as conscripting and taxing it's people for his armies. He continues to act on his grudge against his neighbours and punish his own people. The complete background on Lorn is published in the Wraith Recon books for D&D 4e and RQ2, though the time frame for this scenario is earlier than that published. Lorn's most common race is Dwarfs followed by Drow and Humans, other races all exist but Tieflings are quite prominent. In this town Drow are not so common and Human and dwarfs take an equal footing in terms of numbers.

The Party of PCs:
Once the group and their mission has been sanctioned by the great Lord. They dare not do anything to subvert it. Though resentment and scheming lie just beneath the surface of each character, unless he can prove that another kobold's behaviour is jeopardising the mission they will not act against him. Even then they cannot be sure what the correct course of action in the Luminous One's eyes truly is. Just because your quarry is guilty, doesn't mean you won't be punished for attacking him and endangering the mission yourself.
All that you can be sure of is that you should put the mission and the will of your lord first. Then even if you are killed you know that you dieds doing the best you could for the Son of Chronepsis.

Group's Pack Animal - Dire Weasel - Scratch:

N Large animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +11

DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +5 natural, +4 Armour, –1 size)
hp 32 (30)
Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +2

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +8 (1d8+7 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain (1d4+1 Con), blood rage,

STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 13, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; CMB +9 (+13 grapple); CMD 22 (26 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Climb +9, Perception +11, Stealth +10, Swim +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +2 Perception, +6 Stealth, +2 Swim
SQ compression
Trait: Armour Expert

Equipment
Masterwork Chain (Shirt) Barding
AC bonus: +4, Max Dex Bonus: +4, Armour Check Penalty: –1 (0), 25 lbs

Bedroll and Iron pot (Grigg) - 9lbs

Small Tent - 20lb
Hammock - 3lb
Block and Tackle - 5lbs
Blanket - 3lbs
Rope, 50ft - 10lbs
Material for x50 Firearm Bullets 1lb
Matierial for x50 Doses of Black Powder - 2.5lb
(Clashing) 44lb

Total 78lb
Light 153 lbs, Medium 154–306 lbs, Heavy 307–460 lbs.

Orc tribes:
There are 2 orc tribes nearby. The Murdut tribe, numbering just over ten is a semi-nomadic tribe where all orcs of above a certain age are considered wariors, and the Trisgrak tribe who number more than fifty, are settled and have orcs who are dedicated to support rolls. These orcs are treated as servants and underlings to the Trisgraks.
The two tribes hate eachother, the Trisgrak often attacking the Murdut camps in force when they find them and the Murdut ambush small contingents of the Trisgrak tribe when they stray too far from home.