Kobold Encampment

Dryali, Tahu, and Kalleth were pretty pleased with themselves about fulfilling their last mission and how talking to the miscreants proved that the Freelancers was the Lucrative Way.

A nekomata walked into the tavern, coloured like an orange tabby with a hint of brown stripes.  His fur had evidence of inkstains, and he was relatively short and chubby for their kind, but his glance was keen.  <narrator voice: that said, he was still 10" taller than Dryali.>  He'd recently arrived on Duquesne to study, but discovered that was a more costly affair than he'd expected, and felt the least time investment for tuition was Freelancers'.

Dryali, who had yet to make it to the artificers in Stormhaven, gave him a sharp look, but the nekomata, named Tuala, did not say where he was wanting to study.

Dryali, Tahu, and Kalleth were pleased to show off, and hauled Tuala up Arnari's office to meet her.

Arnari took some time, sipping her ice wine, sizing up Tuala.  Perhaps she was surprised, but she did not let that show.  For his part, Dryali was sad he had no ice wine.

Arnari said, slowly, she had three possible missions the four of them could be successful at.

• Children of Āhua - there are bloodhawks attacking travellers on the road to Mantzur south of Cliffshadow.
• Taleisin of the Orderly Stones monastery suspects there is a kobold encampment; he made sure to find out where it is.
• Possibly too difficult:  track down Gillian of the Daystar Cult.

At the mention of Gillian, Dryali stiffened.

Tuala started.  "Daystar cult?"  Arnari explained in response, "Apparently, there are worshippers of the Daystar.  The Church of Storms, and Church of Ua, want to track it down, and break it up."  She took another sip of ice wine.  "Lotion was brought to Church of Ua; it had enchantment magic, and they are concerned what enchantment."  She gave Dryali a stern look.  "They just want us to find out where she is, not apprehend her."

A silence ensued in which everyone digested this information.  Kalleth was not that aware of Daystar cultists, and Tahu had been skeptical of their supposed ill intent.  Tuala was plainly shocked.

Arnari offered into the silence, in an almost recitational singsong, "For the kobolds, they want it wiped out.  For bloodhawks, drive them off.  They all want 400gp each."

Kalleth asked, "What about Jamie?  Any word on that?"  Arnari noted she hadn't heard of this person before yesterday, and had no mention of him since.

Tuala offered, hesitantly, "If Orderly Stones Monastery is asking twice, maybe that."

Tahu laughed.  "Number of asks is not a factor!"

Dryali said wryly, "Perhaps Fui Fui is not a paragon of Order."  Arnari replied, "Taleisin is more on Tikanga than Fui Fui, who is more Toka."  Everyone looked at her, then started laughing.

Dryali noted, "I was under the impression the request from Āhua was somewhat urgent, because of the rowdy trees."  Tuala started again.  "Rowdy trees?!?"  Clearly he needed to get out more.

Arnari visibly recruited her patience.  "A recent mission Dryali was on, encountered an Awakened tree on Haven from eastward."  Kalleth suggested, "Perhaps controlled by the same thing [as the bloodhawks]?"  Arnari gestured vaguely.  "It's not a full report."

Dryali got back to business.  "That said, happy to go after Gillian."  His normally snarky tone was vicious.  Arnari reminded him, "Find - not apprehend."  Dryali's smile held a hint of evil.  "PROMISE I won't apprehend," he told her.

Arnari clearly didn't believe Dryali.  "They –"  Tahu interjected, mildly, "We almost got swarmed by them last time."  He scowled down at Dryali, who stared back at him, not that anyone could tell with the dark goggles and all.

Kalleth added helpfully, "Dryali could use stealth lessons!"

Tuala offered, hesitantly, "I'd be interested in Daystar… in abstract."

Tahu sized him up.  "How much combat experience do you have?"  Tuala was aghast.  "Combat?"  He gestured, as if to display all his ink stains.  Tahu drew his sword dramatically.  "Do you have weapons?"  Tuala became defensive.  "A staff?"

He turned to Arnari, and declared, "The bloodhawk/tree connection is interesting."

Tahu was on a roll!  "We could hang out with Fui Fui!"  Arnari said, "You really don't have to."

Everyone took a vote.

Somehow, that meant the mission of the day was going after the kobolds.  Dryali was unpleased.

He asked Arnari, "What do we need to know?"

Arnari told them, "Fui Fui was initially… mellow about it.  Taleisin has more info.  It's halfway between the Orderly Stones Monastery and Cliffshadow.  There are some walls; they are trying to avoid getting driven out."

Dryali said, "Underground?"

Arnari continued, "No, it's a temporary camp but they've started to put walls, and some traps, but not a lot."

Tahu declared, "We need to squash this, now."  Everyone got up and filed out.  Behind them, Arnari took a sip of her ice wine, then reached for her harp.

While the others prepared as they needed, Dryali withdrew into the workshop, muttering about traps.  He pulled out a wand blank, and fiddled with it; he pulled out his woodcarver's tools, and engraved sigils in the wider part.  Stepping back, he held his hand over them; they glowed and disappeared, and he was holding a wand of secrets.  Dryali gathered his things and went downstairs to join Tuala, who seemed somewhat bemused, and wait for the others.

As they headed north out of Cliffshadow, they decided the best arrangement would be to appear to be escorting Tuala, but doing a bad job of it.  That would hopefully sucker any kobolds into trying to attack, while still shielding Tuala from taking much damage.

Perhaps they were a bit more sloppy than they intended.  When a squad of kobolds appeared out of the tall grass & brush west of the road, Tuala was the closest target.  He drew a daggar – newly acquired from the Freelancers quartermaster – and backed up.

The two kobolds at either end had slings, and wielded them immediately.  Tahu dodged the bullet that came his way, but Dryali got hit.  The other two kobolds had long daggars and attacked Tuala and Kalleth, slicing them.  Kalleth intercepted the strike at Tuala, and the damage to both were minor.

Tahu pulled out two daggars and struck at the kobold who had tried to sling him, but the little fellow was nimble, and dodged the strikes.  Dryali dropped the kobold who'd hit him with a bolt from his hand crossbow, and Kalleth dropped his kobold with a swing of his axe.  Tuala stabbed the kobold who had struck him, injuring him.

The kobolds ran off.  Dryali tried to give chase, but not very far; he failed to see where they went.  Kalleth came up next to him, he wanted to see also.

Tahu was more chill, and checked the deceased kobolds.  No indicators of anything, but he did hand the daggars, and sling with bullets, to Tuala.

Tahu then started tracking where the kobolds fled.  Everyone followed, with Dryali assisting Tahu with guidance.  Of course, between Dryali's babbling at Tahu and Kalleth's heavy armour, those two made all the noise in the world.  Tuala climbed in a tree and followed like an arboreal.

They reached a clearing, and on the other side were palisades, giving them cause to pause and stay under cover.  Through an opening, which was blocked by a stake barricade, they saw one of the kobolds who'd attacked them in the road, talking to others at a smokeless fire.  One of the other kobolds at the fire had a red shield.

The group started arguing what to do, keeping an eye on the kobolds by the fire.  While they argued, Dryali pulled out some of the wood from that tree near Haven, and used it to assemble a force ballista.  He gave it legs.

The kobold with a red shield gestured, and the camp came to life, with kobolds moving in place onto the palisades.  <narrator voice:  the players took too long arguing, and the GM set a timer.>  Dryali killed one with the force ballista, and made sure his faerie fire was ready, if they clumped up.

So much for cover.  The kobolds all tried to sling at the party, but missed.  They ducked behind the palisades, but not before Dryali lit up a couple of them with faerie fire.  Tuala moved up towards the palisades, ready to dodge, and Kalleth moved as well, trying to hide behind a bush.  Tahu moved up daggar in hand, ready to dodge, or throw his daggar if a kobold showed itself.

Dryali had the force ballista try to hit the kobold with the red shield, but he missed.  Two more kobolds appeared from tents.  Tuala, Kalleth, and Tahu, having no visible targets, watched and waited; Tahu pulled out a light crossbow.

Dryali moved up, just barely in range of the palisades, and the force ballista hid itself in the stakes barricade.  It again tried and failed to hit the kobold with the red shield.  The kobolds on the palisades popped out of their cover to sling, and missed.  Kalleth sent his boomerang at one, injuring it; Tahu slew another with a crossbow bolt.

The kobolds who emerged from the tent each had backpacks with assorted knick-knacks hanging from them; it was hard to see what.  They moved to the far side of the center palisade, where the way up was.

Dryali shot a bolt at the kobold with the red shield, but missed; the force ballista also missed.  

<unhappy narrator voice: missing notes in which it appears there was much dodging>

Dryali cast grease behind the center palisade, and moved sideways to get a better angle.  Two of the kobolds fell; one of the slingers and one of the ones with a backpack.  The slinger got up and ran across the opening.  Tahu dropped it with a crossbow bolt.  The kobold with a backpack stood back up and climbed onto the center palisade.  The two kobolds lit up with faerie fire used slings to attack Tuala and Kalleth, but missed.  Kalleth killed his attacker with the boomerang.  Tuala, unhappy at how close the sling bullet got, backed up and dodged.

Tahu dodged, moved up, and shot one of the kobolds with a backpack with his light crossbow, but to his surprise that wasn't a killing blow.  Dryali followed up by killing it with the force ballista.  Then Dryali shot the kobold with the red shield with his hand crossbow.

The other kobold with a backpack, who was on the center palisade, moved towards Tahu, and threw a vial of greenish liquid at him, but Tahu dodged.  The vial hit the grass, singeing it as the acid soaked into the ground.  The kobold with the red shield backed up to have more cover.

The two kobolds on the far palisade climbed down, while the remaining kobold with faerie fire hit Kalleth with a sling bullet.  Kalleth returned the favor with his boomerang.  Tahu pulled out his short sword and moved towards the backpacking kobold.  The ground in the opening was soft, and turned out to be full of caltrops!  Tahu dashed up and slew the kobold.

The force ballista again failed to hit the kobold with the red shield.  Dryali had no-one in line-of-sight, so waited for an opportunity to shoot.  The kobolds who'd climbed down from the far palisade, however, took off.

The remaining kobold with faerie fire hit the force ballista with a sling bullet, but that put him in both Kalleth and Dryali's line of sight.  Kalleth missed with his boomerang, but Dryali down'd him with a shot from his hand crossbow.  The kobold with the red shield attacked Tahu and missed; Kalleth dashed up and intervened.

Tahu told Kalleth, "I'm leaving this shield guy to you," and chased after the kobolds who took off.  The kobold with the shield hit Tahu, who shrugged it off.  Dryali shot one of the fleeing kobolds, downing it right as Tahu caught up.

Dryali moved up to the barricade of stakes and considered the caltrops at his feet.  The kobold with the red shield attacked Kalleth but the blow just glanced off his armour.  The fleeing kobold stabbed at Tahu with his daggar.

Tuala hit the kobold with the red shield with a sling bullet.  Kalleth, trying to knock him out, swung with the flat of his axe and missed.  Tahu caught up with the fleeing kobold and knocked him out… grabbed him, and started dragging him back.

Dryali pulled out his wand of secrets, and looked for additional traps.  The force ballista moved inside the encampment.  The kobold with the red shield hit Kalleth twice!  But he was the only one left, and the party piled on, knocking him out.  Tuala hit him with a sling bullet, Kalleth with the flat of his axe, Tahu in the back of his head with sword hilt, and finally Dryali rapier-whipped him.

Dryali's wand indicated the caltrops trap was the only one there, so Tuala, Tahu, and Dryali tossed the encampment looking for … well, anything, while Kalleth grimly tied up the two surviving kobolds.

The camp had accumulated quite a bit of wealth: 40gp, 900sp, 2700 cp, 5 healing potions, 6 pieces of jewelry which might be worth 25gp each, and a capped leather tube, which was interesting.  One of the kobolds with a backpack had a live skunk in a small cage.

Dryali pulled out his jeweler's tools, and started constructing a small device by which to detect magic.  While he did that, Tuala opened the skunk's cage gingerly, and the skunk waddled off into the surrounding forest.  He also took a vial of acid from the backback.

Dryali's detect magic did not see anything but what was in the leather tube: some form of transmutation magic.  Upon opening the tube, it turned out to be a scroll of feather fall, which was somewhat disappointing to Dryali.  Even more disappointing, the red shield was not magic either, despite its bearer being so hard to hit in combat.  Tuala took the scroll.

Despite their search of the camp, there was no indication why the kobolds were there.  <narrator voice: Shari rolled a 20, so confidence in this conclusion is high.>  The red shield had no hidden device.  They concluded a short rest was in order, to heal up and wait for the kobolds to wake up.  During this rest, they decided to split the healing potions so Kalleth got 2 and everyone else got 1.

The kobolds, upon waking up, turned out to be a bit scared, although the owner of the red shield was far more defiant, and was clearly The Boss.  An interrogation ensued.

Kobold: Please don't hurt us!  We'll go away!
The Boss:  Shut up.
Kobold: Not saying anything!
Dryali: Why are you here?
Kobold: Not saying anything!
Kalleth:  Attacking travellers!
The Boss:  Got money, buy things!
Dryali: Who you buying things from?
The Boss:  Other kobolds, sometimes grblins!
Kalleth and Dryali, at the same time:  Like, who?!
<nothing>
Kalleth swelled visibly, trying to be intimidating: We're still alive, and yer all dead!
The Boss, fluffing his trill:  say what you want, soft skin!
Kalleth:  Well, I might have soft skin, but here I am!

At this, Tahu bonked The Boss on the head, knocking him back out, leaving only the less premium kobold awake to answer questions.

Tahu:  Let's try again.  Why are you here, now?
Less Premium: The Snake needs tribute!
Dryali: Who is collecting this tribute?
Less Premium: The Snake.  <sneered> Don't you know about the gods, goggle-man?
Dryali took off his goggles, and leaned forward towards the kobold: I know all about the Snake, and tribute is not in coin.  Who is collecting?
Less Premium, unhappy with Dryali's weird eyes:  The Snake! In the cave!

<narrator voice: at first I thought he said snakes in a plane.>

Dryali stepped back, settled his goggles back over his eyes, and looked at the others.  "There's a cave."  Tahu also stepped back, and said quietly, "Let him go.  We can follow him."  Dryali suggested, "Maybe we sleep here, and let them 'escape'."

After some discussion, the party decided to let the less premium kobold escape.  They'd stay the night in the encampment, and follow the fleeing fellow.  Both kobolds were relieved of their weapons, and stashed in separate tents.

<narrator voice:  Tuala Level 1!  Tuala is a clockwork sorcerer.>

After a nice long rest, Tuala arose, and cast alarm on the less premium kobold's tent.  As he did so, an image of the orbital dance of Skyway manifested around his head.  Tahu went and checked the kobold's bindings, by which we mean he actually loosened them.

Then everyone pretended to go back to sleep.  Since he was Less Premium, it took the little fellow about an hour to work up the nerve to escape and flee.  Everyone immediately leapt up and gave chase, leaving The Boss behind, tied up.

In his haste, he kept breaking branches, so was mostly easy to follow as he made his way northwest.  The party took care to stay quiet and stealthy, and reacquiring his trail took effort when they made any noise.  So it turned into a long chase during a relatively dark night; by the time the kobold reached his destination, the Daystar had arisen.

Thus they saw him disappear into a small crack in one of the foothills.  Next to it, a small stream emerged.  The crack was short, but 5' wide, and appeared natural.  A lot of tracks led to it, from some medium-sized animal.

Dryali pulled out his wand of secrets and looked for traps, but there were none.  He could see the crack took a dog-leg almost immediately, obscuring sight of anything beyond.  Kalleth stomped up to look, and smelled weasels!  Unfortunately, none of the party could detect the premiumness of the weasels.

After some discussion whether the party was prepared to explore the crack – Tahu, especially, was not sure how far he'd get with his tall frame – they decided to stick with the prudent course, and return to the encampment, making sure to note the location and way to the crack in the hillside.

Back at the encampment, The Boss, although still tied up, had wiggled his kobold self fairly far along the route towards the crack in the hill.  Encountering him, Dryali said, "Well, look at you!"  Tahu picked him up and carried him back to the encampment.

After gathering their things, the party travelled the rest of the way to the Orderly Stones Monastery without incident.  Once there, they were greeted by Fui Fui, who was very happy to see them.  "Oh hey, man, look, you brought us one!   Cooool"

Taleisin was more stern.  "Lock him up," he ordered Fui Fui.

Dryali told the tale to Taleisin of the Snake, chasing the less premium kobold, the cave, its location.  He left off mentioning weasels.  Kalleth interjected, "Weasels!"  Taleisin was not happy to hear about the Snake.  The Snake is trouble.

Nonetheless Taleisin paid the party 100gp each.  Uncharacteristically, Dryali hesitated.  "I'm not convinced this is stopped," he told Taleisin.

Taleisin waved it away.  "Please stay the night; we have a request for the Freelancers."  He smiled grimly.

But Tahu agreed with Dryali.  "These won't stop," he told Taleisin.

Taleisin had a longer view.  "While all the gods have their place, we prefer the more murderous ones to be far away."  He went off to compose his request to Arnari, for Freelancer fighters to help clear out the kobolds to the west.

<narrator voice:  Tuala Level 2!  Kalleth Level 3!  He takes his Oath to Toka, which we put here because it fits the narrative, even though Matt didn't decide that until the next session he played.>