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Your players have befriended the Sootscale kobolds. Now what? How exactly did they handle extracting the silver from the mine without killing or displacing the kobold tribe?
This I would love to know. :)
First they traded all the small size gear they liberated from the (now dead) mites, earning their friendship. In exchange they offered their warriors as help against the Stagg Lord's fort.
Then they offered a peace negotiation with them for trade.
I decided to play the kobolds like the old school spaghetti westerns did for "indians". The kobolds wanted "fire water" in exchange.
The PC had to make a brewery - once this was done they had to spend 2 BP to add the infrastructure to the mine to make it profitable.
Once both of these were completed, the players' kingdom profits from the brewery bonus to Econ, and the mine bonus to economy +1; however at the current time, the citizens of the kingdom are a little worried about having kobold neighbors in the next hex that are trading and thus the kingdom suffers a -1 to loyalty. Once again - this plays on those old movies where the local never took well to the idea of "Engines living too close to home."
The PCs have made Mikimek kobold as the official liaison between the tribe and the kingdom to help in beginning to smooth things over with the local citizen.
In exchange for the kobolds working the mine for the kingdom, their demands were only that they not annex that hex into the kingdom so that they can live independant of foreign rule - only the Chief Sootscale to command them.
One side-quest I have concocted is for the kobolds to be threatened by goblins and/or another kobold clan that is bullying them because they opt to trade and be peaceful with the "soft-skins". The PCs will have to quell the feud in order to get the mine functioning again.
I can also have the kobolds stumble upon some subterranean ancient dungeon or crypt or something and use an old Dungeon Mag or Dungeon Crawl Classic or Pathfinder module adventure for filler.
Eventually - I don't know when yet - the kobolds will come to the kindom's aid and will negate the loyalty penalty as the citizens will finally come to see and accept them as helpful.
I you don't go the way of the brewery - find another building that makes something they want and make it a prereq for the kingdom to build in a nearby hex to offer trade. In fact this is how I got them to use the NPCs as the leaders. Each one they asked to fill a role required them to build a building for them to use in their role.
Robert
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for specific details, check out the CJ at A Bandit King Arises!
short story version:
the party slew the mites, produced the statue pretty much out of thin air when taking with Boss Sootscale, and slew Tartuk.
they then gave the kobolds a choice: integrate into the new, up-and-coming kingdom, or be treated like weenie monsters.
when they agreed, the PC's set up a mine at the Sootscale caverns, and when another mine was located, sent kobolds there to work it.
by chance, dire weasels wandered into the 2nd mine, and the "longshanks" are getting the credit for that, as well.
We integrated ours into the city. They mine the silver but we spend it on the well being of the country in general which includes them. While some of the kobolds mine, the rest help us as warriors.
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Your players have befriended the Sootscale kobolds. Now what? How exactly did they handle extracting the silver from the mine without killing or displacing the kobold tribe?
This I would love to know. :)
First they traded all the small size gear they liberated from the (now dead) mites, earning their friendship. In exchange they offered their warriors as help against the Stagg Lord's fort.
Then they offered a peace negotiation with them for trade.
I decided to play the kobolds like the old school spaghetti westerns did for "indians". The kobolds wanted "fire water" in exchange.
The PC had to make a brewery - once this was done they had to spend 2 BP to add the infrastructure to the mine to make it profitable.
Once both of these were completed, the players' kingdom profits from the brewery bonus to Econ, and the mine bonus to economy +1; however at the current time, the citizens of the kingdom are a little worried about having kobold neighbors in the next hex that are trading and thus the kingdom suffers a -1 to loyalty. Once again - this plays on those old movies where the local never took well to the idea of "Engines living too close to home."
The PCs have made Mikimek kobold as the official liaison between the tribe and the kingdom to help in beginning to smooth things over with the local citizen.
In exchange for the kobolds working the mine for the kingdom, their demands were only that they not annex that hex into the kingdom so that they can live independant of foreign rule - only the Chief Sootscale to command them.
One side-quest I have concocted is for the kobolds to be threatened by goblins and/or another kobold clan that is bullying them because they opt to trade and be peaceful with the "soft-skins". The PCs will have to quell the feud in order to get the mine functioning again.
I can also have the kobolds stumble upon some subterranean ancient dungeon or crypt or something and use an old Dungeon Mag or Dungeon Crawl...
You've got some gold here Robert. Thank you.
I can see the kobolds working in some deal where they get a certain amount of moon radishes per month, as they use them as a narcotic (or something else important to their tribal needs.
Here's what happened in mine:
1. Eradicate the Mites.
2. Give Sootscale the statue and kill Tartuk.
3. Cleric of Cayden makes limitless ale for a party with the Kobolds, and converts them to the worhsip of his God.
4. The Sootscale ask to be integrated into the fledling kingdom as vassals.
5. The PCs have two cities in the Kingdom currently: their Capital, and Sootscale.
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You've got some gold here Robert. Thank you.
I can see the kobolds working in some deal where they get a certain amount of moon radishes per month, as they use them as a narcotic (or something else important to their tribal needs.
Thank you.
Now you're thinking! Good idea. Have them demand an herbalist shop be made in the kingdom; once done, they can exchange silver for properly stored moon radishes.
By the way, I had Bokken's fangberries actually be a plant monster that has thorns that leeches hosts blood (hence FANG-berries) and the berries are the result of that blood being drained. Bokken uses them to create an "absinthe" concoction. The result of the concoction when imbibed, lowers one's wisdom, but makes the person immune to all charm/compulsion effects since their mind is not capable of rational thought to be commanded.
Using that type of thought-process - perhaps the moon-radishes do something similar for the kobolds. Or maybe it only has such a physiologocial effect on dragon types - much like catnip seems to only effect cats.
Robert
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Here's what happened in mine:
1. Eradicate the Mites.
2. Give Sootscale the statue and kill Tartuk.
3. Cleric of Cayden makes limitless ale for a party with the Kobolds, and converts them to the worhsip of his God.
4. The Sootscale ask to be integrated into the fledling kingdom as vassals.
5. The PCs have two cities in the Kingdom currently: their Capital, and Sootscale.
How did the integration of kobolds into your kingdom effect the loyalty and morale of your citizens?
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Using that type of thought-process - perhaps the moon-radishes do something similar for the kobolds. Or maybe it only has such a physiologocial effect on dragon types - much like catnip seems to only effect cats.
Robert
Moon Radish Pie, prepared properly, increases fertility and libido for humans & demihuman races, IMG.
It's more of a super-yummy Tryptofan turkey dinner for Kobolds, Lizardfolk, and other scaly types.
Since the druid of the group takes cuttings and makes gardens everywhere she goes, all sorts of produce is available all around the kingdom right now.
Killing mites, killing Tartuk, etc. Then I make the kobolds *just* subservient enough that the PCs will want to keep them (and their silver mine) under their protection.
However, I never let the PCs forget that the kobolds are evil. They celebrated the mites' death by ruthlessly killing the one remaining mite that they kept in a cage in Sootscale caverns. When Mikmek helped the PCs kill some Tiger Lord invaders, I had Mikmek insist that one of the barbarians' warhorses belonged to him so he could take it back to his tribe so they could eat it. Who attacked Narthropple's expedition? Sootscales, of course.
The main conflict of my campaign is black vs. white, but I try to throw in many other gray-area conflicts along the way.
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Making the Sootscales vassals of the PCs' kingdom (along with the lizardfolk of Candlemere and the boggards of Hooktongue Slough; as well as allying with the Nomen centaurs, with possible assimilation and/or normalization of immigration) is a completely valid approach for the campaign. It can also give the PCs' kingdom some unique specialty armies* in War of the River Kings; not to mention making it easier to control certain areas.
*- kobold sappers/siege engineers, lizard folk and boggard amphibious assault units, centaur cavalry, etc.
My party had an interesting route in this. Spoilered for length:
On the way to the mites the partys wizard and monk statred discussing the religeon of Old Sharptooth with the kobolds and a few knowledge check led them to believe that them turning yellow was abnormal, but they kept their mouth shut about it.
Clearing out the mites was a success, all be it a close one, with most of the helping kobolds dying in the process. Upon returning with a statue Chief Sootscale requested it, but they were adamant that they would return it to Tartuk, as he seemed to be in charge and it wasn't their place to meddle. When they were in audience with Tartuk, with Chief Sootscale present, the wizard started asking some pointed questions. The responses to them plus a sense motive to discover that he didn't really care about the dead kobolds put the party on Chief Sootscales side although they still didn't want to intervene unless their hand was forced.
During the handing off of the statue the confines of the room and the amount of kobold present lead to the Chief being within hand reach of the statue and he proceeded as described in the AP (the looks on my players faces were priceless) and a battle between kobold groups began with my player standing back not knowing exactly what to do. Tartuk called a curse from Old Sharptooth down on the kobolds who stood against him and cast his prestidigitation to turn one yellow, as he had done before in the AP. The wizard passed his spellcraft check as suddenly it all clicked in his mind and he knew what was Happening here. He them suddenly called out 'No, Old Sharptooth rejects you!' followed by his own prestidigitation which succeeded in colouring Tartuk yellow. This dramatically swung the tides of the battle against Tartuk and although he tried to escape he was chased down.
At this point the whole mine was in disarray, not really knowing what just happened. The yellow kobold was sitting on the floor wailing that he was going to die and there was general chaos while Chief Sootscale tried to regain control. At this point the monk had a strike of genius and said that she could lift the curse. Everyone was lead outside and a tent tarp was placed over the kobold and Tartuks body. The party proceeded to light torches, throw leaves and generally make everything seem as ritual-like as possible while having the kobalds pray and do tribal dances around the tarp. They kept this up for over an hour, until the prestidigitation had worn out. The end result, the kobolds see the party as god sent heroes who restored the rightful leader in the tribe. I've had them bring offerings when beneficial to the campaign and it lead on perfectly into Hargulka's Monster Kingdom as written by dudemeister. Kobold armies will also most likely come to pass when we get a bit further.
The first group I ran through this agreed to set the Kobolds up in a 'reservation' that covered the whole hex, build them a dock and and an Inn and let them trade the silver themselves. They made their money in the same way as they do from any other business in the kingdom.
I let them drift to that old fashioned alignment of LN(E) - or Lawful neutral with Evil tendencies. but the party still set up warning signs all around the Kobold reservation hex, warning travellers that they would be subject to Kobold law.
For a while Mik Mek served as state executioner. However, the party eventually decoded that execution by drowning whilst strapped to a stone 'throne' that was rolled into the lake - really wasn't something they wanted associated with their new land.
Mik Mek and his stone throne went back and became executioner for the Sootscales.
My party had an interesting route in this.
That was a great read. Kudos to your party!
In the first play through of this AP the party befriended the Kobolds and they became the eyes and ears of the nation. They were the spy network. If anything happened in the land around the nation, we knew about it. It was fun.
I'm speaking to this as a player currently in a Kingmaker campaign that has just begun book six.
We fought the mites, we made peace with Sootscale, and went on our way. Once we had a kingdom established, it wasn't hard to bring in the kobolds, as our kingdom alignment is LN. We accept all who follow the rules, although the rules are pretty much just "don't kill and rob people, and try to make good business decisions".
We started with one of the players being spymaster, but he was killed while flat-footed by a full attack with pounce by a dire tiger. Sootscale then became our new spymaster.
I don't think the player was really disappointed with the death. He's constantly coming up with new character concepts to play, and is now happily playing a hunter (our new marshal, replacing Jubilost Narthropple) instead of a ninja.
Thanks to random kingdom events, the lizardfolk and centaurs joined our kingdom as well.
I must say that I'm having a lot of fun playing as part of a 'talk first' adventuring party.