Cleaning Up at the Kobold Lair (28th of Haar'Kiev)

Courtesy of ROFL Initiative

Pin'Mar, the 28th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The party took a few days to rest and recuperate before going back to the Kobold Cavern to finish cleaning it out. They follow their old pathway to the cave and once more Lucky cuts down a sapling to serve as an improvised 10’ pole. He takes the lead and heads straight into the cave, bypassing the more difficult but cleaner route to the right and instead heads straight in to the cesspool.

A moment later he feels the sharp sting of pain as he steps on some sharpened sticks that have been pushed into the muck and mire. They give some under his weight due to the “mud” and thanks to his boots he isn't hurt too badly. He knows he’ll have to be careful about cleaning out that wound. The rest of the party decides to take their time and work their way through the side passage.

While they are climbing up in order to transverse the passage, Lucky scouts forwards, probing ahead with the stick. He gets to the end of the main entrance cavern as the rest of the party clears the passage. The probe catches on something and two distinct clicks are heard just before two small crossbow bolts launch out to strike Lucky. Evidently he had tripped a line fastened to the triggers of some fixed kobold crossbows. Both bolts hit, but the damage is minimal.

The group reassembles and pushes forward into the next cavern, which is the one where they fought last time. While the pools of blood have been dried, there are no other signs of their earlier combat. The field of battle has been picked clean. The party cautiously moves forward. They toss lit torches ahead of them to illuminate two of the exits they haven’t checked out yet and Anise keeps watch to the side exit behind them, which is the same exit where some kobolds tried to get in behind them last time. Lucky sets up a crude alarms system to help Anise watch that rear tunnel. The party is split up somewhat in this cavern covering both exits when the kobolds attack on both fronts. The battle rages for a bit with the party getting the upper hand.

As the battle comes to the inevitable conclusion, Anise spots two kobolds making a break for it. A fatter kobold practically waddles ahead of a huge brute of a kobold. The come up the back tunnel setting off the alarm before making a bee-line for the forest. Rythax and Myka finish the last kobolds engaged in combat and chase after the pair of fleeing kobolds. Rythax is closer and is able to engage in the large kobold who has taken a defensive position at the natural choke point where Lucky had earlier set off the crossbows. The two trade some terrible blows. Rythax nearly fells the beast with a vicious swing of his longsword. The kobold is knocked back, but he doesn’t go down. It comes back in swinging aggressively and slays Rythax with an equally vicious counter-attack. As his body goes limp Myka is able to move in and finish the brutish kobold.

Most of the group is stunned at this point, but Lucky doesn’t hesitate. Just because the Ranger is down it doesn’t mean he’s out. The fat kobold is moving too slowly and even with the battle buying her some time, she hasn’t made it out of the cave entrance. Lucky sprints after her. At one point the floor collapses underneath him, but because of his momentum he is easily able to keep going after the last kobold. A single backstab fells that remaining kobold and the party emerges victorious.

The victory is bitter-sweet though for Rythax is definitely dead. Once that has been definitively determined the party sets out to check out the rest of the cave system. The fat kobold was actually a very pregnant female that was set to deliver at any moment. She had one her some sort of gnomish ointment that she had been nibbling on. The brutish male was probably her mate. He was large enough to wear some smaller human sized armor and wielded a high-quality short sword. That hole in the floor went down 15’-20’ and ended in some long wooden spikes.

Checking out the rest of the complex the party discovers that the kobolds they had killed earlier were being cannibalized by the survivors, most likely to keep them fed while they shored up the caves defenses. Evidently Lucky had set off every single trap they had made in the two days the party was recovering. There were few kobolds left and half that they just fought were actually females. Down in the back of the cave was a small stream that looked navigable. It wasn’t too deep, but the prospect of slugging up (or down) a small tunnel in a cold underground stream doesn’t seem like much fun. The cavern continues past the stream and curves around to reveal a gold encrusted wall. Small crystals of gold poke out from the wall and a few are scattered about on the ground.

The survivors take a few whacks at the wall collecting some samples which they promptly hide. Everyone is filled with mixed emotions. They’ve just lost a friend, but they’ve found a treasure beyond their dreams. Once they are convinced the cave is free of kobolds they gather up Rythax’s body and take him back to town. They turn in the kobold ears and report their results to the Elder. The Elder sees to Rythax’s body and informs his family. That night is spent drowning their sorrows in Rythax’s favorite watering hole: the Dark Titan Taproom.

After the funeral, and a couple weeks off to train, the party gathers back up at the Taproom to discuss their future plans. Rythax's brother Voskkal, who Anise can vouch for, decides to join them....despite the fact his brother just died with this group. They decide it might be best to see about how to legitimately acquire their new mine. Anise looks into whatever records the town might hold and discovers that there was once a mine claim there and it was called Shane’s Delve. For a paltry sum of 10 Gold (100sp) they can pretty much purchase the cave rights outright. While it is a bit much, if the party sells everything they can and use Rythax’s shares they can scrape up enough to purchase mining rights. They head out the next day to their new mine and toil away to extract some of its riches.

They take a small sample back to town with them after the first day of hard labor and have the town’s only jeweler take a look at it. He immediately dismisses it as pyrite, or Fool’s Gold. He explains the crystalline structure of this sample to be the dead giveaway that it isn't real gold.

The party is understandably upset and makes plans to leave town to find some “proper” adventuring.

Moons:

Arlora is Half Moon Waning
Bardra'Kar is 2nd Quarter Waxing
Shadara is 2nd Quarter Waxing
Light level: Bright




"Loot":
Healing Salve
Studded Leather
Short Sword +1
OOC: My notes are incomplete for this session

Initial Assault on the Kobold Lair (22nd of Haar'Kiev)

Box o Kobolds by HackPrincess

Sa'Mar, the 22nd of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The party meets up at their usual meeting place of the Dark Titan Taproom. Rythax has breakfast since he is the only one who doesn't reside in town. They decide to go out and see if Lucky's snares managed to catch anything. Finding the minor side trail from the day before isn't a problem because they had marked it well. Rythax takes the lead and manages to avoid falling back into the pit trap they reset the day before. One of Lucky's snares had been set off, but the free end is swaying in the wind because the noose had been crudely hacked off. Rythax notices two pairs of kobold tracks leading away from the snare. The prints seem to be a bit closer to each other and more obvious than expected and he surmises that they belong to a pair of kobolds carrying a heavy load.

The party follows the tracks Northwest into the heavily wooded foothills. Up ahead is a cave. Lucky decides to scout out ahead and as he approaches the cave he notices a rather foul odor emanating from within. He scouts out the entrance and it looks like two tunnels merge together to form the entrance. The wider tunnel is between five and ten foot wide while the smaller one is, at best, three feet wide. He motions the rest of the group up to the entrance. Lucky goes and cuts down a small sapling to create a small (4') poking stick and prods the foul-smelling "mud". Half of the party, Lucky and Mykal, skirts the cesspool and the other two try the smaller path. By climbing up and traversing the small path from a higher elevation (exerting pressure against both sides) they can easily move along and join the others. Anise makes a fair amount of noise making the climb, but Rythax accomplishes it easily. The side path really isn't another tunnel, just part of the same cave separated by a small stone outcropping.

The next room is a large trash room. Bits and pieces of wood, skins, glass, etc. litter this large 20' across cavern. Most of the litter is pushed up against the sides of the room, forming a path down the middle. Lucky pokes and prods with his stick before tossing it aside. Since the group is venturing into a dark cave they wisely light a torch, which Anise carries from the middle of the party. Lucky decides to sneak ahead into the next room.

The next room is more a wide corridor with a rock outcropping off to one side in the back. There is a small tunnel leading down and back just inside the room on the left, but Lucky hugs the right wall. Unbeknownst to him, a trio of kobolds was on guard duty towards the back of the room, which drops down into darkness. Although he was being sneaky, the foul stench from the cesspool at the entrance gave his presence away. Two of the kobolds waited for him with crude crossbows, while the third scurried away. When he got close enough both kobolds hit him, with one being a crit! The first shot did a single point of damage and the crit only did seven. Lucky called out to his fellows who were now at the front of that room. Lucky immediately engages the nearest kobold while Rythax and Mykal move up to assist. Anise guards the rear, taking care to watch that back side tunnel. For nearly half a minute the trio trades blows with the kobolds before managing to ToP the pair. Just as the last one goes down wimpering Anise notices kobolds coming out of the side tunnel.

The group turns to engage three new kobolds and quickly discovers another three coming up from the darkness behind them. These final three kobolds emerge just as Lucky walks off with the corpse of one of the earlier kobolds, having just delivered killing blows to both ToP'd beasts. These new kobolds jog up behind the Mykal, Anise, and Rythax. Anise manages to kill one outright just before getting knocked out herself. At this point Mykal is engaged with three kobolds and Rythax with two. Lucky tries to use the body of the one kobold as an improvised weapon to no good effect on one of the kobolds engaged with Rythax. Both Rythax and Mykal are getting pretty chewed up by the kobolds to their rear. Mykal shift position to make the two kobolds behind her in front of her instead, which helps a lot. Lucky tosses his corpse at a kobold and then draws two daggers to fight offensively with both. The battle is dragging on with the kobolds getting the upper hand.

Anise comes out of her pain and from a prone position reaches out to touch one of the kobolds attacking Mykal. A jolt of electricity shoots from her hand, but has no initial effect on the creature. Three of the kobolds panic at the sight of this miniature lightning and immediately flee. Rythax cuts one down mid-stride and the other two escape, one to the side tunnel and the other out the back. The remaining two kobolds, now outnumbered, decide to go down swinging, but they do go down.

Anise quickly liberates the kobolds supply of left ears and trade coins while the rest of the group pepper her with questions as to what just happened. She convinces them they need to leave the cave and she will explain. Everyone but Anise trudges through the cesspool. Outside the cave, Rythax bandages everyone's wounds while everyone inquires about just exactly just happened. Anise explains that she can do this one thing where she can send a jolt of electricity at a target. Someone says it's just like "magic" and Rythax is convinced it is some fancy Elven ability. While Anise is close to the point of embarrassment, everyone else thinks this is the coolest thing in the world. Anise makes everyone promise to not tell anyone about her ability.

All the way back to town the group is elated having (barely) survived the encounter with the kobolds. They gush on about Anise and Lucky in particular cannot seem to stop asking inane questions like, "Can you make thing blow up?....can you make food spicy?.....can you..."

The group gets back into town early afternoon and after a quick trip to the barber to have their wounds looked at again they go to the furrier for their bounty and then the bathhouse to have themselves cleaned up. Anise needs some alone time and runs off to get her clothes sewn back up at the tailors while everyone bathes. They all meet up that night at the Dark Titan Taproom for some drinks and celebration. Rythax rents a room for "private reflection". The Gnome Titans try to get the location of the kobold cave out of the group, but nobody is professing to know exactly where it is, except Rythax...who isn't telling.

"Loot":
6sp, 98tc

Moon:

Arlora is Full Moon
Bardra'Kar is2nd Quarter Waxing
Shadara is Half Moon Waxing
Light Level: Bright




NPCs Introduced:
Carna Foxhigh (Human Female: Bathhouse Attendant)
Werter Blasfist (Human Male: Tailor)

Kobold Hunting (19th of Haar'Kiev)

Greater Kobold by Mike Simon

Ara'Mar, the 19th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
This morning finds Rythax waking up in a rented room on the second floor of the Dark Titan Taproom. One of the Gnome Titans staying there let him crash on the floor because he was in no shape for waking home.

Anise and Mykal find him later in the morning nursing his hangover. He doesn't look all that well, between the drinking, sleeping in his clothes, and the damage to his pants from the day before (both the Kobolds and the Barber sewing up his wounds). The trio tries to figure out what to do that day while Lucky (the Human Thief) inquires with Elder Foxhorn about work.

Lucky knocks on the Elder's door only to find he's not in the best of moods. The Elder asks Lucky if he'd bother to look at the bulletin board for postings. Lucky admits he cannot read and they both wander over to the board for a look. There isn't anything posted, which didn't require any reading to begin with. Elder Foxhorn isn't too thrilled being bothered, but Lucky soothes him by offering to fetch the day's water from the well.

Not having anything better to do, Lucky catches up with the group and they decide to walk the mile or so out of town to the Cinder farm. One the way there they see a couple of rabbits sprint past the road, quickly followed by some juvenile wolves. The wolves circle back, surprising half the group. The resulting combat is quick, with two wolves being ToP'd and the other two run off. The party decides to head back to town with the wolf carcasses and managed to get 1 silver a piece for the pelts. The furs were rather nice, if a little small.

The group finally makes it to the farm a little bit before dinner (meals are breakfast, dinner, & supper). Mykal's mom Melena is more than happy to answer what little she knows about wolves while dinner is being made. Afterwards Lucky and Myka help out in the fields, with Lucky asking a lot of questions about farming. Anise heads back to town to put in some transcribing work at her "day job" and Rythak gets to put his feet up....literally. Mrs. Cinder looks at his wounds and makes him change out of his pants so she can have them cleaned and mended.

Gart'Mar, the 20th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The morning finds the group meeting up once again at the Dark Titan Taproom, even though everyone already ate. They wonder aloud if there was anything to do and as a group they mosey over to the village bulletin board. There is a new notice about a bounty on Kobold ears. A rather generous bounty of 1 silver per left ear, payable at the Furrier's, is now in effect. Lucky wants to see if he can get a small shield before they go out Kobold hunting. He doesn't know how to use a shield, but he wants one anyway. He heads on over to the mercer, who runs a small store. While the bulk of his wares are in textiles, he does have a small stock of other items. If he doesn't have it, he can get it within a couple of weeks. He does happen to have a small shield, but at 15 silver, it is far too expensive for Lucky (who has only a couple of silver).

The group sets off about noon towards the only place they've seen kobolds, the site of the failed ambush. The tree has already been sectioned and hauled away. Rythak searches around for tracks in the vicinity, but cannot find anything useful. The group heads back to Badger Falls empty handed. Once back at the Dark Titan Taproom they hear that most of the kobolds have been spotted to the West and North of town. The hunters aren't going out of their way looking for the kobolds, but do try to harvest them if they happen to cross paths. The group asks for any advice the hunters might have and are told, "Do not follow them into their lairs, but that is generally good advice about any animal." The party agrees to turn in and meet back at sunrise for a day of kobold hunting.

Moons:

Arlora is Full Moon
Bardra'Kar is Half Moon Waxing
Shadara is Half Moon Waxing






Pin'Mar, the 21st of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The party starts off this day by meeting outside of the Dark Titan Taproom.
OOC: One of the players ask about the "dive" bar in town and I have to remind them that they've never bothered to check out the nicer establishment yet!

They decide to head off roughly North/Northwest down one of the logging trails with Rythax checking periodically for tracks. A couple hours later he manages to (luck out and) find some. The group gets in line and follows the small path, seeing where it diverges several times towards some game trails. Rythax is heads-down, only paying attention to the tracks, and manages to fall face-first into a spiked pit trap. It seems easy enough for him to climb out. The trap is along a game trail and there is a piece of rotting meat tossed in among the spikes.

Lucky gets the idea of either filling in or covering up what they assume is the kobold's pit trap and placing their own a few yards away. There is some discussion regarding this effort and when the group is ready to proceed then they discover that nobody has a shovel. The initial plan is changed from a single pit trap to a trio of small leg snares, spread out away from the game trail with the presumption that the kobolds are deliberately keeping off that trail.

By now it is afternoon and the group decides to head back to town. While Rythax is leading them back along the kobold trail that lead them to the pit trap they manage to find a trio of kobolds that was tracking them! The three rush Rythax, getting in two quick hits before he can retaliate. Both wounds are minor, but Rythax still hasn't recovered from his last kobold encounter. Rythax's initial attack was so ferocious it killed the lead kobold on the spot, sending its body flying back 10' and landing with a sickening thud. The corpse is hunched over in an unnatural position. The other two immediately turn and run away at a 90* angle from the path, in opposite directions. Lucky tries to follow one, but it managed to get away. The dead kobold has its ear removed, a handful of trade coins liberated, and it's lifeless body strewn aside. The party makes it back to town and gets its bounty.

"Loot":
3sp, 20tc

NPCs introduced:
Belpas Slayergrey (Human Male: Furrier)
Greneerill (Halfling Male: Mercer)
Melena Cinder (Human Female: Retired Knight) Cinder Farm

The Adventure Begins (16th of Haar'Kiev)

Borrowed from TSR

Tu'Mar, the 16th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
Myka (Human Fighter), Rythak (Human Ranger) and Lucky (Human Thief) are being discharged from their contractual obligations with the town militia, the day after Gronger Fest, as is tradition. They have served their two years well and have discovered their own skills and abilities during their rather boring term of service.

During the Age of Magic Gronger Fest was largely a celebration masquerading as a Purity and Cleansing Event. Over the course of the Upheaval it has evolved to a more somber reflection.  Traditionally communities partaking in Gronger Fest fast during the day as they finish up their planting and otherwise recover from the previous winter. Most people refrain from unnecessary commerce and spend their working hours in quiet reflection. In the evenings very poor meals, typically little more than broth and unleavened bread, are shared at ancestral gravesites. Today, the day after Gronger Fest is a busy day of preparation for the day following, which is the real "Fest".

Quay'Mar, the 17th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The trio is looking forward to the huge party that is, "the first day of the rest of their lives...." following their conscription. Rythak's Half-Elven friend Anise (Thief) joins them in their celebrations.

Run'Mar, the 18th of Haar'Kiev in the year 14063.
The group nurses their hang-overs at the Dark Titan Taproom and try to plan out what they want to do over a meal of Bacon, Chicken Eggs, Soft Cheese, Apple, and Rice (1cp) along with some Cut Beer (5tc/pint). Some discussion is made about looking to hire on with a Halfling Caravan, but the waitress informs them that the caravan left town earlier that morning.

The PCs decide to look for work at the village bulletin board, a de-barked tree outside of one of the village Elders's home. Unfortunately all of the notices have been removed for some reason. The group realizes that their late start on the day probably gave the other guys who were discharged the time to take down the notices. As they discuss the lack of work, they notice a Halfling ride up in a wagon and approach the Elder's door. The Half-elf speaks Halfling and can overhear the conversation. evidently about three miles out of town the Halfling caravan encountered a tree knocked over, blocking the trail out of town. The caravan, assuming it was a trap of some type, simply turned around and returned to Badger Falls. The Halflings consider the safety of the road the responsibility of the village and want them to check it out.

The Elder, seeing the party next to the vacant bulletin board, calls them over and asks them to head out of town and investigate. He will send some lumberjacks out to clear the road, but wants to make sure that they will be safe. The pay is 2sp for this job and the party enthusiastically agrees to the work.

About an hour out of town, in a spot where the trail is bordered by some low hills, the path is blocked by a large tree. The party can clearly see where the caravan made a tight turn well before the treefall. They investigate more closely and they can see what looks like hatchet marks that chopped the tree down. The town isn't harvesting in this area and upon further inspection Rythak easily discovers some odds tracks leading from the tree and up a game trail to the North. Lucky climbs up on one of the hills as the party starts up the trail, with Rythak taking the lead. Just a few feet up the game trail the Ranger trips a spiked branch trap and takes a minor flesh wound to the leg. He notices some movement in the brush ahead and rushes forward. Four small canine-men jump out to ambush the party and two of them get in good blows. The party rushes in to counter-attack and the party quickly prevails, but not without Rythak taking some serious wounds (down to 1/3 of his starting HP).

There is some discussion among the group about what to do with the bodies. They manage to find 61tc among the corpses and some crappy arms and armor. They take the coins, one creature's head head, and all of the ears with them back to town. Just outside town they find the Halfling caravan and the merchant they met earlier waves them over. The merchant identifies the creature as a Kobold and asks if they have any other trophy other than the head. They mention the ears and the merchant offers them 2tc per left ear, explaining that in some areas they offer bounties on Kobold ears. The merchant might be able to re-sell the ears to another merchant who can then turn them in.

After meeting with the Halflings and making a small amount of coin from the ears, the party gets their 2sp from the Elder and heads back to the Dark Titan Taproom to recuperate. They nurse some beers until the evening meal of Beef Steak, Spinach, Leeks, Flatbread, and Rhubarb Pie (3cp) comes around. A small group of Gnome Titans comes in, like they do most evenings, and find out about the Kobold fight. They buy Rythak a Gut-Bruiser, which goes down rather easily, and ask for a telling of the tale. The Gnome-Titans are fascinated by the Ranger's pluck and spend the rest of the night buying him drinks and asking for everyone to tell their parts of the battle.

"Loot":
2sp, 69tc

NPCs introduced:
Fanalum Fairstrong (Human Female: Waitress at the Dark Titan Taproom)
Flana (Gnome-Titan Female: Waitress at the Dark Titan Taproom)
Allan Foxhorn (Human Male: Village Elder)
Rorleerorlkin (Halfling Male: Merchant)

Moons:

Arlora is 2nd Quarter Waxing
Bardra'Kar is Half Moon Waxing
Shadara is Half Moon Waxing
Light level: Bright