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You are kobolds of Absalom’s Sewer Dragon tribe. Made strong, perhaps the strongest, thanks to an alliance with the Pathfinder Society, your tribe has many enemies seeking to test its newfound might. Chief Yiddlepode, wise chieftain of the Sewer Dragons, knows that her alliance means nothing if the tribe can’t defend its territory. For the past several months, the tribe has sent its best and brightest on scouting missions throughout the region, repelling others from intruding on the Sewer Dragons’ rightful domain.
As the latest group assigned to protect the Sewer Dragons’ interests, you have received orders from Chief Yiddlepode to make contact with an ally of the tribe—a peculiar otyugh (even by Kobold standards) by the name of Hats. Constant supplies and the occasional tribute have endeared the otyugh to the Sewer Dragons, and Hats now acts as further muscle for the kobolds as well as an additional set of eyes and ears in the sewers. Hats informed one of the tribe’s gutter runners that he has an important captive for the Sewer Dragons to interrogate.
Your orders are clear: find and interrogate Hats’ captive. Discover what intrusion has taken place within the domain of the Sewer Dragons and deal with it. Above all, don’t risk the tribe’s alliance with the Pathfinder Society!
As you make your way to Hat's Lair, you mull over that information you do remember.
a considerable amount of armor, weapons, and magical equipment through trade with Absalom’s merchants via Pathfinder intermediaries. Pathfinder allies carry magic compasses called wayfinders.
demonstration from the tribe’s former alchemist, Yippitok. Scouts whisper of movement in the broken caverns.
Mulling over their mission, Athrax absentmindedly checks that all his gear is in place as they head towards Hats lair, oh I hope I can try out my new special drink! It's supposed to toughen me up!!!
He looks at his allies and remembers a few things, including where and to whom they are headed. "Anyone bring a head-covering gift for our odd friend? I know he's a bit tense sometimes and likes to cover up his head for some reason."
As they get closer he points out down one of the side tunnels, "oh yah! There's where Yippitok made a huge boom! Collapsed the whole area. I heard there might be some critters moving in though, prolly have to clear em out soon. One more big boom'll do it I bet!"
He fumbles pulls out an obviously broken wayfinder and gazes at it for a few seconds before slipping it back into his pack. We do good on this mission and the pathfinders will have to pay attention to my application!
Skyrahk mumbles to herself and then licks her tongue. "Hmmm... forgot to get head-covering for odd friend. Perhaps make something before get there."
The thought of interrogating Hat's captive somewhat excites her and she smiles. "Have book that explains on how to cook well done, good for captive."
"Well, it not take mine!" Pethjun roars. She then starts mumbling to herself. "Otyugh? Hmm, possibilities..." She grasps tighter on her rapier, and a glint comes onto her eyes.
Engashez nods in emphatic agreement with Anthrax
"Hats for Hats of course! I wonder if Hats found a true dragon... I wanna meet a true dragon..."
"Hmm? What were you on about? Hats? You can keep them. I have a crown." says the sorcerer buffing his silver diadem with a polishing cloth. "Mwahahahah!"
Engashez nods in emphatic agreement with A
nthrax"Hats for Hats of course! I wonder if Hats found a true dragon... I wanna meet a true dragon..."
"Heheheh, I suppose we should be grateful its name isn't 'Pants'." Varanog thinks about that for a moment and then reconsiders. "Or maybe not."
"Hat? Stupid. Who cares about hat?" Flipping a thin tool around his claws, Fazgyn finally speaks up. After a moment, he nods at Varanog. "Meh. Pants not important."
"Well, it not take mine, too!" Apparently not quite realising that she's not wearing any.
"Hat? Stupid. Who cares about hat?" Flipping a thin tool around his claws, Fazgyn finally speaks up. After a moment, he nods at Varanog. "Meh. Pants not important."
"Of course not! You never see a true trueblood wearing pants do you? You might as well be one of those pants-loving gobos, the big, green, balloon-headed bastards."
"Do goblins bounce?" The thought of bouncing goblins through a razor wire trap brings a grin to Fazgyn's face.
Athrax chuckles, "of course they bounce! Anything bounces with a big enough explosion under it. I mean, sometimes it's just pieces bouncing..."
He grins, his voice dripping with excitement as he asks, "you all want to see my latest boom?"
Noting everyone's lack of pants Varanog waves off the suggestion, content to stew in his own arrogant vindictiveness away from his fellows' more pedestrian jealousies.
His hand coming out of his pouch without an explosive concoction, Athrax appears dejected. He starts wondering if his temporarily allied clan-mates really have his best interests at heart...
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The otyugh named Hats lairs in an area that his an unusually high density of holes and mounds of garbage, making for ideal hunting conditions. However, familiar as you are with the creature, you step around the heaps of trash, only to notice after maybe the third or fourth one, that one particular mound has been following you...
"HELLO KOBOLD FRIENDS!!! WE HAPPY TO SEE YOU!!!" erupts the mobile pile of detritus as the otyugh emerges from it, one frond filled with eyeballs looking over all of you, another gently swinging behind while two other frame him. The one to his right is adorned with an Andoren tricorne hat, which gets perhaps a little too close to Pethjun. "IN DA NAME OF DA ANDOR-RAHN NAVI, I GREETEST YOU WITH GREETINGEST." he voices in what might charitably be considered an Andorani accent. "SO DO I! MAY DA PROFACI OF KALILILILIADE GIVE YOU A LOT OF MONI!" he continues with his left tentacle, bedecked in the headware that might have once belonged to a Kalistocrat, which approaches Engashez. "OoOoOoOoOH!" continues the creature, it's frond of eyes turning to get a better view at the kobold. "DAT A PRETTY HAT."
Pethjun snorts quite audibly, trying not to breath too deeply. For her sensitive nose, the rotting aroma is almost too much to bear. She studies the walking garbage pile closely, hoping it would give her some excuse for combat.
Skyrahk's nose wrinkles in distaste with the smell of the moving garbage but what makes it worse she can also taste the smell. She hisses at the garbage pile, "We have come for capture you have."
While paying incredibly close attention to the piles of garbage assailing his nostrils, Athrax was not focusing on what might be hidden in them but instead of how to best destroy the mess and bring order to this area. A bomb wouldn't do anything but spread the mess around, definitely just need to use fire here. But have to make sure it burns it all, plus this is a dangerously small area so most of the air would be bad and it might not even keep burning long enough to incinerate. Maybe to guarantee a good burn even use an air pump of some sort to feed the fires? Oh a dragon would take care of this quickly though and... ACK IS THAT PILE MOVING!?!
Jumping back away from the mobile pile of trash, Athrax breaths a sigh of relief when Hats reveals himself. "Yes yes, let him try the hat on so we can leave this uh... place."
"Yes, let him try it on... Mine, well mine has a hole in the top and is really more of a cloud giant's ring anyhow."
Staring at the puppet show, Faz begins to think the chief should rethink this alliance.
While the others 'negotiate' with the pile of garbage, Skyrahk looks around to see if she can spot the prisoner.
"Hat wants ta try hat... hat makes promise that we see what you take! I warn though... this hat special... look best on Engashez! Not so good on others."
She removes the hat, and the glamers that gave her her usual air of superiority vanish, although thankfully she wasn't maintaining any real disguise at this time. The hat however, quickly returns to its natural form... a plain hat with a pair of glasses, a false nose, and mustache dangling from the brim.
"Now... if this worth our while I come back and show you how it work too?"
Glad that someone else offered their hat, Pethjun snorts again, trying to get the foul smell out of her snout. She starts tapping her foot in impatience. She knows this creature is their ally so little chance to test her mettle against it, but she wants to meet this captive soon. And maybe he would try to escape... She grips her rapier ever more so tightly.
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Hats, with a disturbing amount of glee, takes the hat with his free tentacle, removes the Kalistocrat's headdress and puts the hat of disguise on it. "GREETINGS MIGHTY HATS! I am INSPICONSHUOUS Mr Man!" he bellows with delight, taking on a Taldane accent which resonaates throughout the nearby tunnels. And as he inspects the "NuHat" from all angles, Skyrahk looks about, impatiently. The sounds and smells generated by Otyugh activity effectively prevent her from spotting anyone but the otyugh and her fellow Sewer Dragons. Thankfully, Hats rapidly nods at Engashez. "I think it look bestest on Mr Inshuinpicous. But dat question for da sages! Meantime, I take you ta weakling prisoner who is old and smell like cabbage!"
With a step filled with the creature's newfound "joie-de-vivre" Hats takes you to a carefully concealed pit in which lies an old man in a blue overcoat over ratty looking clothes.
"AHHH! What! YOU! By Abadar's beard! Excellent! Simply excellent! You're Sewer Drag... I mean, the most capable defenders of the Exalted Sewer Dragon tribe of Absalom - and rulers of the sewers upon which my old bones have managed to miserably intrude upon. I am a Venture-Captain! One of those who helped forge our mighty alliance! I had been following a group of our suspected, wretched enemies above ground, and then" he continues with a gesture of his arms starting from above and going down "they had the audacity to descend into your tunnels! Tunnels that are very close by indeed! And furthermore, they were building some sort of magical portal! In the ruined portion of those tunnels! The gall! The gall I tell you!" He stops to take a breath in the middle of his theatrics before finishing: "In my folly, I alerted them and was waylaid before driving them off. But then I was captured by your friend with the... Interesting headwear fascination. But what follows is rather tawdry and not important here. I need to warn the Society, but I do not think I can do so in time before this portal opens! Only you, mighty kobolds of the great Sewer Dragons, can stop them!"
Athrax is taken back by the prisoner for a second talking to them like he knows them. No one knows how hard it is to be the chosen of dragons! But, once he says those magic words... VENTURE CAPTAIN! NO WAY, BUT MAYBE IF HE IS THEN I CAN...
He jumps in to greet the gent as formally as he knows, "hello there sir! We are very sorry about the inconvenience Hats here has put upon you. Absolutely terrible, yes it was. If we had only known earlier we would have jumped to help and maybe even taken care of your problem right then. You can count on us on this very important mission for the society! I will show you that you came to the right Sewer Dragon for help!"
He reaches down a hand to help the man out of the pit, this is my chance to shine!
"Portal!" Skyrahk nods sagely. "Perhaps our Trial has finally started. You say our 'wretched enemies', be more specific."
He jumps in....
Varanog winces at the sound of all the fragile glassware full of explosive and toxic chemicals strapped to the alchemist as he jumps in clatter against one another.
...to greet the gent as formally as he knows, "hello there sir! We are very sorry about the inconvenience Hats here has put upon you. Absolutely terrible, yes it was. If we had only known earlier we would have jumped to help and maybe even taken care of your problem right then. You can count on us on this very important mission for the society! I will show you that you came to the right Sewer Dragon for help!"
Ah, this explains the source of the brown scales on Athrax's muzzle. Originally Varanog thought they were burns, but he knows them for what they are now--marks of adoration!
"Soon now, very soon, all noses will be turned to me, Varanog the Great! And all kobolds will be sniffing my mighty behind!
He looks about to see if anyone heard that, and then returns to the edge of the drop off.
"Portal!" Skyrahk nods sagely.
"It's a door, you knob." snaps Varanog trying to reestablish the pecking order. Yess, a theocracy with me as the god-chieftain! There will be big statues and stuff. "But we have hidey doors all throughout the damp caves. What's one more, venture-corporal?"
"'member I said you could try it on. Now my hat back please?"
Engashez glares at hats pointedly until her hat of disguise is returned. She puts it on, and adjusts her appearance a bit to to gain an air of authority.
"So Mr. Aventure Captain, I am Engashez, speaker for the Sewer Dragon tribe! You say there a port-hole that needs to be plugged? Well we dun want bad stuff leakin through no port-hole into our tunnels! The Great and Glorious Sewer Dragon Tribe will of course honor our alliance! So uh... where is this port-hole? And whats comin out of it?"
"They build portals, they build traps?" Fazgyn picks at a fang with one claw. "No trap, no problem. Portal traps, maybe problem."
Pethjun sniffs in disappointment when all she sees is an old man, hardly worthy of a challenge. She turns up her snout when Athrax starts fawning over him, a old weakling! "Yeah, why we care about 'nother door?"
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Hats verrrry reluctantly removes the "NuHat" and hands it back to Engashez. If Otyughs are capable of expressing disheartening, Hats most definitely is.
Meanwhile, the bearded man nods emphatically at Athrax's words. "Indeed! Indeed!"
"You say our 'wretched enemies', be more specific."
"Oh of course! I am referring to the wretched Onyx Alliance. They are from very far away, and have a grudge against the Pathfinder Society because we managed to put a stop to some of their schemes. Most importantly: they are ruthless, and any portal they establish here is sure to entail a thorough purge of the areas around it, including the Sewer Dragons!"
"But we have hidey doors all throughout the damp caves. What's one more, venture-corporal?"
"Captain. Venture-Captain. Well, apart from it bringing the Onyx Alliance's forces to within striking range of the heart of the Sewer Dragon's territory, it will also link one of their major bases to that location. With all the danger that will entail for us, Pathfinders and Sewer Dragons!"
"So uh... where is this port-hole? And whats comin out of it?"
"Some of the most deadly members of the Onyx Alliance of course! I will show you where, once I am out of this pit."
"They build portals, they build traps?" Fazgyn picks at a fang with one claw. "No trap, no problem. Portal traps, maybe problem."
"I was not able to get close enough to the portal to make that determination, my mighty kobold friend. I imagine it will only be a minute problem for one such as you."
"Yeah, why we care about 'nother door?"
"Apart from all that I've told you and the repercussions thereof on your holdings, we would be even further indebted to your great tribe!"
As the kobolds ask their questions, Hats gently taps on Engashez' shoulder. And soon, the Andoran tricorne makes its way into her peripheral view. "Yarme matiez! Hats try NuHat on again?"
"Hssss! No one mess with Sewer Dragons!" Pethjun hisses in anger, hearing that this Onyx Alliance intends to encroach onto the territory of her tribe. "We will wipe them out!" She turns to go, but notices the rest are not following. "Let's go!"
Athrax is now laying belly down next to the hole, reaching for the Venture Captain's hand to help pull him out.
"Take Venture Captain. He lead directly to enemy."
Engashez's hat slowly changes into a headdress conveniently sized to block Hats out of her field of vision. She looks down at the pathfinder below. "K Mister Captain Venture-Captain... so my compatriots will pull you out of dis hole and you show us the port hole and we kill everyone on the other side? And we take their stuff as the spoils of war for the glorious Sewer Dragon tribe!"
She narrows her eyes and stares straight at the Venture-Captain for a good 10 seconds then finally adds. "Can I have a wayfinder?"
"Take Venture Captain. He lead directly to enemy."
"If this so-called venture-chieftain is anything like a real chieftain he will merely point us toward the danger and hand out in the dungeon chamber furthest from the danger." whispers Varanog (mostly) to himself.
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With the aid of a grateful, albeit muck-covered, Drandle Dreng, the Sewer Dragons are led out of Hat's lair to a locale only a few minutes away; a locale Athrax and Engashez are passingly familiar with: Yippitok's broken tunnelways.
Five-foot wide sidewalks run alongside sluice of murky sewer water. The Path reaches a T-junction, with paths leading back where you came from and continuing down towards the east, and a broken pathway into the caverns to the north. Even at a glance, it is clear that someone as tall or taller than the Venture Captain will be hampered in their movement.
"...so while it might be expedient for you to take one noble Engashez, it would deprive you of the glory that comes with passing the tests that other Society members must take to join our organization. However, perhaps we can talk about a field commiss... AHA!" he exclaims, before putting a hand on his mouth, continuing at a far lower volume "There! That is where I took to battle against our opponents. It would be difficult for me to get back in. Here's my idea: I go back to the Society, get some reinforcements, while you deal, delay and dominate these intruders! When I get back, perhaps we can talk more on the topic of field commissions, no?"
At a second glance, it does appear that a battle took place, with blood spatter on the rocks. However, of the bodies there is no trace.
"Loudmouth can go away. Now we be quiet." Fazgyn murmurs, crouched low and studying the entrance for anything amiss.
Eyes wide with the possibility of a FIELD COMMISSION Athrax just starts dreaming of taking his place in pathfinder lore... maybe even taking Drendle's spot as head Venture Captain of the lodgey thing they have! LEADER OF ALL PATHFINDERS I'LL BE, SHOW THEM HOW TO REALLY BLOW THEIR ENEMIES UP! NONE WILL STAND BEFORE MY MIGHT!
When uncouth Fazgyn dismisses the hero of Absalom he takes the human aside, "don't mind him, he's a jerk. Just focus on getting back safely and quickly with those field commissions! We'll handle things here, no problem."
Athrax sneaks in behind Fazgyn, moving quietly and also looking for dangers and traps.
+2 vs. traps
Skyrahk draws her dagger as she moves up behind Athrax. She then looks back at Venture Captain. "They destroyed before you come back. We will take them out and remove their portal."
She keeps an eye out for trouble as she moves down the passageway.
Pethjun merely sniffs loudly when the human retreats. "Cowardly monkeys."
She hisses at Fazgyn, bossing him around. "Do you thing! Scout ahead! I follow behind." She raises her spear, ready to fling at whatever movement she spots ahead.
Fazgyn approaches the corner, taking care not to make a sound, peering around the corner to see what lays deeper. Assuming no guards are present, he will move up the north tunnel.
"Boldly the mighty trueblood sorcerer crept up to the intersection." the mighty trueblood sorcerer whispers to himself.
Engashez elbows Varanog in the side and whispers, "Hey... that's MY job!"
In a hushed dramatic dirge, Engashez sings, "...boldly the mighty sewer dragons crept up to the intersection."
Athrax slips across the stinky sewer basin and climbs up on the other side mumbling, "hmmppph, they don't want my expertise in finding traps and want to wander around loudly they can just explode all the traps and soak all the attacks... then I'll explode the enemies and show the pathfinders how a kobold does things!!!"
"Hsss!" Pethjun hisses at Athrax. "Quit mumbling. We quiet here!" She creeps along behind.
Loudest of the bunch, she makes what sounds like a racket to everyone as she follows the group to the intersection. She then shushes everyone. "SHHHHH!"