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<blockquote data-quote="Pacio49" data-source="post: 2062893" data-attributes="member: 28472"><p><strong>Lucky Miss, Lucky Hit</strong></p><p></p><p>While getting comfortable within the somewhat bizarre chambers of the goblin adept whose corpse oozes quietly on the previously-clean-swept floor, Arien reminds the party gently that while finding a base of operations would be nice they are still located within the Blasted Lands, well within the oppressive miasma of the Taint. Several party facepalms and groans later, the group decides that they need to retreat to allow their spellcasters to power up again and to heal a number of minor injuries. Loot in tow, they return unmolested to their base of operations at the nearby haven where George and Martha's ghosts from the past are caring for the recovering human, Vair. Vair should be better in another day or two, so the party plans to sleep the night, restock on spells, and go back into the manorhouse the next day.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Laeka is busy settling in the goblin Chef they took with them in his new quarters. The farmhouse in the haven has a small smokehouse nearby, not currently in use, and it is there that Laeka tells the Chef to set up for his own. The Chef is quite agreeable to this situation, and she gives him a lecture on the benefits of choosing to be good, in the hopes that he'll slowly begin to abandon his evil ways. The Chef begins to make the effort, knowing that if he does not, he'll be killed.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, the Chef tries to feed the party what he's cooked up the night before, a la green cuisine style, with a nice rat & rotting turnip stew with roasted cockroaches sprinkled on top and the floating remains of the weevils that infested the rotting turnip. The party thanks him, but says it prefers to eat the iron rations they have, and they depart, leaving the goblin behind in the smokehouse, locked up.</p><p></p><p>On their return trip to Dorecan Manor, they are surprised by an ambush of gnolls and a pair of goblins on worgs. The party quickly closes ranks as best they can, yet despite the hurried advice of Marcus for the group to focus all their strength on one worg and rider at a time, Tanin begins to go after the gnolls. The rest of the group takes light damage from the scuffle, and Marcus uses his <em>magic missiles</em> to great effect in weakening the goblin/worg riders. Skalar tries to use his precise shots with the longbow to wreak havoc, but only accomplishes minor damage. Laeka and Yovaire together are the tank of the party and manage to wipe up the worgs and riders, and then focus on the gnolls. Tanin of course doesn't fare so well and is down to about half by the time the rest of the party begins to seriously wipe out the gnolls. The rest of the battle goes quickly, and betweek Laeka using her cleric spells and Arien with her memorized <em>cures</em> the party is back in fighting shape again, albeit a few more spells short.</p><p></p><p>They make it out of the undergrowth and between the two ruined guard towers and are subjected to another kobold ambush. This time the group decides to clean out the towers for good, and thanks to spells like <em>flaming sphere</em>, <em>magic missile</em>, and <em>summon nature's ally I</em> the kobolds are quickly overrun and dispatched as they begin to pour out of the tower. Valar and Skalar return the slings and stones fire with long and shortbow volleys, quickly dispatching the kobolds on the roof. Laeka and Yovaire are just about to wade through the tower interiors leaving only death and destruction in their wake when one of the kobolds who has managed to survive a heck of a lot longer than the rest gives a signal to the rest of his troops. There's a pregnant pause among the party as they look to see what new devilry the kobolds will do, and are quite surprised when the remainder of the Hailstones tribe <strong>surrenders</strong>.</p><p></p><p>The stronger kobold is their tribal leader, and his name is Pook. Pook offers a deal to the party, who is talking about dispatching them anyway. If they will spare him and the rest of the hailstones, and leave them be in the towers, then Pook will swear not to bother the party coming or going again. Plus, it they agree not to specifically target kobolds in the rest of the Manorhouse, Pook will vouch that the kobolds in the manor will only give half-hearted resistance to the adventurers, enough to keep up appearances for the other monsters that live there and who would hurt the kobolds if they didn't.</p><p></p><p>The party discusses it and decides that since they can so easily clean up Pook and his tribe anyway, there's nothing for them to lose by agreeing to it. Pook is relieved, and the party is let pass inside the manorhouse, trailing Pook with them as a hostage to ensure no doublecrossing. Unfortunately for the party, while Pook knows the general layout of the interior, the Hailstone Kobolds live outside in the guard towers exclusively. He knows where the other tribes are, and where the stairs are to the lower levels of the Manor, but he doesn't know how each of the other tribes of goblins, kobolds, orcs, or Ogres have split up their own territories. He just knows which doors lead to which tribal areas, and who's feuding with whom among the goblins just now (every tribe, with every other tribe nearby. Proximity among the goblin tribes breeds contempt, apparently). </p><p></p><p>So, with a hostage who's little to no help as a guide, the group goes back to the adept's room and checks in to see that the body has been cleaned up and it looks like someone's been rifling through the jars and herbs, plundering off of the goblin adept's components and wares. They know that their foray has not gone unnoticed, so they end up pressing forward anyway, seeking for Ymanoura before the Taint can take permanent hold of her and turn her bestial. </p><p></p><p>Since learning from the past takes a little while at lower levels of training and experience, the party decides that the best thing for them to do is hole up in the adept's room (and out of the hallway) while their rogue, Valar, does a little sneaking & poking about on his own. Valar makes some surprisingly decent rolls for the first time in his gaming career and slinks about the hallways nicely. He also stops and listens at several points, looking around corners and beginning to get a sense of just how large a place the Manorhouse was. Finally, on his return to where the party is ensconced, he stops at a set of double doors and makes as though to open them, but then changes his mind and listens instead. He hears the sounds of combat through the doors, and resists the urge to poke his head in, listening instead for another round or two. He realizes that the sounds of combat don't sound like an active battle, and he hears goblin voices yelling out occasionally, answered by the sounds of weapons being drawn, fired, or sparring. Valar guesses that this must be one of the combat training rooms, or else that at the very least there's a military unit of some kind on the other side. </p><p></p><p>Valar pauses for a moment to decide, then takes out a length of his rope and saws it off with his dagger, and proceeds to roll natural 20's on his Rope Use skill (and still maintain a decent Move Silently check) and he ties the handles of the doors (which open out into the hallway/antechamber) together, so that even if the alarm sounds they'll have a hard time opening the doors from the other side. Ingenious.</p><p></p><p>When the rogue returns to the party he tells them of his scouting, and their hearts sink. The place is so large, they're going to need some kind of help, or else some dumb luck. Pook offers to lead them to one of the other kobold tribes and see if he can get help from them, but the general distrust of the party is such that they won't allow him to go off on his own, nor will they follow him to any specific room, in fear of a trap. Pook shrugs and goes along for the ride.</p><p></p><p>The group wanders down the hallway some more until Tanin gets bored and decides that he's had enough of waiting for the group to do something. He opens a door at random and steps inside. . .</p><p></p><p>. . . only to find that he has been incredibly lucky, for he's in some kind of prison, with several humanoids chained to the walls in places, and instruments of torture located on the tables in the middle of the room. The party goes from berating him to congratulating him, even as they rush in and quickly dispatch the goblin guards. They survey the prisoners and find that a few of them have succumbed to the Taint and gone absolutely feral, snarling at the party and snapping wildly, thrashing against their manacles even past the point of self-injury.</p><p></p><p>Of the group of prisoners not completely overtaken already they find several gnomes and dwarves, ambushed and taken captive from a caravan about to return to the eastern lands, and a human female who obviously looks as though she hasn't worked a day in her life. They question her identity and rejoice at having found Ymanoura. They quickly free the prisoners who can be freed and mercifully kill the ones who are Lost. Then, captive kobold in tow, they make tracks back the way they came.</p><p></p><p>True to their word, Pook's folks have not raised any alarm, nor do they make any move to stop the party as they pass back out again. Pook is returned to the towers, but he asks the group to take two of his kobolds with them, since they are near death from the attack, and will not last long in the manorhouse. The party agrees, accepting them as hostage until they are well, and heads off.</p><p></p><p>Although several in the party feel that they are somehow getting away with things a bit too easily (suspicious lot, aren't they?), they do manage to get to the haven, where Laeka puts the two kobolds in with the goblin Chef, and tells them that they can practice being Goods with each other. Chef offers to cook again, but the party tells him that until he learns to be a Good he can't practice any other craft or profession. The Chef sighs and goes back to the smokehouse to continue learning his lessons with Yovaire, Laeka, and Arien taking turns talking to the three.</p><p></p><p>All is not well in the haven that night, however. Vair, who up until then has been slowly and steadily recovering has a relapse and doesn't look well at all. Laeka has her sleep interrupted with a very troubling dream with visions of women made of sand, crying tears of water that wash them away as time slowly continues forward. She knows it's a significant dream, because it feels the same to her as when she prays to her god, and she asks the party for help in interpreting it. No one has really any clue what it means.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately for the party, while Vair needs more time to recover, Ymanoura has a slight breakdown of nerves when she finds out that the party means to stay an extra night. She wants to go home, and she wants to go home <strong>now</strong>. The group discusses it, and they determine that it's probably safe enough to leave the Chef and Vair to Martha and George's care, and to get Ymanoura home as quickly as possible. Valar, however, notices something that the others didn't... last night, George wasn't standing out by the pond in the moonlight like he normally does when the party's around, and no one saw Martha in the room with Vair. Valar remembered George saying that he and Martha only manifest for those they like, or those whose hearts are kind and good, and that they most certainly never reveal themselves when evil hearts are around. When Valar mentions this to Arien, she discusses it with Marcus and Laeka, who decide that most likely, it was because they had the kobold and goblin with them. This satisfies Valar for most of the ride back out of the Blasted Lands, but just as he's about to get to Tol Vehara, he manages to remember that George had actually visited him when the goblin Chef was there, and the kobolds they picked up both professed that they didn't care about much besides doing what they wanted without a care in the world (CNs). </p><p></p><p>Now the party is beginning to get suspicious. With such a relatively easy departure from the Manor, the fact that George and Martha haven't shown up since Ymanoura arrived, and the fact that Pook had mentioned that no one ever knew what their boss, Tammishka Li, would look like, Valar and Laeka begin to get nervous and doubt Ymanoura being who she says she is. They begin to question her on various parts of her life, hoping to trip her up. Ymanoura seems puzzled by the sudden feeling of passive-aggressive behavior, but she answers the questions truthfully. Luckily for Ymanoura, the aggregate amount of Taint that she acquired she manages to fight off (think of the Taint like negative levels that half-elves automatically will recover from but which other races must struggle against or have permanently. Everyone gets the "negative levels" for exposure to the Taint, but half-elves know that they will eventually recover fully). She promises the party a great reward if they can return her to her father's estate without it being noised about that she's broken the veil (lost her purity to the Taint).</p><p></p><p>Without proof against her, the party goes along with the return of Ymanoura. When they get to the bridge, Laeka, who has taken the two sick kobolds along with her, tries to hand over the kobolds to the bridge guards in South Banks. They look at her like she's crazy, and she explains that she wants them dealt with properly. The guards nod and say that they'll most likely turn the kobolds over to the Temple of Ferenthal, where they will be put to death. Laeka changes her mind and decides to keep the kobolds with her, to allow them to continue to learn how to be Goods.</p><p></p><p>The group makes it to the servants' entrance to the Sapphire Estates, and they are taken in to an audience in the treetop home of Lord Sapphire, who has come home earlier than expected and was about to raise the alarm at his daughter's disappearance. Lord Sapphire and his wife agree to receive the party in thanks for their assistance, but the party does have to follow proper protocol. They are received in a small audience chamber, with the lord and his wife on one side of a banner with a gate in it, both veiled and with veiled half-elf guards with pikes standing before the barrier. The party is made to well back from the group, and Ymanoura is the only one allowed to cross over and go to see her father. Lord Sapphire hears the story and mentions his upset at the foolishness of his daughter, but relief that she has been returned to him. </p><p></p><p>Valar interrupts for a moment and asks the Lord's indulgence. He begins to ask Ymanoura about her childhood, and asks the Lord if her story checks out. It does, and the party decides that they don't have any reason to stop her reunion with her family, although all of the players confess a sinking feeling in their stomachs that they've just done something wrong, somehow.</p><p></p><p>Lady Sapphire takes Ymanoura off to receive the bathing and scrubbing of her life, and Lord Sapphire then got down to business. He asked the party point blank how much they wanted for his daughter's return, and Laeka supplied "...and our silence, right? I'm surprised you didn't just tell your guards to kill us." Lord Sapphire gives a guilty start and coughs a bit, then shrugs and tells the group that the thought has, in fact, crossed his mind, but since he's new to the city recently he's not going to start out by making enemies. He'll do things the honorable way, but warns the party that he expects them to do the same. They agree, and they negotiate their price and rewards (<em>I have to apologize here, because this was so long ago in real time that I can't really remember what they wanted and got, but suffice it to say that the party now had a magical item +1 at the very least, and some spending cash</em>), and return to the Howling Wolf for some well-earned rest. . . kobold "converts" in tow.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pacio49, post: 2062893, member: 28472"] [b]Lucky Miss, Lucky Hit[/b] While getting comfortable within the somewhat bizarre chambers of the goblin adept whose corpse oozes quietly on the previously-clean-swept floor, Arien reminds the party gently that while finding a base of operations would be nice they are still located within the Blasted Lands, well within the oppressive miasma of the Taint. Several party facepalms and groans later, the group decides that they need to retreat to allow their spellcasters to power up again and to heal a number of minor injuries. Loot in tow, they return unmolested to their base of operations at the nearby haven where George and Martha's ghosts from the past are caring for the recovering human, Vair. Vair should be better in another day or two, so the party plans to sleep the night, restock on spells, and go back into the manorhouse the next day. In the meantime, Laeka is busy settling in the goblin Chef they took with them in his new quarters. The farmhouse in the haven has a small smokehouse nearby, not currently in use, and it is there that Laeka tells the Chef to set up for his own. The Chef is quite agreeable to this situation, and she gives him a lecture on the benefits of choosing to be good, in the hopes that he'll slowly begin to abandon his evil ways. The Chef begins to make the effort, knowing that if he does not, he'll be killed. The next morning, the Chef tries to feed the party what he's cooked up the night before, a la green cuisine style, with a nice rat & rotting turnip stew with roasted cockroaches sprinkled on top and the floating remains of the weevils that infested the rotting turnip. The party thanks him, but says it prefers to eat the iron rations they have, and they depart, leaving the goblin behind in the smokehouse, locked up. On their return trip to Dorecan Manor, they are surprised by an ambush of gnolls and a pair of goblins on worgs. The party quickly closes ranks as best they can, yet despite the hurried advice of Marcus for the group to focus all their strength on one worg and rider at a time, Tanin begins to go after the gnolls. The rest of the group takes light damage from the scuffle, and Marcus uses his [i]magic missiles[/i] to great effect in weakening the goblin/worg riders. Skalar tries to use his precise shots with the longbow to wreak havoc, but only accomplishes minor damage. Laeka and Yovaire together are the tank of the party and manage to wipe up the worgs and riders, and then focus on the gnolls. Tanin of course doesn't fare so well and is down to about half by the time the rest of the party begins to seriously wipe out the gnolls. The rest of the battle goes quickly, and betweek Laeka using her cleric spells and Arien with her memorized [i]cures[/i] the party is back in fighting shape again, albeit a few more spells short. They make it out of the undergrowth and between the two ruined guard towers and are subjected to another kobold ambush. This time the group decides to clean out the towers for good, and thanks to spells like [i]flaming sphere[/i], [i]magic missile[/i], and [i]summon nature's ally I[/i] the kobolds are quickly overrun and dispatched as they begin to pour out of the tower. Valar and Skalar return the slings and stones fire with long and shortbow volleys, quickly dispatching the kobolds on the roof. Laeka and Yovaire are just about to wade through the tower interiors leaving only death and destruction in their wake when one of the kobolds who has managed to survive a heck of a lot longer than the rest gives a signal to the rest of his troops. There's a pregnant pause among the party as they look to see what new devilry the kobolds will do, and are quite surprised when the remainder of the Hailstones tribe [b]surrenders[/b]. The stronger kobold is their tribal leader, and his name is Pook. Pook offers a deal to the party, who is talking about dispatching them anyway. If they will spare him and the rest of the hailstones, and leave them be in the towers, then Pook will swear not to bother the party coming or going again. Plus, it they agree not to specifically target kobolds in the rest of the Manorhouse, Pook will vouch that the kobolds in the manor will only give half-hearted resistance to the adventurers, enough to keep up appearances for the other monsters that live there and who would hurt the kobolds if they didn't. The party discusses it and decides that since they can so easily clean up Pook and his tribe anyway, there's nothing for them to lose by agreeing to it. Pook is relieved, and the party is let pass inside the manorhouse, trailing Pook with them as a hostage to ensure no doublecrossing. Unfortunately for the party, while Pook knows the general layout of the interior, the Hailstone Kobolds live outside in the guard towers exclusively. He knows where the other tribes are, and where the stairs are to the lower levels of the Manor, but he doesn't know how each of the other tribes of goblins, kobolds, orcs, or Ogres have split up their own territories. He just knows which doors lead to which tribal areas, and who's feuding with whom among the goblins just now (every tribe, with every other tribe nearby. Proximity among the goblin tribes breeds contempt, apparently). So, with a hostage who's little to no help as a guide, the group goes back to the adept's room and checks in to see that the body has been cleaned up and it looks like someone's been rifling through the jars and herbs, plundering off of the goblin adept's components and wares. They know that their foray has not gone unnoticed, so they end up pressing forward anyway, seeking for Ymanoura before the Taint can take permanent hold of her and turn her bestial. Since learning from the past takes a little while at lower levels of training and experience, the party decides that the best thing for them to do is hole up in the adept's room (and out of the hallway) while their rogue, Valar, does a little sneaking & poking about on his own. Valar makes some surprisingly decent rolls for the first time in his gaming career and slinks about the hallways nicely. He also stops and listens at several points, looking around corners and beginning to get a sense of just how large a place the Manorhouse was. Finally, on his return to where the party is ensconced, he stops at a set of double doors and makes as though to open them, but then changes his mind and listens instead. He hears the sounds of combat through the doors, and resists the urge to poke his head in, listening instead for another round or two. He realizes that the sounds of combat don't sound like an active battle, and he hears goblin voices yelling out occasionally, answered by the sounds of weapons being drawn, fired, or sparring. Valar guesses that this must be one of the combat training rooms, or else that at the very least there's a military unit of some kind on the other side. Valar pauses for a moment to decide, then takes out a length of his rope and saws it off with his dagger, and proceeds to roll natural 20's on his Rope Use skill (and still maintain a decent Move Silently check) and he ties the handles of the doors (which open out into the hallway/antechamber) together, so that even if the alarm sounds they'll have a hard time opening the doors from the other side. Ingenious. When the rogue returns to the party he tells them of his scouting, and their hearts sink. The place is so large, they're going to need some kind of help, or else some dumb luck. Pook offers to lead them to one of the other kobold tribes and see if he can get help from them, but the general distrust of the party is such that they won't allow him to go off on his own, nor will they follow him to any specific room, in fear of a trap. Pook shrugs and goes along for the ride. The group wanders down the hallway some more until Tanin gets bored and decides that he's had enough of waiting for the group to do something. He opens a door at random and steps inside. . . . . . only to find that he has been incredibly lucky, for he's in some kind of prison, with several humanoids chained to the walls in places, and instruments of torture located on the tables in the middle of the room. The party goes from berating him to congratulating him, even as they rush in and quickly dispatch the goblin guards. They survey the prisoners and find that a few of them have succumbed to the Taint and gone absolutely feral, snarling at the party and snapping wildly, thrashing against their manacles even past the point of self-injury. Of the group of prisoners not completely overtaken already they find several gnomes and dwarves, ambushed and taken captive from a caravan about to return to the eastern lands, and a human female who obviously looks as though she hasn't worked a day in her life. They question her identity and rejoice at having found Ymanoura. They quickly free the prisoners who can be freed and mercifully kill the ones who are Lost. Then, captive kobold in tow, they make tracks back the way they came. True to their word, Pook's folks have not raised any alarm, nor do they make any move to stop the party as they pass back out again. Pook is returned to the towers, but he asks the group to take two of his kobolds with them, since they are near death from the attack, and will not last long in the manorhouse. The party agrees, accepting them as hostage until they are well, and heads off. Although several in the party feel that they are somehow getting away with things a bit too easily (suspicious lot, aren't they?), they do manage to get to the haven, where Laeka puts the two kobolds in with the goblin Chef, and tells them that they can practice being Goods with each other. Chef offers to cook again, but the party tells him that until he learns to be a Good he can't practice any other craft or profession. The Chef sighs and goes back to the smokehouse to continue learning his lessons with Yovaire, Laeka, and Arien taking turns talking to the three. All is not well in the haven that night, however. Vair, who up until then has been slowly and steadily recovering has a relapse and doesn't look well at all. Laeka has her sleep interrupted with a very troubling dream with visions of women made of sand, crying tears of water that wash them away as time slowly continues forward. She knows it's a significant dream, because it feels the same to her as when she prays to her god, and she asks the party for help in interpreting it. No one has really any clue what it means. Unfortunately for the party, while Vair needs more time to recover, Ymanoura has a slight breakdown of nerves when she finds out that the party means to stay an extra night. She wants to go home, and she wants to go home [b]now[/b]. The group discusses it, and they determine that it's probably safe enough to leave the Chef and Vair to Martha and George's care, and to get Ymanoura home as quickly as possible. Valar, however, notices something that the others didn't... last night, George wasn't standing out by the pond in the moonlight like he normally does when the party's around, and no one saw Martha in the room with Vair. Valar remembered George saying that he and Martha only manifest for those they like, or those whose hearts are kind and good, and that they most certainly never reveal themselves when evil hearts are around. When Valar mentions this to Arien, she discusses it with Marcus and Laeka, who decide that most likely, it was because they had the kobold and goblin with them. This satisfies Valar for most of the ride back out of the Blasted Lands, but just as he's about to get to Tol Vehara, he manages to remember that George had actually visited him when the goblin Chef was there, and the kobolds they picked up both professed that they didn't care about much besides doing what they wanted without a care in the world (CNs). Now the party is beginning to get suspicious. With such a relatively easy departure from the Manor, the fact that George and Martha haven't shown up since Ymanoura arrived, and the fact that Pook had mentioned that no one ever knew what their boss, Tammishka Li, would look like, Valar and Laeka begin to get nervous and doubt Ymanoura being who she says she is. They begin to question her on various parts of her life, hoping to trip her up. Ymanoura seems puzzled by the sudden feeling of passive-aggressive behavior, but she answers the questions truthfully. Luckily for Ymanoura, the aggregate amount of Taint that she acquired she manages to fight off (think of the Taint like negative levels that half-elves automatically will recover from but which other races must struggle against or have permanently. Everyone gets the "negative levels" for exposure to the Taint, but half-elves know that they will eventually recover fully). She promises the party a great reward if they can return her to her father's estate without it being noised about that she's broken the veil (lost her purity to the Taint). Without proof against her, the party goes along with the return of Ymanoura. When they get to the bridge, Laeka, who has taken the two sick kobolds along with her, tries to hand over the kobolds to the bridge guards in South Banks. They look at her like she's crazy, and she explains that she wants them dealt with properly. The guards nod and say that they'll most likely turn the kobolds over to the Temple of Ferenthal, where they will be put to death. Laeka changes her mind and decides to keep the kobolds with her, to allow them to continue to learn how to be Goods. The group makes it to the servants' entrance to the Sapphire Estates, and they are taken in to an audience in the treetop home of Lord Sapphire, who has come home earlier than expected and was about to raise the alarm at his daughter's disappearance. Lord Sapphire and his wife agree to receive the party in thanks for their assistance, but the party does have to follow proper protocol. They are received in a small audience chamber, with the lord and his wife on one side of a banner with a gate in it, both veiled and with veiled half-elf guards with pikes standing before the barrier. The party is made to well back from the group, and Ymanoura is the only one allowed to cross over and go to see her father. Lord Sapphire hears the story and mentions his upset at the foolishness of his daughter, but relief that she has been returned to him. Valar interrupts for a moment and asks the Lord's indulgence. He begins to ask Ymanoura about her childhood, and asks the Lord if her story checks out. It does, and the party decides that they don't have any reason to stop her reunion with her family, although all of the players confess a sinking feeling in their stomachs that they've just done something wrong, somehow. Lady Sapphire takes Ymanoura off to receive the bathing and scrubbing of her life, and Lord Sapphire then got down to business. He asked the party point blank how much they wanted for his daughter's return, and Laeka supplied "...and our silence, right? I'm surprised you didn't just tell your guards to kill us." Lord Sapphire gives a guilty start and coughs a bit, then shrugs and tells the group that the thought has, in fact, crossed his mind, but since he's new to the city recently he's not going to start out by making enemies. He'll do things the honorable way, but warns the party that he expects them to do the same. They agree, and they negotiate their price and rewards ([i]I have to apologize here, because this was so long ago in real time that I can't really remember what they wanted and got, but suffice it to say that the party now had a magical item +1 at the very least, and some spending cash[/i]), and return to the Howling Wolf for some well-earned rest. . . kobold "converts" in tow. [/QUOTE]
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