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Jaidu is easily able to disable the trap. Four lesser alchemist's fires drop out of slots in the ceiling and into his waiting claws. The oily hallway ends at the base of a set of stairs carved into the tunnel floor. At the top of the rough-hewn steps is a large cave, the floor strewn with fresh straw. The bones of many different creatures, animal and humanoid both, hang on the walls. Two boulders bisect the cave, obscuring what the other half holds.
"Our reward is knowledge! Should you journey through the western tunnel, there is a tripwire just beyond the bend that will cause a roaring inferno to sprout up around you. Disable it safely, and you can retrieve the alchemical fire that powers it." The kobold waits for you to retreat, a cautious hand on the large frog-like creature next to it.
When you don't immediately attack, the kobold calls out again, "We protect the future. Spare us, and you'll be rewarded."
Beyond the doorway, a cave opens. The northern half of the chamber consists of a two-foot-deep bowl-shaped section of smoothed stone covered with leaves and downy bird feathers. Carefully nested in this space are dozens of scaly, green-tinged kobold eggs, each about the size of an orange. A trio of kobolds, backs up by two saber-toothed frogs, stands between you and the eggs. "Halt!" the lead kobold shouts as you enter the room.
The kobold priest falls under the barrage of spells and attacks. Among their equipment, you find 2 lesser healing potions and a scroll of create water. Beyond the shrine, the tunnel branches into two paths. The right-hand way is blocked by a simple wooden door marked "Cavern of the Future" in Draconic. The left-hand tunnel leads down and around a corner. Jaidu spots that the slick walls of the tunnel are coated with some sort of flammable oil. GM:
With a cry of rage and desperation, the cleric pulls a pickaxe, ready for any attacks. He calls on the power of his god and strange energies seem to flow around him.
~+~Combat Round 3~+~
~+~Combat Round 4~+~
Rising Dawn crushes one of the skeletons and badly injures the other. It's barely holding together. ~+~Combat Round 3~+~
Lucius just barely misses the skeletons! "You die now, human!" the kobold shouts as he starts to intone a spell and ducks back behind the statue.
The mindless skeleton slashes away at Lucius, landing one solid hit. for
~+~Combat Round 2~+~
Rising Dawn wisely bashes the skeleton with her shield; its bones crack, but it holds together. Tettia's thrown object flies wide of the animated dead. The other skeleton advances on the heretical Jaidu and swipes at him with its claws! He pays dearly for his blasphemy. for
~+~Combat Round 2~+~
Jaidu's jolting javelin misses the kobold, but one of Lucius's rock strikes connects. "You dare challenge the Lord of the Mines?" the kobold shouts? He conjures a magical stone and hurls it at Jaidu, the steps up behind the statue and takes cover.
Meanwhile, one of the skeletons strides up and attacks Lucius, landing one hit. for
~+~Combat Round 1~+~
The worshiping kobold whirls on Jaidu, shouting, "Blasphemy!" Initiative:
~+~Combat Round 1~+~
Gathering anything that looks useful, and making a note of the items for later, you head back to the hole that drops down deeper into the kobold lair. You drop into a small, cramped cavern. To the north, there are two tunnel and the sound of chanting in the distance. Investigating, you find yourselves at the edge of a room with 12-foot-high ceilings. A crude idol stands in the middle of the cave, decorated with grisly strips of dried viscera. Religion DC 16:
The statue is Vapula, an Infernal Duke. It has been strangely decorated, though. A robed kobold kneels before the statue, surrounded by several skeletons. He doesn't appear to have noticed you yet.
After a quiet night of rest in the inn, you make your way back to the kobold's lair. There are few changes in the tunnel, though you notice that the body of the dying oracle has been cast onto the refuse pile near where you freed Nighttail. The final tunnel on the second level of the lair room is locked with a wooden gate that easily yields to efforts to unlock it. A large number of weapons have been stashed in neatly ordered stacks and piles in this dry cave. The tribe’s armory consists of weapons and armor, including 12 spears, 120 sling bullets, 4 slings, 3 suits of leather armor, 3 wooden shields, 2 bows, and a low-grade cold iron longsword.
"Very well, please report to me when you have discovered anything of note." The baroness starts to step away, then turns halfway 'round, "And for Cayden's sake, someone get that lizard a drink." She shakes her head at Jaidu and makes her way out the door.
"Well...that's certainly an interesting tale. I assumed that blasted spellcaster went around my explicit orders and collapsed the tower. He's not answering his door, you know." The baroness rubs her temples in irritation. "Are you willing to continue the investigation? I'm willing to pay. We can't just have kobold cultists running around under the town." "And, if you can find Hunclay, I'd appreciate it. I like to keep an eye on wizards. Most of them are as dangerous as a toddler with a vorpal battle axe."
You make your way out of the kobold lair without incident; once you step outside the caves, it's easy to orient yourselves and make your way over land to Belhaim. Moments after you sit down to a meal at the inn, a tall, stately woman sweeps through the door and walks right up to your table. "Ah, there you are. I thought you had died in that damned tower until Hodd told me you were back in town." The woman looks you over. "You look a bit beat up, but you made it out better than some would have. I'm Baronesse Origena Devy, and this town is in my care." In a no-nonsense voice, she asks, "Who are you? And what have you found out about that tower's collapse? Any sign of that blasted wizard, Hunclay?"
You leave the hole for now, making your way through the rest of this level of the kobold lair. You head back to the main corridor and continue further east. The tunnel curves sharply north and opens into a cramped chamber with a three-foot-high ceiling. Mounds of moldy straw have been stuffed into it from floor to ceiling.
Continuing past the musty cave, you come to a small chamber just before returning to the turtle room; a single small palet heaped with furs sits against the south wall of the cave. An aged kobold, his green scales dull and his eyes shut tight, lies on the palette. As you enter the cave, the aged kobold’s eyelids flutter open to reveal milky, blind orbs. In a raspy voice, he calls out in Common: "I can tell by your scent that you are strangers here. If my nose tells the truth, you bring the destruction I foretold. Good... good. I had hoped to see our ruin before journeying to the afterworld, but I will settle for listening to it. Beware the great scaly beast, strangers. He seems to speak reason, but his words are poison. And his bats, the ones he called from the darkness... they are harbingers of lunacy and chaos... Dread Lord Aeteperax will surely be your doom as he has been ours...arg!” As if this speech was too much, the aged kobold dies in front of your eyes!
"Oh no, I'd never want to see him. He is too terrible and powerful...at least according to the chief." The kobold shivers. "His majesty would blind a lesser being like me! The chief just passes on his orders. 'Dig here!' 'Dig there!' That kind of thing."
The cowed kobold seems perfectly willing to talk. "I serve our mighty and powerful chief, Roaghaz. His goal is to bring glory to Aeteperax, our godlike savior." His voice trembles a bit at the name Aeteperax. "The chief is probably down in the Grand Hall." He points a clawed hand toward the hole that is at the far side of the room.
Rising Dawn knocks her opponent a good one, and Lucius takes down the fleeing kobold. The remaining kobold decides that discretion is the better
"I give up!" it growls in Draconic.
The kobolds are looking battered and scorched, but they stay in the fight. The red kobold slices at Rising Dawn. for
When the dwarf fails to fall after even its mightiest attacks, the kobold skitters away toward the hole in the floor to the north.
~+~Combat Round 2~+~
Pressing the attack, Rising Dawn and Lucius manage to wound one of the kobolds and fell the other. The remaining, uninjured kobold screams, "For Aeteperax!" in Draconic, then drops pulls his dagger to attack Lucius. for
~+~Combat Round 2~+~
Tettia smacks a kobold squarely in the snout. The startled kobolds drop their slings and draw daggers. One slices at Lucius and one slices at Rising Dawn. for
for
One scores a decent hit on Dawn, but the other misses the attacks on Lucius. ~+~Combat Round 1~+~
Rocks sprout from the wall, giving you an easy pathway over the small cleft in the cave floor. You seem to get the drop on a trio of waiting kobolds, who are loading slings.
GM Screen:
Jaidu and Tettia have a chance to act before any of the other kobolds. ~+~Combat Round 1~+~
GM Screen:
You carefully make you way into the cave to the north. The ceiling of this chamber rises to a lofty twelve feet. The cave floor drops away into a pair of long, ten-foot-deep pits. Between them, a ridge of stone forms a dubious walkway to a landing on the opposite side, where a five-foot-wide shaft is bored into the floor. On the far side of the eastern pit, a chest-high wall conceals a long alcove. The voices of kobolds have fallen silent, but Dawn and Lucius spot movement behind the wall--there are arrow slits carved into it, and you can see several kobolds milling around on the wall's far side.
Patched up, the crew continues through the cramped tunnels. The southwest tunnel takes a sharp left turn after about 20 feet, then continues straight south for quite a ways. After another turn, this time to the east, you come to a branch in the tunnel. One branch continues straight, and you can see that it bends around to the north not far ahead. The other branch opens on your left hand and leads immediately north. A curve in that tunnel cuts off your view of what lays beyond, but you hear quiet kobold voices echoing from that direction.
Lucius takes out the last kobold pikeman, and calm spreads across the cave like turtle blood across a pond. Opposition vanquished, you have a moment to catch your breath. There are tunnels leading out of the cave from the southwest, south, and southeast.
Jaidu heals the unconsious wizard and the turtle meets its doom! The dwarf clambers out of the pool of water.
Tettia just misses the kobold with her spell. It retaliates with two swings of its long polearm, then steps back, out of sight of Jaidu and Lucius. The blows knock Tettia unconscious! for
Meanwhile, the turtle in the pool snaps at Rising Dawn. for
After its second attack hits, it grabs on to the dwarf! ~+~Combat Round 2~+~
The shore of this pool is a bit of sandy scree. If anyone is knocked prone, there is a chance you will fall in the pool.
The blue kobold falls in a sizzle of lightning, and the red one takes a bit of damage. Meanwhile, Dawn takes out an angry snapping turtle with one swipe of her axe! Lucius's attack geos wide, but gets the attention of the red kobold. ~+~Combat Round 2~+~
The shore of this pool is a bit of sandy scree. If anyone is knocked prone, there is a chance you will fall in the pool.
Tettia's thrown stone smacks the blue kobold square in the face, leaving it looking quite dazed! The other kobold steps into reach of Rising Dawn and attempts to trip the dwarf with its polearm!
The dwarf falls to the ground, and the creature takes another swipe at her! for The blade cuts into Dawn and she attempts to stay on the shore. The turtles swim in the water, unwilling to climb out of their pool at this point. ~+~Combat Round 1~+~
The shore of this pool is a bit of sandy scree. If anyone is knocked prone, there is a chance you will fall in the pool.
The kobold is easily restrained and will probably recover fully. You continue through the tight tunnels of the kobold lair and round the corner into a low-ceiling cavern where a large pool of dark water sits in the middle of the room. Two kobolds with long polearms are poking at large turtles in the pool. The turtles look extremely cranky. "Intruders, get them!" One of the kobolds shouts. The kobolds seem surprised by your appearance. Initiative:
~+~Combat Round 1~+~
The kobold doesn't even get a step on you before Dawn puts him down for a dirt nap. Whatever he was running for, he's not going to make it. From the entrance to the cave, you can hear a gentle splash of water from around the corner.
You descend into the next level into a humid cave. Two shallow, murky pools sit in the north and south ends of this ovoid cavern. Each of the murky pools is 3 feet deep and filled with sickly tadpoles—the kobolds look to be breeding frogs down here for food. As you enter, a single kobold leaps up, looking to run toward the exit. Initiative:
You get the drop on him, and can try to stop him, if you wish.
"This way!" Nighttail leads the way over to a five-foot wide hole in the ground that leads deeper into the lair. "So, here's the deal: Hak won't fit down this hole, and I'm not willing to leave him alone up here--he's well-behaved normally, but I don't want him eating any of my future minions." She pats the ferocious-looking allosaur on the snout. "Roaghaz is two levels below us. Once you go down this hole, stick to the right wall. You'll go past the snapping turtle pools and down and around to another hole. There's a tasty spot for an ambush just before the descent, so keep your eyes peeled." Nighttail continues to narrate, evidely confident that her new heroes (that's you!) can handle anything the lair has to dish out. "Once you are on the lowest level, there's a shrine to Vapula, then a trapped corridor. It's a fiery one, actually pretty good work from these goobers. The so-called chief's throne room is beyond that. Just come up and tell me when you kill him."
"Oh, you know wizards," Nighttail says as she leads you out the southern exit to the cavern. "Elderly, wore a bathroom, smelled of sausages. This one was obsessed with books and stargazing. He wanted that tower knocked down so he could see the sky from his house, but someone in town told him no." Nighttail shrugs, uninterested in surface politics. "So, he asked the Blood Vow to knock it down, which they did in their usual incompetent way. I told them adventures would start hunting around!" By this time, you have curved around and walked a decent distance to the north. "Hold up here a moment." The kobold stops and fiddles with a rock and a tripwire strung across the tunnel. "Barely concealed. These numbskulls are really going to get wiped out if I don't take over." She leads you a short distance farther to a cave, where a large wooden pen stretches across the north side of the cavern. "Let me go in first. I don't want you scaring my friend." Nighttail walks up to the pen and gives a low whistle, while tapping one foot on the floor in an odd pattern. A human-sized dinosaur rushes up the the wooden bars and greets your guide with happy yips. "Good Hak! They've been feeding you, right? Yes, looks like it. Let's get you out of here." She unfastens the simple latch on the pen and gives the dinosaur a steady pat on the head and a scratch under its chin scales.
"Yes, yes! That's an excellent plan." Nighttail agrees enthusiastically. "I told that bozo that collapsing the tower would bring adventurers, but he never listens to me! That's why the Blood Vow are in need of new leadership." The kobold picks her way carefully to the top of the pile of garbage as she continues to talk to you, retrieving the sack that's balanced on top of the refuse. "I always say, 'Why mess with a wizard?' Nothing but trouble. Live and let live is my motto." After clambering back down off the pile, the kobold opens the sack, reclaiming some of her gear and weapons. "After I'm in charge, the Blood Vow will move out of here, and you folk will never have to worry about us again." "So, the first step to toppling that stinker Roaghaz is freeing my friend Hak. He's being held in a nearby room--one that has a shortcut to the lower levels where that cowardly chief lurks." After checking her gear, she adds, "Ready to move out? You're welcome to keep anything of value we come across, by the way. I'm only interesting in taking over the tribe, and you should have a fair payment for your help."
"Sure thing," the kobold answers. "Thanks for untying me." "You've found your way into the home warrens of the Blood Vow kobolds, mostly a bunch of sniveling, spineless cowards who will do anything that their idiot Chief Roaghaz tells them to." The distaste in Nighttail's voice is palpable. "I tried one to many times to convince these ingrates that their "mighty" chief was leading them astray. No one likes a truthteller, though! After I pointed out that some of his recent decisions have been especially hairbrained, Roaghaz had me tied up here so the tribe could throw garbage at me until he gets sick of seeing me and dumps me in a pit of something."
Lucius easily parts the bindings and frees the prisoner. The kobold speaks up as soon as you unbind her mouth: "Name's Nighttail. Thanks for the assist. That idiot tyrant Roaghaz had me tied up in here when I challenged him yesterday." She shakes out cramped legs, stands up, and brushes herself off.
Jaidu basks in the favor of the Sea and the Sky for a few minutes, then leads the group onward. GM Screen:
He must be blessed indeed, because he easily spots a cunning pit trap that would have allowed him to pass, then dumped the rest of the party underground and covered them in rubble. With it spotted, it's quite easy to bypass. You emerge from the tunnel in a fairly large room. A mound of what appears to be rotten vegetables, fruit, and excrement sits heaped in the middle of the room. A bulging leather sack rests atop the mound of garbage. Soon, a the quiet sound of struggle distracts you from the tremendous stench of the refuse, and the noise leads you to a northern alcove of the room, where a single kobold lies, bound hand, foot, and snout. Her body is lashed to iron spikes driven into the cave wall.
Lucius' hurled boulder bounces off the kobold and it falls to the floor. With the remaining ambusher snoozing for the next hour, you feel confident enough to explore the room. There's little of interest here except the rough equipment of your attackers.
The tunnel continues out the south side of the chamber and quickly comes to a fork. To the west, you can see faint sunlight filtering into the caves. To the east, the tunnel continues into the lair.
Jaidu skewers the offending kobold with a spear of electricity, and the sparks sparkle around the ambusher. Lucius follows up with two attacks, the first of which takes out red, and the second of which grievously wounds blue.
With two of the kobolds out of commission, the remaining ambusher loads his crossbow and takes a single shot at Lucius, who seems the most dangerous. for
~+~Combat Round 2~+~
~+~Combat Round 3~+~
Dawn's thrown harpoon sticks into the wall behind the closest kobold. The rock hurled by Lucius finds its mark, though, dealing a solid blow. Egged on by Jaidu's taunts, the kobold on the far side of the cavern takes two shots at the mouthy intruder. for
"Eat that, egg sucker!" The ambusher hisses in Draconic. ~+~Combat Round 1~+~
Jaidu's kobold instincts prove true, as Rising Dawn spots three kobold defenders attempting to hide among along the tops of the raised ledges. As soon as they spot you entering the room, they raise crossbows to attack.
Initiative:
~+~Combat Round 1~+~
The passageway climbs a few steps, then takes a sharp turn to the south, emerging in a large cave with straw strewn across the floor. Three ledges, eight feet off the ground, look out over the main cavern. A five-foot-wide, twenty-foot deep trench runs north to south through the western half of the cavern, with just one five-foot wide bridge of natural stone allowing passage from one side to the other. GM Screen:
The final rat sizzles to death in a blast of electricity. There's nothing of interest in the filthy straw that the rats were nesting in. Stairs lead out the north side of the room deeper into the cave complex. The wide steps carved into the rock lead to a fairly large cave . A five-foot-wide circular pit in the chamber's only feature--a well filled to within five feet of the pit's rim. Tunnels lead from the cave to the north and east.
Rising Dawn's axe slices through two of the scraggly rats! ~+~Combat Round 2~+~
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