Galandram relays the kobold's response to Sabrine's question to the group. He does not immediately remove to Sabrine's hand on his shoulder; however, with Yngvilda's question, he moves out and looks around the room briefly, focusing on the ceiling near the collapsed area.
"You're right," he says to Bri and Cei. "None of this makes sense." He then addresses the Ulfen woman, "I suspect that they may have undermined its foundations. No need for magic, just some pickaxes and time."
He turns to face the kobold, and continues in a strangely imperious tone, "यदि आप शहरों की भीड़ या हमें खतरे में न डालने की शपथ लेंगे, तो हम आपको छोड़ देंगे। लेकिन पहले मेरे कुछ और सवाल हैं। यह सासेरक क्या है? आपने किसे सूचित किया, और इसमें अन्य कोबल्स शामिल थे? और आप टॉवर को नीचे कैसे लाए?"
Galandram's assumptions are correct. Looking around and surveying the tunnel, it is clear that key support beams were specifically removed and enough damage was done to undermine the foundation that the tower collapsed.
The prisoner tilts his head as he tries to understand what Galandram said."आपकी ड्रैकोनिक काम की जरूरत है। हम सेसरक के निर्देशन में एक साथ काम करते हैं।". He looks towards the fallen body of the female archer. "वह महिला आर्चर के गिरे हुए शरीर की ओर देखती है।"
The kobold explains that they collapsed the tower by weakening its base and making it unsound and that there were no additional kobolds involved other than the three found here. This kobold agrees to pledge not to harm you or the townsfolk again should you release him.
"Let it go or kill it, I don't really mind either way. Do you think we've done enough down here? or should we keep poking about? I'd really like to get out of these confined spaces."
Once she hears the Kobold’s response from Galandram, Bri’s demeanor immediately becomes annoyed, ”This Kobold has barely given us anything, we still dont know why Hunclay even hire these lizards to collapse his tower anyway? Was it a falling out that they had? BAH! I say let him go on the principle that he seems to a worthless lackey of this Sessarak.”
"I agree, we've spent enough time on this one. And I don't think he's much danger on his own."
Galandram unbinds the kobold. He speaks once more, "आपको बख्शा गया और स्वतंत्रता दी गई। हमें फिर कभी परेशान मत करो।"
The kobold thanks you profusely. Once let go it scurries to the east and disappears into a hole in the floor that seems to drop into a 4-foot wide tunnel that disappears into the east somewhere.
You spend sometime gathering up the belongings of the dead kobolds and make your way back towards the entrance when you return to the body of the dead wizard Hunclay.
Watching the kobold flee, Yngvilda is torn. She can see in her mind's eye the hatred on the face of the one that spat at her, and pictures the fleeing kobold laughing as it returns to town to attack townsfolk that she should have protected.
On the other hand she can see it now as it's running away, afraid and hurt and her heart goes out to it. They weren't monsters, no more than any people are. Things aren't as simple as in the battle songs.
She takes a deep breath. "We were asked to find out what happened, and we know some of it I think. Perhaps it's enough for the Baroness. If we take this body back to the surface, we can report to the Baroness. Perhaps pick up a reward?"
She looks excited, then suddenly cautious "Do you think she knows about the old Baron? Torture and devils and such?"
Contemplating their next course of action Bri weighs in as they stand over the dead body of what use to be Hunclay, ”I’m still not sure if we do quiet understand what’s happening. Maybe the Baronness can tell us more about this wizard, but we at least know how the tower collapsed even if we do not know the why.”
She appears deep in thought for a moment before exclaiming, ”I wonder if we could turn this in to a retainer job. Do you think Cassomir has had previous trouble with these Kobolds? Personally, I am still trying to figure out if Hunclay was the mastermind behind this or this Sesserak.”
An idea strikes her before the shadow of fear comes over her face, ”Galandram, Cei, do you know if they ever found the ‘good’ Baron’s body? Could this Hunclay have any relation? Yngvilda I’m afraid that until we know more about this situation, I believe it best to play the political game and withhold this information from the Baronness. Perhaps we can leverage later.”
Cei stops for a moment, thinking, but is interrupted by Sabrine's suggestion. "Now, this information is what we were hired for. I do not fancy being left out to dry if we come back with nothing. If you want to hold back the extra things we've discovered, that's fine, but I intend to get paid for the work we've done."
Cei recalls that his body was found along with the rest of his family. They were all burned and destroyed by order of the Grand Prince.
Yngvilda nods along with Cei. "Yes I agree with Cei, we can show the sheriff that we're trustworthy and get a reward at the same time."
She then smiles at Sabrine. "But I trust you too Sabrine, if you have reservations, we should take them seriously. If you're concerned that the Baroness has a hidden agenda that puts us or the town in danger, should we do some research? Ask around perhaps? Make sure we're fully informed before we go back to her?"
She looks to Galandram to hear his wisdom, as he is the elder of the group . "If we're going to sell some items we've found here and pick up some lockpicks for Galandram, we can do a bit of asking around at the same time. How's that?"
The elf considers Yngvilda's question for a bit, before responding. "I didn't have a bad impression of the baroness. And we must be discreet in any inquiries regarding her, as if she is corrupt, she still has the power of life and death in this region. But I think there is more to investigate here before we understand the real cause of the tower's collapse. We have no leads as to why Hunclay would want to collapse the tower, for example."
He ponders this situation for a bit, looking between Yngvilda, Cei, and Sabrine. "Perhaps we could inform the baroness that the tower was undermined by kobolds, but that we do not yet know why they wished to destroy it. That's true enough as far as it goes. We can for now withhold information on the wizard's body. And as Yngvilda suggested, we can discretely gather information about the town and baroness while shopping. Bri, Cei, will that work as a compromise?"
Bri smiles at the rest, ”You misunderstand me, I do not believe the Baronness has any ill intent towards us or the town of Cassomir, in fact I quiet like the Baronness. She is the type of noble I want when I grow up, strong, beautiful, commanding. But it is impossible to avoid the game of politics. Especially this information about the previous Baron, it could be used to more of our advantage than simply informing the Baroness.
Let us carry on though, if we decide to tell the Baroness everything it will certainly make her like us more, and there’s never anything wrong with having a noble who likes you.”
Bri will stay where she is at with the rest of the party but keep an eye down the north tunnel to see if she sees anything.
Cei chuckles and shakes his head. "I have no head for politics. We were hired to find the cause of the tower collapse, and that's all I feel obligated to give, so yes, Galandram, that compromise works for me. The rest of the information, can stay or go as is found necessary for . . . for politics."
Yngvilda screws her face up at Sabrine's definition of politics, but lets it go because all her Ulfen storybooks where the heroes fought each other ended poorly, and she knows she's no scholar to debate such things. Lying doesn't sit right with her, never has.
Though she trusts the members of the party, so she nods her assent to the plan.
"It will be nice to get a look around town at least. If we're keeping this discovery to ourselves for now, I suppose it makes sense to leave him here" She indicates the wizard's body with her axe. "I wonder if he has family members in town." She looks sad.
She then remembers the chests in the previous room and the keyring on the body and perks up. "At least we could try that keyring on the chests on the way out! I wonder what's in them?"
At the Ulfen woman's mention of leaving Hunclay's body, a mournful look falls over Galandram's face. He goes over and carefully inspects the corpse, whispering a brief prayer as he does.
Afterwards, he turns back to the party, sadly saying, "If politics dictate that we leave this body down here to rot, I would rather be apolitical. But I believe we could bring him up for a proper burial and still maintain some discretion." He looks at Sabrine, continuing, "Bri, do you not think it reasonable to bring him up and merely say that we found him down here, murdered by the kobolds. It's honest enough as far as it goes." And it will likely spur us back down here, to determine the real cause of what's happening. This town is still in danger, he adds silently.
Heading back to the room with the chests, you will find that none of the keys you possess will open these old storage units. A quick inspection of the locks reveal that no one has opened these chests in a long, long time.
"I do think it would be the kindest thing to do, bringing him back up, particularly if he has family in town. There was that aspiring apprentice too, he might want to know of Huncley's demise. Ultimately we don't know enough about this town to know what's best and I think honesty is the best policy."
She'll consider the safety of the hand dug tunnels with some of the knowledge she's picked up during this exploration.
Then if everyone is in agreement she will help to extract the body from the rubble as gently as she can and carry it back to the surface with the others.
The group successfully excavates the broken body of the wizard from underneath the rubble of the fallen tower and carry him back to the surface. Returning to the inn, they discover that Calladastina Honas (the undertaker) runs the Sunset House here in town.
Making your way to the baroness's office, you request to meet with her and she quickly grants you an audience. Seated in a lavishly furnished room, you are served biscuits and refreshments when she arrives.
"Ahh, welcome back! Well, no sense dilly-dallying, let's get down to it."
She looks suddenly serious.
"What did you find out?"
Clearing her throat, Bri takes her best diplomatic stance in the chair, ”Baronness Devy, we thank you once again for entrusting us this task. We have discovered that a group of rogue kobolds have collapsed the tower.” She then glances at her comrades,”And we found the wizards body amongst the rubble, seems he had something to do with the tower collapsing although what we haven’t discovered yet.”
Cei stands and amiles, bowing at the baroness as she arrives. Other than his greeting though, he remains silent, allowing Sabrine to do the politics.
The Baroneness steeples her fingers while she listens to Sabrine explain their findings. When the skald finishes her story, Baronesness Devy leans back in her chair thinking. "You believe had something to do with the tower collapsing? I'd very much be interested in hearing what your theories on the matter are."
She holds up a hand to motion for Sabrine to wait a moment before continuing. "Before getting into that however, I have two other matters of business to discuss with you first."
She reaches down to a drawer and unlocks it with a key from a key ring in her pouch. She withdraws a slip of paper with a seal on it and scribbles a few characters before sliding it across the desk to your party. "This is a note for 500 gold pieces for your investigation into the collapsed tower. I had feared kobolds had been at work since the discovery of their bodies outside the tower, which leads me to the second order of business."
"After assigning you to investigate the fallen tower, I hired a scout to search around town for any further kobold intrusions. While nothing was discovered in town, just this morning I received word that there is a camp of kobolds setup nearby. I would like that camp removed. Whatever means you use to accomplish this task are fine with me, I just want them gone. Drive them from the region."
Motioning to the slip of paper for your previous work, she adds "Complete that task and I'd be willing to pay you a fee of, let's see, how about 1,200 gold pieces?"
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Yngvilda is trying to let Sabrine take the lead with the Baroness, trying not to react at all to mention of theories about the collapse, but she can't help herself at the mention of a kobold camp.
She daydreams of a great battle scene, where evil kobolds intent on the destruction of human civilization throw themselves at her, clawing and biting and stabbing, but she ducks and weaves, blocks their attacks with her shield and counter attacks with grace and precision. Later she is applauded as she returns to town a triumphan- "1200 GOLD PIECES?!"
She looks sheepishly at the others. "Ahem. I mean, that is a fair price" She strokes her chin in an attempt to look thoughtful "Although a whole camp sounds very dangerous, would you consider offering us any more? If we knew we had more coming we could spend the 500 equipping ourselves and maximise our chances"
While the others talk with the baroness and explain what they have found Eldon wonders around the room, examining almost at random the possessions on display. Just as he is about to start opening draws/cupboards he hears the mention of the extra gold and turns to see what is happening.
"Yngvilda is right, it could be dangerous we should be well prepared."
The Baroness leans forward on her desk. "You mean to tell me that 500 gold is not enough to prepare you?"
She looks like she finds that hard to believe, but leans back in her chair thinking. "Very well. Given how you have proven that you are true to your word, I will advance you one quarter of your final payment up front. Will 300 now and 900 upon completion be sufficient to prepare yourselves then? I don't often permit upfront payments and I must admit it makes me uncomfortable to do so with someone I've known only one day."
"Sounds reasonable to me, I'm in. As long as we can get some rest and don't have to go under ground again, I've had enough of damp corridors and trap filled rooms for a few days at least."
Looking at the others for assent and trying not to let on how pleased she is, Yngvilda replies "That will be fine, thank you. You will not regret putting your faith in us Baroness, I give you my word we will complete this task"
She bows deeply. "Do you have the details on the camp's location? We can set out straight away I think", again looking at the others to get their approval.
Galandram, staying quiet for now, nods his approval.
Nodding with the rest of the party Bri speaks up, ”Your fears are not unfounded Baronnes, but I believe we have proved ourselves as capable and reliable thus far. We thank you for your continued trust in our abilities and we accept your gracious offer.
Did the scouts find anything else out about the kobold camp? How many did they see? Any other information you have may be just as useful as the gold.”
The Baroness nods approvingly. "Yes, it's down by the lake's shore. I'll have the information on the location of the camp provided to you."
Turning to Sabrine she responds "They spotted at least six, but they did not press further or stay around long enough to lose their life. I'm afraid that's all I have for you on that matter. I think you should conclude that there are likely more than six of them however."
She pulls back the note on the desk and makes a notation on it and slides it across again. She stands and waits patiently for a minute until they realize that this is their cue to leave. You take the claim slip for the gold and she calls out to her servant to help provide your reward to you.
The servant leads you through a few doors into a hallway and asks you to wait there. He returns ten minutes later with your reward, split among numerous pouches. Noticeably out of breath from the effort involved of gathering and retrieving it, he smiles and offers "Here you are, 800 gold as promised."
He then proceeds to give you directions to a quarry about a half of a mile east off Old Quarry Road where the kobolds were spotted.
Galandram thanks the servant politely for the reward and for the directions. As they leave the baroness's abode, he addresses the group, "Since we have some gold, I think it would make sense to equip ourselves a little more before headed out of town. At least I think I could pick up a good set of lockpicks and other tools."
He adds more quietly, "And if we can do it quickly enough, I'm curious if I'd be able to open those chests in the tower basement 'on our way out of town'."
"I agree Galandram, I'd like to pick up some tools and gear before we set out, and I see no reason not to pop down and look in the chests before we go. If they're full of rubies we can all buy magic swords that shoot lightning" She's grinning, the frustrations and injuries of the fight lost as she looks forward to the next adventure.
"There's also the 10 platinum we found on the kobolds. Also this crest I've been lugging around, you said it might be worth something, and the gear from the kobolds looks high quality too. I'd say we should sell everything we don't need and split the profits"
Bowing low as the Baronness ushers them out of her office, Bri waits patiently with the others while the servant fetches their payment.
Once they receive it and the servant leaves, she turns to Galandram. ”Thats not a bad a idea, if it’s quick enough we should be able to get some useful things from those chests. I have a little under 700 gold pieces now, Yngvilda, do you need anything? Cei? I wonder if we should invest in a wand with restorative powers.”
Once again the party delves into the ruins of the tower after Galandram has found his tools. With time and patience he is eventually able to make short work of them and what the party finds is beyond their wildest imagination. Each chest contains thousands of coins, so much so that it takes them hours to finally tally their findings. When they are done they discover they are 18,500 cp, 4,000 sp, 115 gp and 14 pp richer. Inside one chest is a teak case that contains 30 gems.
After picking the locks on the chests, Galandram is pleasantly surprised by the gems in the teak case. He can tell that they are valuable, but can't quite place them. "What do you think of these gems, Eldon?" he asks the halfling ().
”I do not mean to step on your toes Eldon, but a noble certainly should be able to tell the relative worth of something so exquisite. Please if I miss something check my work both of you.” Bri says stepping up to help Galandram and Eldon examine the gems.
The elf carefully examines the gems and case, and with Sabrine's help, is able to appraise the value of the gems.
Together, they determine that the case and gems are together worth around 800 gold pieces, nearly doubling the total value of the treasure!
"Thank you, Bri," Galandram tells the Taldan woman, "you clearly have a practiced eye at these things. My apologies, I should have asked you for help as well." He gives a polite bow to her as he returns the gems to their case.
"Torag's beard that is a lot of treasure!"
Yngvilda's enthusiasm wears off somewhat as she helps to carry the hundreds of pounds worth of coin back up from the dungeon, but the thought of spending it keeps her going "With this gold I'll be able to pick up so many axes! What will you all spend your share on?"
True to her word, after they've finished their task of lugging it all up, and she has safely stowed the crest in their temporary accomodations at the inn , she goes straight to the Chance Smithy to see if they have any truly fine work.
After a bit of haggling she emerges, satisfied with her purchases of 2 throwing axes and straps so she can secure them in the small of her back, an enormous greataxe which she has strapped to her back, and a particularly fine masterwork handaxe. Her scalemail has been replaced with a breastplate, and she has extra alchemical weapons and sunrods.
If anything she looks like she ought to be collapsing under the weight of all this gear, but she is beaming. "When do we leave?"
At mid-afternoon you set off east towards the quarry down Old Quarry Road. It doesn't take long to figure out that the flooded quarry is located a quarter mile from Belhaim and that the Old Quarry Road is no longer used, and has become quite overgrown.
A fifty-foot-wide strip of shore stretches between the lake's edge and the forty-foot-high quarry wall. It's strewn with stony debris-the result of centuries of rockslides. Several larger boulders stand against the middle of the quarry wall. You approach slowly, taking cover behind boulders along the way.
A group of six kobolds stands watch at the cave entrances-four of them at the northern entrance and two at the southern. You group is about 100' away and has not been spotted yet.
”I noticed you eyeing that breastplate Yngvilda, here take 350 gp and get it for yourself. The more protected you are the better we all are.”
Bri then spends the next couple hours scribing a scroll of Charm Person before heading off with everyone else to the Quarry.
Whispering as quiet as possible, Bri speaks up, ”Should we split up? Three left and two right? I could take Eldon and go right while the rest of you take the three out on the left. What do we think of that plan?”
"Thank you Sabrine, that is so generous of you. I will pay you back, you have my word. After putting on the masterwork agile breastplate she does a little spin in it, giddy with excitement. "It's such an amazing fit, it barely feels like I'm wearing anything!"
Also whispering. "That sounds like a good plan, but should we try talking first? Perhaps if we ask them to move their camp away from Belhaim, they will just leave and we can avoid any bloodshed. Maybe Galandram could talk to them from here in their strange tongue, and if they attack then at least we tried our best, and then we can go with your plan"
She has her shield equipped and smoothly draws one of her new throwing axes.
”Good idea Yngvilda. Can I show them what you taught me earlier Galandram? Feel free to add or correct me if I mispronounce something.”
Shouting now from behind the rock,
“Friends! No fight, we want to talk“
Embarrassed by her rough sounding Draconic, Bri immeaditely sinks further down behind the rock blushing.
When Sabrine calls out to them you can immediately hear scuffling and murmuring in the distance as the kobolds discuss their new visitors.
"यह रक्त वाह जनजाति की मांद है! अब छोड़ो या तुम खरगोशों की तरह कत्ल कर दिए जाओगे!"
Galandram gives Sabrine a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a smile, amazed that she has been such a quick study at Draconic.
Hearing the kobolds response, Galandram replies, scorn pouring from his voice, "आओ हमसे लड़ो, छोटी छिपकलियाँ!" as he draws his sword.