Zuriel doesn't seem much surprised by the new chief's response. "Well, I suppose I can understand your caution. Wisdom like that will make you a good chief." He replies while gather the items from the dead chief. Once everything is collected, he moves the stuff off to one side and then lays everything neatly together so the group can get a better look at everything.
"We did it! Congratulations, Nighttail." Once the web spell has dissipated, Jenise makes her way over to the chief's corpse and starts attempting to identify any magic items. "And yeah, that's fair enough."
"All right. It's fine if you don't tell us." August sees the logic in the secrecy. "Ah think the townfolk will be happy as long as you are gone."
The paladin spends a moment thinking about the situation. "We did what we were sent to do, right? We can return to town now?"
"I believe we are done here unless the chief requires our aid for anything further."
You do see now safe that off to the north side of the cave are two large, soft pallets here, along with two locked chests. If you are inclined you can take a crack at them, Nighttail is taking stock as the guards come too. Speaking in draconic to them. They seem cowed by the fact their chieftain is dead and she sees preoccupied for the moment with them. She quickly turns mid discussion and answers your question.
“I think you can leave now, I think our deal is complete.”
Once Nighttail reestablishes her conversation with the guards, Zuriel slides over to the chests, inspects them for traps, and then attempts to unlock them.
After opening the chests, Zuriel removes as much stuff as he can and puts it into his pack.
Jenise takes the wand and scrolls for herself, since she's the only one who can use them. August and Zuriel can work out which of them gets the cloak. "We'll get out of here then. Good luck, Nighttail." While she doesn't touch the chests herself, she does cast another detect magic to see if there are any magic items in there.
The chests are not trapped and unlocking them is child’s play. Your easily able to open them up and within them you find 1,895 gp, and the other holds six large green scales and an even larger black scale.
None of it detects as magic however and the sleeping pallet appears to be just that.
"Are those..." August points at the insides of the chests.
"...dragon scales?"
Zuriel glares at August as he picks up the scales and puts them into his pack.
Nighttail by now has the guards running off seemingly telling others about her rise to chief, she looks to the three of you. “This is goodbye then, thank you for the help.” with that she starts heading back up towards her pet allosaurus.
Unless you wish to do anything else you have identified the items seemingly found all that remains of chief Roaghaz’s hoard, and seemingly saved the kobolds and the town. You can return and claim your reward.
Once separated from Nightail, Zuriel hands over all the loot to be split among the group. That includes the phylactery of faithfulness he found on the dead kobold. "I'm not sure what this is, but it looks like something worth looking at. I didn't won't to pull it out while Nighttail was around, just in case it might offend her in some way."
As the three of you ready to head back and return to the town you make quick work of the walk. Going to Devy Manor you are quickly let in and meet Lady Origena and several of the constables talking about cleanup of the stone. As you enter they look up, and the Baroness lets you explain what happened.
(Do you mention that the kobolds are still alive but agreed to leave? Also what else do you mention?)
”Well we also have heard from the next of kin from Hunclay, it seems his cousin doesn’t wish to claim any of his property and requested it be auctioned off and the proceeds sent to her. This leaves us with the problem of trying to discern the safety of his home considering it’s likely trapped after seeing the smoldering kobold on the doorstep. I’d like to ask you to help us, you will be compensated, and can participate in the auction should you choose to find any items you may want. I was also hoping you could possibly discern why he was in the old stone tower as well, maybe he had a reason to be there.”
She has with her a man who stands just a hair over six feet tall with a rather slender build. His skin is slightly fairer than most people here, and his eyes are a bright violet. His chestnut hair is thick and full, and he keeps his pulled back from his face. His attire is that of a fashionable traveler, complete with a chainshirt beneath his frock and a silver holy symbol engraved with Desna's sacred butterfly.
Next to him is a small slender half elven woman with a rather bookish demeanor and rather plain clothes. She seems to stands waiting as well, for an introduction.
The Baroness takes note of the other two people and gestures towards them, “We have corralled some help as well, Miss Gavia Volso is rather learned and could help with identifying some of the items Hunclay might have, as well as being possibly interested in his books he kept. Mr. Ethulfel Umbrada is someone who arrived recently and we found out is actually somewhat traveled and should help if there are some oddities in there as well.”
Zuriel waits for August to debrief Lady Origena seeing its more of a paladin thing than something he feels comfortable doing.
When the Lady mentions traps, fried kobold, and the possibility of looting the wizard's residence, Zuriel perks up a bit. "That sounds dangerous, with the magical traps and all. What kind of compensation where you considering?" He says with a bit of a gleam in his eye. "Perhaps something in the lines of, we get to keep some of the stuff we find? Does that sound reasonable? There has to be all kinds of magical crap in there."
After a moment, he glances over at the two new people. "Well met. I'm Zuriel Nullion." He says while cafuly looking over the two.
"My lady." August bows deep in front of the baroness.
"We have returned victorious from our quest. We killed the evil kobold leader and all other evil kobolds. The other kobolds will now go elsewhere. Your town is safe!"
The paladin stands proudly, with a satisfied grin on his face. He listens through the baroness' suggestion and nods.
"Yes, we are happy to.." his sentence is interrupted by a thud on his side. "Zuriel? Why are you elbowing me? You could hurt your elbow. The armor is really hard, you see." he looks at the elf, puzzled.
A bit later he hears the introduction of the baroness' companions.
"Hello, Miss Gavia Volso and Mister Elf... Eltuhf.. Umbrada. Very nice to meet you!" August says with a happy smile, and offers his hand for shaking.
Gavia pastes on a feeble smile when Lady Origena speaks her name. She again asks herself why she let Lady Origena talk her into this chore as she stands with awkward rigidity. Her hands are clasped behind her back so she can nervously twist her fingers around each other without anyone noticing.
Gavia replies to the elf Zuriel by saying "I'm happy to help however I can."
Any implied enthusiasm in her statement rings hollow.
Jenise smiles at the new arrivals, offering each of them a handshake in turn. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jenise Aldercroft, sorceress for hire." Her smile turns more genuine when she spots Ethulfel's holy symbol. "Oh, another Desnan, excellent! There don't seem to be many of us around here."
She looks perturbed about the news but looks at you for a moment before sighing, “Well hopefully this isn’t something that comes back to bite us later. Atleast for now we won’t have to deal with any kind of angry mob.”
She eyes Zuriel, at this point aware of the shrewdness of his haggling. “For traps we are not sure he was a bit of a recluse and with the example on his doorstep it’s not hard to fathom that there is more inside. The items are unfortunately all to be sold but the payment will be 5,000 gold pieces. Which I think should more than cover doing the task.
”Eth is fine if my name proves too challenging,” the handsome stranger offers when August stumbles over his name, “or Mister Umbrada, if you prefer.”
While the lady begins haggling over payment, he shakes each of the offered hands in turn, until he takes Jenise’s hand and she reveals she shares his faith. Rather than simply shaking it, he responds to the revelation by bowing to kiss it softly. “The Starsong bless you,” he offers as he straightens back up, “as she has blessed me, with the opportunity to meet such a lovely fellow worshipper.” He smiles and his eyes linger on hers for a moment before he finally adds to the group at large, “I’m afraid I’m no expert on traps nor magical treasures, but I have been blessed with some magic that might be of assistance, and I’m glad to use it to your aid, if you’ll permit me.”
Zuriel sighs when it’s pointed out that everything inside is meant for auction. “I’m game for five thousand gold. I can’t say that I’m not disappointed. There is likely a lot of magical antiquities in there. Once we market the items we brought back, and provision for this small adventure, I believe we can begin.
Very well once we you’ve made your way through and made sure it’s safe just come find me. I’ll be around town for the foreseeable future.”
With that she gestures to the door and looks to the sheriff, “I’d like to make an announcement that the threat the kobolds presented has been dealt with and that the town can begin the process to heal from this unfortunate …..”
You all walk out and begin to venture into town to sell what you want and do any further preparations.
"Thank you, Eth. I'd like to call you Eth." August says, relieved that doesn't need to struggle through the hard name.
Then he listens through Zuriel and baroness negotiating, and seems happy with the result.
"Sounds good. We have work again."
"Should we go to the wizards house later today?"
Gavia files out with her new co-workers? Business parters? She decides she needs to ask about something weighing on her mind.
"We won't be in the house after dark, right?"
"Whay, are you scared of the dark?" Zuriel asks.
"I just don't see any reason for doing such a thing." Gavia replies tersely.
Despite not having any business of his own, Ethulfel cheerily tags along with his new acquaintances while they tend to whatever they need to do. "You'll have to be quick about your buying and selling if you wish to examine Mister Hunclay's house this evening before dark," he offers as the sun sinks lower in the sky.
"I'm not entirely clear on the time frame in which Lady Origena intended for us to carry out the task, but I imagine she'd like it completed quickly, before any people might run afoul of any more traps?"
"Hmm. Gavia would prefer to begin tomorrow after its not dark. I'm ok either way, but I respect her wishes and have no personal interest in beginning prematurely. I will roll with whatever the group wants to do. I can be very patient for five thousand gold each."
"No need to be afraid of the dark, Gavia. Jenise is a mighty sorceress, and can make this light spell so we can all see even if it is dark."
You all head out to the edge of town to see a small quaint farm, with a sign that says "Malak Dairy Farm" at the front of the house. Heading towards it you see the a woman slowly tending to her work. She looks up and smiles at all of you. "Oh, you look like the folks Malak said helped her is that true?! We/ve missed her dearly since she went missing and the fact you brought her back is a blessing from Old Deadeye himself. Here let me get something for you." With that she gets up and hustles inside for a moment before return counting coins into a small purse.
"Here take this for your troubles, it's the least I could do for the hope you gave us." with that she presses a coin purse of 200 gold into your hands. "You all are true heroes, if you ever need a warm cooked meal please feel free to stop by."
As Zuriel asks around he finds Carlo and Sela who see him and thank him but unfortunately have nothing to give, and are looking to get out of the area to try an get a fresh start, this does end up leading him to the Baccus Smithy, a small shop run by a large half orc that goes by Big Bull Baccus. He is a frieldy man and offers to make you a light shield out of it for 240 gold. It would take two days to make it since he's basically done today and tomorrow he has a bit of work lined up for him and his apprentices.
"Oh, I wouldn't call myself a mighty sorceress. There are a lot of spells out there that are still beyond me. That's why I carry a crossbow." Jenise pats her faithful weapon. "I would prefer to start on this latest job tomorrow. I used most of my spells fighting kobolds and their pet skeletons."
”Well, if we’re to wait until tomorrow to investigate, perhaps we should return to the farm to take that woman up on her kind offer of dinner?” Ethulfel suggests.
Zuriel considers the smith's offer and then perks up a bit. "Would you be willing to accept this extra-large black dragon scale in exchange for crafting the shield?" He asks in a very polite manner.
Gavia is surprised, and a little annoyed, that her comment to simply do things like regular, normal people has met with all the 'afraid of the dark' comments.
"I am not afraid of the dark" she clarifies since it seems to be necessary.
"I was merely asking if we would be continuing after dark so I would know what to bring with me. You'll notice I didn't come here with anything out of the ordinary."
It is certainly true that Gavia has nothing except her clothing, no weapons, no satchel or pack, with her.
"I'm certainly not going straight there tonight if that's what you were thinking for some reason. I haven't slept since last night like most everyone everywhere, and I would rather be rested than sleep deprived."
"Further, it makes no sense at all to fumble about in the dark of night while assessing the house's valuables to sell by lantern or magic. During the day the house will be lit by, you know, daylight available through windows. We will have superior working conditions without the need for any special equipment. It's just common sense."
Zuriel looks back over his shoulder as Gavia explains her position about proceeding during night. "I agree with Gavia, and shame on you all for thinking she's afraid of the dark."
He eyes the shield greedily and smiles, “Oh my, that’s massive! I’ll take it, I wonder if it’s from that dreaded wyrm Aeteperax. He was a terror long ago, the town was founded by the dragon slayer that killed him don’t ya know.”
With that he takes the scale and gives a gruff hand shake with steely strong half orc hands.
August was minding his own while Zuriel was negotiating the deal. But then the word 'Aeteperax' catches his attention. At first, it doesn't really register. But slowly and surely, the train of thought catches the paladin.
He turns towards the half-orc.
"Aeteperax!? The kobolds spoke that name..." He says, remembering both the ancient kobolds and the former chief telling Aeteperax would be his doom.
"A wyrm? As in dragon!?" His interest now roused, eyes flickering between the scale and the smith. Color of the scale... evil dragon!
"Tell me of the wyrm! And it's slayer!" he pleads, excited.
As the smith takes hold of the scale, Zuriel pauses for a moment while keeping a firm grip on it. He then considers the scale's worth before finalizing the deal.
"Hmm"
Gavia intends to return home for the night. But, before she leaves, she gives the scale a good eyeballing.
The smith smiles at August while maintaining a hand on the scale, “Well he was a great black dragon!” he wiggles the scale to add emphasis. [b] “Well er’one in town knows the tale well enough. The beast was terrible and massive greater than most dragons, but Tula Belhaim and her company of heroes the Slayers of Nazilli, came and defeated him in battle. The greatest and largest dragon she laid low, for her service the emperor gave her the title of baroness and she was granted stewardship of all of the Fens. She and her company founded Belhaim. There’s more to it but the rest of tale is sadder to be honest. Supposedly Bassy the old librarian new her, but there’s no way. Gnomes live long but not that long.” [/!b]
After considering the scale's value, Zuriel releases it while concluding deal. "I look forward to seeing your craftmanship master smith. Until then, I wish you a fine day."
After handing over the black scale, Zuriel digs out the six green scales and hands them over as well. "A dragon paladin with a dragon shield. Sounds epic."
While using his finely crafted walking stick to guide his step, Zuriel heads back towards the wizard's house. "Assuming there isn't anything else, we can now address the quest at hand."
"I would very much like to hear the rest of the tale," Ethulfel confesses to the smith, "even if it is a sad one."
"I thought we'd decided to wait until tomorrow to search the deceased's home, so that some can recover their spells and abilities, and in order that we might have sun light to search by?"
"Perhaps we could take the woman at the dairy up on her offer of dinner and then set a place to meet in the morning after we've all found lodgings and had some rest?"
Zuriel freezes in place when reminded about the free meal. "A free meal it is then. We wouldn't want to be rude, would we?" He concludes just before placing the tip of his fancy new walking stick firmly in the soil and then performing a fancy pivot, which changes his direction from the mage's house to the dairy woman's house.
"And off to a good meal we go."
"No, we don't want to be rude. And Ah am hungry, too." August agrees.
The smith goes on to explain how after building a manor in town Tula settled down as baroness, unfortunately woe began to follow her. Her relationship with her husband began to sour and her children all didn’t survive to adulthood and died young. Eventually it came to a head when she and her husband both died. With no heirs a distant cousin took over and they ruled for many years, the town stalled other settlements nearby died out, and the baron’s family ruled harshly.
Showing back up to the Malak’s farm they are a little surprised but are more than happy to have you there. The food is delicious and you’re served plenty, they make some places for you to sleep and you all get a long rest. The next day you all wake up fully rested and ready to go,
"When and where do you want to meet tomorrow morning? I'll be going home now. Have a pleasant meal."
Zuriel makes himself comfortable at the dinner table after hanging his fancy new stick on the back of his chair. “I suppose we could meet up at the wizard’s house first thing in the morning. I would recommend we meet somewhere stand offish, so we don’t draw to much attention to the processes. That, and it sounds like there might be traps lingering around.”
After enjoying the meal, Zuriel spends the evening swapping stories before bedtime and then accepts the offered accommodations for the night. “You are most gracious for this offer.”
A real home cooked meal, and a free place to sleep? Score! Jenise thanks their hosts warmly, making sure to compliment Mrs. Malak on her cooking. It's been a long day full of kobolds and the sorceress is happy to have some rest in a safe, warm place.
"That works for me, Zuriel." Once everyone is done eating, Jenise helps their hostess wash the dishes before setting out her bedroll in front of the fire.
August helps himself a second plate of sausages and eats with good appetite. Days on the road and trail rations always leave him hungry.
"Okay. We can meet at the wizards house."
Mrs. Malak appreciates the help and the home is comfortable if at this point a little packed with all of you there except for Gavia. The sleep is everything you could hope for after a long day for some of you. The next morning Mrs. Malak is up early tending to the game with Bophre, some breakfast is left out for all of you as well as a small slice of pie for the road for each of you.
After getting ready everyone reconvenes near Hunclay’s manor, the town is just starting to wake. You can see the grisly remains of a kobold, the flesh charred badly and limbs contorted by fire, still lie on the doorstep of the manor house. People give the entire place a wide berth and it’s evident just how fearful people are of the place.