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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7320217" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 06: BLOOD FEUD</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Galen Thorne, human paladin 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 2</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 10 January 2018</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The conscripts had gathered up their gold and headed off to the market, where they planned on upgrading their adventuring equipment. Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard had each sold their chunks of purloined mithral to a weaponsmith more than happy to pay for the rare metal; Orion could only look on longingly from the saddle of her riding dog Carl as gold coins were handed over to the men, wishing she'd been sent on such a lucrative mission instead of testing the castle's defenses. In fact, it seemed as if Skevros had held both her and the elf wizard Daleth back from dangerous missions more than once; she made a mental note to ask him if that had been the case the next time she saw him.</p><p></p><p>For now, though, Galen had himself outfitted in heavier armor, "as befitted a paladin of his standing," as he put it. Orion was impressed with the craftsmanship of the armor, but realized there was nothing even the most talented armorsmith could do about its weight; like it or not, the human paladin would be moving no faster than her own little halfling legs could move her. Kaspar eschewed both armor and weapons, but he did purchase a magic amulet which increased the toughness of his skin, the better to deflect damage. Syngaard, not surprisingly, purchased a morningstar almost identical to the one he already owned, but this one had a magical enhancement guiding the wielder's aim.</p><p></p><p>Orion, whose pockets were not as heavy with coin as the men, had to content herself with the purchase of a few healing potions. Galen did likewise; it must be nice to have so much money!</p><p></p><p>But then the screaming began, and the halfling put aside all thoughts about money, urging Carl forward towards the commotion. The three men followed behind on foot.</p><p></p><p>The crowd was rapidly dispersing away from the front gates of the walled city and away from the staggering reptile who had wandered in, only to fall in the dirt of the street with a plop. Blood began pooling around him almost immediately.</p><p></p><p>Arriving at the scene, Galen whipped out his <em>sword of Zehkar</em> and looked about for any menace. He cast his senses down at the dead kobold at his feet, and declared, "He's not evil."</p><p></p><p>"Of course he's not evil, Galen," replied Orion. "He's a dead body. Dead bodies aren't inherently good or evil - they're just dead." Kaspar approached the kobold and put a hand to its neck, feeling for a pulse. He looked back at the others and shook his head.</p><p></p><p>"Nonetheless," declared Galen, "I would have expected at least a lingering sense of evil coming from a kobold."</p><p></p><p>Syngaard, in the meantime, had approached the guards at the gate, and in doing so, saw a trail of bloodspots leading away down the road, indicating the path the kobold had taken. "You guys let a kobold enter the city?" he accused.</p><p></p><p>"We did," answered one of the guards. "What's it to you?"</p><p></p><p>Syngaard wanted to tell the guard that he was an important adventurer working directly for the king - or at least the king's adviser - but knew he wasn't supposed to make that public knowledge. "I'm just wondering why it's a good idea to let monsters wander among us, that's all."</p><p></p><p>"We got our orders," replied the gruff guard, while his partner explained, "We are to give dark-scaled kobolds, such as that one, free access to the kingdom. This one looked hurt, so I directed him to the Temple of Pelor."</p><p></p><p>"He did not make it very far into the city," explained Kaspar, joining Syngaard and the guards. "He is dead."</p><p></p><p>"Not my problem," snarled the gruff guard. "The city watch can deal with him. We guard the gates, nothing more and nothing less."</p><p></p><p>Returning back to Orion and Galen (and Carl, who was sniffing at the kobold corpse), they found the pair unrolling a scroll. "Orion found it on the kobold," the paladin explained, opening the scroll to reveal a bunch of unreadable symbols. "What in the world is this gibberish?" Syngaard gave it a quick look and then ignored it; he was no scholar of languages - he had trouble enough making sense of written Common. Neither Orion nor Galen understood the writing either, but Kaspar at least recognized the language. "I believe that is written in Draconic," he offered.</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah? What's it say?"</p><p></p><p>"That I do not know."</p><p></p><p>"So what should we do now?" asked Orion. "Do we just leave him here?" The skittish crowd was cautiously returning to the market stalls, giving careful looks to the dead kobold and the group of four adventurers standing beside it. Some were concerned that they might have killed the thing, but nobody felt like confronting them about it - they might be dangerous!</p><p></p><p>"Let's leave the stiff for the town guard," suggested Syngaard. "We need to go talk to Skevros." The bald fighter started walking over to their official meeting-place and impromptu headquarters, the abandoned tavern with the "Enchanted Flagon" sign by the door. As they approached, Galen held the steel ring he wore - they all wore one such - up to his mouth and spoke into it: "Skevros? We need to talk to you. We found a dead kobold and a scroll. We're heading to the Flagon. Meet us there."</p><p></p><p>Stepping into the Enchanted Flagon (Orion entering after the others as she took time to tie Carl's leash to the post just outside), they found an attractive woman standing behind the bar - a woman they'd never seen before. Galen pulled out his longsword just in case, and cautiously asked, "...Serenity?" He half expected the succubus working for the kingdom of Ashfall to the north of Durnhill to come looking for the stolen nuggets of mithral they'd taken. But the buxom woman said nothing, merely looked at the four adventurers expectantly with a half-smile on her face.</p><p></p><p>Skevros teleported into the room, frowning. "What's this all about?" he demanded. "I am not in the habit of being summoned from my duties--"</p><p></p><p>"We found this," interrupted Galen, passing over the scroll. With an irritated look, Skevros snatched it up and unrolled it on top of one of the tables. "Oh dear," he said, reading it over.</p><p></p><p>"What's it say?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"A band of the shadowscale tribe of kobolds has been captured by a rival tribe, the flamesnouts," Skevros explained. "They ask for our help."</p><p></p><p>"Well, they're out of luck," snorted Syngaard. "We don't work for a bunch of stinkin' kobolds!"</p><p></p><p>"Quite the contrary," argued Skevros. "The shadowscale kobolds are allied with the kingdom."</p><p></p><p>"<em>What?</em>" demanded Syngaard. "Why do we need to ally ourselves with a bunch of kobolds? They ain't nothin' but a bunch of lizards who wanna be men. And they can't even get that part right - they're just lizard-halflings!" He looked over at Orion to make sure she'd heard the dig about halflings; her narrowed eyelids indicated she had.</p><p></p><p>"The fact that their tribe is led by a black dragon no doubt factored into the decision," remarked Skevros.</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute - black dragons are evil!" observed the paladin.</p><p></p><p>"They tend to be, yes," agreed Skevros. "But one hopes that continued association with King Leornic will alter the young dragon's natural inclinations. In any case, this is a legitimate plea for assistance by valued allies; I will send the four of you at once to rescue the shadowscale kobolds from their enemies." </p><p></p><p>"Wait: We're risking our lives for kobolds now?" demanded Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, and for the 500 gold piece reward - each - you will be paid to do so." That shut Syngaard up at once.</p><p></p><p>Then, thinking it best to make this point clear, the king's adviser reinforced, "The black-scaled kobolds are on our side. The red-scaled kobolds are the enemy. Please constrain yourselves to killing the red-scaled ones only. I see you already have your gear with you, so if you're ready to go--?"</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute," Syngaard said, holding a finger up. He then announced to the air, "A mug of mead!" The fighter expected the permanent <em>unseen servant</em> spell effect Skevros had placed on the room to deliver him a floating mug of mead. Instead, the smiling young woman from behind the bar delivered it.</p><p></p><p>"Thanks, babe!" Syngaard said, grabbing up his mug, while Kaspar frowned at the woman. "She is the spell effect, isn't she?" he reasoned aloud.</p><p></p><p>"Er, yes," admitted Skevros. "I thought it might seem a bit more normal than having mugs float around, seemingly by themselves."</p><p></p><p>"So she's a seen, unseen servant," surmised Galen.</p><p></p><p>"Does she do more than serve drinks?" asked Syngaard knowingly, smirking at the king's adviser with a leer. Skevros colored slightly but chose to give no answer. "I will teleport you to the edge of the Sanguine Swamp, at the southernmost part of the kingdom," he said. Orion ran outside to fetch Carl and then Skevros began an arcane incantation. Within seconds, the adventuring quartet (and a riding dog) stood in an inch of water, looking at a swamp spreading out before them. Gnarled trees and scraggly bushes provided bits of cover here and there; ahead, they could hear the unmistakable sounds of snoring.</p><p></p><p>"He's totally sticking it to her," Syngaard whispered to Galen knowingly. The paladin smirked at the comment but held his tongue.</p><p></p><p>"Now's not the time!" whispered Orion fiercely, dismounting from Carl and motioning for the others to duck down, the better to not be seen.</p><p></p><p>"Now's the perfect time," Syngaard countered in a low voice. "He just got rid of us, and they've got the place all to themselves. I'll bet he's sticking it to her right now, as we speak!"</p><p></p><p>"You're a pig!" snarled Orion, keeping her voice low.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, we'll you're worse," countered Syngaard. "You're a <em>halfling!</em>"</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps we should focus on the problem at hand," suggested Kaspar. "The kobolds we seek seem to be on the other side of these growths. From what I can tell, it looks like solid ground between us, although with numerous puddles. I don't think they're very deep, though - we should have firm enough footing for a frontal assault, if that's how we wish to play it."</p><p></p><p>Orion peered through the undergrowth at the clearing ahead. Three black-scaled kobolds were tied up, sitting with their backs pressed together and vines wrapped around them. Their wrists and ankles were similarly, but separately, bound. Around them, sprawled on the ground, were seven red-scaled kobolds, sound asleep; they were responsible for the loud snoring the group had heard. Kaspar was amazed that such sounds could emanate from bodies so small. But standing alert, with spears in hand, were four kobolds on sentry duty, squinting into the unaccustomed light from the four corners of the kobold assembly.</p><p></p><p>"We'd do best attacking the sentries first," observed Orion softly to the others. She gathered up her sling in one hand a dagger in the other and started making her way silently forward, toward the sentry to her left. He faced diagonally away from her and she was in dark armor; with any luck, she could creep close enough to take him down with a well-placed shot from her sling.</p><p></p><p>Over from the other end of the scraggly bushes, Galen crept forward, his bow in hand and an arrow nocked and ready for action. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as silent in his heavy armor as Orion was in her combat leathers; worse yet, he missed with his initial shot. Both of the closer kobold sentries turned at the commotion, spotting both Orion and Galen. They began yipping in excitement.</p><p></p><p>Orion's intended target leaped forward with his spear at the ready, but Kaspar raced up to him and delivered a flying kick that sent him sprawling - although the little flamesnout managed to keep a grip on his weapon. The elf monk squared off with him, declaring him to be his and waving the other heroes forward.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard stepped forward by Galen and threw his magic javelin at the same kobold the paladin had missed with his arrow. That kobold must have had a charmed life or something, for the javelin missed as well - but at least it popped back into the fighter's hand, ready for future use.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the kobold's grip upon his longspear and realizing he intended to use it as a hand-to-hand weapon, Galen flipped the bow over his shoulder and unsheathed the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. He charged the sentry, hoping to fare better in melee combat than he and Syngaard had managed thus far in ranged warfare. He struck the reptile a glancing blow, but then Syngaard followed Galen's charge and swung out with his new magic morningstar, bashing the kobold's head in.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar and his kobold foe traded multiple attacks, neither hitting the other. Orion threw a dagger at Kaspar's foe on her way over to the rest of the kobold group - some of which had been awakened by the sounds of combat around them. The dagger missed, and the halfling decided to leave her other knives in their sheathes and use her sling from now on - she was just as likely to hit with a sling stone as she was with a dagger, and she had more of the stones at hand.</p><p></p><p>Two more kobolds approached, weapons at the ready. One hit Orion with a sling stone, causing her to explode in a torrent of vicious-sounding Halfling cursing; Syngaard didn't speak the language, but he knew cursing when he heard it and was surprised the little halfling was capable of such impressive linguistics. Then she called out a single word, in Common, that the fighter did recognize: "Carl!"</p><p></p><p>The riding dog bounded up to his mistress, tongue wagging to the side. "Attack!" the halfling commanded, and Carl did his best, snarling as he advanced upon a red-scaled kobold. He bit at the reptile but it backed up quickly enough that the dog's teeth snapped on empty air, but Carl pressed on with the attack. Meanwhile, the other kobold newcomer to this fight stabbed at Orion with his spear, catching her in the side. She felt herself starting to pass out and called her faithful dog to her. Carl dropped the kobold whose throat he was busy ripping out and bounded over to Orion, who pulled herself up onto the saddle, fumbling awkwardly at her belt for the healing potion she had just purchased that morning. Carl carefully backed out of combat, giving his mistress time to down the contents of her potion vial.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Galen had come over to the remaining newcomer and threatened it with his sword, keeping it from focusing on Orion. Syngaard, in the meantime, saw another kobold getting up from the group and both it and the sentry in that section of the assembly started over towards the bald fighter, yipping and yapping fiercely. Syngaard helped them close the distance by sprinting into battle, practically removing the first one's face with the power behind the underhand swing of his morningstar. The kobold was bodily lifted from the swampy ground, to fall several feet behind the point of impact. Syngaard roared and faced the other kobold, who was actively cowed by the fierce assault.</p><p></p><p>As Kaspar and his initial kobold foe circled warily and made ineffectual strikes at each other, Galen found himself faring little better against his foe. He managed to strike a glancing blow against the reptile's side, but it wasn't enough to drop him. This irritated the paladin greatly, for he could tell these were evil enemies before him; a paladin of his standing shouldn't be having this much trouble with such foes!</p><p></p><p>Syngaard wasn't having much trouble at all, though. Unlike the goblins he'd encountered on his first mission - which had given him no small amount of trouble - these kobolds, while about the same size as a goblin, were falling left and right before his magic morningstar. He bashed through the skull of the frightened kobold he'd been fighting and turned to seek out new foes.</p><p></p><p>By this time the whole camp was awake and alerted to combat. Of the eleven red-scaled kobolds, four lay dead on the swampy ground, one stood in battle against Kaspar and another fought Galen, while the other five rushed over to join their comrades. Orion took one out with her sling as she rode Carl back into battle, about the same time that Kaspar finally managed to best his foe.</p><p></p><p>Three of the four latecomers focused their attention on Syngaard, rightly seeing him as their biggest threat. They attacked the scarred fighter from range, striking him multiple times with their stone bullets as he ran through the wet muck to get to them. Blood dripped down the side of his face as the fighter closed the gap with his foes, striking out again with his morningstar and bringing another of these flamesnouts down.</p><p></p><p>Galen pierced his kobold foe with the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>, noticing as he did so that the blade seemed to be burning through the reptile's torso - whatever enchantments the sword might have, it definitely seemed to be geared towards slaying evil.</p><p></p><p>There were now three flamesnouts left on the battlefield. One stood taller than the others (by a matter of mere inches - these were kobolds, after all) and had slightly better weapons; this one strode confidently towards Syngaard, who was starting to feel the wounds he'd picked up in combat thus far. Syngaard recognized in the kobold a fellow fighter, one well-trained in the use of his weapons. This was proven when the kobold's spear lashed out, getting past Syngaard's defenses and stabbing him in his side. The bald fighter staggered, but held himself upright and gave his all in a return blow with his morningstar. The weapon's spikes tore through the kobold fighter's skull, dropping him instantly. The other two kobolds shared a gaze between them and Syngaard could feel their fear; he gave a primal roar that made one of the kobolds visibly blanch and the other turn around and flee for his miserable life.</p><p></p><p>Galen ran up to Syngaard's side and tapped him with the <em>wand of cure light wounds</em>, sealing up the bleeding hole in the fighter's torso. The paladin then dodged a blow from the kobold, and swung his longsword at the beast in return. The kobold fell to the muck, dead.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar had by this time raced to catch up with his friends, and saw the last of the kobolds fleeing. He was at the edge of the range the monk felt comfortable in targeting foes with his shuriken; nonetheless, he pulled one of his metal throwing stars from his robes and hurled it at the kobold with all of his might. It whizzed through the air, coming to a wet thud in the back of the kobold's head. He pitched forward, unmoving.</p><p></p><p>Orion pulled another dagger from her belt and advanced towards the bound, black-scaled kobold captives. They struggled in fear, until the halfling chided them. "Hold still, you lot! I'm going to free you, not hurt you!" They gazed upon her with fearful eyes, but she was true to her word, and began cutting the vines binding them.</p><p></p><p>Then, with the flapping of wings, a final combatant entered the scene. This was another kobold fighter, sporting batlike wings (dragonlike wings, as it turned out) as red as the rest of his scales. He dropped down from the sky and slashed at Syngaard with a short sword sheathed in flames. Syngaard could easily have backed away and gulped down the contents of one of the healing potions at his belt, but he was fueled with the adrenaline coursing through his system and the phenomenal success rate he'd had during this whole battle with these kobolds. He parried the sword-strike with his morningstar, then caught the flying reptile a blow with the weapon, causing it to hiss like a teakettle. Syngaard half expected it to shoot fire at him like a dragon (he might not be the most intelligent of the group, but he figured the term "flamesnouts" had to come from somewhere), but it was the <em>flaming short sword</em> that struck out at him, slicing the side of his neck. Syngaard dropped instantly.</p><p></p><p>Galen stood by the fighter, <em>sword of Zehkar</em> in hand. He could have easily leaped at the winged kobold and swung at him with his blade, seeking the glory of having slain this group's apparent leader. But he was a paladin of Hieroneous, and he knew his duty. "Orion! Kaspar!" he cried out, then dropped to a knee and fumbled at the expensive healing potion he'd purchased earlier that day. As Orion and Kaspar kept the half-dragon kobold busy with sling stones and flying shuriken, Galen cradled the fallen fighter's head and poured the healing liquid down Syngaard's throat.</p><p></p><p>The cut in his neck sealed itself back up. Syngaard stood - with Galen's help - and faced the foe who had taken him out of the fight. Then he tried another primal scream - it had worked rather well with those other two kobolds. "YAAAAH!" cried the fighter. "DEATH ITSELF CAN'T HOLD ME BACK!"</p><p></p><p>"Idiot!" retorted the winged kobold in perfect Common. "I saw your friend feed you a healing potion. But let's see if I can't grant you that meeting with Death after all!" He struck at the fighter with his flaming sword, catching him in the chest when Syngaard wasn't able to leap back fast enough. But that didn't end up mattering all that much; he swung his morningstar at the kobold fighter, catching him in the wing and shattering bones. The creature fell to the ground with Syngaard looming above him. He looked up in terror - and the last thing he saw was Syngaard's terrible morningstar advancing into his field of vision, until everything went first blood-red and then quickly black, forevermore.</p><p></p><p>At that moment Galen's vision suddenly went dark as well and he found himself standing in a vast, open space surrounded by dark clouds flashing even darker streaks of ebon lightning. An unseen voice from all around him said, "Beware the coming tide of darkness. Beware he who would claim my brother's legacy." It then mentally imparted to the paladin the abilities of the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>: it dealt extra damage to evil beings of all types, and even more to undead abominations. Then, just as suddenly as the vision had engulfed him, Galen found himself back on the battlefield. Scarcely any time had passed; Orion was picking up the <em>flaming short sword</em> and claiming it as her own. (Not only was it perfectly sized for a halfling but it had also proven capable of taking down that blowhard Syngaard - the perfect weapon for her!)</p><p></p><p>"Yes!" cried Syngaard in triumph, standing over the downed half-dragon. "That's five hundred gold apiece! Let's go collect!"</p><p></p><p>That ended up being easier than anticipated, for rather than a long trudge back to the walled city, Skevros - who had been observing the action via a <em>scrying</em> spell - teleported to the group, then teleported back to the Enchanted Flagon with them. "You have had a visitor during your absence," he advised Kaspar, indicating an elf woman wearing similar robes to the monk conscript. </p><p></p><p>"Kaspar Hardstrike," she said, standing and approaching the monk. "I have come to inform you that <strong>Master Phae</strong> has had a vision: the sealed chamber of <em>Tenryutsume</em> in the monastery is open. Those who would wield it are welcome to enter the chamber and be tested. Thus far, none of those who have entered have returned. But should you seek to wield <em>Tenryutsume</em>, now is the time to prove your worthiness. Will you return to the temple and enter the chamber?"</p><p></p><p>There was no hesitation in Kaspar's voice when he said, "I will."</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was a fun adventure for me, as Syngaard was a melee monster against those kobolds! Whatever caused me to continuously roll miserably when Syngaard was fighting goblins in the first adventure, the opposite force was apparently in place when he was fighting kobolds. I've informed Logan I'm entirely okay with it if we only ever face kobolds for the rest of the campaign, but I doubt he'll go for it.</p><p></p><p>Still, Harry gets full credit for that awesome shuriken throw that took out the last fleeing kobold. He was at the very edge of a thrown shuriken's range, and Kaspar could only hit with a natural 20. Harry didn't want to even give it a try, but we egged him on and he finally gave in - and proceeded to roll a natural 20 that had the whole table erupting in laughter and high fives.</p><p></p><p>As for the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>, it hasn't spilled all of its secrets yet, but we now know it will increase in power over time. Right now it's effectively a "<em>lesser holy</em>" weapon - +1d6 points of damage to evil creatures - and can also bypass 2 points of damage reduction against undead as well as deal them an additional 2 points of damage. At this stage, we're not sure if that "message" Galen received was from Zehkar (who, we believe, was the statue in the tomb - hence the "paladin who never died") or possibly from Hieroneous himself. If the latter, then we'll need to look out for a worshiper of Hextor.</p><p></p><p>The next adventure, naturally, will focus on Kaspar getting a cool weapon of his own. "Tenryutsume" is apparently a Japanese mishmash of the words for "sky dragon's claw" - which fits in nicely with "Kaspar" meaning "dragon fist" in the Elven language. (This was something of which Logan hadn't even been aware when creating the monk weapon - it was purely serendipitous.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7320217, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 06: BLOOD FEUD[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Galen Thorne, human paladin 2 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 2 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 1 Syngaard, human fighter 2[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 10 January 2018 - - - The conscripts had gathered up their gold and headed off to the market, where they planned on upgrading their adventuring equipment. Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard had each sold their chunks of purloined mithral to a weaponsmith more than happy to pay for the rare metal; Orion could only look on longingly from the saddle of her riding dog Carl as gold coins were handed over to the men, wishing she'd been sent on such a lucrative mission instead of testing the castle's defenses. In fact, it seemed as if Skevros had held both her and the elf wizard Daleth back from dangerous missions more than once; she made a mental note to ask him if that had been the case the next time she saw him. For now, though, Galen had himself outfitted in heavier armor, "as befitted a paladin of his standing," as he put it. Orion was impressed with the craftsmanship of the armor, but realized there was nothing even the most talented armorsmith could do about its weight; like it or not, the human paladin would be moving no faster than her own little halfling legs could move her. Kaspar eschewed both armor and weapons, but he did purchase a magic amulet which increased the toughness of his skin, the better to deflect damage. Syngaard, not surprisingly, purchased a morningstar almost identical to the one he already owned, but this one had a magical enhancement guiding the wielder's aim. Orion, whose pockets were not as heavy with coin as the men, had to content herself with the purchase of a few healing potions. Galen did likewise; it must be nice to have so much money! But then the screaming began, and the halfling put aside all thoughts about money, urging Carl forward towards the commotion. The three men followed behind on foot. The crowd was rapidly dispersing away from the front gates of the walled city and away from the staggering reptile who had wandered in, only to fall in the dirt of the street with a plop. Blood began pooling around him almost immediately. Arriving at the scene, Galen whipped out his [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] and looked about for any menace. He cast his senses down at the dead kobold at his feet, and declared, "He's not evil." "Of course he's not evil, Galen," replied Orion. "He's a dead body. Dead bodies aren't inherently good or evil - they're just dead." Kaspar approached the kobold and put a hand to its neck, feeling for a pulse. He looked back at the others and shook his head. "Nonetheless," declared Galen, "I would have expected at least a lingering sense of evil coming from a kobold." Syngaard, in the meantime, had approached the guards at the gate, and in doing so, saw a trail of bloodspots leading away down the road, indicating the path the kobold had taken. "You guys let a kobold enter the city?" he accused. "We did," answered one of the guards. "What's it to you?" Syngaard wanted to tell the guard that he was an important adventurer working directly for the king - or at least the king's adviser - but knew he wasn't supposed to make that public knowledge. "I'm just wondering why it's a good idea to let monsters wander among us, that's all." "We got our orders," replied the gruff guard, while his partner explained, "We are to give dark-scaled kobolds, such as that one, free access to the kingdom. This one looked hurt, so I directed him to the Temple of Pelor." "He did not make it very far into the city," explained Kaspar, joining Syngaard and the guards. "He is dead." "Not my problem," snarled the gruff guard. "The city watch can deal with him. We guard the gates, nothing more and nothing less." Returning back to Orion and Galen (and Carl, who was sniffing at the kobold corpse), they found the pair unrolling a scroll. "Orion found it on the kobold," the paladin explained, opening the scroll to reveal a bunch of unreadable symbols. "What in the world is this gibberish?" Syngaard gave it a quick look and then ignored it; he was no scholar of languages - he had trouble enough making sense of written Common. Neither Orion nor Galen understood the writing either, but Kaspar at least recognized the language. "I believe that is written in Draconic," he offered. "Oh yeah? What's it say?" "That I do not know." "So what should we do now?" asked Orion. "Do we just leave him here?" The skittish crowd was cautiously returning to the market stalls, giving careful looks to the dead kobold and the group of four adventurers standing beside it. Some were concerned that they might have killed the thing, but nobody felt like confronting them about it - they might be dangerous! "Let's leave the stiff for the town guard," suggested Syngaard. "We need to go talk to Skevros." The bald fighter started walking over to their official meeting-place and impromptu headquarters, the abandoned tavern with the "Enchanted Flagon" sign by the door. As they approached, Galen held the steel ring he wore - they all wore one such - up to his mouth and spoke into it: "Skevros? We need to talk to you. We found a dead kobold and a scroll. We're heading to the Flagon. Meet us there." Stepping into the Enchanted Flagon (Orion entering after the others as she took time to tie Carl's leash to the post just outside), they found an attractive woman standing behind the bar - a woman they'd never seen before. Galen pulled out his longsword just in case, and cautiously asked, "...Serenity?" He half expected the succubus working for the kingdom of Ashfall to the north of Durnhill to come looking for the stolen nuggets of mithral they'd taken. But the buxom woman said nothing, merely looked at the four adventurers expectantly with a half-smile on her face. Skevros teleported into the room, frowning. "What's this all about?" he demanded. "I am not in the habit of being summoned from my duties--" "We found this," interrupted Galen, passing over the scroll. With an irritated look, Skevros snatched it up and unrolled it on top of one of the tables. "Oh dear," he said, reading it over. "What's it say?" asked Orion. "A band of the shadowscale tribe of kobolds has been captured by a rival tribe, the flamesnouts," Skevros explained. "They ask for our help." "Well, they're out of luck," snorted Syngaard. "We don't work for a bunch of stinkin' kobolds!" "Quite the contrary," argued Skevros. "The shadowscale kobolds are allied with the kingdom." "[i]What?[/i]" demanded Syngaard. "Why do we need to ally ourselves with a bunch of kobolds? They ain't nothin' but a bunch of lizards who wanna be men. And they can't even get that part right - they're just lizard-halflings!" He looked over at Orion to make sure she'd heard the dig about halflings; her narrowed eyelids indicated she had. "The fact that their tribe is led by a black dragon no doubt factored into the decision," remarked Skevros. "Wait a minute - black dragons are evil!" observed the paladin. "They tend to be, yes," agreed Skevros. "But one hopes that continued association with King Leornic will alter the young dragon's natural inclinations. In any case, this is a legitimate plea for assistance by valued allies; I will send the four of you at once to rescue the shadowscale kobolds from their enemies." "Wait: We're risking our lives for kobolds now?" demanded Syngaard. "Yes, and for the 500 gold piece reward - each - you will be paid to do so." That shut Syngaard up at once. Then, thinking it best to make this point clear, the king's adviser reinforced, "The black-scaled kobolds are on our side. The red-scaled kobolds are the enemy. Please constrain yourselves to killing the red-scaled ones only. I see you already have your gear with you, so if you're ready to go--?" "Wait a minute," Syngaard said, holding a finger up. He then announced to the air, "A mug of mead!" The fighter expected the permanent [i]unseen servant[/i] spell effect Skevros had placed on the room to deliver him a floating mug of mead. Instead, the smiling young woman from behind the bar delivered it. "Thanks, babe!" Syngaard said, grabbing up his mug, while Kaspar frowned at the woman. "She is the spell effect, isn't she?" he reasoned aloud. "Er, yes," admitted Skevros. "I thought it might seem a bit more normal than having mugs float around, seemingly by themselves." "So she's a seen, unseen servant," surmised Galen. "Does she do more than serve drinks?" asked Syngaard knowingly, smirking at the king's adviser with a leer. Skevros colored slightly but chose to give no answer. "I will teleport you to the edge of the Sanguine Swamp, at the southernmost part of the kingdom," he said. Orion ran outside to fetch Carl and then Skevros began an arcane incantation. Within seconds, the adventuring quartet (and a riding dog) stood in an inch of water, looking at a swamp spreading out before them. Gnarled trees and scraggly bushes provided bits of cover here and there; ahead, they could hear the unmistakable sounds of snoring. "He's totally sticking it to her," Syngaard whispered to Galen knowingly. The paladin smirked at the comment but held his tongue. "Now's not the time!" whispered Orion fiercely, dismounting from Carl and motioning for the others to duck down, the better to not be seen. "Now's the perfect time," Syngaard countered in a low voice. "He just got rid of us, and they've got the place all to themselves. I'll bet he's sticking it to her right now, as we speak!" "You're a pig!" snarled Orion, keeping her voice low. "Yeah, we'll you're worse," countered Syngaard. "You're a [i]halfling![/i]" "Perhaps we should focus on the problem at hand," suggested Kaspar. "The kobolds we seek seem to be on the other side of these growths. From what I can tell, it looks like solid ground between us, although with numerous puddles. I don't think they're very deep, though - we should have firm enough footing for a frontal assault, if that's how we wish to play it." Orion peered through the undergrowth at the clearing ahead. Three black-scaled kobolds were tied up, sitting with their backs pressed together and vines wrapped around them. Their wrists and ankles were similarly, but separately, bound. Around them, sprawled on the ground, were seven red-scaled kobolds, sound asleep; they were responsible for the loud snoring the group had heard. Kaspar was amazed that such sounds could emanate from bodies so small. But standing alert, with spears in hand, were four kobolds on sentry duty, squinting into the unaccustomed light from the four corners of the kobold assembly. "We'd do best attacking the sentries first," observed Orion softly to the others. She gathered up her sling in one hand a dagger in the other and started making her way silently forward, toward the sentry to her left. He faced diagonally away from her and she was in dark armor; with any luck, she could creep close enough to take him down with a well-placed shot from her sling. Over from the other end of the scraggly bushes, Galen crept forward, his bow in hand and an arrow nocked and ready for action. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as silent in his heavy armor as Orion was in her combat leathers; worse yet, he missed with his initial shot. Both of the closer kobold sentries turned at the commotion, spotting both Orion and Galen. They began yipping in excitement. Orion's intended target leaped forward with his spear at the ready, but Kaspar raced up to him and delivered a flying kick that sent him sprawling - although the little flamesnout managed to keep a grip on his weapon. The elf monk squared off with him, declaring him to be his and waving the other heroes forward. Syngaard stepped forward by Galen and threw his magic javelin at the same kobold the paladin had missed with his arrow. That kobold must have had a charmed life or something, for the javelin missed as well - but at least it popped back into the fighter's hand, ready for future use. Seeing the kobold's grip upon his longspear and realizing he intended to use it as a hand-to-hand weapon, Galen flipped the bow over his shoulder and unsheathed the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. He charged the sentry, hoping to fare better in melee combat than he and Syngaard had managed thus far in ranged warfare. He struck the reptile a glancing blow, but then Syngaard followed Galen's charge and swung out with his new magic morningstar, bashing the kobold's head in. Kaspar and his kobold foe traded multiple attacks, neither hitting the other. Orion threw a dagger at Kaspar's foe on her way over to the rest of the kobold group - some of which had been awakened by the sounds of combat around them. The dagger missed, and the halfling decided to leave her other knives in their sheathes and use her sling from now on - she was just as likely to hit with a sling stone as she was with a dagger, and she had more of the stones at hand. Two more kobolds approached, weapons at the ready. One hit Orion with a sling stone, causing her to explode in a torrent of vicious-sounding Halfling cursing; Syngaard didn't speak the language, but he knew cursing when he heard it and was surprised the little halfling was capable of such impressive linguistics. Then she called out a single word, in Common, that the fighter did recognize: "Carl!" The riding dog bounded up to his mistress, tongue wagging to the side. "Attack!" the halfling commanded, and Carl did his best, snarling as he advanced upon a red-scaled kobold. He bit at the reptile but it backed up quickly enough that the dog's teeth snapped on empty air, but Carl pressed on with the attack. Meanwhile, the other kobold newcomer to this fight stabbed at Orion with his spear, catching her in the side. She felt herself starting to pass out and called her faithful dog to her. Carl dropped the kobold whose throat he was busy ripping out and bounded over to Orion, who pulled herself up onto the saddle, fumbling awkwardly at her belt for the healing potion she had just purchased that morning. Carl carefully backed out of combat, giving his mistress time to down the contents of her potion vial. Fortunately, Galen had come over to the remaining newcomer and threatened it with his sword, keeping it from focusing on Orion. Syngaard, in the meantime, saw another kobold getting up from the group and both it and the sentry in that section of the assembly started over towards the bald fighter, yipping and yapping fiercely. Syngaard helped them close the distance by sprinting into battle, practically removing the first one's face with the power behind the underhand swing of his morningstar. The kobold was bodily lifted from the swampy ground, to fall several feet behind the point of impact. Syngaard roared and faced the other kobold, who was actively cowed by the fierce assault. As Kaspar and his initial kobold foe circled warily and made ineffectual strikes at each other, Galen found himself faring little better against his foe. He managed to strike a glancing blow against the reptile's side, but it wasn't enough to drop him. This irritated the paladin greatly, for he could tell these were evil enemies before him; a paladin of his standing shouldn't be having this much trouble with such foes! Syngaard wasn't having much trouble at all, though. Unlike the goblins he'd encountered on his first mission - which had given him no small amount of trouble - these kobolds, while about the same size as a goblin, were falling left and right before his magic morningstar. He bashed through the skull of the frightened kobold he'd been fighting and turned to seek out new foes. By this time the whole camp was awake and alerted to combat. Of the eleven red-scaled kobolds, four lay dead on the swampy ground, one stood in battle against Kaspar and another fought Galen, while the other five rushed over to join their comrades. Orion took one out with her sling as she rode Carl back into battle, about the same time that Kaspar finally managed to best his foe. Three of the four latecomers focused their attention on Syngaard, rightly seeing him as their biggest threat. They attacked the scarred fighter from range, striking him multiple times with their stone bullets as he ran through the wet muck to get to them. Blood dripped down the side of his face as the fighter closed the gap with his foes, striking out again with his morningstar and bringing another of these flamesnouts down. Galen pierced his kobold foe with the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i], noticing as he did so that the blade seemed to be burning through the reptile's torso - whatever enchantments the sword might have, it definitely seemed to be geared towards slaying evil. There were now three flamesnouts left on the battlefield. One stood taller than the others (by a matter of mere inches - these were kobolds, after all) and had slightly better weapons; this one strode confidently towards Syngaard, who was starting to feel the wounds he'd picked up in combat thus far. Syngaard recognized in the kobold a fellow fighter, one well-trained in the use of his weapons. This was proven when the kobold's spear lashed out, getting past Syngaard's defenses and stabbing him in his side. The bald fighter staggered, but held himself upright and gave his all in a return blow with his morningstar. The weapon's spikes tore through the kobold fighter's skull, dropping him instantly. The other two kobolds shared a gaze between them and Syngaard could feel their fear; he gave a primal roar that made one of the kobolds visibly blanch and the other turn around and flee for his miserable life. Galen ran up to Syngaard's side and tapped him with the [i]wand of cure light wounds[/i], sealing up the bleeding hole in the fighter's torso. The paladin then dodged a blow from the kobold, and swung his longsword at the beast in return. The kobold fell to the muck, dead. Kaspar had by this time raced to catch up with his friends, and saw the last of the kobolds fleeing. He was at the edge of the range the monk felt comfortable in targeting foes with his shuriken; nonetheless, he pulled one of his metal throwing stars from his robes and hurled it at the kobold with all of his might. It whizzed through the air, coming to a wet thud in the back of the kobold's head. He pitched forward, unmoving. Orion pulled another dagger from her belt and advanced towards the bound, black-scaled kobold captives. They struggled in fear, until the halfling chided them. "Hold still, you lot! I'm going to free you, not hurt you!" They gazed upon her with fearful eyes, but she was true to her word, and began cutting the vines binding them. Then, with the flapping of wings, a final combatant entered the scene. This was another kobold fighter, sporting batlike wings (dragonlike wings, as it turned out) as red as the rest of his scales. He dropped down from the sky and slashed at Syngaard with a short sword sheathed in flames. Syngaard could easily have backed away and gulped down the contents of one of the healing potions at his belt, but he was fueled with the adrenaline coursing through his system and the phenomenal success rate he'd had during this whole battle with these kobolds. He parried the sword-strike with his morningstar, then caught the flying reptile a blow with the weapon, causing it to hiss like a teakettle. Syngaard half expected it to shoot fire at him like a dragon (he might not be the most intelligent of the group, but he figured the term "flamesnouts" had to come from somewhere), but it was the [i]flaming short sword[/i] that struck out at him, slicing the side of his neck. Syngaard dropped instantly. Galen stood by the fighter, [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] in hand. He could have easily leaped at the winged kobold and swung at him with his blade, seeking the glory of having slain this group's apparent leader. But he was a paladin of Hieroneous, and he knew his duty. "Orion! Kaspar!" he cried out, then dropped to a knee and fumbled at the expensive healing potion he'd purchased earlier that day. As Orion and Kaspar kept the half-dragon kobold busy with sling stones and flying shuriken, Galen cradled the fallen fighter's head and poured the healing liquid down Syngaard's throat. The cut in his neck sealed itself back up. Syngaard stood - with Galen's help - and faced the foe who had taken him out of the fight. Then he tried another primal scream - it had worked rather well with those other two kobolds. "YAAAAH!" cried the fighter. "DEATH ITSELF CAN'T HOLD ME BACK!" "Idiot!" retorted the winged kobold in perfect Common. "I saw your friend feed you a healing potion. But let's see if I can't grant you that meeting with Death after all!" He struck at the fighter with his flaming sword, catching him in the chest when Syngaard wasn't able to leap back fast enough. But that didn't end up mattering all that much; he swung his morningstar at the kobold fighter, catching him in the wing and shattering bones. The creature fell to the ground with Syngaard looming above him. He looked up in terror - and the last thing he saw was Syngaard's terrible morningstar advancing into his field of vision, until everything went first blood-red and then quickly black, forevermore. At that moment Galen's vision suddenly went dark as well and he found himself standing in a vast, open space surrounded by dark clouds flashing even darker streaks of ebon lightning. An unseen voice from all around him said, "Beware the coming tide of darkness. Beware he who would claim my brother's legacy." It then mentally imparted to the paladin the abilities of the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]: it dealt extra damage to evil beings of all types, and even more to undead abominations. Then, just as suddenly as the vision had engulfed him, Galen found himself back on the battlefield. Scarcely any time had passed; Orion was picking up the [i]flaming short sword[/i] and claiming it as her own. (Not only was it perfectly sized for a halfling but it had also proven capable of taking down that blowhard Syngaard - the perfect weapon for her!) "Yes!" cried Syngaard in triumph, standing over the downed half-dragon. "That's five hundred gold apiece! Let's go collect!" That ended up being easier than anticipated, for rather than a long trudge back to the walled city, Skevros - who had been observing the action via a [i]scrying[/i] spell - teleported to the group, then teleported back to the Enchanted Flagon with them. "You have had a visitor during your absence," he advised Kaspar, indicating an elf woman wearing similar robes to the monk conscript. "Kaspar Hardstrike," she said, standing and approaching the monk. "I have come to inform you that [b]Master Phae[/b] has had a vision: the sealed chamber of [i]Tenryutsume[/i] in the monastery is open. Those who would wield it are welcome to enter the chamber and be tested. Thus far, none of those who have entered have returned. But should you seek to wield [i]Tenryutsume[/i], now is the time to prove your worthiness. Will you return to the temple and enter the chamber?" There was no hesitation in Kaspar's voice when he said, "I will." - - - This was a fun adventure for me, as Syngaard was a melee monster against those kobolds! Whatever caused me to continuously roll miserably when Syngaard was fighting goblins in the first adventure, the opposite force was apparently in place when he was fighting kobolds. I've informed Logan I'm entirely okay with it if we only ever face kobolds for the rest of the campaign, but I doubt he'll go for it. Still, Harry gets full credit for that awesome shuriken throw that took out the last fleeing kobold. He was at the very edge of a thrown shuriken's range, and Kaspar could only hit with a natural 20. Harry didn't want to even give it a try, but we egged him on and he finally gave in - and proceeded to roll a natural 20 that had the whole table erupting in laughter and high fives. As for the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i], it hasn't spilled all of its secrets yet, but we now know it will increase in power over time. Right now it's effectively a "[i]lesser holy[/i]" weapon - +1d6 points of damage to evil creatures - and can also bypass 2 points of damage reduction against undead as well as deal them an additional 2 points of damage. At this stage, we're not sure if that "message" Galen received was from Zehkar (who, we believe, was the statue in the tomb - hence the "paladin who never died") or possibly from Hieroneous himself. If the latter, then we'll need to look out for a worshiper of Hextor. The next adventure, naturally, will focus on Kaspar getting a cool weapon of his own. "Tenryutsume" is apparently a Japanese mishmash of the words for "sky dragon's claw" - which fits in nicely with "Kaspar" meaning "dragon fist" in the Elven language. (This was something of which Logan hadn't even been aware when creating the monk weapon - it was purely serendipitous.) [/QUOTE]
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